I had a great trip down to Daytona .
I trucked the bike down to Mississippi ,and rode it from there .We left on the Wednesday morning .Headed for Tupalo to see Elvis`s birthplace which was cool .From there we headed for Birminham Alabama to the Barber Bike Museum .its an amazing 4 story building with a fantastic collection of stuff, disappointed that there was no memorabilia at all.  We skirted around the rain which kept trying to get us. My front brake cable snapped on the first day, apart from that all seemed to be going well with the 3 bikes .The end of the 2nd day Dave from Mississippi `s speedo had packed up and I needed a new belt for the generator.  Plus we lost Frenchy on the motorway at the end of the day.

Next day we headed for Eustic swap meet, about 80 miles from Eustis Dave went passed me signalling I had a problem.  Stopped at a gas station, my bike was covered in oil.  Had a coffee while it all cooled down.  Dave knew what the problem was as he had had the same problem before.  I had fitted one of the "improved motor valve`s", the pin in the valve had come loose in the casting allowing the flapper to seat and block the hole not letting oil out.
I took it all off and bashed the fitting squeezing the hole together to get me back on the road. When we got to Eustic we realised Dave's rear wheel had side play on it and the drive had chewed the hub up a little.  Rocky and Tony from "Rockys Indian" let us pull the bikes behind their stall.  Dave bought a new drum, sprocket, rivets and bearing.  Rocky let us use his trailer hitch on the back of his truck as an anvil to flatten the rivets.  Two hours later the wheel was back in the bike.  I managed to get myself another standard scout cam cover for the 101 bobber for 150 dollars,  so I had a good day.

Rode to the west coast that night to stay with another Indian rider,  Cambran an Iron But member.  Having done the 1000 mile in less than 24 hours on his chief, Frenchy was there replacing a broken valve spring (without taking the head off ).  He did manage it eventually.  Saturday we headed back to the swap for the concourse judging. Very nice stuff there.

Rode the rest of the way to Daytona, just a couple of hours. We camped at a friends place just ten minutes from the cabbage patch.  It was the least busy Daytona that I have been to, although there was still probably 5/6000 people there.

On Tuesday we got a call from a friend whose bike wouldn't start, on route to him we got pulled by a bike cop, both got a ticket for no headlamp.
Ironically we both are running the sportster generator and Sylvania headlamps, so we can be seen on the motorway .  The word "stupid" must fit in here some where . Ha ha

Went to the Indian breakfast on Wednesday, which is always worth the trip.  Loads of great bikes in the car park. The rain came too, so it was the first time the waterproofs came out.  We had planned to do the run after but we headed for the broken spoke instead to watch the entertainment in the dry.  In the evening Rocky had his annual party at his condo.  Great food, great fun, plus loads of great bikes.

Thursday it was Doc and Maria Batsleer's party at their place. They had all the old riders there to celebrate the 3 new marble placs that are soon to be fitted to the monument on the prom at Daytona beach.  It was a great day.  Doc's garage is really something to see, upstairs is like a museum of racing.   Doc and Maria are always great hosts.

For the rest of the week we just done the usual Daytona bar hoping.  The one sad thing that did happen to us was, on the Thursday night, ten minutes up the road from our camp ground, .they were filming "girls gone wild ".  We were too tired to ride there and had an early night.  We decided we are both sad old men, all street cred has gone.

Sunday we headed back towards Mississippi ,arriving back Wednesday morning at Hernando at 11 30 am.  On the way back I came home via Alpena Arkansas. I dropped off some stuff for Frenchy (the guys that did the century ride home will remember him ) he has opened a really cool "Indian motocycle Cafe "in Alpena, you can look it up on the web site www.indian-motocycle-cafe.com.  Frenchy and Paula have done a fantastic job,  it's really worth a visit if you'r over that way.  

The return trip was trouble free.  The round trip was 2425 miles.  

I had blown my front gasket when the motor valve broke, so I pulled the barrels off to put new ones on.  Dave ran a ball hone through the bores for me.  I fitted new rings, cut and lapped the valves and re ran the bike in 100 miles before I headed back to Canada and the snow.  I left the chief down in Mississippi as there didn't seem to be much point bringing it back due to the snow here.  I plan to go back south in May to ride to Texas and do the Antique club run in Texas.
   

Until the next one.......Eddie Baines