Club Ride - September 19, 2009 - The British are Coming...

...Actually, they're here! Our usual weekly club ride was spiced up a bit by the presence of Brian and Anne Collins who are in Florida on Vacation from England.  Brian is a member of Blue Knights chapter England VI and that's the short version of how he and his lovely wife came to be tagging along on our ride.  Kudos go out to Eddie for loaning Brian and Anne his Gold Wing so that they could participate in our outing, which was a nice cross-country run to Homosassa Springs.

Here's a shot of Glenn giving our guests their pre-breakfast briefing that I am sure included a full explanation (at least from a Yankee's viewpoint) of what grits are all about and how to eat them:



The day started as they usually do...breakfast at Snellgrove's. Eddie was in fine form and waited a full 30-seconds before shouting out at the top of his lungs that he was hungry:



JT assisted our guests in understanding the finer points of a Southern breakfast:



Brian told JT that since he was a hungry bloke this morning, he would have four grits!:



Here are our guests, Anne and Brian, about to suit up for the ride:



Brian's and Anne's respective Blue Knights vest back patches:

  

Here we are down the road a piece, waiting for JT to catch up with us in Zephyrhills. That's Brian and Anne in the foreground on Eddie's Wing:



Doc and Peggy joined us for today's ride. Nice to have you guys along!!!:



I have no idea what "Big Ed" and "Stats" were talking about, but it looked like an intense conversation; so much so that "Stats" had to keep him helmet on!!!:



At our first rest stop, Brian regaled us with scary tales of how the populace of England are largely stripped of firearms and can't defend themselves like we can here in the good old USA. Just look at those faces gathered around Brian; you can tell they were taking this discussion quite seriously:



Based upon Brian's recounting of his experience at encountering firearms in the line of duty, we quickly realized there were more firearms being carried in this crowd that Brian has seen as a copper in England:



While the rest of the group was busy with the whole self-defense discussion, I discovered evidence that people of great taste and distinction hang out behind this particular convenience store:



Back on the road, Brian and Anne really seemed to be enjoying the ride:



Arriving at the Yulee sugar mill ruins, Glenn promptly entered test pilot mode and found that mud can be slicker than owl snot; his Wing went right out from under him. Of course he didn't wait long enough for me to get stopped and power-up the camera so I could get a shot of it lying on its side, so this shot of Glenn righting the Wing will have to suffice:



Just look at that horrible scratch Glenn's bike put in the nice, fresh, owl-snot-slick mud! I hope the State of Florida doesn't send him a bill for messing up their park mud! Oh, and notice the bent-up highway peg; that's an easy fix with an allen wrench:



Across the street at the ruins, Eddie regaled us with tales of how he stoked the furnace back in 1850, when he was just a lad:



Brian and Anne pointed out that they have inhabited homes in their neighborhood that are older than these "ruins":



Once at the Riverside Crab House in Homosassa Springs, we discovered they were giving free boat rides around Monkey Island, so some of us took them up on the opportunity:



Captain Frank wouldn't let JT on the boat so he had to wave us adieu from the dock:



It was the 18th birthday of Ebony, one of the monkeys on the island, and the restaurant was having a big party for to celebrate the occasion:



Yes, there are really monkeys on the island, five of them in total:





Doc thought he saw a manatee...or was it a mermaid?:



Brian and Anne sampled the local version of fish-and-chips; I got the impression that they weren't overly impressed:



Eddie and Doc opted for the softshell crab sandwich. That's a breaded and deep-fried whole crab served on a hamburger bun with all the fixin's; according to Eddie, it's the entire crab in that golden, greasy crust, and you eat the whole thing...hair, teeth, and eyeballs!!!:



During lunch, Brian was kind enough to teach me some proper Queen's English. I learned such valuable terms as: "Taking a Piss"; "Dirty Weekend"; "Popped his clogs"; "Bloke"; and more. I had great fun stringing these terms together into sentence form, which only caused Brian to allege that I was "Taking a piss" at his expense!!!:



After lunch it was the run for home. We had a great ride and great interaction with our guests. I must say it was very nice to meet Brian and Anne, as they are just quality folk who are a delight to be around. It was also nice to have the commonality of Blue Knights membership between us, even though our daily lives are separated by the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean.  It was clear that everyone else enjoyed meeting and interacting with Anne and Brian, and I only hope they found us similarly enjoyable. By the end of the day we were all talking about getting together with them on their next trip across the "pond".

