Saturday, October 29, 2011

Hankerin' fer Balls

Orlando, Florida 

A scheduled taxi picks me up at Rond's.  He says there are other cabs that came to take the fare.  He explains their listening to his calls is illegal and comments on reporting it.  I don't think he will.  He talks about the snow later in the day and says there hasn't been snow this early in Maine since 1898.  He says that was the same year The USS Maine was sunk in the Spanish-American War.  I figure he knows that from the radio.

It snows from Connecticut to Philadelphia.  On the last train I get on a Jamaican woman makes a bed at the window.  I can't take any more blurry pictures.  A family from the Portland train station follows me all the way to Orlando.  It's the first time any of them have left the state.  Sitting behind me, an old couple from Quebec are enthralled by a dog park and a chihuahua in a tutu.  Kids from Philadelphia point out the windows in Winter Park and yell they can see Florida from their side.  I remember why I hate tourists.  They aren't from Florida and seem to be amazed by everything.  It's seventy five degrees outside and they all put on jackets to leave the train.

I can't describe why I like Florida as much as I do, but holy shit I'm glad to be back.

Afterward

My full route is here and here.  Here are my picture sets in order: Tallahassee to Raleigh, Raleigh to Baltimore, Baltimore to New York, and New York to Portland.


  • Dogs run free and wild in Georgia.  I was chased three times as much there as anywhere else and by whole groups.  No one locks them up.  I'm really upset about these dogs.
  • Old black guys in the South seemed to dig my trip a bunch.  Old white guys mostly seemed curmudgeonly about it, but a few were really into it.  Everyone else was pretty universally ambivalent.
  • If you have a beard people will let you stay in their house.
  • Bontrager shoe covers don't work for shit.  Axiom saddlebag zippers break.  Surly, Chrome, Acorn, Pentabike, Vans, BDG, and Blood is the New Black all produce stalwart and robust products.
  • Bananas and bungee chords are everywhere on the road.
  • The South has a lot of lumber, paper, and pulp mills that stop in Virginia.
  • The East Coast owns.
  • Drink beer, ride bikes, go fuck yourself.

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