St. Augustine & Cape Canaveral

From the Keys, we head back North along the East Coast. The US 1 leads us along the vast, empty beaches of the Atlantic, oh so different from crowded Miami Beach. And we comply with a tradition we already started on Papa’s motorcycle: writing down the all the places we’ve crossed on the tank.

We reach Cape Canaveral for a visit of the famous Kennedy Space Center and the launching ramp of the NASA space shuttles. We follow the steps of famous astronauts and the thrilling race to the Moon, up until the last journey of the Atlantis space shuttle.

Our final stop along the coast is St Augustine. After that, we’ll be heading towards Texas and Mexico. Walking down the streets of St Augustine feels like entering a time warp, taking you right back to the 1560s when the city was founded. This is probably one of our best discoveries!

As we head East, we stop, as usual, at the road sign of a new state to take a picture: Georgia. Our 16^th state so far with more than 15000 km. This is the last picture we take together on this road trip. The next day, as we’re riding down the US 80 through Alabama, a woman will not stop at the stop sign while getting off the interstate. She’ll hit me and Chaton in the right side, destroying most of my beloved Brixton and sending me to the hospital with a broken finger and a double fracture in the right leg. After surgery and a week in the hospital, I’ll be flown back to Europe, to pursue my recovery at home.

I won’t lie and say it was easy. Due to the double fracture, I had to learn how to use my leg from scratch. There’s something bewildering in having to learn to walk again, as if you’ve travelled back in time to your childhood days. But I can’t ignore the fact that I was lucky. Lucky to get away when it could have been so much worse, and lucky for all the loving family and friends who were there for me after the accident.

Fast forward a couple of months. I’ve started a new job, settled somewhere new, made new friends… Of course, I still think about the accident. What could have been different… But what ifs don’t take you anywhere. I rode down my path, crossed most of North America with Chaton and it led me, not as expected to South America, but to you dear reader. And I couldn’t be more thankful for it. And of course, it also led me, thanks to the amazing Brixton team, to Chaton 2.0. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Copyright: Pierre (@lilium_eleven)

The story of Joanne’s pan-American roadtrip came to a sudden and sad end but now she is able to experience even more adventures with her new Brixton called Chaton 2.0.
Thank you, Joanne, for providing us with the amazing stories of this exciting trip. We wish you all the best, see you soon!

If you have also an awesome story to tell, then please let us know via marketing@brixton-motorcycles.com – we are always happy to share the stories of you and your Brixtons exploring the world.

Who’s ready for a new adventure?

All Episodes:

Part 1: Finding the right bike
Part 2: Canada and Jasper National Park
Part 3: The Icefields Parkway 
Part 4: The Okanagan Valley
Part 5: Vancouver and the Sea-to-Sky Highway
Part 6: US 101, Washington and Oregon
Part 7: Idaho & Montana, the Lewis & Clark Highway to Denver
Part 8: Denver
Part 9: Kansas City
Part 10: Nashville & Memphis
Part 11: Halloween in New Orleans
Part 12: Miami & the Keys
Part 13: St Augustine & Cape Canaveral

Make sure to follow Joanne and her Dad on her route:

Instagram WheelsOnRoadHoles: @wheelsonroadholes/
Instagram Joanne:@jo_lmk/
Instagram: Christian, her dad:@worldwidebiker/
Website: https://wheelsonroadholes.com