FLORIDA
June 16 - July 7, 1982
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1982. LOTS to do and departure STRETCHES to 5:30PM. Search for registration till 5:50 and get onto slow BQE at 6 starting mileage 71323. Over Narrows and Staten Island and Goethals and Turnpike to HEAVY rain. Gas first stop (12 gallons at $15.50, at 25 miles), then to exit 6 and Pennsylvania Turnpike, rather grungy, and to exit 24 and route 202 to Paoli Pike, pleasant rolling hills, and to Laird's at 8:20. Shopping in rain till 9:45, then back to the lush house for vodka and bitter lemon, burgundy with ribs, amaretto (Jaquins thinish), THICK Chilo coffee, and cassis as chubby Beau enters and we hot-tub till 2:30, taking pictures and Ginger bouncing along. Bed VERY pleased with house and hospitality. Return?
THURSDAY, JUNE 17. Wake at 8:45 and doze till 9:30, wash and pack and juice and out at 10:15. Lots of traffic on 202, fast pass over 40 and 13, and down in lots of traffic through dullish but GREEN countryside. 12.7 gallons at $17.20 at 228 miles in Del. Stop in "family" restaurant at 1:30 for cheese omelet and pills and across to populated Chincoteague and non-populated Assateague and to local office and National Park office and beach and sand dunes with Ohio bodybuilder and pictures and pony trail's mosquitoes and wild horse pairs and out LATE at 5 and phone to say I'll be at 7! No rain but cloudy across bridge and through Virginia, ALWAYS about to run out of gas. Get directions at station where I get 12.7 gallons for $15 at 417 miles to Independence and to Virginia Beach Boulevard and to THEIR palace, Jim's CAR parked in my place, with TAG for me, and up to eat QUICKLY---good pork chops and underdone dressing and AWFUL talk and GREAT view over ocean and walk and building with him and unpack in chintzy room and bed at 11, TIRED.
FRIDAY, JUNE 18. Wake at 6:30 and called for dolphins at 7:15, about 50 of them, GREAT, and waffles and omelet for breakfast GREAT and out at 9:30 to Pavilion and shops and library and LOTS of AWFUL small talk and to A.R.E. and lighthouse at Fort Story, hot and tired to be first up top at 10 am, and to First Cross and views and de Grasse winning our battles and back to apartment at 11:45 and see boats coming in and RACE to wharf for GOOD bodies and 9-10 blues from each boat and Helen and Jimmy GET two for cost of filleting: $1.20! Back at 1 for cheese and pie for lunch and at 1:40 to ARE for tour at 2 and library-look at 2:40 and at 3 down to a lecture on ESP and at 3:50 read till 4 for the film, till 4:30, and work on Bimini in his readings, many missing, till 5:45, when I phone Jim, bus comes, the female clerk wants to take me, and an acne-backed pretty boy phones shirtless just to make me want him. Back to change for 7 pm Lighthouse walk, for loaded lady's seafood platter, TOO much, and Paul gives me a bag and Jimmy steals 5 candy. Back at 8:45 to walk, but rain brings me back and I look at brochures but I'm TIRED and bed at 9:45 after brushing teeth.
SATURDAY, JUNE 19. Up at 6:30 and shower and wet the rug as everyone does, and eat at 7:30 and pack and it's raining out at 8:15, then I return to building to return tag at 8:25, mile 434 and clouds pass over, and I'm onto 22 to 44 to 64 to 98 to 95, and it brightens and eat in car careening along at 75 mph and FAST to Georgia and phone Midge at 5:15 saying I'll be there at 10 pm! (Gas: $18.50 mid-NC for 13 gallons at 602; $18.70 mid-SC for 13.2 gallons at 793, plus two quarts of oil @$3 for $21.70; $18.10 mid-GA for 12.8 gallons at 979; $17.50 on I-4 in mid-Fla for 13.5 gallons at mile 205.) Down and down and FLORIDA at 6 pm and GOOD sunset and fast driving and LIGHTS on dash don't work! Cash $100 bill in Georgia, good, and last gas for 13.5 gallons at Route 4, FINDING card in bag after ransacking suitcase, and to Springs REALTY and around to complex and pass five blocks to Blackfields and Starling and MIDGE crippled and happy in yellow. I tell her of day and she talks and has a GOOD marinated steak and wine and GREAT steamed asparagus and baked tomato and mint-menthed pineapple and gimlets with water and talk LOTS till 12:30 and GREAT shower and unpack till 1:10 and write this HAPPY till 1:25, tired in a LOVELY apartment bed!
