Denny & Lori’s Blog

We arose this morning about 9:30am after late night talks with Grady, and got the bike packed up for the last leg of our vacation ride. Spent the morning chatting with Grady more, discussing the “lost Predators”, Denny singing Karaoke, and both singing “Rollin’ with the Flow”, which I found on YouTube.

Around 12pm, it was time to head North, so hugs and kisses all around, and we were on the road. Made a quick stop in Valdosta to refuel (both the bike, and my beer cup, LOL), then off again.

Around Forsyth, GA the skys opened up and began to pour a HUGE storm so we pulled over under a bridge where another biker was already hiding from the weather. We spent a good bit of time here waiting out the storm, drank a few beers, and kept checking the Weather Channel’s “Weather in Motion” to see what was in store for the rest of the trek north. Did not look too promising.

So, when the rains died enough to mount back up, we headed to Hooters of McDonah, along with our new friend Dale (the other biker hiding from the rain) for a cold beer and some lunch. Dale is from Chicago, and owns the “Inn Zone Bar & Grill” there, and also owns “Lone Star Motorcycle Tech Center” in Daytona. Great times, great guy, and great food!

After lunch we headed north again, and made a quick stop in at ZMoms again for some dinner, and a recap of the trip. Then it was time to head toward homebase.

Arriving home, the ending mileage for our trip was just under 1,800 miles. Long, exhilarating, and makes me miss the road already, we are so excited to do this again next year!

Sadly, today is the day I have to send the kiddos back off to Shannon, but only for two weeks. We got the bike all packed up, and hung outside the hotel, where both kids found a little sand area, and a lizard. My little fearless one, of course, catches the lizard, and had to have a photo taken!

We met Shannon at Cracker Barrel, where we had our breakfast and made the exchange, then it was off to return the rental car. We were taken back to the hotel, mounted up and were off.

Hwy 60 is just a beautiful trek across the state, and though it was extremely hot, and the gas station we stopped at was packed, it made for a great ride. It was also very quick to get across.

We headed down Hwy 60 toward Lithia to make a stop at Grady’ and Ernestine’s. We went four wheeling, I got to ride Maddie’s new horse, Trigger, and then spent the evening chatting with Gray, drinking and having a ball. This was our final stop for the day, and we set ourselves to leave out early tomorrow.

Today we started off the morning with breakfast from the cafe and X-box games, and then an hour or so at the pool. We had to go back to Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson to get the bike because they finished it yesterday afternoon. Reluctant, the kids got dressed and out the door we went.

We told them how cool this Harley store was so they began to get excited about seeing the big pirate ship, and new motorcycles. They had a blast! They got t-shirts and a few other little things while DeDe got the bike out of service. Not only did we have a new tire now, but they had to change the breaks as well, which Denny was happy about - said it rode SOO much better now!

After Harley, we popped into Game Stop where both kids picked out games for the X-Box, and the Gameboy Advance. I love Game Stop - so much to choose from, and great prices too!

We headed back over to the hotel, and decided that the rest of the day would be spent at the pool and beach, though the beach turned out to be the lesser of the time due to the rough seas. Shannon, Fred and Elva all came to hang out, and we drank at the Tiki Bar, played four hours with the kids, and had ice cream birthday cake!

Such a fun day

Today I woke in my beautiful hotel room, excited as ever because today I get to pickup the kiddos! But first we needed to make a few stops. We hung out in our room until around noon, when Brian, from Enterprise Rent-A-Car came to pick us up. We headed back with him to the store, and got our Dodge Calibur, which would be our ride for the next three days.

At first we thought this would be a great car to drive (even though Denny really dislikes Dodge), but it turned out to be a very hard car to see out of when backing up, and did not drive well at all. It did get us around so I guess we won’t complain.

After getting the car, we were headed back to the hotel. On the suggestion of Brian we stopped at J.B Pips Tiki Grille for some lunch. I ordered the Corn & Black Bean Quesadillas and Denny had the Fish Tacos. We did wait more than 15 minutes for our first beer to be served after we ordered it, so we were not impressed with the service, but were overly impressed with the food! GREAT place to eat, but make sure you sit at the bar instead of a table so that you get good service.

When we finished our lunch, we started back again for the hotel where we quickly grabbed the Harley, and headed south to Treasure Coast Harley-Davidson to have the back tire replaced. It was pretty worn, so we thought it would be a good time to get it done since we had the car, and we still had a long road ahead. This shop was one of my favorites, and I have been in ALOT of Harley stores! Argh mateys - pirates are everywhere. Check out the photos from here cause’ it was too cool!

We got the bike all checked in, and grabbed a few t-shirts, then headed toward Port St. Lucie to get the kiddos. On the way we made a stop at Game Stop to pick up a power cord and adapter for Niko’s birthday present, and grabbed a Nascar game too!

It was the best feeling in the world to see my kids after so long… and BOY are they TAN and BLONDE (just like Mommy’s hair - turns blonde in the sun). We hung at Shannon’s house for a few hours watching the kids ride bikes, looking at seashell collections, played a little baseball with Niko, and visited with Elva and Fred. Had a good time, so good we decided that we would hang out a while longer in St. Lucie, so headed over to Superplay USA where we ate at Duffy’s before a few games of bowling.

