Maggies on vacation in Ocala Florida - Page 2

conchscooter · 11-03-2010, 02:49 AM

Riding Florida is a great low key place to check out. I'm looking forward to the cool of winter to hit the mainland again.

Finally · 11-03-2010, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sion

nice report...

but what really interests me about you two is your choice of bikes

I ride an 86 V65 Magna and my lady an 84 VF700 Magna...

you guys are like our doppelgangers....Florida bike doppelgangers

.
.

and both together at Hunts Lodge in Tellico Plains, TN

Thanks sion!

I'm really pleased with the Magna's. The wife had put 14k on a GZ250 in the last few years and we just found her Maggie this summer. She is loving the power of the VF700!!

Those are some sharp looking bikes you've got there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guano11

Had a buddy back in the day who upsized the front tire on his Magna. Looked Phat. But above about 50-60 mph, that high-pitched buzz started, then disappear as it slowed. Took us a while to figure out that tire was "growing" in circumference and contacting the underside of the front fender.
Good times, those Magnas.

AArrgggg!!!! I can only imagine trying to chase that problem down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by conchscooter

I'm looking forward to the cool of winter to hit the mainland again.

Me too!

Looking forward to checking out your end of Florida. We haven't done a Key's trip yet...

Finally · 11-03-2010, 05:24 PM

Ah, our first bonus day!

We had laid out a route over to the west coast again. This time we'd be headed just south of Cedar Key looking for CR 494. Having look at it on our DeLorme map, it did look to be a worthwhile road to check out.

So I got the route mapped out for the wife... Boy, these vacation departure times are just getting earlier and earlier!!

Quick story... Met a nice guy in the grocery store parking lot the previous evening. I'm sitting on the bike in full gear, helmet removed, while the wife went in to purchase a few things. A guy pulled up in a pickup truck with two ladies accompaning him. He's in a black Harley t-shirt, the ladies in Harley tanktops. They parked one spot over and as they got out he asked me, "you're not from around here are you"?

Me, "nope, just enjoying a little vacation up here". Him, "Well, be careful runnin' up and down this here road. Watch out for a dark gray Ford, he's a cop and he will stop you". Me, "Thanks man, I'll keep an eye out".

Didn't have the heart to tell him I'd been running 5-10 miles under the speed limit all week anyway! I like it up here, people are friendly and watch out for each other.

Stopped for some gas to start the day...

Stopped for some more gas along the way...

And headed to the coast. The route over just wasn't all that interesting.

By following 42 west to 475 we were able to avoid riding through the city of Ocala. We dropped down to 44 and took that west all the way to the coast.

You may have noticed on the wife's route map, a road marked 98/19/55. It seems that they can't just mark a road with one number around here!

So we took 44 west to 98/19/55 and headed south. By the way, this is not the same 19 that runs through Ocala National Forest.

I had offered to make the wife a set of highway bars like mine before we left. She said "no thanks" and I left it at that. But after riding in one position for awhile, she likes to stretch out a bit.

Her solution - just switch to the back seat!!

I guess I was expecting this section of the west coast to be like Cedar Key. It was not. Fully developed, it was like riding through any city. Great - if you needed something. Not so great if you are dreaming about the backroads.

While riding south, I turned west too quick and we found ourselves on CR 44 or Fort Island Trail. It looked to be a fun little road, the wife said "why not?", so we followed it west.

It wound around for a bit and ended at a beach! A lovely beach. A lovely beach with picnic tables. Where you might bring your wife for a picnic. Or where you might want to bring four or five bus loads of teenagers for a field trip. On a Friday. My Friday...

Since the picnic tables were full, we decided to stop at another little park the wife noticed on the ride in.

When I'm riding, I get focused (not daydreaming, focused) and tend not to noti .... HEY LOOK, A SQUIRREL !!!!

So we stopped in at the Fort Island Trail Park for some snacks/lunch and enjoyed the quiet there. Our picnic table was just across the creek from a boat ramp. Watching folks going out can be very entertaining, but not much going on that day.

After eating, we walked out on the dock to look around a bit and saw a family of Manatee swim by. There were 4-5 total, and one little one. Manatee are not fast moving creatures, they're not called "sea cows" for nothing. They are usually just under the water surface and hard for boaters to see. It's very common to see propeller marks on their backs.

So we got back on the road and found our way down to CR 494, also known as Ozello Trail. Another cool little road! Smooth, well marked, corners blind enough to keep your attention.

At the end of the road is a boat ramp and a community park, not as scenic as our lunch spot though.

