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The Ride or The Bugs or The Gifts (long) - Part 1
- Subject: The Ride or The Bugs or The Gifts (long) - Part 1
- From: Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 17:45:45 -0400
Beep ... Beep ... Be......... My hand silenced the alarm before it could
finish the third beep. Why did I set my alarm ? It's Saturday and I should
be sleeping in ...... Oh, yeah the ride. "Get up" I tell myself and then
proceed to drag my still sleeping body out of the bed - rubbing my eyes I
gradually focus on the clock on the other side of the room - "5:55" - crap.
Off to check the weather channel to see what I can expect - a few scattered
showers (as I expected) but all in all not a bad looking radar image. Head
off to grab a bowl of cereal and a shower (no - not at the same time). The
Melbourne group was meeting for breakfast, but I wanted to bypass the
interstate, so I planned on running down 419 and meet up with the group at
one of two spots on the ride.
As I got out of the shower I found myself once again running late. I swear
time runs double speed when I am under the hot water. So I finish up double
time and throw on my leathers. Rolling open the garage door I am greeted by
the shining sun - then slapped by the humidity. For those not in Florida,
you can get the same effect by immersing a towel in warm water and then
wrapping your body in it. Full leathers only tend to make it that much more
enjoyable......
As I pull down the street I glance to my west (my garage faces due east)
and am greeted with black storm clouds.... I guess I should have looked at
the weather closer to departure. The roads were wet and as I headed west, I
began to hear the unmistakable sound of raindrops popping on the face
shield. I decided to stop at the gas station and top off and get a better
look at the storm clouds. I toss my card in the reader at the pump and
watch it flash "Authorizing" - this continues for 60 seconds and then I get
the dreaded "pay inside" - ug. Walking inside I hand the girl my card -
"didn't work at the pump" I offered - "Yeah - they've been out all morning
- - I guess we should put out a sign...."
Looking at the rain now falling I thought, "Doesn't look that bad - I bet I
can run through it in a mile or so...." I should know better..... I hit
I-95 south and the sky opens up - normally the rain doesn't bother me too
much, but this one was really heavy. Half a mile down the road I pass a
truck off in the trees - obviously running too fast for road conditions.
Less than a mile later there is another off in the trees - this time a car.
I decide to slow down a bit....
Pulling off onto 524 I begin my westward jog - the rain lightened up, but I
could feel the streams of water running down inside my jacket - my run was
looking like it might be a little damp. Once I passed the fish camp the
rain just stopped - the road was still wet but no rain. Hey, all right -
things are looking up !!!!. I can see the rain to my south and north, but I
had a nice little path with no precipitation. I headed out Nova Rd and then
picked up 419 toward Deer Park. I love 419, because there is nothing out
there but a few cattle ranches - usually nothing to worry about. Running
down the straightaway I am watching the cattle on both sides of the road,
when something catches my eye up ahead. The grass was tall, so I decided to
slow down - hello - its a wayward calf..... I slow down to a crawl in case
it decides it wants to play - it goes up to the road edge, but decides to
stay on the side line. Thank you....
I get down to 192 and pick up the pace as I am running behind. I hit my
first meeting point at 7:55 - about 10 minutes past when I wanted to be
there - the rain had slowed me down a bit. If they left on time, the
Melbourne group should be through between 7:45 and 8:00. I wait until 8 and
still no group - "Great" I think - "They've already passed". So now I have
to get on it to make it to the next meeting point at 441 and 60. They
weren't going to leave there until 8:30, so I figured I was still in good
shape.
441 south runs right through cattle country (at one point there were more
heads of cattle here in Florida than in Texas....). Fairly straight roads
with a couple of twists - but at this time of day, no traffic, so it was
still a fun ride. I hit the stop (left at 60, first station on the left) at
8:20 - perfect I thought. Topped off the tank and looked for the other
riders that were supposed to be picked up at this point. There were no
other bikes - no big deal I thought - even if the group passes, without
stopping, I will see them. By 8:45 I had arrived at the following
conclusions - 1 - that they were running really late - 2- they were
slightly ahead of schedule and had already stopped here and left before
8:20 or - 3 - no one had gone on the ride..... By 8:50 I had been there for
30 minutes - and I had told a couple other people that we should be through
Okeechobee around 9ish - I decided to continue on. As I pulled back onto
441, the George Thorogood song "I drink alone" popped into my head with a
lyric change - "I ride alone..... yeah, with nobody else..... because when
I ride alone, I prefer to be myself...." :-)
I continued down 441 - traffic was still pretty light, but did get stuck
behind a couple of 5 rig caravans. Still, I could clip right along without
too much difficulty. As I got closer to Okeechobee, I saw a long string of
traffic headed toward me - a car, a rig and then everyone else..... Still
clicking along at 85mph (actual) in a 60, the slow lead car lights up -
crap - a sheriff..... he gives me a couple of bweeps from the siren and
flashes from the strobe, but doesn't turn around - Gift #1 for the
day....... where are all these love bugs coming from ?
As I enter Okeechobee (around 9:20) I notice a billboard for a local
tractor dealer - some guy in a 10 gallon hat with a 40 foot wide smile -
some miscreant has blacked out every other tooth.... Nothing like a good
laugh to get the morning back on track.... Stopped at the Red Rooster to
see if any Lost Empire riders were about, but there were only a few Harleys
in the lot. Oh well, off to 78 to start around Lake Okeechobee (about a 100
mile loop).
End of Part 1
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