Hi Everybody! it is so hard to believe we are at the end of what I consider the practical riding season. Sure they may be a day here and there where we'll get out  but if you believe in the Farmer's Almanac this winter could be a struggle! Anyways Roy and I made our usual late October journey to Leeds, Alabama home of the Barber Museum and Barber Motorsports Park. This event has grown over the past 9 years to become one of the premiere events for Historic racing, auction and quality swap meet parts. As media motor journalists Roy and I are privileged to cover all aspects of this event. We meet several privateer racers including Stacie London who hails from California making the trip to compete in the GP 200 class onboard her vintage CB 160 racer. Two solid days of racing combined with a wonderful swap meet made for a terrific experience! Roy and I wondered up to the auction site where many antique, historic or just plain one of a kind bikes were going on the block many with no reserve! We didn't stick around fearing we would buy one or more and not be able to transport them :) A big thank you to Bruce Williams the Creator of Packard Museums motorcycle exhibit for transporting our camping gear to/from barber freeing up the space for us to haul more gear for cold weather riding which we eventually needed coming home. After enjoying the sights and sounds of Barber we made our two day journey to Daytona Beach and the Papaya Resorts and Suites our home away from home. As usual Monica Quarto had everything ready for our weeks stay. Monday we road enjoying the Fall weather in Daytona. Tuesday we did our broadcast from the foyer, Wednesday we were the guests of Larry Little at the AIM Expo, a significant 6 day motorcycle event which saw the crowning of the Star motorcycle build. I had an opportunity to shake hands with some legends including the man I consider our greatest racer bar none… Kenny Roberts. Ken is traveling to China next week and has graciously said he will be our guest in the next few weeks. Thursday we decided to actually done our bathing suits and chase the bikini clad girls up and down the beach. Well we actually just watched them, they were too fast to chase :) We met Debbie Daly a nurse from Johnstown, Pa who was vacationing with hubby Tim. Nice to meet folks from our neck of the woods. Mary Jo Hogue the Biketoberfest winner had an awesome week. We had breakfast together Thursday morning compliments of Monica and the LaPLaya. Friday saw me hanging in the pits capturing some photos and getting some information on AHRMA racing. My goal is to someday (soon) race at Daytona during bike week. Roy made his way through the enormous vendor area outside the Daytona Speedway. Later I managed to buy a Trek 820 MTB at Play it Again Sports for $40 bucks. I changed tubes but ran out of time. I will be going back down in March and riding it on the beach for some exercise. We left Saturday morning wanting to get out of the madness and start working our way home. I miss my grandkids so the sooner I get home the sooner I see them. One of the many benefits meeting with the AIM Expo vendors was an AMA Corporate discount to Motel 6. Roy and I decided to try it out and managed to get a $50 room for $42 way cool and it was in Wytheville, Virginia which is half way home. Waking up to 40 degree temps, we decided to walk to Bob Evans for breakfast. Finally with the sun rising so did the temps a little. Still, cold enough to necessitating donning electric jackets and lined cold weather riding pants. The trip home was uneventful and really that's what you want…no problems!

 Total mileage was 2524.0. My historic bike averaged between 38 and 42 miles per gallon and Roy said we had 16 total gas stops. Crazy I never remembered it taking so much gas..probably $200 bucks worth!

Well that's what I did on my vacation and hoping you'll listen to the show tonight to catch up on all the fun we had. Hang in there. Larry