Lexington, Kentucky—

Trip to Outerbanks

Leaving Home

Leaving Lexington

Wednesday Day One

March 7, 2002

Wednesday was between a cold and a rainy day, a good day to leave for southern states!

Heading south on I-75 was the quickest way to beat more cold and rainy weather, but the day was great for travel. We only stopped for gas and at one rest stop before Ashville, NC., pulled into Spartensburg about 4:00 in the afternoon. A good time to stop for the first day.

Thursday Day Two

Thursday was another day of riding without much site seeing.

We left Spartensburg SC about 9:10 heading southeast on I-26, thought we may make Jacksonville FL, but when we got close to Savannah, GA Pat wanted to stop and visit the old homes or take a tour of the town. So we stayed two nights at Savannah South KOA on US 17 just west of I-95 at exit 87.

Friday Day Three

On Friday we did the tourestie thing and took a trolly tour. You can get off and or on at any of the trolly stops, makes it nice to see the town.

Saturday rough start Day Four

Saturday morning we had a rough start trying to get everything back in the trailer and bike. Everything just would not fit, I think Pat bought some things and did not tell me. We had to load the ice chest with bike covers and chaps. Finally we left the KOA at 10:00AM, but only got as far as St. Augustine. I guess we won’t make bike week. But there sure were a lot of bikes down in old town St. Augustine, and I am sure we will see quit a few more on the road Sunday. Yesterday and today coming down I95 it seamed like we pasted at least 1000 bikes going north some riding and some in trailers. We made it to St. Augustine Saturday afternoon and stayed a couple of days.

Continuing South

Leaving St. Augustine traveling south on A1A is cool comapired to inland you get the Atlantic sea breeze most of the time. That makes for a more plesent ride if the wind doesn’t get to strong. Today was great about 80Deg. with a 10MPH wind from the east.

There were alot of bikes going north, leaving bike week, guess some people have to go back to work on Monday.

We did not even stop in Daytona (except for all the stop and go traffic). Keep on going south and it’s getting warmer.

Coral Springs

Wednesday we headed south on toward Coral Springs, Steve & Joann Spanoudis’s home, it’s not that far for one day’s drive. Arrived in Coral Springs about 2:00 so we caught a movie, Steve and Joann weren’t expecting us until late afternoon.

Steve and I worked together for 8 or 9 years in the PTC. After I left to take the sysadmin job he quit and took a job here in Coral Springs with Motarolla as manager of prototype projects.

We had a great visit with old friends, they have a very nice house in a great neighborhood.

Lion Country Safari

Monday evening at the KOA it rained three or four times during the night. It was nice to hear the rain coming down on the tent. It’s also very different waking up to the sound of Lions Roaring loud enought to wake you from a sound sleep. That’s a first for Pat and I. Tusdsay moring we just had to go see thoes Lions.

Lion Country Safari KOA is at the entrance to Lion Country Safari (guess thats why they have the same name). Anyhow back to the subject, the Safari is the first drive thru Zoo in your own car, but not on a motorcylce you would not want to be eaten by a 500lb Lion. So they furnish a car (for a fee) or van if you don’t have one. Ours was a Mecury station wagon painted white with black zebra stripes, it’s better than being eaten for dinner. It takes about 1.5 to 2hrs to drive thru and see all the animals. At one point there was a 5000lb Rino with his horn about a foot from my door, it didn’t bother Pat it was not on her side. Ten Giraff’s were all coming towards us because there were two right in our path about 5 feet from the car, couldn’t even see there heads, util the smaller one headbutted the larger one in the ribbs. I guess that’s the way one says to the other get out of my way!

The rest of the afternoon was just lazy Pat got her hair cut and we ate at Woody’s Barbcue. Now we are just hanging around camp reading and typing this. Tomorrow we will go the Butterfly World on our way to the Keys.

South to Key West

Thursday morning about 9:00 we left Spanoudis’s home for Key West. Heading south on the Florida Turnpike it was hot and fast trip if you keep up with traffic. The speed limit is 70 and most folks are running 80. Pat doesn’t like the Interstates anyway.

