Flywheelin' Part 2

Dave went to the latest Flywheelers Show and swap meet in Fort Meade yesterday, but the weather was predicted to be in the mid to upper 80's, so I passed on the trip this time. Dave said it was good that I did, because it was also very dry with dirt and dust blowing everywhere. My asthma would not have been too happy with that. The show itself was phenomenal, and with less walking since Jim, Sharon, and Dave had rented one of the available 2000 golf carts! Anything goes for vehicles at these shows as you will see in the photos below.

There was a barn filled with all sorts of Cushmans!

Have you ever seen a Porsche tractor? This was a 1961 model.

This Minneapolis-Moline 445 had a Chrysler 426 Hemi under the hood. 

John Deere was the featured tractors for this event. Some were quite extreme, like this one that was big block Chevy powered.

Every day there is a parade...

Here is a John Deere puller tractor powered by a Honda CB 550, 4-cylinder motorcycle engine.

No description needed. 😉

The kids even had their own little sand pit to play in. The adults had a much bigger 'sand box' to use their equipment in.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of photos for this event. Next season we will hopefully do it all over again with me joining in the fun.

😎

Heavy Weather Sailing

Yesterday the winds on the RC sailboat course were windier than expected. Many of the boats laid right over, but the Dragon 95s have heavy bulb keels to keep them from flipping over and capsizing, although some do take on water. They ran about a dozen races and they sure were fast!

The guys definitely had to concentrate though. The little tugboat is radio controlled and is used to retrieve boats that can't make it back to the dock. It didn't happen this time, but some boats did get tangled up in each other and blew back to shore (including Dave's and two others whose keels somehow got tangled together). 

 There were 10 boats competing, which is the most I have seen in the local races. What a fun but challenging day!

😎

Little Red Wagon

Dave bought a little red wagon to transport his RC sailboat to our local ponds here in the park. However, it has been quite useful for other things, especially since the sides come off. Take for example yesterday when Dave's new reclining chair arrived, we gave our old one to Jim, and the guys transported it by bicycle around the corner to Jim and Sharon's house. 

They sure got a lot of funny looks from passing motorists, but it certainly got the job done.

😎

Tortoise Count

We have been back to finding land bound activities due to high winds, but at least it is nice and warm out again. Yesterday we headed to Fort Pierce Inlet to watch the kiteboard sailors and windsurfers, but it was so windy that there weren't many out on the water (we had never seen the inlet with a 'rage' on like that and huge rollers coming in against the outgoing tide made it pretty much impassable). One kiteboarder ended being dragged out of the water on his belly by his 'sail', up across the beach and into the dunes, until he could release his safety line. We couldn't believe it when he straightened everything out and went back in the water! Sorry, I have no photos to share.

Today we went to Twin Rivers Park in Port Salerno to see if any of the tortoises were out roaming around. Boy, were they ever! I counted at least a dozen of them in all sorts of sizes. They certainly have a perfect place to make their nests overlooking the convergence of the Indian and St. Lucie Rivers, along with the inlet and ICW. 

I caught a photo of this one fast asleep in the sun at the opening of its burrow, which is called the apron.

This little guy was adorable grabbing grass and weeds to munch on. There is another tortoise in the background.

With so little rain lately, I am surprised they can find enough to eat, but they appear to be flourishing. In fact, after watching a courting dance and 'conversation' of shaking their necks and heads back and forth, it looks like we will soon have more little tortoises to observe!

😎

Close-Up With Dolphins

What a fantastic dolphin encounter we had yesterday! We had gone kayaking from Cove Rd. to 'Hole in the Wall', which is a keyhole saltwater lake off the St. Lucie Inlet. We had never done this trip before, so it was a fun new experience. At times we had to paddle like crazy against the current, but then it turned around and it was like running the rapids. The lake itself is bordered by the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park that I have previously posted about. We beached the yaks and walked the sandspit to where the walking trail that we took before, ended (sorry no photos). We had checked Google Earth to see what backwaters we could use to get to the inlet, to stay off the Intracoastal as much as possible. There is a large lagoon we kayaked through, and Dave noticed a couple of dolphins in the distance, heading our way. I decided to slap my paddle on the surface of the water to try and draw their attention and it worked! One went right under Dave on its way to me. Taking photos of dolphins is pretty hard because they surface and go back down so fast. This is a photo of both of them and I don't know if I caught the spray from their exhale or it is just a spot on the camera lens.

You can see how their speed lifts the water and leaves a wake. Nice fin! Good thing it was only a dolphin. 😉 

Off they go, leading us the whole way out to the ICW and across the channel. 

This certainly was a great experience that we will remember for a long time!

😎

2 Stroke Show

Dave and longtime friend Scott went to the 2-stroke vintage motorcycle show held in Punta Gorda. The event was at Bert's Harley Davidson and the place was huge! This Saturday's attraction was the display of about 100 various 2-stroke motorcycles from different people and brands (brother Rick, your Trailhoppers would have been the hit of the show!). 

(Although this one is a combination of the red and black versions, we used to have two of the black Honda MB5's)

Besides the 2 -strokes, there was also a band...

And you could have your bike worked on while visiting their restaurant...

Or how about getting your bike washed? 😉

The Harley store itself had tons of bikes and trikes for sale.

At 2 PM they had the smoke out, where everyone started their 2 stroke bikes at once.

Then the rains came so it was time to leave, but the guys had quite the experience (there are lots of other photos posted on 2-stroke bike show's Facebook page). Next year they want to go to the Dania vintage motorcycle meet, which is supposed to be another awesome event.