Today’s photo is of another winner. This is an electric bike with the motor in the rear wheel hub. The catch is these puppies sell for $1,750.00 so you can’t take your eyes off them. Note even in the secure display it is chained to the wall (orange chain in right corner). That’s a lot of money to lose in a split second, considering the stolen property doubles as the getaway car.The reply from the Riverside Inn came in, the one who’s ad said the room was $54.99. There is a slight premium for launch dates, in which case the price is $276.39. That’s an extra $221.40, but at least these people gave me a straight answer. Just you try to dig or pry that information out of Ramada, Clarion, Hyatt, Marriott, Best Western, and Radisson. Those people are bastard rats.
Next, you’d figure with the Internet, it should be an easy task to bring up all the state parks that have campgrounds and get their prices. Try it (floridastateparks.org). After an hour, I finally gave up and found a private camp called Jetty Park who want you to contact them for “further information”. Unfortunately for their secrecy policy, people who’ve stayed there before have published the prices, and a tent site is $24.00, with up to 20% more in “January thru April”.
I undertook a study on this manner of doing business long ago, long before blog days. My conclusion was that the theory that seasonal businesses have to overcharge to cover their slow periods is not the whole truth. They do not admit that they also overcharge to cover their bad customers, an expense they could avoid by being more discerning. However, judging customers takes brains and experience and these outfits would rather take the easy way out. The availability of credit means they don’t have to suffer from their own mistakes. You do.
In all, it adds up to a rip-off. Not just the false pricing but the whole aura of how they operate. It plain stinks. Their prices are so high they are afraid to post them on the door, it would seem. The consensus of reviews about the launch date is delays are not uncommon and it is wise to book the room for a second night. That would make it $552.00 for the room, roughly the cost of going to California by train. (Everybody who’s wide awake will notice all these prices are, in the end, working out to nearly the same dollar total. Coincidence?)
So let’s take another gander at Plan B. I used the Reader’s Digest vacation book Wallace gave me back in 1999 to add up the individual legs to a total of 189 miles Hollywood to Titusville. That struck me as twice the distance Wallace and I went for donuts and coffee in Lake Worth. Further, we had driven up the coast using A1A and not Federal Hwy. Federal can be a quagmire during rush hour. A1A was more scenic and I noticed it on several of the map sections.
Taking the hint, I used Google Maps to scroll the entire coastline in this focus. A1A, which in Florida is called a “byway”, goes all the way to Cape Canaveral with only a few jaunts inland to circumvent large bays. What’s more, the entire route is dotted with parks, reserves, wilderness, fancy homes and state beaches. It is also mainly through long offshore islands and sandbars. That sounds fascinating. No doubt the Internet will find some way to move those roads around because right now everything you click on takes you to ripoff.com.
My Coleman isn’t working right, so while up at Pro Bass, I priced out comfortable camping gear. Couple that with my earlier look at the largest tent that can be set up by one person, plus the best mattress, sleeping bag, tent, cooler, folding chair and cot and the total is less than $200. I’ve got everything else needed and unlike wasted hotel money, I’d have all the gear when I got back. It is something to really think about, as the campgrounds all have hot showers and Internet.
Mind you, I have not checked their space shuttle prices yet. Do they dare also charge five times as much? If so, I’ve looked inland over the horizon for anything within driving distance, though my scooter headlights are not the best for night driving. Keep in mind, this trip is speculation, I won’t have the money unless things change.Here’s an ‘in-line’ coupler, a device Fred and I talked about in the shop years ago. For some reason this useful item did not exist, and it required a router to connect two Ethernet cables. Maybe we were doing it wrong all along but I maintained it could be done and here is the proof.