After the fun, we headed back to the hotel with the kids, and could not believe that Niko made it back awake! He never stays up so late… but he was excited. We told him we had surprises galore at the room, and he really wanted to see what they were.

When we arrived at the hotel, the kids grilled me on what was upstairs and I made them sweat it out until we got in. Once in the room, they looked all over for what they got and Ty immediately saw presents above the TV, which is where hers were, but Niko kept looking for the big thing… then he saw it! The HUGEST smile came across his face as he slyly said “Mom, you got me an Xbox… awesome”.

Not enough just to SEE it, he had to play… so Denny and him sat a while playing Star Wars and then we all settled down to rest.

We got up today and thought that we would make a stop at the Castillo de San Marcos to check that out. We began reading and looking at information on the internet - so much that we opted to skip the visit because we felt that we had already taken a full tour online. We did take photos as we passed by!

On down the road, we decided to stop at the “World Famous” Oasis - which we found just ‘okay’. I guess it is famous for the ambiance and spirits, but the food was not what I expected. It did however, make me tired enough to take a siesta on the back of the bike for about 45 minutes down A1A!

We ran into a good deal of rain today, which did not make the ride very fun, but we eventually dried out and made it to Jensen Beach - a day early - so we went ahead and got a room at our final destination for a few days, the The Marriott Courtyard Hutchinson Island Oceanside. We absolutely love this place! Right on the beach, Tiki Bar by the pool… this will be our abode on this trip for as long as we take it.

We woke up pretty early this morning, and spent a bit more time with Kenny and Diane over excellent coffee before taking off today. Once on the road we headed south on 95 toward Jacksonville. The road was ROUGH due to construction, and for the first time on the trip, I was tense riding. We had a short stop where I could relax a bit, then back on smoother roads from there.

We decided to make a stop in Jacksonville to see my friend Ken, and had a bite to eat at Gene’s Seafood Restaurant - WOW! Now this was excellent food! Hanging out with Ken was awesome… it has been a long time since I have seen him, and it was great to introduce such an old friend to Denny.

Back on the road south, we headed to St. Augustine which would be our final destination for this day. After checking in to our hotel, we headed for the beach - AHH, the beach, and played some volleyball with a few locals which was the perfect way to end the day.

We woke up to a warm, and humid and cloud covered Tybee, so we dawdled the morning along. We had some continental breakfast in the room and watched “Surviving the Game” before packing up and taking off about 10am.

We first went over to the Tybee Island Pier, and walked down. The beach was packed, and the surf was a bit rough, but that did not stop the surfers and skin boarders from hitting it. After our walk we stopped in Fannies to find that beer starts being served in the bars at 12:30pm, so we decided to head over to the Sugar Shack to meet up with Cody Boy for our ride today.

He arrived there about 11:30am, and we went over our ride plan. First stop, Fort Pulaski. We got real lucky with this visit today as the cannon firing was going on. We spent over an hour there walking through the fort, looking at the cannons, sleeping quarters, and even put Cody Boy and Denny in the prison. The re-enactors shot off two cannons for a mass of spectators and it was LOUD! This was an amazing place to visit for those who are interested in the history of the War Between the States. The Fort is huge and full of history that you can see, feel and still smell. Just amazing!

After our time at the Fort, we headed over to Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House for some lunch. We ordered a few beers and chatted about our visit to the Fort, and our plans for visiting the next two Forts in the area. I ordered the Crab Cakes, Cody Boy ordered a burger, and Denny had a half dozen Oysters, and a Fried Fish Po’Bubba. His oysters, from Galveston, TX, were not as fresh as the ones he had at Stingrays the night before, but he enjoyed them still. He did however rave about his Po’Boy. Cody Boy’s burger was just perfect, but I was not pleased with the Crab Cakes. They were a bit bland, and I found many shells in them. Overall, the service was excellent, but the food was just “OK”. I don’t think I would go back to eat here again.

During our stop, we all decided we would skip Fort Jackson and instead just head over to Keller’s Flea Market in Savannah to visit Gerald and Becky’s shop, The General Store. There are tons of great Confederate items in this store, so if you are in the area, and are interested in history, stop by and take a look. It started to rain lightly while we were there, so we walked around checking out other things - oh, and they serve beer at this Flea Market, a first for me. So of course I grabbed a few as we perused the wares.

After the rain died down, we mounted up again for our next stop, Fort McAllister. We really enjoyed this landmark, as it was a more natural Fort than Pulaski. Everything is build in massive dirt mounds, and surrounded by huge pointed stakes that would have you know that if an enemy were to attempt to jump in to the protected area, he would surely die by impalement.

There were deer everywhere, huge black squirrels, and plenty of deer flies looking to feast on you! So move quickly! Oh, and if you are boating out in that area, make sure you watch the time because when the tide goes out you will get stuck on the sandbar - trust me, we saw someone stuck, and we just knew it would be midnight before they got to go home.

