What started out as a trip from hell turned out to be a relaxing adventure through Florida during the 15th Annual Biketoberfest Celebration in Daytona. Plans were made, changed and re-made as far back as May of this year. What was a constant throughout the planning phase was that we needed to ride at least 1500 miles on the motorcycles while in Florida!Remember I said trip from hell? Six hours into the boring state of Illinois
we were alerted by a passing motorist who smelled a strange odor emitting from our vehicle. I thought to myself, “Does she smell Dan?” Then this stranger pointed towards the ground. We pulled off onto the shoulder of I-57 and to our surprise learned a terrible fate, both trailer bearings were shot! What this passer-bye smelled was the burning of the driver’s side trailer tire rubbing on the inside fender of the trailer. To make a long story short and get back onto why we went to Florida in the first place, after thirteen hours of sitting at a gas station somewhere off I-57 we were back on the road again from the help of two great friends in Wisconsin, we’ll call them Marc and Ralph. My trailer had seen better days and we tried to replace the bearings but the spindles were too worn dry as groves had made them worthless. The trailer as far as I know is still sitting by the dumpster at the gas station. By 5:00 am Sunday, October 14 we were back on the road heading to Biketoberfest. After a total of 1320 miles and 35 hours of being away from home, we arrived at Disney’s Old Key West Resort. Because we got there so late, after 10:30 pm, we decided to change our first night’s lodging and simply stay there. The next morning we loaded the Harley’s for what was going to be an adventure on the scoots for 5 days. Good thing the wives weren’t with us, don’t know where we would have fit their curling irons and hairdryers.
Prior to getting to my sister’s in Cape Coral, we made a few stops. Since we hadn’t eaten since about noon the previous day; a stop at Perkins for a mid morning breakfast was a must. After packing on some needed energy pounds, we continued on. We stopped at Ridge Harley-Davidson. Prior to going in, I made a few laps on the Skilled Rider’s Course and reminded Dan to keep his head and eyes up as he attempted the box. Ridge HD had just opened in November 2006! The next stop was at Fort Myers Harley-Davidson. Both Dan and I purchased t-shirts from here (mine though was for my daughter). Next we arrived at my sister’s in Cape Coral after 2:00 pm. After cleaning up, my brother-in-law fired up the twin V8 IO’s and we cruised on his 32 footer to Fort Myers Beach where we had, what else, Grouper Sandwiches!
The next morning (Tuesday) we saw the break of day while traveling down Highway 41 through the Florida Everglades on our way to Key West and Southern Most Hotel. Note to self, make sure you arrive and leave prior to Fantasy Fest in Key West! Ever since I was a child and traveled the Seven Mile long bridge, I’ve wanted to do it again on a motorcycle. Just before entering the Keys, Dan and I stopped at a Waffle House, yeah the same type of Restaurant that Kid Rock got arrested in, in Atlanta a few days ago! I figured every good Harley Rider must visit a Waffle House at least once during an excursion of this magnitude! The temperatures were into the 90’s at this time. After breakfast we hit the Keys and it was a magnificent ride! Bridge after bridge we traveled further into the Keys on our way to Jimmy Buffetville. To my surprise, the seven mile bridge I remembered was still there, but no longer being used for traffic. I think the old bridge was the same one they used in the movie True Lies with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis. We finally arrived in Key West and went straight to the Southern Most marker. After waiting in line for a few minutes Dan and I took turns snapping pictures of us standing by this famous marker. Key West is a much laid back community; full of artists and strange, strange people. In one of the stores we met a man named Pete, who looked at Dan every time I asked him a question. I think maybe he was sweet on Dan!?
