SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
The wife and I had decided to head up to Titusville to watch the Shuttle Launch. We left work at 1800 with our bosses blessings as our work was done and they would save a bit of money. We made it home, changed and hopped the bike for the two hour ride north.
We arrived at the Causeway at roughly 2045 and set up our spot alongside the water. A small gas grill and some food. A couple of blankets, a small radio and we were set. The place was crowded and it was like a party. We had dinner then settled in. We even took a couple of hour nap to rest up.
At 0120 the canceled the launch due to weather considerations. Now we had a choice. we could spend the night up there on the banks of the river or we could head home. We were feeling pretty good after our naps and decided to head for home. After loading up the bike we motored into town and found an all night gas station where we tanked up and filled our car cups with some truly terrible coffee. We headed East and picked up US1 heading south. (We didn't care to take I-95 with it's load of trucks heading south at high speed. They tend to blow bikes around quite a bit.)
Now here's a little bit of southern Florida Trivia. Most of the towns along US1 are smaller towns and they shut down after dark. Traffic was almost non existant. It was kind of spooky. We're talking we weren't seeing anyone on the roads other than cops and even they were few and far between. Occasionally the skies would light up with distant lightening. Lng stretches of the road were dark without streetlamps. In other words we're talking heaven riding.
After about an hour I saw a lit up gas station alongside the road. It was open so we decided to pull in. It was a good chance to stretch, take a leak and top off the gas tank. (Not that we needed the gas but I'm always more comfortable with a full tank of gas.) After filling the tank I wandered into the store and found the coffee pot. I was going to refill the coffee cups when the clerk asked if I had a couple of minutes. He told me the coffee was old but he would make a fresh pot. I agreed to that as long as he made it strong. He grinned and told me that was the only way he made it.
Well we spent about half an hour there walking around and getting the circulation back into our butts as we talked with the clerk. He rode as well and showed us his Shadow. We talked bikes and riding for a bit as he looked over our bike. (He had never seen one like mine.) He told us he envied us our guts at riding at that time of night as well as the distance we were riding. I just shrugged that one off. If he kept riding he would do the same damned thing soon enough. He filled our coffee cups for free and wished us luck on the rest of our ride.
Back on the bike we kept heading south. Now it truly became desolate. We were riding through an area many here call the desert. About 70 miles of scrub lands with very few buildings. The speed limit along here is 50 MPH and even during the day time there are few cars. At night it was deserted and pitch black. We settled back as we hit cruising speed, swithed the headlight to high beam. I put my feet up on the engine guards and we just cruised.
It was only as we came closer to home that we started seeing lights or traffic again. About five miles from our turn we started seeing traffic lights and street lamps. I was kind of disappointed by this, I could have kept going but I was starting to feel it. I knew my wife was really feeling it.
We parked the bike at 0430 and staggered inside. The Air Conditioning inside felt cold as we pulled off our leathers and made our way to bed. Oh man now we were starting to feel the day. We had a hard time staying upright as e popped our lenses and brushed our teeth. The cats curled around our lesg demanding attention and I actually fell over while giving Magi a scratch. (He took it on good grace, he climbed on my chest and purred while looking down at me and seemed to smile.)
The last things I saw as I turned off the light were the time, (0500) and Scrapper sitting on my nightstand.
We had been up for 24 hours with only an hour or so of sleep during our nap alongside the Causeway. Over five hours of that had been spent in the saddle, three of those in the dark. We were exhausted but man did we have fun.
Tonight we're going to watch the launch from our front yard.
Cat
Oh, I do truly love my cell phone. It allowed me to answer some E-Mails and other messages while away from my home computer.
We arrived at the Causeway at roughly 2045 and set up our spot alongside the water. A small gas grill and some food. A couple of blankets, a small radio and we were set. The place was crowded and it was like a party. We had dinner then settled in. We even took a couple of hour nap to rest up.
At 0120 the canceled the launch due to weather considerations. Now we had a choice. we could spend the night up there on the banks of the river or we could head home. We were feeling pretty good after our naps and decided to head for home. After loading up the bike we motored into town and found an all night gas station where we tanked up and filled our car cups with some truly terrible coffee. We headed East and picked up US1 heading south. (We didn't care to take I-95 with it's load of trucks heading south at high speed. They tend to blow bikes around quite a bit.)
Now here's a little bit of southern Florida Trivia. Most of the towns along US1 are smaller towns and they shut down after dark. Traffic was almost non existant. It was kind of spooky. We're talking we weren't seeing anyone on the roads other than cops and even they were few and far between. Occasionally the skies would light up with distant lightening. Lng stretches of the road were dark without streetlamps. In other words we're talking heaven riding.
After about an hour I saw a lit up gas station alongside the road. It was open so we decided to pull in. It was a good chance to stretch, take a leak and top off the gas tank. (Not that we needed the gas but I'm always more comfortable with a full tank of gas.) After filling the tank I wandered into the store and found the coffee pot. I was going to refill the coffee cups when the clerk asked if I had a couple of minutes. He told me the coffee was old but he would make a fresh pot. I agreed to that as long as he made it strong. He grinned and told me that was the only way he made it.
Well we spent about half an hour there walking around and getting the circulation back into our butts as we talked with the clerk. He rode as well and showed us his Shadow. We talked bikes and riding for a bit as he looked over our bike. (He had never seen one like mine.) He told us he envied us our guts at riding at that time of night as well as the distance we were riding. I just shrugged that one off. If he kept riding he would do the same damned thing soon enough. He filled our coffee cups for free and wished us luck on the rest of our ride.
Back on the bike we kept heading south. Now it truly became desolate. We were riding through an area many here call the desert. About 70 miles of scrub lands with very few buildings. The speed limit along here is 50 MPH and even during the day time there are few cars. At night it was deserted and pitch black. We settled back as we hit cruising speed, swithed the headlight to high beam. I put my feet up on the engine guards and we just cruised.
It was only as we came closer to home that we started seeing lights or traffic again. About five miles from our turn we started seeing traffic lights and street lamps. I was kind of disappointed by this, I could have kept going but I was starting to feel it. I knew my wife was really feeling it.
We parked the bike at 0430 and staggered inside. The Air Conditioning inside felt cold as we pulled off our leathers and made our way to bed. Oh man now we were starting to feel the day. We had a hard time staying upright as e popped our lenses and brushed our teeth. The cats curled around our lesg demanding attention and I actually fell over while giving Magi a scratch. (He took it on good grace, he climbed on my chest and purred while looking down at me and seemed to smile.)
The last things I saw as I turned off the light were the time, (0500) and Scrapper sitting on my nightstand.
We had been up for 24 hours with only an hour or so of sleep during our nap alongside the Causeway. Over five hours of that had been spent in the saddle, three of those in the dark. We were exhausted but man did we have fun.
Tonight we're going to watch the launch from our front yard.
Cat
Oh, I do truly love my cell phone. It allowed me to answer some E-Mails and other messages while away from my home computer.
