Christmas, FL

The trip to Christmas was an easy one. But my DeLorme led me astray. It knows not to put me on Interstates now. But most of the Christmas trip was on FL "Parkways". Which are just like Interstates except they charge tolls. So now my exclusions include "Interstates" and "Toll Roads". It's all a learning experience.

One of the new Whirly Girls I met in Orlando said, "I live about 10 minutes from Christmas. We should get together while you're there." We exchanged numbers but I'm so used to "Y'all come over sometime." that I didn't expect to hear from her. Well, I got a text message after I arrived at Christmas. "Well, are you all set up? I'm coming by there in an hour on my way back from a job interview in Orlando. Want to do something?"

So we talked for awhile, then went to the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area for a two hour hike. It was really strange "hiking" on totally flat ground. But beautiful wildflowers, miles of palms and palmettos, and several incredibly beautiful still ponds which reflected everything.

Then we came back to Christmas, where the ladies of the park were giving away dinner. They'd had a board of director's dinner meeting the night before and nobody showed up so they had all this left over food. Typical FL meat and starch but nice, with nice people. Although Sandra noticed, "These people are so old." I haven't told her yet that many of them were very close to my age. Maybe tomorrow - or maybe not.

Wed I fixed dinner here after she'd come back from two job interviews. She's not having a lot of luck. She just got her Helicopter Instructor Rating. But with less than 500 hours, it's a matter of finding a company willing to make an exception and break their own rules about experience requirements. Being a pretty, young Danish blonde should help. But no luck yet.

Thur I got on my Honda and went to Ormond Beach to Bike Week. Yes, it's in Daytona but a lot of activities have moved up to Ormond because there's a new City Council Woman in Daytona that hates bikes and bikers and would like to ban the whole thing. Ormond, on the other hand, welcomes them with open arms. Rightly so. It's estimated that the 600,000 bikers will spend over $300,000,000 in a week. At the prices I saw, I believe it.

The main reason I went is that the Jessy, the Mandolin Player from Cypress Gardens was there playing fiddle with a group. I wanted to hear her play, say, "Hi" and thank her again for the luthier. I left my bass expecting to pay $175 for a bridge and $200. for strings. He straightened my warped bridge saying, "It's better than a new one because they can't get wood like this anymore." and charged me $20. When I told him I'd be playing mostly Bluegrass, he recommended a $120. set of strings that he sold me for $85 instead of the $200. set I had expected to buy.

Well it turns out she's playing there from noon to 2:00 every day this week and weekend. But Thursday was the only day she didn't have another gig in the evening at least 60 miles away. As she put it, "It's my half-day off." So we spent three hours roaming around the "World Famous Iron Horse Saloon." listening to music, drinking beer, eating food and talking. Again, pictures will be available, but they're on her camera so it'll be a few days before she finishes Bike Week, recovers and emails them to me. I GOTTA start remembering to take my camera places. Here's a really poor picture I took with my cell phone.

Along with the hundreds of beautiful tricked out bikes, there were a few weird ones. I don't know what kind of a statement this guy was trying to make, but it sure got its picture taken a lot.

It really is a stuffed bison head.

Oh, and the pictures were taken "inside" the Iron Horse Saloon. I couldn't find a building that you could actually go into and sit down. It's about a 3 or 4 acre compound with a stage and bleachers, beer booths, food booths and a "balcony" all the way around and lots of room to park bikes.

I bought my bike from a guy who had purchased a bigger one because "That little 600 just isn't a bike to take cruising." I rode about 160 miles, mostly on I-95 at 65 and 70 mph. I would have told you Thur evening that the guy was wrong. It was a nice ride. But when I woke up Fri morning, I couldn't move. My "Core Muscles", as a Pilates instructor would call them, felt like somebody had gotten inside of me and chopped them all up with a knife. Well, this IS all a learning experience. And I've definitely learned not to do that again.

So today was pretty much spent in bed feeling sorry for myself. Except three Canadian couples that I met in Sarasota and Cypress Gardens asked me to join them for dinner. They're heading home tomorrow morning. Taking their sweet time since yesterday"home" got above -10c for the first time in months. And the "warm spell" isn't expected to last.

Sandra's Dad arrives tomorrow from Denmark for a two week visit. So I'm back to "all alone" for awhile. If I don't feel better, I guess it won't matter. But I'd really like to get the bass out and practice some before the Bluegrass Festival next weekend. I don't have any idea if it's like Galax with groups getting together all over the parking lot or if it's all professional with just stage shows. But if I don't get a chance to play, the same weekend is a BIG airshow at Titusville and Jessy is playing Celtic fiddle at a couple of St. Patty's Day parties. So I'll just rest for the next few days.