(Tour 3 posted. Scroll down)Tour #1
Day1
Feb 11
I often lament how bored I have gotten in ridding US19 and US98 out of the state of Florida, but today I am chomping at the bite to ride. All the Oyster Tour members at feeling the same. We all are needing a good ride. Well, except Capt. Gary as he is just getting over a lot of minor medical procedures on his hands. Things that are kind of needed to ride a scooter but he is coming anyway.
Big Red was sitting in the garage all
freshly decaled ready go, but a OAT of 49 sent me off the gym for a
warm-up work out. The aim was to leave around 10 but after more
weather research I decided that since the temp was only raising a
degree each hour 9:15 was as good as any to head out. I layered up,
tied the bag down, kissed the wife and hit the road.
I had taken US19 right out of St. Pete
recently and had convinced myself that it was not that bad, but I
don't know if it was the anxiousness to get in the open country or
what, but 19 was not nearly as good as I had convinced myself. The
traffic was not bad but it still seemed to take forever to get to the
point I would have been to if I had taken the SunCoast Parkway. Once
north of Crystal River the road opens up and there is little or no
traffic on the four lane. There were quite a few hawks and large
woodpeckers resting on the power line but they left when I stopped to
take a picture. I saw 4 cross country bikes and four hikers that I
would like to have talked to but when I encountered them there was
little or no shoulder to stop on and they were all going the other
direction.
I made a few detours just for the heck
of it including the Cross City international airport. The small
airports of the world are a great place to stop for a picnic, or
rest, or a clean bathroom. They are not scary like real airports.
I got to Eastpoint and Lynns Oyster
about 3. Last time I was here it was full including the outside deck.This time there was me and another
tourist couple from Georgia. The oyster where good but they were not
Apalachicola oysters as the bay has been closed for six weeks. They
were from Texas. Lynn had done without for several weeks, but demand
finally forced her to go outside of the area for oysters. When the river
gets above 17 feet the state shuts down the oyster beds.
I had not planned on stopping in
Apalachicola for the night but to seek out somewhere new. I had not
slept well that last couple of nights and was a little tired after
riding all day, so I went for the close and familiar of the Gibson
Inn. We did the usual dance with Kimberly saying “no you did not
pay that last time, we never have that rate” and I say “check it
out” and she does and then says “ok, this time but we are doing
this again. I am going to get fired”. I check in, pull off a couple
of layers, and head for the bar. I order a vodka and forget their
well vodka is horrible. I few sips and I return it and the bartender
replaces it with Skye and only charges me difference in two.
After the drink I start walking town
looking for dinner. There are some fine restaurants but I am looking
for just a plan fried fish meal. There are a few around but they are
north of $25 and I don't want that much. I find just what I want at
Hole In the Wall, a small place with a short bar and a few community
tables. I have fried grouper and shrimp with hush puppies and french
fries with a ice tea for $17. Pleasantly plumper, I make another loop
of town and call it a day.
Day 2
Breakfast is in the bar of the Gibson
and a not much. Despite a promise of not eating anything I ended up
stuffing myself with useless calories while visiting a traveling
couple from Urbana Virginia. They are on a meander along the coast.
We talk wooden boats, which he used to build, and oysters. Made for a
pleasant coffee time.
We headed out about 9 EST or 8 CST for
Panama City. Clear skies and warmer temperatures made for a great
ride. Especially now that I have learned when I get to Panama City
it is easier to take US98 business instead of regular 98. Regular 98
is sort of a bypass but it has lots of timed light, timed to make you
stop at everyone of them, lots of traffic and nothing but old strip
mall business's. The through town route the lights are better timed to
be green and more of a variety scenery.
I found Capt Gary behind the Surf
Doctor working on his former RV and having anxiety over the process.
I don't know if he is having separation anxiety from the machine or
is just to nice of a guy. He sold this thing a few weeks ago but just
will not walk away. He did teach them how to operate the systems but
he has gone above and beyond and taught them how to how to service
the engine, generator and more. Then things started not to work like
the leveling system and the heater. He will join us tomorrow and
hopefully we can rehabilitate him to take the normal position of once
you sell it ain't yours anymore.
