Peanuts first long ride

Our 6 year old has been riding almost since we got the bike. He started out just around the block, then he moved to short rides to the store or whatever. Today he was going on his first long ride.



We made plans with Ben, gassed up and off we went. We were meeting at the HD dealer in Orange Park which involved some highway and interstate travel. He normally does a good job of holding on and balancing but today he did neither. I had to keep pushing his hands into me and putting my arm around him to keep him straight in the seat.When we stopped he told me the wind was blowing him to hard to hold on right. We decided to meet up with Ben and call mom to come get him




We met Ben at Adamecs and called C to come get him.While we waited for her we looked at bikes, clothes, parts etc. He asked a lot of questions and really learned a lot about motorcycles and HD history. THEN HE MET A GIRL.

The sales clerk in the clothing dept. talked to him and told him he looked really sharp in his jacket. He snatched it open and showed her that he had a Harley shirt too. They chatted about bikes and football and exchanged names. Finally I told him if he was going to flirt all day I was going to walk around and look at stuff. Since he isn't old enough to know that girls are better than friends he decided to tag along with us. One of the bike salesmen came and asked him if he was out riding with dad and he said yep I'm biker trash. We all got a good laugh and everyone knew that one day he would be standing in a place just like that with his own kid looking at shiny Harleys dreaming of things to come.




C got stuck in some traffic but finally made it over to us. They headed for home and Ben and I headed for Whiteys fish camp. This is a cool little place right on the St. Johns river. They are stops on many poker runs and sponsor some from time to time. The view of the river is great here and the water is as calm as anywhere i have seen on a river of this size. They have an area reserved for bike parking and the path leading from the bike parking area to the building is home to the fallen riders memorial. Thankfully there are not to many names carved into stones here but its kind of nice to see someone cares enough to mark the names forever



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Total miles with peanut in tow 25
Total trip milage 58

C on the road again

Finally C was feeling a bit better. At least enough to get out for a ride. Ben and hundred mile an hour grandma joined us and we headed north toward the Georgia line. I am the bud man so we were headed to one of the stops on my route.




















We picked up grandma and put our knees in the breeze. It was much warmer today than yesterday but it was pretty windy. Our route was hwy 9A to hwy 17 north.

















When we got on 17 we were joined by some other Harley riders for a short time.C took this as a perfect photo opportunity and snapped this pic over her shoulder.















I guess our sporty's were just to much for them and they slipped off into HB's Miss B Haven. We always threaten to stop there but it just doesn't seem to draw us in like some places do.C took this pic en route but its a pretty friendly looking place.


















Our 1st stop was Casey's hideaway right on the Georgia state line. Allot of people stop here after crossing into Florida to stretch their legs, grab a drink and strip off helmets which are required in Ga. but not in Fla. I deliver the beer to this place so we went in to make sure at least some of it was gone when i came back.



















My favorite bartender Rita was working and we stayed and visited for an hour or so. Rita loves bikes and bikers, Bikers are always welcome at Casey's but when she is working she makes sure to tell them how welcome they are.

















Rita was good enough to take a picture of all of us.



















We headed back south making our way to "the stop" and got this pic as we crossed the St. Johns river. This is one of the few rivers that flows north. Right here we are at the highest point within the city limits that isn't part of a skyscraper and if you look in the distance you can make out the skyline of the city.



















We had to make a quick stop on our way and Ben decided maybe it was time he call it a day. Since C still wasn't 100% herself she thought she might be done too. We were pretty close to our house so she jumped on with him to go home and 100 mph and I continued to the rooster.

















Today this place was a whole different place. Bikes were everywhere, people were everywhere and still there was no band. There were a wide variety of people there from all walks of life including at least 1 school teacher. We hung out for a little while and I took her home.
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This trip wasn't as interesting as some of our recent trips but it was just as much fun.Trip mileage 104.

cold weather trip with dale

The high on Saturday was 57. I know allot of people are saying " I wish it was 57 so i could get my bike out" add 65 mph and an ocean breeze and it made gloves and leather a welcomed addition. The sun was shining and really it was a perfect day for riding. C still wasn't up for riding and our friend Dale had been after me to take her so we made plans to ride to St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.




Dale was at another friend Dayan's house. Dayan has a slight interest in riding but also knows the dangers and makes her apprehensive about getting on a bike.She did take a short ride a few blocks in her neighborhood just to get a feel for it.










Dale and I were off down US1. In Bayard we cut over to A1A to take the beach route to St. Augustine. People throughout this country look at this blog and some have never been to Florida or even seen the ocean so we stopped to snap a few pics. We took pictures of the Atlantic ocean and then walked 150 yards across the road to get pictures of the Atlantic intercoastal waterway. This is a calmer channel referred to by commercial fisherman as "the ditch", it provides easy travel up and down the state to boaters who don't have ocean going boats but still want to travel by boat.


