Rovin’’Rauder Report

March 3 2001

Daytona

Evening MIGs

I have adjusted to local time. Nothing much goes on until noon or so, and the place rocks until 2. You adjust!

Tonite I had a boring but decent dinner at IHOP. Or is it Chez IHop?

Bessy is loving this, I can tell. You know, it’s really easy for me to see Bessy in this girl. She’s bigger and tougher than Bessy 1, but Ol’ Bessy can handle like no bodies business. Funny thing, I doubt that my 800 Marauder was any faster than this 1500! But the "thrust" is awesome.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not racing around Daytona. That would be illegal. I’m not admitting to anything illegal. (Anyhow, I’m way too cute to go to jail.)

We rode down to Main Street. Less crowds than this afternoon, thank god! Got a parking place right out in front of the Tombstone Bar. Great spot, I sat on Bessy for quite some time, watching the bikes go by.

Drawn by raw animal thirst (actual thirst) I walk the circuit. Sunglasses, leathers, chrome, southwest jewelry copies, rough lookin food, flying pigs, tee shirts. Yes, flying pigs! In this crazy country, some dude is always going to come up with something. They are selling plastic pigs with fabric wings that flap. You hang it from a string. "When pigs can fly" is the motto. Jeese!

I’m looking for saddle bags, but this stinks. They are either too much money or not what I want! Reality check!

Some hole-in-the-wall has beer for a dollar, you KNOW I went in. (OK, I had one lousy beer! So what! And it was lousy! But it was cold! Bud Lite I do not like!)

Later I’m lazin back on Bessy and I feel again like wandering. The scenery is fine, bikes on the street, people on the sidewalk, but I am again thirsty. It’s been like an hour ferchristssake. I get a beer and walk out. It seems someone was supposed to stop me. It is illegal to drink in public. I’m thinkin, don’t they have the same attitude as Sturgis? But no, they don’t! In Sturgis, it is illegal to walk the streets without a beer. Yeah, really!

Well, anyhow, I arrive back at Bessy and I’m sittin there watching the bikes and people when the dude three bikes down advises me I could go to jail for that. Really? Yup. Where’s the nearest trash can?

The police here are serious. They need a trip to Sturgis, where it’s a wink and a nod. These dudes are anal. Dude at the hotel got a ticket for no headlight and driving an unsafe vehicle, or somesuch. He was in the middle of three bikes, escorting him back to the hotel with a bad battery. They actually "gave him a break" by not arresting him. I’m glad I got the advice.

I come back to the room and I’m typing this report when a dude comes out of his room. I’m sitting in a room chair on the second story walkway outside my room. He’s on the ground floor. He walks out into the parking lot with a cell phone at his ear. I can’t hear anything, but I’m enjoying the body language. Obviously his wife. I know the moves! Makes you look at things differently, like watching yourself. Another reality check!

I’m indeed lucky, not in all ways, but in having the opportunity to do this, thanks Wanda!

Well, I’m crashing and I’ll close this for now. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to go bad, cold and overcast. Well, it’s got to be better than home. Maybe the Biker Flea Market tomorrow.

JimG MIG #229