Christmas on the Beachin in Florida
Typical Day on the Road
December 2005
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Dec. 1
Wilmington, Delaware. After spending most of the day catching up on computer work at Panera, we had an evening show at Wilmington Friends School.
Dec. 2
Wilmington, Delaware. We went into a Borders Bookstore just in time to catch the end of an appearance by author Larry Kane, who was there to promote his new book, "Lennon Revealed". Kane, an Emmy-winning newsman based in Philadelphia, spent 45 years in journalism before his recent retirement, and among other things was the first U.S. correspondent to break the story of the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961. (If our math is correct, he was about EIGHTEEN at the time!) He was also the only U.S. journalist who accompanied The Beatles during their legendary 1964-65 tour. A longtime acquaintance of the Fab Four (about whom he previously wrote the book "Ticket To Ride"), Kane knew Lennon (who once popped into the TV station where he was working and delivered the weather report) for 15 years. That, plus his warm personality and his copious knowledge of popular music convinced us to purchase the new book and have him autograph it - especially since we may have the next rock superstar in our own family! It was quite a trip down memory lane to hear him and the patrons who'd come to meet him, and the experience was made especially poignant by everyone's awareness that we're approaching the 25th anniversary of Lennon's murder.
Dec 3
Newark, Delaware. For the second consecutive day, we went to a Borders to meet an author. But this time, we planned it in advance, and were there from the beginning. Today's author was Bill Press, an Emmy (and other) award-winning political analyst with MSNBC. The new book is "How the Republicans Stole Christmas". Press, a former seminarian who came close to being an ordained minister, is still a devout Catholic and a staunch Democrat. He wrote the book to examine what he calls the "monopoly on religion" and "moral values" that has been declared by political extremists. No extremist himself, he is both a civil debating opponent and a friend of Pat Buchanan, among others, and he speaks about the issues with sincere good will, tolerance and gentle humor. This, unfortunately, did not prevent one woman from walking up behind him while he was speaking, throwing his book across the table and yelling a rude comment. (He responded with more humor.)
Dec. 4
Kulpsville, Pa. We awoke this morning to find about 2 inches of snow on the ground, which was quite a surprise. We performed at a Christmas party for SKF, a company that manufactures ball bearings - this gave us plenty of material for ad libs during our performance. ("It's hard to get your bearings", etc.) Oddly enough, this was only the 5th or 6th time during our 17 years of business that we've performed on a Sunday. We then made our way to a YMCA for a workout before heading back to the Wilmington area. We met up briefly with a friend of Zephyr's whom he'd met while they were working together at Frightland back in October. Then we continued south toward Baltimore.
Dec. 5
Performed at a school near Baltimore, then started driving to North Carolina so Zephyr can rendezvous with some of his musician friends and have a rehearsal for their band. We got the news that a snowstorm was on the way, headed from where we were going, and we'd be driving right into it. Sure enough, we did encounter it, but it really wasn't that heavy. Nonetheless, we were compelled to stop for the night earlier than expected because we were having electrical problems - the fuses in our van kept blowing, causing the tail lights to go out. And this was not the kind of night to be out driving without full lights.
Dec. 6
Made it to Greensboro, North Carolina. Zephyr is rehearsing and recording and spending the night with his band. Mom and Dad are enjoying the peace and quiet and getting caught up on work. Dennis also inspected the van's wiring and corrected the problem.
Dec. 7
Similar schedule to yesterday, but later in the afternoon, we dropped by to pick up Zephyr at his bandmates' studio, and heard a piece they'd recorded. Not bad! Then we started driving south to our next show in South Carolina.
Dec. 8
Here it is, another one of those tragic anniversary milestones come upon us. (Yesterday was the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.)
DENNIS SAYS: "In 1980 I was living in San Francisco (I was extremely young at the time, mind you.) and on this December evening I ducked into one of my favorite bookstores to do some browsing. Music was playing in the store, which was nothing unusual. It was a Beatle song, also not unusual. But when it concluded, a disc jockey started talking, and that was rather unusual - this store normally played records (you know, those old black things) rather than the radio. And what the DJ said next was not only unusual, but numbing: ‘for those of you haven't heard, we regretfully repeat the news that former Beatle John Lennon has been shot - AND KILLED - at the Dakota Apartment Building where he lived in New York City. So for the rest of the night, we're going to be playing his music.' As I stood frozen in my tracks with my jaw on the floor, the next song was "In My Life" - always one of my favorite Beatle tunes, but I've never been able to hear it in the same way since then.
