FEELING ALMOST LIKE A HOOMAN AGAIN

My Harley Stud and I decided that instead of doing something productive like working around the house today, we would take a ride on the bike and get some fresh air. Sometimes you’ve got to just ignore all that needs to be done and get away for a few hours or else you just might drop your basket. So off we went on his little two wheeled fun-mobile.

We stopped and bought a couple of subs and some water (Did I mention that Dr. Black Cloud said no more Diet Coke for MHS? EEK. The poor man is having withdrawals.) and rode to this park where we sat in the shade and ate our lunch while we enjoyed the view. There were a bunch of pelicans begging for scraps, fish guts or anything else they could get. Little boys fishing, big boys fishing, lovers on benches and lots of boats in the water were all there for our amusement.

If you look carefully, you can see the lighthouse in the distance. I always feel more at ease when I can see the lighthouse. Like an old man at sea, it guides me home. It is my beacon of hope, a reminder of light and love and all things good. It nourishes my soul.

The weekend is almost over. I plan to relax for all that is left of it. Reruns for dinner combined with a fresh salad, a loaf of bread and some wine. MHS is mowing the yard, which is usually my chore. I’m in the middle of a book that I can’t seem to put down.

God’s in His heaven and all’s right with the world. Even if it’s just for tonight.

Hugs,

Smart Mouth Broad

LIVE TO RIDE AND RIDE TO EAT

When the Biker Nazi is in town, there is no question about what we’ll be doing. Ride, ride, ride. We spent all day Saturday on the bikes and covered a good many miles and explored city and country near our home. We started the day with a ride out to Indiantown and enjoyed brunch at the Seminole Inn. The inn opened in 1926. Entering the inn gives you the feeling that you are stepping into a gentler time in history. I would have loved to have spent more time snooping around with my camera but we were just there to eat and run. One day I’ll insist on going back. That shouldn’t be too difficult as it is not far from our home and My Harley Stud enjoyed it too.

The Biker Nazi never met a stranger and managed to make new friends who can take him hunting on his next visit to sunny Florida.

I like this idea: Sit long, talk much. Right up my ally.

Cracker, the parrot, welcomes you as soon as you step over the threshold.

The Biker Nazi loved the new paint job on his bike.

I just love it when the trees form a canopy under which for us to pass.

You don’t have to drive too far out of town to see orange groves. I’m not sure why these haven’t been picked yet. It’s kind of late in the season, I think.

By the time we made it to the Keylime Grill, our bellies were grumbling for more than beer. My diet was blown out of the water with Pub style fish and chips. Yum to malt vinegar. Did someone take my willpower? How am I going to make my goal with temptations like this?

The yum factor was short-lived though. I haven’t eaten fried food like that in a long time and my tummy rebelled. Tums were my dessert of choice last night. Grrrr. I should have had a salad.

There was a young man playing to the crowd and he was really good. I asked if he had a CD but alas, he has none. He did give me his website info and you can listen to him here. :) He covered many of my favorites and played some of his original work too. He is quite an accomplished musician, in my humble opinion, of course.

From the Keylime Grill, we headed back North along the beach. We drove along Palm Beach and rubbed elbows with the rich and famous. There were no celebrity sightings but I’m really bad about that anyway. One could be standing right next to me and I wouldn’t notice.

The above photo was taken driving along Ocean Blvd. You can see the Atlantic on the right and the homes of Donald Trump, Rod Stewart, the old Kennedy compound are all on the left. MHS wasn’t driving slowly enough to get any pictures of the homes without blurring. Another time, maybe. He’s a great tour guide and knows who lives where because of his business contacts. The roofs to the right along the beach are the beach houses of the residents across the street. Most have tunnels that go underneath the road to get to the beach.

These are the snooty sea-gulls. These snobs probably don’t fly past the edge of the island. Palm Beachers like to stick to themselves.

As you drive along Ocean Blvd, you will see main entrances and service entrances. Funny, it’s all the same at my house.

This was taken during a butt break. This particular section of the beach is where Worth Avenue intersects with Ocean Blvd. Worth Avenue is Palm Beach’s equivalent of Rodeo Drive. (The best place for celeb sightings-but be careful. The PB cops have no problem throwing anyone who doesn’t “belong” off the island.)

Who is this riff-raff? Palm Beach bikers, of course.

You can see the tower to the famous Breakers hotel looming over the home at the end of the street. I wanted to get a picture of the long, beautiful entrance to the Breakers but new renovations include a guardhouse that obstructs the view. Apparently there were too many smart mouth broads snooping around with their cameras and someone complained.

The home at the end of the street once belonged to Clark Gable. I believe it is owned by the heir to the Estee Lauder fortune now.

