April 6, 2019 - Ride to Eat - Boyette's Diner, Tiptonville, TN

Eric forced me to get up out of bed at 5:00 am this morning!  Gack!  That's early, really early.  Oh well, I had to pee anyway so I got up.  The reason he got me up was so we could ride to Tiptonville, TN to a place called Boyette's Dining Room at Reelfoot Lake for a meet-up of riders for lunch.

Okay, the weather was decent (as in not raining) so since I was up I was game to do the ride for lunch.  I didn't put on my heated jacket but the temps were a wonderfully warm 55 degrees and a bit up the road they dropped to a slightly chilly 52 degrees.  I almost said something to Eric about the cold but I knew it would warm up.  The skies were clear and the forecast was predicting 75 degrees or so.

I had all my vents zipped up and my buff around my neck.  I was reasonably comfortable :-)  We headed north on Highway 45 and we pretty much stayed on that highway for the majority of the ride.  A big four lane highway, we encountered traffic in Tupelo and Corinth and then things mellowed out.

We made stop or two along the way but mostly just rode up to Tiptonville, TN with no issues (yay!).  We pulled into Boyette's around 10:30 and the parking lot was just beginning to fill up.

Here is our host, Robert Rehkopf!

 A few parking lot pics.

 The obligatory signage.

 The dining room was getting full.

 Our new friend Bob along with Karen and Mark Campbell (old friends).  Hey, all friends are good :-)

 Robert give a welcome to all attendees.  Awards were passed out to the oldest rider (72), the most miles traveled (900 +) and the youngest rider (52).  So what does that tell you?  The youngest rider was 52?????  Peeps, we need to get some young blood into this activity.  It's tons of fun, you meet peeps from everywhere, make great friends, have good food and go to interesting places.  What's not to like about that?  Challenge - encourage younger riders to do this stuff!

 The dining room got even more full with more and more peeps showing up.  I counted 40.

The line of bikes in the parking lot got a LOT bigger!  So much fun :-)

 The entrance to the restaurant.  Besides the 40+ of us motorcyclists, the restaurant was packed with regular customers, (and the All You Can Eat Crowd..., which is a whole demographic in and of itself).  Great place to stop and have a bite.  People watching isn't bad either!

 After lunch, a number of folks went on a 1 hour lake cruise.  Instead of the cruise, we went to the State Park visitor center and had a delightful time. 

 This is a Red Tail Falcon that was injured and now spends his time amusing tourists.  Very cool.

There were a plethora of snakes and some turtle shells showing the variety of life in the area as well.  Sorry, no pics of the snakes, though some were impressive and others were shy.

 Outside, they had two Bald Eagles that had been injured and are now residents of the park until healed up.  Again, very cool!

Another Red Tail Hawk.

They also had Hooters!   Well, several varieties of owls.  Totally cool!

Look at those awesome ear feathers!!!

 We then took the nature walk out in to the Cypress Swamp and to Reelfoot Lake proper. 

 It was warm but not hot or humid.  Perfect temp to take this .25 mile stroll.  We were startled by something in the water at one point.  Hope it was a fish and not a big ole hurkin' snake!!

 It was a beautiful day, a great lunch, fun peeps and an awesome walk-a-bout!

After our little hike in full riding gear (minus jackets) we returned to our bikes, put on the rest of our gear and headed home.  All was fine (except for the stupid ass who tried to pass an on-coming car until he realized we were headed in the opposite direction and he was going to take us out and the car he was passing!!!!  Fucktard!!!!).  After that pucker moment, we settled into a nice rhythm and simply rode along home!

 We were lucky and our lovely weather stayed with us until we got home.  About an hour later the heaven's unleashed and poured water!  So glad we stayed dry :-)

It was a wonderful day ride of about 360 miles or so.  Both bikes ran perfect.  We had good weather, met great peeps, had decent food and a lovely walk-a-bout.  Thank you Robert Rehkopf for the lovely RTE, great call :-)

Again, thank you for following along.  Stay tuned for the next adventure!  I'm sure one is coming up quickly :-)

Cheers,
Cletha

2019 IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure - Day 11 - March 22, 2019

We got up this morning thinking we would do a tourist activity and then I realized I had planned poorly.  Our anticipated activity was 60 miles the wrong direction.  Oh pooh!  Never mind, the weather was glorious and we were going to take small roads all the way home.

