deep greens and blues are the colors I choose

Gentle reader: This blog has been written in installments over the last few days. This laptop is a rock.

(5/12/07)
Hurricane Lake, FL – Hot, very humid, and bug-infested lakeside night. Thunder rings in the distance. June bugs make Kamikaze dives towards my lamp. The bugs sure do love the fluorescent Coleman lantern.

After six consecutive days of hotel/motel living, I find myself camping once again. This time in a sticky and bug-ridden lakeside campground. I'm glad I bought that insect repellant. A bug just crawled into my keyboard.

After my last post (back in NO) I turned on the tv and watched the weather channel for a while. The system which had been sitting over east Texas was stuck there, and things were looking better for camping in Florida. I goofed around on the internet. I listened to the Sox play the Blue Jays. When the sun began to set, I set out to find some local music. Bourbon St was starting to grow on me a little. I stopped in one bar and listened to a guy cover James Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James.” At the next I listened to a few songs by this dixie-land band. Pickin’ and a grinnin’ When the commotion and hustle-bustle of the main strip got to be too much, I’d wander the outer streets. I came across a trio performing gospel favorites in a store awning. One man with a tambourine and two others, along for harmony. They asked for a request, and thinking of Willie back at Coachella, I asked for “I’ll Fly Away.” They scratched their heads for a little while, pretending they didn’t know the song. They cracked jokes and stalled for a couple minutes. And then, without warning, they busted right into “I’ll Fly Away.” Sounded real fine.

Grinning, I decided it was time to try my hand at the casino. I walked over to the Harrah’s on Canal St with $100 I had set aside to gamble on the road. Canal St reminds me of Market St in SF a little. It has palm trees, classic trolley cars grinding by, and the same style street lamps. I figured I’d spend an hour or two slowly working the quarter slots. I lost $20 on the first bandit. Trying a second machine I won huge. After only ten minutes or so, I walked out of the casino having won $135. It was the most I’d ever won gambling. And it happened so quickly. I basically fled before I could think too much about it. I felt like I had made a withdrawal from the free cash ATM. I celebrated with a burger and a Guinness at a spot near the St. Peter House. I was definitely having a ball in New Orleans.

The air conditioner in my room lulled me into hibernation that night, and I ended up sleeping in pretty late the following morning. It was hotter, and more humid. I went back to my new favorite NO café and read the local newspaper. I finished “Galapagos” and started Sterling Hayden’s “Wanderer.”

(05/13/07)
Hillsborough River SP – A warm and not-so-humid night. Its exciting to have electricity at my campsite.

I returned to the hotel to start planning for Florida. I made a few calls and discovered that the Oklockonee River SP was completely booked Saturday night. However, the Blackwater River State Forest had multiple campgrounds, all on a first-come/first-serve basis. Then I booked a campsite for Sunday at the Hillsborough River SP outside of Tampa. A hotel reservation in Tampa for Monday. Room 47 was a regular office that afternoon. It was fun. I took a walk down to the nearby grocery store to get ice, but it was closed. It was 3:30 or so. There was this big guy sitting on the store’s front stoop, and somehow we got to talking about movies. Derek asked for my name. After I gave it, he says:

“I tend to think about movies a lot during conversation. Do you know what I think of when I hear the name “Andy”?

Andy Duphrane from “The Shawshank Redemption”?

“Exactly!”

We went on to discuss what makes and does not make a good film role for Keanu Reeves. I told him that Keanu needs to stick to either edgy action films or oddball supporting roles; that he totally tanks whenever he tries romantic dramas, like “A Walk In The Clouds”, or “Sweet November”.

Derek stood up and gave me a bear hug. This was no small gesture coming from a man of Derek's size. We talked about Tarantino films, Pam Grier, Robert DeNiro and his trademark pained-sneer, Stanley Kubrick, “Coming To America”, and Jack Nicholson. This guy knew his movies. We gabbed for a half hour or so before he announced that he would be returning to the Cats Meow for kara-ok. He directed me to another grocery store a few blocks away. You just never know what you’re going to run into in New Orleans, I tell you what.

Later, after a rosy-red sunset, I made one last venture out to Bourbon St for a Guinness or two and picture taking. I ran into the lady who served me rib-eye a couple nights ago, and got a picture. Then I advertised very large beers for a while. Being a Friday, the party was bigger. I then made the biggest gambling mistake and returned to Harrah’s for another round. I lost $120 dollars over a couple hours and fled, again, with my meager net winnings. It just goes to show: sometimes you eat the bar, and, well, sometimes, it eats you.

Still, just walking back through the french quarter, I was cheered up. I think I judged Bourbon St a bit harshly before. Sure, its touristy, but the spirit of Bourbon St is pretty cool. And there are very cool places to explore throughout the rest of the quarter. I’d like to return with friends someday.

