Tom

There is only one way to describe the months of June, July and August. Wet! Granted, it is summer and most of Florida had drought conditions. It is good to get the rain, but it sure cuts down on the riding time.

We have managed to get a few local rides in between Thunderstorms! But not a pack the bike for a week kind of ride we really enjoy.

So until “Mother Nature” says otherwise we will be staying close to home. It’s a good time to make sure the bikes are in shape. Stock up on sunscreen and water. We will keep waiting and watching the sky. Looking for the next opportunity to ride!  Will give it a try tomorrow in between rain drops. HOG meeting at HD Tallahassee at 10, then a good ride to Crawfordville!

On our final day in Daytona we woke to a beautiful crisp morning eager to get Arleen’s bike. We left our motel bright and early and again headed to the Harley Shop.  The problem with her bike was the voltage regulator had gone bad. Thus draining the battery.  The voltage regulator was still under warranty so the bill wasn’t as bad as it could have been.  All in all we were better off than our neighbor at the motel.  He blew his engine the day before.  We returned to the motel, got Vivian and our gear.   Headed for home. For us Daytona Bike Week was over.  All in all we had a great time which is what it is all about anyway.

The next morning we were in the mood for some riding, so after breakfast we were ready to ride “THE LOOP”.  We pulled into a gas station to fill up, everything was going great, until, Arleen went to start her bike. I had replaced the battery myself three months earlier so I knew the battery should be good, however, that knowledge didn’t help start the bike.  After a jump from a nice young man, the bike was purring away. At this point I didn’t trust the bike to make the run.  So back to Bruce Ross Myer’s Daytona Harley Davidson shop. After Arleen’s bike was checked into the service department, V started talking to a sales rep about a Sportster that had caught her eyes. If you ever bought a bike from a dealership, you know it takes a long time. Long story short, by early afternoon V had traded in a Yamaha 650 for the Harley Sportster 1200. We were very happy for her and more than ready to get out of there for a ride. However, Arleen’s bike would not be ready until morning. She rode double with me, it took most of the day to get there, but THE LOOP ride was wonderful and was topped off with a great dinner at The River Grille across the Tomoka River.

 

 

Good morning! For whatever reason I didn’t get much sleep our first night there, so when it was time to get the day started I was in full zombie mode.  But, after some coffee, I was as good as I was going to get.  So we headed out for our tattoo appointment.  After two hours in the chair my tattoo was finished.  I was very pleased with the outcome! I have to give a big shout out to Asylum Studios. They have a great crew of people who do extremely good work and especially to Shawn! He did mine and V tats. Shawn added the Indian above the Dream Catcher. After we left the Harley Complex we went over the bridge to down town Daytona Beach, after finding a parking spot it was time to bask in everything that Daytona Bike Week has to offer. Our first stop was Froggy’s on Main Street. Ending after many other stops later in the day.