My visit to Orange County Choppers

OK, it wasn't really OCC like you see on TV, It was their retail store (In case you aren't familiar, I'm talking about Orange County Choppers featured in the Discovery Channel show "American Chopper"). Due to the success of the show, they have plenty of fans stalking the guys at the shop and I had no desire to be one of "them". I was happy to browse the store and check out the bikes they had on display. I hoped to see some of the bikes from the show up close and was a little disappointed to find only a couple. I guess the more famous bikes are being shown elsewhere. The "Livestrong bike" built for Lance Armstrong was there as well as the "Chrismas bike" (Geez that thing is UGLY!). They did have a few other cool old-school choppers that Paul Sr. built. I'm always impressed at the detail work they do.
I think sometimes the fame of the TV show has overshadowed the fact that these are guys who love to build badass motorcycles. The Discovery channel built them into characters that are so typecast. I wonder if they are different when the "reality show" crew is not around.
As I was looking around the store, I kept thinking "Kiss"... Not the verb, the band! These guys have their names and faces on everything from coffee mugs to Pez dispensers. What a marketing machine! Of course I bought my T-shirts and other souvenirs... What kind of fan would I be otherwise? ;-)

The Orange County Choppers retail store

How much is that chopper in the window?

Old-school Panhead bobber

A nice "Paul Sr."Indian chop

A few other nice rides!

A couple more...

A collection of law enforcement patches lines a wall of the store.
Nice dog statue!

Mikey for President... A lunchbox I never knew I needed!

Memorial Day weekend at Crescent Beach

We took advantage of great weather and an invitation to visit our friends Mike and Lavon at Mike's parents condo in Crescent Beach. Sunday morning we packed a change of clothes and our swimsuits on the Harley and headed south. The condo sits on the ocean in one of my favorite parts of the east coast. Just south of Marineland there is a stretch of beach that is covered with natural coquina rocks. It's unlike any other beach in FL... Very pretty!

We hung out by the pool in the afternoon, then cooked a great dinner on the grill and gathered our beach chairs and accessories to enjoy an evening on the beach. No bonfires allowed, so we brought candles. Not quite the same, but fun nonetheless!
We spent the night and got up early Monday and rode home in perfect, cool conditions. I could do that every weekend!

Assume the position!

Love that beach (and the girl)!

This is what the above picture looks like as it happens. (Copycats!)

Mike and Lavon... Very metal!

Wine and gumballs... eeew!

Trying not to stub a toe.

Lavon tries to light the candles in the wind...
Hmm, sounds like a song.

Our "bonfire"