I woke up bleary-eyed at 6am and packed up the car. I figured I had to leave as early as possible to make sure I secured a campsite. Saturdays are always the busiest. You drive over some pretty big and long bridges heading east out of New Orleans. At times it was just like crossing the San Mateo Bridge. I cruised through Mississippi and Alabama pretty quickly, stopping in Biloxi, MS for gas. Once in Florida, I noticed that the gas prices had started to rise again. To date, the cheapest gas I’ve bought was at $2.74/gal in Austin. The most expensive to date, well, actually the most expensive was the $5/gal emergency gas at Guadalupe Mts. NP. But after that, the most expensive was $3.80/gal in Wawona, CA, within Yosemite NP. Anyway, in Florida the gas was up to $3 or so. I reached the Blackwater River SF around 11am. It took about 25 minutes on pavement and another 20 minutes on dirt roads to reach the north side of Hurricane Lake. The dirt roads were often a red-maroon color.

Hurricane Lake is manmade. It was designed to provide a fish habitat for fishing enthusiasts. When I arrived, the lake shore was dotted with kids and grown-ups, fishin’ away. Reel fishing and fly-fishing. Fishing on boats. Fishing on docks. Fishing in hip-boots. I had no tackle.

I also stood out amongst the campers as I was the only person sleeping in a tent on the campgrounds. Everyone else there had these big RVs. With air-conditioners! Oh, if they’d only invent a tent air-conditioner, I would have bought one that day. It was the most hot and humid weather I’d seen yet on the trip. After setting up my tent and inflating the air-mattress, I was drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the shower facilities there were top notch (A). Unfortunately, this campground, as well as all other Florida state campgrounds, prohibited campfires. Man!

After dinner I walked down to the lake shore and followed some ducks around with the Canon. I watched the sun set. It was brilliant, reflecting off the lake surface. As the colors of the sunset got deeper, a symphony of ecological proportions began. The birds, frogs, insects, and fish surrounding me got louder and louder. Chirping, croaking, buzzing, clicking, whooping, splashing, and quacking all around. A church congregation, some 200 yards down the shore, yelled “Halleluja!” and started clapping loudly.

What happened next was amazing to me.

The loud clapping, now part of the animal symphonics, caused the overall sound to shift. The frogs increased their volume. The insect notes changed. Some bird nearby started this high-pitched guffawing. It was clearly at the prompting of the church group. And I smiled, because we were all just creatures singin’ in a choir. This was a zen moment.

I returned to my tent bemused. I also noticed that the campgrounds were all but deserted. Apparently, just about everyone at the North Hurricane Lake campground was there as part of a church event. Judging by all the churches I’ve seen in Florida, I’d bet Baptist. I tried to eat dinner on the picnic table, but the bugs made it impossible. I retreated to my tent, which was warmer, but bug-free. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away. Overhead, you could make out faint stars through the haze, but somewhere off-aways, something was brewing. Then I made out distant lightening and got excited. San Francisco, for all its wonders, simply has no thunder and lightening to speak of. Maybe once a year. Maybe.

I sat by the lakeside and watched red and orange lightening. Often the lightening would go sideways.

(Quick note: there is some kind of creature lurking outside my tent. I hear it crawling about in the brush at the edge of my campsite.)

Thunder would follow some forty to fifty seconds later, so I knew it wasn’t that close. Overhead, the stars were actually pretty clear. The wildlife orchestra settled down. Beads of sweat rolled down my face. I took another shower and wrote part of a blog. The humidity made it difficult to fall asleep. Not to mention all the frogs. Once I finally passed out though, I slept like a rock. I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before in New Orleans.

This morning, I made coffee and oatmeal, broke down the campsite, showered, and headed out. I got lost for a half hour or so amongst the dirt roads, but didn’t really mind. The countryside was beautiful.

The Florida panhandle took much longer to traverse than I expected. Then I lost an hour crossing into the eastern time zone. Chad called me up and we reviewed the details of our trip to North Carolina. I told him to make sure he brought his baseball glove. Mine had been sitting in my backseat, unused, for the entire trip.

I called my mom with Mother’s Day tidings and learned that a chunk of Florida forestland had been ablaze for days. There had been interstate closures as a result. I thought “That would explain the state-wide ban on campfires….”

(The creature is back, walking around right in front of my tent. I have to investigate … it was an armadillo. I got a couple good pictures of it. Unaffected by me, my lantern, and the camera flash, the armadillo continued hunting, burrowing its face deep into the soil, looking for bugs I’m guessing. When I got really close it ran away.)

It was only a half hour later down 10 that I first saw the smoke. It looked like a heavy fog, but you could clearly make out the smell of burning wet wood. The visibility was reduced and the highway slowed to about 60 mph. This went on for a couple hours. Luckily the road closures didn’t end up affecting my drive. I read in the paper later that the closures were more north, by the Georgia border. FINALLY finishing my long trip on the 10, I headed south on 75. The smoky sky was replaced by a dark grey clouds and it started raining. Hard. It rained so hard that traffic came to a complete stop for a few minutes. I really couldn’t see anything out my windshield. Motorcyclists parked under bridges. Delays, delays, I wondered if I’d make it to camp before dark. I was still a hundred miles north the Hillsborough River SP, but decided that I’d go strait to the hotel if it was raining at the campground. It wasn’t. The storm had already passed the park, and the grounds were drying out when I arrived. The storm had left the area cooler and, surprisingly, drier than I’d seen in the panhandle.

