Our Saturday ride started at 7:30am with a meet and greet at the Griffin Road Shell station.  The initial plan was for a longer ride but the weather forecast was uncertain for the day so we made the decision to ride with a view to returning at any point if the weather closed in (more on this later).  There were six of us including myself.  We were joined by Denis Turcotte on an 07 Wing with over 72,000 miles on it!. He is a former ride coordinator of Miami Wings who left his home in Marathon at 4:30am to join us in time for the 7:30 meet! We were also joined by Woody (friend of Martin Johnson) on an Italian registered BMW R1200, Richard on a VTX, Tony Perez on a Shadow and Mike on the ST keeping us safe at the rear.  After a briefing we departed at 7:45 with the first stop being breakfast at Black Gold in Belle Glade.  The weather was clear if a touch on the warm side but there was no wind and the ride up 27 was pleasant with little traffic.  Black Gold was recommended by Dave Friedenberg and makes a good shorter ride for breakfast.  The service was a little slow but the small group spent time getting to know each other while waiting.  It was such a diverse group, that the time waiting to be served just went by as we talked.  A number of subjects were discussed and Saturday rides seemed to be OK with this (small) group.  

Given that the weather was holding, 5 of us decided to continue with a possible destination of Stuart via 76 Kanner Highway but with the understanding that if the weather turned we would head south earlier.  I like this route other than the section through Pahokee where I always feel as if I am going to take a wrong turn.  We continued up the right side of Lake Okeechobee and then made the turn to pickup Kanner.  As we travelled east the sky started to blacken and we elected to head south using the Beeline to the Turnpike to get back home.  We stopped for Gas at the West Palm Beach service station for gas, water and a quick debrief before heading for home.  The last section, the sky turned really ugly with some lightning but the rain held off when I exited for Parkland.  

In summary, it was a pleasant ride on some relatively quiet roads. We are planning a longer version of this ride when we can be reasonably sure of the weather holding through the afternoon.

December trip for the hardy motorcyclist -
Since my beautiful wife will be visiting family in Denmark for the month of December, I intend to motorcycle to Pensacola Florida for a day or two, then on the Natchez Mississippi and then do the Natchez trail or at least the Southern half of it. For me 400 miles to Pensacola, 330 miles to Natchez, and another 400 to Nashville then return. For S. Florida rider, add another 230 miles each way. So…for me this is a 2,200 mile journey, probably take 10 days.

The “Kaintucks”, or boatmen from the Ohio River Valley, would walk approximately 500 miles from Natchez to Nashville along the Natchez Trace in about 30 days. This is a historic route that boatman took to walk back because they could not sail back North on the Mississippi until Mr. Fulton invented the steam boat. Tom Meeks did that with some friends two years ago and vouches for the awesome ride. I also intend to go to Pensacola the scenic way. Link to the park site - http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm

If anyone is interested, let me know to jjoffe@gate.net. I plan to depart around December 12th or so. Leave Pensacola on the 14 or 15, come back to Pensacola 21st or so. This will be a test of my heated seat and grips on my new Goldwing. Regardless, this will be a “bring the long johns” trip. Most of the route will be gypsies accommodations (nothing reserved in advance !!!) play it by ear. If no one else is going I am pulling a Morten (ride alone !!!).

Jeffrey