As The Curtain Draws Closed

Kurt Hamby and Rich Kuechenmeister, after 28 days, have re-entered the borders of Florida. Now just hours before arriving home, the adventure comes to a close.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Kurt and Rich for allowing me to share in their adventure, its been fun.

I have taken great pleasure in creating and maintaining this blog, as well as tracking the two thru both conventional, and sometimes unconventional means.
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Kurt procured a GPS tracking unit SPOT which facilitated most of the tracking, and all of what you, the friends and others have seen.
In addition there have been a couple of snags along the way with respect to communication and tracking...Lack of cellular service in Yukon Territory, limited echo response from SPOT on the Dalton Highway, etc.

The only serious issue along the way seemed to be a patch of muddy Dalton Highway where Rich executed a double lutz and landed in a ditch. Nothing seriously hurt though. Easily repaired with tape, bailing wire, and super glue!

As always weather has been a factor throughout the trip, bitter cold, stifling heat, and wind, which did little more than slow the two down.

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I want to thank all those who helped Kurt and Rich out along the route, both in front and behind the scenes.

Blackfoot Motorsports in Calgary all of the folks are great then and really made us feel at home with a special thanks to Jens Goermann who is the service manager and even brought out one of his techs to have him tell us the best roads to take on our trip from Calgary.

Artic Caribou Inn: Scott Bedford who took us on a tour of Deadhorse and made sure we got all the things we needed so we could hit the road the next day. He is in the picture with Rich of the Deadhorse sign.

Cycle Barn Lynnwood WA: Special Thanks to Kim Seely for taking care of my helmet and thanks to Bruce and Robin for thier help and of course a very speicial thanks to Dave Preston for greetign us in for service and to Marc Satterwhite for finding our tires for use.

DigitalGlobe Jeff Kerridge for providing use of their QuickBird satellite and some of the high resolution imagery.

National Weather Service Thanks to all those who helped with tracking OCONUS weather while the team was in Alaska. And for helping us with aerial spotting up and down the Dalton Highway.

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"Surprise, Agression, Speed"

End transmission

The Road Home...Home Stretch

On what appears to be their last day on the road before home, they greet the sunrise as they put rubber to the road. Conditions are very favorable for the two, as they prepare to see what I-10 has to show them today.
Only 300 miles shy of the Florida state line, their 800 mile trip will be spent primarily traversing Florida's panhandle, no doubt helping to motivate them to press on, and bring closure to this 12,000 mile expedition.
Based on their current progress we are projecting a 9:00 pm EDT arrival time.

At 200 miles into the home stretch the team pulls into a Bay St Louis Mississippi favorite, the Gator's One Stop on Hwy 603 just off I-10. Fuel and a snack and they are off again...

Noontime brought them within 100 miles of the Florida border at Pensacola, go go go!

12:30pm EDT
As they arrive in Mobile Alabama, clear skies and 86 degrees, a light breeze off the Gulf of Mexico, they are but 500 miles from their final destination...home.

The Road Home...Louisiana

At 8:28 pm EDT Kurt and Rich left Texas behind and crossed into Louisiana.

740 miles and just over 12 hours behind them now, the intrepid riders have about 850 miles left before arriving back here in Orlando, FL.

Update 9:30 pm EDT:
After ripping up 800 miles of Interstate 10, its finally time to get some sleep. What better place than a Comfort Inn located in Jennings, LA.
With only 780 miles between them and home, we anticipate their arrival sometime Wednesday evening. It appears the weather will hold out for their final leg, with average temperatures across the entire route in the mid 80's.

Editors Note:
For those of you who may have missed some of the earlier comments, a wager between Mrs. Kuechenmeister and myself regarding when they would actually make it back...I would like to take this opportunity to concede.

The Road Home...1000 Miles To Go

5:18 pm EDT
The guys have broken the 1000 mile mark! After covering 600 miles today they have reached the town of Brookshire, TX. Where they will be stopping at the local truck stop on I-10 to eat, and refresh themselves.

With 999 miles to go from Brookshire, TX to Orlando, FL they may manage to prove me wrong and arrive back into Seminole County prior to Thursday which is only about 30 hours from now.
Update 6:00 pm EDT:
Gridlock! As the two approached Houston TX they were met with its infamous rush hour gridlock as shown in the images below...

The Road Home...Continues

Tuesday 27 May 8:00am EDT:
Kurt and Rich are burning up some more Texas highway as they leave out of Van Horn. So far average speeds are a bit over 60 mph as they race down I-10 towards San Antonio.
With temperatures already in the high 80's, and a predicted high of 98 degrees, the heat may play a factor in this leg of the trip. Staying hydrated will be the primary concern for both of them.

Update 1:30pm EDT:
As they rapidly approach San Antonio, TX. having already put 350 miles behind them today, the weather remains clear, and very hot pushing into the high 90's, and with humidity being in the 40% range it will feel like 100. A fuel and rest break in Kerrville, TX will afford them some relief for awhile.

Update 4:00 pm EDT:
At 3:00pm San Antonio was officially behind them, as they barrel towards Houston...already approaching the halfway mark between the two cities they have but 1100 miles to go.

The Road Home

They pulled out of Blythe California at 11:00am Eastern Daylight Time today, sprinting Eastbound. It appears they are only making average times prior to arriving in El Paso, TX.
More to come soon....

Update: 9:45pm EDT
650 miles behind them so far, after a quick meal at the Pilot Truck Stop in Anthony, Texas just North of El Paso, the two are burning up the interstate as they pass Fort Hancock, TX on I-10.

Update: 10:30pm EDT
Kurt and Rich appear to have pulled into beautiful Van Horn, Texas. It also appears they are paying a visit the the local Ramada Limited. I am sure they could use some rest, with 700 miles so far for the day.

Eastbound, Hammer Down

Sunday 25 May 2008:

As previously mentioned, 2pm EDT today Rich and Kurt left out of Carmel Valley, California on what appears to be a Cannonball Run back to Orlando, Florida.

The path from Carmel Valley, CA to Orlando, FL is approximately 2700 miles (across either I-40 or I-10) it is presumed at this time they will travel I-10 west to east. Considering average speeds, required stops, and existing construction on I-10 as reported by Arizona DOT it will take them 41 hours of total ride time. Add to that a couple nights of sleep, we should expect to see them arrive in Orlando sometime late Thursday or early Friday.

The weather appears to be in their favor across 90% of their route as of today.

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat..

Editorial Comment:
Will be interesting to see if they choose to take one of my favorite stretches of highway, I-40 from Barstow to Needles Calif. 144 miles of some of the flattest, and fastest Interstate in the U.S.
The run between Needles and Blythe, is another 96 miles of desolate road, which actually skirts an area dotted with Anasazi ruins, and home of some recent UFO sightings (Of course its the Editors opinion that the UFO's are actually sorties being run out of Edwards AFB and Twentynine Palms)

Update:
It seems the two are sticking to I-5 like glue and are going to skirt Los Angeles via the 210 Freeway to catch I-10