I spent a wonderful hour visiting with
my friend Gracie. She is down to about 10 pounds from lingering
cancer but is still charging along. She had just come back from
Efuala Alabama were she had supervised the overhaul here son Jeff's
house. Jeff has spent the last 8 months trying to find out what was
wrong with him. Finally he was diagnosed with Myasthenia
gravis. It is a rare diease that makes weird things happen with
muscles in your body and drains all your energy. His left eye muscle
has gone wacky and the eyelid will drop and close and he has no
control over it but when he covers his right eye the left eye will
open. It is a progressive disease and at the moment there is no known
cure.
After
running back across the bridge to the beach for burrito lunch with
Gary, we headed east. Rooms are getting a little hard to come by for
the night since the Valentine lovers are coming this way for the
weekend. I wanted a ocean view room but ended up in a parking lot
view in a little aged mom and pop hotel with only 7 rooms. A
margarita at the bar down the road and I called it a day.
the owner of the Gibson
north florida and southern Georgia and Alabama are all about timber and this mill is right downtown panama city
somebody heard the scooter trash people were coming and rolled out the big wheel barrel for all the BS
did I mention the wind was blowing really really hard
Day 3
It was cold this morning and my plan had been to leave mid-morning, go to
Carolyn's in Apalach for a pricey but worth it breakfast and meet the gang at
Lynn's around 1 PM. But I since I skipped dinner last night I was hungry and
walked down to Sharron’s Café and had a pricey average breakfast. Capt. Gary
showed up about 9 and we made our way back east. I did a little exploring on
the way and in the end we were at Lynn’s about 12:30 and I had a dozen while I
waited and the boys rolled in on schedule at 1. Some more oysters and we were
off again back west and the destination for the over night was Port St. Joe and
the Tiki Palms B&B. We were in the upper portion of the converted garage
with two bedrooms, a couch and a day bed. We rode out to Mexico Beach just
because. I few minutes on the beach front and we were back in the B&B in
under two hours. A fine dinner was had at Provisions in town, a ice cream a Mac
Do, as we say in french, and we called it a day. Bill and Gary being the nice
guys slept in the living room and when I got up in the middle of the night I
could not even see Bill as he had sunken so far down in the day bed he was even
with the sides.
Day 4
A fine breakfast was served up by Debbie the owner of the B&B which we
shared with a judge and his wife from Tallahassee and then we were off. We went
down Hwy 30 and out to Cape San Blas state park. It was chilly and windy and we
had a long ride to go, about 300 miles in total. It was a pretty straight up
ride through Carrabelle and Perry and we turned off US19 on Beach Rd and headed
out to Kenton Beach. A little break there at the gas station and we pushed on
to Steinhatchee were they were having the Fideler Crab Festival but it was late
in the day and they were closing down. Out side of town we stopped for gas and
Bill had to install a new exhaust gasket. The Vespa exhaust is two part system that has a
gasket at the junction. It blowing out is common and a good Vespa rider can
change it out in less than 20 minutes as Bill quickly did as we all supervised.
We rolled in late to the Cedar Inn, a old 1950’s hotel, and as we had passed on
lunch we were off to dinner at Tony’s with famous Clam Chowder. Between
Valentines day and as Norma had stated “all the damn Yankees” there was a wait
to get in and they were out of a few things like salad and cold slaw. Gary and
the waitress entertained Jim, Bill and I especially when she said the only
reason she was being nice is because he looked like her great grandfather who
was nicer. Tony’s world famous Chowder was great but the rest of the meal was
marginal. Gary headed for the bed and the rest of us walked the town that was
rolling up at 8:30 and were home by 9.
that dot out there is bill "going slow"
technical problems loading pictures on monday. will try later
Day 5
Gary had the longest trip with threatening weather so he was the first out.