SUNDAY, JUNE 20. Wake at 9:05, find money, out at 9:45 for croissants and orange juice and chat and out at 10:45 to Central Florida Zoo at 11, $3 for not much, nice monkey babies, except for shirtless not-terribly-attractive Golden Boy and two other fellows. Mile 1225 this morning and 1238 to zoo. Out at noon. Arrive on mile 1292 at Circus World at 1 after HEAVY (cooling) RAIN. See just about everything but Western Stampede, should have started shows EARLIER. Drizzle at 4:15, but I keep looking at the guys and chests and legs and WANTING and WANTING, not satisfied by the THINGS without the PEOPLE, hardly a typical thing for me, twenty years ago. And the kids scream and I just want to KICK them. But some of the shows ARE good, and I don't even EAT, and forgot Midge's phone number but will just ARRIVE. Start with the SMALL "Flying Daredevil," just a simple loop like Great Adventure, then to "Be-a-Star circus" at 1:30, which is FUN for 20 minutes of AUDIENCE participation with supports, then the Roaring Tiger is small but good and fast for a wooden coaster. See the start of the circus parade at 2, with terrified ponies SKIDDING down a slope with a cart pushing from behind, and the "Musical Tour Circus" has a band that's the SAME as the be-a-star band, from 2:30 - 2:50, rather inventive with a guy and three lively gals with modular reversible costumes. The world's largest elephant barn also has a BABY RHINO, the exotic animal circus is a zoo, and the animal star showcase are the stables, where a lovely white horse has a lovely pink erection. The Arctic Circus is ONE polar bear! I look longingly at the wonderful eyelashes of a spectator in the music show (with a girl) and the legs of a guy in the IMAX (also with girl). The train station is just a set of shops, the clown-a-lot puts on clown faces, the circus cookhouse is a restaurant, and the circus of skills are GAMES. Not to mention that the information booth is manned by Encyclopedia Britannica! The Illusion Circus has SO MUCH attempted crowd participation that I'm turned off, though the Cinema Circus from 3:30-4 has tight-crotched Paone's trying the triple somersault and nice clients. Race down to the Aqua Circus for a CUTE guy walking the tightrope, riding a bike, etc (who I later see at the Circus Spectacular as a CATCHER on the trapeze (what a RANGE) and buying groceries at the store across the street when I go for orange juice for Midge's maid. The Circus Spectacular wastes too much time on clowns, but when it comes out with acts it's only a terribly wrinkled woman with horses, elephants piling up against each other with obscenely hanging tits, and trapeze acts that aren't very good after the movies. But bodies still nice. Out about 6:30 and buy orange juice for $1.09 and back at 7:15 and Midge says we'll eat at 8. Shower and drink and her ham and macaroni and peapods and water chestnuts aren't tops, but 100-year-old brandied fruit is good while I wrestle with projector for slides, which she says she loves. Bed 11:30, very tired again.
MONDAY, JUNE 21. Up at 9:05 on longest day and first day of summer and see her before she goes to doctor's. Have croissants and look at maps, and she's back at 10:30 and we drive around LOVELY Springs, and pool and waterhole and GORGEOUS guy and wife and squally kid. Back to house at 12 to pack, photo Midge, and out at 1 to Raffles for soup (onion, when they don't have mushroom) and salad and HUGE chocolate Tokeless Brownies that ALL stare at. (Leave at mile 338 at 2:23 from Raffles, then at 340 it's STUCK and reset to ZERO!) Out about 2:30 and to Rita's direct at 4:30, hot and moist. Denny home at 5:45, out to ocean for chicken orders, and in to eat and watch ATLANTIC CITY and LOVELY Dennis Quaid in CAVEMAN to 12:30. Bed. (Get BATTERY WATER in Cocoa Beach, with $17.59 for 13.1 gallons and 1 qt oil, 51 NEW miles)
MONDAY, JUNE 22. Up at 7 and breakfast from microwave which fluffs up scrambled eggs wonderfully and cooks bacon VERY nicely, and watch Paul, who IS cute as everyone says, while Rita showers, and out at 10 to drive to (at mile 078) Kennedy Space Center at 11:10. Get into grounds at 11:15, and get ticket right away for BLUE tour at 11:25, and leave though sign says "Wait of 60 minutes (which is for the red tour, as it turns out)." Drive roads thru NASA industrial area and backways along Banana River, and stop 11:45 to 11:55 at the OLD Mission Control Center for Gemini III films of Grissom and Shepherd (?) on Agena-Atlas hookup in 1965. I was 29, in the middle of "Space Age 1." There are 8-10 launches per year of communications satellites from Cape Kennedy. Off at 12. Westar V put up June 8 from Complex 17 for Western Union Company. Thirty Deltas launched in 1970's. Museum was the site of Explorer I's launch in 1958 to May 5, 1961, with Alan Shepherd as the first man into space. Former pads 5 and 6, EARLY stuff, equipment is primitive from 21 year ago! Off for exhibit area 12:20-12:38, good HISTORY. 