Today is the final day of our adventure, so we didn't sleep that well last night in anticipation of the day ahead. We got up before 6:00 and Jody headed down to the office to get the morning coffee. We puttered around the hotel room, did a little packing and got ready for breakfast across the street at Cracker Barrel with Jody's parents, Bob & Joan at 8:00. We knew we had along ride ahead of us, over 400 miles, so we were procrastinating a little, chatting around breakfast. It was close to 9:00 when we left, and since we cross a time zone, we lose an hour, so it's like we got on the road by 10:00 Orlando time.
     The weather report was the same as it always is in Florida this time of year - Hot with afternoon showers . But when we first started out, the skies were clear so we thought we would make time while we could. We still don't like driving the interstates, especially I-10, so we took the back way to Orlando - Started on US-85S to US-20E, after a little excursion on FL-267S, we turned onto US-98E and then US-27A to US-27S and finally onto US-441S into Orlando. Not a bad route, most of the roads were 4-lane divided highway and until we started getting close to Orlando, there very few cars on the road. The speed limit tends to be 65, but most people are driving 75-80 mph, we just needed to slow down as we passed through a few towns on the way.
     So we turned on the cruise control and cranked up the tunes and tried to minimize our stops. The rain seemed to be holding off, and we meant to cover as much ground as we could as quickly as we could before it started. The bike cruises well at speed, the only problem is the gas mileage drops off dramatically. Where we typically get around 42 mpg average, sometimes over 50 when we were tooling around the mountains at 45-50 mph, once you get to 75-80 mph, we're lucky to get 30 mpg. Of course we are 2-up with a fully loaded bike.
     The weather held up for us until Ocala, about 100 miles from Orlando. We could see the rain on the road ahead of us, and another motorcycle had pulled over and the riders were putting on rainsuits. That looked like a good idea, so we did the same. It only rained for about 5 minutes and then it stopped. The skies still didn't look too good, so we kept the rainsuits on, but eventually it was just too hot, so we put them away. It never did rain for the rest of the way.
     We finally got within a couple of miles from home at 5:30 and decided it would be smart to stop to eat on the way home so we didn't need to go back out. So we stopped at our favorite Boston Market right up the street from our house. When we walked in the door, the guy serving remembered us as regulars. Turns out he had been transferred to another store all summer, so he wasn't aware we were gone. He still remembered both our orders, even the drinks. It made us feel right at home.
    After dinner, we rode back to the house. The garage door opener on the bike still worked, so we made our way inside. Turns out Jimmy had done a great job of keeping the house clean, he even cleaned the inside of the refrigerator! My truck started right up, but Jody's car battery was dead again. So I backed out the truck, pulled in the bike, put Jody's car on the battery charger and went to work unloading the bike.
     The pile of mail was HUGE! We went through most of it - first pass, and separated out the ones we need to deal with immediately. Luckily there were only a couple, and not really that important. Mostly it was junk, magazines, and catalogs. We also tackled the boxes that we had shipped back as there were a few things in them besides t-shirts that we needed. It should take us a couple of days, but we'll get through it all.
     I should say how great it feels to be back home. I'm really looking forward to seeing family and friends over the next few days. My Mom called after we'd been home for about an hour so we could try to find a time in her busy schedule to get together. Looks like we'll be able to Port Orange on Saturday. Now that we're both retired, we'll probably both be too busy to get together! We'll figure it out.
       This is the last entry in this blog for a little while. It's really been a blast to write. I will write an Epilogue next week, after the dust has settled and the cobwebs cleared from my head. I'll probably sleep fro a week! I'll put together some statistics about the trip, along with our thoughts about favorite places and memories. And, of course, future plans!

422.5 miles today
19,888.2 miles total

10.457 gallons today
472.208 gallons total