A Florida Love’s location is once again asking truck drivers to fuel and then leave the premises to accommodate a large three day motorcycle rally.
The Love’s truck stop in Ormond Beach will be unable to provide parking for their professional driver customers starting on the evening of Wednesday, October 17, through the afternoon of Sunday, October 21.
The annual “Biketoberfest” rally is being held in conjunction with a neighboring Harley Davidson dealership. As usual, thousands of motorcyclists are expected to attend the event. In previous years, heavy traffic caused by Biketoberfest has caused major backups on US-1 and I-95.
Love’s has provided directions for truckers on the best route after they fuel up: “When you leave Love’s parking lot, local police will direct traffic and only allow you to run right onto US-1. Go 1 mile north, where the sheriff’s office has a controlled turnaround point for anyone needing to go south. If you head north for approximately 5 more miles, you come to Old Dixie Highway. Take a right and go 2 miles where you connect to I-95 north or south.”
The annual event typically triggers grumbling amongst members of the trucking community who are forced to find alternate parking solutions. Love’s issued the following statement on to their professional driver customers: “Love’s, especially the team at the Ormond Beach location, understands the inconvenience for our Customers during this bi-annual event. We have engaged in more proactive communications to ensure our Customers know the effect this event has on their routes and abilities to stop and park overnight. We also hire police officers specifically to help direct traffic at our location all day to ease the congestion in entering and exiting. We value our Customers and appreciate your business. We sincerely thank you for your understanding.”
There is a a similar but shorter event in the spring called Bike Week.