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CDR EXTREME VACATION
You might think that vacation
is a time to rest and unwind especially from the
rigors of work in a city like Chicago. However this
kind of vacation that we were about to partake is no
ordinary vacation. The group has been planning a
Florida vacation for a while now but never realized
it until this summer of 2004.
You can call it
extreme or you can say travel- heavy as opposed to
travel- light. Normally you pack your things and
some toiletries and you are good to go but no-uh,
not in this trip my friend We packed our motocross
bikes, our jetskis and a boat.
Yes! a BOAT. We patiently towed
6 mx bikes, 2 personal watercrafts- a runabout and
a stand up(you know, we call them waverunner and
jetski) and a 20 foot speedboat. You could tell we
are up to something and you're right we know we will
be having FUN!
DAY ONEChicago IL. to Chatanooga Tn. First day,we left Chicago around 10am with the original departure time of 7am.we were in Indiana by lunchtime but not without some guys getting lost of course blaming it on highway construction. yeah right!!!James" crew got into a wrong lane then a wrong exit but found their way anyway. Another mishap occured when the one of the trailers hit a gas station railing in Kentucky ,walah! minor damage yet removed it and fixed it. Photos
We made it to Tennessee by twilight and met a big thunderstorm on last part of our journey. Finally we made it to Chattanooga by midnight which is practically located on the Georgia border. The travel to may not seem that long because Sandie entertained us with his radio personality the whole way through. Although it was late we manage to set up camps and freshen up ourselves in the KOA facilities.It was 64 degrees but we dealt that with a bottle of Tequila. The KOA in Chattanooga was awesome and it was the perfect retreat for a 14 hour journey. Photos DAY TWOChatanooga Tn. to Ocala Fl.The fresh breeze of mountain air greeted us in Chattanooga that first morning .Everyone was excited about that day's itinerary because it was the day to play in the dirt .After breakfast we left Chattanooga and proceeded to Atlanta and we headed for Florida. Everyone was weary since the Hard Rock Cycle motocross park will be closed by 5 pm. It was 3 in the afternoon and we just made it to the Florida border. After several phone calls made to the track ,in what would be the greatest coincidence that we ever encountered. Can you imagine? the owner of the track was from Illinois and used to be the owner of Byron Motosports. God bless the owners' hearts !Upon hearing that we are riders from Chicago they were going to wait for us and will leave the track open for all of us to ride until dark and in addition the campground for everyone to spend the night. We thought we won the lottery. Photos
Hard Rock Cycle is an awesome track .Tim Ferry rides there to practice. It has a gigantic motocross track that sprawls through the hills and a huge Supercross track that we have chosen to abuse. We figured we had 3 hours left before dark to do some bar bangings and catching some air. To our surprise the track may seemed difficult than it appeared. We were not use to sandy track and in retrospect it seemed like the track was abusing us. Hey don't get me wrong here, we had so much fun even though crashing was not uncommon ,the sand was much forgiving than any other track we had ridden. No injuries nor bike casualties but tired muscles and heat exhaustion. Geez! Florida is hot!It was 96 degrees, no wonder RC and BUBBA dominate whatever race they entered. Nighttime fell but it was still hot and humid so we decided to shower with the water hoses that we were using to wash our bikes. That helped anyhow but my oh my! next time we will all bring wall air conditioner unit just like Bobby Mayor did. We bet the Mayors slept much better than the rest of us. Photos
DAY THREEOcala to Haines City Fl. this time its one hot summer morning greeted us on the campgrounds of Hard Rock Cycle mx park. Today we are heading to Universal Studios Orlando for a whole day of R & R for the little kids and the big kids alike. Have you watched "The Blair Witch Project" ? Man !before we headed to Orlando one soul has found a way to entertain himself by putting the video camera on a tripod and did some filmmaking of some sorts just like the movie we earlier mentioned. It started with one person then by another ,then another one making circles while holding the camera up. The results: "The M X Project" .Check the DVD for outrageous boys gone wild footage.
Ocala to Orlando is an hour drive and
we proceeded to Universal Theme Park. It was surreal seeing
all these Hollywood movies in action and in the form of
rides. The notable ones were Twister, The Mummy, Earthquake,
Jaws, E.T., Back To The Future and Some Jetski action on the
lake. The day concluded with some fireworks. It was FUN ,
Its HOLLYWOOD baby!
