Meeting up with MotoTravelers

It’s almost Christmas and what a month, so far. Melanie’s mouth surgery went well and she’s almost healed up.

New shoes for the ’08 ‘Strom, RFB (Ride For Beer), and one big fire. We wanted a better view of the lake so we cut down 100 trees, so now have a view.

We had a great Thanksgiving with friends Doug Wothke (@rtwdoug) and Polly Marinova, owner of MotoCamp Bulgaria (motosapiens.org). It’s always fun to get together and see what new bikes Doug has added to his extensive collection of motorcycles.

We then headed to Tampa, FL to meet up with RTW mototravelers Kinga Tanajewska (@onherbike) and Tim and Marissa Notier (@twoupandoverloaded) for a few days. Kinga found a good Polish Restaurant in town, the Cracovia Polish Restaurant, and we ate probably everything on the menu. The food was excellent, but the décor was the really cool part. A blend of medieval Europe meets America.

A rider in Tampa, Bill VIszt, offered to take us all out for a day of sailing in the Boca Ciega Bay Aquatic Preserve. This was a first sailing experience for all of us. We all took turns helping to set sails and several times dipped the boat so far to the side we could touch the water. The weather was perfect for sailing with blue skies and a moderate warm wind blowing out of the north. We ate and swam in the cool waters of the bay, making it back to port just as a storm blew in. We waited it out on the boat before changing into our gear and riding back to Kinga’s place. After a few days we finally had to say goodbye and head north, back to Gypsy’s Retreat.

The following weekend we headed back to Florida for our granddaughter Lucy’s 7th birthday, followed by a visit to our other son’s house in Chattanooga, TN for a few days. Like I said, it’s been quite a month.