Just over 7 weeks away!!

Central Florida Guzzi Gathering #2

Today is our second Central Florida Guzzi gathering of the year. Hopefully we'll have near as many folks as the first (~70).

We'll be meeting up at Catfish Johnny's restaurant near Lake Panosoffkee, FL later this a.m.

After lunch and bike gazing and such there I think a group of us will invade the Leesburg BikeFest Rally, which is a pretty big motorcycle rally down here.

*****UPDATE*****
We had an excellent turnout today at the Central Florida Guzzi Gathering! I did not get a complete headcount but I believe it was 50-60 folks who showed up! We even had a Moto Guzzi dealer, Love Motorsports, show up with a display of new Moto Guzzis!

I met up with a group of folks in Deland and the 7 of us took the back roads to the gathering site, Catfish Johnny's.

Lots of really cool Moto Guzzis showed up as well as bikes of other makes. It was great to see the faces of some friends I don't see as much as I should and great to meet new folks as well!

On the way back home 4 of us rode through the big bike fest in Leesburg. That would best be described as a mistake. There were boatloads of people and bikes and we crawled through the heat and traffic for 45 minutes. I was happy to be free and clear of that and I think the Breva was even more happy than I. She doesn't care for idling in the heat in stop and go traffic. :=)

The 4 Guzzis riding through that sea of mostly Harleys did turn a lot of heads though....maybe because of their uniqueness or maybe because of the awesome sounds from the pipes on Mason's Lemans and Val's Griso!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PICS!!!

Back to the airport tonight

After work tonight I followed my friend Champ Pilot Jim out to Bob White Airfield. We were to meet Jim's friend, Piper Cub Pilot Jim (that's right, another JIM!) to fire up his 1942 military version Piper Cub!

Jim and Jim did get it fired up (easily) and they taxied around on the ground several times. There was no flying tonight but it was great to see this beautiful bird come to life after not having been running for some time.

While we were there we also saw a civilian model (yellow) Piper Cub flying.

Is it worth saving 14 bucks? :=0

I decided it was time for another haircut the other morning before work. So out came the Wahl Deluxe Haircut kit!

I used a #2 attachment on the sides and back (the back is a struggle as I can't see what I am doing really) and I used a #4 attachment on the top.

Unfortunately I think it looks mildly disastrous. Oh well, I can always get a job in the circus.

Kid Guzzi goes airborne!!!

Wow, what an experience it was!! Friday night I took my maiden flight in my pal Jim's 1946 Aeronca Champ airplane.

Bob White airport in Zellwood, Florida would be our takeoff and landing point. This airport has a nice grass landing strip. When we arrived Champ pilot Jim opened the sliding doors to his enclosed hangar and a vision of the mighty Champ greeted us! What a plane indeed!

Champ pilot Jim then used a hand truck to wheel the Champ from it's nest out into the light of day. After completing pre-flights inspections of the plane, Champ pilot Jim schooled me in the technique for starting the plane. After some practice I sort of got the hang of laying my hands on the propeller and giving it a brisk yet supple and gentle tug, turning the propeller. Once Champ pilot Jim gave me the thumbs up I knew he had turned the ignition on and my next tug on the propeller would bear fruit....The Champ immediately came to life, like the well erled machine that it is!!

I eagerly climbed into the Champ and took my seat in the back, buckled up and donned my headset so that I might communicate with Champ pilot Jim.


Soon we were taxi-ing into position to take-off. The takeoff happened so quickly I did not even realize we were airborne! We quickly gained altitude and soon we were floating above the Florida landscape. It was so smooth I could not believe it.

We stayed out for about 45 minutes of just flying around and looking at lakes and trees and people and cows and all manner of things. Unbelievably cool! Champ pilot Jim would often just rest his left arm on the window sill like he was cruising in a '57 Chevy! We were basically out cruising except we had the whole sky to ourselves!

Finally we headed back for Bob White airport and Champ pilot Jim circled around and lined us up for a landing. With the skill of a surgeon he managed the levers and controls of the Champ and the landing was as soft and smooth as a baby's bottom!

I took a lot of pictures and video while we were flying. The video was on Champ pilot Jim's video camera so I will not have that for a couple days yet. I took one little video of us taxi-ing for takeoff and my pictures are at the link below. Click the link to see them.

Pics from the Champ flight (click me!)

Thanks Champ pilot Jim and mighty Aeronca Champ for an excellent time!

Saturday morning breakfast run on the Guzzi Breva

This morning I met up with Andrew (on his Ducati 888) and Rob (on his Kawasaki Vulcan) for a little Saturdee ride. We decided to try out a place I had heard about a while ago...Duck's Dam Diner :=)

I was sure, oh so sure, that I knew exactly how to get there. Well, what should have been a 40 minute ride instead became about 90 minutes as I totally passed the turn to get to the diner (no thanks to my D*mned GPS!)

But eventually we found it thanks to the Google maps on Andrew's phone. Great place, great food, great ride! Thanks fellas!

Once in a while I just have to eat stuff like this.....man was it good!! The "biscuit" was like a small loaf of bread!

