August 15, 2024

Yesteryear
One year ago today: August 15, 2023, the opposite effect.
Five years ago today: August 15, 2019, it’s still America.
Nine years ago today: August 15, 2015, I still can’t braze.
Random years ago today: August 15, 1999, the Orinoco.

           A morning in Valdosta. It’s small and spread out, but they still manage a downtown rush hour. After a great seven-hour snooze, I decided to find Tonio. I’d forgotten his biz-card at home last week, so I thought how hard would it be to find a tow driver in Valdosta. That was before I found out 10% of the cit has his same last name. I gave it the old college try, locating a business on-line with the same name on Fry Street, but there was no building there. Next I tried the libraries. No luck.
           The South Georgia regional library (per GPS) is a construction site next to a hospital parking lot. Mind you, I’m navigating by Garmin, whose motto is, “We only code the maps, we don’t update them.” Next, I drove all the way to the McMullen library to find this door sign they don’t open until almost noon. No, my phone does not have Internet and the Garmin also does not do business hours except for places you don’t need. That was a wasted side trip that contributed to the extra mileage. (Did I mention a bad oxygen sensor taking 60 miles off each tank of gas?)

           This missed event gave me the scenic tour of Valdosta. I’d planned on a breakfast or coffee visit, to see how Tonio is doing, but that was a no-go. I had planned taking the scenic route last time I was here, that was the time the van broke down. Having planned the route to Perry, I found myself on the road to Quitman and that’s where I got you a much better picture of a door. This is the Royal Café, where I arrived five minutes too late for breakfast. They close between 10:00AM and 11:00AM to set up for lunch.
           Lucky for me they had two things that made my morning. Great coffee and a leftover breakfast sandwich in the warming oven. Folks, I have had breakfast in the oldest restaurant in Georgia, and it was just the beginning of a great day trip. My trail led through the southwest portion of the state and it was storybook. Tree tunnels and several Civil War era mansions that were still in use. I would not say the area is prosperous, a better word would be established. Some of those trees would have been planted at least 150 years ago, and with considerable skill.

           It’s an area worth exploring. All to soon I was across the state line in Florida. How can you tell? It’s easy. The road is still the same and the speed limit is till 50 mph, but now there is a high-axle pickup truck either riding your bumper, or passing you at 85 mph and cutting back in front inches ahead. Actually, there is a second say to tell you’ve reached the Sunshine State, but it is a mite more subtle. Was it Edison who said people who don’t read suffer the same handicap as those who cannot read? Stay with me on this one.

           Every few miles you see a road sign that says “Narrow Bridge”. You see where I’m going with this. While I understand such signs are for people who can’t figure it out for themselves, the sign becomes a redundant was of the taxpayer’s cash. The roadway is less scenic on this side but still worth a trip. Sadly, the signs of an old and gone America are everywhere. Handing people paradise for free never seems to work well. The freeways and big cities have drawn the life out of the America that was.
           Finishing my last audio-book, I kept an eye out for a Thrift and in the end didn’t find a place with either CDs or cassettes. The Hyundai does not have AUX jacks on the console. Instead I use my reliable old GE mini player, still reliable and with a more authentic “radio” sound. I’m also reading a book that criticizes Rommel. He was a propaganda hero, he never had the military oomph to do a fraction of the things attributed, such as attacking in overwhelming force. It never happened. The book focuses on the things that went wrong but unnecessarily denigrates the guy. Like he didn’t know he was disobeying orders? And so what if he was farsighted in one eye and nearsighted in the other?

Picture of the day.
“Lost Cause”. Cincinnati War Museum.
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           Planning to stop in Brooksville, I didn’t linger long on this trip. I wanted to see Perry just to say I’ve been there. It’s a town that I remember hearing often enough on the radio. It seems nice but no Thrifts appeared on the GPS, so I stayed southbound on Hwy 98, the same road that goes past my cabin 200 miles from here. Which brought my next unusual event, more cabins. Yes, it had to happened but I first saw it today.

           This is what appeared at first to be a campground, but with a twist. You know those ubiquitous roadside shed lots? Well, somebody has bought some of the units with those tiny front porches and is renting them out as cabins for $650 per month. I didn’t want to be obvious taking the photos, so here is the scene from the roadway. That would make them one of the cheapest forms of accommodation available, I wonder if they share a shower?
           The nearest beaches or recreation are miles away, so this is a residential setup, as in not a tourist campground except for the sign. I had looked at this as a form of temp residence had a reasonable property been available in Tennessee. But this is a full-fledged commercial operation. I find it novel how this is put together, yet also sad that things have fallen to this level. It would take at least two of these slapped together to provide any real degree of livability. It is too far out of town to be student housing.

           This traipsing meant I got into Brooksville and milled the Cracker Kitchen by a half-hour (they close at 2:30PM). Business must be great. Let’s see, anything else new or novel today? Yes, and it is food. Here is a bottle of hot sauce I have never seen before. Called Sport Peppers, the label says it is made right over here in Louisiana. It was too early for me to try it at breakfast, it appears to be hot green peppers in oil. This view shows the signature signs of me at a café. A cup of coffee and just visible behind my hand, a book to read. I mean, why waste a great time to read by staring a the décor? And you know me, Taylor as not there.
           Speaking of that singer, who I have not followed musically since she changed from country, it appears she is being censored by a lot of parents. Why? Because her song lyrics are too explicit. Being a bit of an entertainer myself, I though to glance through some. First, she is listed as a public figure and I am not. But I don’t find the lyrics all that much more suggestive than anything their parents had. Then again, up to ten years ago, I worked with parents who still thought their 14-year-old daughters were, you-know.

ADDENDUM
           I stopped for a stretch in Cross City and poked into a Thrift that was mostly clothing, but wonderfully air-conditioned. It is 90°F season. I chatted with the staff about the emerging fiasco about to come down on the heads of these millennials and zoomers. As a group, they think they have successfully bypassed the need to have much practical knowledge because they have wifi and smart phones. Why learn basic skills when you can just look things up? They love to point that out as if it is a one-up on Boomers.
           Until something goes wrong. If the system crashes, Boomers have the option to revert to doing the job manually. You can’t do that without both skills and an understanding of the operation. And that means a host of the very capabilities the zoomers intentionally neglected (which includes their outstanding ability to blame it on others). Telling time, making change, reading cursive, driving a stick shift, reading a map, you get the idea. You see, so far they’ve managed because there is always a Boomer nearby to bring home the ship. But that will be gone by 2030. America’s greatest generation is about to find themselves in a hell of their own making.

Last Laugh