The original goal was to reduce the time on the Interstates to a minimum.  But upon realizing that I should get into (and possibly out of) Key West before the weekend, I had some distance to travel.  I hadn’t really done much homework into riding in Florida, assuming it was fairly featureless.  This turns out to be a mistake as this jaunt down I-75 meant I missed both decent riding areas.  Oh well, something for the future.

Since I knew this would be a bit of a drone on superslab, I thought I would try and listen to music.  Not much selection on the Nexus, but if I were to bother trying to get some from home, I should at least make sure it’s worth the effort.   2 sets of headphones – Sony noise cancelling earbuds and Shure e3’s.  I think the Sony’s would have been really nice against the wind noise, but there was no way to get them to fit under the helmet.  More’s the pity.

I do know that the e3’s fit.  But very fiddly and this time around was no exception.  It’s incredibly difficult to get them on and still sitting properly.  The helmet tends to drag them out of position.  Either it rips them out of your ear or pulls the cord somewhere incredibly uncomfortable.  Taking the helmet off is just as bad – with one additional problem.  My rubber fitment ball for the left ear isn’t as good anymore.  Tends to come off if you don’t take them out just right – and when the helmet is doing the work, it’s not the right way.  After the 3rd time having the thing stuck in my ear canal and having to dig it out with the leatherman, I figured enough was enough.  No more music.   It’s a nice distraction, but having to adjust volume and such on the highway probably isn’t the safest activity anyway.

A friend had warned of rain in Florida, but since things looked pretty clear in Georgia, i started off without rain gear on.   I got nicked by a small storm outside Ocala so I stopped for lunch at Steak n Shake.   The colours of the Butterfinger shake reminded me of the high school days when we bought candy bars by the box and needed ways to get rid of them.  I was thinking of Crunchie, not Butterfinger, but still a decent shake.

Royale Burger – Bacon Cheeseburger w/ an Egg.  One of the better burgers, but I guess this is actually a sit down restaurant with service so can’t really be compared to the fast food places.

Otherwise, got a chance to swing by a business partner’s head offices and meet people I had worked with for years.  POP Yachts‘ headquarters isn’t really much to see.  For a yacht brokerages, they don’t actually have anything to see – doing almost everything on the road.  Having grown and moved in the recent past, the office was still in the ‘startup’ phase.  Mismatch of equipment and bare walls.  Brings back fond memories of startups.

Had a nice chat about BoatXchange and the North American boating industry’s recent past in online marketing.  It’s a pretty messed up market right now, but still lots of potential.  Boating has been a bit of a luxury item, and with the economy in the state that it’s in, things are changing fairly rapidly.  Seeing things from a broker’s point of view was refreshing – but I guess given how little thought I have spent on the boating industry as a whole, anything would be a new perspective.

Rain continued to spatter, but I pushed on to Naples.  I checked into a Best Western – they did some price matching for me against Expedia.  Definitely one of the better motels I’ve stayed at so far.  Mints on the pillow and everything!   Of course, I promptly ghettoed it up by cooking instant noodles using the hot water from the in room coffee maker.  There were restaurants in the area, but having been bitten 3 times in the time it took me to check in and unload the bike (once on the face when the helmet was still on), I didn’t have the appetite for going back outdoors.