Glory Road: Ride with the Chester family of Harley-Davidson dealerships

Direct from Daytona

Can't make it to Daytona yourself this year? The Motor Company has gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to post reports, photos and video on the Web direct from Daytona. Check it out.

Day 14: We beat the weather into Savannah

By starting at 7 a.m. and doing without a breakfast stop, we beat the rain and thunder into Savannah, Georgia, arriving shortly after 12 noon.

Now, several hours later, it's raining but we couldn't care less, being comfortably ensconsed at Wet Willie's on the historic riverfront.

The specialty of the house are daiquiris in many flavors made with 190 proof grain alcohol. Our favorite is Call A Cab. Wow!

We roll out of Daytona at the crack of dawn to stay ahead of nasty weather promised later in the day. We should be able to make Savannah in about five hours, starting out on picturesque A1A, eventually switching to Interstate 95 for the last hour.

At Ormond By The Sea north of Daytona, we catch our first glimpse of this morning's wild surf.

We wait for the ferry across the St. John's River near St. Augustine.

The ferry toll is $3 per motorcycle for the five-minute ride.

That Blackberry of Dan Godec's just keeps on ringing and ringing.

After 3,400 miles, it's all over but the waiting for transport to the Hyatt Hotel on the historic riverfront in Savannah. From the left, E.B. Chester, brother-in-law Bill Torrance, and eldest son Craig Chester.

Craig Chester provides instructions to Kim at Savannah Harley-Davidson for shipping our bikes home.

At our brief lunch stop at a Krystal, I say to to E.B. that I'm feeling sad that we're on the last leg of our adventure together. He agrees: "I do, too."

--Georgs Kolesnikovs

Day 14: Daytona Beach to Savannah, 250 miles

We're posting the Day 14 advance notes by E.B. Chester tonight rather than in the morning as we hope to be under way by seven o'clock. Stormy weather is forecast for Savannah tomorrow afternoon and evening, so we want to complete the day's ride noonish or soon thereafter.

On the 14th day, we'll ride from Daytona Beach to Savannah, Georgia, where we will stay in a Hyatt Hotel adjacent to the downtown historic area.

It is assumed that everyone will fly to wherever they wish to go by commercial airline from Savannah. The Savannah airport (SAV) has regular flights to Atlanta where connections to everywhere are available in a timely manner. We will arrange a bike transfer company to ship our bikes home.   

From our experience, the hardest part of the trip will come in Savannah. We always want to keep going. It's sad but true that all good things must come to an end.

The original plan, upon leaving Daytona, was to ride to St. Augustine, the oldest city in America, and eat a early lunch. We could then have visitied the old fort in downtown St. Augustine where, ironically, the Apache chief Geronimo was imprisoned after surrendering  in the area of Arizona we rode across at the beginning of our trip. The dungeon in which he was held can still be seen.

Day 13: Work day

No pictures or reports to post today as your faithful magazine crew is at work, making photographs, conducting interviews.

Day 12: Hey, it's not all play!

When I look out on the Atlantic Ocean from my 15th floor window this morning. . .

. . . I notice that even though it's not yet 8 o'clock, Roy and Carole Timm are at work, photographing E.B. Chester for the magazine on the beach where his passion for Harley-Davidson was first ignited some 55 years ago.

For the full story, you'll have to wait for Glory Road to come off the press in the fall.

--Georgs Kolesnikovs

Day 12: Staying put in Daytona

On the 12th  and 13th days we will remain in Daytona and enjoy Bike Week. 

Bike week is not one venue, E.B. Chester points out in his trip notes which he circulated in advance of the ride. Various local points of interest within about a 25-mile circle are taken over by vendors--read biker bars, tattoo parlors, and leather vendors--and provide unlimited riding opportunities while here. 

A visit to Bruce Rossmeyer's Destination Daytona Harley-Davidson dealership is a must as is a visit to the Daytona International Speedway which is taken over by bike activity during the event. You can also ride the Loop.

