By Lulu

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I have to thank the folks at Destination Daytona for providing the photos attached. I had to attend my brother’s funeral in Fairhope, Alabama so I was out of state for most of Biketoberfest. I never miss the events and fun parties that they throw at the Bruce Rossmeyer dealership. The Coca-Cola Pavilion was host of the Miss International Bikini Contest and free concert by Jackyl. There were demo rides, bike shows and lots of games and shopping. Saints & Sinners had live music daily. Check out their website at BRUCEROSSMEYER.COM for monthly events and to see what is on their agenda for the 75th Bike Week coming this March!!!

By Ron Cox

Fort Myers was the site for this year’s Florida HOG Rally, the Roar to the Shore, held from October 7-10th. The rally was hosted by SWFL HOG and Six Bends Harley-Davidson. HOG Chapter Assistant Director Bob Hotovy was the Rally Coordinator and almost all Chapter Officers chaired operating committees. Upwards of 1,500 HOG’s and guests attended the Rally, coming from all over Florida. Out of state-ers included HOG’s from Kentucky, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arizona and California. European HOG’s came from England, Wales and a group from Switzerland.

Early Rally attendees were treated to a sumptuous free spaghetti dinner and were entertained by one of the area’s premier oldies bands Brylcream.

Thursday offered a variety of activities. Cadillac Blue offered country music tunes in the afternoon. There were numerous guided and self-guided rides to destinations like the Octagon Wildlife Sanctuary or a ride on the twisty back roads between Ft. Myers and Naples, ending at Naples H-D. Deb & The Dynamics provided the evening’s entertainment offering a mix of music for everyone’s taste.

Jerry “Motorman” Palladino and his crew of riders put on riding demonstrations on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. One maneuver that drew raves and applause was when a slightly built woman moved from the back seat to the front while her male partner moved from the front to back seat while moving at a moderate pace.

Getting an early start on Friday, plenty of riders took off on a guided ride to the Keys and back. Some of the bike games were held like the road kill grab & balloon toss, the slow race and a new wrinkle to bike games a trike race. Not the kind of trike you’re thinking of, the kind you pedal!!! Precision drill teams from Daytona and Fort Lauderdale showed off their riding skills. DJ John Nichols entertained during the afternoon. Rally goers enjoyed sundaes at The Pit as well as the frozen t-shirt competition. Later in the evening the Grayson Rogers band entertained.

Since it was anticipated there would be a large number of Veterans in attendance, the SWFL mobile military museum was on site and next to it was the USS Florida, a 1/16th scale model of an Ohio-class ballistic submarine.

Last day of the Rally began with unlimited free pastries and cookies at The Pit. Self-guided tours took off while others began lining up for the Parade of Flags. Still others played bike games like the tennis ball pick & place and the ever popular weenie bite. Adam Holbrook put on his stunt show three times during the afternoon, precision drill teams from Daytona & Miami put on shows and the Dixieland Jazz Band entertained at The Pit.

Closing ceremonies included a military tribute to Veterans and deceased Vets, Guns & Hoses bagpipers, a helicopter flyover, awards and recognition to the Rally planning committee. It was announced that next year’s Rally will be staged in Lakeland. The Rally ended with a rousing show by Grand Funk Railroad.

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By Ron Cox

Thousands of bikers and friends converged on Key West to compete in the 43rd Annual Phil Peterson Key West Poker Run on Sept.18-20. Starting in Miami the riders found card stops at various tonsil wash emporiums along the way, ending in world famous Key West.

Late Friday and all day and night on Saturday and Sunday, vendors set up shop on Duval Street, offering everything from cowboy hats, biker jewelry, patriotic t-shirts and flags wall hangings and my personal favorite the folks selling LED pasties. Lots of photo ops and samples could be seen. We found a leather shop off Duval St. selling a lot more than vests and saddlebags; unfortunately we still have figured out how to use some of the leather accouterments!!