Hoofin' 4 Loot

Our walking team, Hoofin' 4 Loot, is back competing for prizes this year. We got off to a bad start and trailed a lot of other teams early on. Now we have vaulted to 3rd place and I believe after this week's results are tallied we will be in 2nd place. I have been walking a lot more the past couple days. Yesterday and today I walked for 3.5 hours each day so my #'s are a lot better this week. Next week will be the real key. The top 3 teams get some pretty cool prizes...possibly a GPS or a nice 8gb mp3 player or a neat little video camera. Right now I am at 150,468 steps for the week.

Training to be prop man!

If the weather stays nice this week, then Friday after work is the day when I will head to the airport where my friend Jim keeps his 1946 Aeronca Champ airplane.

The Champ is an airplane in a pure and simple form. No electrical system whatsoever. 65 raging horsepower from its flat 4 cylinder motor. You must start it by spinning the propeller manually.

So Jim is going to show me how to spin the prop. After that, I do believe I will get to go fly in the Champ!!! Man this could be an exciting Friday!!

Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Hi friends and readers,

Last week a new, fancy pub opened near work. It's called Liam Fitzpatrick's Irish Pub.

Anyway, I like it a lot. It's really keen inside with lots of wood that appears to be rich mahogany or some such. Also, they have a vast selection of lagers and ales.

I particularly fancy one called Rogue Dead Guy Ale. Man does it set my tongue atingle with its malty and hoppy goodness. I feel like I could drink 468 pints of it and be on cloud nine for infinity. I am quite certain that I have enjoyed it many moons ago with my good pals Mike "The Enforcer" and Bruce "The Spruce Goose" at the Crescent Moon Alehouse in Omaha.

It is good to rediscover it. Brings back many good memories of Omaha...some things I miss quite a lot.

Planning the trip to the Moto Guzzi National Rally

In June I will be leaving for my motorcycle trip to the Moto Guzzi National Rally in Malibu, California. I am going to be meeting up with my good pal Mike "Stal" Caniglia in the midwest and then we'll ride out there together.

Here's kind of an idea what the trip will be like. The numbers on the map represent the places we'll stay in sequential order. CG=me and MC=Mike:

CG Day 1 (Thursday) - Deland, FL to Birmingham, AL (~610 miles-stay night in Birmingham)

CG Day 2 (Friday) - Birmingham, AL to Joplin, MO (~630 miles) MC Day 1 - Papillion, to Joplin, MO (~330 miles) stay night in Joplin

CG/MC Day 3 (Saturday) - Joplin, MO to Tucumcari, NM (~590 miles) stay night in Tucumcari

CG/MC Day 4 (Sunday) - Tucumcari, NM to Phoenix, AZ (~600 miles) stay night in Phoenix at my sister Mara's house.

CG/MC Day 5 (Monday) - Phoenix, AZ to Calabasas, CA (~400 miles) stay at hotel near rally site.

We will stay at this hotel in Calabasas (near the Guzzi rally site) Monday(day 6), Tuesday(day 7) Wednesday(day 8) and Thursday(day 9) night.

CG/MC Day 10 (Friday) -Tucson, AZ (~520 miles) Friday (day 10) and Saturday (day 11) at my pal Dave's house.

CG/MC Day 12 (Sunday) - Pueblo, CO (~550 miles) stay at a hotel in Pueblo

CG/MC Day 13 (Monday) - Papillion, NE (~650miles)

I will probably then stay in Nebraska a couple days and likely head back towards home (Florida)on Thursday.

It'll be about 5,000-5,500 miles from Florida to California to Papillion and then another 1,550 or so back home to Florida, so I think about 7,000 total for me on the trip. Looking forward to an excellent adventure across this great land of ours.

Saturday ride with Fiserv folks

Yesterday I took the Griso out for a ride up west of St. Augustine with a group of Fiserv motorcycle riders. Most were on some very nice Harley Davidsons. We also had Andrew and Jayne on the Triumph Tiger and a couple guys on sport bikes, a Suzuki 750 and a Kawasaki Ninja 636.

It was a fun ride and some really good food at the Outback Crab Shack. ~230 miles total.

Evansville, Indiana

I made it to Evansville, Indiana Monday night. My flight on SW Air was direct from Orlando to Louisville, KY. From there I got a rental car and drove the slightly less than 2 hours to Evansville.

Evansville is located on the Ohio River. Kind of a neat town, it reminds me of Lincoln, Nebraska. Similar size and a nice, old downtown area.

So far work has een going pretty well. The people at Integra Bank are all really nice and great to work with.

Tuesday night I went down to the riverfront, about 4 blocks from where I am working. I had dinner at a really neat Irish pub called Ri Ra.

I had a traditional Irish meal called bangers and mash. This is Irish sausage and mashed potatoes and a side of baked beans. A wonderful combination!

After that I walked down to the Ohio River and saw a really neat riverboat.

Visiting the Heartland

Next week I am off to Evansville, Indiana to visit a bank there. I will work from their office for a few days, returning later in the week. Should be an interesting trip and I will get to experience a little bit of midwestern springtime weather. It's been quite warm here in Florida lately, in the mid to upper 80's. The high approached 90 today. Whew! Summer temps already!