Hogs of thanks to BATW Ambassadors Cindi & Mike Odom for taking the newly gilded beans back on the road towards Daytona Beach for Bike Week 2005!

Hiya friends, neighbors, and those who appreciate a good road trip, and welcome to the Atlantic Coast of Florida! Today the beans are making their way once again to Daytona's annual Bike Week, where they had so much fun 3 years ago. This time around, BATW Ambassadors and hosts of the Bike Week Daytona Web site Mike and Cindi Odom were kind enough to haul them along for the ride. So our first stop along the way is here in Samsala, FL, home to Sopotnick's Cabbage Patch Bar. The Cabbage Patch is one of those places where they put the "fun" in "ain't this a fun place?", where hot babes, cold beer, and wild times seem to be the main attractions. Hey, the beans don't have a problem with that. Besides, they grew up next door to a cabbage patch themselves. Of course, that patch had actual cabbages growing, and there wasn't a single wet t-shirt contest in the fields, but you can't have everything.

While here at the Cabbage Patch, the beans learned all about a sport that definitely deserves Olympic consideration: cole slaw wrestling. Let's assume for a moment that you're a traveling can of frijoles, and you just happen to find yourself basking in the hot Florida sun. And while you're busy sunning your can and enjoying a chilled beverage, someone was to come up to you and offer you a shot at winning some cash. It's easy money, they tell you. All you have to do is...wrestle girls in a pool filled with 2,000 pounds of cabbage and 10 gallons of Wesson oil. Would you go for it? (Trick question - I know.) Well, I can't speak for those of you with a phobia about smelling like shredded cabbage for the rest of the afternoon, but our beans? Heck, yeah! They couldn't wait to dive into the giant pit of cole slaw for a chance to try out their wrestling moves for a shot at the jackpot. Alas - it turns out our poor can is allergic to oil-based slaw dressings. But it's okay - next year they've promised to offer black bean wrestling, and we know that we're a shoo-in for that prize.

But someone had to win the cole slaw wrestling competition, and here she is! Here the beans stop to flex with this year's winner of the cole slaw wrestling tournament, who walked away with $500 and the admiration of a certain can of vegetables for her muscular efforts. The cole slaw wrestling rules are fairly simple: The rulebook says that no biting or kicking is allowed, but other than that, just about anything else goes. Now, we'd hate to give away the "ancient Egyptian mystical cole slaw wrestling secret" for winning, especially since the "just about anything else goes" part of the rule is wide open for interpretation, but let's all hope that it doesn't include the brandishing of a certain 15 ounce can of vegetables as a weapon, shall we? I mean, we like the wrestling and all, but we'd hate to be an accessory to anything... Anyway, the beans were pleased to meet the acquaintance of our winner, and hope that she'll be there the next time they need to walk down a dark alley late at night.

Just as the beans were about to depart from the Cabbage Patch Bar (and believe me - they're still pulling little shards of cabbage out from behind their label...) they got to get a driver’s eye view from the front seat of one of only three G-Rex three wheel vehicles. What's so unique about this G-Rex, you ask? Well, check it out. This vehicle was designed with two wheels in front and one in back. Cool, ain't it? The beans were hoping to take it out for a spin, but they were afraid that with their brand new gold label and the bright orange custom paint job on the G-Rex, they'd be an easy target for the keen eyes of the Florida State Patrol. So while it sounded like fun in theory, having to explain why an unlicensed can of vegetables is peeling down I-95 at 120 miles an hour could prove to be a little tricky. Maybe next time...

So instead of getting a whopper of a speeding ticket, the beans and BATW Ambassador Cindi went down the road a ways to New Smyrna Beach, where Gilley’s Pub 44 was hosting a little gathering brought to you by Girls Gone Wild. Now, we're a little afraid to ask what's going on behind those closed curtains on the bus windows, but we're pretty certain it's not a black bean recipe exchange... Regardless, the beans thought for a moment about asking the GGW crew if they could tag along for the afternoon, but since they were already having so much fun with Mike & Cindi, they decided to stick with what they had going. Besides, the fear that they might accidently end up on the cover of one of the GGW videotapes was enough to keep our family-oriented beans on the straight and narrow. I mean, what would their mother say?

But have no fear - the beans did get to meet a young lady who was having a wild, wild party, here at Froggy's Saloon. Located on Main Street in downtown Daytona, Froggy's is home to the following catchy slogan: "Get here early Get you a spot Froggy makes sure You don't wait for a shot!" Clever, no? In honor of the amphibian's poetic ways, the beans have made up a slogan of their own. Here goes: "Party with beans in gold labels Instead of toads wearing shorts. 'Cause when you play with frijoles You won't get any warts." Okay - that was a little snarky, but it was all in good fun. Besides, the beans bought Froggy and his friend a round, and everything was cool afterwards.

Next up, the beans rush off to the No Name Saloon in Edgewater, Florida, where they get to hang out with Florida radio royalty - The Monsters of Real Radio. The Monsters are found every morning from 6:00 to 11:00 AM Eastern on 104.1 FM in Orlando, 93.3 FM in Jacksonville, or for those of you lucky enough to enjoy XM radio, you can tune into channel 152. Ain't modern technology great? So here the beans and BATW Ambassador Cindi get to pose with none other than Monster Radio's own Sexy Savannah, who looks mighty stylin' in orange, wouldn't you agree? They usually make jokes about people who "have a face made for radio", but the lovely Miss Savannah here busts that theory right in half. The beans would really like to thank Savannah for posing with them. In her honor, they promise to quit calling to request "Back in Black" over and over and over again. (Sorry about that.)

Ah, but if the beans are going to hang out with a celeb by choice, their first selection would be someone with the SAME NAME! Yes, here the beans meet Monster Radio god Blackbean, who is not only cool enough to have the same moniker as our beloved frijoles, but was also nice enough to autograph their label. So double bonus points of black bean props to you! Now, in the spirit of the great mysteries of life, such as the whole chicken-or-the-egg quandary, we must ask: Which came first: Blackbean the DJ or black beans the traveling veggies? While we're not sure of exactly when Mr. Blackbean came onto the scene, as far as our frijoles goes, they've been hauling their can around the world since April 1993, so we're willing to place a wager on the canned variety. (Age before Rock & Roll.) Still, it was an honor and a privilege to hang out with Blackbean the Radio God and the rest of the Monster Radio crew, and hope that they'll remember their canned fans, especially when giving away front row concert tickets. (Hey, if it means killer seats? The beans will suck up to anyone!)