Temperatures were nice today starting a 60 by 9 and so Jim, Bill and me left
town and as I made my way south the others peeled off. Bill headed for Jax and
Jim peeled off in Crystal River and headed to Hernando. But before Jim left we
visited Scooter Heaven. I have seen this small hand painted sign for years but
for various reason never went to investigate. Well Scooter Heaven is a biker
joint and very interesting. We met the owner and a few friends/workers, all
very nice guys that said they welcome anybody and they have had every mode of
transport pull including horses. They showed us around and we took off.
I was home for lunch.
The oyster gang
So who are these cast of characters on the Oyster Tour? Well, let me
introduce them......
Capt. Gary
Gary is the senior member of the group. I met him on the 2012 Scooter
Cannonball and once he gave up cigarettes we became friends. He is a resident of
Dothan, Alabama where he retired for many years as a motorcycle officer. His
very long second career was charter boat captain/owner mostly on sailboats. Though
mostly retired, he still does contract captain work for the U.S. Navy at their
research base in Panama City, Florida. He rides modern and classic scooters and
his classic with the side car took 2nd or 3rd place, I can’t remember, at Barber
Motorsports in Alabama and that is a very, very, very big deal. He is a horse
trader from way back and things come and go in his back yard regularly. But,
whatever he owns it is always in excellent shape and he prides himself keeping
them running and looking perfect.
Bill Leuthold
Bill is the rider of the group. I meet him on the 2014 Scooter
Cannonball. He draws houses for a living, as did his father and his brother,
and has his own firm in Jacksonville, Florida. As I said he is the rider. His
idea of a great day riding is to get on a scooter, ride at wide open throttle,
refuel, ride at wide open throttle, refuel and keeping repeating that all day.
Since he rides fast he ends up at the front and his mantra is “honest, I am
going to go slow this time”. He usually has four or five two wheel machines in
his garage but loves his Vespa. He has put over 70,000 miles on his beloved
Rocket (though it has been acting up lately and not sure how much love is still
there) in 7 years and considering he rides all his vehicles, none is a garage
queen, that is impressive. Then, just for a break, he races a Miata on
weekends.
Jim Mandle
Know that fancy packaging on Oreo Cookies? Jim has the patient on it and
many other things. Well, he doesn’t financially have the patient but they are
all his inventions. His own design firm has designed some type of packaging for
almost every major brand name in America. An early retiree he founded the
Adirondack Folk School, but being a full time resident of Hernando Florida now
he has passed the reigns on. Still very interested in folk art, he volunteers on
a regular basis at the Stephen Foster State Park in Florida. He is a recent
entrant to the Vespa scooter world but has embraced fully. He is not hesitant
to jump into his ride to repair anything.
Fisheating Creek is the last free flowing creek into Lake Okeechobee. It was a major area for the Seminole Indians in the past. It was part of the Lykes family holdings, one of the largest land owners in the U.S., until they sold it to the state for $43 million after Lykes blocked the creek and there was a local uprising. The locals took bulldozer and pushed the road blocks out of the way. In the end a judge ruled it was a navigable water way and they could not block it. This lead to the selling of the land to the state.
Capt. Gary rolled into St. Pete Saturday night after a long ride from Dothan, Alabama and Vicki cooked a fine meal with pork chops about a inch thick. We took a lazy start on Sunday and took the back roads to Clewiston, Florida. We stopped at Florida Railroad Museum and Gary got the to see the train that I had to the good fortune of driving ....best of all....blowing the horn. From there we went to Solomon's Castle. A must stop for every one coming this way. It, however, is “must not” eat here place. From there we took the long way around to Clewiston, stopping in Palmdale to secure our boat rentals for Monday. We rolled into Clewiston Inn, in Clewiston, Florida, about 3:30. Gary and I had become separated on a long straight road only to find out, after turning around and going back, by phone that he had stopped for gas and I had missed him in the u turn. He continued to the Clewiston Inn and after refueling myself I followed him. The Clewiston Inn dates from 1925 and was built by big sugar to house it's visiting people. It has been up and down and now is down. A new owner has taken over but in no way do I think that it will be restored to it’s old glory. A meal next door at a great Cuban restaurant and we were off to Roland Martin’s, world famous fishing guy, Tiki Bar. A drink or two, Capt. Gary having something called a Daiquiri (just right for a “scooter” rider). Back home those two had a pint each of ice cream for dinner. The room was actually a two bedroom apartment with living room and kitchen so there was plenty
Day 2
March 30th
DAY 5
April 3
Well, I have been here for 3 nights so I am starting to smell like fish, so me and Big Red packed up and hit the road. Nobody told us it was going to be 44 degrees.
