Arriving at Port St. Lucie I pick up my loaner bike from Norm.  He was gracious allowing me to choose between the Concours or the FZ1... I picked the FZ1 and it was a good choice!
The only time you get an elevation change in southern Florida is when you are crossing a bridge.  This is HWY 1 near Stuart.
This red fire truck was my visual marker to find my way back to Bill and Vicki's house.
The inside of the fire truck.  Looks like they are letting nature take her back.
I stopped for a photo of the fire truck and later noticed the sign.  Check out who is headlining an appearance here.
On HWY 42 heading towards Daytona Beach.  Fun road, a lot more twisty than is shown here.  Check out my overstuffed tailbag.  That carried everything I needed for one week.
Daytona Beach.  This is the main street.  Bill knew some great place to park so we didn't have to ride in the mess of traffic downtown.  Lots of shops, food and drink up and down this strip.  What is interesting about bike week is that there really isn't one central location but events, groups and activities scattered all around the Daytona Beach area.
People watching was a great deal of fun.
Don't know if the helmet is DOT approved.
This custom orange trike really got my attention.
A group of kilt wearing riders rolled passed us.
Along the boardwalk they had a custom bike show.  I love the look of this orange one, in particular the whitewalls.  Nicely done.
Look at the seat.
I'm a sucker for any bike painted in a red/white/blue combo.
A nicely done up Cushman.
What great lines and detail on this bike.
We stumbled upon a photo-shoot amongst the custom bikes.  A short time later that day I overhead the photographer talking on his cell phone saying that the model had left the shoot unexpectedly.
Delicious street food, an italian sausage with peppers and onions and a Dr. Pepper.  Check out the bar, people graffitied all over them.
Back at the speedway.  Some of the best bikes were parked in the parking lot.  I love the old Interceptors.
The unusual could be found too.
Yamaha had this neat display with one of their supersports with a cut-away view of the motor.
I've always loved these types of cars.
Here is another.
At the custom trike display they had this beauty.  I just think it is a stellar paint job.
A quad Wing.  I'd prefer a Mini Cooper convertible.
This is the Ryca Cafe Racer.  You buy it as a kit and use a Suzuki S40/Savage as the base.  Neat looking.
They had these display set up at the main entrance to the speedway.  The windmills are made of license plates from the states at the base.
At another part of town Bill and I saw three of these guys motoring by.  I find it interesting as it is the only trike I'm aware of that has a steering wheel instead of handle bars.
On this street they were displaying the motorcycle camper.  Look at the white box sorta in the middle.  Everything folds down into that.  When expanded half the camper is standing space and the other half is covered by two elevated twin mattresses.  Plus you get a nice little canopy out front.  I don't know if I would ever want to pull a trailer but that looks like a neat design.
I thought this was really neat.  It is a wood carving that Bill has made.  He showed me a bunch of other stuff but I really liked this little guy.  I was impressed as he has just started this hobby.  I asked him when he would be carving tree stumps with chainsaws but I don't think that is in his future.
I shared the road with a lot of other riders.  Most were very friendly.
I arrived at the Space Center Yay!!!  I couldn't enter this model of the space shuttle because of some kind of classes/training going on inside, Boo!!!
The rocket garden at the Kennedy Space Center.  All the cool rockets are here, the Mercury Redstone, Gemini, Atlas and more.
Behind me is the Mercury Redstone capsule.  This was the capsule, Freedom 7, that took our first astronaut Alan Shepard into space in 1961.  By the way, check out how tiny the capsule is, about the size of a bathtub.
This is the Vehicle Assembly Building, essentially where the rockets are built.  It is the tallest/largest single story building in the world.  It stands over 500 feet tall and those large louvered grey panels on the side are doors which are about 460 feet high.  To give you a bit of perspective on it's size notice the American flag painted on the side of the building.  The blue field of the flag is just a bit larger than an official NBA basketball court.  The tour guide said they could put Yankee Stadium on the roof including all the parking.  The tickets were sold out to tour the building that day which is a shame because either Atlantis or Discovery were inside getting prepped for displays at the Smithsonian and the Space Center.
This was a neat display.  It is the actual launch control for the Apollo mission.  They do a great show recreating the launch by having all the systems operation and then lights spotlighting the different workstations during the countdown.  Of course it ends with a thundering boom of the Saturn V rocket launching.
Here is the big one, the Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program.  I could only get the first stage in the shot but they have the entire rocket supported along it's side in the room and it is huge.  Each stage is separated so you can see the tanks and rockets along the way.  What was noted during the tour is that this is an actual Saturn V rocket and not a model so all the parts are real.  They said when operation there are over two million parts that have to be in working order to get the astronauts to the moon and back.
A lunar rover.  Curious how it breaks down in order to pack onto the rocket to reach the moon.
An Apollo capsule.  Much larger than the Freedom Mercury capsule but still small.
EV suits... you know the astronauts were ATGATT.
The Mars rovers from Pathfinder on the right, the Spirit/Opportunity in the middle and the Curiosity which will be going to Mars next on the left.  They just keep getting bigger and bigger.  Opportunity is still operating on Mars while Spirits mission has ended.
The Space Center coexists as a natural park and as such has no fences for wildlife.  Take a close look at this photo, at it's cent is a very large alligator.  It was eating something at the time so all the kids on the bus were shrieking.  Because there are no fences and the waterways are close to official buildings NASA employees are told to check out under their cars before approaching, just in case.
Less threatening is this little lizard on the fence at Norm's home.
Heading out to Lake Okeechobee.  The sky was threatening rain that day.  Made for some very dramatic clouds and some windy conditions.  The FZ1 looks awesome in this shot.
I arrived at Lake Okeechobee in about an hour.  Kind of unimpressed, first they have what seems to be a man-made earthen wall about 20ft. high that surrounds the lake so you can't really see it unless you pull into a park.  The lake itself isn't very pretty but it is quite large.  I would guess it would take about three to four hours to ride around it's perimeter at speeds of 55 mph.
I do like riding along the palm tree lined roads and highways.
There was a controlled burn going on at some field along the highway.  The smoke blew straight into and filled this town I had to ride through.
Stopped at this Tiki Bar on Lake Okeechobee.  Couldn't see the lake but there was a nice litter reservoir that lead to the lake alongside the bar.  I love these kind of places that are so common in Florida, just a roof and some pillars with the fresh open air and great pub food.
I had catfish and hushpuppies.  It was very good.
The Kanner Highway back home from the lake.  Very long, flat straightaways are common here.  I saw another alligator alongside the road but he swam away before I could get my camera out.  Also there are no gas stations between the entrance to the highway along the lake and back to the the town of Stuart.  I was riding very low on fumes not knowing this.
I spent my last day riding along the barrier islands on the east coast of southern Florida.
Had a meal at Archie's Sea Breeze Pub and Grill.  This place is a little run down, just enough to give it character but the food is good and the place is clean... mostly.
Coming back from Jupiter Island.
And finally, a parting shot of the Atlantic.  So beautiful.
I know this was a lengthy ride report and if you made it this far thanks for reading.