1950 they used V-2 and Wac-Corporal duo. INTO Atlas complex 13 (dozens off the road), but NOT allowed out of bus for photo. Off bus at 1:22, just under 2 hours. Complex 18 housed Vanguard, which was a flop. Minuteman complexes 31 and 32 still active, used for USAF testing now. Complex 36 launched surveyors to the moon, lots of cars around, sent probes to Venus, Mars, Mercury, and orbiters, and Pioneer 10 with the star-plague, and Pioneer 11, which just passed Saturn. Complex 14 sent 1962 Mercury/Atlas astronauts; this was all missile row in 1960's. Stop 13 on my list is complex 34, where Grissom, White, and Chafee died in January, 1967. In Complex 37A and B were the Saturn rockets that were 200 feet tall with 300-foot service towers, now gone. Back past the VIP viewing road for the launch still scheduled for Sunday. Get ticket for RED tour and eat and wander exhibits, and take these notes from tour: External tank 154 feet tall; four silos are 140 feet tall, shuttle 122 feet, with 78-foot wingspan. 150,000,000 horsepower to get off ground. Orbits 150 miles up. Side tanks drop after two minutes, central tank after eight minutes; first recovered (these sank), second burnt up. April 12, 1981, FIRST shuttle; November 12, 1981, Second; March 22, 1982; this, the fourth, will be UP for 7 days. From April 1983 they'll land and be recycled in Florida! TOTAL height 186 feet with platform. Disney's Space Mountain is 3g, same as this, and women will be on shuttle. Tour 1:30-2: 6 million pound crawler can carry 12 million pound load. One mile/hour TOP speed when loaded. VAB now SECOND-largest building at 52 stories and 8 acres. STARS 6 feet from point to point, 129 million cubic feet of space. Boeing plant in Everett (Seattle) Washington is 209 million cubic feet, covers 83 acres. Leave tour as it goes OUTSIDE at 2 (no lunch today) and go to theater for "Spaceport Odyssey" at 2:05, before boarding bus at 2:50 for "new" tour which HAD a waiting time of 80 minutes (1:30-2:50). It's only slides, fairly complete but not really THRILLING, but it leaves me time for a cheeseburger and fries and Pepsi for $2.52, with babies screaming and foreigners looking dazed and overheated. To gate JUST as departure of bus 78 is announced at 2:50. I'll be MISSING movies on Earth from Space, sadly, and the OTHER theater of "Live Current Events." Busses VERY well organized. Bus leaves at 2:55, FEW duplications. LOVELY water lilies along road. Out at 3:07 to "Show in Progress" at Flight Control Training Building and wait in nice breeze till 3:09. In for ONE diorama of ACTUAL simulator (3) and then for LEM on Moon, and out to new bus at 3:30. Big things hard to take pictures of. Past VAB and Press section and crawler at 3:50 for camera stop. From complex 39: Moonflight, Skylab, and shuttles. AROUND 39A, with CURRENT shuttle hidden behind maintenance frame, and take lots of pictures of VAB and shuttle till 4:10, down to last shots, one roll for one week! Another stop at the Shuttle Landing Facility till 4:20, getting tired. Saturn V lifted with 7.5 million pounds of thrust; two SIDES ones in two minutes for shuttle "only" 2.5 million pounds of thrust. Back at 4:42. Watch "Island for Wildlife," 4:45-4:57. SIGN says the SYSTEM used 6.925 million pounds of thrust at liftoff! NEXT scheduled for NOVEMBER. Leave at 6:15 with 81.7 miles on odometer from this trip. Home with CAKE for Paul at 7:10, and they invite people in after we eat good beef stew. We think to show slides but everyone talks (and Rita and Denny AVOID people!) and leaves at 10 and I'm to bed EXHAUSTED.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23. Up at 7 and rolls and cereal for breakfast and out at 9:15 for long ride to Miami, in storm, and traffic stops on I-95 for a bit and (From Rita's at mile 115 at 9:27 am; $15 for 12 gallons at mile 231; $17.80 at mile 466 for 13.9 gallons) I miss exit and go on side streets and Tiger's Tail to Coconut Grove and have to ASK where City Hall is, and finally wander in and PHONE Greg at 1:30 and he meets me in front and I pay for his lunch at Pier's terrace, not bad for $10, and to Dinner Key Marina (where he says he's "boss" and his boss asks him to fix fire hose box that's broken) to see GORGEOUS Dutch schooner and his boat which is being remodeled. Clouds form to west and I'm into car at 3 and AMP light comes on again. Stop at South Miami repair and they hook up a loose wire, but light is STILL on, and they say I need a REBUILT ALTERNATOR for $120, come back Friday noon. Ugh! I drive out and the light goes off! Down slow Route 1 to keys and the mile 24 office is closed at 6 pm. Look for gas 9 miles down at mile 15 and drive 8 miles back to mile 23 for open Citgo station. Then BACK to mile 17 and turn left at light to end and right and into the Mangroves for OTHERS DRESSED for party, and I feel I can't shower in OPEN so wash and join at 7:30 and they're NICE people, so we drink and introduce each other and talk with nice blue-eyed partner Betty and Joe's mom Peg, who's phony, and his dad Joe, who's a souse. Joan Knight is guest of honor (unknown to me) and we talk of her being born in NYC and raised in the Keys and she'll give me key limes for PIE tomorrow! People leave at 11 and I shower and fall into large bed.