This is just after a little bridge on our way back out.

Curves and corners like this are what made the trip worthwhile! While it was a short road, we sure had fun!

You don't see many of these signs in Florida. Of course, now that I look at the picture, I'm wondering why the sign is there... Does this road look curvy to you?

We picked a more diverse route home, but I didn't get it recorded in my journal. The trip was full of events like that, just see a side road and take it.

Back at yet one more gas station for the day...

The wife finally convinced me to stop and get a picture of an Ocala National Forest sign. Note the very rare "Maggie offroad" sighting!!

Seven hours and three gas stops later, we'd finally covered 200 miles!!!

What a great day!!!

Saturday was a day of rest for us and Sunday we headed for home. I've got just a few more pictures left to share and will write up the weekend in one final post.

Thanks for coming along this far..

exoff-roadgoat · 11-03-2010, 06:00 PM

I love those old V fours and love Florida away from the beaches too. The further north the beta. Nice report.

sion · 11-04-2010, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finally

You don't see many of these signs in Florida. Of course, now that I look at the picture, I'm wondering why the sign is there... Does this road look curvy to you?

...
Note the very rare "Maggie offroad" sighting!!

1st pic: there does appear to be a curve to the left about half a mile down from the sign....but I can't imagine there'd be too many more curves in the remaining 0.3 miles...

2nd pic: maybe not so rare

Finally · 11-04-2010, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sion

2nd pic: maybe not so rare

Very nice pic's.. Cool bridge too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by exoff-roadgoat

I love those old V fours and love Florida away from the beaches too. The further north the beta. Nice report.

Thanks man!

Finally · 11-06-2010, 04:41 PM

Saturday 10/16/2010

Took the day off to rest. This was taken at around 8:20am. Part of the reason our start times would run late. This was the coldest we'd seen during the week.

We rode a few roads, but didn't go very far or see anything new.

Spent much of the evening moping about, we were down to the "lasts": last dinner, last evening, last time to cover the bikes, etc...

Sunday 10/17/2010

Man, I did not want to leave! This has been simply a fantastic week. And let me assure you, I don't get breakfasts like this every day at home!

One more trash run. We'd gotten pretty good at this and didn't have any trouble with the bags.

The transfer station was north and we needed to be headed south. So after dropping off the trash and getting fuel, we would head back to the house and finish packing.

Here is our starting mileage for the day taken at the gas station. I have no idea how many times we've topped off the tanks here!

Preparing to leave felt like the last day at camp: wash the linens, sweep the floors, clean out the fridge, etc... (ok, so I never had a fridge at camp, but you know what I mean...)

We strapped the bags down for the final run home. This was the first vacation we've been on - without seeing family or friends, just the two of us - in 18 years.

Such a wonderful week, I did not enjoy taking this shot at all! (my emotions must have affected the color resolution a bit...)

Both bikes were running smooth that morning. Stupid no feeling, no caring, machines.

Just purred along as if we were starting the vacation, not finishing it up.

Here is a shot of the route home. We were about an hour or so down the road and coming into Sanford.

Since we were hoping to be inspired by another back road or two, we went ahead and stopped to top off here.

But the magic spell had passed and it was time to head home. We wouldn't be doing any more exploring that day.

There were a couple folks working on their car off to the side of the pumps. It was still pretty warm here in Florida and it didn't look like they were on the verge of being done any time soon. Lot's of pieces off, lot's of tools out. Having fixed a few things on the side of the road myself, I knew they couldn't have been having any fun. Picked up a couple cold Coke's in the station and took over to them. Left them smiling!

Coming out of Sanford on 46 put us back onto familiar territory. We dropped off in Geneva onto Snow Hill Rd and went south through the Little Big Econ Forest. "Snow Hill", in Florida? "Little Big", couldn't decide? Makes me laugh every time we ride through here...

Wound our way around Mill Lake to Fort Christmas Rd. That brought us to a favorite ride destination - Fort Christmas.

We tried to pretend it was just another lunch stop, but we're to close to home now. Vacation mode had long since slipped away and there were things to be done at home yet.

Still smiling though!

We were looking forward to one more pretty little stretch of road - Taylor Creek. It had the coolest little wooden bridge. But it's being replaced now, probably with something "new & improved". I'll miss the little bridge.

At any rate, we turned off of 50 onto Taylor Creek only to find that it wasn't open yet. Some days are just like that. Back on 50, east to 95, 95 south to home.

