day 18

i'm going to rattle on about Dola's Last Tour 'de Sore Butt to Lake Ockeechobee in a minute but first, i've found some pics and road tales that i've skipped and have been meaning to add...
another sat. morning and another SCHOG ride. This one is led by Lisa Dye and the Ladies of Harley and they invited us lowly men to play with them too. So, show up for play time we did.
April weather is perfect for puttin around the jungle , so after some group riding reminders and a lay out of the route, we saddled up and rode. Out east from the new shop on Hwy. 46 thru Sorrento and winding thru Zellwood, home of the famous Corn Festival http://www.zellwoodcornfestival.com/ and then around the lake in Clermont to the Rusty Fox.
Lunch was perfect and a time to chat with clubbers about all things motorcycle.

Lunch time over and time to saddle up again and head for LakeRidge Winery and do some serious wine tasting. The woman with the red and white hat is 67 years old and rides her Harley with pride. In the "on the road" photo thats ChainSaw in the red shirt and his wife on her sportser to his right. He calls her WeedWhacker. Some day i hope to hear the stories of where those names came from. When i asked him initially he just kinda sighed, laughed and said "that was a long time ago and quite a night." anyhoo he is the one who sets his cruise control and takes rolling pics. here's one he tok of me. i think it's the only pic of me hoggin it that i have.
Thats his wifey in the background with a shit eating grin on her mug. You know. the kind we all get when puttin in the country side with friends.

day 17

just a note about these three new links i've just added. I know that July is way down the road, but it looks like it is time again for Ride To Work day. I see parking lots full of motorcycles during rallys etc. but very few on the roads for the morning commute. This day could be just the opposite. Hmmm?
http://www.ridetowork.org/
also, this looks like neat idea and a great sticker

http://www.bikerfriend.org/
ridesafe
brl

day 17

another sat. another ride. praise the lord. can i get an amen? thank you.
it's time for the "REAL RIDE", a local radio station http://wtks.com sopnsered ride in conjunction with Big Bad One and Only, BRUCE ROSSMEYER and Destation Daytona. I registered online , 53 bones for me and my Joey, (youngest, 15, son, who loves to ride with me and is anxious for his own sled.) It was 130 bones to ride "VIP"", which was too much for me. We pack up cameras and cigars and hit the slab at 10am and rolled into the radio station parking lot to sign in.
now, i've been on a few rides, but this one was extremely organized. From the entering of the parking lot to the, waiver, sign in and t-shirt line, all went smooth as a purring shift into the right gear at the right time.
We had 90 minutes till jiffys up, so we wandered around and found some Schog's.
thats rick, karen, sandy, bonnie, oj, cant' remember and Ron. just a few of the Schogs that wanted to enjoy and good ride and help a good cause. all the proceeds went to Bruce's favorite institution, the Boggy Creek Gang. http://www.boggycreek.org/2006/home.asp a truly good cause . Last year my Joey and i rode on another of their sponsered rides. 2thousand bikes at a 100 dollar buy in for a police escorted 60 miler to the camp. The most i've ever paid to ride my bike and the largest pack. today was supposed to be a 1000 bikes, but i dont even think there were 700. and as far as the police escort today. well, what the f, if i cant say what i think here, where can i say it. of course i've had a shot of brown wine and some budwiser to wash it down, but the fuzz today did a half ass job. but more on that later.
here is a pic of Shannon on the Real Bike at the front of the vip pack
here is a pic of the king himself Bruce Almighty on his custom Hog. we all laughed and commented "of course. if you were him wouldn't you? Look. he owns the largest harley shop in the world".
my only beef with him, besides crankcases full of jealousy, is his motto.
"It's the Destination."
in an effort to advertise "his" places of interest and spending. and we all know, and thats the reason we ride, is that "It's the Ride NOT the Destination" that is our golden rule. and here's this hog on a hog turning our love of the road into his dollars. now brucealmighty is a giver and donates mega dollars to his causes, but as you can see, he ain't lackin for grub on his table... tobecontinued. need some sleep because tomorrow is Dolas' 400 mile Ockeechobee run...

