June 10 2023 Day Eight

 June 10^th – Bushnell Fl – Day 8

 

Day 2 of the graduation party, but for as late as we did party last night, it’ll feel like a 3-day festivity. There was a bonfire last night with bean bags being played and that happened to be across the road that no body walks around here to get from one spot to the next, they just hope into their gator to get them around. Yes, there are real gators around in these parts and we think we did see the shine of the eye of one last night, but they tool around in the 4-wheel kind to look at all the property. Again, it’s Florida and extremely hot, but you throw in the humidity, and I don’t know how anyone can live here during the summers. I guess that is the time to spend more time indoors with very little outdoor activities.

 

The smoker was already going before most got out of bed and just smelling the smoke you could tell there’ll be a great festivity later in the day. They did have a flat top grill to boot that it was bacon, scrambled eggs, tortillas and donuts for breakfast and again like feeding an army with the number of people here for the graduation. Today wasn’t going to be a day for to have to worry about ridng and I am sure looking forward to relaxing for my well-deserved rest between rides. Maybe not as much relaxation as I might like because there is plenty around here to see and do and Florida woods are a whole other story. Trees, bushes, moss and a whole assortment of vegetation you only see in a place like this. And deifintely woods I wouldn’t want to get lost in.

 

They have it pretty nice on this property and the one next door which houses the smoker for the day, and he is also a taxidermist in the area so let just say his man cave has some pretty cool animals and other things that a taxidermist is good at. He also has a pretty cool building he took hit time building and for his porch, a must to get the bugs out, it’s also equipped to be hurricane proof, at least from the winds. They aren’t too likely to get flooding in these parts even with a river running thru their back yard. 

 

Ok, today is all about visiting and more people showing up that it’s getting hard remember names. Some are easier than others, but I just hope before the weekend is over I at least have them straight. Again, there is plenty to see and one thing we went looking for were gators, no not the 4-wheel kind, but not luck even though there are plenty of swampy areas around. Oh yeah, and today did rain and it wasn’t one of those 10-minute rains, but a hell of a thunderstorm. There were some pretty good cracks of thunder, and the lightning seemed a little too close for comfort that some made sure they weren’t sitting in a metal chair. I’ll take my chances because I haven’t won the lottery yet so the likely hood of getting struck by lightning, even though probably better odds, I don’t think it’ll be happening today.

 

The storm lasted for a good long time, and I did hear some bikes riding by that I was just thankful I wasn’t riding today. Even with good rain gear it’s not as much fun riding thru a thunderstorm with as heavy as the rains did get. Once the storm was done, you’d be surprised how quick the ground dries out since it is mostly a sandy dirt, but the humidity is even worse than what we were complaining aboutbefore. After a thunderstorm almost stifiling hot to breath. Oh, and the smoker and his helper were sitting in the rain keeping an eye on their meat until the rain was just too much for those southern hats of theirs which were meant to keep the sun off their faces and only a little help from you getting soaked. They did have to seek cover for a while, but that didn’t hurt the homemade smoker one bit.

 

It was fortunate that the thunderstorm was early enough in the afternoon that it didn’t hurt plans for when they were going to eat, and it was just as good eating the cooking of the day that it had been smelling it. No way to be hungry around here and the food will come in handy for another night of drinking. Hard not to have a drink when there is more than enough for everyone to drink. Let’s see what kind of trouble we can get into tonight and I’m sure even though it is hot and humid, there’ll still be a bonfire with bags being played. Today that’ll be after a number of rounds of bocce ball. Day 8 is going to be another long (late) day.