Club Ride - August 15, 2009 - Hayseeds and Hills

We had another great turnout for breakfast this week with 12 people in attendance. Following the usual routines of food, conversation, and banter we mounted up and headed north-by-northeast out of Plant City with seven bikes along for the full ride. Winding our way over into Polk County we made out way back to the northwest and into Pasco County in short order. Before the day was over we ended up in Hernando County, Lake County, and whatever county Webster (home of the famous flea market) is in, before heading south and back toward home via Slone's Ridge and Green Pond Road. This was another great day of riding, enjoying our bikes, and hanging out with good friends.  Here's the day in photos and snarky comments:

Not even one mile down the road and we're already waiting on stragglers...darned traffic lights!!!:



As usual, Glenn took us on all the best country roads in all of the areas we traveled:



JT brought up the rear as tail-gunner:



I am still breaking-in the now heavily farkled V-Strom:



Our first stop was at the Hess gas station just outside Brooksville:



Speaking of the heavily farkled V-Strom, here she is sporting new Givi boxes, crash bars, highway pegs, centerstand, and windshield bracket:



Eddie did his famous "bear pees in the woods" impression because...:



...he didn't want to walk the 20 steps over to the modern, air-conditioned restroom facilities in the store:



Despite a lot of heavy rainfall the past few months, things are still a bit on the dry side:



We were almost eaten alive by this monstrous spider we spotted hanging around just inches from our parked bikes:



Bob and Boyd were debating some obscure motorcycle statistic or factoid...that or deciding who would be sacrificed to the giant, biker-eating killer spider from hell:



"Semi-live long and prosper, photographer dude":



We made our way over to Webster, FL, for lunch at Hayseed's Cafe:



Hayseed's is a buffet joint and the fellas took full advantage of that dining strategy:











I did not partake of the buffet scene and spent my time taking photographs and generally looking the place over. Then I made the mistake of sitting down at the table with the fellas after this photo was snapped. For my carelessness (sitting down, I guess) I was presented with a full bill for the buffet rather than the diet soda I had actually ordered. It took a special dispensation from the management to get this little error straightened out:



All of the fellas that did imbibe the buffet said that the food was very tasty and the consensus was that it would be worthy of a return visit.  Here are some interior shots of Hayseed's lobby area:





After such a heavy lunch, there is nothing better than sittin' a spell on the front porch:



After lunch we worked our way south and then turned east on SR 50:



Rainstorms were all around us, but we managed to stay dry for the entire ride:



Turning south off of SR50 we made our way into the back-country of Slone's Ridge...:



...where the curves are plentiful and the centerline is just a suggestion...:



...for riders and photographers:



There is a lot of pretty and open country in Slone's Ridge:





On Green Pond Road I stopped to take a few photos, including this beauty shot of the V-Strom...:



...and the one-lane wooden bridge over some creek I don't know too much about:



Here's a shot of Eddie and JT crossing that bridge:



Looking south down the creek that the bridge crosses. The barb-wire fence is there to keep cattle in the pastures along the creek when it is dry:



That's it for this ride report. By the time I caught up with the group at the end of Green Pond Road, Boyd had already headed for home and the rest of us followed suit soon thereafter. It was another great day of riding and touring the countryside of central Florida. I am already looking forward to the next outing!

Club Ride - August 8, 2009 - The long way to nowhere

Another Saturday, another club ride. We started in the usual way at the usual place with the usual people. Then, quite suddenly, things got interesting as more and more people on more and more bikes began to show up and before you knew it there was a slew of people and a mess of bikes. Now, for those of you that don't know any better, "slew" and "mess" are Southern for "a lot".  To give you an idea of how these terms are applied, I counted 17 people sitting around the cobbled together breakfast tables and at least 16 bikes in our parking spaces.  And yes, they are OUR parking spaces...at least on Saturday mornings between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.!

Over at the restaurant we found our usual table occupied by a model railroading club. We weren't happy about being displaced, but everyone knows how tough model railroaders are, so we decided to forgive their trespass and make other seating arrangements. It all worked out, but it certainly got interesting as we tried to cram 17 people into a space meant for more like eight.

During the breakfast routine Kyle showed us his application for lifetime membership in the Blue Knights, which was quickly approved:



Just in case you're wondering, Kyle said he had to sit still for two hours to get that thing done...and, yes, he is old enough to do things like this to himself if he so chooses!



With breakfast over we embarked upon a ride that Gunny promised would cover roughly 180 miles without ever taking us more than 35 miles from home.

Here's the front half of the entourage gathering up to depart the staging area. If you look closely you'll see three new V-Strom DL1000s in this photo:



And here's a shot of the back half of the entourage staging for departure:



Our first turn was to the south where we executed a modified version of last week's Country Roads Ride. You'll recognize the countryside in the first few shots, but take a look at all those motorcycles!!!





Eddie is such a ham:



Look closely: those spots you see are not specs of dirt on my camera lens, that's a swarm of man-eating vampire dragonflies that ambushed us at the intersection of Jameson Rd and SR 39...we were lucky to have survived this unprovoked attack!:



You can just see the look of terror on the guys faces as they sit stranded at the stop sign in the midst of that swarm of killer dragonflies:



After winding our way around southern Hillsborough County for a bit, we stopped at the store in Fort Lonesome for a break:



For some inexplicable reason, Paul hid his Harley behind the trash dumpster:



Back on the road, Bob was waving hello to the camera every time I raised it up for a shot:



Crossing over into Polk County, we made our way along Agricola Mine Road, which is always a favorite with the group because of the series of 90-degree turns at its eastern end. Here is the bulk of the group waiting where Agricola ends at 555 while some of us make more than one pass on the curves:



Here's the group headed north on CR 555 just south of Bartow:



After a lot more riding around the uncharted countryside and twisting along just about every curve in western Polk County, we ended up at Mojo's in Lakeland for lunch. Even with all the dropouts that occurred along the way, we still had 12 people in the group at this point. Oh, and in case you're wondering, that's the GEICO version of me in the left foreground:



Here's my close-up so you can get a better look:



Eddie said, "Cheers to you Mr. GEICO-lookalike dude:



Bob was wondering how my GEICO-self was going to drink that diet coke:



The view from the other end of the table:



Not everyone was participating in the table conversations, which may have been a smart thing...a very smart thing:



After lunch it was a quick visit to the Fun Bike Center motorcycle shop for window shopping and what not (another Southern term!). From the bike shop, most of the riders headed for home. However, being the gluttons for punishment that we are, Gunny, Mr. Sarcasm, and myself headed north to Green Pond Road via a bunch of detours, twists, turns, and other deviations.

Another great day of riding was had by all. Special props to Gunny for putting together a really enjoyable and interesting ride route for the day; he really is good at finding all the curvy back roads in our area and that makes for good riding.