Photos
We then went to a KOA campground in Haines City the hometown of James Stewart Jr. but found it less appealing than Chattanooga .Another angel was sent to us from heaven or was it pure luck or another coincidence ? The caretaker of that KOA happened to be a part time security guard of The Bestwestern hotel nearby and after she made some calls she told us the good news. 2 suites were available for all of us at a discounted rate for the next 2 days. What a sigh of relief that we could sleep comfortably in an A/C room and bask in the pool too. Oh what a trip it has been so far. Haines City Fl. We woke up refreshed and energized. You know why? air conditioned rooms and real beds. It doesn't mean that we hated the tents and airbeds but if you have to choose between the two we'll pick the hotel rooms with the Florida climate considered. The swimming pool was irresistible , in no time everybody was basking until noontime. The pool water must have a sedating effect because everyone was sleepy and took naps. After the brief naps we were fooling around and enjoyed a striptease courtesy of ARAMINA (not her real name) photos.
DAY FOURFlorida's Natural,Since it was drizzling that afternoon we decided to check out an orange orchard. We had plenty to choose from : MINUTE MAID, FLORIDA'S NATURAL and the other orange juice brands you can find in your local grocery store.
We chose Florida's Natural since it was the
closest and was amazed by the million of orange trees that lined the
roads of Haines City. We had a guided tour via A/V aids on how these
trees were grown, groomed and harvested and turned into a juice
drink. Educational! After the
tour we then went for our early dinner at Lobster feast, Where at
$25 Its eat all you can as the name of the place implied. Thank
heaven it was buffet until eleven! You name it they have it, crabs
,lobster, clams, shrimps, oysters and steaks. No limit. Good thing
Orly was smart enough to bring some soy sauce and vinegar from
Chicago otherwise we would have been done by our 4th lobster .
Sky
Venture,Sumptuous meal indeed, and the next plan was to
venture SKY VENTURE. Really? An average weight gain per person post
seafood feast that night was more or less 10 lbs and everyone had
the guts to fly in a wind tunnel. We thought weight doesn't matter
if the wind is at 120mph. Almost everyone signed up for the ride of
a lifetime. A brief orientation was given on body positioning , hand
and leg formation and of course some hand signals you have to
follow so you won't screw up while in the tunnel. True enough there
is always for first times. Gosh! it was hard but everybody got to
experience flight for a couple of minutes. At $36 , it was
priceless. That made our stay in Orlando the most memorable one.
Everybody went to bed that night with a grin on their faces and a
certificate too.
Photos
DAY FIVEOrlando to Miami Fl.Orlando to Miami is about a four hour drive using the Florida turnpike. We left the land of Mickey around 9 a.m. and we agreed to check out the KENNEDY SPACE CENTER. We were there in less than an hour and were already entertained by the sights of rockets and space shuttles displayed on its surroundings. Had the security not been very strict we would have made the tour but as we entered the parking lot we were already accosted by the guards for not having a trailer license plate. We were dismayed by the attitude shown by this lady guard and added to that was the no video rule inside the center. We decided to proceed to our destination anyway since it was another motocross day .Photos PEPSI/AIR DANIA,We arrived @ 4 p.m. in Fort Lauderdale where the track was located which is about 40 miles from Miami. We were at the gate just before the track opened, we were the first patrons of PEPSI/AIR DANIA. We have not ridden the track yet we could tell the track was good due to the throngs of riders that were slowly arriving. Lap by lap the track was easy to get used to except the triple jump in front of the grandstand seats.We noticed the A & B class had not encountered any difficulty clearing it but the C class may settled in the middle . Meanwhile, Jaemar after studying the sandy clayish track's speed and lines decided to hit the triple and CLEARED it. He was the only one who conquered his fear and did it numerous times. Photos
CHINATOWN,
By dark we
decided to pack up and proceeded to MIAMI since we did not
have any place to stay that night. We remained positive
since we always have the KOA to fall back to just in case.
