Our breakfast table was graced this morning by the presence of Eddie's bride, Marlena, who endured the table chatter from Eddie, Bill, Boyd, Robert, J.T. and me. Afterwards, Marlena and Robert headed elsewhere as the rest prepared to ride.
With no destination in mind (other than Bill's plea to avoid CR-39), we headed off into the mist. Our travels eventually took us east into Polk County in search of a few twists and turns.
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| Northern Polk County |
Along the way, we travelled some of the area's more interesting roads, including W. Socrum Loop, Tom Costine, Olk Polk City, Old Berkley and Gapway.
Turning north on FL-559, we headed for our first stop at Love's Polk City Truck Stop. There, we met a couple from Sarnia, Ontario. He was very taken with my Burgman 650. He told us about his experience riding one up home. It seems that his riding buddies made him feel his Burgman was less than adequate. As a result, he sold his Burgman, bought a Suzuki M109, quickly became dissatisfied with the bigger machine and returned to riding another Burgman. Not an unusual story.
Leaving Love's, we headed over to Fantasy of Flight to see if they had anything new on the flight line. Unfortunately, they did not.
The group headed east to pick up Old Lake Alfred Rd., a one-lane gem twisting through the lakes and orange groves of the ridge country. From there, we headed over to Lake Lowery Rd., another ridge area beauty.
After arriving at US-27, we turned towards Winter Haven for a another break. This time, at Honda of Winter Haven. After purchasing a few small items and dusting the seats of several new machines, we turned west, heading for Lakeland.
About 1:00 p.m., we arrived at Lakeland Lindner Regional Airport for lunch at Earhart's Runway Grill. As usual, the food was very good and it is hard to beat the panoramic view of the flight line.After lunch, the group broke up with each heading to their own private destinations.
It was another great day of riding good roads with good weather and great friends. I clocked 120 miles on the Burgman and stored away many good memories.
See you next time.
Meanwhile, RIDE WITH PRIDE.
Glenn "Gunny" Monroe
2 comments:
Gunny, this was one of your best compositions of late. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride and all the related chit chat and interaction with the fellas.
My personal favorite of the day had to be that one lane track of Old Lake Alfred Road; what a blast. My only regret is that I didn't have my video camera out to capture the moment.
As you mentioned, yesterday's ride yields proof of the lie that there are no curves in Florida. 11 curves in 318 miles, my ass!!! It may have taken 125 miles of riding, but we had to have come close to 200 curves yesterday. That said, I still prefer my curves with some mountain scenery and elevation changes, so don't anybody go getting the wrong idea about my preference.
The lunch at Earhart's Grill was outstanding. Simply one of the best burgers I've had in quite a long time. And the price was very reasonable.
All-in-all a great ride and a great job of stitching it all together by our El Presidente.
-- Ace
Sounds like fun was had by all. I really do enjoy riding my Burgman....more than I thought. And I gotta say it's very nice being able to pull out of my driveway and hit the beautiful and curvy roads right away. At times I think I'm just going to go for a short spin and it's 70 miles later when I get back.......GREAT! But I do miss you guys, I just don't miss FL
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