RIDE REPORT FROM FLORIDA and RIDE REPORT FROM WAUKON!!

Happy Leap Day!!  We will be starting back to Waukon from Florida tomorrow by cutting through South Carolina to see Julie's sister.  Everyone has been asking about the weather here.  All I can say is that we've put close to 3,000 miles on the trike here in February, so the weather can't have been too bad.  It's been a little too cold to suit the natives though.  It will be 72 degrees when we pull out tomorrow.

Now for some ride reports--and first from Waukon!  Chuckles and Jim ventured out last Saturday in a winter thaw.  Glad to hear about it.  Even though it wasn't a Wednesday night, it still counts!  Here's their report and photo.  Where's the snow?!

Two of the WNR, having a severe case of PMS, took advantage of the Saturday Feb. 27th sunshine & temps in the 50's to take the maiden voyage of the season.  It was a beautiful ride up to LaCrosse on the Wisconsin side with lots of activity on the river, some on boats and some on the ice.  The return trip was down the Minnesota side with snow still in the trees.  Chuckles & Jim clocked in over 100 miles.  So the season begins........

NICE NECKEE, CHUCKLES!

SPEAKING OF PMS--DON'T FORGET THE PMS MEETING ON MARCH 16TH!!  YOU WILL GET YOUR OFFICIAL INVITATIONS BY MAIL WHEN I GET BACK.


I do have room to tell you about one of our rides here in Florida.  Actually we ventured up into Enterprise, Alabama, to see the only statue dedicated to an insect.  Now tell me that I don't pick out some real adventures!  Enterprise, Alabama, is located about 80 miles north of Panama City Beach, and in the center of town, right on the main drag is a statue of a woman holding up a boll weevil.  It's really quite a tourist attraction and the radio station there even has the call letters--WVVL and there's a boll weevil mural painted on a nearby building!

Here's some photos of the only statue dedicated to a bug.

There are still some cotton fields located in the southern part of Alabama, but there are lots of peanut farms now too.  If they would just quit boiling the peanuts!

FLORIDA TRIP--THE WWII MUSEUM

The World War II Museum isn't in Florida.  It's located in downtown New Orleans, but to say it's well worth a visit would be an understatement.  It is a first class museum dedicated to the men and women who fought to preserve our freedom from the tyrannical dictators who ruled Germany, Japan, and Italy from 1940 to 1945. If you are anywhere near New Orleans make sure you put the World War II Museum on your itinerary!

We spent a day there and could have used more time.  Just seeing the documentary film "Beyond All Boundaries" in 4D and narrated by Tom Hanks was worth the price of admission. The museum is arranged in two different sections containing artifacts and interactive exhibits.  One is called The Road to Berlin that displays in exhibits, photos, and films the fight from the declaration of war on Germany to the capture of Berlin and the suicide of Adolf Hitler.  The second section called the Road to Tokoyo takes you on battles on land, air and sea from Pearl Harbor to the dropping of the A bomb.  To make the events even more personal, when you check in, you are issued a card containing a soldier's name.  Then when you visit the various battle exhibits, you can insert the card into a slot and see what part that your soldier played in the battle.

We also took in the Final Mission:USS Tang Submarine Experience.  You actually "board" in a room set up exactly like the interior of the submarine Tang.  You are then assigned to a particular station on the sub and given orders to perform tasks similar to the duties given to the submariners.  You can actually feel, hear, and see the events when the sub sank an enemy ship and then was sunk by an enemy destroyer.

Obviously I'm not going to have the time or space here to give a complete account of our journey through the museum, but I have included a few of the many photos I took there.  What I'm saying is that you have to actually see it to really appreciate it and it is a long overdue tribute to our WWII veterans.

Here's a few of the photos.

YEP, THE SOLDIERS USED MOTORCYCLES

A WNR EYEBALLING A HIGGINS BOAT

IT WAS ORIGINALLY THE D-DAY MUSEUM

ANOTHER WAR BIKE.  KIND OF LOOKS LIKE GARY'S!

SOME WWII WAR BIRDS ON DISPLAY

SHERMAN TANK ON DISPLAY

A MACHINE GUN NEST

THE HOWITZER

NEXT REPORT WILL BE ON OUR BIKE TRIPS HERE IN FLORIDA--STAY TUNED!

FLORIDA--ON TO THE "BIG EASY"

First of all, we are OK.  Some really rough weather hit the southeast last night.  There were damaging tornadoes in Pensacola, about 100 miles west of Panama City Beach.  We had and continue to have strong winds here today, but no damage.  Someone did move my trailer in the parking lot to a safe place, so I'll have to find out who it was and thank them.

