(Photos & Video’s added below 3-26-20)
We had a great time, until the shutdown over Cornavirus-19 took over.
Barbara and I stayed on the beach at the Royal Floridian Resort in Ormond Beach, FL for 7 days. (Six miles North of Daytona Beach, FL) . We did not know that It was Bike Week until we encountered more and more bikes and bike trailers the closer we got to Florida. I looked on the Internet and found out it was Bike Week 2020 and Barbara screamed, Oh No! Not again!! We had been here once before during Bike Week, and she did not like it. Too many bikes! Everywhere you could park one, up and down every main street and side street, loud music, loud Harley’s,BMW’s, Indians, Triumph’s, Yamaha’s, Kawasaki, Slingshot’s, Polaris’, and every other kind of bike and scooter ever made. (I loved it!) Before we left, Barbara was telling me, “Let’s go over and see some of the custom bikes, they are so nice”.
We found a very nice place to eat, “The Crab Stop”, located on the mainland side, on International Speedway Blvd., just down the street from Krispy Kream. Good food, good parking and the staff was very nice. There were lots of bikers, so it was a mini-bike show in the parking lot.
The big Saturday Bike Week Race was canceled early in the week. On Friday night, the Florida Governor canceled all public gatherings of 250 or more people and revoked all vendor permits. That was very bad for the vendors. Saturday and Sunday are their largest selling days. We were lucky and went up and down Mary McLeod Bethune Blvd. and got to see some really nice bikes and Barbara purchased some items from the vendors.
As we walked down the street, Barbara said, “That looks like Marva!” What do you know, there was my GOOD FRIEND, Houston Hawkins and his wife, Marva, walking towards us. We broke our Social Distancing and shook hands and hugged! (Not a good move). We were so happy to see them this far from Baton Rouge. We talked a few times after that meeting about what we had seen. Houston knows much more about bikes than I do. He once belonged to a Bike Club that went to Bike Week often.
We tried to ride on Main St., on the beach side, but they did not allow any cars. That is where most of the popular Biker Bars, Pubs and Dives are located on the beach side of Daytona Beach. They normally have thousands of bikes, parked in every space they can put one.
Saturday morning we got up and walked on the beach. It was nice. Not many people, and those that were there were practicing “Social Distancing”. We departed early Sunday morning and made the 10 hour drive back home. Great Vacation!