The Keys are a great place to visit if you like a lot of people and slow traffic, it’s about 100 miles from the beginning of Key Largo to the last one Key West most is two lane and very busy even during the week.

KOA Fiesta was our camping place for the next two nights, not a bad camp site, but still 64 miles to Key West.

Key West

Friday was our day at Key West. After riding around the city, which doesn’t take that long, because it’s not all the large, we parked the bike and walked Duval street. Spent some time in the shops, had lunch, then stopped at the Hog’s Breath Saloon for a couple of beers, visited with a few folks from up north. Then headed back to the KOA.

St. Petersburg, Fl

St. Petersburg, Fl

Saturday we stayed around the KOA until about 10:00 then headed out. Crossed the Everglades on HWY 41, stopped at the Cypre then on to Naples.

Sunday was very hot again, heading north along the west cost of Florida from Naples to St. Petersburg. We will spend Sunday night and Monday night aat the KOA on 19Alt. in St. Pete. This is a Gold KOA, but I don’t think it’s any better than the others we have stayed in. It does have a lot more Cabins. We have a tent site on the waters edge, some parts shady all day. It doesn’t have electrical so we can’t use the fan which really helps.

We met a couple from Pennsylvania that are staying here for a month. They have been retired for 3 years and just love it. They usually stay in one place for at least a month. But we would not get very far doing that.

Ft. De Soto

Monday we decided to go out to Ft. De Soto Historical Area. Its south west of the KOA about 1 hour in Pinellas County. The Fort De Soto Historic Trail and Quartermaster Storehouse Museum was established in 1994. The fort was build in 1889 to defend the waterways west of St. Petersburg FL. Battery Laidley was the primary defense for Fort De Soto. In 1902, eight 12-inch M 1890-M1 motors with a maximum range of 6.8 miles were mounted at the Fort. When a ship was sited, the coordinates were relayed from observation points to the Relocating room and then to the Data Booth where it was posted for the gun crews to view. Each required a 12-man crew to manually load and aim the 54 pounds of power charge was placed after the projectiles were loaded. Each projectile weighted 800 to 1046 lbs. Fort De Soto and Fort Dade were never used against an enemy. But the era was significant in terms of the evolution of modern weaponry (for that time). The rest of the day was spend at camp just doing nothing but reading etc.

North of Tampa and St. Pete

Tuesday heading north again, but trying to stay close to the gulf cost. It was still hot and not much of a breeze. There is really not much to say about Florida cost north of Tampa, lots of traffic and traffic lights. Unless you decide to stay in one place a few days, you just kinda go right on thru without seeing much. But we have done this part of the trip before.

Old Town Fl

Stopping early in Old Town about 50 miles south of Perry we found an old KOA campground along the Suwanee river. It was the least expensive so far and quiet only about 1/4 full. Tuesday evening was kinda slow and relaxed we set up the tent, and by now it only takes a few minutes. Then we sat by the river and watched it flow. There were a few boats and water skiers. But mostly it was quite.

During the early morning on Wednesday I heard what I thought was monkeys. But it was just birds making monkey noises.

Wednesday was a very lazy day up about 9:00 fixed breakfast, took showers, Logged on to the internet, read down by the river for most of the afternoon. Went in to Old town for dinner. Thats all folks.

West along Florida Panhandle

Thursday morning it looked like rain when we woke about 6:00. Decision time do we say in bed and maybe here another night waiting out the rain or do we go for it. Well we went for it. Took us about 30Min. to get on the road heading west. No rain until about 9:00 then it cut loose, this was the first time for our new rain gear. It’s gortex light weight and lest the air pass thought so you don’t sweat. In fact we both got a little cold, but not wet. The bike and trailer was really dirty when we pulled in to the KOA at Panama City Beach. Oh well it was time for it to have a bath anyway. This evening it was nice to ride a clean bike to dinner. But don’t come to Panama City during Spring Break, it’s fun for the kids, but us old folks like to have our sleep in peace and quite.

