Daytona Beach

From Miami we took an overnight bus to Daytona.  We were a bit concerned about this before we even got on, when the driver said that she couldn't see someone's ticket in the low light as here eyes were bad.  Not really what you want to hear from your driver on a night trip!

But we made it safely there.  And this was to be our first go at couchsurfing, where some kind stranger lets you stay in their home for free.  More about that in a future posting.

Our host Georgy was excellent and happy to let us arrive at the early hour that our bus got in.  So we soon settled in to our latest temporary home, with Georgy, his very friendly little dog Sophie, and his somewhat disinterested Iguana.

Daytona Beach was small, but pleasant to walk around.  It is of course a place famed for its Speedway and Bike Week, so attracts many motorists and even more bikers.  We counted numerous bike shops, some with some bikes and trikes that even I have to admit looked pretty good.

We also popped into the Museum store of Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Harley Davidson.  This was the start of Rossmeyer's Harley Davidson empire, from which he became one of the biggest dealers and went on to own possibly the world's biggest Harley store a short distance away.  (And no Dad, we didn't make a special trip out there.)

Rossmeyer appears to be something of a legend amongst bikers, especially here.  We were told that he was a major force behind Bike Week in Daytona.  Well possibly, in that when he set up in 1994, he was involved in bringing it to Daytona Beach from its previous venue; but then it had been going since 1937, and of course he also made sure that many events are held at his newer Destination Daytona site too.

In any case, he died in 2009, whilst riding his bike to the Sturgis rally.  As is common in the States, he wasn't wearing a crash helmet.

But bikes aside, Daytona had quite a nice waterfront, with a few good places to eat and drink.  There was an Irish pub that was recommended to us by a guy in the garage, which had a great selection of beers both in the pub itself and in the attached shop.  We decided to buy a few that we could take back to the house and share with our host.

These went down pretty well with Georgy when we had them with the meal that he cooked for us one evening.

Overall we thought Daytona was a good town for a short visit, and if you time it right, there are quite a few little events during the year, apart from the races.