This Southern Belle's Musings

This Southern Belle's Musings

"Darlin', don't ever take a Southern woman for granted!" [tm]

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Monday, October 24, 2005

Me & Wilma . . .

I just spent the last five days in Daytona Beach for the Annual Biketoberfest event.     We (myself, my s.o., and our friends Charles & Barbara) actually drove -TO- Florida with the threat of Hurricane Wilma uncertain at the time of our departure.     But, our condo reservations have been booked since the end of May, and we were looking forward to attending this event.     So, I guess as the old saying goes, "come-hell-or-high-water" we were determined to attend.

The temperature wasn't as mild as last year, I'm told.     This year, it was hot-and-muggy every day, even into the late evenings.     There was no need for jackets or leathers during the entire trip.     Of course, that didn't mean that we didn't see a lot of leathers -- as in chaps -- on most of the "Beer-Girls" stationed around every vendor location all over the city.     Of course, chaps were just about the only thing they were wearing, so . . . perhaps they weren't getting to over-heated.

One local station had a broadcast interruption over the course of Friday and Saturday every fifteen minutes about Hurricane Wilma's path and expected landfall place and time.     Oddly enough, this local station was well out of the broadcast area for the projected landfall site, and the only thing predicted for the area(s) within the station's broadcast area were rain and some 'warnings.'     But this meteorologist was 'milking' his 'fifteen minutes' every fifteen minutes for two days.     And he was only repeating the same thing, over and over.

We were initially fearing that we might have to evacuate by Saturday, based on the earlier predictions of the storm's path but, by late Thursday we were told that the storm had stalled and wouldn't make landfall until Monday morning.     It seems Wilma cooperated with our event plans and didn't dump rain (or worse) on the lot of us who attended.

We did drop a 'load-of-cash' while we were there.     My s.o. replaced the seat on the bike, and also upgraded to larger, permanently-mounted, saddlebags.     Luckily, at the site where we had these two modifications done (I didn't see them anywhere else), there was a DHL booth set up to ship items for you.     I shipped our old seat, and our old set of saddlebags, back home from the site.     Amazingly enough, it only cost me $14 for both items!

Aside from these two big purchases (both about $1K each), I think I ended up spending another $200 - $300 on 'stuff'.     My s.o. bought shirts for all of his employees, and bought a few things for himself, so he probably was in the same ballpark as me on spending, not counting the two big purchases.

Then, there were meals.     For dinner, we sought out local seafood restaurants every evening.     I had some of the best seafood I've had in a long time while we were there.

We stopped at three of the H-D Dealerships during the event where many of the vendors were set up.     At one dealership, I was actually insulted by one of the employees.     It is bad enough when a stranger insults you, . . . but, . . . I was insulted by a handicapped person . . . someone who should have a little more compassion in what they say to others.     I was actually insulted by a woman with no arms and one leg!     No joke . . . there isn't a funny punch-line following . . . did you hear the one about the woman with no arms and one leg?     No!, this woman was working at the dealership with no arms and one leg.     Yes, she had prostectics . . . and, evidently, an opinion about me that she felt like sharing - in a (psuedo) friendly manner.     And, in case you're wondering -- No!, I didn't do anything to p*ss her off.     In fact, she began talking to me and I responded to her even before turning around to see her.     I didn't notice her arms at first because I was looking at her face as she spoke.     And, to be quite honest, I never noticed her leg (my s.o. and Barbara made a comment about her leg after we left the dealership).

All-in-all, it was a great week of biker activities, checking out vendors, looking at bikes, interacting with other bikers from all over the country/world, and having one great-big-ole party throughout the streets of Daytona.

Returning home was a bit of a shock to the system, though . . . we went from 85 degree days with high humidity to a low last night in the 40s, with the high today only reaching 58 degrees. and the lows for the rest of the week predicted to be in the mid-to-upper 30s to low 40s.     From sweltering to *brrrrrrrrrr* in a snap!

Now I have to get back into 'work-mode' . . . that's not going to be easy . . .

Category:: This Thing Called "Life"

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(c) 2005 A Southern Belle's Life

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Susan Reno-Gilliland, known as "Miss Kitty," an Irish lass, a true Southern Belle; a writer, photographer, animal-lover, dreamer, stargazer, totally tangled (or is that entangled?) in relationships, slightly obsessive iNFp with stories to tell! . . . (fascinated by forensics, human behavior, pushing all the right buttons of men I find interesting, and seeking utterly-sweet revenge without any repercussions.) I am a Friday's Child. Friday's Child is loving & giving.
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