Sunday – Daytona Beach, Florida
Well, I got pulled up by the fuzz, but it did not hurt that bad and I eventually got to Daytona Beach to see Jim and Lesley, but no Guzzi riders were there, bummer
Well, as you can imagine after a TS Saturday night, Sunday morning was nothing to talk about. I woke late and a tad seedy, but managed to do some more on the blog which was behind a bit. I eventually left around 11am, Florida was just down the road according to the map and it would not be a big day.
Ahh, but Mr plod got me filtering in the wrong lane on the freeway, in fact he did a U-turn and waited on the side of the road and I wondered if he was going to chase me, well he did not have to, as soon as I saw the flashing lights I pulled over, hoping not to get breathalysed, I was a bit nervous actually. 😦
Actually, he was quite nice about the whole thing, he understood I was a tourist and did not know each states rules, I did apologise for doing it and he wrote me a warning ticket, no cost, no points, so that was lucky. He actually wanted to chat because he liked my accent, hahaha and he was quite happy to pose for a photo, knowing it would end up here, I even gave him my card. He was a nice bloke and just doing his job.
So, that was mile number 4 for the day, not a good start and it was warming up as well, I was sucking back the water. And this stuff did not help either, traffic lights on a major highway and I was not going to try and filter again, one warning is enough, mind you my panniers limit what I can do anyway.
Luckily, the road opened out a bit and although once again I stuck to the speed limit, I was passed by bloody everything, except bicycles!! But, I did not need to get pulled over again today, that is for sure.
I got to the Georgia state visitor centre where I asked for a Florida map, apparently this is a no no, they are so separate, how stupid, I was 3 miles from the border and got no info on the next state. Anyway, I scored a Georgia map for later when I went back north. It was shady anyway and worth the break from the heat as I was heading south into the summer.
The road after this was a real pain, heaps of road works and slow bits.
I did stop at the Florida visitor centre and got a map of the state and chatted with some people who liked the bike 🙂 After that about an hour or so later it cleared up a tad, but I could see major roads around, so it had potential for traffic chaos, this was a Sunday arvo around Jacksonville
Now, that is how all cop bikes should be 🙂 I think this bloke bought the bike and it still had all the insignia.
I then arrived at Daytona Beach about 3.30 pm, my first glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean from these shores 🙂
And I found the house where Jim and Lesley lived, but they were out of town up north working. They had arranged a key for me though, so that was good. I turned a blind eye to the red sign and concentrated on the black sign, I must be colour blind eh, but anyway, I was a guest and they were not around to argue the case 🙂 Actually, I was not allowed to park on the street, a tow away job if I did.
The people next door were holding a key for me and after saying G’day to them I managed to settle in and relax and even found an unsecured wifi connection which worked. I exchanged some phone calls with Lesley who explained how to work the lights, that was crazy and she also mentioned that if I turned around from where I was sitting and opened the cupboard, I would find something in there she bought for me specially. How wonderful are these people, bloody marvellous tell your ma! And I was even wearing the right bloody T-shirt as well, coincidence or what, Donunder, you need to meet these two next time, right up your alley I reckon 🙂
But, of course I was here to catch up on the blog and pick up my mail tomorrow and then head south maybe, so I got stuck into the yacka before heading down to the beach for a decko. I had no coke for the rum, so that was another issue to be solved later on. This is a very commercialised and touristy place as you can imagine.
I walked up and down the beach front for a while, but I had missed all the action as it was gone 7pm, so I found a nice little bar called the Mai Tai, they had live music and I just watched the life going on around me, with a beer in front of me 🙂 Why do they wear their caps backwards, I am going to ask one day.
I wandered back after a couple of beers and went up to a local Kangaroo shop for some coke and settled in with a major effort to get some photos sorted out. I had done something wrong one day and now they were out of sequence so I had no idea what I did those days. I eventually got it sorted with the help of the bundy bear, and crashed out well after midnight again!
Day –244 miles and 393 km
Trip – 12,298 miles and 19,792 km
Cheers
TravellingStrom
TravellingStrom 