Festivities of the Orange Kind

Not everything works out as planned.

I was originally planning on riding Saturday, hopefully with a group heading somewhere but by Friday afternoon I sort of gave up on that idea.  I was feeling guilty.  Guilty because there was work that needed to be done, I had yard work to do that I kept putting off because of the summer heat and humidity.  Now that the heat and humidity are gone, there is no excuses.  Today, for example, was a pleasant 84 F (28.9 C)...still warm but without the humidity it is a pleasure to work in.

My mom and dad asked me to clean the gutters of their winter home...I still needed to do that.  

Truth be told, well I enjoy riding and exploring other parts of the local world, I really didn't feel like crossing the Howard Franklin bridge into St Petersburg to meet a group of strangers to ride back into Tampa and spend all day exploring the parks of my adopted city.  Or I could meet the other group and ride out to Lake Wales on various back roads and spend all day in the saddle.

Both options appealed to me but frankly I was not looking forward to either like I originally thought I would.  .  

So when the lovely Sue mentioned the Hunsadar Farms Pumpkin Festival was having their final weekend to me this Saturday, it just seemed right.  Plus they had an air cannon you could shoot a pumpkin out of.  An AIR CANNON!  Okay, the geek was me was excited.  Maybe they let me fire it...just once PLEASE!  PRETTY PLEASE!

So Sue and I jumped into our "Great Pumpkin" and hit the road.  Hunsadar Farms is about 75 minutes south of us in Brandenton, Florida.  The Pumpkin Festival was a combination of things, merchants, musicians, a petting zoo, food stalls, entertainment and Americana.

It's not that far from the Rosa Fiorelli vineyards, which just happen to be my favorite local wine maker, so you know we had to stop there too!  Trust me, follow the link and order a bottle or three, it's worth it.  

Scarecrows provided a distraction

We walked hand in hand taking in the crowd, the event was geared to the little ones to some extent as petting zoo's and jumping frog competitions were part of the day's events.  Two girls, maybe 5 and 6, tried their hands at frog wrangling to the amusement of the crowd, the and horror of their mother.

We got to see the air cannon fire a pumpkin into a strand of trees some 300 plus yards away.  There were some monster trucks, a hay ride, corn maze.  All the normal stuff that you would expect, but a zip line?  No, that we didn't expect.

There were a few shows and demonstrations as well.  Dirt bikes going off of jumps (missed that show) and a Monster truck flattening some old car (missed that too), but we did see the "Wall of Death" where, in addition to motorcycles, they used an old go-kart and a pedal bicycle.

Overall it was a good day, and sometimes you need to do something different to get out of the rut.  I think I was in a rut, so getting out helped.

Well the bank is safe, I think

Sheriff didn't look that tough however.

Other scarecrows provided useful info.

A really old fashioned Merry-Go-Round

More photo's can be found on my Facebook page.  

#pumpkinfest  #blogger  #blog  #pumpkinfestival  #hudsadar  #hudsadarfarms

Fear

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to fear.

Fear of riding, fear of falling, fear of failing, fear of starting something new, of losing someone and some things.  Fear matters.  It motivates and it stops us. Our fight or flight reactions sometimes guide us or fail us.  We conquer it and wonder what scared us so.  We pay to be fearful every October.  Fear excites us, it scares the living hell out of us.

When I commute I sometimes take a different route and on that road is a rather easy "S" bend that quickly turns into a hard left.  It's a busy one lane road and the turn requires you to slow down drastically, going from about 40 MPH (64.4 KPH)  to 10 MPH (16 KPH) in seconds.  It's a good lean and when down right you feel the G force and stay in the lane.  When it's not done right you are put instantly into a three lane road just like a slingshot.

For a long time I would not take that road.  That turn scared the hell out of me.

Then one day I did.  Then another day.  Then the day after that.  I overcame that fear.  That being said I still give that turn a lot of respect.    I still slow down drastically, I still fear it but it's now more of a healthy respect.

