September 25 through September 28, fall SRC at Ocala - 23 members and 2 guests in total were at the SRC at sometime during the 4 days, 21 of us were there for he entire event. Most of us arrived sometime on Thursday and got settled in and spent some time in the hospitality room and then out for dinner. The evening was spent socializing with our friends from the other chapters. Friday came and there was a ride through the countryside with a fish fry lunch scheduled which most of us attended, Tricky, T and I took a ride to the east coast for the day so we could have real crab cakes at J. B.'s Fish Camp in New Smyrna Beach, so I can't say much about the activities of the day. We got back in time to go to dinner with the other Chapter XVII members at the Piccadilly, after dinner the evening was again spent socializing. Now since this is Chapter XVII and we have a breakfast ride every Saturday, this one was no different, 20 of us went about 20 miles west to a place that T and I stopped for lunch on the way up to Ocala and thought was great, Red's. I don't think anyone was disappointed with the quality, quantity, or the price of the food and the service that we received. After breakfast we returned to the hotel to participate in the Saturday ride and lunch. The perfectly escorted ride through the countryside followed by lunch was excellent. After some of us stopped at different shops and dealers we returned to the hotel to get ready for the banquet. The banquet was good, a meal of roast beef and chicken with potatoes and green beans, carrot cake for dessert. There were the usual speeches, jokes and award presentations given. After the banquet the hospitality room opened and everyone spent the rest of the night having a good time. Now it's Sunday, the worst day, coffee, donuts, goodbyes, and time to go home. Til next time----------(ed-BS)

September 21, Sunday - 12 members were at BK on what was a heavily overcasted morning. It was one of those mornings, nothing I did went right and it took forever to get out of the house. T and I got to BK late and had no plan as where to go. I did have the phone number for the Cotee River Cafe on Shady Hills Rd. so I called to see if it was ok to go there with 12 at 12 and it was. Again I went to Jimmy and asked him to do a 11/2 hour ride through Hillsborough and Pasco Counties and once again he did a great job. We arrived at 11:50am and saw another Chapter member that was golfing, Bruce B. The restaurant did a good job of serving our drinks, taking orders, and serving the food. The food was very good (especially the She Crab Soup) and priced fairly. The atmosphere was nice with the dining room overlooking the golf course, a place that will be back as a dinner ride. Til next time--------------(ed-BS)

September 20, Saturday - 13 members met at CMS on this somewhat cooler and drier morning for the Saturday breakfast ride. After the morning socializing and picture taking it was decided to go to Biff's as some of us were going to Jim's open house and others had some things to do in St. Pete. The ride was easy, straight down 49th. St. We sat outside (some of the heavier members had a problem with the tight benches not like those of us that are thin) We were taken care of immediately, the food came quickly, was excellent, plenty of it, priced right, what more could you ask for? After breakfast we broke up and left to do the things we had planned for the day. Til next time--------------(ed-BS)

September 13, Saturday - On a partly cloudy, not to warm (yet) morning in Spring Hill, Paul, Rick, T, and I headed to the breakfast ride meeting spot at CMS. We arrived to find 14 additional members and 2 guests for a total of 20. I had the name of a new place in Land O' Lakes called the Silver Ring, which has 12" pancakes and other good breakfast items. A call to the owner from CMS to see if she could handle us, as the place is small (36 seats with a staff of 3) she said it should not be a problem, so off we went. We had a nice country route planned to go the 35 miles, but it would have taken about an hour and most were hungry so we shortened it up by going across the county using more main roads, still, it was a nice relaxed ride. We arrived to find a long table waiting for us, and the owner (server) already taking drink orders as soon as we sat and food orders not much after that. The food was great, priced right, and served quickly. It shows that you don't need 10 people to serve 20, it can be done with 3. After we stuffed ourselves 14 of us headed to East Tampa for Bikers Bay grand opening party. We checked everything out, inside and outside, had lunch and I think most of us left (too hot and too loud between the music and the dyno). This looks like the place for service and tires but not too much in displayed accessories although they had all the catalogs there for you to order anything you needed and the best thing, there is no appointment needed. It was nice to have a group to do something with after breakfast instead of everyone just going their own way.                   Til next time------------------------------(ed-BS)

Sunday, September 07, 2008 Lake Wales

Fifteen of us met at Burger King Sunday morning for our 10 AM ride!  Many of us prefer this later meeting time, for obvious reasons:  Some are tired, some like to sleep in a little on their weekends off, and some just require extra beauty rest! Don and I went inside of Burger King and met up with the other chapter members.  It had been awhile since we had been a part of things, with the recent death of my father.  I was given hugs, kisses and everyone offered their condolences, much in the classy style of FL BK XVII! We sat and visited a bit to allow those really needing extra beauty sleep to arrive before we left.  We talked about our recent trip(s) to Ohio and Bruce lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling so big!  He asked if we had a chance to eat some Ohio corn, “the best corn he had ever tasted!”  He described it as being “better than sex”, to which Teresa commented that she must be doing something wrong, to be compared to a corn cob!  She said other girls worried about the pretty Hooter girls, or the pretty Cafe-Risque’ girls, and she had to worry about corn cobs from Ohio! Teresa told Bruce the good news that as she grew up in Ohio, she was chosen one year as the “runner up” for Corn Queen at an annual Corn Festival.  We asked Teresa if she had to dress up like a corn cob for the festival, and Bruce’s eyes were wide with anticipation, listening for her answer!  We see a corn cob costume in the near future; a gift from her corn-loving Bruce!