After a great breakfast in Pittsboro with Scott, Peggy and Jake I headed southwest on NC902. It was a nice quite ride on a rolling wooded road until I looked in the rearview mirror and there was a police car right on me with lights and sirens. I moved over thinking he was that close he wanted be, but he blasted around me. Over the next hill I found the reason for hurry. Two vehicles had met on the center line. There was a rescue vehicle and volunteer firemen were rolling in rapidly. The passengers were still in the vehicles. I could offer nothing and though the road was blocked I road across someone's lawn and continued down the road not wanting the spoil the ride anymore than the memories I had already captured.
Spring is in the area flowers are popping everywhere.
Following the back what little was there was closed. The only traffic was after church. In Kershaw I tried to get a better view of the activity at the gold mine but was unable. I did stop to change my hotel reservation from Sumter to Orangeburg South Carolina thereby putting about another 60 miles on the clock.
South of Kershaw on 601 I pulled into the Carolina Motorsports race track. Little bikes with big people were running around the track, including a 70cc scooter. I went over to visit Iain in the pits.
He owns a motorcycle shop but enjoys playing with the scooter. He had stripped it down to nothing, but had to add bracing as the frame flexed so much.
Louie and his son Sam came over to visit. Sam is a national go-kart champion. Louie wants a scooter and do what I do but his wife has not warmed up to it yet. His fondest memories of his younger days was riding on a old motorcycle and camping wherever the ride took him.
I enjoyed the visit but moved on down the road rolling into Orangeburg after a very enjoyable slow ride.
DAY 6
The Orangeburg Hampton Inn was full of snowbirds headed back to Canada. They each walked out with as much as they could stuff in a bag from the breakfast buffet. I let it warm up a bit was on the road by 8. It was usual day of beautiful sunshine and great roads. I had booked a lot of back roads on the Garmin but also checked no "unpaved roads". I did not care and would take me off into nowhere and then say "turn down that muddy road". I would decline and we would start all over again until it would say "turn down that sandy road". I guess mud and sand do not qualify as unpaved.
I had planned to come south via Augusta but there seems to be a bunch of people there that want to watch guys hit a little ball around and, though there were rooms, they were more than I will spend on this whole trip for one night.
In South Carolina I think there are more confederate flags than in the past. In one town, I believe Millen, the city library in a old lovely building, had a complete line up of all the confederate flags in it's front yard.
In Twin Cities I took a side road and saw the Twin City Mfg. building. I am curious about any industry in the hinterlands of the U.S. so I stopped and went in. I met the soon to former owner Eddie Shaw. He is handing over to his son's. Everybody in the family works including ex-wife's, new wife's, girlfriends, etc. As he explained all of this I told him I need a flow chart to follow all of that. Eddie had had another plant in a near by town and sold out to a large corporation. I found this niche market. They do screen printing, embroidery and all the usual stuff, but their money maker is they produce reflect tape to put on clothing. They have a complete sewing operation on the second floor that does this for companies all around the world. I thought this was just a little local operation but he has plants in Reno and W. Virginia. He is the only person on this trip that did not have a problem getting and keeping employees.
I passed several fields with Latin's bending over pulling onions out of the ground all day. I did not see a single Trump supporter their trying to get one of their jobs.
I meandered on down towards Florida. Southern GA is nothing but pine trees, so there was not much exciting until I came up on the bee keepers. The bee's are getting ready to go into the swamp after a flower that I do not remember that will bloom in a day or two or maybe next week.
