Snow birding this year

First topic message reminder :

The wife and I have decided after much thought to move down to Lakeland, Florida for the winter. We will be staying with my in-laws there until next spring. I’m taking my Silver wing (on my trailer) and look forward to riding through the entire winter. From what I understand even in January the normal high temps stay in the mid 70’s. I know this morning that here in Iowa it was 10F and when we called the in-laws it was 84F at the same time. I’m looking forward to doing a LOT of exploring and one of my goals is to ride the Keys. If all goes well we intend to depart Iowa on December 13th or there about.

Thought I’d keep everyone posted on my progress this winter if you’d like. I will also be taking a lot of pictures to post.

If anyone on this website lives near there I’d be grateful for a riding partner that knows the area.

Keith
Iowa – soon to be in Florida

honda_silver wrote:

compguy wrote:

Ok this is a question I have for any of the locals here in Fl. Who no fly's or Mosquitos here?

Down in they keys we ran a bug that was so small it could fit through the screen and bite you ... they would call them "no see ums" because they were so small. The only thing that would stop them was a very very fine screen.

Around where I live in Texas there are hardly ever any mosquitoes due to the bat population ... which do a great job.

No see ums are in New England in summer as well as in Iowa. Mosquitoes are more in Iowa than most places, perhaps except the swamp.

Keith

Keith,

How do the mosquito's recognize the border? I do believe that the folks in northern Minnesota may disagree with your assessment that mosquito's are "more in Iowa than most places".

The lack of mosquito's in any geographical area at any one point in time does not mean they don't have them at other times. We have mosquito's here in north AL, but they are not very much in abundance right now.

To every thing there is a season. Having been in FL over a good bit of Spring and Summer I will say that along the coast the bugs were few, due mostly to the winds off the gulf/ocean. In the central part where my group ended up - the bugs were plentiful and mosquito's were in quite plentiful.

I say Manitoba is the mosquito capital of the WORLD!
We even have a small town here, named Komarno, which apparently in Ukrainian, means...... Mosquito!

I'm not kidding.
Here's the link:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/25034

I always thought my years in Alaska subjected me to more no-see-ums, mosquitos and deerflies than a normal person should have to be exposed to. In Alaska while camping the first thing you do once you crawl into your tent is zip up the entrance and spray some Raid to get the ones that got in with you. Sometimes you could look out of the tent and hardly see through the mosquito net door due to the bugs trying to get through it. I did find one place where there are mosquitos just as bad though and that's at Crater Lake in Oregon. Man, those mosquitos are numerous and persistant.

My least favorite Florida bug will come along about the end of April, beginning of May. That's when the Love Bugs migrate.

You're right about that Jon, Love Bugs are the worst! No fun to ride when they are swarming. Stick to everything!

Well ok enough about bugs. I'd rather get back to riding.

Tomorrow there should be a lot more pictures.

Keith

I had a great day today on the east coast of Fl. My tour guide was Wayne as in Wayneliz on this board. It was one of my best rides.









Oh yea, I had to clean off the bugs from my windshiled when I got back. And that's all I am going to say about bugs.

Keith

Great pics, Keith. Thanks for the company today- it was indeed a great ride. I hope you can make it over for our club ride this Saturday up through Cocoa- I'll pm you all the info.
Thanks again for a fun day,
Wayne

Just a couple of boys and their toys. Great pictures. The grin says it all. I'm going riding tomorrow. The weatherman be damned.

Today I rode the east coast of Fl with the scooter group "Scooten Scooters". Here are some pics:















Keith

Hi Keith- great pics as usual. Thanks for riding with us today. You can also check our yahoo group Scooten Scooters for more pics as we post them.

Wayne

Another snowbird came from up north today.

He used to ride scooters till he went to a Motorcycle. He will always be a friend to us on scooters. And a great friend who is looking forward to doing a LOT of riding with me.







The pics today were taken in a small town named Yeehaw Junction. Really!

Keith

Today I rode with Norm (from Mass), Wayne(and wife) and Billg(and wife) from Vero Beach to Melbourne, Fl.

Here are a few pics:







Now on this next one there is something in the pic that don't belong.



Keith

The Harley??

The bicycle is what we had in mind.

Keith

Keith,

Those are some nice pics and I'm sure you don't miss the Iowa weather. Was that Norm from the Mass. in one of the pics? Hope things are getting better with him. How do you enjoy the SWing compared to the Reflex. I know I liked my Reflex but it just didn't go good in the bay area traffic. It could be really difficult to merge on the interstate. Hope you're having fun down in Florida.

Keith,

I knew you meant the bicycle -- I was just trying to be funny. I know not all Harley riders have huge egos and if the dresser rider in your pic is part of your group then I apologize if I caused offense. I just get tired of the guys around here who purchased "membership in the club" and think that includes the right to belittle our choice to ride "little scooters." I bought my SWing new, which means I could've afforded a Sportster for quite a bit less. But I wanted something more, well, more. I've done 10K on the Swing in 9 months and have yet to be disappointed.

BTW, it looks like you've had decent weather in central Florida. I'm happy for you but jealous; it's rained every day for a week here in north FL...

Bill A,

Don't think you are missing anything for not getting a Sportster. I bought one new in 1986, and even though I really like it, it was just too small for me. I'm 6'0" and it was cramped for me. But one doesn't buy a Sportster for comfort IMO. I have nothing bad to say about it but it just wasn't anywhere near as comfortable as my SWing.. or the Reflex or Majesty I had. I had trouble riding more than 100 miles at at time on the Sportster due to the size of the frame and the seat.

Some say they beat a Sportster off the line from a stop light but I kind of doubt that. I know our Swings are much quicker and faster than most think they are, but I think my Sportster would beat my SWing off the line in a serious race. But I do think my Swing is a couple of mph faster at top speed though. But I think I had the last year of the Sportster with the 4 speed and chain. Maybe the 5 speed with the belt is equal for top speed.

BTW when you see some of the Harley riders wearing all those patches on their vests..most don't know what they mean. A couple of very serious Harley riders, who were the Hell's Angels type, told me what they meant once and it blew my mind. The Hell's Angles types get mad at people who buy a Harley and then TRY to act like a Harley rider. It is kind of funny what they think of those that do this. I never acted or dressed like a Harley Rider. In the summer I wore Haiwian shirts and a pair of these cool Neon Green sunglasses.

JeffR wrote:

BTW when you see some of the Harley riders wearing all those patches on their vests..most don't know what they mean. A couple of very serious Harley riders, who were the Hell's Angels type, told me what they meant once and it blew my mind.

Well, now that you piqued my curiosity.........?

Roadrunner-
The Harley was actully a rental. 2 guys met us in the parking lot at our lunch stop, a father and son. The son was down from up north and was riding the father's beautiful yellow Gold Wing for the day and his dad rented the Harley for the day. Real nice guys! No attitude at all. We do have many hog riders that do have "the attitude" around here, too. To each his own.

Found a really cool place today with nice people fishing.







This place wanted $4 just to get into the gate. I didn't see much worth $4 so I just turned around.



Keith

And what kind of bate do you use for people fishing?

You can catch the most with rebates, but for fat flounders use debate. Best place to catch fat flounders is in Washinton, D.C.

Holy MACKEREL. Quit CARPing from your PERCH, SUCKER.

I'm a very experienced fisherman, with a lot of expertise at putting the worm on the hook. Does that make me the Master Baiter?

Bigbird, I don't know if you are the Master Baiter. I've heard there's a jerk off in Tennessee with years of experience.