wfooshee
O, Woe is me!!
Patriot, long-time forum member, but not so active here any more, texted me during the week last week and said he was planning on going to Pensacola to meet up with another mutual buddy. I texted back for where and when, and rode over to Daphne, Alabama to meet them at the exit off I-10, and from there we rode to Gulf Shores and had lunch at a place called LuLu's, and then went to Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation Museum.
Mike (Patriot) was coming with another friend, Steve, from Gulf Shores, who he'd stayed with last night after riding from his home in New Orleans. Nick was in Pensacola, having ridden over yesterday from Jacksonville, and I left this morning from home in Panama City. I got to the appointed meetup (Burger King) to find Nick there, and it was about 20 minutes before Mike and his buddy Steve (from Gulfport) arrived. Here's my miniature FJR next to Nick's new H-D Super-Chromie-Glide-Elektra-Thingie. (Who can keep track of H-D's model names, anyway. You just throw electra, super, road, glide, and ultra into a hat and pick any three, I think.)
Here's Mike pulling in. He saw the camera and had to roll it on a little thick.....
The four horsemen of the Apocolypse (well, three.... one was taking the picture):
Mike has blasphemed. I'm just not sure who the blasphemy is against......
Once the cruiser guys satisfied their curiosity about Mike's tricycle, we headed south to Gulf Shores and a place called LuLu's. Reminds me much of Schooner's at my own Panama City Beach, except it's not on the beach, and they don't shoot a cannon at sunset. Food was great, though! Everybody dug into shrimp, crab, oysters, all kinds of stuff that is poison to me and my shellfish allergy.... I had some of the tuna thingie appetizer, which was wonderful, and then had their pulled pork BBQ sandwich, which was also very good!
Mike says, "I vill take your shtupidt Androidt phone and put in in my hand a cr-r-rush it, like zo!!!"
Now well-fed, and ready to face the next six hours, possibly without food, we exited the premises, mounted the steeds, and went to Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation Museum. After stopping for some 1.85 gas. (I'd seen 1.75 earlier on, but I wasn't leading at the time, and we were getting to the food place, which was more important anyway.)
L-to-R, Mike, Steve, and Nick.
Oddly enough, the museum is where I met Mike and Nick, except I didn't actually meet them. I'd ridden over by myself on December 13, 2008 (last week seven years ago!) and found these parked there: I wrote a note and left it on the FJR, mentioned the forum, gave my forum name and asked if he knew it or was on it. When I left the museum there was a response from him on my bike. So we didn't meet, but we met. I think.
Anyway, we arrived at the museum, and the Harley guys started having a mutual admiration thing, Nick dug out this phone app that tied in to his ECU somehow, and he could program stuff, watch a tach on his phone, whatever. Ooh. Ahh. Mike and I went inside.
I took a picture of this engine simply because I was mildly astonished when i saw it. I've actually seen it many times, and I've got pictures of it somewhere, but from the other side of the engine. I'm not sure I ever knew it was a cutaway!!!!
28-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major.
We watched the IMAX film, Living in the Age of Airplanes, which was quite good. It basically outlines how humans spent 200,000 years getting around by walking. Then about 5000 years ago we got the wheel. 500 years ago we got transoceanic ships. A couple of hundred years ago we got the steam engine, then less than a century later we got the airplane. Basically man spent almost his entire history with his mobility limited to how fast he could walk. Now, once you're at the airport, you're basically walking distance from nearly anywhere on the globe, and that changes things. No culture is isolated, no product is out of reach, you can be anywhere on the planet in a day or two, and that happened within the last half of a century. Very good experience, made by National Geographic, narrated by Harrison Ford.
After the film, I headed home, and what is now The Three Amigos went to the bunkhouse to prepare for their activities tomorrow.
Mike (Patriot) was coming with another friend, Steve, from Gulf Shores, who he'd stayed with last night after riding from his home in New Orleans. Nick was in Pensacola, having ridden over yesterday from Jacksonville, and I left this morning from home in Panama City. I got to the appointed meetup (Burger King) to find Nick there, and it was about 20 minutes before Mike and his buddy Steve (from Gulfport) arrived. Here's my miniature FJR next to Nick's new H-D Super-Chromie-Glide-Elektra-Thingie. (Who can keep track of H-D's model names, anyway. You just throw electra, super, road, glide, and ultra into a hat and pick any three, I think.)
Here's Mike pulling in. He saw the camera and had to roll it on a little thick.....
The four horsemen of the Apocolypse (well, three.... one was taking the picture):
Mike has blasphemed. I'm just not sure who the blasphemy is against......
Once the cruiser guys satisfied their curiosity about Mike's tricycle, we headed south to Gulf Shores and a place called LuLu's. Reminds me much of Schooner's at my own Panama City Beach, except it's not on the beach, and they don't shoot a cannon at sunset. Food was great, though! Everybody dug into shrimp, crab, oysters, all kinds of stuff that is poison to me and my shellfish allergy.... I had some of the tuna thingie appetizer, which was wonderful, and then had their pulled pork BBQ sandwich, which was also very good!
Mike says, "I vill take your shtupidt Androidt phone and put in in my hand a cr-r-rush it, like zo!!!"
Now well-fed, and ready to face the next six hours, possibly without food, we exited the premises, mounted the steeds, and went to Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation Museum. After stopping for some 1.85 gas. (I'd seen 1.75 earlier on, but I wasn't leading at the time, and we were getting to the food place, which was more important anyway.)
L-to-R, Mike, Steve, and Nick.
Oddly enough, the museum is where I met Mike and Nick, except I didn't actually meet them. I'd ridden over by myself on December 13, 2008 (last week seven years ago!) and found these parked there: I wrote a note and left it on the FJR, mentioned the forum, gave my forum name and asked if he knew it or was on it. When I left the museum there was a response from him on my bike. So we didn't meet, but we met. I think.
Anyway, we arrived at the museum, and the Harley guys started having a mutual admiration thing, Nick dug out this phone app that tied in to his ECU somehow, and he could program stuff, watch a tach on his phone, whatever. Ooh. Ahh. Mike and I went inside.
I took a picture of this engine simply because I was mildly astonished when i saw it. I've actually seen it many times, and I've got pictures of it somewhere, but from the other side of the engine. I'm not sure I ever knew it was a cutaway!!!!
28-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Wasp Major.
We watched the IMAX film, Living in the Age of Airplanes, which was quite good. It basically outlines how humans spent 200,000 years getting around by walking. Then about 5000 years ago we got the wheel. 500 years ago we got transoceanic ships. A couple of hundred years ago we got the steam engine, then less than a century later we got the airplane. Basically man spent almost his entire history with his mobility limited to how fast he could walk. Now, once you're at the airport, you're basically walking distance from nearly anywhere on the globe, and that changes things. No culture is isolated, no product is out of reach, you can be anywhere on the planet in a day or two, and that happened within the last half of a century. Very good experience, made by National Geographic, narrated by Harrison Ford.
After the film, I headed home, and what is now The Three Amigos went to the bunkhouse to prepare for their activities tomorrow.
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