It's possible to be overwhelmed by the Bike Week experience.

Main Street of Daytona Beach, the Harley gathering place, is one block from our hotel. The Convention Center, Harley-Davidson's headquarters  in Daytona, is across the street.

The weather, altough on the cool side, is just about perfect.

Day 11: Daytona by night

It was just your average night in Daytona during Bike Week. We ride on a giant slingshot, walk on the wild side of Main Street and get a haircut before going to bed.

All motorcycle traffic during Bike Week converges on Main Street.

The street is jammed with motorcycles, the sidewalks are jammed with motorcyclists, and every bar is packed.

Some people are getting silly, but certainly not your husbands, and absolutely not the guys in our group. No, we have dedicated ourselves to the serious business of determining who the best barmaid on Main Street is.

Is it Tammy?

Or maybe it will be Tanya?

Or could it be Jenna?

Certainly, Cindy will be a finalist.

Suzie garners more than one of our votes . . .

. . . especially when she's so helpful with Moon Ball shooters.

 

Your hard-working editor cannot resist the way Ashley offers drinks . . .

. . . and provides encouragement in downing them.

 

In the middle of the night, Craig decides he needs a haircut. Ken Peters at Main Street Barbershop does the trick, #2 on the top, #1 on the sides--and leave the mustache and beard alone!

--Georgs Kolesnikovs

Day 11: Nearer my God to Thee

Bill Torrance, being a rookie on the Daytona ride, is coerced into experiencing the Daytona Beach Slingshot.

The slingshot is just that: A cage with seats for two suspended by two cables from towers 185 feet tall. A hydraulic ram loads pressure on large metal springs. When all systems are good to go, the cage is shot, at about 100 miles per hour, into the heavens. The apogee is about 300 feet above the launch platform. Although there no bungie cords involved, after the launch the cage and its occupants do bounce up and down a fair bit before returning to earth. The above photo was shot from the 15th floor of the Hilton.

Bill, who is a Primitive Baptist preacher in addition to being the city manager of Vidalia, Georgia, takes a moment for prayer after being strapped in.

His nephew, Craig Chester, volunteers to keep him company in space.

After lift-off at 100 miles per hour, the cage with Bill and Craig aboard is barely visible to the naked eye in the dusk.

But an onboard video camera captures images from space. Several expressions of enthusiasm not usually used by Baptist preachers are caught on tape.

The giddy astronauts return to earth safely, ready for a foray on Main Street.

Remember, dear visitor, that you can click on any image for a larger view.

 

Day 11: Welcome to Daytona!

Bikes and bikes and more bikes. The beach, the glorious beach. Partly cloud skies, with the temp at 72 degrees. We have arrived in Daytona Beach.

As I walk up the ramp from the motorcycle garage to the lobby at the Hilton Daytona Beach (above), I take a quick glance back at street. There's a white Accord slowly driving toward the hotel. A young woman pokes up through the sunroof. When the Accord is right in front of the hotel, where I am not the only pedestrian, the young woman raises her top, as if to hide her face but reveal all else.

Which, no doubt, would be swell if she did not look to be twice my weight.

--Georgs Kolesnikovs

The view of the beach, pier and ocean from my 15th floor room.

Day 11: Fort Pierce to Daytona Beach, 140 miles

On the 11th day, we will ride into Daytona Beach. We'll follow the coast highway, A1A, past the Kennedy Space Flight Center which we toured on last year's ride. We'll ride along the beach to the Hilton Hotel, at the foot of Main Street in Daytona Beach, the heart of Bike Week. The Hilton is first-class accommodations and offers secure underground bike parking which is a real benefit.

No Interstate highways today, just surface roads.  A1A may be congested and a bit slow but we have ample time considering our short ride and it is exceptional beach riding, E.B. Chester wrote in his advance notes for the trip.

The map shows the original plan for the day, through central Florida. Instead, our starting point is Fort Pierce in the lower right corner of the map.