THURSDAY, JUNE 24. Up early after scratching and looking at blinking light that turns out to be a wall fixture, and up at 6 am. Coffee for breakfast and Bob works and Joe chats for two HOURS about trials of Key West: building codes changing, permits needed from US and state and county and US Army Corps of Engineers who write NOTHING down and change minds all the time and make bridges be causeways and rain-pools shorelines and basements bases for insurance that jumps from $300 to $7000/year, with a mortgage that REQUIRES insurance. ALL sorts of Catch-22's! Lots of time and energy waste for RANDOM compromise between rules and ecology and economic progress. AWFUL tales. Out at 11 and drive to Key West via A1A and to La Briza for quick look and limes from Joan. Walk through Casa Marina and Harry's Bar and to Sands for omelet and wine for $10, with cute headwaiter, and the surf is up to the WALKS, men piling stones on to save restaurant pilings. Out to park at Hemingway House, $2 and hot and crowded in VERY oldish place filled with cats. Bypass Audubon and walk square but it's TOO HOT. Back via station which tightens alternator belt for $4.60 but then the odometer goes out! Back and they say they couldn't have tampered with THAT wire, so I'm back, filling with gas, and to Joe's at 3:40 for walk on beach. Nice shells and coral as tide goes out, but no real fish or color. In to shower and change to long pants and drink and out at 6 to senior Elkin's home for cheese dip, then to bar (Elaine's?) and it POURS rain and we're across to Lee Dodez's for Cape Bouganville Key Largo plans and more drinks and more cats. Out to Buttery at 10:30 for GREAT yellowtail and drinks and good sexy waiter and dessert till 12:15 for $75, my treat, and back to collapse at 1.
FRIDAY, JUNE 25. Sleep better to 7, then talk to Bob this time and out at 10:30 for stroll ON beach at high tide, and flabbergasted to see a SHARK shadow gliding through the shallows, and back to get camera when Bob says that I took it as a SICK shark being ministered to when it was really a MATING session in the shallows where Bob says they need something to PUSH against. By 1 pm there are THREE males chasing ONE female and I hope I got some GREAT shots from about six feet away! Also tip over horseshoe-fucking-crab-pair and watch tide tip one over till I can't wait in sun anymore, my left upper thigh and foot tops are BURNT. Back to a sandwich for lunch and apply their aloe vera salve and sit and read Joe's "Joe Bonomo Muscle-Man" book and a Ziegfeld stars' book while old Joe carpenters around house. Then out at 3 to Audubon house (car set back to zero from 500 miles)---no RELATION to him but filled with old mahogany and cherry furniture and a TV presentation of his GREAT birds and backgrounds, but nothing really of HIS there, except the coincidence that Peg's working there today so I get in free. Nice shaded garden and out at 4:20 to see Greg's possible purchase "Western Union" and swimmers and other boats. Lovely waters and boats. Back to meet Peg at her house and visit and chat and drive her back to Joe's for drinks and talk and hamburger and Brussels sprouts and carrots for dinner, after the rest of her dip, and at 8:30 I start slides till 10:30, and old Joe sleeps but they seem to like them. They're out and AGAIN I fall into bed, using more aloe and getting to sleep DESPITE sunburn smart, but all-in-all pleased with the trip to this point.
SATURDAY, JUNE 26. Up at 8, and coffee and chat and out at 9:15 to just PAST office to mile 27 and remember I FORGOT the LIMES. Back to office and Bob gives key, back to struggle with double lock and curse bugs and dogs and in for photos and limes, and back at 10:15 to pictures of THEM at office (pretty lawn boys gone, however), and back on road to leave HOT SUNNY keys behind. Stop at cool-dark Green Turtle Inn notes elsewhere (I don't think so!) (notes from back: Gas: $16 for 11.5 gallons and 2 qt oil at 11 am at 65 miles; 9:30 OUT; 9:50 BACK for limes; 10:50 BACK to road. Reset at 120! Reset at 20! Gas $18.95 for 12.1 gallons gas and 1 qt oil at mile 129 at Boca Raton) at 12 for DOLPHIN (fish, not mammal) lunch and awful French fries and pallid sangria and meringued lime pie till 12:45. Back to rather fast road north and pass few cars and get to Beeline on SECOND entrance to avoid awful 1 around Miami, and AGAIN there's a flash rainstorm and I stop for gas AFTERWARD and back to Satellite Beach at 5:30, radio going and in for their spaghetti and he shows Greek and Egyptian slides and I show trip slides to Paul and squabbling kids till 9:30, and then everyone's tired again and it's good to get to bed at 11, shuttle still scheduled for 11 tomorrow.