I hurried home to listen to my own radio for more news. I didn't hear much of it, but I did get the incredible consolation prize of lots and lots of Beatle music. One of the tunes the station played they apparently agonized over a bit before airing, but ultimately decided to go ahead with: "Happiness is a Warm Gun", which was Lennon's satirical take on Americans' obsession with violence in general and guns in particular. They were afraid some listeners might find it in bad taste under the circumstances, but ultimately decided that John would have approved.
The next day, the entire city seemed to be in a daze. Lennon was not only a rare musical genius, but his uncanny gift for crafting hauntingly original melodies was coupled with one of the richest, clearest voices in pop music history. And he often raised that voice to promote peace, love, tolerance, diversity, compassion and other outmoded hippie values that we merely snicker at in this more enlightened era. Additionally, he was just a colorful character - the class clown, a troubled soul with a messy personal life who nonetheless had a 24-karat heart. It was a great loss then, and it's a great loss now.
On the night after the tragedy, San Franciscans - always eager, it seems, to engage in a rally - held a candlelight ceremony in his honor in the Civic Center Plaza, near the spot where, almost exactly two years earlier, yet another madman with a gun (Why do those two things have to be found together so frequently?) ended the lives of a popular mayor and city supervisor. The gathering was presided over by Rev. Cecil Williams, the decidedly unorthodox minister of Glide Memorial Church, and a local legend.
One by one, attendees were allowed to come up to the microphone and speak their memories about John and his cohorts, and their feelings about this ugly incident. One recited a poem he'd written; many fought back tears.
And then there was a young man who was a representative from some religious cult (Hare Krishna? Moonie? I don't remember.) He apparently was not really a fan, but pretended to be so he could use the occasion to plug his organization. He was greeted with a few boos, but most of the crowd seemed to feel that this was not a time to be harsh against anyone, or to reject anyone's comments, no matter how thoughtless and out of place.
Williams said nothing, but simply passed the mike to the next speaker. Perhaps he was thinking, as I was, that John would have approved."
This morning we were in Florence, S. C., where we got up quite early to put in a workout at the YMCA before driving on to Goose Creek - site of tomorrow morning's shows. At Goose Creek, we caught up on some laundry, which badly needed some catching up, and then went to an Atlanta Bread Company restaurant, which, like Panera, has free wireless.
Rain, rain and more rain today. It's hardly let up for the past month or so, it seems.
Dec. 9
Goose Creek, S. C. Did three early morning shows, back-to-back-to-back, at a school, starting at 8:15. Haven't done that in a while!
Dec. 10
Savannah, Ga., home of the famous huge globe that is the home of a business - it has a moon-shaped mailbox. After a morning workout at a YMCA, we spent most of the day holed up at an Atlanta Bread Company. We're hearing about how a foot of snow has been dumped on the Northeast, where we were only a week ago. And here we are, running around in shorts and T-shirts.
Dec. 11
Finally, we're in Florida. (Florida, for the winter? Who woulda thunk it?) On Amelia Island, we pulled out our bikes and took a ride through a state park. This was the first time that we ever took them onto a really good dirt trail with lots of hills, sand, mud, twists and turns and tree roots to work our way through; it was quite an exhilarating obstacle course. We didn't spot any alligators, but we did see an armadillo. We also stopped at Fort Clinch, a Civil War Fort by the beach. If you're going to be stationed at a military installation at all, this wouldn't have been a bad location, although the amenities were typically Spartan for the period. At least they had a laundry room, where civilian women would come to wash and mend clothes (buttons replaced for 2 cents each) although all "women and ladies" had to vacate the premises by one and a half hours before sunset.
Later we found an internet cafe with goofy barrista.
