« Leaving the Bay Area | Main | Up the Coast to Memory Lane »
May 12, 2005
Madness between the Palms
WEST PALM BEACH, FL -- May 12
With Miami off the agenda, I finally left my parents' house with the singular goal of hitting my cousin's in West Palm Beach. Even with the 3 days off from long riding, the sheer annoyance of heavy Tamiami Trail traffic from Sarasota to Fort Myers was enough to remind me why touring up north is so much better.
There were some interesting lulls in the storm, however. The Sunshine Skyway is one of the longest causeway/bridge systems in America, and connects St. Petersburg to the Sarasota area. It's most famous, though, for its first iteration collapsing and killing dozens in 1980. Ominously enough, I happened to be in the Tampa Bay Area for the 25th anniversary weekend which warranted lots of harrowing archive footage on the local newscasts.
The old bridge's low approaches (a good 5 miles on either side) remain intact and survive to this day as long fishing piers, while the new and improved crossing features a massive cable-stayed suspension bridge with a pretty steep arch in the middle. After rolling in freefall down the opposite side, I pulled off at the rest area to get the best shot I could.
At the end of the skyway, US 19 peels back off and then abruptly ends when it merges into US 41 in Bradenton. I should have gotten a picture of the iconic "END US 19" sign, given how far I had followed its shields all the way from North Carolina, but once again I was foiled by the whole pull-off strategy on a busy major highway. I'm so going to patent the bike-still-cam concept.
From Bradenton, I was able to take the one worthy detour of the day by finding FL 789 which goes along Longboat Key parallel to the busier inland US 41. It passes many nice oceanfront properties and foreshadowed what I'd get on the other side of the state heading back North before ending in the artsy St. Armand's Circle district where I stopped for lunch at the Columbia restaurant.
Then it was time to head over the causway back inland to rejoin the Tamiami Trail. While cruising through downtown Sarasota, I happened across a brand new Harley with Ontario plates. We exchanged brief and shouted pleasantries at a red light, but I wasn't able to discern if he actually rode the damn thing down from Canada. Judging by the lack of luggage or helmet, my guess is no.
Things were pretty uneventful for the next 70 miles into Fort Myers. I stopped in a park for a rest and to oil Diana's new chain, which looked pretty dry. I was on FL 80 ready to cut right across the soft middle of the state to the busy eastern coast. In theory, a nice stress-free 100 miles before hitting some sprawl en route to my cousin Timmy's.
After 60 miles of empty flat orange tree groves and irrigated brown fields I was approaching Clewiston, near where Lake Okechobee comes in. Due to past disasters with flooding and algae, the Lake is blocked from view even 100 yards away by huge upward-curving landfilled bulwarks. It was while admiring that engineering feat when Diana's normal 60 mph "angry hornet's nest" purr begain to sound strained, even though I was only 40 miles into my current tank. Then she began to get downright unhappy and forced me to downshift into 4th, then 3rd. I had trucks passing me in the 2 lane approach and was getting whipped by crosswinds when the meager "city limits" of Clewiston were announced via green sign.
I pulled into the first gas station I could find, already beginning to harbor thoughts of how fun an extended stay in Clewiston would compare to, say, a 24 hour marathon of American Idol outtakes. Even more alarming was that Diana only needed less than a gallon of high-test, from which I chose the highest grade available. This ruled out fuel supply problems. Figuring it was better to soldier on until she literally died than panic and bail for the night, I started her up and managed to get into a sputtering 3rd gear at 30 mph through the empty town.
The sputtering soon morphed into plain old reluctance, which soon phased into mere grumbliness as Diana was able to maintain a nice 45-55 mph cruising between 4th and 5th gears which was good enough to get me into the sprawl of western West Palm Beach within another hour. It was now approaching sunset and for once I could actually look forward to busy traffic so as not to necessitate actually bringing her back into 5th gear and being horrified by her inability to hold it.
Now it was time to look for Timmy's actual apartment. I had an address of building 4180 on a "boulevard" that wasn't even mapped in many systems, pointing to a new development. I knew the main road it was off, and the two cross highways it was between, so after doubling back once I chose the most likely apartment complex and found a building 4180. But no unit 301, despite there being a 303, 304, 305, and 306. Huh? And of course when I call I get thrown over to voicemail.
