Gunner's Coast to Coast 50 Ride Report

AndyBlila

Premier Member
#1
It’s been almost a week since I returned from my CC50 run, and I want to write this ride report while things are still fresh in my mind. I submitted the ride for certification on Monday, and I am impatiently awaiting the certification. I need to say a couple of things first. One, the sheepskin butt pad from Alaska Leather is a life saver. Two, a suit from Aerostich is worth every penny!
So I started planning this ride in January after reading BigLew’s ride report. My son is stationed in Jacksonville as well, so I thought this would make for a great excuse to go and see him. I chose the JAX to SD route for a couple of reasons. First of all, I would be chasing the sun and time zones, so I would get more riding time during the daylight hours. Secondly, I would be able to ride the route at a leisurely pace to look for any difficulties on the return trip. Finally, there is a multitude of information out there for that particular route. It is well travelled and I knew I could get any questions I had answered on the forums. Additionally, it’s basically get on the 10 and follow it west. Too easy.

I set the date for the Tuesday after Memorial Day. That would give me a long weekend visiting with my son, and then I could make the run home to SD. I figured that this would be the best time of year for weather and for maximizing daylight hours. It’s late enough in the spring to be warm, but not too hot, and it’s before the start of hurricane season. Boy was I wrong on both of these accounts….but more on that later…….

I didn’t start abstaining from alcohol until the weekend before departure, and I decided not to give up caffeine either. I don’t really drink too much of either so I made the decision to not give up either. It didn’t turn out to be a problem for me, but YMMV.

The week before the trip, I started looking at the weather for the trip. It looked to be hot in the west and rainy in the east. We don’t get a lot of rain here in SD, so I have become lazy and I don’t ride when it rains. Even so, I have decent rain gear, but it felt like I was wearing a garbage bag. Rain gear is so hot and uncomfortable. I started looking for a better solution. After pouring through the forums, I decided that even though I ride a Harley, an Aerostich suit would be the best way to go. So….I called them up and started asking questions. I have to tell you it was an awesome experience. The staff there kept me on the phone for nearly an hour answering every question I had so that I could get the best suit for me. I settled on the R3 light one piece suit. It’s advertised to be completely waterproof and comfortable in temperature up to 90 degrees. I figured this would suit my needs perfectly, and the offer a significant AD Military discount (thank you very much since the suit is on up to $1399!). Now that I had my suit on the way, I wanted to beef up my seat a bit. Again I poured over the forums and settled on the Alaska Leather Sheepskin Buttpad. My butt thanked me for it several times on the trip!

On Sunday the 20th, I pulled out all of my gear to make sure it was good to go. I put away my leathers, as I would be wearing my Aerostich instead. I packed three sets of clothes and two pairs of boots (I figured I’d wash the clothes when I got to JAX). I washed my helmet, and checked the wired comms to make sure it worked. I also made sure that I had my waterproof gloves as well. I spent the night packing the bike up so that I could jump on in the morning and head east.

I have a 2014 HD Ultra Limited. I’ve put 38K miles on it and I am comfortable and confident with it. I have a Road Zeppelin air adjustable seat, a Long Ride Shields 9” recurve windshield, and I put on a KST Kustom 10” bars on her. Betty is good to go. I had her serviced two weeks ago, so she and I are confident that we can do this!
I use Spotwalla, like most everyone. In the past I have used GibbyTrip via my iPhone. I felt like I didn’t want to rely on my iPhone in areas of bad service, so I bought a DeLorme inReach from Amazon. It’s the exact same device as the Garmin, only $200 cheaper. It relies only on the satellite system for all communications, so it would work whether I had cell service or not. Additionally, it has an SOS feature in case I got hurt. For GPS, I use the Harley Ride Planner in conjunction with my built in GPS unit. I have my iPhone for the backup. I built the ride in Google maps first and then transposed it into the Harley Ride Planner. Then I exported it to a thumb drive and loaded it into Betty. It’s perfect, and now we are good to go!


Sunday, 20 May
Coronado, CA
I load up the bike and layout everything for the ride. I jump into bed at 9PM and try to get a good night’s rest before heading out. I didn’t have any trouble sleeping, but I was anxious to get rolling.
Monday, 21 May
Coronado, CA to Fort Stockton, TX
Start Time: 0500 PST
End Time: 0105 CST
Trip Miles: 856 Miles
Day Miles: 856 Miles