Tomorrow we will head out instead of hanging with the kids more then one night.

Until to morrow!

Panama City to Mobile Al

Friday from Panama City Beach FL. KOA. to Mobile AL.

It was cold and windy in Mobile, so we stayed in a Holiday Express since we were only going to be here one night anyway, and laundry was in the plans. Dinner was at Bob’s Catfish restaurant, it was not near as good as Pay Lake in KY.

There is some very pretty country coming into Mobile from the southeast. Nice farms and well maintained areas.

Mobile is old and ugly at least along the truck route, but I guess most city’s are that way.

Mobile to Vicksburg

Saturday from Mobile to Vicksburg was thru the back roads all the way. From one road to the next when the one we were on ran out, as long as we were going north or west it was ok. Pulled into Vicksburg about 4:00 and checked into the Vicksburg Inn, right accross the street from the Vicksburg Military Park.

Vicksburg National Military Park

Sunday we spent the morning in the Vicksburg National Military Park, It is all about the battles in Vicksburg, the turning point for the North and General U. Grant.

Did You Know?

Graves in Vicksburg National Cemetery

Vicksburg National Cemetery is the largest internment of Civil War dead in the nation. It is the burial place for nearly 17,000 Union soldiers, and 154 Metal of Honor Recipents.

Little Rock, Ar

After leaving Vicksburg, Miss we just headed straight on to Little Rock to visit my aunt Helen and Bobby. The only stops were made for gas and something to eat. We arrived about 4:00 and had a nice visit with family. for a couple of days. Then off to Lebanon to spend a few days with my father and brother.

Lebanon MO

This Sunday Pat, I, Rusty and Ronda took a ride to Lake of the Ozarks, just to get the famous barbarque in Preston (Hickoryu Smoke Shack) on the corner of 65 and Hwy 54. This place is the best I have ever had bar noon. If you ever get in South Western MO, it’s a must. The trouble is it burnt down a couple years later and they did not rebuild. But they were only open from April 1st until Laborday. Almost forgot they are also closed Tuesday and Wednesday. We split a full slab with some beans and french fires.

Oklahoma City

April 17 was spent touring the Oklamona City National Memorial Center. The memorial center is an interactive learning museum. The building withstood the April 19, 1995 bombing. It was converted to the museum after 200+ entries in a design contest for the site. The meseum takes you thru the day of the bombing and after. If you get a chance please see it, it’s well worth your time.

Here are some of the stories:

• A Day Like any other
• History of the site
• Background on Terrorism
• A hering
• Imagine yourself in the setting of an Water board hearing just accross the street at 9:00 am on April 19, 1995. You will hear an actual audio of the hearing and the explosion, confusion.
• Confusion
• Chaos
• Suvivor experiences
• The first hours
• World reaction
• rescue and recovery
• Remembrance and bebuilding
• HOPE

This is a must see if you are in Oklamoma City

Padre Island, TX

Padre Island North is just of the cost of Corpus Cristy, TX. The last 10 years it has started developing, but is still one quiet places to spend a few days. My wicked step sister and her husband have a very nice home in the older section, with the deck built over the water and the boat dock under the deck. Most of the homes in this area have a similar setup. Our time here was spent watching the water off the deck, reading, going out to eat (fish mostly) and just taking it easy, but I guess thats what we’ve done a great deal of so far on this trip. One day we went back northeast about 15 miles on the island and visited Port Aransas shops and had lunch. Gary Osborne Fine Art is one fine art Gallery. I really liked some of the paintings he had on display. Some of them were very expensive $10,000.00. If anyone is interested his web site is www.GOFineart.com. Another great place to eat is Snoppies just under the bridge coming onto the Padre from CC, it’s very casual, but the food is great, and not to expensive. We spent a week here, but tomorrow we are heading north to the hill country just north of San Antonio for a couple of days.