Dale once went to the beach with our family and when we went in the water we found ourselves in a rip current. Being raised in Florida we have all been told if you ever find yourself in a rip current don't fight it but let the current take you and try to swim parallel to the shore while angling in toward the shore. Dale got a little panicked and i tried to help her but she couldn't calm herself enough to do what I told her and I couldn't pull her in the direction we needed to be going so finally I called a surfer over and he took her in on the surfboard and i was able to come in the proper way. While it wasn't funny at the time she has earned a lifetime of ribbing because of it and I took this picture as a constant reminder to her as well as a little information to anyone who might find themselves caught in a rip current on a visit without knowing what to do. BUT MOSTLY TO RIB DALE.















Next stop "St Augustine". There is a street there called Magnolia street that is on the list of the prettiest streets in the US. It is only 1 block off the main street and worth the trip just to look down it. The trees are hundreds of years old and the view is unforgettable.














It's after lunchtime now so we stop to get a burger. This guy comes up to us and tells us he has a sportster with an enclosed trailer for sale. It needs a transmission and its a 78 but it's 800 bucks and that's negotiable. C wants her own ride so I become really interested. The guy tells me that the guy who owns it is in New York in the VA hospital and lost the titles, doesn't have family blah, blah,blah. That's the way things go for me, if i bump into a steal it is either gone or has some kind of issue.

We head into the town to walk historic St. George street where all the oldest sights are. Being raised here there aren't to many things I haven't seen but the candy shops and old bakeries are always a treat for the belly. We grabbed some candy for the walk. St. George street is the kind of place you can walk down with 1000 dollars in your pocket, come home broke and have a blast or walk down with empty pockets and have just as much fun.

St. Augustine has a fort that was used to defend the city from French invasion.It has been rebuilt as closely as possible to its original condition being made entirely from coquina a stone like material made from seashells and ocean sediment. When cannonballs would hit the fort the coquina would close the hole and return to a similar state to what it was before it was shot.

When we passed the fort I saw something in the road. I told Dale that looks like someones slip ons in the road, sure enough a guy with a helmet runs out in the road and grabs it. We went to check on him and he said it was the 3rd time it had happened today, he had ridden down from Georgia and was trying to make do until he got back home to fix it properly.

We took off north on US1 again making a stop that Ben and I refer to "the stop". No matter where we go south of Jacksonville this is where we usually stop at the end of the day as Ben splits off from me close to there. I had told Dale many times about the best 10 dollar steak you can buy being served there on Friday nights. This is a pic of Reni's Rooster Saloon on a slow Saturday afternoon, on a Friday night there is hardly enough room to squeeze a bike in. They have great local bands on Sunday afternoons and worth a stop in to visit.















I took Dale back to Dayan's and headed home. C is feeling a lite better and I am gonna drag her out in the saddle today. Ben is coming over and maybe we will introduce you to some other friends too.

Total trip mileage 102

hundred mile an hour grandma

We have a very interesting relationship with T's son's maternal grandmother. We go to holidays at her house, tailgate together, and have just made a friendship that most people don't have with their ex's mother. One day the discussion of Harley's came up she swore she would never get on a bike but you could already see the lust in her eyes. One day after a game we decided to take a ride with a friend and he asked her if she wanted to go, and she again declined. At a football party one day she finally agreed to go. We grabbed her up early in the morning and rode about 40 miles, stopped to give her an experience with a biker bar and she has been hooked ever since.

One day Ben was trying to catch us with her on the back, and got the speed up to 100 before he caught us. He has been calling her 100 mile grandma ever since.

We have been out on several rides, sometimes with T, and sometimes with Ben and every time her smile is so big she has to floss the bugs out of her teeth. Today T took her to get her first piece of Harley apparel. She is very conservative but slowly coming out of that shell. She wanted something sexy but not slutty, warm but not hot and here is what she got.

We are so proud of her for being who she wants to be after being wife, mom, grandma, babysitter, problem solver, teacher and so many other important roles for so much of her life.

Ocala National Forest 1-13-07

Out for a ride....We all decided to meet at Chopper City Cafe on Atlantic which was closed. So over to Denny's to eat some breakfast before the ride. From left to right, Tim, Renee, James, and Ben.












This is Renee she is a new rider and a friend to Ben.




James is our new friend riding his wide glide.

We started our trip hopping on hwy 9A and following 295 into orange park. A quick stop there for gas took us down 17 towards Palatka. We picked up 19 down into the Ocala national forest. We crossed the fl barge canal, which is a series of locks that let barges cross the state from the Atlantic into the gulf of Mexico without having to cross into Cuban waters and back up just to get over to the west coast or into TX and LA. We picked up hwy 314 and made a quick stop at catus jacks, a biker friendly place in the center of the ocala national forest.



We headed into Ocala turning on hwy 40 making our way past Silver Springs, and downtown Ocala. North on 441 we found ourselves at Ocala Harley Davidson to look around and stretch our legs. 301 north headed us towards home through a little town called Citra where we found another biker friendly place and the bar magnets installed in every Harley pulled us right in to the Top of the Hill saloon. Leaving there we went through Waldo Fl, once # 1 on the AAA speed trap list, not one of us got a ticket so we were all really happy. We stopped at Whataburger in Starke for our last stop on our way home. We headed 228 into Jacksonville and split off to our respective homes. Total trip 224 miles.