I woke up rather late today. Dennis was supposed to come by early this AM to go for a
motorcycle ride, however; we didn’t make a time to meet. I woke up thinking that he pobably came by
and left, but then thought again because Buggsie would be barking our of control if he were to come to
the door.
I dressed for the ride with a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. When I got out to the garage to clean
my bike, I realized it was a bit chilly out, but figured that it would warm up later in the day. I cleaned my
bike and just finished when Dennis arrived on his Harley. Ihla had some paperwork from SS to review
with Dennis, and then we started to take off to our destination near Eustis FL. Just at that moment,
Dennis got a call from one of his contractors who’s installing the new house’s driveway. There was some
question on the design because the contractor didn’t have the plans with him, so Dennis asked if we
could head up to the new house to talk to the contractor. I didn’t mind at all because I wanted to see
the progress of the new place.
We arrived at the house and the contractor was using a bobcat to carve out the driveway.
Dennis talked to him for a while, then proceeded to show me the rest of the house. As we walked
through the house, we noticed that there was a crew putting down pavers on the back patio. They were
in the process of completing the patio with the outside trim work. We continued to walk around the
house and seeing the progress of things. They are trying to finish this project by mid-November so that
the bank doesn’t raise the interest rate to above 7.5% There’s still quite a bit of work to be done, but
hopefully it’ll all come together before the end of the month and they will get the occupancy deed
released.
We took off for our destination __ which was a beautiful ride through some spectacular
farmland filled with horses and cattle etc. We stopped at a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere and
it was so peaceful and desolate. The water was very clear, and there was one fishing boat in the middle
of this lake that had no private property’s around it or even near it. Stunning…
We continued on though Ocala, which is a rather big city which we didn’t know ahead of time. It
kind of took us by surprise. We pulled into this place and the shock and awe was on. This place had all
kinds of wild artwork that had some spectacular animals made out of metal. Most of them were life size
and that was just at the entrance of the place. The place was huge and we walked through it sitting on
the furniture that was made from teakwood and it was amazing. We saw quite a few items that we liked
or wouldn’t mind having in our yards. We purchased some soda’s and then we decided to head to a
restaurant for some breakfast. We got there just in time as the place was closing in less than two
minutes. We were able to sit down for breakfast and the waitress was really nice to us. Dennis seemed
to connect with many people as he was wearing his Marine motorcycle jacket. There were veterans and
civilians that thanked him for his service. I feel honored to be in his presence when this happens.
We decided to head back home so we started out towards Eustis. As we were driving, I saw a
sign that said we were entering Leesburg and I remembered that Evelyn and Denny were near Leesburg.
Just then, I look to my right and there is the campsite that they are staying. I hailed down Dennis and we
went into the part and called Evelyn. They were at a dog park with Eli May. She told us what site number
she was at and we went there and hung out while they completed their tasks. We hung out for a while
and talked. It was really nice that I was able to see Evelyn and Denny for the last time before I went into incarceration.
We said our goodbye’s because it was getting late and cold. Dennis had lent me his Harley
jacket for most of the trip as I had forgotten my Indian jacket before we left the house. Big mistake…
On the way home, we decided to stop at Papa Joes Italian Restaurant in Brooksville. We both
ordered the Sampler Plate and I have to say, it was the best Italian dish I’ve had since California. We
chowed down and had nothing left on that huge plate of 4 types of pasta. We headed back to the house
and I gave Dennis back his jacket. It was a fantastic day of riding which took over 8 hours, and it was well
worth it. I will always remember this ride as it is the last one I’ll be taking for quite some time.