A long slow ride brought me to Lake City at 5:30
Day 7Tour 2
March 6
I was having cheese grits and eggs at Tripp's diner with my friend David being served by beautiful young Brittany when tour 2 came up. You always hear people criticizing the younger generation. I have never bought off on that and Brittany is one of the many reasons why. She is a single mother and a few years ago in her mid-twenties the light came on and she crossed of the that line many of us did at that time in our life. She realized that if she partied less and applied herself she could buy, not rent a nice home for her and her daughter. So she changed her life. She is now the proud owner of a small bungalow and our morning conversations are not about the latest thing or band that came to town, but her telling her whole plan she has now laid out; building nest egg, paying off the loan early, up grading her house wisely like doing things that will save on insurance costs, etc.. These are not instant plans but long term goals she has set out for herself. She is doing a little at a time. She is what I see in the next generation.
There is David. David is north of 70 and still working. Now mind you he likes working, but he is always planning for tomorrow. He has a old cuddy cabin boat that is "gonna" go here or "gonna" go there, when in fact it just moves from shop to shop getting the latest modification that it "needs" before he can go boating. This has been going on for years. What it has not done is go into the water. And there have been tens of thousand of dollars of "need". He also has a fifth wheel travel trailer that lives the same life. He has owned it for almost two years and spent one night in it. His "I am just going to build one more house" turned into three last year. Again I state that he does enjoy it and the profit. This morning he said we should get our friend Larry and go down to Fisheating Creek and go canoeing. Usually I would say OK, knowing it would not happen, but this morning I called his bluff and said "OK, I will set it up". For re-enforcement I called the oyster gang and to my surprise they all said "sure".
Fisheating Creek is the last free flowing creek into Lake Okeechobee. It was a major area for the Seminole Indians in the past. It was part of the Lykes family holdings, one of the largest land owners in the U.S., until they sold it to the state for $43 million after Lykes blocked the creek and there was a local uprising. The locals took bulldozer and pushed the road blocks out of the way. In the end a judge ruled it was a navigable water way and they could not block it. This lead to the selling of the land to the state.
Capt. Gary rolled into St. Pete Saturday night after a long ride from Dothan, Alabama and Vicki cooked a fine meal with pork chops about a inch thick. We took a lazy start on Sunday and took the back roads to Clewiston, Florida. We stopped at Florida Railroad Museum and Gary got the to see the train that I had to the good fortune of driving ....best of all....blowing the horn. From there we went to Solomon's Castle. A must stop for every one coming this way. It, however, is “must not” eat here place. From there we took the long way around to Clewiston, stopping in Palmdale to secure our boat rentals for Monday. We rolled into Clewiston Inn, in Clewiston, Florida, about 3:30. Gary and I had become separated on a long straight road only to find out, after turning around and going back, by phone that he had stopped for gas and I had missed him in the u turn. He continued to the Clewiston Inn and after refueling myself I followed him. The Clewiston Inn dates from 1925 and was built by big sugar to house it's visiting people. It has been up and down and now is down. A new owner has taken over but in no way do I think that it will be restored to it’s old glory. A meal next door at a great Cuban restaurant and we were off to Roland Martin’s, world famous fishing guy, Tiki Bar. A drink or two, Capt. Gary having something called a Daiquiri (just right for a “scooter” rider). Back home those two had a pint each of ice cream for dinner. The room was actually a two bedroom apartment with living room and kitchen so there was plenty
we stopped at the florid railroad museum. I have driven that train.
a rest in the country
the clewiston inn
bill in cuba
a small two dish dinner for $6.95
front door parking
this was on the door. Lawton has not been Governor since 1998
riding to the tiki bar
Capt. Gary and his manly drink
those guys were hungry and had a pint of ice cream each
Day 2
We were all
up early Monday. The free breakfast was very, very poor. They even took one
store bought strawberry pastry and cut it into about 10 pieces. So Bill and I
walked back to the Cuban restaurant again, and for $3:95 got two eggs, grits, a
big pile of bacon, half a loaf of Cuban bread (you know the number one
ingredient in real cuban bread is lard) and a large Latte.
