My friend Joe Bonacuse

 Shortly after I bought my BMW motorcycle in November 2020, I met up with another local BMW rider named Joe Bonacuse. 

The day we met, we rode over to Hap’s Cycles in Sarasota where everyone knew him.  Turns out he’d been buying bikes and having them serviced at Hap’s for quite a while.  

Joe and I became fast friends and we did quite a few rides together. Joe also became friends with some of my other local friends —Paul, Ralph and the other Paul—and we would all hang out and do motorcycle stuff. 

Our first ride was in December 2021, when four of us rode up to Crystal River and spent a couple days riding to Cedar Key, the Ozello Trail and other cool places in that area.  A fun memory from that ride is when Joe took Paul in the sidecar to get a pizza we’d ordered.  Good times.  

Joe fit in perfectly with the group and we ended up doing many rides together.  We did all of the local bike shows—like Arcadia , St. Pete, Gib Town and Daytona.  In Daytona, Joe had people lined up to see his sidecar rig; it was definitely a beaut!

When I proposed riding 1,200 miles round trip to Birmingham, Alabama to see the Barber Motorcycle Museum, Joe was the first one to say, “Heck yeah! let’s do it!” And so we did.  Four of us enjoyed a 5-day ride through some beautiful country.  

The last time we rode together was in January when we visited the GibTown bike fest.  

I recently received a note from Joe’s daughter-in-law letting us know Joe had passed away on June 17.  She added, “He would’ve loved to be on a ride with you all, it was one of his favorite things to do.”  And that made me smile.  

This was a special man, a wonderful person, an excellent rider and a valued friend.  You’re missed, Joe.  

Rhythm of the Ride

I spent the night with my cousin and her better half in Fulton, MO last night.  A wonderful evening with BBQ and family.  My other cousin drove down with his wife and son.  

Speaking with my cousin’s BF, he provided a better route to stay away from the interstate.  I took that instead and it turned out to be great! Glad I had some local area knowledge.  

Steve and I met up in Atlantic, Iowa today.  We’d both ridden 340 miles.  His bike looks great.

After unpacking our gear, we rode into town and had some BBQ and beer.  After getting back to the room, the route planning commenced.  

We need to be in Kalispell, Montana by the 11th, and that’s about 1,300 from here.  Tomorrow’s plan is to ride toward Sturgis, about 600 miles away. We may not get there, but we’ll at least get close.  

We spent the afternoon prepping the gear and taking about the ride.  Good times.  

Now, many people say that Iowa is just endless cornfields.  But I’m here to tell you they’re correct.  

More to follow.  Some photos:

En route from Tampa and Buffalo

Steve left Buffalo on July 5 and I left Tampa today (July 6).

I had about 1500 miles to ride to meet up with him east of Omaha; he has about 1000 miles to go from Buffalo. 

The first day Steve rode about 200 miles over to Cleveland. And on the second day, he rode another 300 miles to somewhere in Indiana.

I finished my day somewhere in Southern Tennessee, about 100 miles from Nashville. I rode 625 miles for the day and that was just about enough.  I wanted to get past  Nashville, or maybe into Kentucky, but my butt isn’t as iron as it used to be.  

As expected, there was some traffic out of Atlanta and the heat in Tennessee hit 103…and stayed there.  Something kind of cool happened, literally. It was 97 degrees in Georgia and I was feeling the heat.  All of a sudden, a cooling rain fell and it dropped the temperature almost 20 degrees in less than two minutes.  Very refreshing.  

So when I pulled into a small town off the I-24 to get a cold drink, I decided to just call it a day.  

Steve stated that he wasn’t seeing the MPG he was hoping for (high 40’s) and is only getting about 200 miles to the tank.  I’m in the same boat as I was hoping for mid to high-40’s and only averaged 42…likely due to the wind.  Lots of wind all day long.  

Here are some photos of the day.  

Ride planning (test post)

Trying a video upload…

 Spending a lot of stressful days planning for a 60+ day ride…beginning next week!

Ugh…