Cale Barnes Reports From Florida

(Editor’s Note: Cale sent this to us on Friday. Sorry for the late post)

Hi MXP readers,

Cale Barnes here sending an update your way from the Sunshine State. I have been in Florida for a few weeks now, thoroughly enjoying this summer-like weather. I am staying in the central Florida area just outside of Orlando and have been riding multiple tracks to keep things interesting. I have also been sampling the moto lifestyle on the road, which has been very entertaining and has provided valuable ride time. I have been riding with a couple friends down here, Henry Miller and Roman Brown. This way we have been able to share rides to split gas money and push each other on the track.

Last weekend we took a trip up to ride Boswick motocross. Let me tell you, this is the lucrative chocolate cake us Canadians drool over! It was also really cool to watch Henry and a Pro from Peru put down laps on the Arenacross track; those whoops are no joke! That night after a Chinese buffet we went on the big hunt for the cheapest hotel routine. Then Roman tells us he is pretty good at poker and if he wins more than $100 he will pay for the whole hotel. So there we are, just Roman and I (the other two were too young to get in) sitting with all the interesting local poker characters trying to win it big. After he spent our $20 buy-in and lost all our chips, we thought we better get out of there and not lose any more coin.

Next we find the cheapest hotel, shady and run down of course, but we’re young and on a tight budget. After the lady at the front desk informs us she has to charge us extra per person we get back on the road to look for more options. At this point we end up in downtown Jacksonville. Now we may not have had luck at the poker table but we struck gold finding the best hotel deal out there! This place could have passed for a five star resort out of a brochure. I am talking river view, front door greeters, marble flooring, and for the same price as the place with bed bugs we turned down by the casino! The best part is we get a room on the top floor with access to the roof top pool and sauna. Well worth the hunt.

The next day after a large breakfast we have a great time shredding berms again at Bostwick. We just got back today from riding at Thundercross down in Okeechobee, Fla. We made the run down there to avoid the rain that was coming through central Florida, and Roman’s Grandparents were staying in West Palm Beach. They were nice enough to feed us and let us stay the night. It is definitely hotter down there as it was already 74 Fahrenheit at 7:00 am when we got up to go see sharks swimming right off the edge of the beach.

This weekend we are going to take the road trip up to watch the Atlanta Supercross. I am pretty pumped for this although somehow we have come up with the idea that we are not getting a hotel room but just going to drive right back. Anyway, it is going to be awesome. I will also be at the Daytona Supercross for that weekend. Unfortunately, all the classes filled up before I made my plans to come down here, but keep an eye out for some updates from that also. I hope some of you enjoyed my update. You can find me on Instagram @cbarnezy.

Thanks for reading. Cale Barnes