The day is here! I get up at 0400, have some coffee and get ready to ride. By 0500, I am on Betty and heading east. I decided to practice my gas stops during the trip eastbound, in order to speed my time up. The ride started out well and went smooth all the way up to El Paso. I hit some snow in El Paso. It was 98 degrees out and it started snowing on me! I zipped everything up and hunkered down. As I approached the El Paso By-Pass, I saw looming clouds and lightning. I opted to ride straight through El Paso instead of using the cloud covered By-Pass. As soon as I hit downtown, I watch a big rig loaded with new cars on top jackknife in front of me and start spitting out said cars all over the freeway resulting in a two hour delay for the accident. During this lull in the action, I contemplated whether someone was trying to tell me something about this ride….first the snow…..now the accident….maybe I should turn around and go home? Once the traffic got moving, I quickly forgot about the omen and focused in on getting to Fort Stockton. I really wanted to push for a BB Silver as a practice and warm up for the big run on the way back.
Once again, things didn’t go quite as planned. As I approached Fort Hancock, about 30 min outside of El Paso, I ran into rain again. I had my Aerostich on, so I wasn’t worried about it. That was…..until the lightning started hitting the ground so close to me I could smell the ozone. There were several strikes at a time and I was a bit concerned that I would be the next point of impact. I prayed to the Almighty for a bridge, and around the next corner I found one! I spent the next two hours huddled under the bridge waiting the storm out. I used the time to look at the weather on my iPhone and quickly realized that there was no way I was going to make to Fort Stockton because of the storms. My wife was able to cancel my reservation there and get me one in Van Horn…..if I could make it. The rest of the day/night consisted of me following the storm after it passed, and then stopping and waiting once I caught up with it. I eventually made it to Van Horn and was able to hit the sack just after 0200.


Tuesday 22 May
Van Horn TX to Pearl River LA
Start Time: 0920 CST
End Time: 0305 CST
Day Miles: 987 Miles
Trip Miles: 1843 Miles

I slept 6 hours and woke up ready to ride again. I took the elevator to the first floor and decided to enjoy the complimentary breakfast and a cup or two of coffee. I took care of a quick bathroom break and loaded up the bike. I needed to get to Pearl River, Louisiana by the end of the day. I had an appointment at the John C. Stennis Space Center the next day. I took off at about 0915 and headed east again. The ride went very smoothly. I made a good pace and slid through San Antonio and Houston fairly easily. The HOV lanes in Houston are wonderful and made navigating the city pretty easy. I ran into thunderstorms in Louisiana….again….and began my familiar cycle of following the storms and then waiting then out when I caught up with them. At a gas stop in Lake Charles, I remember asking the clerk if there were any issues with deer crossing the road. I was assured that there were not, so I proceeded down the highway at a good click again. Let me tell you, there are either small deer, coyotes, or chupacabra in Louisiana at night. I must have seen about a hundred of them along the highway that night. They slowed my pace down a bit, and I finally made it to the hotel around 0205 and called it a night after a shower at 0305. I spent the next day there for work, prior to hitting the road again.


Thursday 24 May
Pearl River LA to Jacksonville FL
Start Time: 0600 CST
End Time: 1430 EST
Day Miles: 522 Miles
Trip Miles: 2395 Miles

I got up bright and early again. I was anxious to get to JAX and see my son. My wife was flying in as well and I was really looking forward to our weekend vacation. This last 522 miles were the most enjoyable of the trip so far. The weather was pleasant and the miles kept rushing by. I made it to the hotel in JAX after an uneventful ride in the GPS predicted amount of time.

Let the vacation begin.

I threw the bike cover on Betty and locked her up for the next 4 days. Instead of hanging around JAX, we decided to jump in the rental car and drive back across Florida to New Orleans. That might not have been the best idea I ever came up with. Adding an additional 1000 miles on my butt might come back to bite me. On top of that….Invest 90L was starting to show its head in the gulf. I kept my eye on the budding storm over the weekend and came up with alternate plans in case the weather wasn’t being friendly. The prognosis for the storm changed several times over the weekend, and Sub Tropical Storm Alberto did it’s best to keep me in Florida. On Monday, the weather broke for a brief amount of time, and we all ran down to the beach so that I could grab up my sample of sand and Atlantic Ocean water.
Alberto made landfall on Monday, but it looked like I had a good shot of making the run on Tuesday. The only trouble spot looked like Tallahassee. I figured out the odds, and decided to go for it the next morning. The wife and I said goodbye to our son that night about 2130 and headed to bed. We got up at 0315. She had a plane to catch at 0600 and I had a CC50 to conquer……


Tuesday 29 May
Day 1
Jacksonville Beach, FL to Junction, TX
Start Time: 0430 EST (0438 EST Gas Receipt)
End Time: 2300 CST
Day Miles: 1196 Miles
Trip Miles: 3591 Miles

The alarm goes off at 0315. The wife and I jump up and start loading up our stuff. I make several trips up and down to load up the bike and drink a cup of coffee. By 0430 we are both loaded up. I give her a hug and kiss, she wishes me luck and we say goodbye. She follows me until I turn off for the gas station, and then she heads to the airport. I had been looking at the weather and was anxious to get out of town before the rain hit. Based on my predicted timeline, I should miss most of the thunderstorms and just hit pockets of rain.