This is a moving picture of the Biltmore hotel on Palm Beach.

The Palm Beach Yacht Club. Never been there. Smart Mouth Broads need not apply. Go figure.

Not a great photograph, but I kept the best of the blurry ones I captured. I learned to scuba dive under this very bridge. Exciting, huh?

Last but not least: My Harley Stud knows how much I love the inlet. Our ride concluded here. (Well actually, we still had to drive home)

Jupiter Inlet is my favorite place in the world. It soothes my weary soul.

Here you will see my reward for the hunt. I love to walk along the jetty to look for crabs on the rocks. Found one. He was shy and wouldn’t smile for the camera though.

The sun was setting and we had to skidaddle. The park closes at sunset. You can see the lighthouse on the right. I love it here. *sigh*

BIKE NIGHT

Last night I met My Harley Stud at BIKE NIGHT at a local sports bar across from the stadium. It was a great way to kick off my weekend. It's been a hectic but productive couple of weeks at work and since I only work half day and from home on Fridays I like to think of Thur. night as my Friday. Instead of boring you with all the hohum details of the evening, I will point out the highlights.

• The food was surprisingly good. (We've been there before and I've never been impressed.)
• I became the new best friend of a drunk biker chick in the ladies room. You tell me: We must be BFFs if we are so intimate that she felt the need to share her life story while I did my business, right?
• Our server was a Noob and defined the word SLOW. MHS was not amused. I was.
• I was stepped on by another server on my trip back to our table from the ladies' room. I stood there for an awkward moment holding onto his arm while he apologized. I continued to grip his arm for what seemed like an hour but was really only "10" minutes. He just stood there looking at me and waiting for me to move on. I finally realized that he was clueless and explained that I could neither let go of his arm nor move on because he was still standing on my foot.
• There was glitch with the credit card processing during our transaction that kept the entire restaurant waiting while our payment details traveled around the world a few times. We eventually left without completing the payment process with the agreement to return later. We strolled thru bike night and all the festivities and as promised returned later to settle our bill. I convinced MHS to be more generous with his tip than he wanted to be. He was still unamused. I on the other hand was just happy to not be at work. I was also very impressed that they allowed us to leave and believed that we would come back. Good for them.
  
• And then I made a new friend, Truman:

Truman rides around in this sidecar with his owner and has since he was just a pup.

Truman is very safety conscious and always wears his goggles.

He's even been to Sturgis, SD: A world famous bike week that completely takes over the small town. (Too many bikes for this sissy but Truman loved it.)



Have a great weekend, everyone!

THE MAKING OF A BIKER CHICK - Needles Scenic Byway

We left Custer after breakfast and headed for Deadwood and Lead, SD. The Needles Scenic Byway was recommended to us by the owner of the Valley Motel. I could just kiss her for that. This was one of the most beautiful stretches of pavement I've ever seen. As the crow flies, I'm sure it's not nearly as far from Custer to Deadwood as it seemed but no one cared because this was a great place to be. I was even able to forget about the brick masquerading as a motorcycle seat and enjoy the ride. The road was one hair-pin turn after another with all these tall needle like rock formations in the mountains. I'm not sure if the highway is named for the turns or the rocks but either way it is just a little slice of Heaven on Earth. There's not a lot more I can say about these pictures. They pretty much speak for themselves.

These photographs were all taken from the back of a moving bike.

You can see here how narrow the road was with the mountain rock on one side and an opportunity to plunge to your death on the other.

Never mind.

Looking up.

At least we weren't on foot. Look at these brave souls.

There were a lot of tunnels like this. They were one way (at a time) only. You sit on one side and honk your horn to let the other side know you are coming thru and to wait until you come out before proceeding. It's a very hi-tech system.

I took this picture so I would know where to return. Like Hanzel and Gretel. This is my bread crumb.

When we arrived at this spot and I saw this inn and the view that it had to offer, my first thought was that I wanted to stay here for the week and write. I didn't even blog back then. Still, that was my thought. I would stay there and write and MHS, Biker Nazi and The Saint could just come back in a week and retrieve me. Look closely at the little patch of grass there and you can imagine me with my laptop.

And this is why. *sigh*

This particular shot may look familiar to you even if you haven't been there. Have you seen the movie, National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets.

This is the film location for the scene at the end of the treasure hunt. Imagine our surprise later that year in the movie theatre when that scene appeared on the screen. MHS and I looked at each other and said in unison, "We were there!"

Another possible death plunge on the right.

Yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I had a lot of anxiety about going on this trip. I'm so glad that I didn't chicken out. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I don't regret a single second of it. OK, that's a lie but for the most part, it was pure pleasure and fun, fun, fun!