We left The Best Western Crossroads Inn, Defuniak Springs, FL after a lovely brekkie and headed north on Highway 331.  The further north we rode the less traffic we encountered and the more fun the road became.  We continued home on Highway 10 and eventually the last leg home on Highway 45.  Although the sun was out it never really got warm so I stayed buttoned up the entire trip.

Sorry, didn't stop to take a single picture and lunch was simply a Subway sandwich.  No local color to show :-(  We made it home safely in time for dinner.  Our IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure was over.  Man, did we ever have a great time.  Saw so many dear friends and made new one.  Saw new places, tried new things.  All in all, it was a wonderful adventure.  Here is a shot of our route!  We rode about 2,150 miles and had tons of smiles!

Thank you all so much for following along.  Since this post is so boring, I'm going to let you in on what's happened since we got home!

We finally took the Natchez Trail Hike that's located right behind our home!  It was a bit chilly but the sun was out and it was a perfect day for a hike and some adventure!

Some parts of the trail were a big soggy and wet but for the most part we managed to skirt them and get back on the trail.  Unfortunately on the return trip I stuck my foot in a wet spot and finished the hike with a damp foot!

It was beautiful and peaceful.

We found some wildflowers along the way.

And some big open spaces....

The Eastern Redbuds were blooming in a glorious way!

After our hike, a day or so later, Eric decided it was time to remove the metal posts stuck in our yard.  No, they were not lightening rods!  (And the ground rod for the meter/cable stuff is on the other side of the house)  They were installed by the previous owner for some sort of invisible dog fence.  He had removed a few others that were 2 - 3 feet long.  But the last two suckers, well, they needed the manly jack to remove.

Those posts were over 6 feet long!  Yes, SIX FEET!!!  Good thing I have a handy man who can tackle things like this :-)

A few days after the post removal, we decided it was time to explore Tupelo a bit more.  So we geared up and headed out to find some more Tupelo treasures :-)

We found this fine Caboose and decided it was a perfect photo opportunity or rally bonus (?).

Then, around the corner we found this gem, the iconic Silver Moon Club.  It's a private club that hosts private parties and often has Elvis impersonators as the main event.  It has fabulous murals and a giant guitar!

Here are some close ups of the guitar and the monument base.  Very cool stuff.

I absolutely love this caricature of Elvis, isn't it fantastic?

After all that hard work finding treasures in Tupelo it was time for ice cream at the Diary Kream!  Oh delish!  We had soft serve swirls, chocolate and vanilla, ice cream, YUMMY!  We've eaten here before and the burgers, tater tots and onion rings are to die for.  Come here, eat here!!!

So, that is the story.  We had a wonderful time at the Jax Pizza Party, then exploring Florida.  It was nice to get home and find some awesome spots in Tupelo.  Come here, visit here.  It is really a wonderful town!

Thank you so very much for following along.  We have more adventures lined up so stay tuned.

Cheers,
Cletha

2019 IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure Day 10 - March 21, 2019

Today was to be another travel day and WOWZA what a great travel day it was!!  Contrary to yesterday, today's ride was smooth sailing the entire way.  No stop and go traffic, very few lights and lots and lots of beautiful, smooth four and two lane highways.  The weather was perfect.  We started around 62 degrees and the highest was 72 or so.  Mostly the temps hung around the upper sixties and 70 degrees.  Lovely riding weather and not a cloud in the sky.  Oh, so beautiful!!!

We left Crystal River, FL and continued on Highway 98.  Our friend Sylvie Torter suggested a ride along Highway 98 through Apalachicola would be a good thing so that's what we did!  No regrets :-)

We noticed the median and shoulders of the highway had magnificent wildflowers blooming.  Boatloads of them!  Beautiful beyond belief.  Oh my, they took your breath away.  This was a fantastic ride!  Yes, do this!!!

