Tampa October 09

Due to my aversion to putting pics of my kids or their kids online, I wil not be exhibiting any of the pics of my gorgeous granddaughter, nor her beautiful mother, or even her lovely dad. If you know me and I haven't sent you some pics of them...and you actually would like to see them...let me know and I'll email them to you.

Now the "safe" stuff:

Day one I've already discussed: the nasty sewage smell in Tuskegee, the ride itself, the searing Florida heat.
We always gravitate to the Green Iguana restaurants. This trip, we hit the one located in Ybor City, which is the entertainment/shopping/cigar store area of downtown Tampa.

We had a great time with the baby. She never whined a bit, while twins at the table next to us howled. The Iguana serves some really tasty food. My salmon (left) was excellent and the kids enjoyed their meals, too. Dear god...are blogs supposed to be this boring?!


Sure would have liked to hung around and seen Trower at the Ritz. Cool looking theater.









These signs were everywhere. Tampa is very gay-friendly, I guess.







Crappy touristy shot.











'nuther 'un.





Had a blast keeping the baby from noon to 9 on Saturday. She didn't poop once! I coulda dealt with it, but it was nice to not have to. Saturday couldn't have been any better a day: got to spend lotsa time with my granddaughter, the Crimson Tide beat Mississippi, Arkansas knocked off Auburn, then LSU-Florida that night. Excellent day.

My son and I ate at another Green Iguana (we must like that place) on Sunday and watched the pitiful Bucs get their asses stomped by the Eagles. Ate a ton of wings and a good burger. Met Sanovia, a 6 foot chick who was pretty crazy...even by my standards. We had a great time talking with her and her friends. She assumed I was a country music fan because I'm from Alabama. Stereotyping sucks.

Tuesday was leaving day. I hated it. May have to move down there.

Got to Homassasa Springs or somewhere along there and decided to go see the Ted Williams museum. I figured I was gonna get some cool pics to blow y'all away with. I mean it's Ted Williams! Took the road to Lecanto and pulled up to a bank with a Ted Williams Museum sign. Odd.


Ted looked pretty lonely. I think Lecanto was where he dropped anchor and retired. Now he's decapitated and frozen in a lab in Arizona. Lecanto wasn't that great, but, considering Ted's current status, it ain't that bad a place.



A guy in the lot waiting for the bank to open told me the museum had been moved to Tampa, at the Rays' stadium. All the memorabilia is in Tampa...where I'd spent the last 4 days! A guy in the bank saw my head drop and he opened the doors

and let me in to shoot pics of the only two items remaining there. Two murals. Damn. Here's one of 'em:








Cross City. Cypress Inn. Ate too many collards and pork strips (odd little bastards they were...but damn tasty). About an hour and a half later the populace of Quincy, FL suffered because of this meal. I destroyed a restroom at a convenience store. Friendly tip: avoid Quincy for oh...maybe a month or so. However, in spite of the resulting apocalyptic event, if you're ever on Hwy 19, and need an inexpensive GOOD meal, stop at the Cypress Inn Restaurant. $7.00 and everything was damn good. Just be prepared to stop again not too far down the road.

A group of old guys was hanging around the convenience store parking lot. One of them stopped me and asked if I was coming down to the big Harley get together in Tallahassee. Told him no and that my bike was a Honda. He was stunned. Earlier, in one of the little towns I cruise through on 19, a guy at a light asked me if I was on an Indian. Damn I'm glad I ride a dependable Honda, rather than either of those two manufacturers' machines!


Inside the restaurant and my view of my trusty steed.

















The aforementioned restroom that I annihilated. Rather than the standard bathroom wall graffiti fare (Rosie gives great **** 867-5309), a football fan had left the local high school coach a suggestion.








Played tag with an FSU coed for a long time on 19 and then 27 into Tallahassee. Wandered around Tally a while just to slow things down. Then hit I-10 (only interstate I took on the trip...hate 'em on the bike) to Blountstown. Decided to take some backroads into Dothan, Alabama, then bring it on home.

Missed a great photo op around Malone or Cottonwood. To my left, two red tractors were discing a field. One coming toward me, one going away. As I went past, my bike startled a gaggle of those white birds that hang around cows. It stuck with me for a long way. The birds all up in front of the tractors...oh shit...anyway, it was very cool looking to me.

Wanted to ask a local how this community got its name, but being this close to home, I just kept boogiein'. Beat the rain and the cool weather and rolled into the driveway about 5:30 Tuesday, the 13th. Another excellent ride. And another shitty blog post.