The next morning we left Southern Most Hotel by 7:00 am and traveled to South Beach. Using my newly purchased Garmin Zumo 450 (thanks Bill of CCHD) we were on course for Miami. South Beach was very warm and the traffic was horrendous. After a few, very few photos we were back on the road on our way to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. Both of us were glad to be away from Miami and the bumper-to-bumper traffic at 70+ mph. We stopped at Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson in Stuart. Once again, Dan purchased a t-shirt. After dinning on coffee and popcorn we continued our journey. Sometime prior to 5:00 pm we found ourselves at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort. We originally got a room overlooking the parking lot, which the front desk graciously changed to a room on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool and Atlantic Ocean. We dined on local homemade pizza the next two evenings. When Dan wasn’t taking walks on the beach and collecting shells for Blondie, we had time to run to Space Coast Harley-Davidson. You guessed it, Dan purchased another t-shirt!
Friday morning we left around 9:00 am and headed straight towards Daytona and Main Street. Prior to arriving we stopped at The Last Resort and visited a tree opposite of Disney's Tree of Life, this tree we called Murder of the Metric Cruisers. When we arrived I was surprised to see how many bikes were there! I’ve been to Bike Week in March, which they say has somewhere around 500,000 visitors, but this felt every bit of a Bike Week
celebration. I have read articles saying that Biketoberfest sees around 75.000 bikers; this day I bet there was every bit of 500,000 enthusiasts present! After leaving Main Street we headed to Daytona Speedway to pickup up the ever popular “Event Pin”. Dan saw of few gals dressed, or should I say in some stages of being undressed and ordered me to get a few pictures to capture the moment. Being a good friend I obliged. We next decided to take a run up to Bruce Rossmeyer’s Destination Daytona on I-95 and Ormond Beach. This was a mistake, as everyone had the same idea. Once we arrived we drove around in a circle along with everyone else looking for a place to park. In either direct there were miles of bikes and vehicles waiting to turn into Bruce’s award winning dealership. After trying to find a spot to park (I still can’t figure out why they allow vehicles to park during this time, especially since one car takes the space of four motorcycles), we left and headed to Disney’s Old Key West Resort in Orlando for the last three nights of our vacation.
Saturday morning we were on I-4 headed to the Starlite Diner in Daytona for breakfast before sunrise. Somewhere around Deland we ran into ran and were forced to pull over and don our rain gear. We rode in the rain for about 45 minutes. We never made the Starlite Diner, but managed to find another Waffle House, using my GPS. The Waffle House was on International Drive and was crowed and bursting at the seams. Every biker who was out this morning in the rain decided that they too, needed a Waffle House! The service was fantastic! Afterwards a ride north from Daytona up A1a was something I had rode in previous years, but Dan had yet to experience. On the way back to Orlando, we stopped at Seminole Harley-Davidson, where Dan had to purchase a shirt! When we got back to Disney and after a few loads of laundry, we found ourselves sitting at a China Buffet.
Sunday we rode to Orlando Harley-Davidson to their 1st Annual Hogtoberfest. We got here so early that I think we were customer’s number 4 & 5! Guess what? Yep, Dan got another shirt! I forgot to mention that at almost every dealership, I purchased oil dip dots for my growing collection. Someone should tell Dan that the dip dots only cost $2 verses the $30 for t-shirts. At Orlando Harley-Davidson they served an all-you-can-eat brat, potato salad and German chocolate cake from noon to 4:00 pm for only $5! Some of the attractions at the dealership were the girls dressed in skimpy, small, tight lederhosen serving what else, bier! Customers could get free 4 ounce samples of foreign beer, while others purchased 16 ounce mugs for $10 and drank all day. Being a Rider’s Edge Coach and Police Officer, I just haven’t understood why dealerships continue to mix alcohol with riding. We left the dealership mid afternoon and headed back to Disney to start packing for our ride to Wisconsin on Monday. Dinner was at Olive Garden near Disney. When we got back from dinner, Dan informed me that we had reached 1502 miles on the baggers! Ah, another goal accomplished!We talked about doing this same very trip in three years with our wives present. Enjoy some of the sites at Shutterfly of our travels and remember to type in the password “chrome”. Until our next v-twinventure, keep the rubber side down, bearings packed, chrome side up, knees into the wind and ride safe, sober and straight!
