West Coast of Florida "Police Escorted" Ride to Daytona
Due to the large turn out from the west coast of Florida in the 2007 "Ride to the Wall...Southern
Style, we are putting together an escorted ride from Manatee River Harley-Davidson on May
21st at 9:00 am.
Great News! We have as many as (6) six escort officers picking us up in Clermont and taking
us to Daytona!!! Great work Bill Miller!
(Updated 02/07/2008) There are many people that are working on getting a police escort set
up for this ride. I won’t lie or try to candy coat this part of the experience. We are having a
hard time getting departments and offices to commit to escorting us there. Budgets are very
restricted and the cost keeps coming up in their responses. We have offered to pay for their gas
but we still don’t have an escort. HOWEVER, we still have a lot of time and four people that
are working on this! My greatest appreciation to Joe Buccolo, Steve Bonanno, Bill Miller,
Robin Rossiter, Janice Malik, and my partner in crime Lt. David Prevette. Worst case scenario
is we are going to have to ride as a group with many “road captains” from this group which is
going to be just like a chapter ride. We are all very capable of doing this. Enough negative
thoughts…the great part are what the two dealers are going to do for us completely on their
own. Robin Rossiter from Manatee River H-D has graciously offered to cook breakfast for us
and is donating the food. Breakfast will be served up starting between 7:00 am and 7:30 am.
We will eat and then have a short meeting and prayer. Joe Buccolo and Steve Bannano (Steve
says he can not get the time off but I am still hold out hope that he will be able to come) will
lead the group out of Manatee River at 9:00 am. We will ride up north on I-75 for 82 miles to
SR50 (exit 301) and after turning right on the ramp we will pull into the Racetrack gas station
where we want you to fill up. We should arrive there about 10:15 am. Remember that the gas
on this day is up to you. We will take a break to stretch. We are filling up here because we
don’t want to have to mess with gas again that day. I am estimating that we will pull out about
11:00 am. Bill Miller is riding out to meet us there and he will lead us back to Clermont’s
Stormy Hill H-D. Arriving about 12:00 noon at Stormy Hill H-D we will kick back and eat a
hot dog or hamburger donated entirely by Janice Malik of Stormy Hill H-D. We will pull out
of the dealership about 1:15 pm. People, it is very important to me thank you recognize what
these two dealers have done for us this year. Go into the dealership and spend a ton of money!
They are offering us all discounts on merchandise that we buy that day. Lastly, please don’t
forget to thank them for a great contribution for your 2008 “Ride to the Wall…Southern Style”
experience. They give to you out of their own heart. Okay, out of the dealership we will
quickly get on SR19 north. We will be traveling up through a few smaller towns but it will be
on SR19 all the way till we get up to a short little cut to the right on 445A. It should be 47.5
miles from the Stormy Hill H-D dealership if you want to keep track. This road will take us to
SR40 east where we will turn right and ride into Astor. We will stop there for a very short
stop. This is like stop, use the bathrooms if needed, talk a little and off we go to Destination
Daytona. SR40 will take us to I-95 where we will get on the north ramp and ride I-95 one exit
and get off again. We will ride around Destination Daytona once and I for one will be going to
the gas station to fill up. I don’t care how, where, or when you fill up but make sure that you
are ready to go in the morning with a full tank.