Dec. 13
Still in Jacksonville, Fla. Tonight, we went to the YMCA and attended a Pilates class. Pilates, if you're unfamiliar with it, is somewhat like yoga, but more intense - it especially gets you in the gut! Kimberly had had a Pilates class or two before, but it was the first time for the guys.
Dec. 14
St. Augustine, Florida. One of our favorite little cities, and a great place to spend New Year's Eve, as we did last year.
Dec. 15
Two back-to-back early morning performances at Wilson School in Sanford, Fl.
Dec. 16
Ditto yesterday. Then we went to pick up mail at the local post office, and - joy and bliss - all three of our packages were there. One of them was a shipment of copies of Zephyr's new book. Another was our usual batch of mail forwarded from California. It included - joy and bliss - the two discs that were missing from Dennis' InRadio subscription. And one of them featured the song - joy and bliss - "Engine Driver" (by the British group The Decemberists), one of the catchiest, toe-tappingest, most memorable, most singable tunes ever devised.
Dec. 17
We're enjoying a two-week "vacation", or at least a hiatus from performing, although we still have plenty of business to catch up on. Since it's so close to Christmas, many of the stores are staying open very late. This includes Borders, where we happily ensconced ourselves tonight until midnight.
Dec. 18
We were hoping to take a rather lengthy bicycle ride today - there's a promising trail that begins here in Altamonte Springs (a suburb of Orlando) but the rain that delayed our plans was threatening to return today (it eventually did) so we elected to pin our hopes on tomorrow. So today, we instead went to see the movie "Syriana", a complex, confusing, but extremely engrossing depiction of the relationship between the oil business, terrorism, and covert government operations. The absence of backstory made the plot rather difficult to follow - we'd like to see it again just to sort things out a little better - but it never lost our interest for a second. George Cloony stars (he was also an executive producer) in what may be his strongest role to date.
Dec. 19
Okay, the sky seems to be clearing off, so we got out the bikes and started preparing for our ride. Imagine our surprise when a car pulled up beside us in the parking lot, and out stepped someone we know from Connecticut. Her name is Amy, and she's one of the Navy wives involved in bringing us to the submarine base near Groton a few months ago. She's here visiting relatives along with her daughters Samantha and Tabitha, who were with her in the car along with some of the other kin. [ See photo Aug 17, 2005 ]
Once we'd recovered from that pleasant shock (Kimberly ran around all day singing "I saw Amy!!), we headed out on our long-postponed ride. And an invigorating one it was too, about 14 miles each way. (We stopped for smoothies along the way.) Didn't see any alligators, but did see a stray canine-type animal that may have been a dog, but which we could have sworn was a small wolf. (We asked a couple of walkers we passed, and they said they weren't aware of any wolves in the area, although they did spot a small black bear near Wekiva Springs, not too far away.)
At one point our itinerary took us through a gated community, an area that is now a rather exclusive retirement area. But a historical marker noted that this was originally an African-American community; it was not a resort area then, but a workers' settlement for the lumber trade.
Dec. 20
Winter Springs, Florida (which is not wintry at all). We are all running around in our T-shirts.
Found a laundromat with free Wi-Fi so of course we had to do our laundry there.
Photo taken in Christmas, Florida
Dec. 21
Hover to change picture Hover your mouse over the picture.
Drove to the Space Coast, and checked into a campground at Point Canaveral, right on the waterfront. The terminals for the cruise lines are nearby, and the ships pass right through our "back yard", perhaps 1000 feet away on their way out to sea and back again. We hopped on our bicycles and took a lengthy ride down the coastline, stopping at Ron Jon's Surf Shop, which we've written about previously. (See Cape Canaveral Article) Winter officially began today at 1:00 p.m., but we hardly noticed the difference here in the Sunshine State.
We pulled our Christmas tree out of storage, our mini-tree with homemade paper mache ornaments, and placed it on the picnic table, but the ocean breezes kept knocking it over, so we decided we were pioneers in the horizontal Christmas tree fad.
