Clem (Ironmorph or Nomox) posted the ride on the VTXOA board and we found a small group ready to complete the 40 mile round trip for a bite to eat.
James and I departed at 7:00am for McDonald's in Lutz, our meeting place for the ride. A short 35 minutes later, we arrived. Russ (Noledad) and Betty were already there. Tracy arrived soon after. Clem crossed the pavement on the Wee Strom and had ChefBob in tow. Temps and moisture were not what we wanted but seeing as we were all there...let's go.
I had the honor of leading the parade up US 41 to Brooksville before heading west on 98. A right turn onto US19 woudl eventually lead us to our fuel stop. Wizard had warned us that gas was not available in Horseshoe Beach. Chiefland was the fuel stop of choice!
A qucik jaunt to Cross City and we were headed down the rode leading to Horseshoe Beach and the local hangout... Horseshoe Beach Cafe.
We arrived at 11:30am, having made good time along tghe route. In fact we were the first to arrive. There would be plenty of room for the entire group, even though our little RTE doubled the population of this quaint little seaside village.
The MTF gang soon came to a stop in the parking lot. Richard, Joe, Ray, Al, Randy, Mark, and a few others wandered in looking for some chow! Oh yeah, Kevin was there too.
Bikes were everywhere and the locals seemed to look upon us as a rather unique group...hehe, if they only knew.
Lunch was fabulous and the restaurant overlooked the gulf. Too bad the weather was not cooperating. I'm sure that sunshine adds to the view!
We filled our bellies and made the decision to head back. There was a parade in Crystal River and 19 would be shut down between 3:30pm and 6:00pm. Not wanting to add another 75 miles to our route home, we made sure we were through the city before it was shut down.
The ride ended with the temps finally reaching 80 degrees and James and I had fun. It was good seeing the MTF and VTXOA groups again and we look forward to the next excursion.
