Today was a beach day. I had to be out of the Motel by 10:00am, which was an early, wake up for me. I spent the morning checking out the town more thoroughly. I picked up some real estate info and just generally tried to get a feel for the place. Around noon the sun came out and I decided it was a good time to check out the beaches. There are two beaches both exactly five miles from town. The one to the south is full of people, condos and beach bars the one to the north is a state park that has nothing but a snack bar on it. Yes the snack bar does sell beer. I decided I did not have to leave town till the evening so I had all day at the beach. I definitely liked the more active one. I would not want to live out there but you have your choice of all kinds of beach bars and restaurants. The one I stumbled into had a really talented guy playing solo acoustic music. I enjoyed it immensely. It seemed in that moment rumrunners were in order. Later on I drifted up to the state park beach which was great in it’s own way. Nothing bad to say about either, what is your preference? Sometime after I had lobsterized my bright white new england skin, probably around 5 PM I set off for Mt Dora in central Florida. I decided to go see it because it has consistently been on the list of “100 best small towns in America” I am not sure who gets to be the judge of that, but thought it was worth a look. I arrived as the sun was sinking and so was I from my beach burn and rum punches. I made a brief stop in town and determined I would not be able to afford a room at the Inn on the lake. I asked a cop where the cheap rooms were and they sent my just out of town to this place called E.COM …I suppose it is a play on economy but a bit of a stretch. It looks like a total dump. I went in and there were couple people in there that didn’t speak English but they motioned I should stay. I waited for a few minutes and they brought their son out who spoke English. He wanted $42 for the night and that was just in my price range. The room was decorated from a yard sale. Everything was old and shabby. I turned down the sheets and was really wondering if these had been changed recently. That night I kept feeling itchy like bugs were crawling on me. Now I am not jumping to conclusions here. Maybe it was just my sunburn or perhaps I needed to check into a detox center but I could not stop thinking it was bugs. So if you’re down that way I recommend scratching E.COM off your itinerary.