The nightlife has to be seen to be appreciated. The Hog’s Breath Saloon, Sloppy Joe’s, Irish Kevin’s and the wonderful Fat Tuesdays. Fats offers about 15 different flavored “slushies” spiked with grain alcohol (proof unknown). For the more adventurous there’s the rooftop nude bar and especially for the ladies there’s the mechanical bull riding contest at Cowboy Bill’s. The winner usually ends up wearing her shoes!!!!

And to wrap up your day a stop at Mallory Square to catch breathtaking sunsets. Street performers and vendors run the length of the area. We settled in at El Maison de Pepe for some delicious mojitos and waited for the sunset. After a few of these we didn’t care if the sun set!!!!

I almost forgot. This was a charity run with thousands of dollars being raised for the Diabetes Research Institute and the Kew West Sunrise Rotary Club. Typical biker event, lots of fun and for a good cause too!!!!

Bike Show Winners: Congratulations to Peter Gonzalez for taking Best in Show and Cartel Baggers for winning Best Pro Shop.

And the Winners for the Poker Run are:

1st Place: Gary Ervin from Port St. Lucie with 4 Queens, 10 high. Won $1,000.

2nd Place: Jeff Carberry from Myakka City with 4 Jacks, 8 high. Won $500. He also won the Texas Hold-em game with 3-Fives Takes $6,000 cash.

3rd Place: Jeff Payne from Jupiter with 4 jacks, 5 high won $300.

4th Place: Glenn Davis from Homestead with 4 Tens, Queen high won $200.

5th Place: Sherri Hermanowski from Waterberry, Vt with 4 Tens, 7 high won $100.

Furthest Traveled was Roxane Brown from Bremeston, Washington won $200 Peterson’s Gift Card.

Oldest Tee Shirt Contest winner with a 1988 was Richard Goldman from St. Augustine, Fla won a $300 Peterson’s Gift Card.

50/50 cash raffle winner was Aldon Piere who won $600 cash.

By Lulu

The parking lot of the Flagler Imaging Center in St. Augustine was a sea of pink when I arrived. Pink T-shirts, pink boas, pink hair, and pink beards…pink, pink everywhere. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Cities everywhere use this as a month to raise funds for research, free mammograms, etc. But just focusing on the disease and the need for women to GET THEIR MAMMOGRAMS is in itself a reason to get out and ride…in pink! This was the 7th year of this ride and it was extremely well attended. The after the ride party included horse drawn carriage rides which is part of the St. Augustine culture. There was live music, raffles, food, vendors and a silent auction. This was by far one of the most organized events I have witnessed…good work guys from the Unity Outreach St. Augustine.

By Lulu

Bill and Connie McCormick have been huge supporters of local runs for as long as I have lived in the Daytona area. Always on rides for charity and ALWAYS on their bike! Well due to medical problems Bill’s friends threw a ride for them and friends and fellow bikers returned the kindness Bill and Connie have shown others in the past. I know they want to say a huge thank you to the people who rode and to the bars that participated including Scarey Mary’s!

By Billy “Kneecap” Braddock

I’ve always considered November to be one of the more important months of the year. After all, we have four very important days in the month. There’s my birthday, the Marine Corps birthday, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving. The reason I mention my birthday as being important is because at my age there is not going to be too many more. You know you’re getting old when you feel like you’re a gallon of milk that the date on your driver’s license is a month past ”best if used by” and your health insurance policy includes an autopsy. I eat as many things that have a lot of preservatives as I can because at my age I need all of preserving I can get. When I get in discussions about the condition of our country, I have often been quoted as saying “I will probably be dead by the time our country is completely destroyed”. Well, I think it’s happening faster than I thought. Playboy announced the other day that they would not publish any more nude photos. Now, if that is not an indication of the destruction of this country nothing is. I wish I was a teenager again, so I could take my flashlight and my Playboy magazine, crawl under my blanket and read all the articles. RIGHT!! Of course, at that age I knew everything.

