Mar 14, 2013 - Daytona Beach

The trip across the peninsula was OK until I got near Orlando. Then there was this 6 mile traffic jam for no apparent reason. It was stop-and-go for about a half an hour followed by an accident in the city which blocked off one lane and led to another huge delay! Where are these billion and a half people coming from anyway? Finally made it to a KOA Kampground just south of Daytona around mid-afternoon and decided to take the bike in for a look at the madness. Lots of bikes, cheap beer, good bands and weird and wonderful people as you can...

Mar 10, 2013 - Bike Week here-and I don't mean bicycles!

VROOM,VROOM! It's Bike Week here in Daytona Beach, and the motorcycles are here in abundance. And, believe it or not, it is the 75th Anniversary Bike Week. Some of these cycles are gorgeous. The wether is still windy and cool, but beautiful blue skies prevail. We are in the Municipal Marina, have taken the dogs for a long walk on the waterfront park, will grill some steaks on the boat, and then take an evening stroll along Beach Street (no beach on this side of the waterway, but that is its name nonetheless). Thought you might like to see...

Feb 17, 2013 - Sprint Unlimited!

The Sprint Unlimited It has been a while....., why? Poor wifi has been the norm so far on this trip. We are staying at the KOA Daytona Speedway, about a mile from the track. This KOA is convenient to get to the track, but has absolutely no wifi. The Sprint Unlimited race ran last night. It was very enjoyable, except a little cool at 55F. Last night the temperature went down to 38F. The new trailer was very comfortable. Willy and I enjoyed our day at the track, and Glenna and Marisa trudged from store to store doing the shopping thing. A...

Nov 4, 2012 - Our First Good Sam Rally

This weekend was a new type of adventure for us....our first Good Sam RallyDaytonaetting was Daytona International Speedway (a place I'd never been but Ralph had visited numerous times). We arrived Friday about 10am and found our spot in the dry camping section (the parking lot of the Speedway). On the first day the tram system was a fiasco; drivers weren't sure of their routes, riders were impatient and frustrated. Not a good scenario. But we made our way to registration and got our badges and information. The sessions we attended were...

Nov 4, 2012 - Just one word.....Reba

We did a bit more looking at the vendor booths and went through a number of new RVs. The four of us were especially interested in the Class C’s for our extended trip to Alaska at some point. We will rent one but we were looking for the size that would comfortably fit us for our adventure. Shirley went to a seminar on the Florida Highwaymen who are renowned landscape painters discovered after their paintings had been completed for quite a while. Jeanne relaxed at her camper while Don and I went to the beach and it was a beautiful day to be...

Nov 3, 2012 - Roger that

We are at the Good Sam Camping Club Rally at the Daytona International Speedway home of the famed Daytona 500. The weather has been beautiful and they are expecting 3500 rigs here. We walked the vendor booths and bought some needed items, went to seminars and had both lunch and dinner. The big event of the day was the Kenny Rogers concert last night. We like Kenny Rogers and I remember playing many of his songs on the radio when I was a DJ. We are dry camping and have use of our generator if needed. Don and Jeanne picked a site with...

Nov 2, 2012 - November Fools Day

Well it WAS the first of November after all. We left our comfy Walmart parking lot none the worse after a yummy breakfast at Bob Evans and decided to take A1A along the coast south the Daytona Beach. The Good Sam Rally starts Friday at the Daytona Raceway so we wanted to be close-by to be able to just drive in. We are in a private campground with Don and Jeanne (Again! What's up with those people?). We haven't seen them since we left Cape Cod over a month ago. Anyway we hung out today and walked to lunch and dinner. Don and I played pool...

Nov 1, 2012 - Reba, Trackside, Daytona Beach, Fireworks

November 3-4, 2012 Yesterday (Saturday), we walked around again and looked at some of the new RVs on display. The evening’s entertainment was Reba McEntyre; obviously a world class act but I must say that I was disappointed. Both Bob and I are country music fans and we have seen Reba on TV numerous times performing at the CMA awards etc. and so, we expected to see an incredible performance. I can sum up the performance in one word; uninspired. Although she had a wonderful band and sang her songs well etc., she never connected with the...

Oct 20, 2012 - Biketober 2 & last day in Daytona

Last full day in Daytona today. After breakfast at the hotel we went for a drive to Port Orange for a walk around a park we saw yesterday. The Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens are located around the ruins of a old sugar refining mill. The old mill was operated by slaves during the 1800's crushing and refining sugar cane for the area and export. The surrounding gardens were constructed more recently and was filled with all sorts of plants and trees from around the area. It was quite pleasant wandering around the lush gardens and a welcome cool...

Oct 19, 2012 - Day 2 Biketober

Friday dawned bright and clear with a high of 31 forecast. After a light breakfast we drove off to Daytona for a walk around Riverside which is another Biketober venue just over the bridge from Main Street. Plenty of vendors and displays were peddling their wares, heaps of bikes parked on the side and a great atmosphere. Carl's Speed Shop was interesting with the history of their Bonneville Speed Week achievements going back over 45 years. After a coffee at a local shopping mall, we found a market similar to the Fremantle Markets but...

Oct 18, 2012 - Daytona Beach Biketober

The morning was foggy but 31 degrees Celsius so it was quite humid. Had some breakfast at the hotel and drove into Daytona to the speedway to check out the displays. It was only about 1/2 the size of the Bikeweek display but still quite large with most of the aftermarket manufacturers displaying all types of gear. There was plenty to see and look at. Around lunchtime, the sun was pretty intense so we left the speedway and drove down to the water and paid $5.00 for a day pass to drive on the famous Daytona beach. It was pretty unique to be...

Oct 17, 2012 - Miami to Daytona Beach

Awoke in the early hours of the morning still feeling a little worse for wear but after shower, watching some tv and complementary breakfast we were ready for the day. Daytona Beach was about 450 km away so we had the day to get there. We spent a few minutes learning how the car worked, some pretty cool features like remote starting were a bit over the top but satellite radio and keyless start are handy. After avoiding the toll roads and finding Interstate 95 we hit the road stopping a few times for coffee and some lunch around Melbourne...