Selfie

Over the last week or so I've been in class.  So my riding this past week has been drastically reduced.

This class is something new for me, I've not been in a University environment in over 20 years.  I have to learn a lot.  Like the teacher said, "You have a week to learn what normally takes a quarter to teach."  I'm fearful that I won't pass it.  That I won't be given the job promised me if I fail.  Its a lot of pressure but the payoff could be worth my weight in gold (and I'm pretty fat).

Assuming all works like I hope, I'll have to ride a little further each day but will be working daylight.  The pay would be at least 3K more a year than I make now.  It has the potential to be more, and I would be management for a change.  Good changes...but tinged with fear.  I would also have to ride the highway during rush hour...which is fearful in the relative safety of my car.

In my class I met a younger man who just bought his first motorcycle, a Suzuki S40 and I'll admit I was looking at one too some time ago.  He had taken the safety course and bought the bike used.  In the last 6 months he managed to put a little over 1,500 miles (2414 km) on it.  He stated he was fearful of it.  That he would not ride on roads that had cars or people on them.  I thought about when I first started and how, particularly at night, I would let the cars pass me on my little Zuma 125.

He told me a story about the Howard Franklin Bridge that he swore he never ride again.  I know the feeling all to well.  But we do these things and overcome our fears.

Sadly, this was fatal for the biker.

I'm not sure what drove us to motorcycling and all I know is that I don't have the love for it I once did.  I'm fearful of that.  I don't want my bike to be a garage queen and I don't want my miles to only number in the low thousands at the end of the year.  I'm fearful that he will never really develop a taste for it and just be another lost soul.

He asked me what it was like when I went down.  All I could do was stress training, riding and ATGATT.  What else could I do?  What else could I do to curtail that fear?

Then I told him something a wise rider once told me.  "Going down ain't the problem, it's what you do once you get up that matters.  Don't let that fear get to ya."

We don't have to be fearful.  We just do what we need to do.

Not a bad Saturday at all.

I was unsure of my plans for this last Saturday.  I wanted to stay home and do yard work, weeding and planting the garden outside to make Martha Tenney proud of me.  Friends of ours were planning a cook-out later that night and I was keeping a close eye on the weather.  All this week the weatherman was calling for a 30 - 40% chance of rain, which unfortunately for me, had been closer to 100% every time I rode out.

pretty much my week

Over the last week I had been caught out in the rain twice, raced a thunderstorm home and decided that commuting in the rain was just not a good idea twice.  So for two days in the last week I took the car, and both times stayed dry in less than idea conditions.  

I had also promised Kimmy that I would take her on a nice 100+ mile ride to stretch her legs a couple of weeks ago, and so far I had not kept that promise.  Barney's of St Petersburg was having a Vespa Open House from 9 to 5 and I liked the idea of running down there to take a look at the stock, perhaps dream a little and consider some farkles.  Yes, I know...cheap ass me considering farkles.  I had been considering a LED licence plate for some time and Sue was still going to need proper riding gear.  One thing I did want to get however was a reflective flag stickers of the countries I was riding in.  The US of course, after September I could add the Bahamas' to that as well.  Canada and Mexico were still dreams for now, but they would happen one day.  It might help with safety at night too.  I expected to order those online.

Actually the main reason I wanted to go was for companionship and the idea of browsing and talking to others about scooters gave me the warm fuzzies.  I don't get the chance very often to mingle with other scooterists and the free pizza sounded good too (it wasn't).   A secondary reason was that I have been wanting to get shots of the bike by the water for some time (still don't).  After all, living in Florida means that I am surround by the sea so the idea of getting a few picks of Kimmie by the water just seemed appropriate.   Due to circumstances I had not participated much in the Equinox to Equinox rally as of late, I was not planning to go out of my way, but if something was in my path...why not take a photo of it?  That was the third reason I wanted to go out and ride.  I might even find another interesting milk shake stand to try.

