It was Tuesday January 7th and we were riding from St Augustine to the Daytona Beach area. Our plans would keep us in the area until the 31st. Back in October when we had rented 3 time shares obviously we had no clue what the weather was going to do to us. The cold front was right on our heels it was 22 degrees in Valdosta GA it was fortunate we had left when we did. Jacksonville had one of the coldest mornings in history Columbus Ga had cancelled school. We pushed our check out time as much as we could to let the Sun do its job. Then we bundled up for the ride happy that it was not a long one. A commercial on TV, not even sure what they were selling
 |
| Tall round building |
"said may you never get caught behind a stinky truck" reminded me of an incident coming thru Georgia. I had made a note. Ruthie and the chicken truck, We came around a corner and started up a hill there was some traffic one of which was a large semi. Immediately my co-rider started mentioning the odor in the air. After playing tag with him for probably twenty minutes or longer, up and down hills thru small towns the odor and even chicken feathers floating in the air changed her disposition radically. An extra lane gave me an opportunity to get around him and then came an order from the back. "Now don't let that sucker catch us." Enough said, I kept my eye on the rear view mirror and made sure he never got close to us again. 
Part of our lodging was to room with our Pioneer neighbors Warren and Barb, we had stopped at their home in Bella Vista Arkansas on our ride last winter and had grown closer to them. They had a time share for two weeks and had asked us to join them the last week. Because we were aware they had family with them the first week we decided to give them a break to relax and stopped a few blocks away at a Rodeway Inn. We got a good deal on a room and even decided to spend a few dollars more so we could have a room overlooking the ocean. A mistake: We spent the next hour or more trying to establish meaningful communication with the motel manager, we were trying to explain to him that it was cold in the room and he was trying to explain how his to small for this type of weather wall heater/air-conditioner cycles on and off to reach the desired room temperature. Ruthie says sometimes I don't have enough patience and understanding however she was getting pretty involved in the discussion herself. I think if she would have heard the phrase "it goes on off on off on off (while he is doing a rotating motion with his hands) she may have turned him off for good. He finally went and purchased a thermometer and asked us to watch it as he explained his on off theory one more time. He finally admitted it wasn't warm enough and we moved to an inside room.
Part of our lodging was to room with our Pioneer neighbors Warren and Barb, we had stopped at their home in Bella Vista Arkansas on our ride last winter and had grown closer to them. They had a time share for two weeks and had asked us to join them the last week. Because we were aware they had family with them the first week we decided to give them a break to relax and stopped a few blocks away at a Rodeway Inn. We got a good deal on a room and even decided to spend a few dollars more so we could have a room overlooking the ocean. A mistake: We spent the next hour or more trying to establish meaningful communication with the motel manager, we were trying to explain to him that it was cold in the room and he was trying to explain how his to small for this type of weather wall heater/air-conditioner cycles on and off to reach the desired room temperature. Ruthie says sometimes I don't have enough patience and understanding however she was getting pretty involved in the discussion herself. I think if she would have heard the phrase "it goes on off on off on off (while he is doing a rotating motion with his hands) she may have turned him off for good. He finally went and purchased a thermometer and asked us to watch it as he explained his on off theory one more time. He finally admitted it wasn't warm enough and we moved to an inside room.  |
| This is his best side! |
Not wanting to get back on the trike we walked across the road to a bar/grill named Steamers. Reminded me of "Cheers" they had their regulars on their stools and right away Loraine our waitress made sure every one knew our name, Fun place, pirate theme, and yes the next and the next and next time we stopped they did know our names. (and what we were drinking.) A couple of days at the Rodeway and we moved down to Warren and Barb's. They said you can't miss it (how many times have we heard that one) it's just before the tall round building. She was right, twenty nine floors, hard to miss and a restaurant Top of Daytona on the top floor.
It was good to see them again. Right away we noticed a unique decoration atop a framed painting in the living room, kind of hard to describe, maybe a hand formed art piece, perhaps a shell made out of paper machete? Abstract art? Turns out Barb's cooking was turning on the fire alarm so they took a small towel and sat it on top of the picture and molded it around the fire alarm, made me feel real safe here.
