One year ago today: March 28, 2015, they insist . . .
Five years ago today: March 28, 2011, liberating your neighbors . . .
Nine years ago today: March 28, 2007, I never got paid.
Random years ago today: March 28, 2013, moaner-droner-groaner . . .
MORNING
And it is another jet-lag good morning to you. I had a completely restful night at the Walmart campgrounds, between to RVs. I have a habit of relocating before store hours, but I slept in until 6:30 today. My usual symptom is vertigo and I had trouble walking across the parking lot. My head felt like it was seven feet off the ground, a classic indicator I’ve had life-long. What a dire affliction for someone who likes so much to travel.
But two coffees and my B&G (1/2 order of biscuits and gravy) found me sort of half back on this planet. The restaurant is under those two lights atop the sidecar in the photo. There is no sign, hey, don’t need one in these small towns. You’re supposed to know already where everything is at.
Just in time to find out the library is closed on Mondays. Okay, so I zipped out to the Peace River park for a morning nap, only to discover my starter has finally given out. It is too easy for the reader to forget I view these breakdowns on the road as part of the adventure. I knew what I was getting into years ago when I bought a 30 year old motorcycle. A quick push start, another tour of the town, and I headed back. Total cost of this trip, less than $60.
I met quite a number of people this trip, including a couple who had just moved here sight unseen directly from Illinois. That’s how I found Florida, I just got tired of the cold weather one day and started driving. I had planned to stay a few days and even a quick trip up to Zephyrhills to say I’d been there, but that starter is and electrical problem and I’ll err on the side of caution.
There are police everywhere in Arcadia. I think maybe there is a training academy nearby. I found there is yet another prison, on the road to Ona. I drove five miles out and back on all the main road leading in and out of town. It was strange to see road crews of prison inmates cleaning the ditches. Five or six inmates and eight or ten policemen. Doesn’t seem like an economical way of tidying the roadsides.
Buffalo Bill.
NOON
Having no schedule, I took the Babcock turnoff and went through the wilderness area. It doesn’t match the big forests of the west, but for Florida, it was rugged. The existing maps of the area a inaccurate, I wound up halfway back to Clewiston before noticing the sun was behind the wrong clouds. I doubled back and presently found I was on that same road Wallace and I had gone to see the alligator wrestling. The whole outback was virtually uninhabited, I averaged maybe 25 miles per hour, stopping only for gas and a pint of milk. And a push start from some passersby.
As I neared Alligator Alley, I realized I’d been puttering along for over six hours, so I cranked up the speed and was back in Hollywood by 3:30. Directly to the motorcycle shop where they confirmed it is the started gone kaput. The replacement was ordered ten days ago, so how’s that for good timing, guys?
It seems longer, but you know all this intensive house-hunting has only been going on for nine months, including a three month delay late last year. I’m so used to riding the batbike down country lanes I don’t even really use road maps any more. Was this trip a success? I can’t be sure, but it was nice to find that area around Alva and it was a great driving holiday. I’ll wait a day or two before making any decisions on the property, but there would be parking for sixteen or twenty cars if you ever had to hoist a reunion.
And as stated, it was ideal motorcycle weather stop to finish.
NIGHT
Jet lag found me again as I walked in the door. Zonk, I was out for four hours and now I keep glancing outside at sunset expecting to see sunrise. Okay, who spiked my coffee? Seriously, gang, this has followed me all my life, I get can get seasick on a ferry crossing. But counterbalancing it all is my absolute tolerance for all food. I never get tummy-aches unless it is a virus. Food everywhere agrees with me. Sorry, I can’t report any feasts on this trip as my appetite didn’t follow along. Oh, I just remembered, I had one of the grilled hot dogs at Burger King. Not bad, but just a hot dog.
Here’s the old electrical panel from the house, I found it stashed behind the shrubbery. Until otherwise proven, I regard this house as a drug growing den, then the big bust. This also means the agency could be highly motivated to move the property. I’ll judiciously await for the real estate lady to reply to the information I sent her about the conditions I found things.
I know they can only convey my offer to the seller, but if there is even a chance her telling them I have become aware of the circumstances, well, it only takes one bureaucrat up the chain of command to panic and say dump the property now.
The house has two fireplaces, both of which seem functional, if dirty. For those who don’t know Florida, Arcadia is south of the frost line, a requirement for orange groves. You don’t really need any heat, but you do just fifty miles north, near Bartow. Or is it even that far? Ah, the wonders of the Internet; let me look that up. Arcadia to Bartow, how about that, exactly fifty miles. Well, when you drive a motorcycle, you drive every one of those miles.
And let the record show of the $60 cost of this trip, $11 of it was for anti-freeze. I spent an additional $32 for entertainment, but that does not show as travel costs. The treat was finding these excellent areas on the outskirts of the west coast cities. I must drive through there again. These may seem off the beaten path, but at the same time, the Florida Atlantic coast can be a real disappointment to all but easily impressionable tourists. Seriously. The Florida east coast is all hype. Old people hype. If I live to be 100, I still don’t like beaches full of old people. It’s yucky.
Last Laugh
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