Florida Ride

[R_W_B]

Here's a map from Melborne to Ocala
Prolly be the longest on Bodeen and PA coming from Melborne the Google maps show 2-1/2hrs time. Coming up I-95 then taking 528-E over past the Airport then onto Ronald Reagan Turnpike then to I-75.

Orlando folks would take the latter part of those directions.

 

[gmurdock]

I live in Winter Springs just west of Sanford. Would like to meet some of you guys. Will try to watch this post the 6th is a little ways away. Will try to remember some nice back roads up to there.

 

[R_W_B]

I live in Winter Springs just west of Sanford. Would like to meet some of you guys. Will try to watch this post the 6th is a little ways away. Will try to remember some nice back roads up to there.

Great man, so far it's Don, Bodeen and PA, ronyarb, RG/Spster, me and my wife. That's 7 of us, 12 if you bring your wives or girlfriends. So that's definitely a group. Would be great to get some more folks though.
Also if you know anyone local that wants to ride with you bring them along, they don't have to belong to the forum (would be great if they did join though).

If all of you bring passengers or more riders we are gettun close to the point where we should prolly let Gator Joe's know how many and bout what time we're comin.

 

[HD chic]

Sounds like a plan Aug 6 works for me I live alittle south west of Orlando

 

[Backroad Rider]

Wish I had been more active in the forum to have known this sooner....The BETTER half and I are leaving Lake City 8/4 for two weeks in the mountains (on the bike of course).
Hope all have a great and safe time and hopefully I'll be able to participate next go round.
Bill

 

[R_W_B]

Wish I had been more active in the forum to have known this sooner....The BETTER half and I are leaving Lake City 8/4 for two weeks in the mountains (on the bike of course).
Hope all have a great and safe time and hopefully I'll be able to participate next go round.
Bill

Well we set the Aug 6th date for RG/Spster who is coming in from out of state. But we don't have to have 'this particular event' on that date. I also was just made aware that some of our members are going to Sturgis and the activities there (depending on what all you go to) runs thru Aug 14th.

So ..... guys do we need to move the date up to October and make it a week or so before BiketoberFest ? September is when the love bugs come back and that would be a disaser. The weather in Oct is better too. So lets keep the input of dates coming ............... ? .............?

Also I just found out that my friend (who I met outside of this forum) in the picture with me at Gator's is in fact a member here. He is Jayson459, and a great guy also by the way. His friend Wade knows the forest well. Jay is going to Sturgis and Jack is too.

Oh and wanted to post up this older post, kinda shows the faith coming full circle on this idea,
----------------
Posted on May 5th, 2011 HDDon wrote,
If we are going to meet we need to see about a time when not to much is going on, and select a place somewhat central to the most members. I guess that leaves out Suwannee. Maybe somewhere around Deland or Ocala Forest, Leesburg maybe? For time maybe 1st or 2nd week of August?
-----------------

So it is happening Don, and you almost nailed the date dead on, but we might need to reschedule, need some input on the date .........

 

[R_W_B]

Ok I have gotten some PM's and emails from several folks that would like to come but are either going to be out at Sturgis or are simply out of town until October. And some that can only come on Sundays since they work on Saturdays.

So this is what I am posting up for the good of the whole ride attendence.

Oct 2nd OR 9th, both on Sunday, 10am at Ocala Harley for couple of hrs of great riding in the forest, lunch at Gator Joe's, possibly other places to visit also are a stop at Cactus Jacks (high recommended by HDDon) and Ma Barkers just up the street from Gator Joes is another cool place. And also Fox Crossing.

BiketoberFest starts on Oct 13th, Thursday and runs thru the 16th (the weekend).

So there you go that narrows it down to two choices the 2nd or the 9th. There is a small possibility that the love bugs may still be lingering on the 2nd so I kinda think the 9th is the best all round choice for attendence, weather, no bugs and Sundays early will mean less traffic on the roads.

So just need some input on these two dates and we can nail it down. This kinda will be in the BiketoberFest time window for anyone getting their bikes ready for that also. Shucks after the Florida ride we could all decide on where to meet up at BiketoberFest.