I gas up Betty, start my stopwatch, start the GPS trip on the bike, start tracking on my inReach and my kickstand is up at 0438. The ride out of JAX was uneventful. I beat the rain and didn’t run into the first squall until I was about an hour down the road. I saw no deer, but the bear crossing sign made me a bit nervous. When the rain hit, I prepared for the lightning and thunder, but to my surprise it never came. I kept on going down the road. This process repeated itself several time on my way to Tallahassee. I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Alberto was trying to keep my in Florida, but Betty and I were winning.
I reach Tallahassee wet but no worse for wear. I pull into my proscribed gas stop and go through my script. Shut down the bike, pull out the credit card, start the purchase, open the fuel tank, start fueling, break out my clipboard and iPhone, send the preset message on my inReach to mark the spot, return the nozzle, close up the fuel tank, take the picture of the receipt and odometer, take biological break, get back on the bike and proceed. Practicing this procedure on the way out definitely paid off. I had no issues getting the picture and I got my stops down to 5 min without a biological break and about 10 min with a break and purchase of water.
I repeated this dance all day long every 150-180 miles. Once I passed Pensacola, the clouds parted and I saw no more rain. Downside was it got stupid hot. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana…the average temperature was 99 degrees with 100% humidity. It made for a ridiculously hot day.

I freaked out a bit when I saw that there were 879 miles of Texas I had to cross. I’m from Texas, so I know how big it is, but nothing can prepare you for just how long the ride through Texas is going to be. At this point I was doing well on time. I was on pace to be able complete a BBG. That was until I hit Houston.
I wasn’t able to leave JAX quite as early as I wanted. Lingering thunderstorms kept me there till about 0400. Leaving at 0400 put me smack in the middle of rush hour in Houston. I made it through Houston in about an hour. That is amazing for rush hour in Houston, but it was still enough to put the BBG almost out of reach. I pressed on though, knowing that I could complete a BB Silver if all else failed. That was until I hit San Antonio. I took the Anderson Loop, as suggested and all went great until I came up to the big rig accident. Traffic was stopped dead in its tracks. I sat for two full hours waiting for it to clear up. I was really bummed out until Waze pointed out that there was an accident on the 10 that would have stopped me as well.

As I watched the time go by, I saw my BBG slipping through my fingers and the BBS as well. It was late enough, when the traffic started moving again, coupled with the heat of the day fatigue, that I decided to make the stop at Junction and abandon my shot at the BBG. I focused on the big picture, which was completing the CC50. A BBG would just have been icing on the cake. There will be another time.

Now that I have my plan solidified again, I continued down the 10 toward Junction, TX and the hotel. I haven’t eaten anything all day with the exception of a couple of Cliff Bars and some Jerky, so I am looking forward to putting some food in my stomach. While I am thinking of what I can eat, I notice the large number of deer that are alongside of the roadway. I don’t think I went half a mile without seeing a deer the entire way from San Antonio to Junction. They didn’t seem too interested in me, or in crossing the interstate, so I just kept on riding.

It’s almost 2230 by the time I pull of the 10 in Junction. I see a McDonalds so I make a quick stop to grab some food and take it with me to the hotel. The lady at the front desk asked me if I was one of those Iron Butt riders and let me keep Betty under the awning all night.
I take a quick shower and call my wife while I eat. I pack everything else back up and I’m in bed by 2330 CST. I set my alarm for 0530 and nod off knowing I have another long day ahead of me.


Day 2
Junction, TX to Coronado, CA
Start Time: 0600 CST (0601 Gas Receipt)
End Time: 2200 PST (2144 Gas Receipt)
Day Miles: 1164 Miles
Trip Miles: 4755 Miles
50 CC Total Time: 44 Hours 6 Mins
50 CC Total Miles: 2360 Miles

I was pretty tired when I woke up. It was still dark outside and I knew I had a long way to go. I got a cup of coffee and psyched myself up for this final push. I ride across the street, gas up, start my inReach, send the preset message, turn on the GPS and head out again. Today is the rough day. I am tired and while my butt pad is working….I’m feeling each leg a bit more. To make things worse the wind in west Texas is ridiculous today and it blows from Fort Stockton clear until the base of the mountains in California. I plow through the gas stops one after another, and by the time I reach Arizona my back and neck are sore from fighting the wind. It’s another hot day and my gas stops are a bit closer to the 10 min mark as I need to stretch my back and neck at every stop. I am also having to buy a ridiculous amount of water in order to stay hydrated.

