Sunday, Aug. 15 -- We make a delayed departure from Miami enroute to North Carolina, Michigan, Oregon, Texas and back to Miami on the Great Motorcyle Adventure. We planned on leaving on Friday, Aug. 12 but the approach of Hurricane Charley changed our minds. The hurricane hit Punta Gorda between Fort Meyers and Port Charolotte on the East Coast of Florida. We saw some damage in Central Florida but not a whole lot. We did see many, many, 18-wheelers heading to Georgia to pick up relief supplies or going south from Georgia with aid for the hurricane victims.
We have been planning this trip for months. I have a professional development leave from Florida International University and want to use the semester-long leave to see what young journalists think about their university education, especially as it relates to their work in converged newsrooms. I calculate we will be on the road for at least two months, with longer stops in North Carolina, Michigan, Oregon and Texas to visit family or friends. The map shows it to be about 9,000 miles. I plan on posting to this blog frequently as we ride to Portland.
We rode only to Valdosta this day, 440 miles. Pastor Wayne and Chris Cochran met us at the motel late in the evening en route to Miami from Michigan.