RG/Spster I will be glad (and possibly some others ?) to also meet you on Aug 6th somewhere between Orlando and Lakeland ...... say Clermont Harley and we could have lunch and ride around the scenic hills of Clermont.
So there it is folks, if you guys want to do this thing. Lets have some date choices and confirmations otherwise it's just gonna die off again.

 

[Dr. Dolittle]

Oct 2nd OR 9th, both on Sunday, 10am at Ocala Harley for couple of hrs of great riding in the forest, lunch at Gator Joe's, possibly other places to visit also are a stop at Cactus Jacks (high recommended by HDDon) and Ma Barkers just up the street from Gator Joes is another cool place. And also Fox Crossing.

Interesting.....JDPEagle, AJPanda, and myself are leaving north Atlanta Saturday AM, the 8th, for a 3 day ride down to Key West. We actually had talked about the Ocala area as a good stop for the first night so we'd be pulling out sometime the morning of the 9th. We wanted to make Naples by the second night without strictly droning down the interstate, so Mapquest say about 6 hours on secondary roads from Ocala to Naples. It's possible we could meet everyone Sunday AM and do the ride and lunch and still get down to Naples at a reasonable hour. Might help us to start earlier or have the group do the extra stops you're talking about after lunch so we can get on our way.

We'll talk about it and keep an eye on this thread to see how things progress for the 9th.

 

[mtmasean]

Sounds fun, I wouldn't mind taking a ride down that way. Anytime other than Aug 6th (daughters B-day). Don't think the wife would be too happy on that one. Looking forward to see what date all agree on.

 

[R_W_B]

Interesting.....JDPEagle, AJPanda, and myself are leaving north Atlanta Saturday AM, the 8th, for a 3 day ride down to Key West. We actually had talked about the Ocala area as a good stop for the first night so we'd be pulling out sometime the morning of the 9th. We wanted to make Naples by the second night without strictly droning down the interstate, so Mapquest say about 6 hours on secondary roads from Ocala to Naples. It's possible we could meet everyone Sunday AM and do the ride and lunch and still get down to Naples at a reasonable hour. Might help us to start earlier or have the group do the extra stops you're talking about after lunch so we can get on our way.
We'll talk about it and keep an eye on this thread to see how things progress for the 9th.

Sounds fun, I wouldn't mind taking a ride down that way. Anytime other than Aug 6th (daughters B-day). Don't think the wife would be too happy on that one. Looking forward to see what date all agree on.

Sounds good to me, I have heard all positive on the Oct 9th date. So unless someone comes on later and posts up a good reason to change, we are just gonna go for now with Sunday October 9th, 10am at Ocala Harley. The best exit off I-75 is number 358 (coming from south or north) since you miss downtown and you just head east on CR326 till you get to 441 and then just a mile or so south you will see Ocala Harley on the East side of 441. Very nice dealership, big parking lot (with lots of empty parking areas), lots of bikes on display under tents. You guys coming from Jacksonville or Daytona I guess you could take 40 over from I-95 till you see CR326 and turn northwest on it.

Dr. DoLitte I can roll in there at 10am but it's nearly impossible to get my wife out of the house and on the road any earlier than that. She just doesn't move real fast in the morning. If everyone gets there around 10am there will be time for some socializing even before we leave out. But you just tells us what time you guys have to hit the road south and we can all plan to pull over somewhere and say our farewells to you (if you can't make it to lunch). Will be great if you guys can make it there.

So that's what we all can plan on for now. Plenty of time to plan on this.
About 3 weeks of so before Oct 9th we should come back on here and start confirming so we can know who will be there. That way as soon as everyone confirmed has shown up we can move on out without any further wait. We will exchange a few cell phone nums just in case anyone has a flat or gets delayed etc.

Ok sounds like a good ride to me. And RG/Spster I'm serious if you want to meet up let me know and I would enjoy riding up around Clermont to meet you on the 4th, 5th, or 6th. Maybe some other folks from Orlando might join us. Great riding roads up round Clermont. Not as good as Ocala but good none the less and not that far from where you will be staying.
RWB out.