Highways and Byways

Left Friends in Rotondo this morning traveling north on Florida route 75 with traffic between 55-70 mph. The countryside is not particularly attractive.  It's flat and the tropical weather means everything green just merges together.  Lots of highways signs to read though, including churches of every possible denomination.  Lord there are a lot of churches, seems like a soul could find at least one to fit. They look kinda lonely during the week; abandoned, no people, no cars, no singing.  Maybe if you opened up the steeple, you'd . . .  I think there ought to be legislation to consolidate all these churches and let the congregations each have a day, plus two afternoons and a Friday or Saturday night for bingo.  It would be a lot more efficient, sorta "green" churches- self sustaining don't you know.  Prayer might be more potent too, all consolidated. 

Some of the other signs were interesting too, in addition to McDonalds and Hardees, and all the other fast food joints, there was Bar B Que Bill's, the Florida Citrus Center, with gator head wind chimes, and the Adult Super Center with the "Cafe R Esque", an all night cafe.  You can't make this stuff up!  I think I'll stick to the churches. Fortunately, the world goes by fast on the highway, but its hard on the eyes, ears, and soul too.

I arrived in Rainbow Springs State Park mid-afternoon, got a nice campsite with water, electric, and sewer, and was hooked up in about 15 minutes.  Then I rented a kayak and paddled about a mile up the Rainbow river toward the first magnitude spring head that pumps approximately 490 million gallons of artesian water a day, eventually flowing from the Rainbow into the Withlacoochee river.  Crystal springs like the Rainbow drain large areas of their surrounding countryside through limestone aquifers that bubble up near the coast and make their way to the Gulf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Springs

The Rainbow is crystal clear to depths of 25' or more though much of it is less than five feet deep and covered in beds of lush green grasses waving downstream.  But, it seemed like every 50-100 feet or so those grass beds would open up and the river bottom would drop away, sometimes 10',  sometimes 20' or more.  Some of that clear bottom was sandy and probably indicated a sink hole in the river bed, but in some of those clear patches you could see large, flat beds of limestone, and, in others, small cliffs stepping their way down into the aquifer.  Scuba divers explore the vents and caverns for miles.  Some of the spots reminded me of Yellowstone or Hawaiian fumeroles, but instead of spouting steam, they're spouting warm water.

As you can imagine, it was easy to spot big large mouth bass (that's not redundant), blue gills, grass carp, water turtles, and one 2-3 foot soft shell turtle.  They have long rubbery necks and pointy snouts. I saw a family of river otters swimming about 10-20 feet away near the reedy shoreline. When I first spotted the multiple backs of the foursome, I thought it was a small, local Nessie humping through the water.  I also saw a Snowy Egret and a few Anhingas, both diving and sunning themselves on tree limbs. I missed the pair of eagles that live near the kayak put in.  Maybe tomorrow.

It sure is a lot more peaceful here than on the highway.  Sort of a natural super center.  Don't need a building to pray.  It's real close to heaven.

Man Dies of Gumbo in RV!

I went to Bubba’s Seafood House in Orange Beach, Alabama last night at the recommendation of a few locals.  http://bubbasseafoodhouse.com/ My waiter Jaime couldn’t have been more helpful.  I had a half dozen oysters on the half shell and an oyster and shrimp po’ boy.   Boy was it good-  lived up to the recommendations.  Bubba’s is on the main drag at the beach with a fun bar and restaurant.  I loved their tee shirt with “Bubba’s” on the front (natch) and lettering on the back, “A quaint little drinking village, with a fishing problem.  Orange Beach, Al.”

I almost wrote up my experience last night for the View, but I hesitated thinking I should wait until tonight.  Well, my intuition paid  off.  Tonight I went to King Neptune’s www.kingneptuneseafoodrestaurant.com based on the Yelp recommendations for gumbo.  I met Al Sawyer, the owner, outside, because he was nice enough to caution me to avoid some low hanging branches in the parking lot (with my RV.)  Al was sitting on a red bench outside smoking a cigarette and wearing a checkered Bear Bryant hat with Jeannie, one of his star waitresses, who came to work fourteen years ago at age fifteen to help out for just one night and is still there. Once I learned he was the owner, I overcame my natural shyness and asked what he recommended for an appetizer because I knew I was having gumbo for an entree.  When he suggested the fried green tomatoes, I knew I didn’t even need to refer to a menu.  The six slices of corn meal tomatoes were accompanied by four corn meal shrimp with both remoulade and cocktail sauce.  Wonderful!  I did glance at the menu while I enjoyed this light little dish and noted I might have ordered a steamed Ocean Platter for Two, which includes one pound of Aquila Royal Red Shrimp, two Alaskan King crab claws, 8 oz. of cocktail crab claws, one Alaskan Snow crab cluster, four steamed oysters, and one Dungeness cluster.  They would have had to lock me in the Dungeness after that!