Cody Boy took us through the camp ground there, and it was so very nice - and the cottages are amazing there! Huge and affordable, so we will be back to this campsite very soon.

Leaving Fort McAlister, it was a bit rainy again, but not too unpleasant. It was time for a dinner/beer stop, so we went to Perkins Restaurant to eat. Delicious food, and much better than our earlier meal. After that, as is customary for us, we took a shot of Savannah Harley-Davidson, and then we were back on the road again.

We chose to end our day off at Cody Boy’s house in Guyton, GA rather than going on down the road. He has a lovely home, full of history that makes for superb conversation. Our day has been more than enjoyable, full of education and fellowship. All of our SCV boys, here this - when in Savannah, take the time to look up Cody Boy - it will be a good time not to be missed.

After our stop under our tree canopy, we did not make it much farther down the road before we had to take another stop. This time, we stopped at a gas station, parked the bike at the pump under the canopy, and stood on the side of the building to keep from getting drenched. It was a downpour!

It rained hard for about 15 minutes, and then it was gone. Denny called up Cody Boy, and found out that he was at an event in Richmond Hill, so we headed that way to meet him. I bought a few little things for Niko and Ty, fed a duck, raced boats with the local cub scout troop, and learned about ‘balsa wood flowers’. Those are neat!

We spent about an hour or so there with Cody Boy, and made some plans for a ride tomorrow.

We mounted back up, and headed east to Tybee Island. We tried to get a room at the HoJo’s as that is where Freddie stays when he comes here, but they were full. So we drove two hotels down from there to the Dunes Inn, where we got the last available room for $203.00! YIKES!

Not the nicest of rooms for the price we paid, but one bonus is it is right next door to where we wanted to eat anyway. StingRays is my fathers favorite bar and grill on Tybee, so we were certian that is where we were going to have our dinner.

Denny had a dozen raw Oysters, and then the Flounder and Shrimp platter - which he enjoyed, but says there was not enough Flounder - he expected a larger portion. I had the Crab Cake platter and the cakes were delicious, and so was the slaw!

After our meal, we called it a day, and headed back to the room for some rest before our ride tomorrow.

We left out of Dublin about 10am, but before we left we were informed by three fella’s that the 13th Annual Redneck Games were going on, and that it would be a blast. Even though it was tempting, we decided to hit the road.

On down the road a piece, it was time for gas, so we stopped in Metter, GA, and filled up. With every stop, it is 5oclock somewhere, so I grabbed a beer.

Denny went inside to relieve from the road, and came out with a GA lottery Mega Millons ticket, and a Jumbo Bucks scratch off. I asked for a quarter, did my bidding with the ticket, and ended up with a new ticket - cool!

So he went and turned that one in, and grabbed another one. Scratching, my numbers were 14 and 18
and I went to scratching - 14, 14, 14, 18. Wow! Every single number on the card was 14 & 18. $20 won, FREE STOP! Whoo Hoo!

Back on the road again, about 25 miles in, Denny cannot remember where he left his phone, so he starts searching for it - riding about 75 mph on the interstate, and takes his hands off the bars!!! OMG, I was totally freaking - told him to pull over and look! Did that, had a “calm me down” beer, took some pictures of this beautiful butterfly, and then back on the road.

I write this post under the trees at the exit sign (1 mile away to exit) of SR 280, US 80, because we do not feel like getting wet! From here we are heading, to Richmond Hill to meet a local SCV brother, Cody Boy, and share in fellowship.

Part 2 to come…

All packed up, and headed toward the beach! We left Fort Oglethorpe, with a brief stop at Verizon for a brand new phone for me (Lori), then stopped at the Shell next to there for a beer, Rockstar and some cashews (Yuck, we hate sweet cashews).

Hopped on I75 south… I got these new riding boots (Aspens from Harley Davidson), and they have ripped my heels up so bad that we had to stop in Rome and buy bandaids (and a beer), and doctor me up… Stowed those boots away in favor of sandals and back on the road we go.

It was time to eat, so we decided to stop in Marietta at Z-Moms, who always has the best leftovers! Up the HUGE hill she lives on, we had our first mishap… we dropped the bike, and boy was that a pain in the *@** to pick up on that hill!

Got the bike situated and chilled on the porch with Mom eating her excellent Jambalaya. We chatted about the ride, my Dad, my Grandfather, and Tiger Mosquitos - they LOVE to eat me!

Kiko got a tattoo, and is NOT happy about it, LOL.

Hugs, and kisses and back on the road. Next stop, Macon, and oh no, here comes the rain!!! We parked at a gas station, grabbed a few beers, and checked the computer for the weather. It ends up that the rain (with 65 mph winds and golf ball sized hail - NOT RIDING WEATHER) was both just ahead, and just behind us. So we played “stop and go” to avoid it!

We won, and never got wet!

We ended this day in Dublin, GA at the Jameson Inn. Chatted with a local guy on the front patio for a bit, drank a few more beers, then walked over to the Waffle House for some bacon, egg and cheese sammies, then came back and turned in.

Been a good day - let’s see what tomorrow brings!

Till then…..