Like I said, the new bolts are a very subtle difference in the look, but it adds a nice touch. I was able to put he new Progrip sticker on today, but I don't have a picture of that. I really do like the idea of filling up the windscreen with stickers and then replacing it with a new windscreen, and then putting the old one on the garage wall of fame. The wall of fame is giving me more ideas for this whole motovlogging thing, and we will get to that in just a bit.
I was looking online at Harbor Freights website on Friday, and they had a coupon for the exact air compressor that I wanted. Since I sold the P!ATD tickets, I had that extra money, and this coupon dropped the price from $119 to $99. I couldn't pass that deal up. It was a three day Easter sale. I drove over there, and grabbed one as soon as I could. I got a cheap little starter kit along with it, that had a hose and all kinds of connections and such. The important thing was that it had an air chuck for car tires, which will also work for motorcycle tires as well. It's not the best stuff, but it will work for now. I will slowly replace the hose and a few other things in time, but this gets me started. It also has a little air gun so that I can blow excess water off of Saki or other debris. That is going to come in real handy.
On to Saturday. I woke up pretty early so that I could make a good breakfast, so that I wouldn't have to worry about eating until later in the day. I didn't hear any feedback on my livestream test on Friday, so I had no idea if the audio worked or not. I decided to scrap the whole livestream idea, and just went with the Instagram story. I think it worked out really great, and I hope that you had a chance to see it. Unfortunately, you can't go back and check it out now, because it is only available for 24 hours, and that time is long since gone. The good news is, that I remembered to take pictures as well this time, and I can share those with you here. The ride was fantastic. It was a clear sunny day, and I got to take in the beauty of this wonderful coastline that I live on. Two of the best parts of the ride were going over bridges. The first one was when I went over the Indian River on the Pineda Causeway. The water looked beautiful, and since no one took me up on my offer to ride, it was all for me. The second time was going over the bridge that crosses the Sebastian Inlet. When you are at the top of that bridge, you can see for miles out to sea. The surf was coming in real nice, and a spot that the locals call Monster Hole, was really pumping.
I needed to pull over for a gas a little before Vero Beach. It gave me a chance to rest my hands a bit. The new grips work great, but after an hour of riding, my hands still got a little numb. I got my gas and let the blood start to flow in my hands again. I was only about 45 minutes from my final destination. A!A in that area, is a nice quiet ride for the most part. It only gets a little busy when you hit Vero, but otherwise it is mostly plant life and really nice houses. There is this one little seaside area for campers, that would be the greatest place to camp out for a couple of days. I'm not exactly sure where that is. I think it is in Winter Beach. It is only big enough for about 1 trailers I believe, so it is very quaint. It almost makes me want to get a trailer so that I can do it some time. One of these days I will stop and get a picture of that to show you.
I finally made it to the Navy SEAL Museum, and found a good parking space. it was right near the entrance. I knew that I wouldn't be able to take my helmet in, so I put it on the old helmet locks under the rear seat. The jacket was going to be very uncomfortable, because when I stopped for gas, ti got hot just standing there for a few minutes, so I draped it over the front of Saki, and hoped that the honor system was in full affect. You can see from the picture how it all looked. The museum is in the background. I was a little surprised at how many cars and people were there. I could see people meandering the property outside when I pulled up. When you walked though the front gate of the compound, you were created by all kinds of sights. Statues, obstacle course, boats, and vehicles. They were scattered throughout the property, and don't worry I got pictures of most of it.
I'm going to go through this a bit out of order, because the first thing that really struck my eye to get a picture of, was the sign and display that you see to the left. It was all in honor of the Warrior Dogs, that go into battle with SEAL members. These dogs are trained to sniff out explosives and other things. The battle gear in the picture below was worn by one dog named Barry. he was responsible for finding the largest cache of explosives in Iraq. I don't know if you can blow the picture up enough, but it says: Navy SEAL K-9
On display are items belonging to Barry, a Belgian Malinois, who holds the distinction of being Naval Special Warfare Group Two's (NSWG-2) "first dog". Barry served the SEALs in Iraq for three years and participated in over 225 combat missions. He was credited with NSWG-2's largest explosive find including 1125 pounds of homemade explosives, 75 feet of detonation cord, 50 blasting caps and 2 hand grenades.
There was a video that went along with it, that showed some of the training that these dogs went through. It was quite remarkable to see.
I moved through he gallery taking everything in. There was a helicopter in the biggest gallery, and you could step inside of it, to see what it was like. It was much smaller than I thought it would have been. I had to duck to get in, and stay that way until I sat down on the small seat toward the back of it. The picture to the right shows the helicopter with a family standing in front of it. You can get the scale of it It is a real refurbished helicopter set up for display. This was in the modern era section of the museum. That is the first area that you get to walk through. It then works it's way back in time. to Vietnam, to Korea, then to WWII, and then finally to why the museum is in Ft. Pierce. I learned quite a lot from that small museum. For instance that SEAL is an acronym from Sea, Air, and Land. I really didn't know that that is where it came from. I'm going to share one last photo with you with a little bit of an explanation, and then we will get to the bulk of the pictures. This last one, is the reason that the museum is in Ft. Pierce, and it was a simple sign that explained it all. Ft. Pierce was the first training site of the Naval Special Warfare division. That is where it all started. They weren't called SEALs at that time, but they were the ones that started it all. Here is that sign, and then we will get to the rest of the pictures, and I will tell you more after.
I already know what you are thinking. You are going through the pictures, and you come across some space capsules, and say to yourself, "What the hell do Navy SEALs have to do with the Apollo missions?". That is a good question, and one that I have an answer to, and it just so happens to be in picture form.
I have a few more pictures for you. Two of which are what you are greeted by when you walk through the front door of the museum. One is a beautiful chopper style motorcycle. There was nothing written up for it, so I have no idea who made it, or anything other than it is one brutal beauty. The other picture is the guest sign in book with this cool little brass fixture that looks like some sort of periscope. I just thought that is was interesting. I will get to the final picture after I show you those two.
I'm going to end with the final picture because I believe that it is the perfect ending to this post. I had a remarkable time doing this, not only the ride, and the knowledge gained, but it has given me incentive to really get this motovlogging thing going. I really enjoyed being in front of the camera for the Instagram Story, and I thought of how much more I could have done if I had a GoPro or something like that. I'm already thinking about the next adventure, and I have a couple of ideas. I would like your help in choosing it. The first one is an obvious one, and wouldn't really be that far away. That would be the Kennedy Space Center. I haven't been there for years, and what better reason than this. The other is a treasure museum in Vero Beach. It is rather small, but it could be real fun and informative. It is from a well known treasure hunter that found a lot of stuff off the coast of Vero. Let me know which one you want to see next, and I will start the planning for it.
If you do follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen this final photo. I featured it as my Picture of the Day. Yep, that's right, I didn't find that one, I actually took it. Everything lined up perfectly for it. The lone gentleman walking at the end of the beach access had walked past me a few moments earlier. I had thought about waiting until he was clear, so that it would just be the shot of the opening to the beach, but the lone person representing a sort of solitude, just rang true for the shot. Peace in and goodnight.
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