Quite a place anchored by Dayton Harley Davidson shop and J&P Cycles. Lots of vendors there. Could have spent a couple of days there and probably not covered all the vendors! Did pick up my souvenir 2012 Daytona Beach Bike Week Tshirt!!
I was surprised at how big Mobil 1 was there with their motorcycle oil truck and displays!
Even had the Budweiser Clydesdales!
The only real ride is a route named "The Loop". It is about 22 miles long and is a good ride, although pretty straight but very scenic and diverse. Wasn't too crowded. Maybe passed 20 other motorcycles on the route. I made one stop at the ocean and they even have dedicated motorcycle only parking for the beach!!
And one closeup of the pelicans!
Rode by and through Daytona Racetrack and "downtown Daytona". Most of the vendors/displays there were not set up yet. Even though there was a lot of traffic and congestion. It was also getting "hot". Around 85 degrees and it really felt hot in the stop and go traffic.
Clouds started to move in and the chance of rain was picking up. Headed back to the hotel around 4 pm and had a few sprinkles along the way. Seemed that most of the other riders staying at the hotel had the same idea as we pulled in mostly together.
Talked to a couple of guys from Morgantown, WV. They had trailered down. One of them had dated a girl from my hometown in WV. The one had over 30,000 miles on his 08 Fat Boy, so he has done some riding!
Got up on Friday morning and rain was to move into the area by early afternoon. I decided to just start heading north instead of going back to Daytona. Stopped by the Jacksonville and Brunswick Harley shops. Talked to a guy from New Jersey at Brunswick. I took his picture for him with his bike in front of the shop sign. He was actually heading to the Panama City area of Florida to camp for a few days. He had "been there and done that" for Daytona. He was a retired fireman and had the fireman Harley Davidson Ultra Classic (that is a pretty red!!). He and I shared our riding philosophies which were very common. We both liked to ride for the sake of riding as opposed to destinations and bike rallies. He was a really nice guy and we shook hands as we departed.
Had a nice ride up US 17 through Georgia. This is a place I stopped for a "break" (nice big tree!).
Did encounter all kinds of weather coming back north. It hit 90 degrees just north of Jacksonville near the Georgia border with lots of sunshine. That really felt like summer time! Had a lot of smoke from wild fires near the South Carolina border. Pretty intense and hard to breathe! The clouds were coming and going and I thought I had it made for a rainless trip (except for a few sprinkles!). I had zeroed in on a Best Western in South Carolina so that I would only have about another 4 hours to Wilmington on Saturday. About 10 miles from that hotel the bottom dropped out of the sky. Winds blew and a hard rain. I didn't have time or a place to stop for the rainsuit so I just road on. Made it to the hotel pretty wet and hard time seeing! The good news was that they had a room! The bad new is this place is really far out in the country! I am having to update this blog from the lobby due to the wireless internet being so weak. I only have one bar on the cell phone signal strength. The cable TV is so blurry you can hardly see anything and the only restaurant anywhere around is a Denny's!! The name of this place is Yemassee, SC. I don't even know how to say it let along know where it is!!
Hey, they did give me a GREAT place to park for the night. Can't beat this for security and out of the weather.
They did have a "local" brew from Charleston, SC at the gas station next door, so that made for a great evening!
The weather forecast for the next two days is SUNNY. That is the good news. The bad news is a return of COLD temps! The low is forecast here for 44 degrees tonight!! Geez, I will have to put my heated gear back on in the morning!! That is a real change from just this morning.
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