SUNDAY, JUNE 27. Up at 8:30, jerked off, lots of come, marveling that Paul is sleeping in so LATE, and they tell me he was UP from 1-3 am with FEVER. Good pancake breakfast and out at 10:30 to car with baby and blanket and umbrella and cameras and binox and road is empty by 10:50, so we park at beach and get there and set things up in minutes, listening to others' radios---some GREAT tanned bodies, but not THAT many, but no one wants to stay AFTER the shot. ORANGE flame is much LONGER than I'd thought, and sound starts as EARTHQUAKE rumble below hearing and builds to cough-cough like a stalling car, but it's all very distant, not REALLY worth seeing unless you're a VIP and can get closer. Home by 11:30 and look at Sunday paper and they do RIBS at 3 and I watch "9 to 5," not bad, but not GOOD (he clobbered "Duelists," from last night!), and we sit and talk and Paul's SICK and cranky and cry-y, which makes Rita and Denny bark, feeling tense, and "YOU do that, I'm doing THIS," at each other. Watch "Locusts" on NOVA from 8-9, eat Nachips and cheddar and jalapeños after I buy them at the store, with Rich's puffs and a peach pie for $10, and at 10 I'm too tired to move, so I just go to bed. Must be the HEAT!
MONDAY, JUNE 28. Up at 7 and decide to Tampa. Get stuff together and out at 9:15 after rolls and cereal and fruit for breakfast, and the Busch Gardens signs say use exit 2 from I-4, but there are no SIGNS off that exit. (Leave at 261 (actual 73554) at 9:05) (Gas: $18.52 for 12.4 gallons and 1 qt oil at mile 324 at Kissimie.) Go north per the map and HIT it, so I'm in at 12, in Giraffe, lot 4, across road. Hit ticket office first after $1 parking and free transfer for $11.75 ticket, which is EXPENSIVE! To the belly dance show from 12:30 to 12:40 after looking through maps, then get a Tampa sandwich (quarter of one, for $2.75, meats and cheeses) and watch a bit of the snake charmer while finishing, and then to the Clydesdale show 1-1:20, followed by more snake-charming and there are GULLS disturbing the diners for food. Then to the BIRD section, smaller in birds but larger in AREA than I remember, ride the African Queen which ISN'T hokey but for black jumping out, and there's a short line and short ride 3x for the Python, with a nice corkscrew twist, but the Flume is VERY full and RAPIDS line is halfway across the bridge. See the bird show at 2, same hokum about ringing bells, riding bicycles, filling in puzzles, playing dead, "winning" at card games, and "adding" numbers. See part of the animal show and the amphitheater is JAMMED. Onto Zambezi 2:35 and out at 3 pm). Across on skyride (onto line 4:03, on at 4:20, off at 4:30) for good views and write THIS to catch up while waiting from 4:30 to 4:37, HOPING to be on INSIDE of monorail, but though I AM, it's not NEARLY as nice as Great Adventure, though it IS impressive to see giraffes and zebras and antelopes and others MIXED TOGETHER in large areas. but it's over at 4:52, only 20 minutes or less, compared with an HOUR OR MORE in the car, at your own speed. Tour "Nairobi" and nocturnal mountain and get out for 5:10 rail ride around. Train arrives at 5:15, not MUCH left to see! Around two stops and onto flume line with roast beef sandwich at 5:50, and off at 6:10, not bad either, but the ride's SHORTER than Great Adventure, but it has ONE new thing, a DIP that shoots you down a FULL slope and around a CURVE and then UP so smoothly on an up-shooting sheet of water that there's NO splash at all. GREAT! (Carowinds has this too.) Then down the BIG slide and the rushing waters INSIDE the boat wet the backs of my SHOES and PANTS more than the SPRAY does. So I don't GET the desire to replace Great Adventure with any of these YET, but the details are nice, though AS ALWAYS I ogle the boys and men (and there are SOME doozies) more than the rides. Read some of "Earth Changes" too. Onto Rapids line at 6:15, promising to be the longest wait. Read to BIG ride from 6:55-7:05, quite DRY though the others riding backward into waves get THEIRS, and onto Scorpion line at 7:11. Ride THAT twice, noticing that the STING is in the TAIL, where the spiral is SO small that you're really CENTRIFUGED around in the circle, then the sudden stop is VERY stomach-jolting, close to the sickest I've felt on ANY of these rides. Into the Festhaus for very little going on, and decide to phone Midge, so I get her number from information and she's DELIGHTED to see me, so I "blackmail" her into going to dinner with me, and I ride back to car, get told to go SOUTH again to 4 but follow signs EAST and get there just fine, getting in at 9 pm again, just after dark, for more drinks, and we're out at 10 to Lord Chumley's, where she gets the onion loaf which IS very good, and she has some simple meat dish and I have the veal Oscar, which is a bit much with asparagus and crabmeat, and we have four drinks and the bill comes to $58 or so and I put out $100 and they give me change for $75! Midge is quite drunk, but she says I tell them and they return the $25 and I say it probably WAS a mistake (since she likes the onion loaf), but I didn't get a very good idea of them. She drives back VERY carefully and I shower and fall into bed about 1 am, drunk and happy.