Eric attempted to capture the beauty of the wildflowers on the fly but you can't really see the beauty.

So, imagine this for miles and miles and miles like a thick carpet!  Oh boy, what a ride!

We took a quick rest stop somewhere along the way ;-).  Typical bump in the road gas station.  I liked the old dead station in the background with the Spanish Moss hanging off the giant tree.

We continued along Highway 98 in a very happy mood.  Bikes were running like the fine tuned machines they are, gear was doing it's job, we were comfortable, the road was smooth and life was good!

We stopped in Panacea, FL for lunch.  Hmmm,  just up the road before lunch, we stopped at a gas station to figure out where we were and what we were going to do and where we were going.  Eric asked for a good place to have lunch and was given two choices, Posey's or the Coastal.  I chose the Coastal based on nothing but the name.  Mistake......hahahahahha

 I don't mind a dump cafe but I do mind a waitress that doesn't pay attention.  The food would have been good had it been delivered hot or even warm.  It wasn't busy since it was past 1 pm but apparently the waitress couldn't give a damn.  I won't go into details, (45 mins from order to food), but lunch was less than stellar.  Don't go here ;-)

No problem, at least we got some food and carried on along Highway 98.  No photos but we did ride through Mexico Beach and Panama City both of which were devastated by Hurricane Michael this past October.  Oh my, it was horrible.  My heart goes out to all those peeps.  We saw some hurricane damage before we got to Mexico Beach but it was nothing compared to what happened in Mexico Beach.  So many homes and business just gone.  Just gone....  So many severely damaged.  We did see some re-building but you could tell that a lot will not be rebuilt.  Sad :-(

We were hoping to get a room in Panama City but no way.  Every single hotel and motel was damaged and either under reconstruction or just boarded up.  More sadness.  So, we rode on and eventually ended up in DeFuniak Springs, FL just on the border of Alabama. We have a nice room and we gained an hour (hooray) because of the time zone change.

Although we didn't do any sightseeing or attractions today, we had a marvelous ride!!!  Just the way I like it, little traffic, smooth roads, great scenery and a big grin all day log!

Tomorrow we may do some touristy stuff.  Guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out, lol.

Cheers,
Cletha

2019 IBA JAX Pizza Party Adventure - Day 9 - March 30, 2019

Today was to be a transition day.  No tourists activities planned today.  We were heading north along the gulf coast.  We really wanted to avoid the interstate as much as possible.  We left North Ft. Myers about 9 am and guess what?  Yes, it was raining again, hahahahaha.  Nah, really is was just a heavy mist that left a lot of water everywhere ;-)  No worries, it didn't last long.  What did last long was the miles and miles of stop and go traffic as we navigated Highway 41 west and north.

Oh my heck!  The traffic was non-stop.  Oh no, actually it stopped, a LOT!  We certainly got lots and lots of slow riding skills practice.  My clutch hand is very, very strong, don't mess with me, lol.  Fortunately the temperature was moderate in the upper 60's, low 70's so we didn't bake in our gear at all the slow riding and stops.

How slow was it?  Well, we stopped for a break and to take off a layer of clothes 80 miles from our departure.  That was THREE HOURS to go 80 miles.  Yup, it was that slow ;-)

The fun stuff was riding through the marina at Sarasota right by Bay Front Park and Marina.  That was soooo nice.  I like Sarasota.  I didn't mind our downtown ride through for that part of the day.  Maybe sometime we'll feel flush enough to spend a few days there in one of the waterfront resorts.

Still in traffic and stop and go.  Lights every block that were never synchronized.  Yes, lots of slow riding practice.  I was hoping we would make it to Perry, FL today but that was not going to happen.  Good thing we're retired, hahaha.

We took a little break in Memphis, FL.

We weren't quite sure if we were on the right road because our map was a regional map and didn't show the detail we wanted.  Eric went in the store to buy a map of Florida but they didn't have any.  But guess what?  He actually asked directions!!!  Yes, he did.  Fortunately, we were only 1/2 mile from our turn so all was good.

