The first part of the journey started out on a spectacular Birmingham day, leaving work early on a Thursday afternoon, sunny, and the prospect of a 1/2 day of questionable weather did not hamper our ride. We arrived in Troy, AL shortly after dark, and had Mexican, margaritas and a good conversation before retiring to the home of our first host and additional rider, Richard.
After waking the next morning, we rode out in the cool morning air all the way to Tallahassee, when we encountered our first drops of rain. It appeared that we might get wet, so I suggested that 11:30 might be a good time to find shelter and a burger while this little storm "blows over".
Well after an hour of eating and discussing the fact the weather had not blown over yet, we decided to get back on the road and get a bit closer, then determine what the weather would do.
What the weather would do
Well, that was the trick now. Weather is a funny thing, especially when you have to ride 10 hours in the rain.......funny. Notice the recreation of the actual view from a bike in the rain to the right. After several stops we wound up in Crystal River, home of large
population of manatees. We found vacant covered flea market large enough to hold our bikes, gear, and soaking, prune-swollen carcasses. Of course we enjoyed the hour of dryer, motionless and safe tables the market provided.When we arrived in St. Cloud, as I predicted, the skies cleared as we came off the turnpike........10 hours of rain, and we pull in to nice weather as we get off the bikes.
I can't remember a shower ever feeling so good.
The ride over to Daytona
The next day was blue sky, and very windy gusts as we drove over to the coast. A fantastic day for a ride, down country roads, across pastures and flatlands. As we rolled into Daytona, you could feel the energy as the ratio of bikes to cars rose to 1:1. We rolled over the bridge in only 40 minutes, ready to get into something, mainly a beer.
We parked as soon as we got across the bridge to get into the mix, and keep the bikes from overheating. Got back out on Main St. and started looking for trouble. Lots of things to see, just ran out of time to capture it all. See the slideshow below.
It was still worth the ride down, even in the rain, and will do it again, maybe for BiketoberFest?
Tragically, the next morning, one of our group - William "Bill" Bills died in his sleep after the ride. I did not know Bill well, but I enjoyed his company that day, and I was glad to have shared his last ride with him. My condolences to his family.
0 comments:
Post a Comment