We saddled
up and headed for Fisheating Creek. We took a road through the sugar cane fields
and passed a ditch they were cleaning out. Along it were hundreds of egrets and
some pink flamingos.
David was
waiting at the park when we arrived. Unfortunately something came up in Larry's
business so he had to cancel. The crew at the Fisheating Creek Outpost are
great and have a super since of humor. We piled in the van and off we went to
Burnt Bridge to launch. We got a running Fox News bite commentary as we
traveled. We went through several private gates to the Burnt Bridge. FYI, there
is no bridge. We launch successfully and were off. Eight miles and four hours
later we were back were we started. It was a fantastic trip. We were the only
customers and only encountered three other boats, all powered. The weather could
have not been better and the birds and the alligators came out to say hello
along the way.
they were cleaning this ditch and as you can see there were hundreds of birds including pink flamingos
fisheating creek outpost
our live Fox News regurgitator and driver. whatever it was of course "it was Obama's fault"
gary's paddle was in that position most of the time.
dave and bill riding the current
We headed
north and stopped in Lake Placid for a very mediocre lunch after which Dave
headed home and we headed to the Jacaranda Hotel in Avon Park. The Jacaranda Hotel is another old 1925 hotel. In 1988 the local college had a foundation take
it over. South Florida State College was a community college at that time. As
the emphasis was on “community” they were by law forbidden to have dorms. They
wanted to have local students from the community. But we know there is always
around that and the foundation converted half the hotel into dorms that today
house the athletes on scholarships. It is a grand old lady. They have a
expansive buffet that is served from 5:30 to 7:30, totally aimed for the
“senior” citizens of the community. They also have a piano player that literally sings for his room. He comes in the winters and stays at the hotel as part of
his compensation.
the jacaranda still has the original elevator with operator. to call the elevator to the third floor you ring the bell three times.
bill and gary off to find something
This was all
grand but we encountered bigger things. Capt. Gary's scooter would not start.
Then the dance started and I will spare you the details except to say he was not
going to pay the $500 for U-Haul to get home. My good friend Dave agreed to come
over and haul the scooter to my house, were it will stay until Gary can get down
to pick it up.
Day 3
Bill headed back to Jax and Gary and I waited for Dave. He came rolling into town about 9:30. We loaded Gary's scooter and headed for St. Pete. I lead them home and riding through the country was fantastic as the citrus are blooming and the air was full of sweet smell. Traffic was backed up on the Skyway Bridge for miles, so I hoped on the wide shoulder and took off. Beat them home by 40 minutes.
#3 The Solo Oyster TourDay 3
Bill headed back to Jax and Gary and I waited for Dave. He came rolling into town about 9:30. We loaded Gary's scooter and headed for St. Pete. I lead them home and riding through the country was fantastic as the citrus are blooming and the air was full of sweet smell. Traffic was backed up on the Skyway Bridge for miles, so I hoped on the wide shoulder and took off. Beat them home by 40 minutes.
"you go down here and turn right........"
Loaded and ready
March 30th
My most joy, when riding, is when I am
solo and I have not had a good solo ride in a while, so since there
was a good weather window and I needed to go to N.C. I jumped on Big
Red and headed north alone.
I do enjoy riding in the pre-dawn
darkness out west. Not so much in a large metro area during rush
hour on 8 lane highways doing high speeds. But I headed out in the
dark and took the usual route on 275 to the Suncoast Parkway at 6 AM
to beat some of the rush hour traffic . It was on faith. Faith that
there would be nothing in the highway, faith that other drivers would
see me, and faith that I would live until the sun came up.
Basically, I just grabbed the handle bars and aimed into the dark.
The construction part on the Veterans Expressway was the scariest as
the lanes were not even or smooth and shifted around.
