Me, dog, car.: GREG ALLMAN'S HARLEY

After a good night's sleep in Brunswick GA, I rolled into (or onto Amelia Island/Fernadina Beach around noon to meet my buddy Mike who has lived here his whole life.

Mike

I met him three years ago when he hosted me as a "boondocker" on my first trip down here. Mike has a thick deep southern Georgia-ish accent (although I'm sure I'll stand corrected), so the "ya'll come on down" vibe was cool, but it was my first time staying at a GUY's house or yard and I was a little wary. He had something about living with his mom on his profile and other nice stuff, so how bad could it be?

Mike's bungalow surrounded by live oaks and moss

So when I pulled in and knocked on the door, there stood a very tall, very large "big guy" with a beard and a Harley Davidson shirt.

My thought was "WELL WE'LL HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN COMMON." That was my snotty Yankee first impression. Again, the deep southern accent kind of added to that opinion...... that hey, this guy's a Bubba and he's probably a Trump voter and I'll just stay out here thank you so MUCH! for letting me park in your yard!

"You sure you don't want to come in?"

"NO THANKS! I'm good!"

"You can use the bathroom if you need to."

"NO THANKS! I'm gonna be fine! Thank you!"

And so it went for a couple of days.

Fort Clinch, Fernadina Beach, 2020

Then I called him to ask him a question about a place on the Island and I was lost. That's when I realized that I had been very mistaken about Mike. He became the most helpful and gracious host. he was sincerely proud of his place of birth and wanted to make sure that I saw the best of it.

At some point we started to have further conversations. I came and sat down on his sofa.

Then the topic of politics came up and I was SURE he would tell me he'd voted for Trump.

"I voted for Hillary."

Image result for hillary clinton surprised

OMG are you kidding me?? Now you're my friend for life.

And it truly hit me how pigeon holed we become when it comes to others.

So here's what travel can do for you. It gets you out of your stupid.

On the road I had two encounters with two other men, one toll-taker who was yelling at me cause I backed up (nobody was behind me at all) and the other was a hotel clerk who was kinda nasty. In both cases, I just smiled and said "thank you", and the toll guy gave me a little grin like "haha, I know I was being a jerk." That was cool.

So the following is just more of Laura meets Harley guys.

Gregg Allman's bike

When I arrived on the Island noon on Saturday, I was completely intoxicated by the green trees, especially my beloved live oak with the Spanish moss hanging like wisteria and blowing in the wind or inverted seaweed underwater.

For some reason, this just makes me so happy and excited to see these "grand ladies" as they call them here. Azalea are blooming, I saw daisies. It was in the upper 60's and sunny. SO HAPPY.

Mike said "Hey, I'm hanging out with my buddies Calvin and Bruce, we're putting a winch on his jeep. You want to come over?"

So I drove over there and every one of those guys were wearing some kind of Harley thing.... a shirt, a hat, whatever....... They were all crouched around the truck trying to install this winch.

Calvin, Bruce and Mike

I noticed this very snazzy blue Harley in the garage.

"That was Gregg Allman's bike." Mike tells me.

"What? Really?"

Apparently, it was.

So here's a photo montage of Calvin (the owner of the bike) and Bruce (who wanted to pose also and I said "ok but you gotta take your shirt off", and by golly he did!) and Gregg Allman's bike.