Club Ride - March 19, 2011 - Ozello Trail

This morning the usual cast of characters met for breakfast and then embarked upon a ride to Ozello, FL, where we were anxious to savor the twisty treat that is the Ozello Trail.  This ride was a special request from Lloyd, as it may well be his last ride; he is selling his Gold Wing and getting out of the motorcycling game in favor of other pursuits. Fittingly, we had fabulous weather, good roads and scenery, and a great experience on the Ozello Trail. If this is indeed Lloyd's last ride, he picked a good one upon which to call it quits.

At our first "comfort stop" the cell phones came out very quickly, as is usually the case:



Eddie looked upon all the cell phone usage with his usual blend of disdain and derision:



Lloyd just chuckled to himself as he took in the scene:



Our travels took us through Pineola, FL.  We much prefer our visits to Pineola, NC, however:



I spotted these flowers when we stopped for lunch at the Peck's Old Port Cove restaurant at the end of the Ozello Trail:



Click here to see a video of some of the fellas riding through the countryside.

And you can click here to see another little video clip.

This last clip is of the ride over the little bridge at the end of the Ozello Trail.

Back at the house, I parked my bike with 218.6 miles of riding racked up for the day. It was a good time with good friends, and I hope Lloyd enjoyed it to the fullest. Who knows, maybe it was such a good ride he'll decide to keep the Gold Wing!!!

KISS in Concert in Hollywood, FL

Happy St. Patrick's Day to me!!! I traveled down to Hollywood, FL, to catch a concert appearance by "The Hottest Band in the World...KISS!!!" The trip was good, the concert was great. And the whole experience was made even better because Mr. Sarcasm tagged along for his first-ever dose of live KISS. 

Did I mention that the concert was great? No matter how many times I see KISS, I always come away impressed with their energy and what appears to be a sincere desire to give the fans their money's worth.  I have seen many other bands in concert, but none of them come close to the experience that is KISS. 

I could ramble on for pages about how great they are in concert, but it comes down to this simple truth: you have to see it for yourself to fully appreciate the overwhelming spectacle that is a KISS concert. Do yourself a favor and go see them in concert.

I also highly recommend you get familiar with their music first so that you can appreciate the jewels of their 35-year catalog when you hear them. Some of my personal favorites include: Detroit Rock City; Shout it Out Loud; Beth; Rock and Roll All Nite; Cold Gin; Firehouse; Hard Luck Woman; Forever; Strutter; 100,000 Years; Rock Bottom; 2,000 Man; Love Gun...okay, I'll stop there because I have a lot more "favorites" by KISS. Buy one of their greatest hits compilations and give it a good listen.

Here are a few shots that I took during the concert:


























Okay, I'm sure you get the point by now: This is one AWESOME show!!! I am already looking forward to the next time I get to see KISS in concert!!!

Click here to see a short video clip from the concert!

2011 Strawberry Festival - Special Effects Photos

I went to the annual Florida Strawberry Festival the other night and took a bunch of photos. Here are a handful of shots that I subsequently processed on my iPad to produce different effects.

For this one I used "Color Splash" to take out all of the color and then I added back color to just the areas I wanted to highlight:



I rode the giant Ferris Wheel and shot photos of the midway from the top. I then processed those photos using "Tilt Shift Generator" to produce these nifty views:









I'll post more of my Strawberry Festival photos in another update this week.

"Let's air 'em out a bit" - Polk County Loop of March 5, 2011

This club outing was a bit different as we were left leaderless by the absence of El Presidente Gunny, who had other pressing business to attend.  So, rudderless and adrift, we did the only reasonable thing one can do in the face of such adversity: we elected Eddie to take all responsibility for leading the ride this fateful day!  And so it was that it was decreed that we would pay a quick visit to Fun Bike Center in Lakeland, FL, before making a loop of Polk County via Highways 92, 27, and 60, to "air 'em out a bit".

As stated, our first stop was Fun Bike Center where Eddie proceeded to cajole and berate the parts counter staff until they stripped an internal visor out of a brand new helmet to make it available for him right then and there rather than them daring to make him wait for one to be shipped in for that same purpose:



Our business finished, we mounted up and headed east to complete our goal of looping a portion of Imperial Polk County. Here's Bob K. and Preacher all mounted up and waiting for Eddie to finish putting on all his riding gear:



Somewhere in the wilds of SR 60, we stopped for a little break and Eddie proceeded to explain motorcycle physics and mechanics to us. Note the high tech use of his boot toe as a pointing device:



Rolling along the highway, I got a few shots of the guys in action. Here's Eddie saying "hello" to the camera:



And here's one more shot of Eddie rolling along, enjoying the ride:



And here's Preacher rolling along with Bob K. in close proximity:



And, finally, Bob K. on his "Motorcycle of the Week":



It was an enjoyable and quick 100-mile ride that saw all of us home before noon.  Not a bad way to spend the morning!

Mermaids on the Horizon - February 19, 2011

Our weekly club outing took us north and west toward to lovely community of Weeki Wachee, site of the eponymous river whose crystal clear waters emanate from deep within the subterranean passageways of the Florida aquifer before flowing down to the Gulf of Mexico.  Naturally, we took the most indirect route possible to get to Weeki Wachee, but that's okay since it's all about the ride.

South of Weeki Wachee, we stopped in Aripeka, FL, for photos of the Hammock Creek environs.  I decided to play with the great Hipstamatic iPhone app to get some photos with a vintage flavor.  This view across Hammock Creek lent itself nicely to my experiments:



Walking back to the group, I captured this image of irony in action:



Here's another shot of the very scenic Hammock Creek:



Rolling on into Weechi Wachee Gardens, it was time for lunch. We stopped at a restaurant called "The Upper Deck" for that purpose. The best thing about this restaurant is that it is located right on the banks of the Weeki Wachee River and offers great views from its copious upper level deck:



"Preacher" looked like an old west gunfighter walking up this long, narrow hallway located beneath the restaurant:



Gunny & Bob K. were too busy taking in the river sights to notice Preacher's impression of "The Man With No Name":



Those river sights included this view of the public park located on the opposite bank...:



...and several passing wave runners:



Finally making our way topside for lunch, Gunny was all smiles and grins...:



...while Bob K. just couldn't take his eyes off the river:



After lunch we made for home via more scenic back roads:



I was wearing my new high visibility touring jacket; boy did that thing glow! Just look at the reflected sheen all over the cockpit of my gorgeous ST1300:



We ended a great day of riding with 150 miles rolled up on the odometer and plenty of good memories in our logbooks.