R_W_B
Senior Member
Hey guys I would like to wake up this thread with this suggestion. I met a couple of friends this weekend up in Ocala. We met at Ocala Harley on 441 just north of Ocala (just off I-75). Lots of great new and used bikes to drool over there. Then we rode around the Ocala National forest for a good while before ending up for lunch at a neat little place called Gator Joes.
You need a compass or GPS though since it's easy to get turned around in the forest. Good pavement roads going everywhere. Passed some other bikers there also. And there were some other bikers at Gator Joe's when we got there. Gator Joe's is about 10 miles south of Ocala on the east side of Lake Weir.
You can sit out on the deck by the lake or inside. My wife can't take the heat so we would prolly be inside. But the whole place is really neat. Folks actually drive their boats up the beach head, park and come in to the resturant. The menu is fantastic with reasonable prices on the food, but the beer is high like every other resturant. It's good and cold though.
Anyhow Ocala is Centrally located between Central Florida and North Florida and makes for an easy 2 hr trip (or less) for most of us. Took me 2 hrs from Lakeland up thru the swamp to Sumterville and then I-75 the rest. It's 1-1/2 hrs from Lake City. (If there are any folks further down south we could have a another time and place down say like the Sebring Area ?)
But anyhow we could set a date that everyone can make. I know I have kin folks coming in a couple of months so I couldn't make it then. And also sometimes I will tear the bike apart for one reason or the other and have to order a part, so we need to set a date ahead of time that everyone agrees on. But it doesn't have to be right away either, I need to order a new rain jacket anyhow. Just whenvever EVERYONE that wants to, can be there.
If you guys want to wait until later on in the year when it isn't raining so much then that's cool since I did get soaked on the way back but with a top only rain jacket it's not too bad. Had to slow down to bout 40mph once when it was so heavy I couldn't see, so rain can be a factor.
ANYHOW.... what do you guys think about this? No rush just think it would be fun to set something up at some point in time. No big traffic jams etc just meet, ride and eat and then head back home. Of course there are motels in Silver Springs and Ocala if you care to spend some time there. It's times like this that make me long for a bagger with a tourpak. But my small bags do ok for a trip like this.
Here is the webpage to Gator Joes and under that is a map link. It's located on the east side of the lake. Let me know what you think.
Welcome to Gator Joe's Bar and Grill Gator Joe's Bar and Grill in Ocala, Florida
You need a compass or GPS though since it's easy to get turned around in the forest. Good pavement roads going everywhere. Passed some other bikers there also. And there were some other bikers at Gator Joe's when we got there. Gator Joe's is about 10 miles south of Ocala on the east side of Lake Weir.
You can sit out on the deck by the lake or inside. My wife can't take the heat so we would prolly be inside. But the whole place is really neat. Folks actually drive their boats up the beach head, park and come in to the resturant. The menu is fantastic with reasonable prices on the food, but the beer is high like every other resturant. It's good and cold though.
Anyhow Ocala is Centrally located between Central Florida and North Florida and makes for an easy 2 hr trip (or less) for most of us. Took me 2 hrs from Lakeland up thru the swamp to Sumterville and then I-75 the rest. It's 1-1/2 hrs from Lake City. (If there are any folks further down south we could have a another time and place down say like the Sebring Area ?)
But anyhow we could set a date that everyone can make. I know I have kin folks coming in a couple of months so I couldn't make it then. And also sometimes I will tear the bike apart for one reason or the other and have to order a part, so we need to set a date ahead of time that everyone agrees on. But it doesn't have to be right away either, I need to order a new rain jacket anyhow. Just whenvever EVERYONE that wants to, can be there.
If you guys want to wait until later on in the year when it isn't raining so much then that's cool since I did get soaked on the way back but with a top only rain jacket it's not too bad. Had to slow down to bout 40mph once when it was so heavy I couldn't see, so rain can be a factor.
ANYHOW.... what do you guys think about this? No rush just think it would be fun to set something up at some point in time. No big traffic jams etc just meet, ride and eat and then head back home. Of course there are motels in Silver Springs and Ocala if you care to spend some time there. It's times like this that make me long for a bagger with a tourpak. But my small bags do ok for a trip like this.
Here is the webpage to Gator Joes and under that is a map link. It's located on the east side of the lake. Let me know what you think.
Welcome to Gator Joe's Bar and Grill Gator Joe's Bar and Grill in Ocala, Florida