Loving the paint job

Susan decided to ride down with me, so we packed what we needed and took off about 10:30 AM, the heat of the day already starting to climb.  It was a about 50 miles one way and I had planned to avoid the highways.  I also planned on avoiding the dreaded Howard Franklin Bridge.  I don't fear highways or bridges but with Susan on back I didn't want to risk a problem.  Guess what we ended up doing anyway.  The back way was jammed with traffic and the sun just kept getting hotter so we decided just to keep moving.

We finally got there, to Barney's, and was disappointed.  There were not that many people there as I had hoped.  Although they did have a nice collection of Honda's, Aprilia's, Can-Am's, Vespa's and Yamaha's.

We gone done to the event to try gear on for Susan and to hopefully test drive a few bikes.  I am not interested in buying anything at this time, but the dealership did offer a Aprilia Mana 850, which I read about but had not seen first hand.  Sue's daughter also wants to start riding, and I wanted to learn about the dual sports.  Sue's daughter is definitely a "Tom Boy" and a dual sport maybe the perfect bike for her.   I was surprised that no sales people tackled us as we looked at the Can-Am's.  I hate to admit that these things are growing on me.  I would have not minded taking one out for a test drive either.  In the hour or so we hung around, not a single person approached us.

Sue looking good on a Can-Am

It was not a total waste of time though.   There were three classic scooters there.  A solid pink one that I know belongs to one of the organizers of the Tampa Two Stroke Scooter Club, a woman I was hoping to meet actually. A lovely older blue Vespa whose year and model I could not identify but the Odometer read over 97,000 miles.  And a Stella that was....beyond words.   

It was covered with Barbies and even had a little pull along trunk that carried...well, I guess if I was strapped to an old Stella going down the road I would need a change of panties too.

We then headed back, eating lunch at a chain restaurant that served good milk shakes.  Enjoyed our cook-out with friends and swam in the community pool to cool off.   Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all.  Oh yea, and the was just shy of 150 miles total.  Yea, not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all.

Some additional photo's can be found on my Facebook page.

Someone stole my cherry.

An unexpected farkel (and a 2-up update)

See the tear in green?

When I bought Kimmie I didn't realize that there was a small tear in the seat cover.  It slowly got worse over time since it was on the seam, and although I considered it a minor annoyance I knew that I would  have to fix it eventually.   In talking to a few people that supposedly know about these things they felt it would be easy enough to take a fabric needle and nylon thread to stitch it together.

When the dealership decided to call me regarding a few things I posted on Facebook,  and in various groups I belong to (including one they sponsor) to resolve a previous issue, one of the things we agreed on was to fix the seat.   I was simply expecting them to replace the cover and not the whole seat.  So imagine my surprise when I get a new and  upgraded seat?

I'm still not happy with the way the company in question handled the whole situation, but frankly the seat goes some distance to resolve those issues.  I am not however rescinding my original comments.  I've worked in customer service and sales all my life in everything from engineering to banking.  I've trained salespeople for God's sake.  So if I feel I'm wronged...you will know it.

So far I've only ridden about 50 miles on it (or 80.5 km) and am still trying to determine if I'm happy with it.  It seems a little less comfortable than the other seat did, and reminds me a lot of the previous Burgman seat - which had some issues.   I do like the backrest and that is a great improvement.  Only more miles will determine if it works for me.  Since there are no seams it's not going to tear, which is good.  The backrest seems to be adjustable, but I will have to take a closer look at that.

I also had a chance to drive over the Howard Franklin bridge twice on Kimmie.   I was very curious to see how she would handle the winds of the bay, since I was severely punished for it on the Burgman before.  It was fine.  Not a single issue to be had, but I still don't like driving highways.

Although we got pounded by the first tropical storm of the season this week and last Susan and I did manage to get some 2-up time.  So far just lazy rides around Zephyrhills and our community.  I took my time, being sure to take turns slow (but not to slow) and stay on the back roads.  Susan thoroughly enjoyed it and raved to all the Facebook friends about it.  I started to enjoy it once I realized how the bike was going to react and that I was not going to dump it.  Although in about an hour from now we are planning on going to dinner at one of our favorite places to eat and relax, and that will require me to drive in some heavier traffic, so we will see how that goes..  No, sadly it's not the Taco Bus but I did finally get a chance to eat there last week and enjoyed every second of it!

