Home at Last

The trip is over clocked in at just over 2500miles...The snow is still here when I arrive home but things have definitely melted. Some areas of the garden are clear. Last years garlic planted in the fall is poking up ready to spring forward. Driving up my road they are still sugaring, steam rolling out of the sugarhouse as they boil down the syrup.
In closing I would like to just make a couple observations about the south I traveled through. We all have preconceived notions of places that may or may not be true. The South from a Northerners view is often though of as a racist place. Filled with bigots. Now I have no idea how many black people actually live in any of those states I passed through. I was always under the impression that there was a high population of blacks in the south. The odd thing is I seemed to rarely see any black people in the places I went. Yes I would see them at a gas station or working at a fast food store. Sometimes I would see them sitting out on their porch or hanging out laundry as I drove through the countryside. However they were almost never in any place I was eating or drinking or staying. None. I would not even really see them in the towns I went to other then perhaps sweeping the street or something like that. On several occasions, at restaurants I would get a glance into the kitchen and it would be staffed with 100% blacks. The restaurant customers were 100% white… In the packed dining room the only blacks were emptying the trash. Something is really wrong with that picture. On a number of occasions without any provocation from me I had people saying really derogatory things about the black population. Something that in the North would be pretty unusual in the circumstance I was in. Now I don’t and have never lived in the south. I’m not going to render a judgment on white or black society. I guess my main thought is this. If you’re a black person, living in the south, do yourself a favor and get the fuck out of there.
Point number two. Northerners think the south is filled with toothless dimwitted rednecks. This perception has been largely ingrained by the people you see on Jerry Springer and movies like Deliverance. From what I saw that stereotype is largely a myth. What you are talking about are just fairly poor undereducated rural people. They are everywhere, including Vermont, Maine, Wyoming and Alabama. It is not an exclusive southern thing. I had people in Vermont tell me I should carry a gun on my trip and that I would be hated as a yank down south. I never saw any of that. People were all friendly and no different from anywhere else I have traveled in The USA. Rednecks are just country people. Country people are the same everywhere you go. Some are great, some are assholes just like city people. If your in their town just be polite. Don’t talk about stuff you don’t know about. Stay away from topics like religion and politics. Just common sense, go with the flow and thank the guy next to you when he buys you a beer. That’s all I got. Thanks for reading.
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Tallahasee FL, Gulf Shores AL, Fair Hope AL, New Orleans LA

The last day of the trip. I have to admit I am starting to feel a bit road weary. These last several drives have been fairly long. I say goodbye to my friend and head out towards New Orleans. I have two stops along the way Gulf Shores and Fair Hope Alabama. Not having much luck in the rest of Alabama I am hoping these towns along the coast will not be the same. Gulf Shores ends up being a strict beach town. It remains part of the “redneck Rivera” Mountains of billboards and tacky crap greet you. This is a place of water-parks and huge condos set right on the beach. Like Panama city a spring break Mecca. I have no issue with this, I rather enjoy this type of area if I am looking for a beach vacation, but I am really on a quest for some place to live and work in a somewhat normal community. This just doesn’t seem to fit the bill. Prices advertised for beach property here do appear to be a lot cheaper then Florida. I find it hard to believe that any of these huge concrete towers will make it through a major hurricane. They sit right on the beach. I drive along the shore road and spy an older wooden restaurant and beach bar wedged between towers of concrete. I stop for lunch. It is so windy stepping out of the car is like having someone run a sandblaster over your face. I seek refuge in “Bahama Bobs” I join the bar crowd and have a Corona. I order a Mahi, Mahi sandwich. Now often at these types of places the crew working there will begin to hate people just by the fact there are so many of them making their life hell. In Bahama Bob’s case they seemed to be all great and very friendly. Customers at the bar were also having a good time. I stayed longer then I should have but enjoyed my time there. Two thumbs up. I moved on to Fair Hope about 20 miles away. This town represents the polar opposite of the rest of Alabama. It is prosperous and seems to have a lot to offer. Nice downtown, fancy homes on the shore but regular homes too. It has a sprawl area ….well we all need a Wal-Mart and a Publics…but it is just outside of town and is designed very well. It is all landscaped and screened with trees so it almost looks good. The town has a lot to offer and the beaches are close. Alabama pulls one out of the hat. From here I headed to New Orleans for my plane the next morning. I came into the city a different way then I left and was really pretty surprised to see the city is still in really bad shape. Street after street of abandon homes and large buildings falling into decay. They will not recover from that flood for many years to come. To bad a great city. I checked into the Raddison and then hit some BBQ bar for my last fix of southern food. Louisiana smoked sausage is the best.

Mt. Dora FL, Micanopy FL, Tallahassee FL

I could not wait to get out of the bug-ridden hotel so I got in to town early. Mt. Dora is a pretty town sitting in the middle of ugly central Florida. It is isolated and self contained enough so you could live there and not really know that just 3 miles away the world was much different. The Town is upscale and sits on a little hill overlooking Lake Dora. Lake Dora is really not much to write home about. It is surrounded by scrubby low lands not particularly attractive. The water is sort of a putrid green, Not something your going to swim in. They do some bird watching and stuff but I saw little evidence of major lake activity. As I said there are some nice looking inns here and restaurants. The town is well kept and pretty. They have a bunch antique shops I browsed through. Hardly a real antique in any of these stores. Lots of other stuff mixed in. I don’t really have anything against the town but frankly it just felt old to me. By that I mean old people old. Everyone seemed to be in their mid 70’s the town seemed to lack vibrancy. I am sure I would be happy here pushing my walker down the street in another 25 years, but for the moment I think I’ll take a pass. I left and headed northwest. Just below Gainesville is a small town called Micanopy. There was a sign on the highway claiming the largest antique center in the area so I stopped to check it out. There are a number of barns near the highway several exits apart that house a really good selection of antiques. These are dealer shops and there was hardly any repros or craft crap in them. Worth a stop if your into collecting something. I turned and went to downtown Micanopy. They have a very nice historic little downtown set under huge oak trees. It consists of a café, a gift shop and about 10 antique shops, all of which were pretty decent. This area obviously draws a lot of dealers from up North. The community itself is quite small. Houses sit under the shade of oaks on small, often dirt roads. It is kind of a nice stop but there is nothing here in the downtown area. People who live here go elsewhere for normal daily needs. I will mention that they do also have a strip bar. I believe “we bare it all” is their slogan. Now I am not going to say I stopped there, as that would upset people I love. My guess is you should bring lots of money, as your wallet will be emptied quickly by naked nubile woman. My last stop for the night was Tallahassee. I have a friend who lives there so I stopped for the night to see him. I have been to Tallahassee several times in the past. While I really don’t have that on my list of places to go I have to say it seems to be a pretty livable small city. My friend lives in a very nice little neighborhood, again with these big oaks. The town is also surprisingly hilly which adds a nice touch. I would say if you were looking at cities in Florida to Jacksonville, Orlando, Gainesville etc. Tallahassee is well worth a look. I would pick it over all others.