Our goal at that time was to get on Highway 19 which would take us all the way north to I-10.  Oopps!  Highway 19 is also I- 275 for a short distance which was a toll road and we didn't have our pass.  Fortunately the toll was only $1.50 per bike and we were pleased that our total toll expense in Florida should only be $3.00 ;-)

Bonus, I-275 took us over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  Ooohhhhh, what a treat! Fantastic, gorgeous, super duper, over the top awesome bridge.  Grinning ear to ear, I loved this part of the ride and the speed picked up to a reasonable 65 mph which was way better than our 30 mph average of the past three hours.

Eric took this first picture from his bike as we were riding across the bridge.

 These photos below are stock photos from Wikipedia.  Such a masterpiece.  I love riding over bridges and the bigger and more spectacular the better.  That makes me happy :-)

Yesterday, Eric's Sena died (our communication system).  It had been heading downhill for quite a while and we think the rain yesterday just totally killed it.  It wouldn't work even after we dried it out.  So, for all of today and most of yesterday we didn't have any comm.  We managed to stick together and didn't crash into each other or anything but it sucked not being able to communicate.

I can't tell you how many times I said something to Eric and then yelled it and then realized he couldn't hear me, hahaha.  Frustrating!  So, in Pinellas Park, FL, Eric spied a Cycle Gear and pulled in.  Like a dutiful wife, I followed ;-) (SNORT!)

Of course they had all the latest Bluetooth comm stuff and we settled on a new pair of Sena 20S Evo units. We briefly considered the latest JBL speaker Cardo offering at a nice price, but didn't want to spend time leaning a new system.  The store dude, Dillon, installed the units for us in both our helmets.  The install was taking FOREVER so we walked down the strip mall to a Honey Baked Ham Company store and had a delicious lunch.  I had a 1/2 chef salad that was loaded with ham, turkey, bacon, spinach, cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes (I left the tomatoes off but Eric had them on his 1/2 Chef salad).  Honey mustard dressing.  Yummy.   I really needed GREEN food today and that was just perfect.  Eric had a half ham sammy on a croissant and a 1/2 chef salad.  Lunch was awesome.

After lunch, our helmets were almost ready.  I'm kind of a perfectionist and noticed my Schuberth helmet liner was not sitting properly inside the helmet.  I pointed this out to Dillon and also suggested to Eric that he try his on before we left.  Dillon saw the error of his ways and spent another 10 minutes getting my helmet right.  Great!  We left with new Sena units fitting well in the helmets and best of all, working comm!

We spent some time in the parking lot pairing everything.  I was insistent that my music work.  I wasn't leaving until I had tunes in my helmet!  Yay!  It all worked.  Eric and I could again talk to each other and I could listen to my music.  Although it was an expense we weren't expecting at this time, it was worth every penny.  Besides, it was something we were ultimately going to do anyway ;-)

So, back on Highway 19.  More stop and go and more slow riding skills practice.  Eventually we landed at the Best Western in Crystal River, FL, a rather toity resort hotel.  Fortunately, I am a Gold Elite Best Western member and that coupled with our AAA membership got us a decent rate on a nice room.  A bit more than we would normally spend for a room but after the slow, slow, slow slog today, we deserved a bit of a treat ;-)

Although we didn't do any tourist stuff today, it was still all good.  This is what memories are made of.  I'll never forget the long, slow, slog that got us maybe 200 miles in 8 hours.  I think that's a new record for us.  Hahaha, and we're Iron Butt riders, hahahahaha.  That makes it even more hilarious!!!

Guess tomorrow will be more of a transition day as we move north and toward home.  We don't really have any other tourist activities planned but maybe something will pop up!  You never know!

Thank you so much for following along.  We're having fun and that's what it's all about.  Oh, I want to make a Hokey Pokey pun here, hahahaha.

Check in tomorrow and see what's new!  I keep forgetting, you can follow our SPOT tracker and see where we are and where we've been.  Hope this link works.  Cletha's Spot.

Cheers,
Cletha