No offense too you Floridians..but I will stay the hell up here in soggy old WA! Gators, Love Bugs, Tourists, Retirees, Hurricanes, Sharks..I couldn't take it! All we have to worry about is getting rusty..and slugs..and as slow as my KLX may be..I KNOW I can outrun a damn slug! Florida would be nice for the sunshine, beaches, hot scantily clad babes everywhere [8D]..I heard about a topless hot dog stand somewhere down there..Miami maybe? Anyone know if it's still around?[sm=yikesomg.gif]

 

Yea I would not want to live anywhere but here.

 

Deej, to top it off we have Florida Black Bears as well. I have only encountered one once. Last Sept I was on my patio and something big was in the woods behind my house. I couldn't see it in the dark, but it climbed a tree and I could here it scratching up in the tree. The next morning I went outside and I could see where the bear had sharpened it's claws on a tree.

I'm about 40-50 miles from the Ocala Forest (where Marty Lives), there is a huge bear population there and another large population a little north of me (Matanzas). These bears have been migrating between here and Ocala for ever. The area I live in is fairly new, and bear encounters are pretty high here. Not Grizzley's, but I still don't want to meet one face to face.

As far as the gators, they really don't bother anyone, unless provoked. The pic I posted of the gator on the side of the water is the same area where I guy was pulled from his jetski by a gator 3-4 years ago. He kept running the jetski up to a gator laying on the shore and turning to spray it with water. The gator got tired of it and moved, the guy kept f'n with it and the gator took revenge. There were other peolple who witnessed it, and they say it was a split second from the time the gator came out of the water and the guy was gone. I'm sure a bear would have even less patience especially if there are little bears around.

Come and visit sometime deej, everyone thinks of the beaches and girls, but Florida is a big state and there is a lot of nature to be seen.

 

Kona, I think the topless hot dog place is near stiffler's house. Maybe he can fill us in.

 

almost ran over a 5 foot rattlesnake a couple days ago in east san diego on a fire road. it was all stretched out gettin some sun in the middle of the trail. i wanted to get a pic but i was on a hill and couldnt get the bike to stay up on kickstand while i got my phone out. so i shut off the engine and just decided to coast by it off its tail end, as i did so it coiled up extremley fast and began rattling with much fury. as i had never seen a rattlesnake in nature before and basically it scared the shi* out of me i decided to just forget about getting the picture because i think i already got the picture. cant wait to see a mountain lion next. oh and what is this brown stuff i see on everybodys bike? i think they call it mud..... we dont have that in san diego. at least i cant find any. just dry trails. never below 50 degrees and never above 90 degrees. weather........we dont have that here.

 

Florida has it's share of problems, but it also has lots of good points!

Lots of nice roads to ride - if you know where. Yesterday I took a ride up to a spot not too far from where sullydirt lives - US 1 and I-95. There is a Harley-Davison dealer there. One of the biggest and certainly the nicest appointed motorcycle deaership I have ever been in in my life. Just for the experience, if you're ever in the area, stop by "Destination Daytona" and see for yourself.

On the way over and the way back, I encountered very few cars on the roads with me. It was an absolutely awesome day for being out riding. Well most days are like that. No I didn't take the KLX250S, I was on one of the road bikes, the Concours. For a bike that is 20 plus years old, mine's an '86 model - first year of the Concours with 50,000 miles on the odometer (I've only had it about 3 years now and have put 30,000 miles on it) it just "hmmmmms" right along at about 75 to 80 mph indicated! Never a miss or anything else. It is just an example of fine workmanship.

Of course, when I parked, I got the spot closest to the door and made sure all could see the bike. Yes, it's quiet and quite smooth. A fellow was following me out of the parking lot and when I hit the highway, he hit his Harley really, really hard. Dang, those 60 horses he had were no match for the 100 plus on the Concours. I don't think he went back to tell his buddies he got whooped!

With the weather, lots of coastline - even California has less coastline! There are lots of great sites along that coastline. A lot of it, especially north of Daytona, is a great ride on a bike. If any of y'all come on down, let me know so we can tie up and I'll play tour guide to ya'!

 

Marty, call me next time you're over this way. That HD shop is 15 minutes from me.