FINAL FLORIDA REPORT

As our time in Florida started to wind down, a Gold Wing buddy (Big John from Erie, PA) and I took a ride from Panama City up to the Honda shop in Dothan, AL, about 90 miles.  I had ordered a new helmet up there, and it had arrived, so John accompanied me up there to pick it up.  While we were there we eyeballed the Polaris Slingshot that they had displayed in their showroom.  It's quite a machine!  It resembles the Bat Mobile and retails from about $22 to $27,000.  I was going to try and see how it felt behind the wheel, but with my bad knees, I decided not to.  Apparently it is a little hard to get in and out.  I had a heck of a time convincing the sales person that the Slingshot was made in Iowa!  Here's a couple of photos of the machine.

"Big John" eyeballing the Slingshot

Slingshot's power plant

On our return trip back to Iowa we cut up through Hartsville, South Carolina, to visit Julie's sister and husband.  Hartsville is only about 20 miles from Darlington where the Darlington Raceway is located.  It's the raceway for the NASCAR Southern 500 held over Labor Day weekend every year.  Because of it's unusual configuration and banking, it's called the "Track That's Too Tough To Tame".  It holds 59,000 fans on race day. We weren't able to tour the track that day, but we were able to take some photos from a platform located outside the fence.  We also toured the museum that's located there.
Here's some photos and hopefully a video of "The Stripe" and the museum.

LOCAL HERO--CALE GREW UP ONLY A SHORT DISTANCE
FROM DARLINGTON

AND FINALLY--A SUNSET OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO
                             AT THE END OF OUR JOURNEY