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Saturday was full! First
things first, of course. Breakfast at Denny's, some coffee, and then
head for Daytona. I knew I wanted to find the Boss Hoss people, who
were giving demo rides, but first I wanted to find a place to wash my
bike.
A thousand
miles of rain-smeared road grime does not contribute to a pretty bike.
As I passed a gas station, I saw a hand-held sign out of the corner of my idea saying "bike" and "cars" somewhere on it. Deducing that there must also be "wash" somewhere on there, too, I turned around and headed back. There was a little community group raising money washing bikes and cars. I was a little nervous about this, but two things allayed my fears: first, they were delighted I'd pulled up, saying I was their first customer. That meant clean clothes and sponges, which meant lessened chances of scratching the chrome or paint; also, there was a girl in charge who owned a bike. First thing we did was wait for the pipes to cool off so the kids wouldn't burn themselves. She then set each kid to a specific part of the bike -- the easy bits and nothing critical.
The wash was pretty good and I drove away satisfied. I wasn't looking for a detailing -- I figured I'd be driving through rain again in a day or two.
On to the Daytona Speedway!
At first, I parked in an outer area, in SAND, 'cause that's where the people in orange vests were waving me to. Thank God I carry a beer can kickstand coaster. I saw two bikes fall over on that stand and one guy who wouldn't leave two bikes (centerstands), 'til his buddy went over to a refreshment stand, bought four Pepsis, and they'd chugged them and put the cans under the stands. Whatever works.
Wandered around in that area, looking at some of the Yamahas and such, including finding this thing:
Click thumbnail to enlarge.
I got bored there and went back to my bike. Following the road around the stadium, I found the tunnel that goes inside the stadium. There was an admission fee; I was curious enough about what was inside to pay said fee.
Going through the tunnel is really kinda cool; it's tiny, and very steep. The tunnel is going under the track. Once I got inside, I found the parking area, where they already had wooden coasters laid out (!) and spent some time watching ricer stunt riders doing their thing:
Click thumbnail for slideshow.
I got bored with that after awhile. I admit the stunt riders have some skill, but I'm just not interested in joining them.
Instead, I wandered over
to the inner-loop viewing stands so I could see the races, which began
at noon. You have to realize the the inside of the Daytona speedway is
enormous -- probably 300 acres or more. There's spots set up for the RVs
for when the Indie car racers are there and the rest is neatly laid out,
too. When almost empty, like when I was there, it seems impossible that
it gets filled for the races -- and not with fans either! Just the crews,
drivers, families, etc.
I didn't want to stay for too long, because I had other things to do, but did see one race from the stands and one from farther out near one of the outer-loop turns:
Click the thumbnail for a slideshow.
These guys are fast and it was a lot of fun hanging out watching them, particularly from the grassy area near the high-banked turns. They were so fast, I had a hard time getting a picture of them.
After a time, I headed back out and finally found the Boss Hoss guys. The line for demo rides was ridiculously long, but I did get a bunch of pictures:
Click on thumbnail for slideshow
After the Boss Hosses and some customs, it was time, WAY past time, to find the Eyeball!
The eyeball is a meet-n-greet of r.m.h.'ers held in a place I'll not disclose here at a time I'll not disclose, but which I was a couple hours past. I was afraid, frankly, that I'd probably missed it completely having fun at the Speedway.
I headed up US 1 toward Ormond Beach, keeping an eye out for the place and easily found it exactly where described. Hard to miss, actually, seeing as how it and the neighboring hangs were swamped with bikers.
I got myself a beer and a primo, very tasty BBQ pork sandwich and sat down to take a look around. The food and drink really hit the spot. I didn't know who I was looking for and figured the only guy whom I had a description for was long gone. But pretty soon I spied somebody with a vest that had an r.m.h. patch or two. I sauntered up and introduced myself -- I THINK it was TL. He introduced me to a lot of other people, including Easy and Wolfpup and a bunch of other people I'm forgetting the names of.
I was invited to Jinks' and followed Rosie and Kenny (?) to Jinks' new place, not far away and down a very pleasant lane. He surely has a nice setup there. First thing I was met with when I pulled up was, "Who the FUCK are YOU?" which I took as a friendly greeting. Introductions all around. Met a lot of people new to me and really enjoyed that. Thanks for the hospitality, Jinks!
After a few beers and much laughter, Jinks grilled up some burgers and hotdogs and we all had some dinner. The sun started setting and Game One of the World series got underway, which a few of us sat around and watched.
I got going before it got too late... I didn't know what night-time Florida interstate traffic would be like, especially on a Saturday. It was fairly hairy, to tell the truth, especially with the construction. I made it back to my hotel and slept like the dead.
