The Ride or The Bugs or The Gifts (long) - Part 1

[Eric Sheley <eric@xxxxxxxxxx>]

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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