Today, myself, Scot in Exile (Dave), and Baggage1 (Bob) braved the rain for a Rat Raid ride around Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. This was supposed to be a Rat Pack ride (with other various riders with other make bikes) ending with dinner at Nichols Seafood Restaurant in Milton, Florida.

Well it rained from around 10 am till closing (3 pm) at the dealership and we Rocket owners were the only ones to show up. Since it was raining it could not be a "sanctioned" Rat Pack ride, but we went anyway. We figured if anyone else wanted to show up at Nichols (in a car or their bike) later on they could meet us there...if the weather cleared up wherever they were at.

We decided, initially, to just eat at O'Charlies in Pensacola and just cut the ride short, but the rain let up a little and we decided to go ahead and stick to the original ride since the rain had lightened up somewhat. Well, that lasted all of about two minutes up the road and we ran into some pretty heavy rain...but we kept going. We took a little side trip and stopped by my house in Molino so I could show Dave where I live. We continued on to the northern end of the county towards Century. About 3 miles before McDavid the rain had cleared up, still overcast, but at least Dave could dry out some as he forgot his rain suit and only had his jacket...his jeans were soaked. We got up to Century, turned onto County Rd. 4 and headed eastward to Jay. The weather still held up pretty good but when we turned south in Jay and rode on for about 7 miles or so, it started raining again...poor Dave. We went ahead and went south on 89 and eventually ended up at Nichols where we had a good dinner...after Dave and Bob sat outside wringing out their socks and emptying out the water in their boots before going in, gots to be a little civilized you know.

We took our helmets inside as Dave and I did not want to experience another stolen helmet like Joe did in Nashville last July when we went to Hooters for Dinner.

Anyway it was good rain riding training in case we run into any on the way to ES in September.
Dennis

Those appear to be brand spanking new bags on Scot in Exile's beast. Or are there Flipmeister bag stiffeners aboard? And your rain suit looks to have taken a good soaking, in the second picture. What were you looking at? Water running out of his shoes Sorry I had to relate to the event. Been through a few drenching rains without gear myself. Soggy shorts suck!

Been through plenty of rain like that also. Sounds like y'all had a great time through it all though. How did those Leatherlyke bags hold up?

The Leatherlyke bags are on Baggage1's bike, what he was looking at I don't know, let me post a better picture. Baggage1 is on the left, Scot in Exile is on the right, he is standing next to my bike. His is the first Rocket in the first pic of the original post, he parked closer to the restaurant because he didn't want to get as wet.

As for how Bob's Leatherlyke bags held up...a lot better than his rain suit.
Dennis

Sorry, I just saw the top sheen and assumed I knew ...Exile was next to yours.

We were hoping RocketDaryl was going to show up, but he had painters coming over and wasn't sure if he could make it. More likely it was raining where he was at and he figured "What idiots would be out riding today"...well, I just don't know what to say to that... but it was a good ride, might have been a little better if we could have seen where we were going for 2/3rd's of the trip. All in all we did about 90 miles in the rain just to go out and eat dinner.
Dennis

Dennis's first foray in the RAT ride tradition resulted in a non sanctioned 3 bike trek into the unknown. Scot in Exile, Molinoman, and Baggage1 took off from D&D Cycle at 3:30 still trying to decide on where to go in the bad rainy weather. We decided to go close to the shop and forgo the planned route. Along the way it looked like it was clearing up so we decided to do the planned route. Just after that the bottom fell out. Can you say cats and dogs, sheets of hard rain,unrelenting downpour, somewhat describe the deal. When conditions become so outrageous as to become rediculous I laugh. I laughed a lot on that ride.

Actually Bob, this was my second ride as Rat Pack Coordinator, the first was to Helen Back Pizza in Ft. Walton Beach in June.
Dennis

Heh . . . actually, Daryl, Pepsi Pete (new r3 owner) and I were looking out Daryl's garage door about that time going "Man it sure has rained a lot lately".

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Beer will save the world . . . I don't know how, but it will.

Yeah, I had painters at the house all day. But, as Dave stated, they came over and I gave him and Pete the guided tour of my garage. We took an extended break when we got to the Rocket exhibit.

As for rain, I got my share Friday when I came in for the 500 mile service. It was raining so hard I was going 30 mph on I-10. Fortunately, there was a car in front of me with their emergency flashers on (smart move) so I was able to follow them. I also had my daughters behind me in my car (thought I was leaving the bike over night) so I didn't have to worry about anyone running over me.

Also, I posted a new thread with pics of Rosie (my bike) including some of the seat and fender, per your request.

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Daryl
2008 Rocket III Touring