Bike Week Over

I read in the paper this morning that attendance for Bike Week was down. It's hard to believe - but then again, I'm not sure I can tell the difference between 500,000 and 400,000 people anyway.

After the first few days, I found myself putting more effort into avoiding all of it rather than heading toward it. It's really neat - as a bike owner - to see all the things you can buy and add to your bike, but there's just so many people and (as I've written before) so much noise. I would say that I must be getting old - but I've never liked loud pipes on a motorcycle.

While at Destination Daytona on wednesday, they had a 'burnout' demonstration on the 'Budweiser Burnout Bike'. The photo is at the top of this post. I tried to make it an animated composite of 4 photos - but not sure it'll work on blogger. You'll know by the time you read this. You have to click on it for it to get animated.

I spent saturday and sunday - leisurely working on the boat. I washed the whole boat and waxed the starboard side. I was going to wax the port side, but my arm just got too tired. It's an odd angle to wax from. I was in the dingy and even though I was tied to the boat, as I pushed to wax - it would push me away from the boat a bit. I think the next time I have the boat out of the water - I'll buff it out quite well. Much easier that way. Still, the boat looks great. I'm looking forward to my trip in it next month.

Also yesterday, I started the outboard engine on the dingy to just make sure it's running properly. Wouldn't you know it - it's not. It'll only run at full throttle. May have to buy a new outboard before I leave. It's always something. I'll check it out again soon. I go back to work on wednesday, so I'll have to decide before I leave. I've found a good replacement online - but I have to allow 2 weeks for delivery.

They've been dredging the marina for the last few days. Pretty amazing operation to watch.


There's this guy that lives not too far from me who has this old VW beetle that he has painted to look rusted and used up. He has put a lot of effort into making it look like a mexican taxi. On the weekends, he loads up all kinds of junk on it to give it more of an authentic look. I've never met the guy until yesterday when I stopped at a 'nautical' yard sale and his car was parked out front. It was a good opportunity to take a photo of it.

The little detail that this guy has added is really cool. He always keeps a 1940's vintage outboard engine on the roofrack. Yesterday he had old luggage, an old cooler, some old fishing rods, a trident and an old style water ski on the car. Inside, the car he has mexican blankets on the floor like floor mats and a stuff armadillo in the back seat. Along the gutters on the car, you can see very old bottle caps crimped on. You can't help but stand around this car and grin.