Blogs from Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, North America

After a four-year hiatus during the COVID pandemic and its aftermath, it's finally time for us to wipe the dust and cobwebs from our passports, and embark upon another odyssey to Europe. The tentative plan for this trip, which was a surprise birthday gift to my lovely wife and travel partner, is to make Sorrento in southern Italy our home base for two months, taking side-trips wherever the winds and our whims take us. At this point, Rome, Madrid or Barcelona, and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (on the French Riviera, not far from Nice) are among the destinations under consideration. We'll spend the final two weeks of our journey in Paris. During previous trips, in 2016 and 2018, we enjoyed visiting the Amalfi Coast/Naples region of Italy, including Sorrento, Positano, Ravello, the Isle of Capri and the impressive Greco-Roman ... read more

We have had a great week at Daytona. We were able to get in two really nice rides, one to Ocala National Forest and one to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Outside of Ocala, near The Villages, we looked at some property but we were not impressed. Neither of us care much for Central Florida. The wildlife refuge was really worth the trip. We took a long hike through the wetlands and saw gators, Manatees, wild hogs, armadillos, and many nesting birds throughout the refuge. It was miles and miles of open road through the coastal plains on a warm mid-70s afternoon. A good way to pass the time while we waited for race weekend. You can't talk about the races without mentioning the improvement done to the racetrack. They made a substantial investment in ... read more

First things first: I'm sorry I whined about the cold weather in Jax in my last post. You folks up north must be freezing your butts off this weekend while we languish in the relative warmth of mid-60's and contemplate our bike rides in between races for the week. Sure glad we are here. Yesterday we said goodbye to Jacksonville after a quick weekday ride to St. Augustine and moved the Roadancer show to Daytona Beach for Race Week. We are in a KOA about three miles from the track. While they pack'em in during race week and bike week it is understandable, this is their "Black Friday" month before the stifling summer heat and humidity starts and it's to nasty to even think about camping. For the most part everyone is here for the same ... read more

Our first stop on downtown Daytona’s historic main drag, was the Dancing Avocado Kitchen, where both the fare and the décor hearken back to the 1960s. I ordered a toasted cheese and avocado sandwich with a side of shredded broccoli stems. Nancy treated herself to the sprouted lentil salad. Old street signs, bumper stickers, and posters festoon the walls of the Dancing Avocado. My fave? "Stop! Forrest! Stop!” (Think Forrest Gump, the movie). Curious about the ambiance of the place, I asked the waitress if it had been there since the '60s. “No,” she said, "We’ve only been in business 18 years." After lunch, we strolled two blocks south to the Halifax Historical Museum, located in what was once the old Merchant’s Bank Building. The building, which opened in 1911, is itself a piece ... read more

It's 10:15 by the time I enter the Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church, where the gate attendant hands me a "communion set," and tells me to tune my radio to FM 88.5. The communion set, which according to the Church's online brochure has been "carefully prayed over and packaged by loving volunteers," consists of a small plastic cup of grape juice and a sliver of wafer. I find a place close to the front and tune to 88.5, listen to the choir, and take in my surroundings. Unlike the drive-in movie theaters of my youth, the grounds here are not covered in gravel or asphalt, but planted in a variety of Bermuda grass hearty enough to withstand being driven over and parked upon. Out in front of me is a yellow two story A-frame decorated ... read more