TUESDAY, JUNE 29. Up about 9 and have sweet rolls and coffee and she wants to show me Tiffany glass at a gallery in Winterhaven, so we're out at 10 and it's a NICE show (she pays for entry of $1.50) with lights in front and in back of spectacular windows, and then we walk streets and get into La Grand Verriere for FABULOUS gold-butterscotch windows and décor and coolth, and she suggests the chicken smoked salad, which is VERY filling though a bit too salty, and we talk and I have wine and she has soda, and we're out about 1:30 and we part at the parking lot as I go off to Sea World, really getting there too late to see everything since it closes at 7. Start with "World of the Sea" which is just a huge central aquarium and small side tanks from 2:45-3, then a commercial pearl-diving demonstration from 3 to 3:10, and over to the bat-ray feeding area, which seems to be do-it-yourself-for-50, but they're fun to touch as they "fly" past in the shallow pool, then listen to some of the flack at the seal pool, then to the last water-ski show for a rather hokey "Hatfields and McCoy's" presentation that takes away from the SHOCK of seeing the barefooted forward and backward skiers, the divers, and the crazy jokes. (Mixing this up---after a $1 lemonade that I gulped without the ice I went into the "Fountain Fantasy Theater" for 20 minutes of WHALE SLIDES, quite a rip-off from FOUNTAINS! See the part of the Polynesian show where they teach people to hula (do people really LIKE that sort of junk?) and THEN to the water-ski show.) Back to stand online for the Shark Encounter at 5, getting in at 5:45 after reading and liking SOME kids for being well behaved, but the SPIEL isn't honest: they want to tell the TRUE story about sharks not to scare the kids like JAWS, but they make it DARK and show drawings of TEETH rushing across the screen so of course kids scream! Their slides are rather boring, their film of the sharks eating another fish at a feeding scares the kids again, and then we VIEW the shark pen before walking (on glidewalk) through it much too quickly, and it IS close and impressive and clear, so each one DOES have a VERY close encounter that he'll remember, but it's still HOKEY. Out at 6:15 and dash across to the Whale and Dolphin Show, where someone RIDES the whale up and down and AROUND and atop, while a woman water skis with two dolphins for shoes AND power, and the usual jumps and spins and tricks and splashes. Phone Rita and they're eating already, and then take the free jitney over to Florida Festival for 20 minutes looking at all the sales booths, and then back to the car at 7:30 and return to Midge's in the LIGHT for once, and we talk and she serves asparagus again, this time with chicken royale which isn't that great, but it's OK. (Gas: 12.78 gallons for $15.26 at mile 512.) She's a marvelous hostess. More drinks and chats and talks of Polly and her son and my visits, then bed.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30. Up about 8 and have rolls and leave just before she goes to the doctor's at 9:15, driving southwest on 4 AGAIN, past Circus World AGAIN, down to Cypress Gardens, VERY hot, turned back to zero at 606.9 miles and park way out and get in for the ski show sitting on the comfortable GRASS, and at least they just SHOW their skiing skills, piling themselves three high in a pyramid, boys carrying girls, but still with silly costumes that cover the bodies except for the tanned torsos of the boat drivers, that I watch as much as the skiers. They end with a hang glider, more than Sea World. Then I take off for the Gardens, really lovely when the crowds aren't there, lots of trees and bushes in flower, and the antebellum (old fashion models, as they say) girls really DO add. Back to rush through the Florida Hall of Sports Fame, just for the air conditioning, and then another tacky bird show with a wisecracking female patterer, a GREAT alligator show with LOTS of information, some interesting cages with animals, and the alligator tamer trying to push a tapir into a cage without success. Watch some of the duck show, too, which is a REAL flop when the ducks don't want to follow ANY instructions, except the duck that DOES pluck a banjo with his beak. Eat pizza and soda while watching the SECOND water show, and get out about 4 to drive across the hot countryside to get back to Rita's about 5, and she has leftovers of stews and meats, which we eat, and then I show them the rest of my slides until they've pretty much had enough of them, and again we're to bed early.
