I had another of those nagging, old familiar hunger-pangs again, so… I took care of it. As is nearly always the case, I hadn’t decided upon a specific dining target, but I did have an idea and a couple of possible options in mind. I wandered off wondering just where we might actually wind up…
Most of my recent day-rides have been towards locations more or less west of here, so it seemed entirely appropriate to wander in another direction this time… I recalled a pretty good BBQ establishment in Palatka… a good and different direction in which to head. We hadn’t visited that place since back in ‘W’s’ first term, though, so… Hmmmm, wonder if it might still be open? It is! And, that’s not all!
That place is now open for limited dining-in, so I got a treat in more ways than one!!! The Q was actually even better than I’d remembered it being, and… the folks there seemed really happy to see me! Nope, nobody remembered me from before, of course, but they were mighty glad to still be around and to have customers making purchases! I didn’t disappoint them…
Man, that was some mighty fine chow, and it sure felt good to be sitting at a table and being served instead of standing beside our girl eating from a carryout box balanced precariously on her seat with a drink on the ground beside the side-stand foot… I did not miss the boo-boo of dropping my food or kicking anything over this time, either.
We hadn’t gone ‘straight’ to Woody’s BBQ place, but only partly by design… We had taken a long cut and ridden some rather nice two-laned roads not ridden in way more than a fortnight, more like a decade or so, actually, and the very light traffic we'd encountered had added to the pleasant cruise through the Ocala National Forest. Even the weather had cooperated providing us with near perfect conditions for… enjoying some much-needed ‘soul’ food…
The plate upon which BBQ and sides were served…
image upload freeThe platter upon which my idea of ‘soul food’ is served…
Once at the outskirts of Palatka, my suspicions and apprehensions were confirmed… I was not able to recall exactly where that place was! My rememberation was that we would need to make a left turn onto some major road at a traffic light… I went a bit too far to another less familiar intersection, but a U-turn was easily executed with much practiced precision. Once the proper turn was made, I spotted Woody’s on the corner of that very intersection, so I had been wrong again in thinking it was a couple of blocks further on… Oh well, there is much good in good fortune!!!
I did take in too much food… BBQ and fixins, that is… never too much soul food! I just knew a nap need would arise soon enough, so a lengthy return route was not undertaken… We did, however, ride mostly different roads, and the entire roundtrip had turned out to be just what was needed… you know, to satisfy serious hunger-pangs… even if only temporarily…
DDT
P.S. As I was writing this piece, it occurred to me that some might find the story of the ‘Cross-Florida Barge Canal’ interesting. We’d crossed that abandoned pipedream three or four times during this little excursion, so… Perhaps I need to do that ride again and fill in the ‘Rest Of The Story’… Might even visit Woody’s again, too… since we’d be in the hood anyway…
