Charleston to St. Augustine on a Sporty

Welcome to "Ride and Rally" with "Fix my Hog," brought to you by Dennis Kirk. We ship today. What's up, everybody? I'm Nate Beck and you're watching "Fix my Hog," "Ride and Rally 2021." We are going across the country right now and we just left Charleston about half an hour ago. Now, you might be wondering why I'm coming to you in the opening part at a gas station. Well, I'm taking Steve Noble's trick and doing this with my helmet before the ride. 95 degrees out here, we had to get a little frosty. So we're gonna get suited up and we'll see you from the road. The ride out of Charleston was hot. And I mean, it was East Coast, the South, just hot. Putting my helmet into a cooler to start the day off was absolutely the way to go. And I actually did it a couple of times throughout the day at different gas stops while I was gassing up the bike, you know, doing the once look over, making sure everything was good. Toss your helmet in the cooler and get ready to put down some more miles. But the actual ride itself was awesome. Heading down the East Coast of the US, kinda bouncing over between the islands there that litter the East Coast. And then, pulling into Savannah to stop for lunch, break up the trip a little bit was absolutely the right call. All right, so we made a pit stop in Savannah to stretch our legs and we are going to hop on the bike and we're gonna go through some of the historic squares here in Savannah with the first one being Chippewa Square. Chippewa Square became internationally famous in the movie "Forrest Gump." You'll probably recognize it. So let's put our helmet on. Let's go for a cruise. Savannah actually has 22 historic squares within the historic area of Savannah. Savannah was built and founded in 1733, and it's one of the most gorgeous areas in the US. The town is killer, the architecture is killer, and I love that, I'm a big "Forrest Gump" fan, and I loved that I was able to see where the famous bus stop scene was filmed. And actually, I didn't know this, that they actually made the bus stop. There's actually not a bus stop there, there's just a space where cars park and they actually put the bench there and shot it right there in Chippewa Square. And it was just awesome seeing that. Of course, cruising around under the mossy oaks on a Harley was awesome. And you can actually ride between all the different squares. And it just makes for like a great little day punch to check out the city with tons of restaurants, tons of things to do. But we had to get back on the bike, get back on the road, and put some miles down. Pulling out of Savannah, it was hitting the super slab and free bombing down to St. Simons Island, Georgia, where I was gonna stay the night that night. With the heat and everything, it was actually pretty nice. Normally, I'd stay on back roads. But when it's that hot, you know, keeping the speed up, keeping as much wind in my face was awesome. Definitely helped staying cool. Getting off the freeway though, pulling into St. Simons, it's a gorgeous Southern, just very heavily wooded, green, lush road that gives you some awesome contrast to the freeway miles that you just did. St. Simons is a tiny little town on the coast, on a small island in Georgia. And tons of small restaurants, great little small boutique shops, hotels, that kinda stuff. Really a good place to sit back, kick it, and rest up. All right, so we're here in St. Simons Island by the lighthouse, it's awesome. You know, traveling on a bike, sometimes it's great to go to big towns, sometimes it's great to go to small towns. I personally love mixing up both. So tonight, we're gonna be staying here at St. Simons Island and, you know, checking out small-town America. Again, we started in small-town America, we hit up Charleston, big city, and now we're back to small-town America. So let's see what this town has to offer. All right. Good morning, everyone. We're here in St. Simons Island where the thunderstorms have moved in. I keep checking the Doppler and it looks like we've got a small window where it's not gonna be raining that's gonna get us just to the Florida-Georgia border, and then it just looks like an absolute mess for at least as far as the Doppler is looking at right now. So we're gonna try to get there. We found a truck stop we're gonna stop at and recheck the Doppler. So it might get a little wet today. Heading out of St. Simons, I knew because I checked the weather the night before and I knew that there was a pretty big risk of bad thunderstorms moving through the area in the morning. So I got up early and I just kept watching the Doppler and watching how the storms were tracking and developing. And it was two big purple, nasty cloud storm systems, tons of rain, and this little tiny sliver of space. But the way it was angled, and I was moving forward to see what they were predicting how it was gonna move, and there was this little pocket of dry in there that I was like, if I can time it right and leave at the right time, that it actually kinda followed along 95 heading down and we made it with only, honestly, a few drops of rain. I've never gotten so lucky with rain. And then we pulled into St. Augustine and the weather was gorgeous. Did we ever luck out. That little band of no rain, we were able to ride I-95 all the way down, staying in that little band, traveling right between the clouds and we got here. We're in St. Augustine and I got a whopping three raindrops to the face. So we are chalking that up to a win. It's gorgeous here today. Sun's out. So we're gonna go check out the town. St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the US, being first settled in 1565 by the Spaniards. And one of the first things they did was build the Castillo de San Marcos. It's an awesome fort that you can go tour, and this fort actually protected the city and its inhabitants against other countries trying to take the area, pirates, looters. And they have a very open living museum there, and you can walk around and check it out. You can go upstairs on the gun decks and check out all the old cannons, which are all original, historic, and see the view. And it's actually a wonderful view of the city too, overlooking the Colonial Quarter, the inlet, the river. It's an absolute must-stop for any history buff or anyone that's interested in checking out that part of the city's history. One of the other awesome parts in St. Augustine that I've always loved to visit and I always make sure I hit every time I come is the Colonial Quarter. The Colonial Quarter was built back in 1963 as, again, a living museum depicting life in St. Augustine back in the 1740s when Spain ruled much of the area. And really, they made it so when you walk in there, it is like you're walking back in time. Within the Colonial Quarter, there are some theme stores, but they also have a lot of restaurants that are awesome as well as killer live music. And there you have it folks, hitting coastal cities all the way down, riding down into St. Augustine. "Fix my Hog," "Ride and Rally 2021," staying comfy courtesy of the folks at denniskirk.com. If you're looking to outfit your motorcycle, be sure to visit www.denniskirk.com. And stay tuned for the next episode when we finish this cross-country Harley trip and head in to Daytona Beach, Florida. So until next time, I'm Nate Beck. Ride safe, wrench safe. I'll see you on the road. For more information on products featured in this video, visit denniskirk.com.