RAINING IGUANAS!!?? NOT HERE.

As you all know, I don't like to talk about the weather when we are down here in Florida, but recently we have had a cold spell that hit about the time you guys in Iowa got the bitter cold, wind, and snow.  Actually it got cold enough further south in Florida, that the iguanas who live in the trees down there got cold enough that they couldn't move and started falling from the trees.  Click on link below!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/22/florida-cold-weather-falling-iguanas-trees-meat/4541351002/

How would you like to be cruising along on your motorcycle or in your convertible and have a 20 pound iguana drop in your lap?!  So maybe snow isn't that bad after all.  Fortunately we don't have any wild iguanas here in the Panhandle, but some do have them as pets.

Despite the cooler weather, we have now put on over 1,000 miles on the trike.  I did have to replace the front tire due to a screw puncture.  Fortunately, I check the air pressure quite frequently, and found the front tire to have only 19 pounds.  Sure enough there was a big screw lodged in the treads.  Fortunately, I was still in the parking lot for the condo.  So I got to try out my tire plugging kit and portable air compressor.  Both worked perfectly, so I was able to ride to a cycle shop and check on a new tire.  I don't like riding with a plug any longer than I have to.  I did find a good deal on the tire and install.  The tire had to be ordered, and we put on about 200 miles with the plug installed.  When the tech got the old tire off, he showed me the plug, and said it was a really good job.

Our next ride with the group is this Saturday.  We are traveling to an iconic restaurant for lunch in Abbeville, Alabama, that has the old soda fountain decor.  It's about a two hour trip, so hopefully things warm up some.

Until next time, I hope you all are trying to stay warm and safe.  Only two more months until March 25th and the PMS meeting!

SUNSET ON THE GULF OF MEXICO

REPORT FROM FLORIDA

YES, we did make it to Panama City Beach on New Year's Eve.  More on that in a minute, but first here's a link sent to the blog from a friend down south.  He says if you are going to have a good Christmas parade, you got to be down south further than Missouri.  Click on the link below and you'll see what he was talking about.

https://www.facebook.com/rudy.tanielian/videos/3201473466535300/?t=5

OUR JOURNEY SOUTH
We departed Waukon on Dec.30th with some freezing rain in the area.  We took it real slow until we got south of Cedar Rapids when it was just raining.  As soon as we got out of Iowa, the sun came out and we traveled through St. Louis and spent the night in Jackkson, TN, the home of Casey Jones.  We continued on the next day through Montgomery and Birmingham and down to PCB.  The trike on the trailer took some real crap from the highways in Iowa, so we stopped and gave her a good wash down in Defuniak Springs.

RIDING AROUND THE AREA
So far we have put about 550 miles on the trike, doing some of our familiar rides from the years before.  The weather here has been above normal with highs in the mid 70's, so the trike got all the old gas rolled out of her pretty quickly.  I usually don't like to mention the weather here to you folks back in Iowa, but from what we can gather, the weather back there hasn't been too bad. One thing we did notice is that this area has come along ways from the hurricane damage from what we saw last year.  The biggest problem seems to be able to get good reliable contractors to do the repair work.  They are still working on our condo building itself, and are doing some unit renovations from the storm damage.  Our unit survived well, but a new patio door had to be installed.

OUR FLORIDA FRIENDS
We were able to hook up with the Panama City GWRRA chapter.  In fact, they had a welcoming for us at Beef O'Brady's followed by a visit to DQ for desert.  Since then we have been with them for another meal at the Lazy Dog Bar & Grill (strange name--great food).  Yes, they like to eat down here too!  We have a trip planned to a chapter meeting down in Dothan, AL on Tuesday, and the chapter meeting here is next week.  Julie and I have also got in a couple of rounds of golf--one with the DeBuhr's and one by ourselves.

Here's some photos from our condo unit.

THE POOL WE USE EVERY MORNING

SAND SCULPTURE ON THE BEACH

MORE SAND SCULPTURE

GULF OF MEXICO--CALM TODAY

VIEW DOWN THE BEACH

FREIGHTERS PUTTING INTO PORT IN PANAMA CITY

More reports from Florida as time permits.