Meeting up with Valkuna, (Pete) at 6:00 am at the Chrome Shop; both of us left home at 4:00 so the tires were warmed up and ready to roll. Other than the usual Ocala I-75 morning traffic we run up to the I-10 exchange and headed west. A 700 mile day ended us in Baton Rouge, LA for the night. We rolled out early into morning traffic, rain, fog and some pretty intense winds. Got semi clear of the rains between fill up's for the most part but the wind really became interesting to say the least. We rolled into Alvin, Texas after gaining an hour along the way, got checked in at our lodging and made way to our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Baker's (Hotglue and Flamingo Babe's). Riders coming in from everywhere we all joined in for a special dinner and some great conversation, meeting and greeting. The gumbo really hit the spot after another day in the saddle doing battle with the wind. Flamingo Babe's fantastic strawberry desert really capped off a very fine meal. If you went away hungry it was your own fault!
Our Host Mark Baker (Hotglue) welcoming us and our dinner blessing.
After a good nights needed rest Pete and I headed back over to the GOTF headquarters for the Saturday morning ride, lead by Wizard down to Galveston. We rode along the shore for a lunch at Stingrays. Pretty darn windy down there. Couldn't guess the wind speed, might have been 25 to 30+ MPH constant with some pretty strong gusts. Worked for me, I enjoyed the ride!
Our lunch spot.
A passing barge
A longer barge passed through minutes earlier, I was surprised how fast it moved through the narrow bridge/channel
opening; considering the wind and close clearance.
Let the GOTF begin. We arrived back at the Baker's for a little more meet/greet and conversation.
Valkuna and Oss meeting up
DDT (Bruce) and Pete. Always a pleasure to Chat with Bruce.
His wheels don't stop for long. A true road rider!
The dinner bell rang out. Brisket, Chicken, beans, rice, this is really fun, A real Texas BBQ! Our hosts have this down pat! After dinner events included several really good looking pie auctions, drawings and raffles for some really great items. We headed back to the hotel for the night, winds picking up with rain expected for departure.
Sunday morning met us with wind and some rain, not too bad but we had rain gear on all day. Some strong wind and rain after our fuel stop in Mobile, AL; we rode out of that and kept ahead of the weather front the best we could, making stops short we ran 650 miles and overnighted in Marianna, FL.. Monday morning the rains were trying to catch us. Rain gear on we headed toward home. We shed most of our rain gear around Tallahassee I believe and temps were coming back into range as we headed south on I-75. Got back to Tampa about 3:30 in time to get a much needed cleanup and head out to......Texas Roadhouse in Wesley Chapel for my daughters 17th birthday. Ran into some old friends, one whose birthday was also the 7th.
Had a great time, enjoyed traveling with Pete, we covered good mileage each day and shared some good conversation, ate as well as possible on the road and overall a A+ road trip. Looking forward to doing it again!
James