Now for a continuation of our trip report.  Last report we had just left the Zahn winter estate in Venice and were heading north on our way to New Orleans.  Again the traffic from Venice to north of Tampa was incredible!  Our trip led us past Panama City Beach, so I dropped off the trike and trailer in the condo parking lot and continued on to New Orleans.  I have always wanted to visit New Orleans and the WWII museum located there and since we still had some time before checking into the condo, we took the opportunity for the trip.

When we arrived at our motel in New Orleans, we received some very good advice from our knowledgeable and friendly desk clerk.  She suggested a tour company that we used to cover the parts of the city we wanted to see.  It worked out great.  The guide was very well informed as well as entertaining as the van toured the garden district, the French quarter, the warehouse/arts district, and the central business district.  Probably the most interesting to me was the visit to an old cemetery.  In New Orleans the water table is so high that graves cannot be dug into the ground, so each family has a vault where generations of the same family are interned.  You will see by a couple of photos that some of the vaults are pretty elaborate.  The more money a family had, the more elaborate the vault.

After our van tour, we decided to take the trolleys that operate on tracks throughout parts of the city we didn't see.  You can ride a trolley and/or a bus throughout the city all day for $3.50.  After we were done on the trolleys, it was time for a Madi Gras parade.  Like a lot of people, I thought there was just one big parade.  WRONG!  On the weekend coming up there were close to 50 different parades with various themes.  We just stayed for the one, but I'm sure if you wanted to stay for all of them, you could end up with a truck load of beads.  Actually it was just a treat to sit and watch the people go by on the sidewalk.  We got to see quite an assortment of characters!  We felt perfectly safe right downtown because there were police everywhere.  Although I didn't see any of the CSI New Orleans group. 

Because of the space available on the blog, I'll save the trip to the WWII museum for the next report.  Here's some photos of the city tour.

PHOTO OF LEE CIRCLE AND A BEAUTIFUL STATUE OF ROBERT E LEE
SOON THE "DO GOODERS" ARE GOING TO HAVE THE STATUE TORN DOWN!

A VIEW OF THE BUSINESS DISTRICT AND ONE OF THE MANY BRIDGES

MOTOR COPS ON HARLEYS KEEP THE CITY SAFE

OLD CEMETERY IN THE CITY

MOTHER TERESA WAS EVEN THERE TO KEEP AN EYE ON US

YES, VOO DOO IS ALIVE AND WELL HERE

ONE OF MANY PARADE FLOATS

ANOTHER FLOAT

A VERY SPECIAL EVENT!

While we were in Florida, a very special event for some of our WNR's took place.  Lars Palmer, Wayne & Sandy's grandson, married Jen Votsmier, Lois & Chuckles' daughter on February 6th.  We really hated to miss this special event for our motorcycle friends, but we did receive some photos of the festivities, so I thought I would post them for everyone to see.  I'm sure all the Wednesday Night Riders wish the best for the new couple and congrats to the family and friends of the Palmers and Votsmiers!

I'm still waiting for Chuckles to send me a photo of his empty wallet!

FLORIDA--THE EVERGLADES TO ZAHN'S

We also have been experiencing some cold, windy days here in Florida as I have seen you guys have too according to the weather channel.  At a Gold Wing chapter meeting in Ft. Walton, I told the group that "the guys in Iowa think I'm nuts when I ride around in 45 degree weather there. I can't wait to tell them I went down to Florida to ride in 34 degree weather!"  I'll try to catch you up on some more aspects of our journey so far.

After leaving Ft. Lauderdale we headed across the state to Ft. Myers and the Everglades.  On the way to Ft. Myers we stopped at the Shark Valley visitors area for a tram tour of that part of the Everglades.  The tour was conducted by a very knowledgeable ranger who kept us very well informed of the animal and plant life there.  We did see several alligators and all kinds of birds.  I always thought that the Everglades was just one big swamp, when actually it's a river of grass that flows from Lake Okeechobee into the Gulf of Mexico.  Usually in the winter the water level is very low because that's the dry season, but this December they got over 10 inches of rain (more than any wet season month), and the Everglades is full of water for now.
In Ft. Myers we spent an entire day on an Ecotour of the Everglades.  We took a van with a guide all along the edges of the glades south of Ft. Myers.  We were then given a skiff boat ride on a lake in the glades where we were treated to dolphins jumping beside us, some alligators, and all kinds of birds.  Then after a lunch that included gator bites (They didn't taste like chicken to me!), we boarded an air boat that took us through some of the swampy areas where we got up close and personal with some more alligators and bird life.  Julie counted 25 different species of birds while I was counting all my fingers and toes!  It was quite a tour and we learned a lot about the Everglades and what a fragile eco system it is.  Right now besides the threat of drought, the Burmese python seems to be a real threat to the wildlife there.  Except for cold weather, there doesn't seem to be any natural enemy of the snake.  It can grow to over 20 ft. long and is capable of capturing deer! They opened a hunting season on the python, and over 1000 hunters only came back with 80 snakes!
After our tours in Ft. Myers, we headed north to Venice to pay a visit to Cathy & Bob Zahn's winter estate.  When we arrived there, we were also greeted by David & Suzanne Hahn, who were staying with the Zahn's until their cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale was ready to sail.  While at the Zahn's, Cathy treated us to a delicious fajita lunch, and Bob took us and David to the beach in Venice to hunt shark's teeth  Apparently the beach there is one of the few places on the ocean where sharks' teeth wash up on shore.  It takes a good eye to find them as Julie discovered.  While we were there, she only found one, but some kind folks did give her some of theirs.  Actually Cathy has accumulated quite an impressive collection of them.  After our visit to the Zahn's, we motored on north toward New Orleans.

