2012 Daytona Beach Bike Week

Thursday, March 8, 2012, about 5:00 am., me, my wife Fely Juanero, Tony Reyes, Joyce and Art Rubio, meet up at the Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica, California. The goal is to ride the Iron Butt's 50 CC ( Coast to Coast in less than 50 hours). We will start in Santa Monica Pier which will be the West Coast and will end up in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Then we will be heading down to Daytona Beach to attend the 2012 Daytona Beach Bike Week. We took some pictures with our bikes at the entrance of the Santa Monica Pier and then head on to a Chevron Gas Station about less than a mile away on Lincoln Boulevard off ramp of the Interstate 10. We filled up our gas tank and get a computer generated receipt from the pump to get our starting time for the 50 CC Ride. 

I am very proud to display this license plate back on my bike

The 50 CC patch we are aiming to get if we complete our Coast to Coast Ride in less than 50 hours

 Santa Monica Pier,Santa Monica, California, the starting point for our 50 CC Ride

Chevron Gas Station, Lincoln Boulevard off ramp of the Interstate 10 Freeway, where we get our computer generated receipt for our starting time on this ride.

After gas and getting the computer generated receipt four our starting time on this ride, we hop into Interstate 10 Freeway and head East to meet the other Pinoy Harley Riders at the Jack in the Box on the Milliken Avenue, Ontario Exit of the Interstate 10 who will be riding with us to Daytona Beach. We join seven other riders who are all going to attend the 2012 Daytona Beach Bike Week. Tony Reyes on the other hand will not be going with us. And so, the long ride to Daytona Beach, Florida begins. The first gas stop is at Indio, about 100 miles from Ontario. We gas up and about to get ready to take off. I approach Chris Concepcion and inform him that me and Art Rubio might be riding ahead of them since our main goal for this ride is to complete the 50 CC Ride. So as we enter the freeway, me and Art ride past the rest of the group to achieve our quest for the Coast to Coast Ride in less than 50 hours, two Pinoy Harley Riders Club members riding their bikes with their wives with them heading East towards the end of the Interstate 10 Freeway, otherwise known as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, which starts in Santa Monica, California and will end in Jacksonville, Florida, a distance of about 2,430 miles.

We ride along the Interstate 10 heading East passing the states of Arizona and New Mexico then we stop for gas at Anthony, Texas, right after the border with New Mexico. Then, the bad news. Joyce Rubio informed everyone that her father called her on the phone as we are about to make the stop. She was told that her mother has just passed away. Because of this, she and Art decided to go back home. This is really sad for us. We are all hoping that we will all finish this ride in less that 50 hours, and then this tragedy came out. But family is more priority on this kind of situation. So, we said good by and offer our condolences to Joyce. They will ride back to Carson while me and my wife will continue the journey in our quest to complete the 50 CC Ride. 

Gas stop at Van Horn, Texas, where we notice a cloudy sky and a sudden drop in temperature.

We left Anthony, Texas and head East at about 8:00 in the evening. Our next stop is Van Horn, Texas for gas at about 12:00 midnight. The weather is getting weird. With clouds looming in the sky and the temperature going down to about 50's. But, we need to get going. We are riding for about an hour when the rain hit us, heavy rains with thunderstorm and strong winds. We ride thru the rain then after a while I notice the ice forming up on the highway and along the sides I can see the ice piling up about waist high. I cannot ride that fast so I maintain a 50 - 65 miles per hour speed, ignoring the other vehicles behind me, I stayed almost to the center of the road as my visibility is getting poor, I always look at the orange center line with it's reflectors. Good thing we are wearing a reflector vests and our leather jackets are water proof. My wife is wearing a waterproof pants but I only got me a leather chaps over a denim pants. I got my rain gear on my saddle bags but on this stretch of the freeway I don't see any gas stations or a rest area nearby where we can stop and change gear. So I just continue riding ignoring the rain and cold that I felt on my legs. It is dark and cold, only the orange line dividing the freeway with it's reflectors is my guide with visibility really getting poor. Couple of times the trucks overtake us and with all the water splashing on you as they pass makes it more miserable to continue riding. But, my mind is on our goal to complete the 50 CC Ride. I am not familiar in the area and I don't know that if we stop we could get a place to cover us from the rain. Also I don't know if the rain will subside or it will continue pouring. My other concern is that because of the rain and ice, they might close the freeway and that would be a disaster for us as we could no longer finish our quest. So, ignoring all the dangers caused by the heavy rain, we continue riding until I see an exit with a gas station in Camey, Texas. I still got about 50 miles of gas left on my tank. But with this kind of weather and still hours more before daylight, I don't want to take a chance of waiting for the next gas station. It's still pouring rain when we pull over at the gas station at about 3:20 am. I fill up about 4 gallons of gas and wear my pants rain gear. My boots is not water proof so it started to get soak in water and soon my toes started to get numb. After gas we went back to the freeway, the rain still pouring with strong winds and thunder. Soon daylight comes. But suddenly, hail come upon us from the sky which make it colder. 

During the first hours of daylight and after about 166 miles, we stop at Junction Country Store, Junction, Texas for gas and breakfast. The rain stops but the wind is still strong and cold. I had a coffee and bread. I sat on the sidewalk and have my back on the wall to rest and hoping to catch a sleep. The place is too busy and people are looking at me sitting there on the sidewalk with all my gear and helmet.

So tired after riding thru the night in Texas under heavy rain, thunderstorm, ice and strong wind, but with a sigh of relief as daylight comes and the rain stops.

After a few minutes rest, we ride back on the freeway, feeling better as it was daylight and I am more oriented to my surroundings. Another gas stop at Luling, Texas, a quick snack and back on our bike. But after a few miles, I started to get sleepy. I tried as much as I can to make myself alert like eating sour candies, slices of lemon, singing, standing up on my pegs for my face to catch the cold wind and moving my head from left to right. But to no avail, so I decided to stop at the rest area and take a nap on the table. 

The much needed rest at the rest area a few miles after Luling, Texas when everything else failed to keep me alert on riding.