The Ride or The Bugs or The Gifts (long) - Part 2

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

After fighting some traffic in Okeechobee, I was expecting that 78 was only 
going to offer me more of the same - nope - the road was empty. An 
occasional car the other way, but nothing headed south. No complaints 
here.  Following the route map, I picked up 720 outside of Moore Haven - I 
have been around the lake several times, but never hit this road before. 
Less than a mile into the road I passed a "Road Closed" sign - it wasn't 
really - just under construction. About every 1/2 mile the road turned to 
gravel for 50 feet and then went back to pavement. So running through the 
sugar cane fields, it became a repetition of roll on throttle, up shift, 
brake, downshift, off road, repeat. A police car passed but caught me on a 
downshift side instead of upshift - no worries. Stopped in a cane field for 
a picture - http://www.triumphnet.com/st/upload/bike_cane.jpg

Got back on 27 and continued to head east around the bottom of the lake 
keeping my eyes open for any of the ST riders that might have come up from 
South Florida - didn't see any...... Picked up 80 to begin the run up the 
east edge of the lake. 715 showed that a bridge was out, so I was forced to 
continue up through Belle Glade. On the north end of town I was able to get 
back on 715 and continued to the north. In Pahokee I ran up to one of my 
favorite spots - the Pahokee Yacht Club - not much of a club, but it puts 
you right on top of the levy giving a great view of the lake. You forget 
how big the lake is until you get up high enough to see it.....

The next stretch is my favorite on the whole length -  a stretch up through 
Canal Point where both sides of the road are lined by 100 year old 
palms.... Pulling into Canal Point I find myself at an intersection - there 
are 4 route signs including two for 441 - one north and on south - but both 
signs have arrows pointing to the north - I chuckle thinking of the poor 
snowbirds getting all confused. The road then makes a 90 degree turn - I 
lean it over and am greeted with a huge 35 mph sign on a beautiful 
straightway (4 lanes wide with only two travel lanes). About 1/2 mile up 
the road I see a couple of parked cars on the left and a truck on the right 
- - the closest car has a bike on a rack - must be a scenic area I think as I 
roll on the throttle. I then notice a guy standing next to the bike - 45mph 
- - it looks like he is pointing something at me - 55mph - crap!! crap !! 
crap!! it is a speed trap... brake!!! 50mph - 45mph - 35mph - 30mph..... He 
steps out from behind the car and gives me the thumbs up. I return the 
thumbs up and give him a half salute / half wave. As I pass the truck on 
the right, I see a police car in front and an officer writing a ticket for 
the driver..... Gift # 2.

The next stop is the bridge at Port Mayaca - another great view of the lake 
and lock system - I typically run the bridge a couple of times as I did 
today just to get my fill of scenic views. In the distance I can see the 
tell tale blue hue of rain clouds..... I knew it was too good to last.... 
Finished the rest of the run around the lake and got back to Okeechobee 
around noon.  Several dark clouds but no rain - still no complaints from 
me. As I head up 441 I notice an ever increasing number of  Love Bugs - 
it's that time of year again.... Stopped in at the Red Rooster for lunch - 
not much to look at but the food is always good - a favorite spot for the 
locals. By 12:30 I had been fed and watered..... and found myself ready to 
hit the road again. Cleaned the Love Bugs off the helmet and suited back 
up. As I headed up 441 I noticed several cars coming south completely 
coated in  Love Bugs.... this could be messy...... Of course, the one good 
thing about Love Bugs is you can always spot the "out-of-stater".... They 
are the ones that find it necessary to use their wipers, creating a 
impermeable sludge across their windshields......

5 miles out of Okeechobee it was raining Love Bugs - they were everywhere 
!! They were coming through my partially open shield, through the vents in 
my jacket - even after shutting my visor, they were so thick that they were 
being sucked through the vents in my helmet depositing the carcasses all 
over my face. By 10 miles out, the dead Love bugs refused to fall off the 
visor, so I had to use the edge of my glove to flick them off to keep my 
visibility at a reasonable level. By Fort Drum, I was having real 
difficulty seeing clearly. And the smell ......

By the time I hit Yeehaw Junction, the deluge of bugs had dropped 
significantly - I stopped and snapped a few pictures for your viewing 
enjoyment.
http://www.triumphnet.com/st/upload/bike_love.jpg
http://www.triumphnet.com/st/upload/helmet_love2.jpg
http://www.triumphnet.com/st/upload/helmet_love.jpg

After several applications of Pro Honda Cleaner I was finally able to get 
the gunk off the visor. My bike, my jacket and pant were also coated - now 
I could really use that rain....... Pulling back onto 441 it looked as if 
my wish might be granted. The rain cloud about 2-3 miles away was dumping 
lots of water - you could clearly see the sheets of rain falling. I decided 
that if it looked bad, I would suit up, otherwise I would clean off some of 
the Love Bugs. Coming around the next corner, the road twisted away from 
the cloud to the north - spared once again. I could see rain to my east and 
west but once again found myself between rain clouds. I decided to pick up 
the pace a little as the road had no other vehicles on it. As cars 
approached I would slow down (as the limit on that stretch was 55) but I 
was still moving along a little too quick. I saw a group of cars heading 
toward me and they were moving right along - light bars ? Nope - so I kept 
on - as they got closer I could see that they were 3 of the new FHP 
vehicles with the recessed light bars - crap !!!! Brake!!! (maybe I should 
get a radar detector ?). I am still going way too fast as they get close - 
the lead car puts on his lights - as they pass - I see brake lights and the 
third vehicle does a U turn..... Crap, crap, crap - two gifts in one day 
and I still did not learn my lesson ? As the car approached I began to slow 
down further and ended up cruising at about 50. He followed me for about a 
mile and then turned on his lights - ticket time - I reach for the brake 
and begin to slow - looking in my mirror, I see him turn around and head 
back off to the south..... Holly schnikees !! Did I just get off ? ! Hit 
192 a few miles later without seeing anyone else. Gift #3...... They say 
good things always come in 3s right ?

Headed back up 419 to 520 to 524 to I95 - just this time at a very 
reasonable speed - you don't have to tell me twice (well, ok you don't have 
to tell me 4 times....). Picked up 95 and decided that I needed a few 
corners. A friend recently joked that we need to put out a list of the best 
clover leafs in Florida - if we do, the one at the Bee Line will be on it. 
I ran it twice and even though the roads were wet, I still had fun - a good 
way to finish things off. (I don't want to hear any snide remarks from you 
boys that live near the mountains...).

A few more miles and I was back in Port St John - As I pulled onto my 
street the rain began to fall again - perfect timing. 370 miles and still 
back in the door by 2:15PM - the perfect way to spend a Saturday morning .....

Now if I could only find an easy way to clean off these Love Bugs........

- - Weasel Dawg 


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