November 10th is the 240th birthday of United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps has participated in every war that has involved the United States. Let’s say thanks to all the active and former Marines. “Oorah” “Semper Fi”.

November 11th is Veterans Day when we honor all the members of the Armed Forces who have served this country valiantly, preserving our freedom and our way of life. I am constantly writing about how bad we treat our veterans. Veteran homelessness is disgraceful. It not only affects those from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but also those who served in Vietnam, Korea and even World War II. Those who served in the Vietnam and post-Vietnam era have the greatest risk of becoming homeless. The number of homeless veterans in America is estimated at over 50,000. Vet homelessness is mostly faced by returning males, but females make up about 8% of the homeless vets. 50% of the homeless vets are between the ages of 18 and 50. One third were in a war zone at sometime. More than 50% of the homeless veterans suffer from disabilities. About two thirds of them have substance abuse issues. I was surprised to learn that we only spend about $154 billion on our vets. This includes veteran’s benefits, medical care, housing, education, training, and rehabilitation. Veterans are at risk for suicide, mental health issues like PTSD, disability, and even unemployment. Our veterans need and deserve our help. $338,300,000,000,00 is spent on illegal aliens each year. Are we stupid? We can thank our Congress for caring more about illegal aliens than we do our Veterans that fought so they could keep spending our money to keep their way of life and so called important jobs.

November 26 is Thanksgiving Day. This year it may be a little bit more important. While we eat drink and be merry we need to thank God that we still live in a country that has not become totally Socialist. We still have the right to protect our Constitution even though our government wants to trample on it. Take time to read and understand the 1st, 2nd, 9th and 10th amendments. These are very important.

Check out my website nobodiesopinion.com for more opinions.

See you on the shiny side of tomorrow.

By Lulu

We kicked off our monthly Twisted Tea/Thunder Roads Bike Events in September at Main Street Station in Daytona. Twisted Tea is our Bike Night sponsor so we had a hot chick playing with fire can’t get any more Twisted than that. Twisted Tea samples and giveaways all night long. Great music was featured by Bath Salt Zombies and as everyone knows Phaedre always has kicking music on their Wednesday night bike nights. $1 beer and great music no wonder the parking lot is always full! As part of our monthly bike event we collect non perishable food for the food pantry and give $50 cash to a lucky winner. One ticket for the raffle per item, some chose to just pay $1 per ticket. We ended up with $151 dollars and 63 pounds of food all of which stayed in Volusia County going to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Special thank you to Sherry Fletcher for collecting the cans and selling the raffle tickets. And to Janet Cater for donating $50 cash! Also the lucky winners gave the money to the food bank too! See our ad for November’s event!!

By Julie Saylor (photos by Pam Stein)

The babes were in full force on Sunday at the Main Street Station in Daytona Beach for the Second Annual Battle of the Babes for the Cure. Proceeds from the event benefitted the Florida Breast Cancer Foundation, who was on hand to give out literature and to talk about the Foundation’s work to eradicate the nation’s second-worst killer of women.

“The theme of the day is Girl Power,” said event organizer, Julie Saylor. “We have female-fronted bands, a woman running sound, a female-led bike run and female vendors, all taking place at a venue run by a woman, benefitting an organization founded and run by women, for a cause that affects mainly women.”

An intimate bike run led by the Chrome Divas started the day off, winding through Daytona to rest for a photo op at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse before returning to the Main Street Station for a day of raffle drawings and music. Female-fronted bands from all over Central Florida rocked the stage all day, coming together to raise awareness and money to battle breast cancer.

