Day: 8
Location: St. Augustine, Florida
Weird actions: recording a song titled 'highway blues'
Dilemma: Visit JFK Space Center, or go north?
Ever heard of Cpt. John Smith? He is rumored to have written his journals in the second person. Like instead of saying "I went to Florida," he would say "He went to Florida," as if he is talking about somebody else. I have found this deed valuable, and so I will write in the second person like him at some points. I'm reminded of him, because I'm nearing St. Augustine, a town where pirates used to come and take their well deserved holidays from piracy. Talking of pirates, I adore them. Actually, I want be one. As a pirate, I would have operated outside the bounds of society, free from any laws. Free to roams the oceans at will without being molested by the sheriff. No responsibility. But there is one thing I don't understand about pirates: after pillaging ship after ship, why did they always hide their treasure and bubby-trap it? If I was them, I would use the treasure to buy a bigger boat, start my own pirate navy!
A word on fast foods. The effect of fast foods on Americans, is very profound. They leave them with weights inappropriate for their body frames (euphemistic way of saying overweight/fat). The fast foods have a mighty effect due to the ease with which one can access them. This is very true especially if you are driving on the highway. Every now and again, there is a sign right in your face saying "Exit Now! Turn right, and then left 0.2miles" These are billboards placed strategically by MacDonald, Bugger King etc. What made me decide to write something about fast foods is that, I visited such fast food places and one in particular is still vivid in my mind. I couldn't help it but notice that all the beautiful girls in that McDonald restaurant had "weights inappropriate for their frames" Maybe it's their policy to hire those like that only or they get that way after working there for sometime? What can be done? There ought to be more information given to the people about the dangers of being fat and such. On average, most people I see are like that. Obesity, will likely be the most difficult issue Americans will have to face sooner than later.
I met James Reynolds just outside Jacksonville. Short, white haired, missing some incisor teeth on both the upper and the lower gums, wearing a white polo shirt, Mr. Reynolds is a trucker of over fifty years. He told me that he drives his truck between Panama City and Jacksonville in Florida. I told him where I had been and was about to tell him where I hoped to go when he stopped me and said, "New Orleans, do you know how low it is below the sea? 18 feet! If it were not for those big pumps, the city would fill up just from the rain," he said. "It was always a bad place. I remember driving there back in the day, and I took a turn at some road and right there in front of me, four human bodies were lying on the street. It was a bad city." Mr. Reynolds spoke with the soft voice of Spiderman, and yet his voice was filled with passion and wisdom. He said it was better to relocate the city. However, he warned me to steer clear of Miami, or if I was going there I had to bring 'machine guns' He said it’s a dangerous place to go.
"I can't just sit at home. Actually, before I retired, I wanted to take a trip like the one you are taking," said Michael Bills, a rest area worker I met close to St. Augustine. He spoke with the low, measured, drawn way that only people in the south of the US can manage. A catholic, in his late sixties, Mr. Bills shouted, "Oh my, I would love to see that place. A pastor from our church preaches in South Africa, he says it is a beautiful country, and lots people come to church and sit on anything from bricks to gas containers so they can hear the word." We shared stories. He also said to go to Cape Canaveral since its nice down there. He couldn't travel around the country himself because, "just after I retired, my wife's mother took ill and since she couldn't fend for herself, we took her in. And so, I'm working here part. It don't pay much, but it's better than sitting at home."
Trymore will be in St. Augustine sometime tomorrow. He don't know if he ought to go to the JFK Space Center because it will set him back by 200 miles! He has decided to sleep on it tonight, and see what happens in the morning. He hopes to see historic St. Augustine later tomorrow and then we will see what happens then. The good thing is that he can take his time to decide. This is actually easy to do because he didn't give the traveling schedule to "the man". By refusing to give it to him, he has more freedom, can go where he wants, when he wants to!
In case you been wondering what he [Trymore] does to while away the time when he is not busy. He spends most of his time writing, recording his thoughts on the voice recorder, reading, and sometimes watching movies on the computer. Today, he watched Forest Gump. Loves that movie, esp. Bubba when he is talking about ways of preparing shrimp. The movie moves him through the years, you know from the 50s all the way to the 90s. Movies and music. He will get this when he gets to NYC. He will say something about that then. "Life is a box of chocolate Forest, you never know what you gonna get. You gotta do the be with what God gave you. Forest, I happen to believe that we make out own destiny," Forest's mum tells him. That’s a powerful line that Trymore always takes to heart. What he doesn't understand is why Jenny always left Forest. There is a lesson that Trymore got from the movie: It is a human trait to believe that the next thing is gonna be the best. Some think the next job will be the best or that if I go to another school things will be better or if I go some place else or such. What the movie shows is that, what you have right now, at this moment, is the best thing that you can ever have. Nothing will ever be better than that, things can only get bad. Lesson: this is the best life can be, it can never be better than what you already are.
