THE NEXT NEW THING

I had an epiphany today.   Whenever I spend a lot of time driving back roads (one of my favorite things to do) and I have the good sense to leave the radio off so that I can think, I tend to make discoveries about myself.   


I left my friend Sandy, aka Thelma, with her family this morning, climbed in my cute little rented Toyota Corolla, and headed off into the day with only a vague idea of what I might do or where I might go.  I needed to get to the Tampa/St. Pete area in order to spend the night with my friend Susan.   On the way, I had made tentative plans to see Joe and Paco in Sarasota.  They were going to show me the progress on their major house renovation.   Joe was the associate conductor of Choral Arts until his retirement from the US Army Band. Now he and Paco live in Sarasota.  They had visited Chautauqua two summers ago, and I had a great time with them during  the week they were there.


So.  . two things. . . Joe and Paco in Sarasota,  Susan in Clearwater.  But beyond that,  I had no idea what the day would bring.   My favorite kind of day.   I left at the crack of dawn and went to a local breakfast restaurant to consult my atlas and decide on the route across the state.  I wanted to A). stay off the main highways as much as possible, and B). see Lake Okeechobee.  I had learned about Lake Okeechobee in Geography in 4th grade, but had never seen it.   It was on the list.  At the restaurant I was immediately "adopted" by the waitress and two locals, who all pitched in and made suggestions about the best way for me to achieve these two goals. I love meeting the locals!  Thanks to them I was routed across  a beautiful 20 mile drive to the lake.  This is what I saw most of the way . .  . 

It was a spectacular drive with the canopy of trees and Spanish moss in abundance.   I arrived on the eastern side of the lake, but you couldn't see it from the road because of the large levee which encircles it.  Luckily the restaurant people had warned me of this, so I pulled off on a side road to approach the lake.

It was gorgeous and huge!  Picture perfect day.   While I was checking it out, I met George:

He was preparing to get his canoe and go out into the lake to fish.  He told me that there is a 110 mile hiking trail all around the perimeter of the lake.  There are camping sites every 10 miles.  Kind of like Florida's answer to the Appalachian Trail without the hills and the bears!  He had done the whole trail on his bicycle.  Sounds like fun.


After saying goodbye to George, I continued north until I picked up Rt. 70 west.  A two lane highway directly through the middle of the state.  My kind of road.   It was lined with trailer parks (called RV Resorts!), orange trees heavily laden with fruit, and the flattest land I've seen since my trip to Illinois and Indiana last October.   One RV Resort in particular seemed to be destined to house all the delusional people in Florida as it was named  Alpine Village! Hilarious!  


I drove into Bradenton, simply because it was at the end of the road.   I didn't really have a clue where I was going because I had not heard yet from Joe and Paco.  But they called and I made my way to Sarasota, had lunch in the historic downtown area and spent a great hour or so seeing the progress on their house.

From there Joe gave me directions to take the scenic route to Clearwater, via the outer beach highways.   The weather was warm and compared to DC, the traffic was light. Several long bridges, one pretty high, and one bridge opening to let tall sailboats through.


Now. . . as for my epiphany.   I realized that have spent my life being seduced by The Next New Thing.  When all is said and done,  history will show that the great love of my life was The Next New Thing.  I have always been willing to move on. . . even if it meant saying goodbye to where I was.     I realized that today during the drive.  Because I was giddy with happiness today at the prospect of heading out on the highway by myself and seeing what happened.  Today I realized that this has been the pattern of my life.  I'm not sure how I feel about that in retrospect, but I could never give up The Next New Thing.


Tonight I am in Clearwater in a gorgeous huge condo with my housemate, Susan from 
Chautauqua.   I will stay with her tomorrow and celebrate New Year's Eve. . . and then I get to go after The Next New Thing again.   I'll have two whole days to make up as I go before I have definite plans of where to stay again.  I can't wait!


I have no expectations at all,  except I would really like to pick an orange off a tree.  I stopped at an orange grove today where you could buy the fruit, but the lady explained that it's against state law to let anyone pick from the trees!   They do have pick your own strawberries however.   And you know you are in Florida, home of senior citizens, because the signs for the Pick Your Own Strawberries include the messages:  "No Bending!"  "No Kneeling!"   That was as funny to me as Alpine Village!


So let the Florida adventure continue.  I hope Thelma is having as much fun as I am.  And I hope I can pick some oranges!