day 16

"just a nice easy ride while it's cool this morning?" i tell Linda "OK? Dave and Barb are going?" and so todays adventure began. they rode over here and we all left to meet up with Ron and Marine Dave at the new Harley shop. It is after all right across the street from JZ's and the start of this trip. So around 11:20 ish we pull into JZ's lot and find some guys and the "RealRadio" bike already there. It's all about the advertising and if JZ's makes a deal with local radio and garners word of mouth for it, then good for them.
They seem like good people. We talked with Mrs J. after a tour of their spic and span, busy but clean and organized shop, and she said "Thanks. But it's a lot of work and money. Thank goodness we have the lawn maintenance business to make the real money while JZ's gets going. They are good hard working people and i think their dream will survive. Shannon said "alright. lets ride" finally around 11:55. we were already in our saddles and chompin at the bit to ride.
"I-4. I guess." when asked "which way big guy?" as so we were off. seemed like a lot more than 60 bikes. I was glad to be surrounded by Schog's. Riding with unknown riders in a freeway pack can be nerve wracking. Turns out, lots of riders in this pack know how to get out and stop cross traffic, no matter what color the cross traffic lights are. It's a tricky manuver, yes, but truly it is the bes way to get a pack thru town. The Schog's used to do that, but Mother Hog frowns heavily on that. A few cages wandered in and out of our peleton but all in all in was quite a rush to be in charge of the center lane in th center of a 60 bike 70mph rolling party down the florida super slab.
heere is some evidence of our safe, sound, thirsty and hungry arival at "Johnnies Fillin Station". Linda grabs a table as we re one of the first in the door after showing our comp. ticket from JZ's. They also gave us a comp for one adult beverage. Zalloooo.
Here is the ever bubbly one Shannon.
http://shannon.wtks.com/
he is a pip and a good guy. does his best to promote motorcycling and knows the best places for food, drink and motorcylce parking in town. This is our second ride with him and his crew, the first being Ms. Monster where we stopped in at the Parliment Houst to party, but that is a story for another time.

this is a great shot of Shannon having fun with his lovely and prego roommate. they seem to really enjoy each and life because of each other and that is all that counts.

the girls were lining up for their fun paint job and i'm sure they are going to have a fine party tonight, but it was time for us old folks to make room the wild ones. lol...
50 miles on the odo, but the 91 degrees knocked us out.
ridesafe...

day 15

worked late thurs. nite due to both my staff having time off, how dare they? lol anyhoo i make it by 7pm to the monthly SCHOG meeting and here is some evidence.
I enjoy taking the windscreen off for short rides, 10 miles to the VFW. A lot of Ultra's in this club as you can see.







Da guys like to hang out by the front door before the official meeting whistle is blown. I've been coming to these meetings now for almost a year and a half and have gotten to know some of the characters. and so i must again say that all transcribed here stays here. it may be a pack of lies, it may be the gods honest truth, but it's a proven fact that there is no better way to piss off your friends than to start writing the truth about them. That's just a writer's cross to bear. I'd have to change my name and move far far freakin away. Also. I came to this space in computerville as a place to practice my wordsmithing with no editors. so that i can let the muses take over and let the fingers fly, ever so anxious to see what comes out. We need some good motorcycle novels. in fact what is your favorite motorcycle novel? Not many out there. Hmmm? well. i saw ChainSaw and told him "man, i've never seen anyone handle his bike so smoothly and to be taking pictures at the same time. I can't shoot with my left hand. How do you do that?" i had already figured out my questions since our last ride to the Winery and now seeing him at the meeting, i was ready. Turns out that it is a wild and full of tricks cruise control that allows him to shoot with his right hand. He went on with each and every detail of each and every button for each and every situation, first the left side, then the right side so fast that all i could do was shake my head and say "wow", every moment or so. i have only one pic of me riding and he took it. I told him "ya. man that is a great picture, thanks for taking it. Of course your good looking wife in the background with that wide motorcycle smile on her mug, didn't hurt the pic either." and we both laughed. he then flashed one of those far away looks as if his mouth was getting ready to say something he maybe shouldn't, but was going to anyhoo. "Ya, when she's happy she's smiling. And that is good, BUT when she isn't!" then, all the men standing around bobbled their heads with grunts of understanding completely.

karen, the dirty blonde just right of center,won the 200 dollar pot in the 50/50 tonight. a hurahh from the gang with the usual "Karen buys the beer tonight!" rumbled from the crowd. She is also a ChromeAngel and rides a Deluxe too.

another gooood meeting with all giving the best hurrahhh to Ron/Karen for their BikerBash...ooops my time window just closed...

day 14

in an effort to get more regular, here are some more notes on my adventures in motorcycleworld.
It's friday afternoon and i just gotta ride, so it's a good excuse to putt down to Ace's on the river. Here is PeeWee who runs this place like a top. He is also part owner of Ground Zero the race team.
here is their link
http://www.groundzroracing.com/
PeeWee and OJ make a great team as you can see.
I am still waiting for one more braided throttle cable to come in. It has been back ordered again.





Then Sat. morning Linda and I ride back down to Aces', this time to give Roy, the leather man, another sketch of Larry's desired custom patch. and wowwie zowwie, roy shows us his new toy. It's computerized and "doesn't show up late or take breaks", roy proudly exclaims. He says he's not getting much else done, "I've got a seat over there for days i haven't touched, because i just want to watch this machine sew." I have Linda give roy the fianl colors and we double check the size requirements before leaving. he is such a good guy, i hope this new tool really helps him. There is no limit to what he can create now as a patch. In fact i've got to get to work on a "Z" idea. Hmmm? Hey what about a patch with the kinross gold symbol? why not?
On our way out i see this kid sanding down some bike fairing parts in the parking lot. I ask him if that was his car in the lot with the hot paint job. "Yes sir." he politely replys. Turns out he is Nick's boy. how proud Nick must be to have his son working with him. http://www.viciouscycles.org/

