Shortly after 9 last night I had a campfire all to myself at a campground a bit north of Daytona. “Twas too early for sleep, and in awhile another soul braved the cold and joined me by the fire ’til it died out. Around us was a thinly populated campground, with 4 wheelers probably outnumbering bikes and a lot of those bikes on trailers. One could see exhaust plumes from many of those 4 wheelers and humming generators, despite temps well above freezing… I slept pretty well in a plain old tent with a below zero rated sleeping bag I never even zipped up all the way. Meanwhile, the campground’s electrical “system” struggled to cope with the load of CPAPs AND electric heaters.

Did hear a few Harley’s pass by on the freeway ’round bar closing time, riders no doubt having failed to check the weather forecast before going bar hopping. I’m encamped with the Airheads, and we’re making an attempt at a comeback after last years official “Airhead Central” was cancelled due to lack of volunteers. Not doing much better this year, as the encampment was down to two overworked volunteers wensday eve when I arrived, but we’ve got reinforcements coming for the weekend. So not sure if I’ll make it to downtown Daytona (not much more than chrome, etc. left there) or even the Speedway parking lot where Honda et al have their wares on display. In another symptom of disappearing Dayrona bike week, even Harley has consolidated at the Speedway, joining the great unchromed masses in a venue where helmets are actually hawked… Meanwhile, if the DOT hasn’t caught up and impounded EBR’s display 18 wheeler trying to pass itself off as an RV, might be worth visiting whatever vacant lot they’re probably sqautting on.

So might sneak out and get you some coverage (from GHG’s twisted point of view) of uptown if not downtown Daytona as well as greater Daytona out here. No big deal if I don’t though… Despite the sparse population, I’ve met some great riders out here and the HOG(NYSE) products seem to be in the minority…