STAY TUNED FOR A REPORT ON OUR VISIT TO THE "BIG EASY".

Here's some photos and hopefully a video of part three of our winter journey.

A GATOR NEAR THE TRAM TRAIL IN SHARK VALLEY

"A MAN CAN'T LIVE IN THE EVERGLADES!"

STREAM FLOWING INTO THE GLADES

THIS BIRD HAS TO DRY OUT ITS WINGS SO IT CAN FLY AGAIN

WHY YOU DON'T BRING YOUR PET TO THE EVERGLADES!

AN IMPORTANT SIGN!

"HI, BOB.  HOW ABOUT PETTING ME?"

GUESS WHICH ONE OF THESE GUYS IS THE "CLOSET" BMW RIDER!

NOW CLICK BELOW FOR AN AIR BOAT RIDE THROUGH THE GLADES

FLORIDA ---FROM CRUISE TO FT. MYERS

It's actually kind of a lousy day here in Panama City Beach, but seeing what you guys are going through back there in Iowa, I'm not going to complain!
In our last report, we had just finished our cruise and were headed across the state to Ft. Myers for some more tourism.  While on the way over, we stopped at the smallest post office in the US in Ochopee and had lunch at Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe, a real unique dining experience. Joanie's specialty is the World Famous Swamp Combo which consists of gator nuggets with Indian fry bread and salsa and save room for homemade key lime pie.  I passed up the swamp combo and had a shrimp hoagie with a piece of the pie. This place kind of reminded me of Bucknuckles only with a swamp area setting.  Actually, like Bucknuckles, a lot of bikers stop by and are welcomed with big hugs! 
 On our first day in Ft. Meyers we toured the winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  Apparently Edison and Ford were big buddies and spent considerable time together and actually built winter retreats right next to each other on the same piece of property.  We toured the property with a guide and spent some time in the museum there dedicated to both men.  The plant life on the estates was fabulous.  There was even a Banyan tree there that Edison planted as a sapling that now covers an entire acre!  In the evening we took a murder mystery train ride.  We rode in a restored train car coach where we were served a three course meal.  While this was going on, there were actors performing a murder play in the aisle of the car.  The challenge was to figure out who the murderer was by using the clues given by the actors and you could win a prize if you guessed correctly. If my wife had listened to me, we would have won and would be driving a new Gold Wing now!
Believe it or not, while in our motel, we met a group of Harley riders from Mason City!  They had a four place enclosed trailer and were riding around the area while they participated in an event that the Ft. Myers Harley dealer was sponsoring.  He was trying to set a Guinness World Record for the number of Harleys in a parade.  They were shooting for about 3,000 but only ended up with about 800 because of the weather.  Apparently it was pouring rain that day.  This guy must give our pretty good deals on bikes, because I know a WNR that bought a Beemer from him.  More on that later!

Next time-- a report on the Everglades and a visit to the Zahn estate.  Stay tuned.

Here's some photos of the venture after the cruise and in to Ft. Myers.  Just ignore the sunshine and the people in shorts and t- shirts!

SMALLEST POST OFFICE IN US
GEORGE FLANAGAN IS NOT THE POSTMASTER!

JOANIE'S--IF YOU WANT IT FAST--KEEP TRAVELING

EDISON--AMONG THE ROOTS OF THE BANYAN TREE
HE'S A LOT BIGGER THAN I THOUGHT

THE BANYAN TREE--YES, IT'S JUST ONE TREE!

A HISTORY MAKER

HOW THE PICK-UP GOT IT'S NAME

EDISON'S WINTER RETREAT

A SMALL PORTION OF EDISON'S LAB

MRS. EDISON WITH A WNR
MRS. EDISON IS A LOT BIGGER THAN I THOUGHT ALSO!

THE ACTORS ON THE MYSTERY TRAIN