WARNING: Contains pictures of a warm climate. Viewer discretion is advised.
Bert, Sherrie, John, and I took a ride on Monday to one of the highest point in Florida - Sugarloaf Mountain. We also stopped by Yalaha Bakery on the way.
It was a tough call whether or not to go on the ride with such frigid conditions, but I manned-up and hit the road anyways. I knew it would get warmer.
First stop was to meet up with Bert and Sherrie. When I got to their house, I noticed a really cool trailer and asked Bert about it. He makes these whiskey barrel trailers himself (and sells them, too - if any of you out there are interested). A few pics of Bert's creation:
Bert and Sherrie then led me through the "backside" of Ocala National Forest. The weather was perfect, no traffic, mix of shade and sunshine - and just a great day to be out riding. After a gas stop, we rolled into our first destination - Yalaha Bakery.
It was a pretty cool bakery with some interesting murals on the walls.
There was a little produce store behind the bakery that specialized in selling organic fruits and veggies.
Here is Bert and Sherrie. Bert used to ride the pink and white Valk in this picture BEFORE it was pink and white. They put a TON of work into making this Sherrie's bike and it shows. Definitely something to be proud of here. Bert was looking for an I/S, but ended up with this pristine Wing. The I/S is mine.
Yeah! John made it! (Dang, he's got a nice bike!)
We made our way inside and were instantly greeted with images of culinary beauty. More calories here "than you can shake a stick at".
In addition to the sweets, they had a wide variety of fresh made bread. I picked up a loaf of Sun Dried Tomato in an attempt to score some brownie (or should it be "bread"?) points with the Mrs. for being gone all day. It was well received and enjoyed at dinner.
I've been called a "Cream Puff" before and always took it as an insult. However, after seeing these - I think I shoulda thought it was a compliment.
After we filled up the tank (our's, not the bike's), we headed out for our next destination: Sugarloaf Mountain. This is one of the highest points in Florida with an elevation of 42 feet above sea level. Okay, okay. It's not THAT flat here in Florida. True elevation is 312 feet (highest point: Britton Hill with an elevation of 345 feet).
If you look to the far left of this picture, you can see that one of Florida's residents with the best view of the land is indeed a cow.
Here is documented proof that there is at least one curve in the state.
We were having a great time enjoying ourselves until we came face-to-face with a horrible truth about this area that nobody was willing to talk about. It is overrun with biker gangs.
Seriously - these guys are crazy. They rode UP the mountain. Granted, it's really just a big hill - but I was still impressed. And even more impressive is that they were conversing after riding up that thing! When they rode by us, one of them pumped his fist in the air and shouted "biker gang!" I'm not sure if he was talking about us or them - but regardless I wasn't going to mess with a man that can ride a bike like that. What you can't tell in this picture is that Bert was at a dead sprint - racing these suckers all the way to the top. He had them all the way until I snapped this pic.
Top of the world, Florida style
Our last stop was to drool over some nice machines at the Honda shop. They had a bunch of Wings as well as one Green and Silver I/S for sale.
It was a great day and a great ride. I got in 220 miles. Thanks again to Bert, Sherrie, and John for making this such an enjoyable day.
