Great Day Today...
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Made it home about 5:30 about sunset. Had a great time and got to ride my favorite road in Fla again today, Hwy 13 from 207 to Jacksonville. It was a little cool this morning but not cold. Food was good as usual, third time at Clarks fish Camp. Hope someone post pictures. I didn't count the number of bikes there but it was a lot.
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great Food, I live 10 minutes away and had never gone, Now I will go back.
I hope everyone made it home OK. Tomorrow is going to be another great riding day, Looks like I will be heading towards St. Augustine and maybe Daytone lol:
I hope everyone made it home OK. Tomorrow is going to be another great riding day, Looks like I will be heading towards St. Augustine and maybe Daytone lol:
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I originally posted this in the Main Area, but then found this thread, so I've repeated it here...
It's 5:30pm on Sunday, and 510 miles later, we're finally home from Saturday lunch.
Headed out from Largo at 7:30am on Saturday in 39F weather. Fortunately it was getting sunny and bright, and by the time we arrived at Clark's we were in a sweltering heat wave of 54F. It was glorious. I had to change from my lined tank top to my regular one to avoid over-heating. On the way up we stopped at the DD in Palatka, just in case Roger (Wingjammer) changed his mind. The truth was, by that time we were BOTH ready for a nice hot chocolate.
On to Clark's from DD (kickstands up at 11:30am), and couldn't believe the number of bikes in the parking lot when we arrived. There was hardly room to park..., and a nice mixture of Wings and Valkyries. Seeing more than one Valkyrie in the same place always brings a tear to my eye.
We arrived at Clark's around 12:15pm, and surprise, surprise..., no sign of Bartman OR Snoopy. WAIT A MINUTE! No sign of the two closest guys. I was starting to think this was just a big con. Fortunately, Bartman showed up a few minutes later with Tennessee Charlie in tow. Strangely enough, although he only had to travel about 5 minutes from his house, he was the the last one to get there and the first one after lunch that needed to stop for gas.... Hmmmmmmm
Lunch was great, with good food, and lots of fun social chatter while we ate. Tequila Roy decided to try something exotic and ordered "kangaroo tail." The problem was that it was hopping all over his plate, making it difficult to pick up and eat. In fact, one piece actually hopped across two tables and almost landed in my lap. It went on the ground, but I didn't know if the 3-second rule was in play, so I left it there.
After lunch, Bartman led a bunch of us on a very nice ride down route 13. At least, it was nice after we stopped for 10 minutes so that Bartman could gas up. This was really the first multi-bike ride I've been on with some of the crowd from GL1800Riders, and I learned a couple of things. Being an old EMS guy, I've always been used to doing a radio check at the start of every event. You know...,
"Ride leader testing to Wayne..."
"Loud and clear..."
Ride leader testing to Charlie..."
"Loud and clear..."
"Ride leader testing to Brian..."
"Loud and clear..."
And so on till all the CB radios have been checked out.
But I soon discovered, with this crowd it's a good idea to do a cell phone check too.
"Ride leader checking for cell phones..., ROY!"
"Got it..."
"OK folks..., that's good..., let's hit the road..."
After our ride down route 13, Bartman took us back up through St Augustine, figuring some had never see stop-and-go traffic before, so it might be nice to see how things backed up when the Lion's Bridge is up.
A couple of us decided to stay over in St Augestine and head back to the Tampa Bay area in the morning, so Bartman took us to a shady little inn that he highly recommended. It wasn't bad, but the "rates" sign in the office listed a "by the hour" rate. Made me wonder how Bartman knew about this place. On the good side, it had a nice little bar and a very nice restaurant...., so Val and I, and Lance and Rose (Themobb) checked in for the night and headed for the bar. Two hours later we crawled out of the bar and into the restaurant for a really nice dinner.
Next morning (Sunday) about 8:00am I turned on the TV for the weather report, and the current temp for St Augustine was 32F. Brrrrrrrrr. So we bundled up and headed down the highway to a really nice place just south of St Augustine for breakfast. By the time we finished, the temp was up in the 50's, and steadily climbed all to hit a high of 74F as we got further in land and further south.
We decided to take the coast road A1A all the way down to Ormond Beach..., and the weather and (lack of) traffic were both outstanding. What a great ride that is..., St Augustine to Ormond Beach via A1A. From Ormond Beach we headed west on SR-40 through Ocala Forest, and then gradually worked our way south and west till we finally made it home to Largo, 34 hours and 510 miles later.
There's nothing like going for a nice lunch ride in January in Florida with the GL1800Riders crowd. It just doesn't get any better... :thumbup:
It's 5:30pm on Sunday, and 510 miles later, we're finally home from Saturday lunch.
Headed out from Largo at 7:30am on Saturday in 39F weather. Fortunately it was getting sunny and bright, and by the time we arrived at Clark's we were in a sweltering heat wave of 54F. It was glorious. I had to change from my lined tank top to my regular one to avoid over-heating. On the way up we stopped at the DD in Palatka, just in case Roger (Wingjammer) changed his mind. The truth was, by that time we were BOTH ready for a nice hot chocolate.