We decided to drive on to Lake Wales, to a very good restaurant, called, “Cherry” something….. They were not sure if it was Cherry Pit, Cherry Pie so it was hard to find the name of the restaurant on the GPS.  Jimmy S led the ride, with Bruce at the tail end, still dreaming of his Corn Queen, Teresa, donned in her corncob outfit! We travelled in the squelchering heat of the day.  As we passed by the Red Rose Inn in Plant City, the location of our 2008 Spring SRC, many of the members started to chime in on the radio, saying that they had remembered staying there one time; déjà-vu had set in.  Some didn’t remember why they were there, and others talked about the good time they had.  Teresa commented how NICE Bruce was for the weekend of the SRC and we questioned which “Bruce” she was referring to?

Cory seemed concerned when he saw a plane on his left side, go by him very quickly and drop down into a cow pasture.  We waited for the punch line, wondering where he was going with this until we realized that Cory had thought it was a real plane, when indeed, it was a remote control powered one.  In Cory’s defense, he was keeping his eye on the road, watching for traffic, and only caught a glimpse of the plane in the corner of his eye, so it must have appeared larger than life.  Don suggested he get back to the flying field as it appeared he was losing touch with the fact he has a pilot’s license!  (Don’t everyone jump at once to volunteer to go for a ride when he pilots!) – If you do volunteer, just bring a remote control plane, our Cory won’t know the difference!

After a nice 2 hour ride, we arrived at the restaurant, Cherry…something (pie? cake? pit?)  It was a neat “crab house” and decorated very uniquely inside.  The one waitress immediately attended to our needs, serving us our much needed ice-cold drinks.  We got our food ordered (we were split into 2 tables) and we waited nervously, being that Never Gets Served, Gary, was at our table. 

The menu was a New Orleans style, gumbo this, bisque that, Bubba shrimp or Cajun fish and chicken!  It was a reminder of our last trip to New Orleans as a chapter and oh, what FUN we HAD!  We enjoyed our meals while Gary enjoyed his personal fan!  We were all sweating inside of the crab shack, when we realized that Gary was nice and cool, and not even perspiring!  Then, we realized, the “restaurant fan” was blowing right on him!!!  We pushed the button and oscillated that puppy as quick as we could!  Our food was excellent and we had a great time together, visiting, laughing and having a great time!  We all burned home to enjoy the rest of our day off. Until we eat again,

Karen Lumpkin
Long-Lost Ride Reporter

September 07, Sunday - it was a nice, clear, sunny, morning and 15 members were at the BK ready for the Chapter ride. After discussion it was decided to go to Lake Wales and have lunch at the Cherry Pocket Steak and Seafood Shak. Jimmy and Cory led the group on a nice country road ride to Polk County and Lake Wales, as hot as it was you didn't think about it because you were enjoying the ride. Cherry Pocket is one of those unique places, a true shack in the middle of an old fish camp on the lake, no indoor bathrooms, just outhouses, but the Florida Cracker food was excellent, served well, and priced right, a place I would return to. After lunch and socializing most of the group took I4 back to Tampabay, Tricky took US27 south and T and I went north. Another good day in paradise. Til next time---------------------(ed-BS)

September 06, Saturday - 26 members and 2 guests met at Mickey D's at SR50 and I75 to participate in the A.P.A.C.K. Inc. ride to honor TPD detectives Randy Bell, Ricky Childers and FHP trooper James Crooks killed in the line of duty on May 19, 1998. The ride was planned well and was escorted perfectly by Hernando SO, Brooksville PD, and FHP. Tampa PD led the ride with many motors coming from all of the surrounding counties to participate. At 11am we left Ridge Manor on an excellent ride through the country and ending at Weeki Wachee Springs, where we had the full use of the park and shows for the rest of the day. I don't know how many bikes or the total amount of people were there, but I believe the Lonnie Coburn Foundation did well. For those of you that don't know Lonnie Coburn was the only Hernando County deputy to be killed in the line of duty back on February 21, 1978. The Foundation gives scholarships to the academy for qualifying new recruits. Til next time---------------(ed-BS)

Well the “regular breakfast ride’ Riders met at the CSMS (A new acronym for BS) and decided that as it was a small group and Perry needed to return to a family commitment as early as possible, that we would go to Pickles Plus Too located in Harborview Center in Clearwater.  We hadn’t been there for a while and it had always received favorable reviews.  Additionally, as we didn’t have any contact info we wanted to be sure that an alternative was nearby available (Tin Can Cafe) should Pickles Plus Too be unable to handle the eight attendees if there was a group in the convention hall.  There was a Dog and Cat show underway in the Convention Hall but the restaurant was essentially empty so upon arrival we were able to put a few tables together and the one attending server handled our wants and needs (within reason of course) wonderfully.

Service was efficient and prompt and the food was excellent.  The only complaint was from the “diet boy” who though ordering a smaller meal paid more then what he felt was necessary.  Of course being the vengeful Italian that he is, when he received no satisfaction from his complaint to the manager, he expressed his intentions of never returning.  Though the restaurant went into mourning, they took no action to rectify the problem.  So for seven people it receives 3 ½ knights but from one it gets 1 knight.

Deputy Assistant Breakfast Ride Coordinator (ed-PD)