Dec. 22
Another day at Jetty Park Campground. Today, the parents took advantage of a rare opportunity to get away from the kid and go on a date. While Zephyr manned the fort at the campground, Dennis and Kimberly took a little cruise on a ship that departed the harbor right next to us. Since it was a casino ship, and patrons were expected to spend a great deal of money out to sea (the ship had to enter international waters in order to avoid breaking gambling laws) the cruise itself was free! And it included a free buffet, and free entertainment - there were a Marilyn Monroe impersonator and a Big Bopper impersonator, both excellent singers. This little jaunt was quite a bargain, especially since it cost nothing! (We did dump a few nickels and quarters into the machines, but we came out $1.05 in the black. So there!)
Dec. 23
Still in the area around Port Canaveral and Cocoa Beach. Found an Internet café where we could catch up on some online work. It was in the lobby of a hotel, and the entire establishment was decked out in a classic Florida/tropical motif with palms, bamboo, etc. It looked like the set of a Humphrey Bogart movie.
Dec. 24
We had planned to spend Christmas in Christmas - the town in Florida. There is, after all, a pleasant-looking RV campground in town. But after three days in the Cocoa Beach area, we decided we'd rather stay here; so we registered for two more nights at Jetty Park campground. Even right by the ocean, the temperature was about 80 today. Is that legal at this time of year?
Dec. 25
Opened our gifts first thing in the morning - even before breakfast. (When you have a kid in the family, even if he's a teenager, there's no putting it off.) In the afternoon we put on our swimwear and headed to the beach. Dennis and Zephyr went into the water with the boogie board, while Kimberly the wimp sat in her chair and watched.
Later, just before sunset, we brought our bicycles down and rode them along the shore, which isn't hard to do if you stay between the dry sand and the mud, where the sand is just firm enough. Someone had sculpted a mermaid and some dolphins in the sand, and the artwork was excellent - what a shame to see it washed away.
We left before total darkness, because we couldn't use our lights on the beach. That's a rule imposed because of the sea turtles, who are sensitive to light, which disturbs their nesting. Of course, maybe we shouldn't be all that concerned about it, since these creatures have been around for 110 million years, outlasting the dinosaurs, and they just might survive us and our flashlights too.
After dark, we took a ride along a bike path nearby that is winding and overgrown with tree branches, so it's rather spooky and challenging in the dark. Just to make it even more fun, we set our headlights to flash, so it was like doing a theme park ride with a strobe light. Delightfully disorienting!
Dec. 26
Finally struck camp at Jetty Park, realizing how much we miss the ocean at times. (We lived a few blocks away from it in San Francisco.) Spent the afternoon at another Internet café in Cocoa Beach.
Dec. 27
Met up with Zephyr's friend Stephanie from Pennsylvania. She's in the area visiting family. We all went to the Museum Of Arts And Sciences in Daytona Beach, which included a traveling exhibit of Egyptian relics on loan from Boston. The museum also houses an extensive collection of Coca-Cola artifacts, commemorating the glass company that introduced the classic Coke bottle design before moving to Florida from Indiana.
Dennis purchased a pocket voice recorder, and was playing a prank on people by standing next to them and starting it, playing the message "People who hear little voices are probably losing their minds."
Dec. 28
Drove from Daytona to St. Augustine, where we began this year of 2005 (now drawing to a close) so many thousands of miles ago. Spent some time doing research at the library.
Dec. 29
Passed an RV lot in St. Augustine that had a van such as we have been looking for, so we gave it a test drive, and are now doing some research on it.
Dec. 30
On to Jacksonville, largest city in Florida. Spent the day doing office work.
Dec. 31
Pulled into Tallahassee and had a workout at the YMCA, then checked into the Tallahassee RV Park to end this rather hectic year on a quiet note. Well, in Zephyr's case it wasn't that quiet - he has his hands glued to his electric guitar, and is beginning to master Green Day tunes quite nicely and loudly. Dennis is putting the finishing touches on the rewrite of a play he wrote and produced 12 years ago in San Francisco. Kimberly is, as always, making improvements to our web site and is beginning to reconstruct another one for Families on the Road.
At least we took the time at midnight to go into the clubhouse, turn on the TV, and watch the New Year drop into Times Square.
A happy and healthy 2006 to all!
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