Monday morning report

I dined last night with new friends at High Tides at Snack Jack, a popular oceanside bar and grill on A1A just south of Flagler Beach. Despite the signage, it seemed like a nice little family restaurant.

Riding back from collecting my National Parks Passport stamp at Fort Matanzas, I got caught in a huge traffic jam on southbound I-95 just south of the truck weigh station between the Palm Coast and Flagler Beach exits. By the time I got to the apparent scene of the accident, all I could see was a crumpled Harley-Davidson on a recovery vehicle. Northbound I-95 was a parking lot for hours last night, most likely from another bike crash.

I made a run to the Publix supermarket just across the interstate from the campground yesterday afternoon and ended up parking next to a gorgeous ivory colored BMW K1100RS ridden by a guy named Rick from New Jersey. Rick bought a six pack of Blue Moon and hunkered down on the parking lot curb and drank one while we chatted.

He and his brother Tommy, a Triumph rider from Sarasota, and David, an RT rider from Pennsylvania invited me to join them for dinner along with a couple of guys from north of Toronto, Ontario. The food was good and the company was great.

Back at the campground, I stopped at the now-closed clubhouse and used one of the electric outlets on the porch to charge my iPhone for a few minutes and checked in with Maria, then rode back to my campsite, put the cover on my bike, crawled into the tent and went to bed.

I slept well and awoke a few minutes before sunrise and checked the weather radar. I’d received a text message last night from Charlie saying they made it to Prattville, Ala. and were at the same motel we used Wednesday night. I know he hoped the big storm system would blow through last night, but the weather radar indicates it won’t arrive at Prattville until maybe 10 a.m. and it may take a few hours to pass. Not the ideal scenario, but at least they have a place where they can stay dry if the motel has a late check-out time.