Over the next few days we walked the beach, rested, played games enjoyed Barbs wonderful home cooked meals (she doesn't like to eat out, all the better for us, they were wonderful) and grew closer to these two friends.
It was fun to be by the ocean, one of the walks turned into a rainstorm and we all got
We all took turns interrupting our games to relay incidents in our lives but I'm going to give the story telling prize to Warren, an example: I believe it was his turn to lay a card so he had our complete attention. There was something about New York (probably a blizzard) that triggered it, he said do you know Larry ------? then it went from Seneca New York (an actual town) to Seneca foods in Rochester MN-Larry's son that works there--Warren coached him in school--- back to Larry--- back to Seneca the company---- back to the relation with Seneca the town in New York, then he tied it all together and gave his punch line, but the best part was at the end (seemed like a half hour, probably was more like ten minutes) when he leaned back in his chair and said "I can really tell a great humorous story." At our house we have a little plague that says "I laughed so hard tears ran down my leg.". I don't know if we reached that point but sometimes it was hard to breath. Then he walked over to the refrigerator and mixed a drink on top of it, who does that? I cant even see the top of a refrigerator.
soaked, one day it was so bright and hazy you couldn't see the buildings, what if you were at sea and couldn't see land.
For a treat Ruthie made the brie bake for our friends, Warren wasn't sure if he had ever had brie however I think everyone liked it.
 |
| Those are jelly fish |
We played a lot of cards and games. I think the favorite was Euchre. There was always visiting and stories. I emailed Barb to get a clarification on one of the incidents they relayed to us. It seems they were walking on the beach with their daughter Deb and how impressed she was with the one legged birds hopping on the beach, an animal lover she felt bad that they had lost one leg and had to hop around. She watched them for quite sometime feeling bad for the birds and irritated that no one believed her, and then all of a sudden the bird put down the other leg and ran off, Barb almost fell to the beach laughing. In her email she said it was almost as funny as two of the card playing mistakes Warren and Ruthie had made. (Barb and I played flawlessly)
We all took turns interrupting our games to relay incidents in our lives but I'm going to give the story telling prize to Warren, an example: I believe it was his turn to lay a card so he had our complete attention. There was something about New York (probably a blizzard) that triggered it, he said do you know Larry ------? then it went from Seneca New York (an actual town) to Seneca foods in Rochester MN-Larry's son that works there--Warren coached him in school--- back to Larry--- back to Seneca the company---- back to the relation with Seneca the town in New York, then he tied it all together and gave his punch line, but the best part was at the end (seemed like a half hour, probably was more like ten minutes) when he leaned back in his chair and said "I can really tell a great humorous story." At our house we have a little plague that says "I laughed so hard tears ran down my leg.". I don't know if we reached that point but sometimes it was hard to breath. Then he walked over to the refrigerator and mixed a drink on top of it, who does that? I cant even see the top of a refrigerator.
The next morning I walked on the street planning on stopping at a souvenir shop to get a cap from the area, it had just opened and while I was looking I seen people come in and show their ID's to the young lady and then she would let them go in the backroom, I made a comment to her that it was the first time I had seen a souvenir shop with a bouncer, she didn't think it was humorous, I left, not curious enough to see what was in the back room. 
That night our foursome made it to the Top of Daytona just to see the view, It was great, you could see for miles, our trike and camper looked like a thimble. Time for a group picture and one of our bartender who said this was his best side. Good times. Thank you Warren and Barb for your hospitality.
That night our foursome made it to the Top of Daytona just to see the view, It was great, you could see for miles, our trike and camper looked like a thimble. Time for a group picture and one of our bartender who said this was his best side. Good times. Thank you Warren and Barb for your hospitality.
As we prepared to move on I seen Barb straightening the trunk of their car. I had never seen it done quite like that before.
Looking ahead to the rest of our trip I placed an ad on Craigslist, Gentle horse training, correcting inappropriate behavior (learned that phrase from my granddaughter, said she had learned it in school) Handyman repair or maintenance service in exchange for lodging. Then I listed it in the area of Florida we would like to spend some time in. Now we will wait and see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment