Westward Ho!

Dear friends,

We’re on the road out of Florida today, along with at least 88 trucks
per square mile. I-75 is 3-lane, good road, 70 mph speed limit but hard
driving with so many trucks that change lanes like sports cars.

We had planned on going to Savannah, but have decided we like Florida
so much, we’ll be back. We’ll catch Savannah on the flip side.

In the “real-life-on-the-road” saga, we were following the golf cart,
leading us to our space at the Breezy Oaks RV Park we just mapped, when
a guy in a new Cruiser backed into our bus. Hit us hard, in the bumper
€“ damn! The guy was going way too fast, didn’t look, etc. It was a
kid; Dad said “I let him drive because I’ve had a beer.” Fortunately,
it didn’t damage our radiator and when a new “tin” car meets and old
steel bus bumper, bus bumper bends a little and tin car bends a whole
bunch. The Cruiser got pretty crunched, not to mention the bikes that
were on his back. Dave got the grille straightened out where the bikes
on the car bent it up a little. This was the day after we nearly drove
over the disabled guy who was also nearly hooked in our grille, so we
were a little shook up.

We finished the Breezy Oaks job earlier than usual (11 days). We’re
getting more organized. It was an okay job although we felt like the
park managers were our biggest obstacle. Good folks at heart but at
odds with the absentee owner and unwilling to take much responsibility.
We had a lot of potential advertisers tell us they didn’t need to buy
an ad because the managers displayed their brochures and referred to
them for free. When we tried to explain to the managers that their maps
are provided at no charge because the advertisers pay for the printing
and after that we hoped to earn a reasonable commission for our work
… the response was “uh-huh.”

One thing we do miss in our travels is the occasional stimulating
conversation with folks of above average intelligence.

We have been in Bushnell, Florida, in the heart of orange grove
country. The oranges grow well along the slightly elevated central
ridge of Florida. Many groves were moved south, or started over, after
the freeze of 1987. Orange trees require a lot of water (soaker hoses)
and rapid drainage; Florida soil looks like the limestone ocean
sediment it once was. Fresh orange juice is right up there with true
love and homegrown tomatoes. We are so happy to be able to buy fresh
produce at roadside stands (finally). The hybrid candy corn, melons,
squash and citrus products are excellent and cheap (finally).

The old gray hair of kudzu has come alive and fills the spaces between
the trees along the road. It’s a vine that looks great along a fence
but knows no bounds. Like the Melaleuca tree, which was imported from
Australia at the turn of the century to drain the Everglades (it sucks
up enormous amounts of water), Florida spends a lot of money to get
rid of both of them. Stephen Foster and the Suwannee River theme parks
are big here and in north Florida, even though Stephen Foster didn’t
live here, and maybe didn’t even visit. Apparently, the “Old Folks at
Home” evoked memories of a gentler time and didn’t need Stephen to
achieve immortality.

Central Florida is thoroughbred country and aside from the pockets of
golf-cart communities, it remains a beautiful, green, rolling farmland
area. The towns are old, but still have a hardware store and a library,
and people generally seem content. Little towns around the many lakes
remind us of Newport and Depoe Bay in the 60s. Every little town has
its ball-on-a-stick water tower; you got to make your own gravity here!

We’re headed north then west to do two state parks in northern New
Mexico. It’s very hot in most of Florida now, so cooler nights will be
welcome. Dave has chigger bites on his feet. I’m starting to be glad
about the Florida things I wanted to buy but didn’t (cute little
strappy shoes, foxy beach cover-ups, short dresses). New Mexico is hard
on shoes. sigh. Diesel fuel was $2.91 a gallon in Florida; it is
dropping as we head west. We don’t run the A/C on the road but use it
when we’re hooked up. Some parks charge extra for A/C.

By the end of the day we’re back in Georgia with roadside signs
demanding to know where I’m going to spend eternity and offering more
evidence of mom ‘n pop diversity: “Country Deli – Guns and Knives.”

Love to all.

Sam

Little things of which Dave has taken note:

• Big chrome wheels and rubber band tires are the rage on lots of rigs,
pickups included. One model has a separate center wheel that rotates in
the opposite direction when the vehicle stops.

• All the school buses have a white strobe light on the roof, quite a
site around the schools when they gather. Could put a certain
personality into a trance. Wonder when they will hit the northwest.

D.