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I stay at the Hampton on Corkscrew Road { Estero , exit 123). Mexican joint across the road ( Mr. Tequilla ) is real good. The Drury on Alico is also real nice with tons of food options within walking distance.
First off, Thanks guys for all the advice. Got back to Chicago around midnight last night.
Day 1: We got to bike storage around noon. Tried to head up towards Clearwater, and got discouraged with the traffic. We stopped at the Oxbow Bar and Grill in Ft Meyers for a beverage and to figure out where to. We decided to head south to avoid traffic and took 41S over to the Bonita Beach balloon bar and grill. From here we took 41S to Collier Blvd into Marco Island. We arrived at the sunset grille in time to catch the sunset, and decided we would stop here for the night, as it had been a long day with 3am wake up and early departure flight. We ended up staying at Marco Island lakeside inn. The 2 room suite was clean and nice, and cheap! Parked the bikes and walked over to the sandbar to grab a few beers.
Day 2: We decided that we wanted to log more miles than day1, so I planned to ride the Tamiami over to Miami, and then up the coast. We were warned that the traffic was awful near Miami, but we decided to try our luck and go for it. We blasted across the state to Petersons HD in Miami. It was so cold I ended up buying a jacket. I did not need to wear it long, as the speed of travel decreased GREATLY once on the east coast. We were on the hunt for the best cuban sandwiches, so we decided to pick a location off the top14 list I found online, and we hit Havana Harrys. Excellent sandwich! After lunch we continued up us1 and jumped on A1A in hopes of seeing some interesting stuff. Traffic was INSANE. At one point we decided to split lanes, or we may still be stuck in gridlock. We stopped in fort lauderdale and The Den for a beverage and to determine where we wanted to end up for the night. We decided on Pompano Beach, and set our sights on the Tru by Hilton. Great Hotel, steps from the beach, and steps from a great beach bar, Lucky Fish.
Day 3: We headed west out of Pompano Beach, and then took 27 N towards Lake Okeechobee. We took 441 up to the top of the lake, and grabbed lunch at the Good Spirits liquors and lounge. Nice little tiki bar and good food. From there we decided to head to Rockstar HD to grab a T shirt. Then back to the storage unit to tuck the bikes away until next trip.
Overall, we had a good time. I think we will focus on not crushing miles or the quality of the rides/roads, but the great weather and stopping and enjoying the area. Next trip down we intend to have the wives along, and will be doing the tamiami over towards homestead and then south to Key West to hang out and enjoy the weather for a couple days.
BTW my ride stats on day 2 were skewed as I forgot to start and stop the recording when we took breaks. I also forgot to start it until we were on the road in the morning.
I noticed EVERY bike sitting outside at Rockstar HD had rust on the front rotor hardware, and many had the chrome acorn bolt for the mirrors was heavily rusted. The salesmen said these bikes sit outside, as they are used.
Many of them looked close to new, and or were late model bikes with rust.
Should I be concerned about our bikes developing rust during their winter visit to FL?
Humidity down here is a bitch, so I'd make sure to keep that in consideration. Maybe a few of those moisture collecting buckets around the bikes before you leave...
Humidity and salt air is a killer for chrome down here. Doesn't matter if its garage kept and covered, you will start to see a haze develop on your chrome. I've tried chrome polish, wax, even a protectant for metal called Shark Hide....don't ask me how that turned out. lol Short of wiping the chrome down with WD-40 if your going to store it not sure what else to do.
Rockstar Harley leaves all their used bikes outside....continuously. Heat of the summer, rain, they all sit there. Right now, they are not selling a lot of bikes; so they sit their for a while. But in their defense, most Harley dealers down here leave the used bikes outside.
We just returned from another fun weekend of riding in Florida. We made the trek down to Key West. Great trip overall. We flew into Ft Meyers Thursday night, and met some friends at the Millers ale house near the airport. We stayed at the Residence Inn Ft Meyers at I75 and Gulf Coast town Center. Hotel was newly renovated and a great value for the price! I was able to book with points so no cost to us. Friday morning we were at the storage unit by 10:30 and the third couple arrived from the airport within minutes of us. We took off with the intention of making many stops along the way, as the girls expressed concerns over riding long distances between stops. First stop was the Snook Inn in Marco Island for a "quick" lunch. Nothing is quick with 6 people...just the way it goes. Hopefully we can dial in our stopping time in the future, as it adds up and really delays the arrival.
From Marco we took 41 across again. I wont do this again... It slows you down a lot getting caught behind traffic, and often I would get around the traffic and then have to wait on the group to do the same and catch up to me. We stopped once going across 41 at a rest area, and then again in homestead. Both of these stops was for a quick stretch and water. At some point my buddy mentioned trying to see sunset in key west. I knew we would not make it, but we could possibly make it to sunset grille in Marathon if we pushed hard. That didn't happen, we ended up catching the sunset as we rode. We hopped onto the 7 mile bridge about 20 min after sunset and pulled into KW at about 7:30. We stayed at the Parrot Key Resort. Not bad, but kind of pricey.
We were only in KW for two nights, and one full day. We were kickstands up at 8:30am Sunday in order to make it back to catch flights Sunday evening. Although google maps shows 41 taking only 30-45 min longer than 75, it was much much quicker coming back Sunday on 75 than it was taking 41 across. Fun weekend. Lots of laughs, miles, beers, food, and a few new tattoos for some of the group. Here is a few pics from our weekend. The route south My bike... Todd's Bike... Sean's bike.. Cheers! Sunset in Key West
Great pics! The WD40 wipedown is a great idea...the salt deposits on everything very quickly and kills the finish. One of my bikes looks like it was ridden on A1A (along the beach) then parked for years. Tons of green fleck corrosion.
