There is always a catch

While Mike Ellis is on the mend and in a gesture of good will, I offered to take his “Call In Sick” ride To Catches in New Port Ritchey. I figure there are generally 2 maybe 3 bikes show up. How much trouble could it be? Besides that, I had an errand in NPR so, what the heck.

            Weather was fantastic with a 9 AM temp of about 74 and the sky was clear as ever. Off to Fletchers South I go prepared for a less then sterling turnout. As I arrived I see the FHP is on their practice course making anyone watching look like rank amateurs. Well all most. I did see some chrome touch the ground now and then but with a quick recovery Florida’s finest was back to cutting some very tight circles.

            As it turned out we had 12 motorcycles and 13 people on the ride. Mike met us at the restaurant as did two others for a table of 16. In fact we had a terrific turnout for a weekday ride. It seems that this unemployment thing is at least working out for some people.

            The “Catch”. Ah yes, I said there was a catch. Well the catch was that I had to drop some small metal parts off at Brothers Powder Coating and I dragged everyone along with me as I did. However, I called Brothers ahead of time and asked if when we got there, they could show us around a little and explain their powder coating process. They were more than happy to oblige and graciously received us giving us a look at what they do. They even sprayed some parts for us and allowed us to stare into the throat of a fire breathing dragon they call their oven. Now this baby is one big oven!  12’ wide, 10’ high and 20 feet long. You can get a lot of turkeys in that mother. It is kept at 400 degrees by propane heaters that actually melt the powder and bond it to the metal. As you may imagine it creates a work environment that is comfy cozy in the winter but brutal in the summer. We saw a batch of large pipe brackets removed from the oven and the original 90 degrees in the shop immediately climbed to well over 100 as these pieces are left to cool and the coating cure to its final hardness. It was very interesting.

            So, my stuff delivered and the tour completed, we continued to the restaurant and a waiting Mike Ellis who we saw looking at his watch as we drove in. At first thinking he had misjudged the length of the ride, I let him off the hook by telling him the truth.

            The atmosphere, the wait staff and the management at Catches could not have been better. We found it to be a clean restaurant with professional and courteous staff and above all, good food. What more could you ask for. This restaurant comes highly recommended.