First of all, I'm sorry this took so long for me to get up. But here it goes.
Dad and I had been planning this trip for over a year. It was something we both always wanted to do. My uncle (used to be stevesearles on CBRider but hasn't made it over here yet) is a huge motorcycle enthusiast and went along too.
Well first of all, no we did not ride down. It's a common question for some reason. Dad and I left around noon and met up at Steve's house about 2:00 PM and got loaded up.
The vehicle:
Truck is Dad's 2001 Chevy Silverado hauling Steve's 23 foot V-nose trailer. Inside, there is my 2002 Nighthawk, Dad's 99 Goldwing 1500 SE, Steve's 1982 Naked Goldwing 1000 and Steve's 1974 Suzuki with 874 original miles on it.
So we made it to Tampa at about noonish to meet up with one of Dad's friends, Tom, from high school. We spent the night there to catch up with old friends, have a few drinks, and most importantly recover from the 24 hour drive. Tom and his neighbor Collin were going to ride over to Daytona for the day.
Steve's Suzuki:
My Nighthawk and Steve's Goldwing
We arrived in Daytona and our timeshare ended up being right on the Atlantic Ocean, just a few blocks down from main street. First thing we did was unload the bikes and then parked the trailer a couple miles away at a drive in. You could only use one parking spot at the timeshare. We had realized that on the drive over to park the truck and trailer, we had no brake lights. Oops, they worked when we left. Anyway, Steve and I took off to go to the Speedway. There we walked around looked at vendors and signed up for test rides. I think I rode a Star 1300 Cruiser and a Honda VTX 1800. It was after those rides, I appreciated my Nighthawk just a little more. V-Twin is just not me. I did try to get on a Boss Hoss. They're the company that takes V8 engines and puts them on 2 wheels. I write the software for their gauges, so it was pretty cool to see something I've worked on in the market. But you had to be 30 to drive one.
Me on a Boss Hoss Trike:
The gauges I write software for:
Dad went up to go see the World Golf Village. He's a pretty big golf nut so it was a big deal for him. Up that way was JC Whitney, so he stopped in there. Right next door is Rossmeyer's HD shop. After he walked around JC Whitney, he came back out to find that someone maliciously ripped off his battery cover from his Goldwing. Malicious, since the plastic pegs were still in the holes. Kinda upset him, bu there was no sense in letting it ruin the trip.
That night we took a stroll down Main St. Lots of bars to go to, some vendors and such. We hit a few of the bars, had some cocktails and listened to the music. Just walking down there looking at all of the various bikes. Some were very interesting. It was bikes only that night down the strip. We didn't spend a whole lot of time down there. Still a little worn out from the drive down, and plus I wanted to get up early and go do test rides. Dad and I headed back around midnight. Steve, Tom, and Collin had other plans and they stayed out. Not a big deal, we all had our own bikes and could do whatever we wanted.
A couple of the girls we met at Full Moon Saloon (from the left is Tom, Collin, Me, Steve, and Dad):
The next morning, Dad and I got up early because 1) we can't sleep much past 7 and 2) we wanted to go for the rides. My main objective for the test rides was the sport touring market. So I hit up Yamaha first with the FJR1300. They only had 1 FJR there, so I took the first slot and then Dad took the next ride. For kicks, I signed up for an FZ1 while Dad rode the FJR. That was an experience. I was very impressed with the FJR. It was very quick, and felt a lot more nimble than I would have expected. The FZ1 was just nuts. First of all, I'm too big for it, but it had no problem scooting me around. The ride leaders let you exercise the power of the bike. We also managed to get rides on Honda in the afternoon. Dad and I traded on the ST and the Goldwing 1800. The ST wasn't as impressive as I had hoped for. It was really warm and the V4 sounded like a Jetson's mobile. The 1800 Goldwing was sweet. I got the one with Navigation, Premium Audio, and an Airgbag. Are you kidding me? Dad got off the 1800 and thought that his Goldwing was now a piece of junk.
