The ride down was one of the best I ever have taken.
From the weather to the people I meet it was faultless.
I meet a kid on a Kawasaki Ninja who was riding from Maine to Texas.
The bike fit him and it was great talking to a rocket rider who actually got what riding is about and not one of those speed racing, wheelie popin, crazy guys you always see on those bikes.
In North Carolina I meet a man riding a 99 Road Star who was riding from Charlotte, N.C. to South Bend Indiana in one day, yep he was an Iron Butt and one hell of a great guy. I wish I took a picture of his bike because it was so unique and personalized, from the home made cup holder to the passenger hi-way bars it fit the Yamaha saying “We make it, You make it your own” to a tee.
I also meet a BMW rider who told me he had just finished the 4 Corner ride.
If you’re not familiar with it you start in a corner state and ride around the country going from one corner to the next. He had started in Maine went to Florida then California, Washington and back to Maine. I don’t know how long it took him but the idea that he did it was impressive to me.
Going through South Carolina and the upper part of Georgia I passed one biker about 5 times. It seemed like every time I would pull into a rest area or get gas he would get in front of me and I would end up passing him. I never noticed where he was from, but I did notice he was enjoying the hell out of his ride. He was around my age I guess and was riding an older Harley three wheeler. He was rough looking in a friendly (to me) kind of way. Every time I passed him he would wave with a big smile on his face that I don’t think ever went away. I would naturally wave back and after the second time I passed him it felt like I was passing an old friend.
When I arrived in Florida I went to Spacer’s house. Let me give you a little warning here. When ever any one in Florida gives you directions to their house and they start with “when you leave the hard road” be afraid, be very afraid 
. That was on Monday.
On Tuesday after I spent 2 hours cleaning my bike, Spacer came home and informed me we where leaving to go to Bonko Bob’s place in Plant City which is around 175 miles south from where we where. In the time it took us to load up it rained, I mean down poured 3 times. The 4 roads we had to take to get to the hard road went from a sand crushed seashell mix to a slurry similar to wet concrete. Do I need to tell you the bike wasn’t clean no more and in fact stayed real dirty till I got home.
The ride down to Plant City was uneventful I guess for me and Spacer. When we stopped for a cig. or something to drink, it would downpour but it seemed we always parked on the right side of a building or wind break and never got wet. I owe a lot to Spacer. It was when he visited in the spring of 05 and I rode his Harley around my house to load in his truck that I knew I was ready to ride again. It was when he came up in May and we rode together for the first time in 30+ years that I decided to go on this trip to Florida. He got me involved in the Crew as a full ‘Original N.Y.’ member after being an honorary member for 38 years.
I was 18 when I first meet Spacer. My first wife had just left me and a friend said he knew someone who needed a place to stay. I had a 2 bedroom house so I said ok. Well in walked Spacer and my life changed forever. He was and is my Sensi and has taught me more about life then anyone else. Spacer is in his early 60’s and has been riding for more then 40 years. Riding with him is an honor and special to me, and it always will be.
After we arrived at Bob’s Sidecar Willie showed up. He rode 100 miles through Tropical Storm Fay on his old Virago. When I say old it was a first year production bike with a serial number of 5.
Plus it had flames painted on the gas tank so it would go fast ;-).
Sidecar Willies Virago - click image for larger view
That’s my Road Star in the rear to the left and Bob’s Vulcan to the right rear.
Willie is, well Willie. There’s no one like him and I mean that in a good way. His latest venture is Unimotorcycle racing and he is the founder of A.N.U.S. or the American National Unimotorcycle Society. He’s another one who has been riding for over 40 years and as he mentioned to me wasn’t really happy unless he was riding his bike. Riding with Willie is always a lot of fun and you never really know where you’ll end up. Whenever Willie asked if I wanted to go for a ride I was ready.
Problem was Tropical Storm Fay wasn’t always ready to let us ride so we didn’t get out as much as we wanted.
On Weds. we had a little party at Bob’s. Grumpy was in town from NY and him and Commander Ed showed up for a little while but because of the weather they decided not to ride. Willie and I where able to get out for a ride earlier in the day and ended up getting an awesome Strawberry Milkshake. When you’re in the Strawberry capital of the US you know you’re getting a good strawberry shake.
I can’t talk about food without telling you about Bob’s wife Terry. She was born and raised in Florida and is a true southern lady. She is also one fantastic cook and every meal she made was an experience in good eating. She started Tuesday evening with Chicken Marsala and went to biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast the next day. From there it was pulled pork Weds. and Thursday with different delicious sides. On Friday she added some barbecue sauce and made some baked beans and potato salad. I was in heaven at every meal and if I don’t ever have another reason to go back to Florida having one of her home cooked meals would be all the reason I need.
On Saturday the weather finally cleared up enough for Willie and I to ride over to Deland. There we ate at this Chinese Buffet where it was $3.95 for the all you can eat lunch buffet and $5.95 for the dinner buffet. Everything I tried was great and the Spinach Pies where like eating a meal and dessert at the same time. The blend of flavors where spot on and I ended up eating at least 10 of the pies.
From there we went to visit Tiny. Tiny was an old sorta girlfriend and to say it was great seeing her again would be an understatement. I was going to go to Willies place with him from there, but Willie lives in a swamp and when I saw him putting on knee high rubber boots and rubber rain paints I decided to ride down to Orlando and visit my daughter. I had Tiny’s phone number written down and told her I would call her the next day when I left Orlando. Problem with that was I left the paper at her house 
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Well I’ll continue the story later. Stay tuned for my visit with my daughter and more.