Maybe to decide better it was time to refuel our tired minds
and body. We found a very fancy Chinese restaurant in
Miami and Sir James treated everyone by taking care of the
tab. Up to this day we could not stop thanking James for his
generosity. Back to the drawing board: place to stay. After
making several phone calls we found "paradise"-the Days Inn
hotel in Miami Beach. Its urinating distance to the famous
SOUTH BEACH and could not thank enough Bobby for pulling
some strings with his fellow law enforcers for allowing our
trailers to be parked right there at the lot. Trying but a
FUN day .
South Beach Miami,Florida,Days
Inn South Beach is not too shabby @ $54 a night per room,
the ocean is stone throw away and plenty of beautiful faces
to see and not to mention the scantily clad people around.
We are telling you MIAMI is true to its word, it is
PARADISE. The place where we were staying may not be the
best but its right at the heart of Ocean Drive and as you
strolled you see plenty of expensive restaurants and
boutiques but hey! there was one Burger King that was very
affordable.Photos
DAY SIX
SOUTH
BEACH,FLORIDA
After breakfast we planned our water fun
activities and headed to the launching area ,of course ! our
jet skis and the speed boat in tow. The launch area was a good
ten miles from South Beach , so riding the stand up jet ski was
a bit tricky and physically challenging. As we traversed through
the no wake channel we passed by million dollar homes with
yachts on their own backyards. Goodness its good to be rich!
Photos
BOATING, As
soon as the personal water crafts and the boat
were filled @ a refueling station we headed to the beach
and WATER FUN started. The water was turquoise blue and
SALTY!!!!! yeah IT was salty.! Of course its sea water
but that was not the point there. Most of us had not
swum in salt water for almost a decade , we were so used
to the lakes here in Chicago.
We finished the activities for
the day when everyone had tried James' fast yet
comfortable runabout (waverunner) that sits three or
Alvin's challenging stand up super jet (Jetski) and not
to forget Bobby's death defying speed boat ,bumpy yet
lots of fun.
So
far so good since those heavy equipments that we towed
for 1400 miles was put to good use .Night fell it was
time to party( due to the graphic nature of the events
that transpired that night we apologize that we could
not publish them)
Photos
DAY SEVEN
Fishing Day,This
was our last full day in Miami and yes it was sunny and
a perfect day for our fishing expedition. After Lake had
arranged the fishing vessel that will take us to the
deep sea waters of the Atlantic, most of us headed to
the beach to take a final swim before leaving home
tomorrow as the fishing schedule was not until 1 p.m.
Miami's South Beach is notorious for its scantily clad
beach-goers and true to its notoriety we spotted a few
sun bathers but mostly concerned about the tan on their
back sides until we ran across three women who were
tanning their front sides and yes nothing but thongs and
yeah they did not mind having their pictures taken with
Lake beside them. One lucky son of a gun!!!! Hey don't
forget who took the pictures ,its ME!!! At 1 p.m. we
were rushing to the pier where we were taking the
fishing vessel , we almost did not make it ! Rules were
explained to all the fishing participants and a contest
was also set as to the biggest catch of the day wins a
pot money. We did not expect blue marlins nor amber
jacks but we were hopeful. I
caught a mackerel and a kid caught a seemingly heavier
yellow fin tuna ,Orly caught a blue jack and Lake got a
stone fish but it was tossed back by the captain.
When we sailed back to pier I got the heaviest catch and
beat that kid which tipped the scale @ 81/2 lbs winning
the pot money. Not bad for a fishing trip where we got a
good tan and the experience of deep sea fishing. We
returned to our hotel rooms
prepared some SUTOKIL, its a special Filipino dish which
consisted of broiling, boiling and preparing the fish
raw much like the Japanese sashimi.
.Photos
DAY EIGHTComing Home to
Chicago ,We left Miami around
brunchtime and we headed back to Chattanooga to spend the night. We
made it to the same KOA around midnight but still manage to
celebrate the success of the trip. We did another SUTOKIL but this
time paired it with Johnnie Walker Blue Label. In hindsight it was a
trip worth remembering for the rest of our lives since we believe
that it would not happen again, maybe it could but the magic will
never be the same again. It was time and money well spent, the
camaraderie that made us closer together ,the memories that would
last a lifetime is what best describes the CDR extreme vacation. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