We all met back up for dinner and then went up to the Iron Horse Saloon. It was a bit of a ride out there, but not too bad. Pretty cool setup for an outdoor bar. But a lot of the same things as Main St. Some chick was there with a snake, letting people hold it. Not sure why anyone would want a snake, but I held it just the same. Hey, I'm on vacation. Time to do things I don't normally get to do. But again, not a real late night. I can go drinking anywhere. Besides, Dad and I were getting up early the next morning to go golf. After golf, Dad took me through the World Golf Village. When we got back, we found a place to get the truck and tailer fixed. While we were gone, Tom and Collin did thier thing and Steve did his.
Steve's plans that day were to go to a vintage Japanese motorcycle show, which is why he brought his 1974 Suzuki. Before he leaves for the show, he decides to go get some breakfast. He's a little worried that people are going to steal his bike, so he brought a steel cable to wrap around the tires. That morning, he unlocked his cable and threw it to the side to take off on the Goldwing. What he forgot about was that the cable still ran through the back tire and then around the 1974 Suzuki. He dragged this mint condition bike across the parking lot and it pretty much ruined it. It was a tragic circumstance of events, but being that it wasn't me who did it, it had to be one funny security tape.
When we met up with the rest of the gang, we went down to the Cabbage Patch. But it wass really early there and we headed back before it started raining. I did some souvenir shopping that night. Tom and Collin headed back home.
Thursday was our big ride. We headed off south towards Merritt Island, which is near Cape Canaveral. We were all setup to do a Geocache. For those of you that don't know what a geocache is, it is basically a worldwide scavenger hunt. There's a website we use (geocaching.com) that has GPS coordinates for thousands of these things. We found one that looked interesting and took a ride to go find it. It ended up being in a park under a log. For the most part, it's just junk in there. The thrill is in the hunt. There is always a log for you to sign to say you found it. You can leave something if you'd like. The general practice is trading one item for another. But it's a great thing to do when you're looking for somewhere to ride to.
Me on the ride out to Merrit Island (You can see NASA in the background):
The Geocahce we found:
The crew that found it:
On the way back, it started to sprinkle. We made it back before it really hit. It wasn't raining quite yet at the hotel, so we finally took a ride down Main St, which is something I wanted to do. Got back to the hotel, and then walked down Main Street again. This time I did find some shirts and hats, but due to the rain, it was a rather tame night.
Main St:
Friday morning, Dad was itching to try that new 1800 Goldwing again. He and I went and did that, and told Steve we would meet him at the motocross race that afternoon at the speedway. We rode the Godlwings, and then basically whatever else we could ride. Buel, Triumph, etc. I did manage to get on the Kawasaki Concours 14. That was a pretty sweet ride. I explained all the details in my
sport touring review. The trailer place called and said the truck and trailer were ready. Dad and I went and got that after the rides, and just in time before the clouds opened up and let loose. We called Steve and tried to offer him a dry ride, but he didn't have his phone on. Dad and I found a small diner to have lunch in. Steve watched the motocross and Dad and I watched it rain harder than I think I've ever seen before. Hail the size of quarters and there were people out riding getting slammed with this stuff. When Steve got back to the hotel, he looked like a drowned rat.
The next morning, we loaded up the bikes and headed to the speedway for the Daytona 200. Those guys are nuts, going 180+MPH, but it was pretty cool to see. A perfect way to cap off the trip.
Line up at the start:
That blur is a bike:
And as we were leaving the speedway, cause it was fitting:
We left around 4. Mad it back about 24 hours later. All in all it was a pretty good trip. The rain never really ruined any plans we had. Round trip, it was 3263.3 miles. We averaged 8.67 miles per gallon with an average cost of $3.21 a gallon. It cost us 38 cents for every mile, and we spent a total of $1202.93 on gasoline. To get the trailer fixed required an OEM part that was $300, plus labor. And the condo was $1000 for the week. It probably cost the 3 of us a grand each for the trip, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a lot of fun.
Tim
