Woke up to a sunny morning. Had a good breakfast then hit the road to Key West via the Florida Everglades. We also said goodbye to one of our group. Paul got an invite to a poker tournament in Fort Lauderdale that he couldn't pass up. We wished him well and look forward to hearing about his success at the tournament
So Highway 41 has no curves but apparently has lots of alligators.
Jack never was good at reading signs.
At the end of highway 41, we merged onto highway 1 which takes us through the Florida Keys to Key West. Key West is an interesting place. It's where Ernest Hemingway spent a lot of time.
Hemingway's favourite bar - Sloppy Joe's
It's also where Jimmy Buffett opened his bar Margaritaville, and where I met Marilyn Monroe.
And apparently our hotel at Key West also shares a ritual with the hotel we stayed at in Clearwater.
The major difference between this fire alarm and the one in Clearwater was that in Key West, the bar stayed open the entire time.
The alarm did eventually get turned off about halfway through our second beer and after the fire department finally showed up.
Well sort of. Woke up to a torrential downpour which somehow managed to stop almost on key 5 minutes before we were to leave Clearwater. Was cloudy for about an hour and then the sun came out just in time for us to enjoy a coffee in Sarasota.
Apart from being a beautiful place, Sarasota was also home to the Ringling family (yes the circus people)
From Sarasota we rode to Naples. Not much to report on this section of the ride but perhaps a good time to discuss the food we had along this trip
There was the good
What Americans refer to as "Jumbo Shrimp" not sure what their prawns look like. This was a fantastic meal had in Alabama.
And the bad
Very patriotic fast food place but not somewhere we will be visiting again soon.
And the ugly
Very large oyster enjoyed by Andy in New Orleans
Overall the food was fantastic on this trip. In addition to the above we had catfish, crawfish snapper and also an occasional steak (or two). You have to love southern cooking for sure.
One last riddle. How many Property Managers does it take to open a sliding glass door?
So woke up this morning to discover it wasn't raining although it was overcast and the roads were wet. After checking the weather forecast, we determined that if we didn't drive too fast we should be following the storm to our next destination and not be in it. We did come close to catching it a couple times, but at the end of the day we stayed dry and that's what we needed. We drove highway 98 through to highway 19 which took us to Clearwater beach, Florida. Although the rain had stopped the wind did not. This week is spring break for most of the southern states and Clearwater is the central place for an annual sand castle contest. Unfortunately because of the weather the contest was actually moved indoors as several tents were set up along the beach. Our weatherman Julian explains
Overall the day was pretty much uneventful. We made it safely to Clearwater, had a great dinner (best calamari ever) at the Hyatt hotel then back to our rooms for a nightcap and to bed for a good nights sleep. We at least until 11:30 when...
... we were awoken to the sultry tones of our in room fire alarm. So awake we were, dressed we got and downstairs we went (couldn't use the elevators) where we were met with the following sight
Once again we asked our intrepid reporter, Julian to explain the situation.
The final report was that most likely someone pulled the fire alarm and caused the entire mess. After about another 20 minutes we were given the all clear and were allowed back to our rooms.
PS you'll not there are 6 fukawi's in the photo plus myself who took the photo. The missing Fukawi, Jack, made the decision to stay in the room and try to sleep through the alarm.
The entire Florida panhandle area is under a severe tornado warning for most of the day. In addition to that we also in the middle of a major thunder and lightning storm as highlighted by our new weatherman, Julian
So once again our start to the day got delayed. We were at the bikes for 8:30 but had to bunker down in the hotel till almost 11:00. Some of us like David used the time to catch up on some sleep
And others like Julian decided to pair up his helmet intercom system with his iPhone and call his sweetheart in Kelowna.
So 11:00 came and the rain did not let up so we made the decision to venture out anyway. I managed to jerry-rig an outfit to get me through the day
We drove along route 98 the entire day but half way through the day we stopped for some warmth, food and defogging
The entire day had us moving from one storm to another with thunder and lighting following us to the end destination for the day, which was Crawfordville Florida. Crawfordville is a small community with no taxi service but Jack was able to convince the hotel manager at the Best Western to drive him to the local BBQ place to order take out. We ended the day devouring pulled pork sandwiches and chicken wings along with some beer. Time now to go to bed. Last check of the weather channel indicates that the rain should stop by 9:00am tomorrow. Here's hoping...
So I had the pull out couch last night (Paul got the king size bed). Anyway couldn't find any sheets or blankets and was too tired to wait for housekeeping so improvised with a couple towels from the washroom. Oddly enough I actually had a nice sleep
So today we woke up in New Orleans and by the end of the day we wound up 4 States away in Florida.
The goal was to get to the local Eaglerider store at 9:00 and hit the road as soon as possible after that. However ASAP in the south doesn't seem to have the same meaning as in Canada but we did manage to hit the road by 11:00
Once outside of New Orleans we hit highway 90 which follows the coast heading east. Along the Gulf there are obviously some wave and water level issues as evidenced by the many homes that are built along the shoreline
One of the many sites you see along the way is lots and lots of road kill, mostly possums but a few armadillos as well (no I didn't take a picture). Eventually we made it to Mississippi...
...at which time we realized we probably were not going to be able to stay dry much longer. We did manage to dodge in and out of small pockets of rain and drizzle through Mississippi and Alabama but then got hit with heavy rain once we hit florida until we made our destination, Pensacola. We ended the day wet and hungry but enjoyed the ride for sure. Here's hoping the weather improves tomorrow.
Our annual trip this year is a journey from New Orleans to Miami. Eight of us (Don Weber, Julian Davis, Jack Buckingham, Andy Molloy, Paul Klann, Shawn Marr, David Shier and myself, Scott Ullrich). The trip was organized by Don with the assistance of Andy.
The first day started early for me as I had trouble sleeping. Finally got out of bed at 2:00am, poured some coffee and answer those last few business emails and by 5:00am, was all done and on my way to the airport. Flew United Airlines from Vancouver to Denver and then to New Orleans. The flight was smooth, on time and had me in New Orleans by 2:30pm (there is a two hour time difference).
For the first night we had to split up between 4 hotels as everything was booked due to a Wrestlemania event which was sold out to 80,000 fans. Once I got settled I headed off to Bourbon Street to meet the guys. This was my first time in New Orleans so was a bit of a shock when I turned the corner to come face to face with a rather large horse who was blocking my way.
After carefully maneuvering around my new friend I headed off and found the guys at a jazz bar called the Old Opera House where we had our first beer of the evening and enjoyed a trio of fellows who never took a break the entire time we were there.
Than off to dinner at a restaurant call Desire Oyster Bar where the menu was a little different than what we woul dtypically see in Vancouver. They only had one type of oyster which is a very large Louisiana Oyster which went down a little easier when fried than raw for me. I did have the BBQ shrimp which is served in a spicy sauce along with some very nice wine.
After dinner we walked along Bourbon street and enjoyed the atmosphere.
Finally as I was heading to the hotel, I came across two ladies playing a guitar and violin. Spend about twenty minutes listening to them and wound up buying a CD. The end to our first night
