Day 5: The Road to Titusville, Part 3

This night was rough. Sleeping in the hot, sticky weather was tough. I woke up a lot just because I was too sweaty. But on the plus side, our beach side camping spot allowed me to get right up and head out for a swim in the gulf.
The water was great. It was warm with cooler swirls of current and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves It was invigorating.
We packed up our stuff and hit the road. Today we had a real destination in mind. We were offered a place to stay with my Aunt Pat.

We powered down the road. Determined to make some distance while it was still cool. We stopped for lunch/breakfast in Perry at a little local restaurant.
The breakfast food was good. Nate got stuck in the bathroom because the door knob stopped working. We talked riding gear with a cool older couple. They were looking at a long distance trip and wanted to know about our pants.

The road from Perry to Ocala was nice, fast country highway. We ate up the miles and enjoyed it. We took a break in Ocala. I was looking for shade and bathrooms and Nate noticed a nice looking bar/grill. We ordered Ice Tea and enjoyed the facilities and A/C. Now I sorta feel like we should be "roughing" it a bit more, but I guess real adventurers take advantage of A/C and clean bathrooms given the opportunity too :)
Looking at the map we thought the road through Ocala National Forest would be awesome. Unfortunately it was some of the least scenic highway we had been on all day. It was disappointing.

We had received advice by a rider in Ocala to skip the interstate and travel down the US1 when we got to Daytona Beach. This is was bad advice. The farther I go on this trip the more I seem to be affected by the feel of a place. Some places just feel wrong, and I don't want to be there.

The vibe of Daytona Beach beach was all wrong. Now, those who ride know about "The Wave." When you pass another motrocycleist (scooters don't count) you wave. Harley, metric, sports bike, whatever, if its got 2 wheels and you have to thow a leg over, you're a rider and you get a wave. Now about 98% of riders are cool and if they have a free hand they wave back. (the other 2% are pretentious picks and will only wave to someone who rides the same "type" of bike as them.) Out of at least 30 motorcyclists we waved to only 2 waved back. How LAME! Everyone seemed too self absorbed. People in cars had zero respect for motorcycles. I guess we were thinking it was going to be a beach type vibe. Daytona Beach is a beach town with out the beach soul.

We were so turned off by it, we just jumped back on the interstate and pushed for my Aunt's house. To get off the bikes and rest.