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Cruiser
Posts: 193
Buford, GA United States | Well I had a great "Ride to Eat" trip across Florida last week.
When I left on Friday 8:30am it was a beautiful in N.E. Georgia, a little breezy, and it was really amazing when the wind hit the pine trees to see how much pollen could come off the trees! About every 5 miles I had to wipe off the glass on the bike so I could see what song was playing on the I-Pod. We made it to Newberry Florida around 4:15 and checked into our motel for the night and waited for Kevinx to get home. A little before 7pm we headed over to his house to get the cams changed out. My recommendation is to forget about having a cam party but take your bike to his house and send his wife out for pork chops at the local BBQ place. They have to be the best I have ever put in my mouth!!! Anyway we get the bike back together around 10:30 and head back to the motel. Now the problem is sleeping knowing that Santa has come early and left me a juiced up bike in the parking lot that I am just dying to try out.
Saturday we get up and grab a quick breakfast and head off to Ft. Lauderdale through some beautiful horse country and I tell my riding buddy that we are going to find an old Florida seafood place for lunch and sure enough I see a place on Lake Jackson just above Sebring and we sit on the deck and eat some very fresh and good shrimp and watch the water. From there we ride around Lake Okeechobee and then through some amazing farmland in the everglades area arriving in Lauderdale just in time for supper. Weather is still very windy but the Vision was really stable and after 2 days and almost 750 miles I was not really that tired plus I was pumped up about the power the bike generated now. The rev limiter in 1st and second really bothers me now. But our wives were there at the house as they had flown in from Atlanta and we were all excited to ride to Key West on Monday.
Sunday we slept a little late and decided to go have brunch at a restaurant called the Floridian and as we left the house the sky was cloudy and of course the wind was still blowing. As we turned out of the subdivision onto A1A I could see a wall of water falling from the sky just a little ways down the road. Could not get turned around quick enough and in a minute I looked like a wet rat and some of the rain got behind my right contact lens making me blind in that eye. I got turned around but had to pull over to rub my eye so I could see but that only made it worse. So I basically drove blind for a mile on unknown streets to a house that I was not really sure where it was. My buddy kept going a little further and parked under a bridge then came back to the house. The wives and my friend that owned the house were in his sports car and they came back, we called a taxi. Food was really good and the place was packed with a long waiting list but somehow we got right in. Went back home and watched the Masters. Then of course it was time to eat so we went and got some king crab legs and steaks. Put them both on the grill and watched the rain come down.
Monday it is raining hard in the morning and we are supposed to leave on the bikes with the wives for Key West and the wind is 20 plus mph. Wonderful...so we have to rent a car to go to the keys but the weather is great in Key West and now I have to plan another trip next year so we can ride the bikes down!!! We stayed at the Southern Most House at the end of Duval street and it was really great except for the damn rooster outside the place that insisted on getting up at 5am. The first night we ate at Jack Flats and it was wonderful but the next night we went to Blue Heaven and I had the Yellowtail Snapper special and I almost started scraping enamel off the plate to make sure I got it all. It was weird though having chickens walking around you while you eat as they are apparently everywhere in Key West and they are protected by law.
Wednesday we pack up and head back to Lauderdale and turn the rental car in and I am having to drive the Maserati around as the weather is still bad but you sometimes have to just go with the flow. That night we decide to try out a Cuban restaurant called Las Vegas and we got the seafood special and of course it is delicious but my clothes are not fitting as well as then did when we first got to Florida.
Thursday we decide to go North to Daytona Beach on A1A as the wives decide not to fly back on Saturday since they didn't get to ride to Key West. We ship part of the luggage back home load up the rest and head North. It is very windy 20 to 30 mph but we are in no hurry and we average 30 mph ourselves as we enjoy the ride through some amazing areas and homes. We make it to Vero Beach around lunch and pick out a place on the ocean to eat called the Ocean Deck where I had my cheeseburger in Paradise. Made it to Daytona to a friends condo and got settled and headed out to eat a pizza at Portofino's, the best pizza there is!
Friday is a perfect day, clear sky and NO WIND so we take off north on A1A again and ride through Tomoka State Park to Flagler Beach to eat at High Tides. All I had room for was a bowl of clam chowder but it was really good and I was also saving up for supper at Charlie Horse and their crab legs. We rode back down A1A and let the wives off so they could go shopping and we took off to destination Daytona to see what was going on there. Not much as it is pretty much a ghost town with most of the shops closed down. Walked through the Harley Dealership then back to the parking lot and working through the group looking at the Vision and the BMW LT and after 1\2 hour of questions we were able to get back on the road. Back to the condo to relax, get the girls and head to Charlie Horse for the crab legs, they were worth the trip and does anyone make a bigger seat for the Vision??? Bike seems to be getting smaller...
Saturday is another beautiful day in paradise and my wife and I decide to head out to New Smyrna Beach as she wants to walk around the shops in the little downtown area. The other couple doesn't want to go so we leave them at the condo. My main goal is to have a blackened grouper sandwich at JB's Fish Camp and we get there about 11:40am and by the time we leave there is not an empty table inside or outside and it was excellent. We then decide that the wives might not be able to make the entire ride from Daytona to Buford in one day so we pack up and head north around 3:15 and get 175 miles in before yes you guessed it we had to stop and find something to eat in Waycross Georgia but it only left us 250 miles for Sunday.
Sunday we are up and on the road by 8:30 and are amazed at the number of people we see and talk to that are headed to Leesburg for their bike fest and we heard that they have some good food there, may have to check it out sometime. Anyway we make it to Madison Georgia and eat at Chops which is a place we ride to all the time. Weather is great and the azaleas are in full bloom and when I park the bike I have been a little over 1,500 miles and the new cams performed perfectly. Life is GOOD!!! | |
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Cruiser
Posts: 204
West Knoxville TN | Great read Joker, but you probably ought to wait for the bike to grow back to normal size before you plan another eating trip.  | |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | Ride to eat, eat to ride, you've got to love it. I think I'll plan a trip like that, thanks for the inspiration, you know how to eat Joker and you find them so naturally, as I can attest to that personally! | |
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Florida Trip