The Other Athens.

"Hi Peter, I'm Michael. This is Mike. Let's form a band."

Athens, GA – Pulling up to Terrapin Beer Company, we were disappointed to see a note on the door saying it was closed for a staff meeting.

But, we were in luck.

It turns out the brewery tour only opens at 5:30 p.m. four days a week, and we were early.

So, before returning, we walked through the University of Georgia's campus and had a delicious dinner on the sidewalk patio at Five Star Day Café. Stuffed meatloaf with jalapeno tomato sauce, mashed potatoes and mac 'n cheese left me too full to try the cobbler.

We were shocked to return to the brewery and find hundreds of cars snaked around it. Strains of bluegrass rock hummed from a band onstage and white lights twinkled overhead as people milled about, walked their dogs or tossed Frisbees.

Lots of beers and beards at the Terrapin Beer Company.

Most had one of a dozen different beers that had been set up at five different pouring stations around the property. It was an extremely relaxed setting, and everyone was remarkably friendly.

For $10, you got a pint glass to keep and a pink wristband, numbered 1-8, that told you when you had had enough. Each number was stamped for a a ¼-pour sample (closer to half), and four would get you a full pint.

Being from out-of-town *may* have resulted in a couple gratis pours.

Before long, we had made new friends who told us of can't-miss locales around town. Good food, good music, good beers and welcoming people. Athens felt like home.

I have a new favourite east-coast American city.

Seriously, I could live here.

Vitals:

• Time:10 hours
• Distance: 803.8 kms
• Weather: Light rain, giving way to sun
• States: Florida, Georgia
• Wildlife: Turtles on the road

Who da Man(atee)?

Who are you calling a (sea) cow?

Sebastian Inlet, FL – The question was asked excitedly: “Can you see manatees here?”

“Not from where I’m standing,” came the reply from the ranger at the front gate of Sebastian Inlet State Park.

Everyone’s a comic.

The sun beat down as we visited the park on a quiet day that boasted surfers and fishing from the jetties. Pelicans twisted in the air like fishing line, dancing seaward.

I'm hooked on you, too. Let's dance.

A fisherman on the pier had hooked a decent-sized stingray, and struggled to land it. He did not seem impressed at the prospect of having to remove the offending hook from the twitchy fish with a needle for a tail.

Quid pro quo: you prick me, I prick you.

Tugging hard at the line, he enlisted the help of a fellow fisherman and directed the fish into a large, circular net before setting it free with a splash. You could almost imagine the ray flapping its wings and flying back for vengeance.

The man promptly went for a smoke to calm his nerves.

Nearby, juvenile sea turtles rolled in the surf, coming up for air with inquisitive eyes. Turning toward the beach, two large grey masses grazed along the shore: a mom and a calf.

Turns out you can indeed see manatees here.

Interlude.

sands of time
The surf rolls in
like time, dissolving.

Resistance is futile
as the rip current pulls
at the hours:
unwind,
unwound,
sound asleep.

With each wave goodbye,
the sands of time
are carried back to sea
with the etchings of my toes,
to an hour
too soon erased.

What Do I Sea?

Surf and Turf.

Indialantic, FL – With each disorienting crash of the waves, and with each black spot on the horizon, more questions:

Is it a dolphin? A whale? Do my eyes deceive me once more?

A stingray leaps out of the water, surging on an incoming wave toward the shore. A pod of dolphins crest in the distance, searching for their morning feed.

A squadron of pelicans glides in perfect formation, skimming the whitecaps before swooping upward. A crab dances sideways, swept off to sea.

The shorebird sighs at a lost opportunity.

Such is life at the ocean. Bliss.

Salt Life.

It's easy to 'a door' the beauty of Savannah.

Indialantic, FL – The ocean beckons, its salty air licking at my nostrils like an all-too-happy puppy.

Any day that begins with a beautiful walk over the cobblestones of historic Savannah and a tasty omelette stuffed with shrimp the size of my fist at Huey’s on the river walk, and ends with dipping my toes in the ocean, is more than fine with me.

Add that our beautiful and extremely comfortable room at the Oceanfront Cottages offers great views of the waves crashing to shore, and I’m thrilled to stretch out of the car.