THURSDAY, JULY 1. I'm up late, eat when I want, chat with Rita, who says that she SHOULD take Paul to playschool more so she can get away---she seems to do that only when she "goes crazy" every other month or so. I watch "Starting Over," which is pretty good, and "Zorro the Gay Blade" in real time, and then stay up late for "History of the World Part I," and see the first part of "Far from the Madding Crowd," which leads me to think SHE (Julie Christie, beautiful as usual) caused everyone to love HER until she falls for HIM (Terence Stamp, beautiful as usual), whom every WOMAN loved. (Gas: 12.6 gallons for $15 from CRANKY guy at mile 095; 1 qt oil across way for $1.41.) Also went to Strawberry palace for dinner, good veal and good strawberry drinks, though they're weak, to treat THEM, he before his singing class. Managed to stay awake until Denny entered at 11:45, then to bed.
FRIDAY, JULY 2. Up and pack and breakfast and watch end of "Madding Crowd" and turn it off to find that "Star Trek" is on, so I watch the end of THAT again, having FORGOTTEN that "Veeger" was "Voyager"---it WAS a bad movie with all the heads always staring at what they saw in the view-screen, but it was a FABULOUS climax. Rita says I can stay on again, but I leave Rita's at 1 pm at mile 110. Lose 113 miles when I have to turn it back to zero on the way back up 95, which I turned onto at random, in Florida. At 186 miles, get 13.4 gallons at $19.77 and a quart of oil for $21.66 total. At 402 miles, in Bowman S.C., get 13.2 gallons for $19.00, and get told that route 77 IS finished, and get TWO quarts of oil for $22 total. Drive to mile 464 to Columbia S.C. at 8:45 pm, having seen the Econo-Lodge off the side of the road and finding it was only $21. Across the highway to find that "Annie" is pretty bad: most of it's DARK, it surely doesn't look like $40 million, and she's so STURDY you can never feel she's VULNERABLE. What an awful flop. Back in dark to room, jerk off nicely with mirror. Bed.
SATURDAY, JULY 3. Wake and pack and lose my way two or three times to the zoo, which is pleasant but rather small, and the polar bears were never in the water when I could go around to look through the portholes. The storm in the rain forest was tackily one-dimensional, but no one seemed to remark about the dry birds sitting placidly just "behind" the storm-front. Absolutely fell in terrible love with the well proportioned chest on someone setting up tables and chairs for a company picnic, finding him MUCH more attractive than the two really handsome snow leopards that paced around watching them almost as hungrily as I. Good howling monkeys, penguins that didn't swim, good tourists, but again it was pretty hot. In about 10:15 and out about noon, getting to Carowinds for $2 parking and $10.95 ticket at 1:30. Onto the Carolina Cyclone first at 1:45 for a double loop, double spiral, but that's about it: brief and to the point. "That's Entertainment" had a GOOD twelve people for the half-hour, but "I Believe in Country" wasn't that good from 2:30-3. Got onto the Monorail line at 3:02 and wrote up to date, and then rode from 3:12-3:23, taking pictures, but much of it was WAY out into the parking lots. Goldrusher good to 3:30, up TWO hills like another before. The wooden rollercoaster Thunderroad is like the Rebel Yell in Atlanta: twin tracks that separate and are symmetrical about the center, but it goes fast and the first hill took my BREATH away. The 3:45 "Opry" was full so I drink a long cold drink and have popcorn and wait for 4:45 "High Dive Show," not very sexy, and around to 5:15 "Opry" that lasts only till 5:30, not that great. Then QUICK onto the NEXT "White Lightning" single seat and onto the NEXT Skyride, barely finishing drink before being rotated to the top so quickly I can't every THINK of being scared of the height: take lots of pictures, too. At 6 onto line for Flume; LOTS of sexy guys. Onto ride at 6:20, gals in front DOUSING the two sexy guys riding with them, then onto the Riverboat at 6:25, lots of pictures, NOT of sexy guys! Figure I've had about all of it and leave about 7, having called ahead this morning to get an Econo-Lodge in Charlotte, which is only a quick drive north. Guy at desk looks as if he could be sexy, but he just directs me down the road the OTHER way for four movies, and I enter "Blade Runner" at the middle, which seemed the thing to do. Quantities of objects filled the screen, dazzling eyes; Vangelis filled the soundtrack, filling ears with splendid complexity. Not knowing the plot, the incomprehensible characters blended with the voluptuous profusion of imaged detail: beyond "Soylent Green" this shows the progress of haves versus have-nots. The Bradbury Apartments crystallized the luxurious abased to squalor. Tyrrell in quilted robe and elegant appurtenances like a diamond set atop a dung heap. Ghastly effects of crushed skulls, broken fingers, exploding bodies, superhuman strength, and even automatons desiring immortality---these perfectly echoed MY yearning: the zoo, the sexy table-setter, Carowinds and more bodies and "entertainments and foods and tastes and noises and feels." Now "Blade Runner" to surfeit my sated senses---and the sound between showings launches circusly into Kabalevsky's "Comedians." Shorts and tight jeans lure my eyes as a garrulous neighbor tries to impress his female companion by describing a "4-inch roach" running across the floor, and I admonish "It was ONLY an inch and a half." THEN the music goes into SIEGFRIED'S theme from the end of Walkuere just before the Magic Fire music. GLUT of music as it segues into the climax of Ravel's Bolero---WHO put that TRACK together? Like my day, a SPATE of sensuality, REVELING in the physical to the point of nauseous satiety. North Carolinians talk as much as 42nd Street moviegoers. "Earth Changes" sits in my lap to bring in hordes of other images. And I've been tripping on roller coasters and Northumberland Small Pipes and Vangelis and popcorn. And my vacations continue, I move into the fireworks of tomorrow, July 4, still not knowing my plan beyond tonight. The music goes into some Lisztian Hungarian Rhapsody climax, horns counterpointing frenzied violins backed by thunders of drums. The lights BRIGHTEN before they dim. I'm TRIPPING! Previews for "Sword and Sorcerer" sexy and GREAT. Blade is produced by Ladd and Run Run Shaw! Rutger Hauer was the prettiest alien. I'd ended with chicken in Carowinds, so I'm not hungry, so it's back to bed at midnight.
