Glad to read you enjoyed the trip.

The MTPM and travels plan have been updated.

 

for Palatka today. it should burn off by 9 AM, but still...in case it hasn't be carefull!

 

I mEt Eddy, Rick, And Jeff for the trade-off in Palatka this AM....Great ride dowN to the Cheyenne...great RIDING WEATHER TO Palatka but a little toasty north of Bostwick...ALOT TOASTY in Green Cove Springs eating wings with EDDY....dang they were hot....

 

Shoot, zI'm home in the A/C and it's still hot!

 

Got it will be at dd at noon

 

A great day, Sept. 1, 2012, with the Mascot at the Cheyenne Saloon in Palatka, Florida. Have fun tomorrow at Destination Daytona.

 

God is spelled with 2 t's in Deutch (Gott).

Why didn't anyone tell me he was part of the Crew!? Now I don't know what to wear for the handoff tomorrow!!

 

Come naked so "HE" will recognize you.

 

Sunday, 2 Sept:

Left the house at 1015 to try and arrive at Destination HD a little early. Had some shopping to do in J&P and figured I could get it out of the way before The Crew arrived for the handoff. Took the slab (I-95) north from Melbourne to save some time. Beautiful day for riding; temps in the low 80s, partly cloudy, but only enough to keep the sun from being a nuisance. Got passed by a group of 8 or 10 riders...I was doing 75 and just enjoying the ride. Got to Destination HD and was wondering where to park when I see this group standing around a table with a big banner on it...oh well, there goes my grand plans for shopping early LOL.

Met quite a few of the The Crew of which I only got 3 names; there was no way I was going to remember the 50 people who were handing off...ok, maybe there were only 5 or 6, but still...The ones I was able to spare beer battered brain cells to remember were JaxHarleyRdr, Harvey, and Tom T-Bird. After the obligatory photo-op and official signing of the Mascot, some of us chatted for a bit, while the others shopped.

Here's Tom T-Bird and Harvey.



After about half and hour the party broke up, with Harvey offering to lead the way on a ride of the Loop, which I had not done before. It was quite a nice ride out through the swamps and woods, seeing people fishing and Kayaking in the streams and bayous, out to Flagler beach and nice ride north along the ocean...a lot of people were taking advantage of a the beautiful weather and swimming, surfing, and fishing. JaxHarleyRdr was hungry and I hadn't eaten, so he suggested the 2 of us break off and head into Finns, where we had a nice lunch and a beer on the upstairs balcony overlooking the beach.

After parting ways, I decided to head south along US1 rather than back down I-95. After getting past Daytona I'm glad I had called ahead to the governor and had him stop any other traffic on US1 south...well it seemed that way anyway . I ran into almost no traffic until Rockledge. What a nice ride with not having to worry about the random cager out texting away!

Arrived back in the garage about 1715, 217 miles. It was nice to meet all you guys, even if I can't remember all of who was whom. Harvey, thanks for introducing me to the Loop. Eddie, thanks for suggesting Finns.

Great day!

Wednesday, 5 Sept:

Got out of work at 1600, rode home to walk and feed the dog, then back on I-95, this time headed south to meet up with Wakko47 at the junction of I-95 and the Florida Turnpike.

I got as far south as Palmbay and decided the ugly dark blue clouds I was staring at warranted a change of attire. So, I pulled over, rummaged through my saddlebags and brought out my rain gear. Got it on and headed out again. 10 minutes later and I was riding through a thunderstorm...I'll tell you what, lightening is quite the attention getter!

I soldiered on though and got in behind a couple of vehicles that had slowed down a bit, deciding those coming up behind me would be more apt to see the car's tail lights along with my own and slow down, rather than just mush me into a puddle. My rain gear did its job well, but no amount of rain gear will keep you dry once a river starts running down your neck. I felt it slowly working its way down my chest; of course my gloves had long since soaked through. Had the interesting experience of riding through standing water at 60 mph, not once, but 3 times. Talk about a puker factor LOL!

The rain stopped a couple minutes before I arrived at the handoff point, but started up again, once I was parked at a Wendy's, so I went in, sat down and waited for Wakko47 to arrive. I was beginning to think he may have been caught in a tidal wave and drowned when he pulled in.

We chatted about friends, bikes, and the peculiarness of wives. Then I handed over "the package", instructed Wakko on the finer points of shipping precious cargo (no, it won't fit in your fork bag), took a couple pics and we parted ways to go back out into the second flood.

Wakko47 taking the handoff.



It stayed mercifully rain free for most of my ride back north, except for a bit just before I arrived. I found there are drawbacks to rain gear that breathes; such as the fact that if you are already wet, breathable rain gear lets in enough air to make you quite cool at 70 mph LOL.

Added another 150 miles to the bike. Wet or dry, though, at least I was riding

 

Lyttuch and I braved the monsoons, hurricane force winds, and two feet of flooding to continue the mascot's movement south.

I'm not sure if riding in the horrendous rain makes me stupid or hard core. At 50mph on the Turnpike, cars were lined up on the side of the road waiting it out, cars that WERE driving were going slower than me (with their hazards on) and I'm sure folks were looking at me and saying "Wow, I wish I was on a Harley!" I swear I thought I was gonna hydroplane and drop the damn bike, but my guardian angel took care of me. Rain suit worked pretty well too...but wet harness boots make kickstands VERY difficult to deploy.

Anyway, I've got it in Delray. Keys on Saturday!