Planning First Major Bike Trip

I am hoping to get a nice long ride in on Sunday or Monday. Plans are in flux, but a nice trip out of the city might be nice. The Skyway Bridge is a popular run for bikers and I haven't used the bike much. I just picked Parrish as my destination and for no particular reason, except it is a small town and I might find a nice small town bar. By the way, my truck is in the shop: out of alignment and I had a major suspension cave-in due to hauling the bike down.

Actually I need to get a nice compass because I never seem to know which direction I am going. They tell me that if I travel East I'll get wet. And if I travel West I'll get even wetter. If I miss the Skyway I'll get wet, too. So my options are to go North or South via the bridge. Down here I don't need to watch the weather to see if Sunday will work. Everyday is the same. Sure wish I could meet up with the North Henderson Mild Ones.

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Philippe Park and The Tocobaga Indian Mound

About ten miles or so north of Bedlam is a place called Safety Harbor. Its the place that has the 300-500 year old oak that the city tried to kill I featured a couple weeks ago on BFE . They have a pretty nice park that has some interesting history, too. Count Philippe landed here and introduced the pineapple and cigar making to the Tampa Bay area. Today, however, I want to mention something else about this area, besides the really nice scenery. Phillipe Park was also the home of the Tocobaga Indians. The Tocobaga occupied the Tampa Bay area from around 600 A.D. to the 1600's. This is a fairly common view of old stately moss-laden oaks down here. This shot was taken atop the only Tocobaga Indian mound in the area. This exact spot is home not only to the Tocobaga until they died out, but then to Count Phillipi who settled the area after the Tocobaga died out. The place is full of oak and ...

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

Warsaw Brewery

Roadtrip! That word is like a dog whistle to me. The Wombie's played coy with me a couple days but finally we loaded into the Chevy (sadly, no Jeep) and headed south to Warsaw, Illinois. They tried to keep it a secret as to what was down there but loose lips sink ships but it was good anyway. Warsaw is a small town around Hamilton and to get there you get to travel the Great River Road along the Mississippi. You get to go through Nauvoo, too and get to see the magnificent Mormon Temple overlooking the river. Its a great couple hours of scenery and juicy things to see and then, before you know it, you are trying to find an old closed brewery that has been transformed into a restaurant and bar. There are many overlooks and scenic cut outs along the Great River Road. There is even a little history if you are into it. This marker notes the place where a vanished town, Montebello, used to exist. It was also the...

Existing In BFE

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