April 28, 2012 - Ft. Meade

I was pleasantly surprised when I rolled into the parking lot in Plant City this morning to see so many bikes lined up.  Bill, Eddie, J.T., Kent, Bryan, Robert and, another shock, Greg Horn, were all waiting when I arrived.

During breakfast, Greg regaled us with his accounts of life in the Philippines, where he and his wife had been residing for the past six months.  Suffice it to say, it is extremely primitive by U.S. standards.

After breakfast Kent, Robert and Greg left for other duties while the remainder prepared for the day's ride.  Expecting temperatures to be in the low nineties by noon, we decided on a short summer ride.  Turning south, we headed towards Ft, Meade.

Click here for turn-by-turn directions.

Along the way, we passed through Hopewell, Keysville, my favorite section of old Florida along Jameson Road.

After a short break, we headed for Ft. Lonesome, Bethlehem, then Brewster.  From there we headed across Agricola Mine Road then on to Ft. Meade for a pit stop.

After a trip throughout the orange groves on Lake Hendrie Road, we all turned towards home.

After about 125 miles, I arrived home shortly after noon.  I was another nice morning ride through central Florida.  See you next time.  Until then...

Ride with Pride,

Glenn "Gunny" Monroe

April 21, 2012 - Welcome Back Bryan!

There was a small group gathered for breakfast in Plant City this morning when an old friend and former member, Bryan Bergau, walked into the restaurant and joined our table. We haven't seen much of Bryan since he retired from PCPD and took up truck driving. We were all catching up when Bill asked Bryan if he had given any consideration to riding again. We were surprised, nay, shocked, when Bryan reached into his pocket to retrieve a set of motorcycle keys.  Knowing his frugal nature, we assumed it would be a used bike of some kind. We had misjudged him.  The new machine turned out to be a 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 Adventure.

J.T., Bill & Brian look over the new V-Strom

Shortly thereafter, Bryan, J.T. and I set off on a break-in cruise.  As the weather was threatening, we decided to keep fairly close to home as we accustomed Bryan to riding his V-Strom through the curves.  With that in mind, we headed to the ridge area of eastern Polk County.

Click on the map for full directions.

Although we have been in the area many times recently, this route provides the best area close to home to get a good variety of curves, including a few of the decreasing radius variety.

Noontime found us near The Fantasy of Flight so we headed to the Compass Rose Restaurant for lunch.  Here, Bryan saw the Wing Walk Air for the first time.  Bill, you may have found someone to join you on this.

Click the link above to see pictures and videos of this contraption.

After lunch, we checked the weather radar.  Seeing that heavy thunderstorms were moving onshore from the Gulf of Mexico, we decided to call it a day and head for home.

It was another great day two-wheeling around central Florida, especially since Bryan was back with us.  See you all next time.

Glenn "Gunny" Monroe

RIDE WITH PRIDE