anyhoo,
here is one of Ace's Ace Mechanix, Mike. He is from boston and has the accent to prove it. Now i''ve not had such good luck with bostonions, but Mike is his own man and a good one. he loves what he does and does it well.now it is time to head south to the jaialai fronton to lay down some money on the Kentucky Derby. the race is in two and 1/2 hrs. I sure would like to come back here with some yahoooo stories. Of course i put 12 bucks on the long shot and linda picked the 8:5 boxed exacta. come on 16 i say, "would it spoil some all important plan?" we have a chuckle then head north to Beto's. Probably the best soul food joint i've ever been to. I think it may be the original Mexican music on constantly playing or the 5 pound burritoes for breakfast.
and so for now thats another installment of fun in lopezville for a hot saturday. tomorrow we plan to ride with Shannon from JZ's down to Johnnies Fillin' Station's big party. stay tuned...

day 13b

so finally we all are together and saddle up to leave. and now for that lesson learned about leaving a good parking space. get to your bike, get on your bike and leave, all just as quickly as possible. While we were just getting in the saddle some cruiser bikes pulled up in front of us waiting to take over then a pack of choppers behind us. we let them hash it out and we headed east on a side street becasue Main was too packed. We finally meet up with the Schog's who were patiently waiting for us, and so now a pack of about 20 bikes all head east for Ron/Karens "BradyBikerBash. We had to turn off of 441 and wait for two lights for a police escorted funeral procession. a quick left then a quicker right and some of us got caught up in the procession. Hey, if it isn't a biker that understands and respects death then no one does. we ride with death daily. So, we roll past the Gator Harley, that has bikes parking two blocks away, and up the hill to the bash. I did not take a single pic, but here is a web site where some pics are.
http://www.seminolehog.com/2006_leesburg_brady_bash.htm

It was the best of times. karen/ron know how to throw a party. I'm just glad they are Schog's. Living in Leesburg, they could just as easily belong to lake county chapter, in fact the shop is just down the road from their home on the lake. Linda got a tour of the inside and just oooh'd and ahhhh'd all the way home. They had tents set up outside for the food and the tables for our hog butts. they also have a deck on their dock. It doesn't get any better than that. Mike, the last pres. and Dolla were the first one's i see as i round the corner to the back yard. I introduce Larry to some club members, like Leslie and tell him "once we all rode up to Gainsville and then Leslie here says " Well, guess i'm going to ride up to Georgia today."" She laughs upon remembering that day and said "Oh ya. that was a great ride. We spent the night and rode home the next day." Then a guy next to her says "Well, i remember riding all the way back from Sturgis, with her once. Yep, 2 thousand miles and 5 days." "Wow", my brother and I reply. I knew she liked to ride, but didn't know she liked it "that" much. It turns out that Mike and Eric are riding out west just before Sturgis this year also and supposedly they have a campground paid for and won't be using it. They are going early and will ride the Tetons and Yellowstone before the Rally, just like us. Then all the Sturgis tales started swirling. I'm quite amazed at how many Schog's are going this year. So, we ate, drank and talked motorcycles till 5 then said our thank you's and farewell's and ride safe's then saddled up for home. Strong head winds that day. with 129 on the finish odometer.















The End.

day 13a

it was now time to visit the rest of main street. i ran into some shogs and found out that everyone was meeting up at the parking lot at 1:30 to ride up to Ron/Karen's. the schogs were parked in the "last parking lot on main street. next to a pink building." big dave tells me. larry's gang and i continue walking up main street going with the flow of what seemed like millions of people in leather, most with beards of one shape or another. it was around 80 degrees by now, but not bad. i lost the guys when i had to find a portopotty. What do those people do who man the cans when not manning the cans? thats one gig i just don't get. anyway i get cell phone calls that everyone is circling up back at our bikes. I learned a valuable lesson about leaving a good motorcycle parking spot. We were at the bikes getting organized, with hot leathers off and cool shirts on and goodies packed, etc. when bikes started lining up to zoom into our spots as we zoomed out. But wait, "we aren't leaving yet!" i holler out to the bikes holding up traffic waiting for us. i hate being rushed anyway, but we had one more couple walking back to wait for.
larry and i stood on the sidewalk watching the bikes and he and i decided that next year we would just be "standing on the corner, watching all the bikes go by" and save all that walking about seeing the same patches and pins that swamp every rally, because for me really its the bikes and the people watching that hypnotizes me at rallys. Each character and iron horse is one of a kind, all with one singular important trait and love. Riding, riding and then riding some more. altho the rats hole show was more than worth the walk.
Now, this is a bird of a different color. We do "fly" on our horses so yes, i see the bird analogy. Check out the winged tank and point on the birds bill. sorry i didn't get the foot pegs and jiffy stand in the shot, because they were birds legs and claws. I think that if you find a web site of leesburg bikefest pics, you'll surely find lots of shots of this bike.