The decor matched the wonderful food with red and blue neon lights, and walls full of pictures both old and new, including some with Bobby Flay, who did a Food Channel show with Al.  Here’s a copy of the gumbo recipe www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/foodnation-with-bobby-flay/gumbo-recipe/index.html

Elvis and Fats Domino were crooning the background music, but I was surprised to see Erin Burnett covering the news on the TV behind the bar.  There was a great poster on the wall with this nice red tomato and the text, “Year of Alabama Food”, but, as I looked closely, it didn’t have a year on it.  As it turns out, it’s another Alabama promotion like the golf trail, that promotes famous Alabama dishes, secret recipes, and a trail of great food and restaurants.  You really have to see this site.  It’s wonderful! http://www.yearofalabamafood.com/http://www.yearofalabamafood.com/

Well, I could spend a year in Alabama enjoying the sites and the food, but I think I would roux the day!  Just one more famous recipe and they may find me passed out in my RV from too much gumbo!  I’m heading for Manatee Springs, Florida tomorrow where, if the  folks don’t live longer, at least they’re all on Medicare.  God, Al, and Bubba knows I need it!

Alabama Poker

 Friday, January 4, 2013

My son-in-law and I joined his dad and four other guys at a "lodge" or ranch house on a farm outside of Montgomery for their regular poker night.  Quite an experience!  The rustic lodge with large stone fireplace, big dining area, and card room, sits in the middle of about 600 acres a dear friend of theirs left to his family when he died a few years ago.  His will stipulated that the lodge was to remain available to his friends for their long-standing poker games as long as they could continue to enjoy it. It was remarkable to watch them go into action. Sam* had picked up steaks and salad ingredients.  By the time we arrived, "J", the grandson of the original owner, had started a fire with huge logs and charcoal lighter fluid in the fireplace, and began making slices of Texas toast.  Roy had already started a fire in the big, ol' oil drum grill, and then started making salad, chopping whole onions, red, green, and yellow peppers, tomatoes, greens, and jalapeños.  He filled a large stainless steel bowl with the colorful mix.  I set the table and put out ice and glasses for tea, unsweetened surprisingly, and Steve, a confirmed bachelor and cattle farmer, cooked the steaks from Derk's Filet and Vine, http://www.filetandvine.com/.  The steaks from Derk's arrived black with their special grilling rub, a jar of which sits in my spice cabinet.  I noticed J timing the browning of the toast to the salad making and Steve's arrival from the grill.  It all came together in moments and we sat down to a simple feast.  A couple of them had brought their favorite pints, Old Forrester, Jim Beam, or Jack and had a drink, maybe two, before dinner- I only noticed one after dinner. Sam kidded in the car coming home that you can't afford to drink and play because the games get too complicated!  Roy did chew during the game, and spit discretely into a Snapple Ice Tea bottle, which sat in his drink holder in the green velvet and wood trimmed card table. He'd take the cap off the bottle occasionally, spit, recap it, and set it back into the drink holder. It looked like a dark brown liquor growing in volume while he emptied his solitary drink over the course of the evening.   Good thing he didn't get confused!  Mark, a late arrival, and another cattle farmer, is a retired orthopedic surgeon who serves as an insurance company "gatekeeper" on patient procedures, imaging etc.  It was a very gentlemanly game.

It seemed like everybody won. I walked away with a few bucks.  I don't know how we all did it. I barely had a clue during the game and if it hadn't of been for some good natured coaching, I would have lost my shirt. 

We drove off into the rain and the night leaving the fire to burn out on its own. Their friendship glowed in the embers as we left. 

* Names changed to protect the innocent!