Riverside Rest.

Florida State Hog Rally October 18, 2011

Photos courtesy of Deniece and Luke Bonofiglio. Story courtesy of Luke Bonofiglio.

Mike Ellis’s ride to the Florida State HOG Rally was well planned and even had several sightseeing stops on the way to Destin. Mother Nature, on the other hand, had other ideas for the trip there. Seven of us left Fletcher’s South under a threat of rain that never was able to make it north of Tampa Bay, which was a great thing as we all had planned to start out in rain suits. We also had one participant in the lunch ride that was running along with the main ride. John Pantelis rode with us to Crystal River as he decided to head south from the first break thinking he would possibly need his rain suit on his trip home. After lunch in Chiefland, we continued on to Perry where we turned west toward Apalachicola. About 5 miles after the turn we hit a rain storm that lasted for eternity, or it seemed like it anyways, the next 120 miles! It only let up when we stopped for a couple of breaks and as we approached or destination for the night. After a good night’s rest, we continued to Destin the next morning under sunny but chilly skies, where we were met by Fran and Kyle who had done the trip up in one day due work commitments.

The days in the Destin area were well occupied as each day had a full schedule of things to do. Our group split up to participate in the items that each found of interest and we all went in different directions to explore the area. Not only were there poker runs and walks on the schedule, but every day seemed to have a meal somewhere that required nothing more than our wristbands as payment. Deniece even managed to take 2^nd Place when she entered her bike into the bike show. On the last night, the closing ceremonies were preceded by a flyover of old war birds. After all the speeches and pageantry, 38 Special did a wonderful job of filling the last night with music and a fireworks display topped the evening.

Max and Judy left out early for the return trip, as they had to be home in one day due to a prior engagement and Fran and Kyle left after a hearty breakfast as they also had a long day to get back to Clearwater. Lynn, Mike, Deniece and I headed out to see the sights we missed on the way up and even went to the St George lighthouse. I even discovered how much rain we had ridden through on the trip up when I was spotting roadside buildings that I didn’t see due to the rain. We stopped for the night in Perry and continued on the next morning with a stop in Crystal River for lunch.

Thanks Mike for all the hard work and planning and thanks to all who went for making it a great trip.