Daytona 2001
By Vicki Duffy

Didn't think we were going to make it, but at the last minute we decided to go to Bike Week. I contacted Dragbars Christian and TN Iceman to tell them we would be heading their way on Monday evening. TN Iceman generously offered to put us up for the night and we accepted. We had dinner with quite a group of VRCC folks at Dragbar's Monday evening & finalized the plans for the trip the following day.

Oh boy, sure didn't want to get up when that alarm went off at 4:15 AM! Monica made hot tea for us, these folks sure do go out of their way to make you feel at home! The temperature was somewhere around 30 degrees when TN Iceman, Jim & I headed for our first stop to meet up with the group that was leaving from Dragbars house. That group consisted of Dragbars, PIBIT, Crazy Al, Alan Baer, & Cruisin Attitude. We had eight bikes headed for Daytona!

The ride was pretty chilly, no downright cold, until the sun came up. Crazy Al & I got in trouble before the first gas stop. We were riding through some nice curves and just couldn't hold our Valks back. This caused the group to miss the first gas stop, and Dragbars had to reprimand us! I took all the blame, even though it was Al that instigated it! Fortunately, only a few miles down the road, we found another place to fuel up.  

We were right on schedule for our brunch stop where we met up with Earthdog & Smilin Jack. Everyone got some hot food and warmed up. At one of the gas stops there was some serious discussion going on as you can see from this photo!

Click on above photo

I only caused trouble one more time on the trip. We were in FL somewhere, the road was open in front of us, it was warm and just a beautiful day. Smilin Jack was leading the group at the time. I just couldn't help it, I had a Valkyrie moment and had to WOT right by Smilin Jack. Well he had to WOT right along with me! We were just laughing & riding & having a good time when Earthdog came on the CB & told us we just missed our exit! We only went a few miles out of our way to turn around. We arrived in St. Augustine around 6PM, not a bad day's ride!  

Wednesday was a blur.....met many new friends and got to visit with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. Spent some time at the VRCC booth. Didn't get to see too many sites.....had to get the bike cleaned up for the show the next day.

The bike show was great....wow, all those custom Valks in one place. Again, there were more VRCC members to meet. I know I won't remember everyone! I got interviewed by Speed Vision, as did some others. I hope they decide to put it on the air! As the afternoon wore on, everyone was getting a bit tired of waiting for the winners to be announced, so Warren & Mosa entertained with their Bubba Teeth. What a pair!!! They had us all laughing so hard we couldn't straighten up!

Thursday night back at St. Augustine, no one could decide where to go for dinner. We ended up ordering in 8 Pizzas. The Hotel was kind enough to let us use their breakfast area. This worked out great, everyone got to eat and visit at their leisure. Of course I was busy making my world famous Margaritas.

Jim, Earthdog & I went to Main Street Friday morning. After finally finding the KuryAkyn booth, I purchased some pegs I had been wanting for some time. We said our good-byes and Jim & I headed north back toward TN.

Bike Week is OK, but to me the greatest thing was meeting up with fellow VRCC members. Spending time with friends new & old was the best part of the trip. This is an outstanding group of people we have here! Can't wait till the next event, see y'all at the Hoot!