Existing In BFE

Don't Drink and Drive. You might hurt someone. And the cops will pull you over. I read this past week somewhere that a DUI arrest is very very expensive.  After all the bills are in it costs $10,000 dollars if you are convicted of drunk driving.  Be careful tonight and avoid a major hit to the wallet:  find a designated driver, call a taxi, or even the police and they will make sure you get home safely.  I think we are in much better shape than when I was out running around in my 20's and 30's.  It was a different world back then.  Now everyone agrees when you tell them to be safe and I think a lot of people stay home.   But even with the increased public awareness,  people still get drunk and hop into a car thinking they can make it and won't get caught.   Last year down here they had mandatory "wolf pack" stops and the troopers were checking everyone for all kinds of things.  There, now, I'm done with my public service announcement

And the Winner Is....................... Longtime readers will note with some disdain my affection for blizzards, snow and most things winter.  I yearn for snow, I long for a 8-12"'er, I miss the snow angels, Missy prancing around like a pup, and the general feel for Christmas a good snowfall provides. Granted, I don't like these in March, but then that goes with the territory, so to speak.  I also don't like the furnace kicking in every 25 minutes to provide life-affirming heat, with an equally affirming bill at the end of the month.   Readers will  also remember that I have several websites where I can visually eavesdrop on current conditions.  There is a webcam on the Arsenal Bridge in the Cities, one in Macomb looking at the Courthouse, one along the Mississippi River around Muscatine, and, my favorite, at my old college Iowas Wesleyan which actually has four looking out over the campus.  Does it help that I watch these blizzards and feel for my brethre

Send your Christmas tree pictures sometime this week and it will be featured next week on Existing in BFE. Send any other interesting pictures, stories or comments to: two.mikes@hotmail.com OR bfereporter@yahoo.com   For inclusion on the regular feature, Cub Reporter Monday.

From Our Family To Yours... A Very Merry Christmas Holiday Season Letter To Santa: Dear Santa, How are you? How is Mrs. Claus? I hope everyone, from the reindeer to the elves, is fine. I have been a very good boy this year. I would like a Go Pro Helmet Cam, a Canon T1i  camera with both lenses,  and an iPhone 5 for Christmas. I hope you remember that come Christmas Day. Merry Christmas, Mike Blythe * * * * * Dear Mike, Thank you for you letter. Mrs. Claus, the reindeer and the elves are all fine and thank you for asking about them. Santa is a little worried all the time you spend riding your bike and texting. Santa wouldn’t want you to get fat. Since you have indeed been a good boy, I think I’ll bring you something you can go outside and play with. Merry Christmas, Santa Claus * * * * * Mr. Claus, Seeing that I have fulfilled the “naughty vs. Nice” contract, set by you I might add, I feel confide

The Christmas tree we put up in our homes, apartments or whatever you have represents the center of your Christmas universe.  It is the place that holds the most beauty.  Our trees represent what we give to others, as a piece of ourselves, our love and devotion. Holly, my sister-in-law sent us a picture of their tree and I thought it would be nice to share them everyone.  So, please, send me a picture of your tree and I will post it on Existing In BFE sometime this next week.   Send them to either two.mikes@hotmail.com. or bfereporter @yahoo.com And now, instead of Cub Reporter Monday , let's visit Straub Park in St. Petersburg. It was a somewhat boring Saturday night so I hopped on the bike and went South to check out the decked out holiday boats docked at Maximo Marina. It was a wasted trip, however, since only one was lit and they must have been having a boat parade somewhere because I saw one leaving the marina. But not easily discouraged I set about and decided to

Send me a picture of your Christmas Tree and I'll post them this week!

THERE WILL BE NO FLASHBACK FRIDAY TODAY SO WE CAN WRAP UP THE 2013 TIN BUTT RIDE. Welcome back to the final installment of the Tin Butt Run.  It's been a long day and we're on the final leg of our trip.  We have to get a third piece of documentation from a Hess gas station not too far from Tampa, but along comes Bushnell and, whoa!, I'm about out of gas.  Bushnell by the way is the home to one one of Florida's two National Cemeteries. Now, let's talk gas, shall we?  Goldwings never need gas.  Never seen one gassed up except to look normal to other motorists.  I think they are actually run by a little nugget of uranium.  These bikes are camels!  Then you have the other sport/hybrid type bikes along for the trip and they can go forever on a tank.  Fuel conservation is one other claim to fame, that and making anyone look like a 17 year old.  Then there is mine.  It is a huge 1900 CC that drinks gas like Lady Gaga seeks goofy.  I heard a Goldwing can go 200 miles

Welcome back to the third installment to the 2012 Tin Butt bike run sponsored by the Bayside Rider Club. Something I forgot to mention is that this is also a charity event. Riders are to bring a toy and there is another run on Saturday to the Metropolitan Church in Tampa on the following Saturday to deliver all the goodies. More on this later. Another one of my rear-view mirror shots that I have practically perfected from first trying it on our BFE runs.   Beautiful day for riding back in the hinterlands of Florida.  Its an odd state: there are parts that look just like the country out by BFE and then there is scrub crap that even rattlers wouldn't live in, to swamp, to some good hills, to desolate open spaces.  And that doesn't even include forests that we rode by.     This is the Yearling Trail area of Marjorie MacKinnon Rawling's The Yearling , which was a Pulitzer prize winning book and movie.  It's much like Illlinois' Lincoln Trai

Navigating around the edges of Tampa turned out to be OK, basically, with a few exceptions.  What you don't want happening is to get stopped by a light while half the group is past.  Then that makes you leader of the pack, and for me (and the others) that's a bad thing.  That's pit juice-inducing stuff there.  You bet, in Tampa or boonies and I end up leading, no way.  Back in BFE I was the designated leader (Dear Leader) and didn't mind it if I was comfortable with my comprehension of the destination.  But here, its a little iffy outside of St. Pete. First pit stop. Here we all had to get some form of receipt or documentation.  The place really sucked though because I always fill up (those Goldwings never have to) and it didn't take cards.  Here was my history with this place.  I try to gas up but nothing happens.  So I get in line.  Naturally everyone is in line for the can or to get their receipt, so I stand in line forever.  When I get up to the c