It was a great ride up the back roads
of Florida. There were areas of no traffic and areas of some
traffic, but nothing trying. The weather was beautiful and
unfortunately I was on a training run for the Cannonball and missed a
lot of good pictures. This was a Bill Leothold type ride and who I
was meeting in the big city of Baldwin, Florida for lunch. I rolled
into the parking lot of Everyone's just before noon and Bill was
there waiting.
Lunch was good when it went down, but I
down graded it to “not again” after a few hours of riding, but
the visit was great. We mainly talked about the upcoming Cannonball
and Bill's burning to desire to win. He will tell you “I just want
to finish”. Which he did not do last time due to mechanical
failure. But Bill is a competitive and no matter what he says he
wants to win. He ordained Big Red with a Rocket sticker and we
parted ways.
I continued north mostly on Ga 121, a
back road through all the timerland. This is not exciting scenery
with only swamps and pine forest. Through the town of Folkston, west
of Jessup, through Claxton the home of the fruitcake, and on up to
Statesborro just before 5. From 6 in the morning to 5 in the
afternoon on a scooter makes for a long day. I went next door for
a Margarita and some wings and hit the hay early.
By 7 I was clear of the danger and brave enough to take a picture
the solo road that I love
this is Charlie. when I saw him leaning against the car I had to do a u turn and enquire. he is a auxiliary police officer and does the school cross walks. he was very pleasant and friendly and I enjoyed our visit.
the lady tigers built a balloon entrance for Red
bill putting on the rocket decal
it was good
DAY 2
I got a slow start at around 8. Capt.
Gary had called last night to update me on his scooter in for repair
in Atlanta and to lecture me. He inquired as to were the real Ken
Wilson was. “You know, the one who stops to smell the roses?”
So, with that admonishment, I stopped in the first 30 minutes to take
a picture. I have found I have to stop early before the “got to
get there” mind set sets in. I took a few pictures and moved on to
take more. There were U-turns, side roads, rides through a couple of
fields.
The highlight was stopping to take a
picture of a old store when Barbara came around the corner on her
John Deer. She had a beautiful welcoming smile and we started a nice
conversation. Shortly her son Jason drove up and he came over to
join in. This is the family that you think of when we talk about our
farmers. Unfortunately, they are rare. Most are all corporate farms
now. Jason and his 72 year old farm about 750 to 900 acres growing
grains and peanuts. Last year was a horrible year do to flooding.
The harvested less than 5% of there crop and though they had crop
insurance it was not enough. Like Barbara said, you may not make the
harvest but the bank still wants it's payments. Before I told them
goodbye Jason showed me how to get up to their house when the gate is
locked and Barbara said stop by anytime and I am sure she meant.
I continued on my way stopping here and
there. Around 2 I realized I had to press on to make to my brothers
before the rain set in. It was farther than I had planned but that
is what I had to do.
In Kershaw, S.C. I began to see brand
new for pickups all the same with a tall flag on the back. There were
dozens of them parked at the few restaurant and truck after truck on
the highway. Eventually I came up what it was all about, the Ocean
Gold mining operation. It is a new 5,000 acre open pit mining
operation. Riding along you could see where they are clearing acre
after acre of land and had already begun removing the top layers.
There were acres and acres of building materiel. Research says that
it will be the largest and deepest open pit mining operation in the
eastern U.S.
About 4:30 I rolled down Hogan Farm
Road, where my good buddy Jake came running out to meet me.
babara, a great southern lady
jason, a real farmer
DAY 2 & 3
I spent the next two days visiting and
hiding from the rain.
Peggy and I rode out to see her bees.
I saw what I thought was hornet's nest in the tee. She got very
excited and said it was a swarm of honeybees. From time to time when
bee hives get crowded some will leave or “swarm” . Usually you
just lose your bee's so Peggy was excited to find these before they
have moved on. She rounded up Scott and gear and moved the bee's into
a new home.
breakfast at my favorite restaurant and owner in the world...Angie's in Garner
some people said it was foolish to call this a oyster as there would be no oyster. well, they sure tasted good.
Harley's "so what is like to be out there seeing the world. we are just stuck in the barn"
changing fog lites. the cursing stopped after I looked on youtube how to do the job.
