Kayaking with the Florida wildlife

  This year for Florida Bike week I was treated with some bonus fun. On one day when the surf was really high ( 8 footers) , I got to go out with my good friend, Joey Porkchop and hit the surf. Another friend of mine, Glenn, showed up with a surf board that he bought days earlier at a yard sale for 20 bucks. We got out as the sun was coming up so we didn't even miss anything important except a little sleep. We spent all morning trying to conquer mother nature and I was not near as successful as Joey- He made it look easy!

   The next highlight was kayaking in the central Florida area 60 miles west of Daytona. My good friends Rus and Nikki at ARNI  , took me. ARNI is  an organization that is so much more then just an animal shelter. They are also the behind the scene organizers for Willie's Tropical Tattoo Chopper Show. Unfortunatly all the photos that I took on my camera didn't turn out. Fortunate for me though, they lent me a kayak and I went 2 days later with  another friend.

   Now everyone knows there are gators in Florida but it is still pretty cool to get up close and personal with one while you are in a kayak.  

Here is a video I filmed with another gator

All this gator wrangling made me a little hot so I cooled off with a swim.

But even with all the cool alligators, turtles and birds, the real reason I had to come back were for the Reese monkeys. I found out that a colony of monkeys have been living in the wild since they were released after the filming of an old Tarzan movie. Too cool.  Everyone that I told about the monkeys didn't believe me. They all thought it was like snipe hunting. THIS is why I had to return and bring another camera. In this day the monkeys were much farther up stream but we paddled the 4 miles against a strong current and found them.

There were about 30 in this group. There were many more on the other day but it is still pretty cool The little ones are the cutest-

 We brought some fruit and threw it to them and they shared it in the pecking order for the big boss man who ate first on down to the little ones

 We even put some food on our paddles and handed it to them.

 We even got to see some of the mothers grooming their young-

Here is even a video of the monkeys-

 And this may not be the average person's report on Bike Week 2013 but then again, I guess I'm not the average Bike Week guy.
 

My 1954 Olds tail light and fender

The very first part that I got for my new chopper was a 1954 Olds tail light that my good friend Dirty Dave gave me.. You may remember Dirty Dave for his Exile days when he was all over the TV screen for the Biker Buildoffs. Dave is still as crazy as ever but he has a heart of gold. I packed that tail light in my luggage and road back across the country from Los Angeles, to Daytona Bike Week  2012 before swinging by Faith Forgotten's shop (Facebook Fan Page)where I dropped it off and continued my jouney.

  Now a year later, I am in Daytona doing my thing and signing books to try to make a few bucks to buy some scooter parts. Frank Kaelin of Kaelin's Custom Cycle (Facebook Fan Page), received the KlockWerks (Facebook Fan Page) fender that they shipped to me and frenched in the tail light that Big Will had dropped off, ALL while I'm in Daytona. Man this is so cool to wake up and see these pictures sent to my phone this morning. I'll be heading home soon and continuing on with what I can do to help but as I have said so many hundreds of times before- I couldn't do what I do without the help of my friends! Thanks Dave, Frank, Big Will and my whole family at Klock Werks!!!!!!!

The New Indian 111 Thunder Stroke

  At Daytona Bike Week 2013, Indian Motorcycle company unveiled their all new power plant. Named The Thunder Stroke, it lives up to it's name with 111 cubic inches and keeps the traditional lines of the old Indian Chief flat head motors while using the proven technology that they learned from the Victory line. One of my favorites in the 3 cam design with the center intake valves sharing a cam thus creating  perfect up and down geometry with the pushrods. My hats off to Indian for a job well done!

                                                                         
Check out my video here on youtube and not only SEE for yourself but HEAR for yourself! I dig it!

Carl Casper's Car Show

                                                                 
It has been over 35 years since I went to my last Carl Casper's Car show when I was a kid. To give you some idea how long ago it was, the door prize I won back then was a FM converter since almost all car radios were AM radio only. Yea that was awhile ago but I still remember it clearly. It was also a treat back then to see many of the real versions of the models that I used to assemble.

Another thing I remembered was the TV cars and personalities they used to have. It was good to see they had some of the old time favorites still like Dukes of Hazzard, Kitt, The A team and Fonze's Trumpet.

                                                                              
I even bumped into a couple of my cousins that I hadn't seen in equally as long. As I tried to bring them up to date as to what I had been doing the past 35 years, they interrupted and said " yea, we read then book". Seems they had bought my book from Amazon.com.

         It was also nice getting VIP treatment like passes, being allowed to get behind the ropes and up close to some of the vehicles and even got my favorite non alcohloic bear smuggled in for me.

                                                                        
   It was great seeing all my old family and friends but as always, it was also pretty cool making lots of new friends too!                                     

     In a world where everything is changing everyday, it was nice to take a stroll down memory lane and relive the past remembering just how cool things were and still are ( if not even maybe just a little cooler).
                                                                                  

win some free stuff!!!!

     I have had a lot of people helping me with my new bike. Companies like Klock Werks, JIMS, Bagger Werx, Progressive Suspension, Avon, Feuling, Andrews, Rinehart Racing, Kandy King paints, Spectro Oil  Earth X Btteries and shops like Ron Finch,  Matt Hotch Designs, Chop Doc's Choppers,  Indian Larry Motorcycles,  Kaelin's Custom Cycles and Faith Forgotten Choppers. Now the good news is you can get some free stuff too by becoming fans on their face book pages. To make it easy, I have included their Facebook fan page links right here on my sponsor page. Take the link to their page and click "like" then add a comment and mention me, Bean're or my site Everything Bean're and you are entered once for each page you do. If you add a photo showing their product, you get entered 3 times. I'll be giving out a lot of stickers, tee shirts and other gifts from my sponsors so do it today- It's FREE!
  Here is the link to my sponsor page
                                                            !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sponsor Page!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                 Do it today and you can be a winner too!

BIC Radio interview

   I've have done some radio interviews but they almost always get cut short. My latest though was with BIC Radio and Charlie Brechtel and Dillenger let me talk for nearly an hour. If you didn't get a chance to hear it, They put up a link to it and I'm forwarding it on. Check it out. You just might hear some things you haven't before but if nothing else, it will help fill a void while the weather isn't conducive to ridding-

Click below for link
BIC Radio interview with Bean're

    Nice talking with you Dillenger and I hope to ride with you and Charlie real soon, like maybe in Daytona for Bike Week.

Parts Donor Bike

   After weeks of trying to figure out what I was going to use as a donor bike I decided to go against what I did in 2003 and NOT take a perfectly good motorcycle and cut it up. I found this beauty at a salvage yard. Not too much left accept the motor and tranny and that's OK because that is just what I need at the moment. I will now have a 2010 Harley Davidson motor and drivetrain at my disposal. I think I'll sell the fairing if anyone is interested.