Angel's Diner Ride

Another fine day of riding.  This trip was up to Ormond Beach, Destination Daytona, visited JP Cycles for a little bit.  More cagers than bikers, bike week crowds have passed.  You can actually pull right in and get to stuff and store personnel can help you.

Headed on up to Bunnell and over through potato country, to Palatka, I wanted to go see if Angel's Diner, the Oldest Diner in Florida, was still there.  Is is, and has been since 1932.  Classic diner, shows it's age, but the service was prompt, the place was crowded on a Tuesday at 2pm, and the burger, fries, and chocolate shake were perfect.

Then down SR 19, side trip to the dam, pretty neat, for Florida!  After the dam, stopped in Eustis at their waycool lakeside park, really excellent work there, great sunset spot.  Always nice driving through the Ocala National Forest.  This afternoon the rangers were doing a prescribed burn, fire right up to the road right-of-way, and me without any hot dogs.... 

Then on home.  Tired and happy.

Ocala Rd

Gorgeous day after a long week of rain, headed out for another wonderful loop north...

Today I found Ocala Rd.  CR 450 locally known as Ocala Rd, going off SR19 at the McDonald's to the west, eventually hooks into SR42, running along the bottom of the Ocala National Forest.  Today I looped back to the east and back towards home on SR19.  But from up there, one could make any sort of other combinations work well, it's all excellent riding in the forest and nearby.

On the way I stopped at the locally infamous Thrill Hill (see map position marker #4 to #5 Thrill Hill Rd and Thrill Hill Rd North) and reflected on all the great hills in this part of Florida, which will be another post soon.

Leesburg 2014 - Another Great Event

Leesburg Bike Fest just keeps getting better.  Year after year, bigger and bigger too. 
The Leesburg bike fest crowd is always fun. 

This year we went up at mid-day Saturday and stayed until the heat ran us off.  Back up again early Sunday, enjoyed watching the crowd roll in, bailed when the heat cranked up.

Lite Blazer > Yamaha Royal Star Venture

On our last bike, a 2003 Yamaha VStar 1100 Silverado, we had added a Lite-Blazer stoplight accessory with great results.  Particularly enjoyed the "back-off" factor, having noticed a lot of folks stayed back a little more from the flashing lights than ever had with a regular brake light.

So, having traded that bike off, I noticed cars were once again close on my tail at stoplights on our new ride.

Finding the Lite-Blazer available still at Run-N-Lites , we went ahead and placed the order.  It's all old-school, actually writing down your order and writing out a check and using a real stamp...but MAN, the order came back in exactly a week from mailing it in to these good folks.  Was surprised at the quick service.  Well done, and accurate too.  The item arrived as described.  The model in chrome was chosen and it looks great on the bike.

The installation was very easy.  Had to modify the back plate a little bit to get the lite bar to hang just right under the chrome plate holder, but it was quick work for the dremel.  The Lite Blazer lined up very nicely where the factory reflector strip went, just above the lens assembly of the brakelight unit.  The Lite Blazer just bolts up with the license plate.

Riding in to work today, I noticed that extra little bit of space, the flashing light action seems to have some people just hang back a few more feet.  Very nice.  The new bike is a 2013 Yamaha Royal Star Venture S.

Here's the bike without the Lite Blazer:

 

Regular running light

 Regular brake light

 Lite Blazer running light

 Lite Blazer brake light

 Lite Blazer after installation.