Time to kiss the sea and let the palm fronds fan me.

Salt life: rest for the weary.

Vitals:

• Time: Six hours
• Distance: 511.4 kms
• Weather: Sunny and hot, becoming overcast
• States: Georgia, Florida
• Wildlife: None

Homeward Bound.

Athens, TN – I feel a kinship with the sparking red taillights that dot the fog like fireflies.

Passing through the veil that hangs over the highway, we all have our own adventures, stories and destinations – similar, but unknown. License plates pass as name badges for points across the continent and generate knowing waves from someone sharing a home, still far away.

Working through northern Florida and into Georgia, colourful signs advertised oranges, pecans and peaches. The fog eventually burned off, giving way to ethereal clouds of yellow pollen that hung languidly in the air. Magnolia season is upon us.

The road before us continued to stretch through Atlanta, where planes swooped low like hawks with talons exposed. Unclear signage carried us in a loop around the airport. Four times. With the day drawing to a close, we were greeted by rust-coloured hills in Tennessee and a date watching the Final Four.

Go Butler.

Vitals:

• Time: 13 hours
• Distance: 959.5 kms
• Weather: Foggy, giving way to a mix of sun and cloud
• States: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee
• Wildlife: None
  

Time Warp.

Daytona Shores, FL – Heading south along secondary roads lined in neon and pastel this morning, the calendar page seemed mired in 1957.

We were greeted by faded cupcake-coloured buildings draped in etchings of dolphins, flamingos and palm trees. Vintage drive-in, Dairy Queen and Krispy Kreme signs sparked like rainbow bug zappers. 

Most could afford to buy a vowel.

It was such a time warp, you almost expected an old convertible Chevy to roar up with leather jacket-clad youth sitting atop the back seat, hair slicked back with Brylcreem. The car did eventually round the corner, cautiously climbing the curb – but driven by a man with hair as white as a starched business shirt.

In New Smyrna Beach, a diner sign proclaimed, “Let’s bring back the good ol’ days,” but at first blush, it seemed nothing had changed in the area for more than forty years. The economy has suffered a tremendous blow – an amazing number of decrepit gas stations, seaside motels and even churches sat for sale, crying for new owners. What is the price of salvation? (On average, a couple million, it seems.)

Given the area's history as a notorious Bible belt, perhaps some things have indeed changed.

Vitals:

• Time: 12 hours
• Distance: 311.9 kms
• Weather: Sunny and warm
• States: Florida
• Wildlife: Alligators, countless shorebirds, including hornbills
  

Space Cadets.

Kennedy Space Centre, FL – Really, the Space Shuttle Discovery is sitting right there. 

 

Right there.

Okay, ‘right there’ is in fact still a couple miles away from the observation platform at Launch Complex 39, and the launch pad’s metal framework cloaks the Shuttle itself, revealing only the tips of its boosters. 

 

But it’s right there.

Having grown up watching the Shuttle program’s early voyages on television, including the ill-fated 73-second Challenger flight in 1986, I have long been enamoured by the thought of space travel. Given my love of discovery (pun intended), travel and new experiences, this likely comes as little surprise.

We had considered staying to witness Monday’s third-last Shuttle launch, but likely won’t given the extra time and uncertain launch conditions. Instead, we made our way to the Kennedy Space Centre today and were shuttled (yes, again, pun intended) around the facility by retired NASA staff sporting brush cuts that hearkened back to the golden era of space travel.

Moving past the Vehicle Assembly Building, which was once the world's largest building by volume (and is now the fourth-largest) and houses the three other Shuttles, we proceeded to Launch Complex 39 to see Discovery. From there, we visited the Apoll0/Saturn V Center, where the world's largest-ever rocket hangs from the ceiling. Our tour concluded with the Space Station Processing Facility, where you can see modules of the International Space Station tested.

T-4 until (anticipated) lift-off.

Fit to be Tide.

Flagler Beach, FL – I carved this into the sand free form this evening, knowing the words would soon be drowned out, all traces of them erased from the history of Flagler Beach.

