September 19, 2009 - Englishmen and Monkeys

This day started a bit earlier than normal. We were expecting visitors from England VI, Brain and Anne Collins, and I had agree to meet them at Eddie Richter's at 7:30 a.m. to pick up Eddie's Gold Wing for them to use on today's ride. They arrived on schedule and, after a quick familiarization with the Wing (Brian normally rides a BMW), the four of us set off for Plant City.

We were met downtown by Ace, Preacher, Kent, Kyle, Robert, Stats, Doc and his wife. After a good breakfast and great conversation, we headed for Homosassa via San Antonio and Brooksville by the route seen here.

During our rest stop in Brooksville, our visitors told us how amazed they were by how straight our roads are here. Apparently, in the UK, straight, wide roads are far and few between. Geeze, I picked the the most curves I could find! Oh well, you know the motorcyclist's mantra about Florida - 11 curves in 318 miles.

Passing through Yulee, I decided to stop to show our visitors what passed for Florida antiquity, the Yulee Sugar Mill. In hindsight, I should have just kept going. The parking lot is dirt and appeared to be wet. As I moved over to make room for the others, I found that it was more than wet. It was a half inch of sand soup over a hard surface. When I attempted to move back towards the roadway, the rear tire decided to go for a ride in the other direction and over it went. Now understand, I would not normally be so forthcoming about this incident, but Ace has photographic proof and I know that he will be sharing it with you all in the near future. Luckily, the only damage was to my pride.

We next covered the last mile or two to the Riverside Crab House on the Homosassa River. Turns out it was Ebony's birthday, one of the five monkeys on Monkey Island, just off shore from the restaurant, and they were giving free boat rides around the island. Ace, Brian, Anne and I took advantage of the opportunity while they other landlubbers stayed ashore.

During lunch, Anne and Brian had a chance to sample American style fish and chips. Let's just say they offered to show us what real fish and chips are like should we ever visit the UK. Personally, I thought they were pretty good. What do they know. I mean, Brian was trying to convince me that steak and kidney pie was actually good! Go figure.

Leaving the restaurant, a few members of the group emphasized the fact that the Gators and Vols were scheduled to play at 3:30 p.m. so we headed back for Plant City by the most expeditious, non-expressway route.

Back in PC, Preacher and I accompanied Ace and our visitors for a tour of the Plant City police facility.

Eight and a half hours and 180 miles from the day's start, we said goodbye to our visitors and headed for home happy from a good ride and good friends, old and new. See you next time.

Gunny