I wonder if the guy's upstairs in a secret 301 laughing at the picture of me decamped in the parking lot before I get the call back and find out I'm in building 4180 of the wrong apartment complex. Next one over, he says. Soon I'm in the next one over. And its a gated complex. And the electronic gate is closed. And the phone directory for his unit goes to an operator dead-end error "beep-beeeep-BEEEP!". I kill the engine and return to the cellphone. He's surprised it's locked. He says he'll come out but if I see a car go through, try to follow them.
A car pulls up and goes through within 30 seconds, and I have just enough time to restart the engine, shift into first, and gun it behind the car just as the gates are closing on me. 3 feet ... 2 feet ... 1 foot ... I make it just through before returning to a rattly 1st gear tour of almost every building in the winding complex. There's gatecrashing and then there's gate crashing. Soon, 4180 looms at me complete with a smiling cousin I haven't seen in 15 years ushering me to the parking spot just outside his balcony.
It was all worth it in the end, of course. Soon we're catching up on lost times, theorizing about why Diana's engine is grumbly, arguing cheerfully the merits (or lack thereof) of the Bush dynasty, and exchanging shots of Captain Morgan, who is Timmy's personal spirit. Not having ridden on the Captain's ship in a good 5 years, I enjoy the college booze flashback and soon we're introduced to the live-in dog, cat, and roommate's boyfriend who is also in business with Tim on the Casino boat they work for.
Then it's time to do an actual tour of West Palm Beach's teeming bar and restaurant scene, one of the nicer establishments at which his girlfriend tends bar. We pile into the "Shagwagon", an old Taurus station wagon with a bum rear wheel, fire up Queen in the CD player, give the finger to an idiot sport biker who passed by doing a wheely on a CBR-919, and hit the first place where I'm introduced to Shelly who will get off work soon to further barhop with us.
This is the sort of new upscale place that has the gall to serve sushi and pizza, but it does a good job of it. Within minutes, we were noshing on martinis, thin crust pizza, dessert "fried cheesecake sticks", and shots of sambuca that some other customer of the bar bailed on. Total bill: $12.
Soon things begin to degenerate magnificently as we do a righteous tour of duty through this mall of West Palm Beach bars to the Blue Martini, where more shots are imbibed culminating with some scary red stuff that more or less put the punctuation on the evening. It was time to head home, but this time in Shelley's car leaving the Shagwagon to its own devices in the mall garage. Anyone with a bumper sticker that proclaims "A woman's place is in control" cannot be all that bad, but by then I was already convinced they make a great couple. I wish 'em the best of luck.
Two apartments, a few oven-baked frozen corndogs, and final nightcaps later, it was time to crash. The roommate / business partner / dog owner had booked for the evening, which scored me the other bedroom with a far more comfortable bed than I deserved after the evening's many sins. I was left to enjoy an immediate and blissful sleep putting the worries about Diana's engine for another day in this never-ending state.
Here's the Gallery for today:
And the playlist...
| Title | Artist | CD |
|---|---|---|
| Untitled | Jarboe And Lary Seven | Beautiful People Ltd |
| Miss Misery | Elliott Smith | B-Sides, Rarities & More |
| John, I'm Only Dancing Again (Single A-Side '74) | David Bowie | Young Americans [Bonus Tracks] |
| Andialu | This Mortal Coil | Blood |
| Strugglin' | Tricky | Maxinquaye |
| Down By The Water | PJ Harvey | To Bring You My Love |
| Kiss Me Black | The Birthday Party | Junkyard |
| Ichor | Liliput | LiLiPUT (Disc 2) |
| No Expectations | The Rolling Stones | Singles Collection: The London Years [Disc 3] |
| Fotheringay | Fairport Convention | Meet on the Ledge - The Classi |
| Single K.O. | Wire | 154 |
| Chunks | Squarepusher | Music is Rotted One Note |
| If You Want It, Take It | The Boo Radleys | Giant Steps |
