Adventure Time Series: McLarty Treasure Museum.

     Welcome to the first official post in the Adventure Time Series. I know that I did the Navy SEAL Museum last month, but that was kind of a precursor to what this is now. I'm writing this a little later than usual for a couple of reasons. The first being that it was project day, and it took me quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but I'll talk about that on Tuesday, and two, because it is Memorial Day weekend, so I have tomorrow off. I'm taking advantage of it, and staying up a little later than I would on a normal Sunday night.

     Let's get into the ATS. I prepped Saki on Friday night. I did a run through of all the bolts to make sure they were tightened, and lubed up the chain. I used that new Motul Chain Lube that I finally got. It seems to work really well. It had some strange reviews about it being sticky and flying off the chain, but I didn't have any problem with it. Maybe they over lubed their chain, it's easy to do. Anyway, Saki was ready for a ride. I woke up early, and had a good breakfast. I was going to start a little earlier than I had planned because I found out that the museum opened at 10, so I wanted to be there before 11 to avoid any potential crowd. The day was beautiful and I headed out to the garage to get Saki out, and begin my first post on my Instagram Story. I still didn't announce where I was headed. I saved that for when I arrived.

     The ride was fantastic. When I rode over the Sebastian Inlet bridge, I couldn't believe my eyes. the water was pretty calm, so that made it the most dazzling clear blue. You could see the natural sandbars and reefs in the ocean. I really wish I had the GoPro so that I could share that with you. One day. I'm getting closer to getting everything in order for that. I will take you there with me when I get it going. I think that will be my test video, which I will post here, I'll save the first official Vlog for the Youtube channel.

     After crossing the bridge, I didn't have that far to go, but I got caught up in looking at the view of the Intracoastal, that I missed my turn. I overshot it by 3 miles. I pulled in and once again had to rely on the honor system. I threw my jacket over the front of Saki, and locked my helmet to the seat. I then ran over to the sign asking the entrance and posted the announcement of the location. by the way, this is the view I got caught up in looking at. This was right across from the Museum.

     Gorgeous right? Now you can see how I got distracted. The McLarty Museum is in a small house type of building that is on the actual landmark of where the survivors and Salvage Camp was set up after the Spanish Plate Fleet of 1715 sank. I have a couple of photos showing the building and a sign telling about the site.

     You can see that it isn't all that big, but it does pack some pretty interesting artifacts inside. They don't have all the gold and jewelry that was found from the wreck, that is housed, what is left of it, in the Mel Fisher Museum, which is also in Sebastian. That will be a future ride. I didn't even know about it until I went to the McLarty. The McLarty is ran by the state of Florida, they of course have to get their 25% of anything salvaged from the wrecks. It was only $2 to get in. When you first walk in, it is a bit unlike most museums that I've been to. It is rather dimly lit. It does have spot lights on all the displays, so even though the lighting is minimal it gets the job done nicely. I'm just going to share the pictures with you from inside the museum, and then I will catch up with you when I go outside to the observation deck.

     I left a few things out, because well, you need a reason to go see it for yourself, so that you can see what I left out. The little teal display was probably my favorite. I got that shot simply for the manatee carved from a silver coin. It was just the coolest thing to me.

    After roaming the floor of the main room for a while, I made my way out to the observation deck. It was this beautiful wooden walkway that wove it's way through beachside plant life. Along the way there were these small wooden boxes that you could open up to see little facts about the plants and insects, and even turtles that inhabit the area. It was stunning. I shot a short video walking back through it from the observation deck, but the audio came out pretty bad. I'll post that here, so you can get a look at it atleast.

    I tried uploading the video a new way, and it didn't look like it was going to work out, so I went back to the old tired and true way. Like I said, the audio isn't that good, but you can see that amazing walkway. Back to the observation deck though. The designed it to look like a pirate ship front end. It is pointed directly at where the Spanish Fleet sank, and the as I said before, the water was crystal clear on this particular day. You could see the reefs and sandbars that they ships ran aground on. I have a few pictures from there to show you as well, including a panorama from the bow of the pirate ship.

     See what I mean about how clear the water looks. I stayed out there for about a half hour, just watching the waves, as small as they were, roll in, and the boats go by looking for the perfect fishing spot. I went back in to watch the remainder of the film that they have explaining the salvage efforts and highlighting some of the treasure hunters that have found treasure from the wrecks. That is where I found out about then Mel Fisher Museum. It looks like that will be pretty fun to see as well. In the future though. 

     I had a great time while I was there. I learned a few things, and saw some 3 hundred year old artifacts. It was a good day. It got even better on the ride home. When I hit the causeway, I opened Saki up. I hadn't done that in a while, and Saki needed some speed. I had to let off the throttle when I went over the bridge because I wasn't sure of what was on the other side, and believe me, If there was a police officer waiting over there, he would have had something to say to me. It would have been worth it though. Going fast on Saki is probably my favorite thing to do. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. It's one of those moments when you really know that you are alive. It's funny how you are at your most alive when it could be the thing that causes your death. Something to talk about for another time though.

     I have the next two ATS locations figured out. The next one will be on June 10th, but I think I'm going to keep it a secret until I get there. The one after that will be on July 15th and it looks like I will have a special guest along with me for that one. I'm definitely not telling you where I'm going for that one yet. 

     Saturday was great, and I look forward to doing more of these for you. The Space Center is still on my list. I chose the McLarty Museum over KSC for a very simple reason. KSC costs too much. I still need to get that GoPro and all the equipment to go along with it, so pricey places are put to the back of the list for now. That's all that I have for tonight, I will have a lot to talk about on Tuesday, including a guy trying to run me into the back of a very large truck. How's that for a little teaser? Peace in and goodnight.