We are up early this morning to take the bike into the Honda dealer. I need an oil change and also want to check my tires. Before I left, I had talked to my dealer in Milpitas and he thought it would be safe to wait till I got to Florida to take care of these maintenance items. My brother follows me in his car as I drop the bike off in West Palm Beach.

For the first half of this trip, we were almost exclusively sightseeing. Now we can take some time to see friends and family. I haven't seen my brother in ten years. It's good to be able to visit and catch up on family affairs.

I got a call from the Honda dealer and he confirmed what I had suspected, I needed a new back tire. A little disappointing since my GL1800 only got 10,000 miles on the Dunlap's I had put on in place of the Bridgestone's. GL 1500 owners get twice that many miles on their tires and it's a mystery why we can't get more. The dealer thought I could get by with the front rubber till I got home but I also needed front brake pads. I gave the go ahead and said I would be back the next day to pick up the bike.

After we got home, we headed up the coast to visit the Jupiter lighthouse and my nephews. The Jupiter light is well known because of its distinctive red color (photo 1). One day, Linda and I will make a trip around the country just to visit lighthouses. We also passed over the Intercoastal Waterway, or ICW as boaters call it (photo 2), and imagined what a boat trip around the eastern United States might be like. It's called the Great Loop, covers about 6000 miles, and would be a great way to see the country.

Anyway, after seeing the light and the ICW, we headed over to see my nephew and great nephew to have a Barbeque (photos 3 & 4). It was fun seeing how well they were both doing and thinking I must be getting old.

On Sunday, I picked up the bike but before we left the dealer, a few drops of rain hit me. It didn't seem serious so I elected to follow my brother home without putting on my raingear. We hadn't gotten two miles when the skies opened up and within minutes I was soaked. My brother pulled into a convenience store parking lot and I jumped into his van. We sat there for about 15 minutes while I tried to dry out and the streets flooded. This was the only time on the trip that I had actually gotten caught in the rain without my gear on. I hope I've learned a lesson.

We spent the rest of the day visiting different spots in West Palm Beach and just relaxing. That night, I got a call from home saying our youngest sister was in the intensive care unit with pneumonia and it did not look good. I decided to cut my visit short and try to get home since I am her only relative that lives in California. My brother and I figured out the shortest way for Linda and I to get home and we decide to leave early in the morning.

That means we will have to forgo Pensacola, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Arkansas and visits with three of my nieces. We will now do freeway driving exclusively. Hey, you do what you have to do. I'm not sure when I will be able to write again. We'll see.