Hillsborough River SP has kind of a semi-tropical look to it. Lush vegetation. Moss (or lichen?) hanging off trees. The bugs are much more sensible here. They left me alone during dinner. Now I sit with my laptop and electrical outlets. I am again the only person in my campground loop sleeping in a tent. There are three or four RVs parked outside, but mostly the campground is empty. I think I’ll watch a movie.

For pictures up to this point:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMnLVq3aN2FL

5/14/07 (which brings us to the present)

Tampa, FL - A warm, humid, and occasionally rainy night in the Howard Johnson - the occassional rain has made the night air cool. I just saw a really cool movie theater.

Last night, I watched Boogie Nights on my laptop. There was something about the Harrah's in New Orleans that reminded me of the film. Luckily I had brought it along. Its a classic, but a little too long. I couldn't make it all the way through.

Waking up to cool morning air, I had coffee, oatmeal, and an apple for breakfast. I had this heavy grogginess that comes with a really good night of sleep. I made the coffee strong. Perked up, I packed most of the gear in the car and then went for a hike. Coffee in hand, I took the "Florida" trail, which runs alongside the Hillsborough River. It was marshy and jungle-like, vines snarling themselves around deciduous and palm trees. Lots of bugs. There were these large and loud buzzing flies, which would endlessly orbit my head until I could manage to swat them. I kept walking facefirst into cobwebs which spanned the trail width. Crane-like birds patrolled the river.

The river was serpentine and beautiful. For some reason it reminded me a little of the Saco River in Maine. I took a couple timer shots. It was only halfway through the hike that it occurred to me that I was wearing shorts and sandals, and there could have been poison ivy. I crossed my fingers and pushed on. Overall, I hiked about 3.5-4 miles or so, it was a lot of fun.

I broke down the tent, showered, and headed for town. It took me about 30 minutes to get to the Howard Johnson. I cuaght up on email and uploaded my pictures. The weather was really fickle. Even without a storm, it can rain in Tampa seemingly at any time.

Then I rode the white wonder over to the Tampa Theatre. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampa_Theatre) The Tampa Theatre is a marvel. On the outside, the building is sorta plain looking. Also, it features a digital scrolling marquee in the front, which didn't look to me fitting on a theater built in 1926. However, once I stepped into the theater I was spellbound. The theater interior is utterly saturated with ornateness. I immediately started thinking about the other palaces I'd been to: the Paramount, the Castro, and Grumann's Chinese Theater. The whole place reminded of being in some old european city center, maybe Spain, or Italy. It was very photogenic, I found a setting on the Canon which seemed to work well with the low lighting. I think the pictures will explain it better. Relaxing in a parlor on the second floor, I heard the Mighty Wurlitzer organ start playing.

Having seen a lot of movies at the Castro Theatre in SF, hearing the Wurlitzer made me homesick. I took lots of pictures and then took my seat. The auditorium at the Tampa is big, although not quite as big as the Castro or Mann. I thought the auditorium had a more intimate feel to it. It has ground floor seating and a balcony. In my opinion, its far better to watch a movie from the balcony at the Tampa than the bottom floor. Surrounding the screen is a european style skyline, making it appear as thoug the film was seated amongst several buildings in an old town square. Overhead is a curved flat ceiling, with holes poked in it to simulate stars at night. Watching the film, I kinda felt like I was outdoors at times. The organ is placed stage right, and can rise above and drop below the stage floor as the organist plays.

The organist was just ok. He played his songs without mistake, but very slowly and methodically. The Tampa Wurlitzer seemed to only offer the
"regular" organ tones, and not the drums, trumpets, and bells which the Castro Wurlitzer has. I was honestly expecting the guy to finish with "San Francisco."

Playing that night was the Dutch film "Black Book", which is story of a young Jewish girl who struggles to stay alive in the Netherlands during the end of WWII. The cinematography was gorgeous, and Carice van Houten was great as the protagonist. Great supporing cast. I enjoyed the film (B+) but overall was way more impressed with the Tampa Theatre.

AND, they serve Cherry Coke. You can also get a bottle of beer, but not a glass.

To see all the Tampa Theatre pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMnLVq3aN2Fa

Having seen what I came to see, headed back to the hotel. It took a while though, since I got lost in Tampa looking for the freeway.

Cross-country tip #4: Always bring the road atlas with you.

Tomorrow I'll drive down to Miami to stay with my friend and past co-worker Arleen, and her two sons Sammy and Justin (who are actually just about the same ages as my nephews Jacob and Sam). Greg will unfortunately be in Mexico on business while I'm there. The Umbay family have only just recently returned to the US, after living in Tokyo for the last three years or so.

Ok, time for bed. Having a ball y'all.

More soon.

Andy