So, that's it, another great ride in the books and some new friends added to the inventory of our lives. All-in-all a pretty good day!

Club Ride - September 5, 2009 - Orange Groves and Turkeys Running Wild

Our weekly club ride started out in the usual way and with a big crowd of bikes and riders showing up for breakfast. After enjoying the morning meal and some good conversation, a bunch of us headed out to crisscross the center of the state in a rambling pattern of wandering that culminated in our arrival at the famous and fabulous Wild Turkey Tavern, located in the southern suburbs of Avon Park.

Here's a shot of us making tracks out of Plant City as we make our way south on SR 39; by the way, I did a lot of over-the-shoulder photography during this ride, so please bear with me:



Our travels took us over to Agricola Mine Road where we all enjoyed the challenging assortment of curves to be found on the eastern end of that road:











Of course, Mr. Sarcasm had to make the run more than once. Here he is headed west to do it all over again:



Leaving Agricola Mine Road behind, we headed east toward Ft. Meade:



Just as you come into Ft. Meade from the west, they have this old mine train on display at their town museum:



The train is on display just across the highway from the old Ft. Meade train station:



The train and the train station are just a few blocks west of the city hall where they have a nice flag rotunda, complete with cannon:



Our arrival in Ft. Meade was the culmination of a 60-mile leg of riding, so it was time for a short break at the Sunoco gas station:



From Ft. Meade we headed east-by-southeast as we moved ever deeper into the center portions of the great state of Florida:



There were plenty of nice views of the surrounding orange groves, woodlands, lakes, and even a few sweepers to keep things interesting:



Here's a nice shot from mid-pack as we motor along somewhere close to the outskirts of Avon Park...the far east side of the outskirts of Avon Park, I might add:



That's Kent aboard the motorcycle formerly known as "Red Velvet":



And here's a rare shot of Mr. Sarcasm and "Max" actually going slow enough not to be blurry:



Stats seemed to be enjoying the ride as we motored south along US 27 into the bowels of Avon Park's most congested environs:



After nearly three hours of really great riding, we arrived at our destination:



The fake dinosaur is still chained to the sign out by the highway:



Once inside, Mr. Sarcasm tried to act like he wasn't part of our group; probably a smart ploy on his part. Too bad it didn't work:



Preacher and Big Ed were ready for some good grub...that or plotting their escape before things got too wild in the old Wild Turkey Tavern:



Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrr!!! Don't be too scared...it's stuffed:



This sign could be a metaphor for some of our rides:



After a great lunch, we were back on the road and headed toward home with Gunny in the lead:



The fellas were lined up like ducklings behind Gunny...wait a minute...so was I!!!:



The landscape changed from orange groves and rolling hills to flat scrub land and pine forests as we headed west:



Tucked in tight behind Gunny like a fighter on the tail of a lumbering bomber...Check six!!! Check six!!!:



Sorry, Gunny, you can't out turn this fighter pilot...:



Since I hardly ever include a photo of myself on this blog I thought now might be a good time to do so:



Back in civilization, we were promptly cutoff and halted by a passing train:



So there we sat, like desperadoes waiting for a train:



Out on SR 60 and headed west, we encountered this semi hauling phosphate stuff:



The truck was driving along just fine and not bothering anybody...I just don't like to ride beside them and their big ol' wheels for too long at a stretch:



Eddie was just chillin' and enjoying the last few miles of the day's ride:



That's it for this week's ride report. All in all a great day of riding and seeing the countryside. Kudos to Gunny for another superlative job of ride planning.