I agree with ya Dave 100%...I just hate when some holier than thou asshat comes into my house and wants to preach to me...I'm a big boy and I don't need Uncle Obama telling me what to put on my head...or not put on my head...

 

Hello gents,

I am from Detroit area, but hope to move to Orlando area in a couple years. I know this isn't related to the thread, but was very curious about what Jaystronghawk had said about staying the hell out of downtown Orlando. Is it really horrible to ride around downtown Orlando?

 

The road we took led us right through Downtown on Main Street. It was not that bad, Just a lot of Stop and Go. No worse than any other downtown city. Where you Looking at in the Orlando area? I live about 30 miles west.

 

Certainly no worse than Detroit I would guess.

 

Compared to Detroit Orlando is heaven. It is all relative. Orlando sucks compared to the surrounding backroads. Look us up when you get here. We would love to ride with you.

 

Cool, so the surrounding backroads are nice from the sounds of it. To answer your question Dave, I've not a clue at this point. My wife (who does not participate in this part of my life, but is a very good woman) and I are both nurses. I would love to move to East TN or Nashville, but she will have no part of it and we both need to be happy. Aside from that, nurses make at least 5 or 6 bucks less in TN. She loves Disney world and the weather and had toyed with the idea of moving to FL before we ever met/married. We both were hardcore ER nurses at diff hospitals in the Detroit area - I was actually down in the **** downtown for a time. She's now recovery room and I've moved onto research in emergency medicine - sounds fancy, but it ain't. We are thinking we could seriously look to move in 2 years, but we need to find a good, or a couple of good, hospital systems - if one were attached to the university of Orlando that would be perfect. I've got a lot of homework to do.

Anywho, I've lived in Flint and I've lived in Detroit and you guys are right on. You better have on a clean pair of underwear if you're gonna ride downtown in either of those cities. A buddy of mine thought riding down saginaw rd, coming back down from an expo we rode to up in Birch Run on a 45 degree day, would be nice. It didn't occur to me it was the same saginaw road that goes right through the heart of Flint's armpit. Imagine starting out in a relatively nice suburb/semi-rural area just rollin down the road minding your own business, then starting to notice things are not looking quite right - like 30 black people looking at you like you're about to experience a different version of a scene out of Deliverence. This was happening at about every other light. My buddy was like, "I'm more scared than rollin through Detroit." Yelling over my monster. I'm thinking, why don't you yell that a little bit louder so all of these nice people can hear you. The funny thing is, around here (Detroit proper) if you're on a loud beefy Harley with apes people seem to be like, "He's a-ight." and give you a nod or something. I've come to terms with my geographical location and make the best of it, as you can see in the few pics I've uploaded to my profile. That being said, if I could ride year round or close to it in wonderful weather, and have my wife be happy with where we live? . . . that's the lottery right there son.

You guys seem like a real nice and friendly group - thanks. Sorry for sharing my life story with y'all, but I couldn't stop typin'. I'll just be up here freezing my a$$ off and planning my next upgrade to sweet sally while you guys are actually riding. I'll keep an eye on your group and say hey if I actually get to making a move. Shiny side up.

Ziggy

 

Easy answer: Because some states make you. I wear a NON-DOT helmet everywhere I ride. Went down last summer on a curve when I found some sand. Head hit pretty hard, hard enough to put some nice gouges in the helmet. Guess what! My NON-DOT helmet stayed on my head (probably didn't pass any strap tests) and I didn't even have a headache. If you want to wear a huge DOT Approved helmet on your head then have at it. It's my choice what I wear and if I could get away with it I wouldn't wear one at all.

 

I should have been a little more detailed with my post. I was inquiring due to the fact that I am active duty Army and required to wear a DOT approved brain bucket when I ride. I was hoping that the company might have a smaller, lighter version that was DOT approved. Those helmets look sexy but until I retire, I gotta stick to what Uncle Sam tells me to do. Thanks for the info.

 

I hear ya about Uncle Sam and riding gear. Since I retired last January I only wear everything when I go on base. Otherwise it depends on my mood. Hang in there it'll all be over soon and things will go back to Normal for you.

 

Thanks for the heads up Dave. I'm going to get one next time I'm in the Orlando area.