Total mileage was 1249 miles. It was a great trip!

My thanks for the positive comments on the report. It's been fun and I definitely look forward to doing this again.

JustPlainDave · 11-06-2010, 04:49 PM

What a nice relaxing trip you two had.
Wish I could get Mrs JustPlainDave to ride a bike.
Well...on second thought, maybe she could just ride with me.

Finally · 11-06-2010, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustPlainDave

What a nice relaxing trip you two had.

Thanks man, it sure was.

11-03-2010, 02:49 AM	#16
conchscooter Beastly Adventurer Joined: Feb 2007 Location: Florida Keys Oddometer: 1,323	Riding Florida Riding Florida is a great low key place to check out. I'm looking forward to the cool of winter to hit the mainland again. __________________ http://www.keywestdiary.us IBA#39,523

11-03-2010, 05:24 PM	#18
Finally ^OP ... that element. Joined: Dec 2007 Location: Spacecoast, FL Oddometer: 177	Friday 10/15/2010 Ah, our first bonus day! We had laid out a route over to the west coast again. This time we'd be headed just south of Cedar Key looking for CR 494. Having look at it on our DeLorme map, it did look to be a worthwhile road to check out. So I got the route mapped out for the wife... Boy, these vacation departure times are just getting earlier and earlier!! Quick story... Met a nice guy in the grocery store parking lot the previous evening. I'm sitting on the bike in full gear, helmet removed, while the wife went in to purchase a few things. A guy pulled up in a pickup truck with two ladies accompaning him. He's in a black Harley t-shirt, the ladies in Harley tanktops. They parked one spot over and as they got out he asked me, "you're not from around here are you"? Me, "nope, just enjoying a little vacation up here". Him, "Well, be careful runnin' up and down this here road. Watch out for a dark gray Ford, he's a cop and he will stop you". Me, "Thanks man, I'll keep an eye out". Didn't have the heart to tell him I'd been running 5-10 miles under the speed limit all week anyway! I like it up here, people are friendly and watch out for each other. Stopped for some gas to start the day... Stopped for some more gas along the way... And headed to the coast. The route over just wasn't all that interesting. By following 42 west to 475 we were able to avoid riding through the city of Ocala. We dropped down to 44 and took that west all the way to the coast. You may have noticed on the wife's route map, a road marked 98/19/55. It seems that they can't just mark a road with one number around here! So we took 44 west to 98/19/55 and headed south. By the way, this is not the same 19 that runs through Ocala National Forest. I had offered to make the wife a set of highway bars like mine before we left. She said "no thanks" and I left it at that. But after riding in one position for awhile, she likes to stretch out a bit. Her solution - just switch to the back seat!! I guess I was expecting this section of the west coast to be like Cedar Key. It was not. Fully developed, it was like riding through any city. Great - if you needed something. Not so great if you are dreaming about the backroads. While riding south, I turned west too quick and we found ourselves on CR 44 or Fort Island Trail. It looked to be a fun little road, the wife said "why not?", so we followed it west. It wound around for a bit and ended at a beach! A lovely beach. A lovely beach with picnic tables. Where you might bring your wife for a picnic. Or where you might want to bring four or five bus loads of teenagers for a field trip. On a Friday. My Friday... Since the picnic tables were full, we decided to stop at another little park the wife noticed on the ride in. When I'm riding, I get focused (not daydreaming, focused) and tend not to noti .... HEY LOOK, A SQUIRREL !!!! So we stopped in at the Fort Island Trail Park for some snacks/lunch and enjoyed the quiet there. Our picnic table was just across the creek from a boat ramp. Watching folks going out can be very entertaining, but not much going on that day. After eating, we walked out on the dock to look around a bit and saw a family of Manatee swim by. There were 4-5 total, and one little one. Manatee are not fast moving creatures, they're not called "sea cows" for nothing. They are usually just under the water surface and hard for boaters to see. It's very common to see propeller marks on their backs. So we got back on the road and found our way down to CR 494, also known as Ozello Trail. Another cool little road! Smooth, well marked, corners blind enough to keep your attention. At the end of the road is a boat ramp and a community park, not as scenic as our lunch spot though. This is just after a little bridge on our way back out. Curves and corners like this are what made the trip worthwhile! While it was a short road, we sure had fun! You don't see many of these signs in Florida. Of course, now that I look at the picture, I'm wondering why the sign is there... Does this road look curvy to you? We picked a more diverse route home, but I didn't get it recorded in my journal. The trip was full of events like that, just see a side road and take it. Back at yet one more gas station for the day... The wife finally convinced me to stop and get a picture of an Ocala National Forest sign. Note the very rare "Maggie offroad" sighting!! Seven hours and three gas stops later, we'd finally covered 200 miles!!! What a great day!!! Saturday was a day of rest for us and Sunday we headed for home. I've got just a few more pictures left to share and will write up the weekend in one final post. Thanks for coming along this far.. __________________ "Slavish dedication to salvage a bike that would normally be considered parts." - Brad Felmey Maggies on vacation, a ride report from fall 2010. Frame swap, what I did the spring of 2011.