Until the next update, keep the shiny side up!

 

Highways, bridges and soccer.....a punishing night on the Burgie

I've been wanting to ride the Burgie down into St Petersburg for some time.  After all I would be able to get some glorious shots of my ride against the ocean, the yacht club and other interesting things.  This past Saturday night the local soccer team, called the Rowdies were playing, and I could not think of a better reason to ride down.

As it so happened though life through me a couple of twisties before I could even start to plan to go to the game. My camera went boom, meaning that any picture I took with it was a fuzzy mess. My wallet was either lost or stolen, and since my bank is up north it would take several days to get my bank cards straightened out.  My license reissued, etc.  I questioned if I should even bother going down but as a nearly perfect Saturday dawned I had my answer.  I would ride the sixty miles down to the game, enjoy it and spend some time exploring the city.  So I jumped on the Burgie and went.

Traffic was not this bad on Saturday.

Frankly there are lots of ways to get into St. Pete but generally speaking the easiest and quickest is to cross one of the three bridges that connect Tampa to St. Pete.  The Howard Frankland being the one I choose.  This is also a major highway (I-275) and a very long bridge which is open to the water on both sides (remember this, it's important for later).  At various times I've seen dolphins leaping from the water, sea birds hunting from fish and several species of fish break the waterline for whatever reason.  All while traveling at a nice clip of 70 miles per hour.  The ride down into St Pete was uneventful, I don't care for driving on highways but felt pretty secure and sure of myself on the way in.

Photo courtesy of Jay Anthony

Once into St Pete I drove past the famed Dali museum, the Pier with its upside down pyramid (which has since closed and is being rebuilt.  For pictures of the old pier please use this link), around the lovely yacht club with the boats flying their multicolored flags. The real fun started when you get to the game.  I'm a member of Ralph's Mob, where your expected to stand, sing, clap and generally yell yourself hoarse for the entire 90 minutes of a soccer game.   It was a pretty good game, with the Rowdies dominating it for the most part - but their is an old saying in soccer.  "Football is a lot like life sometimes despite the effort, it's disappointing in the end."  The Rowdies lost 2 - 1 in a game that they should have won.  The reasons for that loss is for another blog.  So I considered my options and decided that after the game instead of enjoying a soft drink or two at the after-game party, I would head home; after all I lived 60+ minutes away.

Courtesy of Jay Anthony (find the author as well)

St Pete's offers a lot of motorcycle/scooter parking which is nice, I found a spot 2 blocks from the stadium earlier that eveing and started home.  I pulled out and the wind off the water hit me like a ton of bricks.  It got worse as I entered the highway...hitting me from both the side and the front of bike.  My speed dropped as I turned the throttle up, but if I turned it to much I didn't feel safe from the side winds that seemed to want to drive me into the next lane over.   I moved over to the right as far as I could, feeling the bike be pushed, fishtailing a bit, the wind relentlessly pushing me over to the left.  The bridge went on and on, I leaned forward and into the wind never feeling that I would lose control but feeling I was on the edge.  Again and again I was buffeted.  It seemed to take forever to cross that three mile span.

I got off the bridge safely and I'll be honest, feeling a bit lucky but decided to cut through town to avoid the rest of the highway as the wind was still playing havoc on the bike.   What I didn't think about was the part of town I would be riding through.  I was riding through an area of town so rough that even the cockroaches were packing guns.  I never feared for my safety, I actually thought I was safer on the city streets then on the highway at the time and besides...I was on a scooter.

The last 15+ miles of ride was into a strong headwind but this I could manage.  So eventually I made it home, safe and sound and with some knowledge under my belt about how to drive in unpredictable gusts of winds.  I would have to work on that.