DAY 5
April 3
Well, I have been here for 3 nights so I am starting to smell like fish, so me and Big Red packed up and hit the road. Nobody told us it was going to be 44 degrees.
After a great breakfast in Pittsboro with Scott, Peggy and Jake I headed southwest on NC902. It was a nice quite ride on a rolling wooded road until I looked in the rearview mirror and there was a police car right on me with lights and sirens. I moved over thinking he was that close he wanted be, but he blasted around me. Over the next hill I found the reason for hurry. Two vehicles had met on the center line. There was a rescue vehicle and volunteer firemen were rolling in rapidly. The passengers were still in the vehicles. I could offer nothing and though the road was blocked I road across someone's lawn and continued down the road not wanting the spoil the ride anymore than the memories I had already captured.
Spring is in the area flowers are popping everywhere.
Following the back what little was there was closed. The only traffic was after church. In Kershaw I tried to get a better view of the activity at the gold mine but was unable. I did stop to change my hotel reservation from Sumter to Orangeburg South Carolina thereby putting about another 60 miles on the clock.
South of Kershaw on 601 I pulled into the Carolina Motorsports race track. Little bikes with big people were running around the track, including a 70cc scooter. I went over to visit Iain in the pits.
He owns a motorcycle shop but enjoys playing with the scooter. He had stripped it down to nothing, but had to add bracing as the frame flexed so much.
Louie and his son Sam came over to visit. Sam is a national go-kart champion. Louie wants a scooter and do what I do but his wife has not warmed up to it yet. His fondest memories of his younger days was riding on a old motorcycle and camping wherever the ride took him.
I enjoyed the visit but moved on down the road rolling into Orangeburg after a very enjoyable slow ride.
DAY 6
The Orangeburg Hampton Inn was full of snowbirds headed back to Canada. They each walked out with as much as they could stuff in a bag from the breakfast buffet. I let it warm up a bit was on the road by 8. It was usual day of beautiful sunshine and great roads. I had booked a lot of back roads on the Garmin but also checked no "unpaved roads". I did not care and would take me off into nowhere and then say "turn down that muddy road". I would decline and we would start all over again until it would say "turn down that sandy road". I guess mud and sand do not qualify as unpaved.
I had planned to come south via Augusta but there seems to be a bunch of people there that want to watch guys hit a little ball around and, though there were rooms, they were more than I will spend on this whole trip for one night.
In South Carolina I think there are more confederate flags than in the past. In one town, I believe Millen, the city library in a old lovely building, had a complete line up of all the confederate flags in it's front yard.
In Twin Cities I took a side road and saw the Twin City Mfg. building. I am curious about any industry in the hinterlands of the U.S. so I stopped and went in. I met the soon to former owner Eddie Shaw. He is handing over to his son's. Everybody in the family works including ex-wife's, new wife's, girlfriends, etc. As he explained all of this I told him I need a flow chart to follow all of that. Eddie had had another plant in a near by town and sold out to a large corporation. I found this niche market. They do screen printing, embroidery and all the usual stuff, but their money maker is they produce reflect tape to put on clothing. They have a complete sewing operation on the second floor that does this for companies all around the world. I thought this was just a little local operation but he has plants in Reno and W. Virginia. He is the only person on this trip that did not have a problem getting and keeping employees.
I passed several fields with Latin's bending over pulling onions out of the ground all day. I did not see a single Trump supporter their trying to get one of their jobs.
I meandered on down towards Florida. Southern GA is nothing but pine trees, so there was not much exciting until I came up on the bee keepers. The bee's are getting ready to go into the swamp after a flower that I do not remember that will bloom in a day or two or maybe next week.
A long slow ride brought me to Lake City at 5:30
the savannah river. lack of bridges to cross directs the direction of my trip.
Gerald says he can but a tube in to.......
the welcome center on 301. guess what day it is?
Georgia onion pickers. I did not see any trump supporters standing in line to get these jobs.
I got up, checked the oil, rode home.
The End