On to Clark's from DD (kickstands up at 11:30am), and couldn't believe the number of bikes in the parking lot when we arrived. There was hardly room to park..., and a nice mixture of Wings and Valkyries. Seeing more than one Valkyrie in the same place always brings a tear to my eye.
We arrived at Clark's around 12:15pm, and surprise, surprise..., no sign of Bartman OR Snoopy. WAIT A MINUTE! No sign of the two closest guys. I was starting to think this was just a big con. Fortunately, Bartman showed up a few minutes later with Tennessee Charlie in tow. Strangely enough, although he only had to travel about 5 minutes from his house, he was the the last one to get there and the first one after lunch that needed to stop for gas.... Hmmmmmmm
Lunch was great, with good food, and lots of fun social chatter while we ate. Tequila Roy decided to try something exotic and ordered "kangaroo tail." The problem was that it was hopping all over his plate, making it difficult to pick up and eat. In fact, one piece actually hopped across two tables and almost landed in my lap. It went on the ground, but I didn't know if the 3-second rule was in play, so I left it there.
After lunch, Bartman led a bunch of us on a very nice ride down route 13. At least, it was nice after we stopped for 10 minutes so that Bartman could gas up. This was really the first multi-bike ride I've been on with some of the crowd from GL1800Riders, and I learned a couple of things. Being an old EMS guy, I've always been used to doing a radio check at the start of every event. You know...,
"Ride leader testing to Wayne..."
"Loud and clear..."
Ride leader testing to Charlie..."
"Loud and clear..."
"Ride leader testing to Brian..."
"Loud and clear..."
And so on till all the CB radios have been checked out.
But I soon discovered, with this crowd it's a good idea to do a cell phone check too.
"Ride leader checking for cell phones..., ROY!"
"Got it..."
"OK folks..., that's good..., let's hit the road..."
After our ride down route 13, Bartman took us back up through St Augustine, figuring some had never see stop-and-go traffic before, so it might be nice to see how things backed up when the Lion's Bridge is up.
A couple of us decided to stay over in St Augestine and head back to the Tampa Bay area in the morning, so Bartman took us to a shady little inn that he highly recommended. It wasn't bad, but the "rates" sign in the office listed a "by the hour" rate. Made me wonder how Bartman knew about this place. On the good side, it had a nice little bar and a very nice restaurant...., so Val and I, and Lance and Rose (Themobb) checked in for the night and headed for the bar. Two hours later we crawled out of the bar and into the restaurant for a really nice dinner.
Next morning (Sunday) about 8:00am I turned on the TV for the weather report, and the current temp for St Augustine was 32F. Brrrrrrrrr. So we bundled up and headed down the highway to a really nice place just south of St Augustine for breakfast. By the time we finished, the temp was up in the 50's, and steadily climbed all to hit a high of 74F as we got further in land and further south.
We decided to take the coast road A1A all the way down to Ormond Beach..., and the weather and (lack of) traffic were both outstanding. What a great ride that is..., St Augustine to Ormond Beach via A1A. From Ormond Beach we headed west on SR-40 through Ocala Forest, and then gradually worked our way south and west till we finally made it home to Largo, 34 hours and 510 miles later.
There's nothing like going for a nice lunch ride in January in Florida with the GL1800Riders crowd. It just doesn't get any better... :thumbup:
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Great write-up Brian. Sorry to have missed out on it. :-(
Wingjammer aka:Rog
Wingjammer aka:Rog
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Yeah, me too ...Drat Drat double drat... :-(
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Lunch in Palatka
I would like to offer a suggestion for a lunch run, the nice town of Palatka. It's pretty centrally located so as not to be too far for folks both north and south of there. There's a great seafood restaurant overlooking the St Johns River called "Corky Bell's." It was formerly "Gator Landing." They have both inside and outside dining. Outside is a huge deck that could accomodate a large group. It is high on a bluff at the bend in the river and offers gorgeous views. For those coming from the Jacksonville area you can take the scenic SR13 all the way down to 207, then 207 to SR17. Corky Bell's is a couple of hundred yards west of the intersection on 17. Coming from the south it's an easy ride up SR17 or SR19. Coming from the west you can take SR100. Give it some thought. I'll be glad to check with management regarding a large group.
I would like to offer a suggestion for a lunch run, the nice town of Palatka. It's pretty centrally located so as not to be too far for folks both north and south of there. There's a great seafood restaurant overlooking the St Johns River called "Corky Bell's." It was formerly "Gator Landing." They have both inside and outside dining. Outside is a huge deck that could accomodate a large group. It is high on a bluff at the bend in the river and offers gorgeous views. For those coming from the Jacksonville area you can take the scenic SR13 all the way down to 207, then 207 to SR17. Corky Bell's is a couple of hundred yards west of the intersection on 17. Coming from the south it's an easy ride up SR17 or SR19. Coming from the west you can take SR100. Give it some thought. I'll be glad to check with management regarding a large group.
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OK Tom! Looks like you've just volunteered to set it up. :lol:
Pick a date that doesn't conflict with other lunch rides, get JohnACMan to add it to the list, and start a new thread with all the information.
Usually, all you have to do is start a thread and a bunch of folks jump in. :lol:
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