The Babes included Suzanne Doane-Williams and Zanband, Wicked Kitty, fronted by Kerry Musser, Zu Crew, led by Melodie McCall Magner, Strut, featuring Lindsey Brown, and Bad Apple with Julie Saylor. The bands were not competing against each other, but rather battling side by side to fight breast cancer. All the bands donated their time and talent to the event, as did Audio Z Productions, Stockwell Brothers Stage Lighting, and the Rockstar Music Foundation, who donated the stage, sound and lighting. Sloppy Joe’s and Piscataway Pizza contributed as well, donating lunch for the riders on the bike run, and businesses from all over the area contributed items of all kinds to be raffled. Daytona Jeep Rental and Evolution Gym donated the day’s grand prizes; a weekend Jeep Rental and a one-year full-access gym membership.

Main Street Station manager Phaedra Lee called the event a huge success, and plans are already being made for the annual event’s 2016 extravaganza. Attendees and participants all had a great time, and next year’s event promises to be even bigger and better!

By Lulu

Everyone loves the Iron Horse Saloon and everyone loves good music. The week before Biketoberfest the Iron Horse Saloon kicked off the fall riding season by bringing in the Razorbacks for a 4 day rock-a-billy music event. Their sponsors J&P Cycles, Politis and Matovina law firm and Tropical Tattoo helped make this 4 day event possible.

By Lulu

First Turn Steakhouse and Lounge in Port Orange have a weekly Tuesday night Bike Night with beer specials, live music and some type of free vittles each week! And if you haven’t tried their jello shots you don’t know what you are missing. Goat from Full Throttle TV series was on hand to play some redneck games which included plungers and toilet paper. You just never know who might turn up at First Turn. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Austin Dillon have been spotted there this year. So ride on in to their Tuesday night bike night for great music and a chance to hang out with really great people who like to ride!

By “Kneecap”

Labor Day weekend is always busy. So much going on and not enough time to cover it all. When Lulu called me and asked if I could cover an event at Bruce Rossmeyer’s Destination Daytona featuring Bill Wharton aka “The Sauce Boss” I hesitated. I never heard of him but then he probably never heard of me either. I was pleasantly surprised. He is said to be the inventor of gastronomic boogie woogie. He plays the blues, classic R&B and rockabilly-flavored tunes while cooking a large pot of gumbo that he hands out free at the end of his gig. He says he has served over 200,000 bowls. It was so good, most went for seconds. If you get a change catch his show you won’t be disappointed.

By Deborah Speicher

The weather is starting to get just a little cooler and a whole lot dryer. That means it was time for the Cotee River Bike Fest. Once again, all of the New Port Richey downtown district roads were closed off to allow motorcycle only parking, additional vendors and an additional entertainment stage. This three day event (October 9-11) was multi-faceted and really did incorporate something for everybody.

Friday night started out with various bands including local favorite, The Greg Billings Band, plus a “Dukes and Dudes” contest. Saturday and Sunday featured more good music in addition to a ride-in bike show, the Harley-Davidson Demo Truck, bikini contest, pub crawl and professional wrestling. There was also a poker run on Saturday sponsored by Fire & Iron Station 43 MC which benefitted the Children’s Burn Camp.

Coupled with great weather and attendance all three days, I would say that this event was a huge success!

By Billy “Kneecap” Braddock

Here we are in October getting ready for Biketoberfest with partying on our minds. However, I need to write this column in advance so I’m still in September. This past Sunday I went to the 9th annual 9/11 Memorial Ride and Ceremony. Even after 14years, the memories are still embedded in our minds and hearts. Even though the weather was terrible (rain, rain and more rain) 500 bikes showed. The USPS has nothing on these dedicated bikers. Their motto should be “Neither rain, nor heat, nor gloom of heart stays bikers from honoring and remembering the heroes and the fallen”.

The thing that broke my heart was when I saw an on the street interview with college freshmen. They know very little or nothing about the tragedy of 9/11/2001 when Islamic terrorist murdered 3000 innocent people. Granted, they may have only been 4-5years old but they graduated High School. Was this not taught in school? Apparently not. Is this what our educational system has become? Unfortunately, this is true. They indoctrinate not educate. I wasn’t born when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, or when there was WWII, but I learned about them in school.

