Florida! The Pics!

Here's where things started off.  A shot of his cinnamon moonshine and a beer.  The cinnamon moonshine was his normal jet fuel distillation, cut down to 100 proof, then he added enormous sticks of cinnamon.  It was very good, but the cinnamon was so powerful it caused my throat to tighten up, and my voice to be very deep and gravelly.  I asked him to make me some more and ship it up so I could impress the ladies.

And here is the man of the hour.  He'd broken out a bottle of whiskey which was quite tasty.  I knew I'd never remember the name of it so I had him pose with it.

Shooting at the range - here's a tiny little .22 Magnum that he carries.  That's a 9MM magazine next to it, for size comparison.  He let me fire the thing and man...the kickback on it was amazing!

The mural inside the main entrance at Poe's.  I was going to take a pic of the bathroom but a guy walked in behind me and no guy wants another guy to pull out his camera when he's standing at the urinal...

This scarab beetle was on the walkway outside - also very cool.

This is the entrance to the...well... you know...

Casks of rum and vodka!!!

Pot stills!

I didn't get any pics at the winery but here's a pic of the bottle of port I bought...sitting on an end table out in Todd and Cathi's lanai.  Frikkin beautiful!  Too bad the weather wasn't warm enough to go swimming (water temp was in the high 50's).

Oh yeah, we also had deep fried chicken while I was down there!

Saturday night at the Moose Lodge.  Cheap pitchers of Yuengling, and they come with frozen sticks to keep the pitchers cold.  Todd felt the need to lick this one so of course I had to snap a pic.  I'm not sure if I was more disturbed that he felt the need to lick it, or that he then stuck it into the pitcher we were drinking from...

Shotgun shooting!  Here's one of the stations.  The launchers were on the tower behind us, and shot the pigeons over our heads and away from us.

Another station; set up like an outhouse (it was open on the front and back).  You can see Todd's shotgun sticking out of the front.

The Jug!  Gimme Three Steps!  Man, this place was a run down hole in the wall.  Out back, it looked like a junkyard, with cars in various stages of repair (or abandonment...)

Saturday night stakes!  Here's just one of the platters that went on to the grille.  They'd stuck wooden knives into each one, with each person's initials and how they wanted them cooked.

This is only one half of the cooker and it's packed!

Jumping ahead to Englewood now.  Beavers!!

This was the first stop in Punta Gorda; Laishley's.  They have this Model-T~esque car behind the bar which was pretty cool.

Mongo and the Englewood Lobster made the trip, too!

Atop the (closed) Wyvern rooftop bar!

What a view!

Hmmm, the railings could use some maintenance around here...look at those bolts and how they're NOT secured tightly to the concrete...

Whoops, the pics are a bit out of order.  This is back at Laishley's...

The boys, enjoying the view of the bay...

The Tike Bar!  Yummy rum drinks!!

The ladies by the water...

Damn, El Jobean was closed...

These pics are out of order again.  Here is Karen's poor glass of layered beans...until I got there...  (This is the after-pic.)  :-/

The wine bar and bistro...

The shrimp in the cocktail were huge!!

This stout was very tasty and the boys were all over it...

The propane firepits.  I have GOT to put one of these into my back yard.  I've contemplated it for years but I really need to do it.

Ahhh...fire and beer...such ambiance...

These were the fish light things.  They were way cool!!

The Sportman's bar.

A real upscale establishment, as proven by their bathroom décor...  (The boys were very interested in this lovely lady, as you can tell from the picture.)

My "chicken piccata" from the Italian place.  The boys were amazed at all the capers it came with...

It wasn't until I was on my way back from Englewood that I realized I hadn't taken a pic of the rental bike, so here ya go; 2011 Ultra Glide.

A funny thing about this bike.  Now that I ride a lighter bike, I'd forgotten about the higher center of gravity these Ultra/Electra Glides have.  When I was first riding it and taking corners, I felt it flopping around on me and couldn't help but think of that scene in Matrix where Jada Pinkett Smith is steering the Nebuchadnezzar through the utility tunnel and says "Shit, she's got a fat ass!"

When I returned it to the Eaglerider location, the guy was doing the walk-around for damage and said "Uh-oh, there's a bug on the windshield.  We're gonna have to charge you for that."  (He was kidding.)  I said that since it was a motorcycle, I'd assumed I'd be charged if I DIDN'T bring it back with a bug on the windshield.  He laughed and said that was true, and that they should amend their rules.

Ok, there you go; Jacksonville and Englewood!  I can't wait to get there again!

Ride Hard, Take Chances