The ride really started yesterday when I picked up Eddie to take him for lunch at Kazbor's in Plant City. I was happy to learn that Bill, Mike and Diane would also be joining us. After a very pleasant meal I took Eddie back home where I again picked up his Voyager because, you guessed it, Suzuki still has no idea when I will get a frame for my banged up Burgman.
Saturday proved to be another hot day in mid-Florida as I met Bill, Boyd and Robert for breakfast. Afterwards, Bill went on to work and Robert went home to replace a radiator on his vehicle. That left Boyd and I as the only members of the group to ride.
With no particular destination in mind other than not going wherever we went last week, we turned north by northeast picking up some of the familiar good motorcycling roads in the area and adding a couple of new ones along the way.
After riding Swindell, Old Dade City, Lakeland Acres and Sherrouse, we headed for our first gasoline and comfort stop at the Chevron station at US-98 and Rockridge. Gasoline was important at this stop as I had tried to stretch the Voyager's capacity too far last week and I knew that fuel opportunities would be few on the backroads we were heading towards.
The next leg of the ride took us to Rockridge/Green Pond, Lake Erie, Sloan's Ridge, Tuscanooga, 702/Youth Camp and across to US-27. We then made a run down 27 to Minneola for lunch at the Minneola Inn (I had considered the Tiki Bar but declined outside dining as it was approaching 95 degrees by then).
The Minneola Inn sits inconspicuously on the corner of US-27 and Old Hwy 50. It is easy to miss, but well worth the effort to locate. Boyd and I sampled their daily specials - Mile High Meatloaf and French Dip, respectively. We were both very pleased with our meals. Every time I stop here, I tell myself that the next time, I will start with desert since their pies and cakes are all homemade and excellent. Unfortunately, I never remember that until I have ordered my meal and I am always too full afterwards. Someday there will be a piece of Hummingbird cake with my name on it.
It was nearly 1:00 pm by the time we were back on the road so we picked up CR-561 and headed back to Lakeland so Boyd could make good on his promise to be home by 2:00 pm. After leaving Boyd, I returned the Voyager to Eddie with 175 new miles on it.
It was another great, albeit hot, day on the central Florida highways. You can check out our entire route by clicking on: today's route.
Hope to see you next week. In the meantime,
RIDE WITH PRIDE.
Glenn" Gunny" Monroe
1 comment:
Wish I could have been with you guys. Your bike may be a Japanese bike but I think they are using China's slow boat to deliver it.
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