Another thing that opened my eyes to what is happening in this country; an elementary school student was asked what he knew about 9/11. His reply was (paraphrased) “Why should I care? I’m Mexican”. Somebody needs to tell him that 90 countries lost citizens that day and 15 were Mexican.

I’m writing this on Constitution Day (or Citizenship Day). This is an American federal observance that recognizes the adoption of the U.S. Constitution and those who have become U.S. Citizens. It is normally observed on September 17, the day in 1787 that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia. In 2005 the U.S. Dept. of Education announced the enactment of a law that mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programming on the history of the Constitution on that day. Guess what? It was no surprise that when I called several public schools no-one knew what I was talking about. Education is the foundation of any country. It looks like ours is sitting on quicksand. Abraham Lincoln said it right “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms it will be because we destroyed ourselves”. We spend a lot of time looking for intelligent life on other planets. I’d be happy if we found some in Washington D.C.

Our Constitution is being trampled on and misrepresented daily. The 9th and 10th Amendments have failed to curtail the growth of the federal government and the Supreme Court has failed to keep the other two branches in check. The men in black are writing their own laws

I have a lot more to say about the Constitution on my website nobodiesopinion.com

I had sex with a telephone operator and I think she reversed the charges. To be on the safe side I took a pregnancy test. Thank God the results were I’m just fat. I’m too old to have kids.

See you on the shiny side of tomorrow.

By Lulu

If a man’s wealth is judged by his friends…Marty Smith is among the richest! A benefit was held for Marty who worked as the manager of Lowes in Port Orange. First Turn Steakhouse hosted the event with live music and a HUGE raffle which entertained the HUGE crowd. I attend events of this nature all over the state and I must say this one really set the bar high. It was organized…fun…and I am certain the money raised and the emotional boost of seeing so many people come together to show their love and support will help this family deal with his Stage 4 cancer. I want to thank the Hilliard’s at First Turn for always being so involved with the community. And to each and everyone who worked on the event and attended this great cause for Marty…you guys and gals rock!!

By Billy Braddock

The dictionary says that entrepreneurs are persons who undertake business ventures usually with considerable initiative and risk. This country has been obsessed with celebrities. Example “American Idol”. However, the entrepreneurs who start businesses and support the community are the real Idols. Here in Flagler County, we have some of the best this country has to offer. Matt Crews and Joe Rizzo have been running Woody’s BBQ since 2000. Both grew up in Flagler County and graduated from Flagler Palm Coast High School together. Chris Zwirn after eight years as district manager overseeing three Wendy’s locally joined forming JMC Food Company, which was formed using the first name initials of the three owners. Woody’s BBQ is noted not only for its great food but for its community projects which includes donating free kids meal tickets at Woody’s to schools to use as they wish, usually as a reward for good grades. They also sponsor many functions in the community including the classic car show every Wednesday evening. Woody’s BBQ is located at 99 Flagler Plaza Dr., Palm Coast and is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week.

They didn’t stop there. They went out to West County and at the end of County Road 2006 and reopened Bull Creek Fish Camp on Dead Lake. This Lake not only offers access to Mud Lake to the East and Crescent Lake to the West but also some the most beautiful sunsets in Florida. It’s a great place for fishing, boating, motorcycle rides and even poker runs, not to mention the quality food. It’s open from 5:30 AM through 9 PM for breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

All this was still not enough for these very ambitious entrepreneurs. They became partners in the Island Grille at 1224 S. Ocean Shore Blvd., Flagler Beach. This used to be the former Blue restaurant at the Topaz motel. It’s open from 7 AM to 9 PM for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Rumor has it that they haven’t stopped there. Look for a new pizza place on County Road 305 in the western part of the county.

Now, these are the Idols we should emulate, because they are what the American dream consists of and what this country was built on. Hard work, initiative, risk and belief in your community.