| Tower 4 | The Legendary Pink Dots | The Tower |
| Let My People Go | Diamanda Galás | The Singer |
| Mind Reader Blues | Bertha Lee | Masters of the Delta Blues - Friends of Charlie Patton |
| Breakfast In Bed | Dusty Springfield | Dusty In Memphis |
| People get real | Saint Etienne | Foxbase Alpha |
| Civer's Tango | Sun City Girls | 330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond The Rig Veda (1) |
| Tisko | Liliput | LiLiPUT/Kleenex (Disc 1) |
| Mourning Glory | Ween | Pure Guava |
| Ed Is Dead | Pixies | Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim |
| Flower | Sonic Youth | Bad Moon Rising |
| Pieces | Claire Voyant | Love Is Blind |
| Abdulimu & Aimunisa (Sinkiang) | Shest Golubeii | The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 6: Central Asia: Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-1948 |
| It's Vacuum Cleaner Time | Matera | Same Here |
| The Tinderbox (of a heart) | Cocteau Twins | BBC Sessions (Disc 1) |
| Surrogate 2 | Swans | Soundtracks For The Blind |
| Procession | New Order | Substance (Disc 2) |
| Dog On Wheels | Belle & Sebastian | Dog On Wheels |
| Kiss and make up | Saint Etienne | Foxbase Alpha |
| I Ain’t Gone under Yet | Neneh Cherry | Homebrew |
| Tilting At Windmills | The Field Mice | Where'd You Learn To Kiss That Way? (Disc 1) |
| All Tomorrow's Parties (12'') | Japan | In Vogue |
| Boat Bottom/Drydock | Don Ellis | The French Connection |
| When Will See You Again | The Three Degrees | |
| Private Sorrow | The Pretty Things | A's & B's |
| Accept Yourself | The Smiths | Hatful Of Hollow |
| Shore Leave | Tom Waits | Swordfishtrombones |
| Tindersticks - Another Night In | Tindersticks | Curtains |
| I Would Die 4 You | Prince | The Hits 2 |
| Cello | Slowdive | Pygmalion |
| Buried Alive | The Lyres | Postpunk Chronicles: Going Underground |
| Dupree Blues | Willie Walker and Sam Brooks | Broke, Black & Blue: Volume Three - Good Whiskey Blues |
| Circles Of Mania | COIL | Horse Rotorvator |
| Fun | Miles Davis | Miles Davis Quintet 1965-68 (4) |
| Aloysius | Cocteau Twins | Treasure |
| Red Dirt Girl | Emmylou Harris | Red Dirt Girl |
| Love Will Save You | Swans | Various Failures (Yellow) |
| Alcoba Azul | Downs, Lila | Frida |
| Pandora | Cocteau Twins | Treasure |
| Herald | COIL | Horse Rotorvator |
| Tennessee Waltz [Live] | Leonard Cohen | Dear Heather |
| Stagger Lee | Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Murder Ballads |
| Svefn-g-englar | Sigur Rós | Ágætis Byrjun |
| I've Been Tired | Pixies | Surfer Rosa & Come On Pilgrim |
| Blind Man Blues | Sara Martin | Ladies Of Blues : Vol. 1 |
| Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) | The Arcade Fire | Funeral |
| Tears (full arrangement) | The Chameleons | Strange Times (bonus tracks) |
| Godstar | Psychic TV | God Star -- The Singles Pt. 2 |
| Pleasure and pain | The Chameleons | Script of the bridge |
| Blonde Red Head | DNA | Dna On Dna |
| Close To Me | Claire Voyant | Love Is Blind |
| Abyss | Claire Voyant | Love Is Blind |
| Nowhere Girl | B-Movie | |
| Wishfull Thinking | Dose One & Boom Bip | Circle |
| Dance | Egyptian Lover | Street Jams: Electric Funk - Part 4 |
| Armenia | Einstürzende Neubauten | Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T. |
| mr tambourine man | william shatner | |
| Jenny | American Music Club | United Kingdom/California |
| Persephone | Cocteau Twins | Treasure |
| Tutankhamun | The Art Ensemble Of Chicago | Tutankhamun |
| Big White Cloud | John Cale | Vintage Violence |
| Caliper Remote | Autechre | LP5 |
| Things Happen | COIL | Love's Secret Domain |
| You Can't Hurry Love | Diana Ross & The Supremes | Diana Ross & The Supremes |
| Bill And Ben | Catherine Wheel | Ferment |
| The Avatars | COIL | Astral Disaster |
| Black Eyed Dog (Live) | Jarboe | A Mystery Of Faith (Disc 2) |
| Everybody in the Place | The Prodigy | Euphoria: Old Skool Disc 2 |
| Ego Tripping At the Gates of H | The Flaming Lips | Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot |
| You And Your Sister | This Mortal Coil | Blood |
Posted by Todd at May 12, 2005 11:38 PM