PJ's 2006 RAMBLE

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October 01, 2006

24 Hours in Florida

I'm currently using a computer at Uncle Blue's Tattoo shop in Longview, TX. Some of you may recognize Longview as the home of the Hands on a Hardbody contest (and the brilliant documentary that was made about it in the mid-90s). This film is what brought me to Longview and I have been trying to get in touch with people who were in the film; so far no luck finding Benny Perkins but I did manage to speak with Ronald McGowan and Janis Curtis, and will be meeting Janis and Don Curtis later on this afternoon if all goes well. Unbelievably, many of the people who star in the documentary have NEVER SEEN IT! I'm not sure how the director could pull something like that, but it blows my mind. I found a copy in a pawn shop near here and will be giving this copy to Janis and Don (the film hasn't been distributed in ages and is getting as rare as hen's teeth, popping up on eBay for $40 to $100 from what I've heard). Longview and the deep south in general have been good to me, the people here are very nice. Anyway, back to the updates...

I left Savannah after meeting with Russ and his gang and was headed south on Route 17 on a hot afternoon. The weather down here has generally been in the 80s or 90s every day since I left Atlanta. I went through some marshy areas and crossed another trendy bridge or two, stopped to investigate condemned Country Stores (as usual), derelict drive-ins and boarded-up barbecues. Then it was over a blue bridge and over the state line to the sunshine state.

Shortly after crossing the line I came upon a real dandy of a souvenir shop, which had sadly closed an hour or two earlier. I wish they'd been open because I had so little time in FL and didn't see anything else like it during my trip through (thought I'd see a bunch of 'em but I guess I wasn't near enough to the tourist areas or coast). Once over the border I jumped on A1A (Beachfront Avenue!) west to 301 to avoid Jacksonville, and took 301 all the way south to Citra where I picked up 318 to Jake's. Man, once the sun went down the bugs came out and they were like snow hurling themselves at me, smashing into my headlight and helmet (and jacket) with softly audible little "splats" and building up like snow does on a windshield. Unfortunately I have no windshield so I bear the full brunt of bugs and rain...the only benefit is that when it rains after the bugs, it washes a lot of it off me and the scooter. Gross but true.

I called Jake to let him know where I was and he met me at a gas station near his house (I'd never seen a picture of him either and didn't know what to expect), he pulled up as a tall guy with a grey ponytail, a smiling warm greeting, a firm handshake and the air of a 50-something Johnny Cash (looked kind of like and had a good presence). Jake and his wife Helen are originally from Detroit but have lived in Florida for many years. They have a beautiful home/farm there where they work with reptiles and giant turtles. They have a fascinating lifestyle, lots of great stories and a pleasure to hang out with. I would sort of call them aging hippies, with the best possible connotations of that word...not like "peace and dope", but they have a well-rounded, somewhat new age and liberal sensibility and are *very* cool, laid-back and down-to-earth. They live just north of Ocala in northern Florida in a pretty, rolling area dominated by horse farms.

I stayed up late uploading photos and slept in the next morning. I got up and went for a nice swim in their beautiful pool, then Jake and I went for a great ride around the area on some lovely, tree-shaded roads. We couldn't stay out for too long because I wanted to get up to Atlanta for the Deliverance rally and it was 400-something miles I had to go. I was sad to say goodbye to Jake and Helen so soon, I could've easily spent a week hanging out, talking with them and seeing the area, but time was short and I'd made the decision to go to the rally, so I missed almost all of Florida. Not getting to see much of Florida was one of the most disappointing things in my trip (also not getting to spend more time in Maine, not meeting Janis, Ronald or Benny in Longview, not making it into West Virginia, etc). Hopefully I can return to Florida for a proper tour on another trip and see it from one end to the other, and back.

Posted by pj at October 1, 2006 12:05 PM

Comments

Posted by: Paul at October 1, 2006 10:49 PM