What do you do on a humid weekend in October when the 22nd hurricane of the season is barreling down on you? You go for a ride! Biketoberfest this year was met with clear skies and humid air all weekend. But even as our show rig Nemesis rolled into Daytona all they could talk about on the news was “Wilma” the next in a year-long string of storms that made 2005 the worst hurricane season on record. And here we were rolling in for a 3-day rally wondering if we were going to be waist deep in water before the end of the rally. Being the hearty souls that we are we unpacked the truck, set up the canopy and rolled out the bikes!
Rally attendance was fairly light this Fall with many people staying away from South Florida because of the storm warnings. But since we were there we did what any good biker would do and rounded up a few friends on Saturday and took a ride down to the lighthouse at Ponce Inlet. One of the things you learn to do at rallies is to stay away from the main drag, so we headed south on the side streets out of Daytona and crossed over the inland waterway in South Daytona. Once we hit A1A we headed south again looking for the lighthouse. The best part of this ride is once you run out of road you have arrived at your destination. The lighthouse is a classic east-coast structure but the best part is the little bar & grill at the base of the lighthouse where if you are patient you can get great food and cool beverages after your ride. With our stomachs full of Oysters, Soft-Shell Crabs, Crab legs and other delicacies we all headed out to check out the newest attraction in Daytona.
When you head north on I-95 from Daytona you’ll hit a little town called Ormand Beach. Ormand is home to the Broken Spoke and Steel Horse Saloon and has now become home to the motorcycle mega-plex “Destination Daytona” owned by Bruce Rossmeyer. This former motel and truck stop has been converted in to the worlds largest Harley-Davidson store and houses vendors and show-rigs during Bike Week and Biketoberfest. We arrive just in time to catch a glimpse of Billy Lane on stage doing his “Blood, Sweat & Gears” show to the delight of the gathered crowd.
All in all, Biketoberfest was a good weekend and a chance to finish the rally season with smaller crowds and a little warm weather. Oh and Wilma, she showed up Monday morning and made a complete mess of south Florida. Hopefully, everything will be cleaned up by next Spring so we can do it again!