Florida - Day 11 - space center, beaches and Yeehaw Junction

Lake Glenada RV Resort, Avon Park

Friday, 27 January 2023

Today has been designated Holocaust Remembrance Day.  In these recent times of startling revival of anti-semitism, white supremacy and Holocaust denial, I wish there were more emphasis on the purpose of this day.

On the radio I heard someone worried about how kids today aren't questioning Holocaust denial and that a way to deal with that is to teach them how to use media more skillfully and critically.  It's a skill they need on many issues.

today's route

I could see from the map and from Google's directions that today would involve a long drive, so we left the campground shortly after 7:30.

I stopped in Apopka at a grocery store, and then farther along the road at Altamonte Springs at a recycling dropoff.  Actually, I couldn't find one that was supposed to be at City Hall, so I went instead to one at Eastmonte Park.  I found that one but it was weird.  

First, I'd intended to walk Dext at the park but multiple signs told me he wouldn't be welcome, which meant I wasn't welcome.  Second, it took quite a search for me to find the recycling place and it turned out to be because it was just a few little pails in a small structure in an unpaved parking area across the street from the park.  But the structure did label the pails with plastic, glass, and metals, so I knew I could leave the glass.  In fact, I ended up filling up the pails because they were already pretty full and high time someone emptied them.  But if that's one of the 2 recycling dropoffs for the city, I would wonder about the level of their commitment - except these were the only dropoffs I could find in this whole area, short of driving into Orlando, which I wanted to avoid because of traffic.  So at least they were there.  And Dext and I took a short walk along the road outside the sacred gates of the park.  Like I said - weird.

Speaking of Orlando always makes me think of my Uncle Tom and Aunt Marguerite, who lived here pretty much since WWII.  Marguerite died about 10 years ago from Alzheimer's (ugly disease) and Tom died about 5 years ago from complications of being 98 years old (I think that's what he was).  I miss them both very much.

I've been noticing that the radio has stopped fading out like it was doing in Iowa.  Can't imagine why but glad it's stopped.  I've been able to find an NPR station in most areas of Florida.  I heard someone on the radio quote Taylor Swift saying, "Karma is a relaxing thought.  Aren't you worried that for you it's not?"

Another 40 miles or so along the road, past the Econlockhatchee River (I swear that's the name) we went through the town of Christmas (very rural area) and passed a sign for Fort Christmas.  I wondered where the name came from and looked it up and found an interesting discussion of the fort.  The name came from construction of the fort being started on Christmas Day 1837.  The fort now here is a reproduction but still has some interesting lessons to teach about history of this place and other forts built around Florida.  You might want to take a quick look at the article.   https://myfloridahistory.org/ft-christmas   

From there we crossed the Indian River (part of the Intracoastal Waterway system), past the Kennedy Space Center, then across the Banana River, past Cape Canaveral (and several cruise ships docked at Port Canaveral) and on to Cocoa Beach.

Cocoa Beach looked like a long resort area, somewhat dominated by Ron Jon Surf Shop.  The one here is their flagship store and, they claim, the largest surf shop in the world.  They cover a lot of territory and have dramatic Vegas-style statues along the road.  I didn't stop to take photos of any of them and now find there aren't any uncopyrighted ones online.  But I'm including their webpage because it shows a dramatic surfing sculpture, which should give you an idea of what the others are like.   https://www.ronjonsurfshop.com/cocoa-beach

We needed a break, so I stopped at a parking lot for one of the numerous public beaches.  And discovered the city charges $5 to park there and won't let dogs on the beach.  But we needed the rest, so I paid the fee and took Dext almost to the beach.

This is a glimpse of the beach at Cocoa Beach.

This is the boardwalk that leads across the dunes.

I thought this was a great idea -
providing buckets for people to use to pick up trash on the beach.
And apparently also providing toys for people to play with on the beach.
Almost makes up for the no-dogs policy, though not quite.

Lots of oleander in bloom (this is still January).  And I saw a pelican flying.  And later saw a flock of them flying over the beach and the surf.

We continued south on A1A past more beach towns: Indian Harbour Beach, Canova Beach, Melbourne Beach (established 1883).  At a park between the road and the ocean I saw several beach volleyball courts - sand, though not on the beach.

More beach towns, long rows of condos, some single-family homes (most quite large), lots of parks.  I almost had to stop completely before an egret decided to get out of the road.  And a sign warned me of a "land crab crossing next 7 miles," and I kept an eye out but didn't see any.

After a while I started wondering if there are really enough rich people - especially rich old people - in the US to justify all the clearly very expensive housing areas I passed.  Miles and miles of them.

I crossed the Intracoastal Waterway again and headed inland.  I passed a large orange orchard and a huge field with various baby plants.  Some were about 3' tall with yellow flowers.

I came to Yeehaw Junction, which I'd routed myself to, strictly for the name.  A sign alerted me to the Desert Inn Historic Site, and I didn't stop but did look it up and learned that this crossroads was originally called Jackass Crossing.  The Desert Inn, which no longer exists, was once a popular spot here as a bar and brothel, and folks used to ride their burros here (hence the name).  Here's an explanation for it all.   https://en.wikipedia.org/Desert-Inn

A highway sign warned me of a panther crossing for the next 13 miles.  This is a very rural area.  I hadn't realized there was so much rural land in Florida, which has always seemed to me so packed with people it's liable to collapse into the sea.

We passed several large orange groves and came into the town of Frostproof, where we stopped for another break.  Frostproof was originally named Keystone City, but folks kept confusing it with Keystone Heights, also in Florida, and the Post Office wouldn't allow the use of that name.  So in 1892 local business types decided on the name Frostproof to help convince citrus growers they'd be safe buying land for their crops here.  It worked - they got their post office and their citrus orchards.  Except there are occasional freezes here.  And they also seem susceptible to hurricanes.  In 2004 they set a world record for having 3 in this one town in one year.

We found a nice park almost in the center of town, and Dext and I walked around a bit.  Across the street was a lovely building labeled City Hall.  Oddly, I'd already seen another building labeled City Hall.

Both buildings clearly labeled "City Hall."  Both apparently in use, according to cars parked there.  Both appeared in media articles, each time labeled as "City Hall."  Got me.

What I can also tell you about this town is that it's got a conservative bent.  I saw a sign as I drove through town saying, "New Yorkers - Vote Republican or Go Home."  Something like that is almost enough for contrary me to want to move there and vote a straight Democratic ticket in every election.  And then there's also this little bit of tone-deafness - in 2021 the town declared "Donald J. Trump Week" during Black History Month.  Here's an article about local response.   https://www.fox13news.com/frostproofs-donald-j-trump-week

From there we drove a few miles farther south to Avon Park, where I spent quite a bit of time driving up and down the highway trying to find the turn for the campground that Google claimed was there.  I finally located it, and it was after 4:30 by the time we got into the campsite.  This was another odd campground.  It's mostly mobile homes and narrow winding roads on the edge of a lake.  The office was closed, but when I called their number, a woman told me someone would come lead me to my site.  I thought I owed her money but she never said anything about it so I figured I'd already paid.

The people who finally showed up were residents (again with this residents and not staff introducing me to a campground), a nice couple about my age maybe.  The site they showed me to had a large tree growing at the entrance, and the man really had his work cut out for him trying to direct me on backing into a nearly inaccessible site.  But we made it.

Even though we got in late (for us), I still watched Denial because of it being Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Google had been right - today was indeed a long drive.