Educational Conference Boring? Not at Disney!

This week I was scheduled to attend an educational conference in Orlando, Florida. I was tasked with the ever exciting prospect of presenting a poster session at the conference. Yes, it is just about as exciting as it sounds. But, be that as it may, I decided to make my own fun by riding my GL 1500 Goldwing to the conference. I took two days vacation and began my ride the day before the conference. From my house, it is about 6 hours and 30 minutes to Orlando. I really had no idea exactly where the hotel was and didn't really care. My plan was to make a day's ride out of the trip by stopping as many times and anywhere that I had an itch to stop along the way.

The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect. The morning start at 5 AM was a little chilly at 55 degrees but by mid-morning it was in the 70s. The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't have asked for a better day to ride. I made my first stop in Tallahassee for breakfast. I made several stops along the way to include a stop at the "Chrome" place. They claim to have anything you want in chrome. It was interesting anyway. About mid-way through the day I stopped for lunch and met several people who were jealous of my trip on the bike in the middle of a work week. I finally arrived in Orlando around 4PM. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the hotel was right in the middle of Disney World! Now this education conference was beginning to look a little more fun!

I spent that night touring Disney and paying the outrageous prices that they charge to have a good time. The next day I had the pleasure of presenting my poster session at the conference which turned out to be a good time also. Hey, I can't help it if I like to run my mouth :) At the end of the day I decided to head back on my bike and make a night ride out of the trip. Okay, the threat of rain from Wilma was a factor in my planning I must admit. So I thought I would get a head start on the rain and head out about 5PM. That thought lasted for about half of the ride until I hit a downpour. Not to worry though, like any good Goldwinger I had my rain gear handy. Of course, it did take me longer to put it on than the rain actually lasted :) After the rain stopped the night turned to severe fog. The remainder of the ride was slow and tedious since I couldn't see more than about 15 feet in front of the bike. I wasn't as concerned about myself as I was the transfer trucks behind me. I'm convinced they had the freeway memorized or were driving on blind luck at those speeds. The rest of us poor drivers were slogging along at around 55-60 MPH. I decided that multiple stops were in order due to the fog and didn't get home until 5AM! I was one tired puppy.

Overall, the ride was absolutely fabulous. Who would have thought I could have had such a good time at an educational conference?! It is amazing what throwing in your Goldwing can do to the situation. I would also like to add that I had expected a significantly sore butt on my original 1500 seat which is a 1994. I am pleased to say that my bike performed to perfection and much to my surprise, none of my stops were due to a sore butt! I often hear others talk about how comfortable their 1800 is to ride. Well, I must say my 1994 1500 performed quite well. She has never let me down and always provides a great ride. She may be old but she is aging more gracefully than I am!

So what is the moral of this story? The next time you are tasked with what seems to be a dry and boring trip, spice it up with your Goldwing. The trip could turn out to be a gem!