11-06-2010, 04:41 PM	#22
Finally ^OP ... that element. Joined: Dec 2007 Location: Spacecoast, FL Oddometer: 177	Saturday & Sunday, 10/16 & 10/17/2010 Saturday 10/16/2010 Took the day off to rest. This was taken at around 8:20am. Part of the reason our start times would run late. This was the coldest we'd seen during the week. We rode a few roads, but didn't go very far or see anything new. Spent much of the evening moping about, we were down to the "lasts": last dinner, last evening, last time to cover the bikes, etc... Sunday 10/17/2010 Man, I did not want to leave! This has been simply a fantastic week. And let me assure you, I don't get breakfasts like this every day at home! One more trash run. We'd gotten pretty good at this and didn't have any trouble with the bags. The transfer station was north and we needed to be headed south. So after dropping off the trash and getting fuel, we would head back to the house and finish packing. Here is our starting mileage for the day taken at the gas station. I have no idea how many times we've topped off the tanks here! Preparing to leave felt like the last day at camp: wash the linens, sweep the floors, clean out the fridge, etc... (ok, so I never had a fridge at camp, but you know what I mean...) We strapped the bags down for the final run home. This was the first vacation we've been on - without seeing family or friends, just the two of us - in 18 years. Such a wonderful week, I did not enjoy taking this shot at all! (my emotions must have affected the color resolution a bit...) Both bikes were running smooth that morning. Stupid no feeling, no caring, machines. Just purred along as if we were starting the vacation, not finishing it up. Here is a shot of the route home. We were about an hour or so down the road and coming into Sanford. Since we were hoping to be inspired by another back road or two, we went ahead and stopped to top off here. But the magic spell had passed and it was time to head home. We wouldn't be doing any more exploring that day. There were a couple folks working on their car off to the side of the pumps. It was still pretty warm here in Florida and it didn't look like they were on the verge of being done any time soon. Lot's of pieces off, lot's of tools out. Having fixed a few things on the side of the road myself, I knew they couldn't have been having any fun. Picked up a couple cold Coke's in the station and took over to them. Left them smiling! Coming out of Sanford on 46 put us back onto familiar territory. We dropped off in Geneva onto Snow Hill Rd and went south through the Little Big Econ Forest. "Snow Hill", in Florida? "Little Big", couldn't decide? Makes me laugh every time we ride through here... Wound our way around Mill Lake to Fort Christmas Rd. That brought us to a favorite ride destination - Fort Christmas. We tried to pretend it was just another lunch stop, but we're to close to home now. Vacation mode had long since slipped away and there were things to be done at home yet. Still smiling though! We were looking forward to one more pretty little stretch of road - Taylor Creek. It had the coolest little wooden bridge. But it's being replaced now, probably with something "new & improved". I'll miss the little bridge. At any rate, we turned off of 50 onto Taylor Creek only to find that it wasn't open yet. Some days are just like that. Back on 50, east to 95, 95 south to home. Total mileage was 1249 miles. It was a great trip! My thanks for the positive comments on the report. It's been fun and I definitely look forward to doing this again. __________________ "Slavish dedication to salvage a bike that would normally be considered parts." - Brad Felmey Maggies on vacation, a ride report from fall 2010. Frame swap, what I did the spring of 2011.

11-06-2010, 04:49 PM	#23
JustPlainDave Tubeless Adventurer Joined: Mar 2009 Location: Sarasota, Fl Oddometer: 183	What a nice relaxing trip you two had. Wish I could get Mrs JustPlainDave to ride a bike. Well...on second thought, maybe she could just ride with me. __________________ "If you can't be handsome, be handy": Red Green 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere

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11-03-2010, 06:00 PM	#19
exoff-roadgoat Will ride for food Joined: Nov 2008 Location: W.Meechigan Oddometer: 3,250	I love those old V fours and love Florida away from the beaches too. The further north the beta. Nice report.