Biketober

         


           It is October in Florida.   Leaves don't change into warm hues of red, yellow and orange here.   Most of us don't light our fireplaces yet to keep warm, if we do it is because we come from the north and just want to smell the nostalgia.  We can still go swimming. (If you have a heated pool.)   Disney World never closes due to weather (its been sometime since a hurricane.) AND we have BIKETOBER!!  
          Biketober is where bikers, and I dont mean the person powered peddling kind, amass onto Daytona Beach for the last hoorah of the season before Bikeweek in March.   We put on our leathers and chaps, because now the evenings are cool enough for them, and ride in large groups of friends, or more often than not strangers, around Volusia County.   We ride up and down A1-A breathing in the salt air from the ocean and letting our hair fly loose in the wind.  We cruise through Tomoka Forest with the huge scrub oaks dripping spanish moss, and if it gets foggy we imagine zombies shambling out of the forest.  We visit all the famous local hang outs, the Boot Hill down on Main Street, the Iron Horse and Broken Spoke on US1, and the Cabbage Patch out on I can't remember where...sorry, but I do remember the journey there. 
          We stop at all the not so famous places too.  We oggle the half dressed girls (well not me but my men do) and admire, with deep sighs, how ever single man, no matter how unattractive looks great in leather (not my men, me this time.).  We share tattoo stories and a beer.  Get another patch sewn onto our jean jacket.  Buy more t-shrits, bandanas and leather.  Eat too much vender food.  Show off bikes, and pipes.  And make great friends in a short amount of time.   The sound over the city is the thunder of motorcycles,  and the crisp smell of fall is enahnced by exhaust. 
          Some Floridians dislike these events to the point where they have run bikers off the road doing harm to the rider and bike.   People don't always pay attention to bikers and run them off the road.  Some people just become reckless.   Some bikers drink too much and injure themselves and others.  Sometimes even kill them.  But on the whole, when there is suddenly an addtional few thousand people descending upon a city on motorcycles the injurys are few and far between.  Daytona Beach is still a tourist town and depends upon these events.  At this time of year I want to remind everyone that I have a husband of 28 years who rides and I would like to keep him around a while longer.  He works his ass off for each event, for other peoples pleasure, most deffinitely not his own. I also have a multitude of friends who ride, and work these events, who I would also like to keep around.  So....have fun and remember!

Be aware, look twice then look one more time!  It is BIKETOBER!