All in all the ride was smooth until I reached Ocotillo CA. I burned a ridiculous amount of gas, and drank tons of water, but I made great time. I have ridden this stretch of highway many times, so I found that I had plenty of time to reflect on what I was doing and just enjoy the ride (except for the battering wind).
As soon as I reached the base of the mountains in Ocotillo, CA the temperature dropped from 102 to 59 in a matter of minutes. Additionally the wind picked up even more. I pulled over and locked down my Aerostich suit and switched my gloves to leathers so that my hands would stay warm. As soon as I pulled back out, a gust of wind nearly blew me off of the mountain. I slowed my speed down to 40 MPH so that I could control the bike. Every turn in those mountains, until I reached In-Koo-Pah, was slammed by these ridiculous gusts of wind. I have lived in SOCAL for the past 20 years. I have made the ride through the mountains more times than I can count, and let me tell you that was the worst wind conditions I have ever experienced in those mountains. I was concerned that I would need a clean pair of underwear before I got through that stretch!

Once I clear the mountains, the end was in sight. I could smell it. I cranked open the throttle and let Betty run to the finish. I love the view of San Diego at night. As I rode across the Coronado Bay Bridge, I looked over my shoulder and couldn’t help but smile knowing what I was about to accomplish. I rode to the final gas stop, filled up and printed the receipt. Snapped the picture and sent that final preset message through my inReach “I have completed my journey here!” My receipt says 2144 PST. I ride the short mile to the beach and snap a picture of Betty and then walk out to collect my sand and water sample. As I’m collecting the sand I think to myself, just yesterday Betty and I were collecting a sample in JAX….44 hours and 6 minutes ago.

That’s my journey. It was epic. I’ve had a few days to digest it all, and I’m more amazed now than I was a week ago. I would recommend that every IBA Member try this ride at least once. It is a ride you will never forget. I did learn a couple of things about this ride. First off don’t over plan it. I figured out my route and posted it here. Lots of members have done this ride and can help you out. I stressed about gas stations. I even went so far as to print a list of them out and tape them to the inside of my windshield. There were plenty of gas stations. My night time riding was limited. I planned it that way and I had no trouble finding gas. That being said. Every place I stopped was a major truck stop and was open 24HRs. I read several ride reports where members called every gas station prior to leaving to make sure they were open. I did not, and I had no problems getting gas. Second, make sure you have the right gear. I was worried about rain. I hate rain gear. I feel like I am wearing a sauna suit, so I looked for other options. Everything kept pointing me back to Aerostich. I’m a Harley rider. I was about as anti-Aerostich as you could come by. I was dreading what the other Harley riders I would encounter along the way would say. I was worried about the cost. Let me tell you that was the best $1200 I have ever spent. I was comfortable at 100 plus temps and it was completely waterproof. On top of that it’s a damn good crash suit and the customer service is great, AND the Harley riders I encountered didn’t give two hoots what I was wearing. I love my Aerostich suit. I’ll still wear leathers for local rides, but I’ll be wearing that Aerostich R3 on every single LDR I make. Third, mentally prepare yourself for this ride. By the time I was halfway through the second day I was beat. My neck hurt and my shoulders were sore. It’s manageable, but this ride is no joke.

Now off to plan the next riding adventure..

Andy
 
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Scott Parish

Premier Member
#2
Congratulations Andy on a great ride and sharing the experience with us. I can certainly relate to the winds when crossing our local mountain range as being completely unpredictable and brutal at times. Good choice for gear - if any HD riders says anything; just point out it is one more piece of equipment made in the USA which cannot be said for all things on an HD. :) Looking forward to many more RR from you in the future.
 

Garage Monster

Premier Member
IBA Member
#4
Nice report. I did my 50CC in the middle of April and just sent in the details for certification last night. I did the Santa Monica to Tybee Island run. I will save my ride report until I get it certified. It was an adventure. I know what you accomplished.
 

AndyBlila

Premier Member
#9
Nice report. I did my 50CC in the middle of April and just sent in the details for certification last night. I did the Santa Monica to Tybee Island run. I will save my ride report until I get it certified. It was an adventure. I know what you accomplished.
I sent mine in on Monday.
 

Garage Monster

Premier Member
IBA Member
#11
I like being a premiere member. Once I emailed everything I got an email sating I was certified in a little over 2 weeks. A little more than a week later my goodies all arrived in the mail. I received the SS1000, a BB1500, and the 50CC. I am almost finished writing my ride report and I hope it will inspire others to do it. I felt a sense of accomplishment on one hand and on the other almost a sadness that it is done. Now I think if I could just retire I would do the 48 in 10. I have even planned my route. Maybe some day.
My hat is off to anyone who has finished the 50CC or even attempted it.