Mike's Mercedes

I'm back.  I know I said 90 posts in 90 days, and I've missed a couple of days.  We were traveling to Florida by car, I don't have a laptop, and my fingers are too fat for the keyboard on my new phone.  My techie wizard son is going to find a keyboard for fat fingers.  However the trip yielded new material ( they usually do), and here it is.

It turns out our good Bergen County friends, Mike and Libby, were also traveling by car to Lake Worth, FL, a couple of towns away from us in Delray Beach.

For the full effect of what happens in this story, I must digress.

A few years ago, our Rutgers Football season tickets seats were moved to a new section.  As we arrived to sit for the first game, we noticed the seatmates next to ours were the same couple who sit behind us for Rutgers Basketball games!

As I was writing "Ark" while attending the first game last season, Calvin, my new friend and impetus for the book, had seats right in front of ours!  Of all the 60,000 seats in the Stadium, how's that for coincidence or fate?

So, back to the story, Mike and Libby left Bergen at 6am, and stopped to have lunch with their daughter in Virginia.  We left Marlboro at 8:30am, and got stuck in horrendous traffic in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.  We were supposed to meet Mike and Libby for dinner in Santee, SC, but arrived too late due to the traffic.

The next day, we called them from the car to note their progress.  They were only 5 minutes ahead of us.  We both agreed to meet when we got down to FL. within a couple of days.

One of our traditions is to stop at the Florida welcome center to get a shot of orange juice.  I pulled into the center, looking for a parking space, which are hard to come by since everyone has the same idea.  My wife always spots the first space I miss, and gets annoyed every time.  

Well, I did find a space next to a late model Mercedes SUV with Jersey plates.

My wife and I looked at each other, then across the lot towards the OJ greeting room, and there were Mike and Libby waving to us!

What are the chances of that?!

Small world.