January 31 - San Antonio Area

We were six for breakfast this morning: Bill & Mercy, Robert, J.T., Eddie & myself. Afterward, four of us bundled up for our ride while Mercy & Robert headed for home. We turned northwest towards San Antonio to ride some of our favorite roads, including Jessamine, Powell, Hayman, Bayhead and Bellamy Brothers.

We then headed back to San Antonio intending to have lunch at Pancho's Villa. Unfortunately, the crowd waiting to get into this popular restaurant overflowed out onto the street. Deciding we were not that hungry after all, three of us headed for Performance Honda while Bill headed back to Plant City mumbling something about *&^%$# taxes. Arriving at Curley Road & SR-54 we found extremely heavy traffic. Soon thereafter, J.T. decided he had better things to do and headed home while Eddie and I persevered.

Finding nothing at Performance that we could not live without, Eddie and I headed to Land O' Lakes for lunch at Hungry Harry's. While the food there is normally excellent, the cook must have been having an off day leaving Eddie and I both disappointed.

After lunch we decided not to subject ourselves to the traffic on SR-54 again. So, we headed north on 41 to pickup Ehren Cutoff Road which took us back to SR-52. We then headed for home via SR-52, Old Lakeland, Chancey & SR-39.

Although the day started very cool, some might even say cold, we had a great ride over some very nice roads, travelling about 160 miles. Come out and join us next time.

Gunny

January 24 - Lake Okeechobee

Three riders and four well wishers gathered at Snellgroves for breakfast this week. After more than an hour of coffee, conversation and vittles, the three Wings, ridden by Lloyd Lowery, Boyd Harrell & I, headed southeast towards Lake Okeechobee. Although a cool start, the day warmed quickly and proved to be a great day for riding.

The map below indicates our route for the day. (Remember - the map and all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.)

Soon after arriving in Avon Park, it was time to shed a few layers.By the time we made it down to the City of Okeechobee, it was early afternoon and time for some lunch. Being new to the area we let our noses guide us to a place on 441 called Cowboys.

Interesting door pulls.The interior is filled with many interesting decorations.Including many awards for their barbequing prowess.Lloyd & I settle in for some good food.After lunch, we headed south on SR-78. We made a fuel stop in Clewiston where one of us failed to heed the little red sign & ended up paying more for gas than the others. Just out of frame are two employees having a good grin at the expense of the guy pumping his own gas at the full service pump.The Hubert Hoover Dike runs all around Lake Okeechobee, making the lake itself almost impossible to see from most vantage points. Although a foot trail and bicycle path run along the top of the dike, Clewiston has one of the few places you can get inside the dike by wheeled vehicles. You can just see a small portion of the lake past the weed line.Boyd and Lloyd look over the canal that also runs all the way around the lake. The canal was formed by dredging for the dirt used to build the dike. In places, the canal runs inside the dike and other places it runs outside of the dike.Lloyd examines the sea wall beside the canal. Leaving Clewiston, we headed east across the bottom of the lake then up the east side of the lake and back to Okeechobee. The area around the lake is fairly sparsely populated. The main industries are tourism, fishing and, of course, sugar cane. We could often smell the sweet odor of freshly cut cane as we rode through the area.

Once back in Okeechobee, we headed north on 441 to Yeehaw Junction where we stopped for refreshment before heading into the sunset on SR-60.

It was a great day and a great ride. Including side trips, we covered about 380 miles through Hillsborough, Polk, Highlands, Okeechobee, Glades, Hendry, Palm Beach, Martin and Osceola counties and arrived home about 7:30 p.m. - tired and happy.

Gunny

January 10 - Wild Turkey Tavern

Another great day started with breakfast for ten at the Strawberry Palace. We then set off towards Agricola where Bill and Boyd could blow the carbon out of the Beauty and the Beast. From there, we worked our way via back roads through Lake Buffum, Babson Park, Frostproof, Avon Park and Sebring. We then headed north on 27 to the Wild Turkey Tavern. See Bill's Blog for pictures and more info.

Shortly after lunch, the group broke up into three different groups who headed for home on different routes. Boyd and I headed for Lakeland to check a couple of dealers for some saddlebags for Boyd's V-Max. I think he is getting tired of the backpack. We first stopped at Fun Bike Center then, finding nothing there, we headed for Sky Powersports. The real story about these stops, at least for me, was not the search for saddlebags. Rather, it was the change in my status. I have become used to everybody admiring and asking questions about my Wing so I was totaly unprepared for my new role as background to Boyd's V-Max. I mean, I was totally ignored, unimportant, invisible. Some confused soul did ask me once if the V-Max was mine, but my denial had not yet died in the air before he rushed to question Boyd about his machine. Now I know that this was the first 2009 V-Max that any of them had seen, but that does not excuse their total lack of interest in me or my Wing. Boyd can't even carry a change of socks on that thing! Boyd tells me that I'll have to get used to the feeling. I hope not.

Gunny