Jan. 6—Florida Man and his brother Larry are going on a road trip of indeterminate direction and destination starting this Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.
It’s our homage to the early 60s when people were imitating Jack Kerouac’s siren song in On the Road. I tried to read it again recently to get some pointers and only got a few pages in before sending it back to Libby. It was a book for its time and that time is gone.
Our trip also brings to mind a line in Blue Highways, a travel memoir by William Least Heat Moon, the recounting of his three-month solo road trip in a mini-van that avoided interstates and major highways in favor of the roads that are blue or black lines on most road maps.
We don’t know where we’re going but the saying is, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you can’t get lost.”
But, like what reporters were trying to do before the election by going to diners in small towns to get opinions from real Americans, we’re going to talk to people in small towns and ask for directions to the best places to eat.
That’s wise advice from my friend Tom, a distinguished travel writer who taught Anthony Bourdain all he knew. Over a Korean lunch, I asked Tom for his best travel advice and he said, “Ask people where to eat.” So, that’s our plan.
Larry and I talked about buying an RV or renting one to save money on motels, or taking my 17-year-old Toyota FJ Cruiser with 230,000 miles, and then decided to rent a small SUV. We won’t be taking an firearms, drugs or sharp objects with us.
So were heading northwest through lake Okeechobee, High Springs, Ridge Manor and Bushnell and hope to get out of Florida by mid-week.
Final stop, if we get past Selma, Andersonville, Plains and Jim’s Smokin’ Que in Blairsville, GA, is Marfa, TX. Why? “Because it’s there,” as George Mallory, an English mountain climber said of Mt. Everest before he died in his third climb.
We’ll be sending cards and letters from the road, perhaps Florida Man can make a few postings and maybe a podcast if we can figure out how to do it.
Florida Man will still be with you all this week so stay near your computers.
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