My memories of a great evening sitting quietly as dusk and increasing waves rolled in, however, will last far longer.

sands of time
Toes, curled in the sand, | the dancing waves trip over themselves | encroaching on the footprints | we have left behind. | The sky sighs at memories lost | but not forgotten, | stolen by the tide | but not from the mind.

Whale of a Time.

St. Augustine, FL – St. Augustine is the oldest city in the continental United States, and its oldest port. 

It may also be one of the tackiest.

Fearing rain, we opted to take the 45-minute drive up the coast this morning to see what St. Augustine had to offer. In typical North American fashion, the historic city has been commercialized to the hilt. From long lines of school buses to van loads of seniors escaping the beach, it was a tourist haven. So much history painted over with the spectre of cheap plastic figurines and commemorative coins.

It was neat to see Castillo de San Marcos, a fort constructed in the late 1600s out of coquina (small shells that have bonded together to form a stone similar to limestone), and to wander around Flagler College, whose gorgeous campus is situated on the grounds of the old Ponce de Leon Hotel. Several other structures made great subjects for photos.

Sightseeing trains chimed through the streets and the historic district teemed with tacky souvenirs. Coming across the "oldest wooden school house in the United States," we were greeted by grotesque mechanized people in period costume, including one mannequin peering out a second-floor window behind a box of silk flowers. 

Does everything really need to be made into a theme park?

The day was redeemed by the presence of a number of fun photo opportunities and by the appearance of a Right whale just off the shore, north of Flagler Beach.

Catching it out the corner of my eye, we pulled over and watched it swim past for a half hour. As most of already migrated north, the siting caused a long line of traffic to join in with binoculars and cameras.

What Will a Pier?

Flagler Beach, FL – As I waded under the Flagler Beach pier this morning, a rickety sky of molten greys rolled in with the increasing waves. Fishing poles traced fine lines to the sea.

“Not much biting today,” said one fisherman, indicating that dolphins had, a little earlier, chased away most of the fish. He had, however, caught a small shark and a stingray. 

This is the ocean.

The farther I traipsed from the shore, the more I was painted with a gouache of white caps that threatened to pull me and my camera asunder. I braced myself, lens held high. Pelicans darted overhead in search of a salted lunch in the roiling surf, which was also being sewn up by a number of neoprene-clad long boarders.

A storm is coming.

In Cycles.

Flagler Beach, FL – The moon rose majestically over a ferocious tide that crashed into the shore tonight.

Nature: such violence in peace.

in cycles
The naked moon stares down | at white caps, torn | from the puppet master's strings, | frothing at the dunes, eroded | in unchained rage. | In cycles, the seemingly random, | ordered.

Breakfast with Flipper.

Flagler Beach, FL – Dolphins. Really, I could stop right there, having seen several of the muscular mammals leaping in the waves from the balcony this morning. My day could have happily ended with that.

It was, however, also extremely nice to fall asleep and wake to the tune of the ocean’s crescendo drumming against the shore, a cool breeze creeping against my skin. Fresh. Peaceful.

The drive to Daytona Beach this morning was pleasant, if not kitschy. The afternoon, spent burying my toes in the sand, offered therapeutic relaxation. A lone sandpiper pecked at the shore, as a salty dusk descended with a shrug.

But having awoken to dolphins frolicking in the waves, planes preparing for an airshow and pelicans flying in equally tight formations made breakfast, and the day, so much better.

Bliss.

La Florida.

Flagler Beach, FL – “What does that indicator light mean?” A tug on the steering wheel while pulling through an intersection in Savannah, Georgia provided the answer: power steering failure.

Thankfully, turning the car off in a strip mall parking lot allowed the car to reset and we were able to continue toward the coast – with an ever-wary eye cast at the dashboard. Approaching Florida, a significant increase in traffic flow punctuated the point that not all snowbirds had yet begun to migrate north.

Upon entering the state, we were greeted by anti-abortion billboards that lined the highway every mile or so, and cars that were adorned with “Choose Life” license plates sporting drawings of children. Even more disturbing was the billboard displaying a large automatic weapon and the tagline, “Relieve Yourself.”

Welcome to the south.

Vitals:

• Time: 12 hours
• Distance: 780.8 kms
• Weather: Sunny and warm
• States: South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
• Wildlife: None