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 easy, and a Ninja can get 50-60 mpg. Me, maybe 25-30 miles per gallon which comes to about 100-150. More if I want to wait for the light to come on, but why tempt fates.
Around Bushnell I slowed and caught tail gunner Steve and warned him I may be dropping out to gas up. He then talked into his squawker and before you knew it, the Leader of the group turned into a place to get me gassed up. Wow. Now this was unexpected because this was not technically a "led" ride, and there are prizes for fastest return times. Nice. Anyway with a full tank we head for Tampa, and St. Pete right after that and Lucky B's B-B-Q.
But first, it's Tampa. AND I DON'T DO TAMPA. But this afternoon I have no choice. I started partial puckering about 12 miles out, and by now, with the outline of Tampa, I'm in full power pucker.
There is no Buc's football game this afternoon so can't explain the traffic. Someone later said that's the way it always is now that they funneled so and so road into such and such lanes.
Lions and Tigers and Skyscrapers, oh my!
Bumper to bumper, or in our case, fender to fender traffic. After a long hot day, now we have to contend with Tampa's blistering roads. Still fun, though. Always on a bike.
Fred taking our little group into Lucky B's on the final moments of our Tin Butt ride. Now for the party!
Other things of note on the trip:
At one point we were cruising along and I noticed in my peripheral vision a banner draped over a fence that read something like Merle Haggard's home or birthplace. I went by too fast and missed it. When I got back to a computer I looked it up and this is what I found: Along Highway 50 past Mable, Florida on a fence is written "Home of Sire Merle Hager, Jr." Country Music Merle Hager Jr. (son of grand champion Merle Hager) is a 30 inch tall jack (male donkey) who resides at Greenfield Farms, the home of the Dinkie Donkies. Jeez, deaked by a dumb-ass dwarf donkey.
In a twist of irony: Brendan's new roomie and former fellow Screaming Eagle Robert Jumper just arrived in Florida and we crossed Jumper Creek around Brooksville.
There are a couple of Medal of Honor winners buried at Bushnell, and did you know there is one buried in Monmouth Memorial Cemetery by the airport and park?
I bought a new helmet a couple months ago and I miss my old-school duct tape on the visor to block the sun. Looks like I'll have to do some modifying.
Total miles on my bike for the day was 346. Total time for the trip: 9 hours and 6
minutes.
I sat with Steve, the Tail Gunner, and told him now nice it was to be tucked in by him most of the day. I also thanked him for getting the group to pull in for gas when no one else needed to. I admire folks who can encapsulate major thoughts in few words. He grinned and said, "It's all about having fun."
One other note. I am trying to get a trip to South Dakota with a few friends in 2014. The Sutors, The McCutcheons, The Stages, and anyone else who wants to. The bluetooth/bike-to-bike communications systems they have down here is somethign rather unique. They chat amongst themselves and I experienced with my old car club, too. On group car runs they had hand held CBs that they would use. I will be attmpting to get our riders on the trip to look into this, its very neat.
The meal provided by the Club at Lucky B's was pulled pork which was very good. They also had some side dishes, of course and then they brought out sheets of huge brownies. Now tell me how I could resist those?
This is the club's first lady who is due in January. Oddly enough she won a door prize to Toys-R-Us. The guy in the middle owns a Kawasaki Concours and the fellow on the right is Fred, Swiss or German who is very nice and drives like a bat out of hell. He has 2 bikes, a Goldwing and a Yamaha sport bike and his favorite is the sport bike.
This is the Club President, Willy, who gave out the yearly info on number of rides and miles for the year compared to last year (both down due to weather). He also gave out the door prizes and awards for fastest and slowest times. I got a $15.00 gift card. They gave out 2 $100 cash prizes and a couple of $50 in addition to several gift cards from local business, grocery stores and gas stations. All in all everyone gets something and several people got 2 or 3 items.
View Larger Map
This is the general route we took for the day. Since I never knew where we were unless we entered a town, this is a very rough estimate based on the towns on the certificate we received at the end of the day. I had a smart phone so I suppose I could have found my way home had I been culled from the herd. And that can be kind of exciting, too, finding your way out of good-and-lost, but the day was fun and I was escorted in good and healthy fashion about the land.
And finally, my certificate of achievement.
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