SUNDAY, JULY 4. Leave Charlotte at 9:55 at 91 miles, having taken LOTS of time to figure how to get to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, surprised that it's as long as 400 miles. Get 13.6 gallons at $17.00 at 130 miles. Get 13.1 gallons at $17.00 at 343 miles. It's actually 360 or more (time out for going BACK to Webb Avenue for my GAS tank cap when I forgot to put it back on, and roamed almost at random to FIND it run over by another car.) In at 4:15 and get $1.50 off because of AAA, not willing to wait till 5 for $8 entry as opposed to $11 entry (+ $2 parking). In at 4:20 to see Magic Show just beginning: great, each show lasts 25 minutes, so this'll be out at 4:55 and I'll get over to Italy to eat for their 5 pm show. But, alas, the Magic lasts till 5:10 (rather good, except for AWFUL jokes and patter and just plain DROPPED "I'm lonely and want a girl"). Lots of "girl hidden in base" type, but final "Excalibur" switch of girl surrounded by swords replaced by HIM as he counts "One, two" and SHE counts "three." VERY cute group and 3 conventionally pretty girls. Dash around to Italy at 5:15 to find show is in progress, and SHORT line for food, which lasts FOREVER and then they don't have eggplant for a "sampler" so I get a SANDWICH in disgust for $3.95 and TWO glasses of Soave for $1.35 each for $6.65 and tea for 65 for $7.30 and $9.20 bill means (with 5% tax) that cheesecake with two cherries must be $1.50? ($8.80+40). And of COURSE the Italian show (actually pretty awful with dancing and opera spoofing and stick clacking and tambourine banging) ends PRECISELY at 5:25, JUST as I gulp down the first glass of wine for my FIRST meal of the DAY. Leave past Loch Ness, a LONG ride, and get on line for Wild Mouse (Wildkatze) at 5:50, when I write this to 6:05. On at 6:15 and off at 6:16. Glissade is Coney's BIG Wild Mouse, 65 seconds UP and 60 seconds DOWN. Smooth, but wild mouse is SMOOTHER and FASTER. ON Loch Ness line 6:38, moves VERY fast. Taped message gives statistics (maybe because of LESS heat on MORE north, the male crowd isn't QUITE as humpy), like first drop is 114 feet, reaching 65 mph. 28 people in 7 carlets! Whole ride is 2 minutes and 35 seconds, at least TWICE as long as others: two disconnected loops, a 114-foot drop into a lake, lots of turns, and a unique spiral inside a dark mountain with strobe flashes and racing tracks of lamps going against the speed. Three times around, it seems, and then another track up to the top and more loops and twists---really a THING, but quite smooth and thrilling. Off at 7 and onto the train around the whole place---ANIMALS there, and I take pictures before dark. Off at 7:20 and dash across to Hastings for Kaleidoscope II, their 45-minute "star turn." Big metallic hall inside and the OUTSIDE is really rather tacky and pastel as compared with the SOLID SOUTH of Carowinds or the elegance (maybe with more people?) of Busch in Tampa. Sit in the HUGE auditorium and wait for the next-to-last show to begin at 7:30. Oh, yes, only Jamestown and Williamsburg have fireworks tonight! People not sexy, but FAST show at LAST letting applause COME from ACT and not BEGGING for it! And finale of UFO, laser beams, smoke, rotating moon and earth, flashing lights, and dancers not even LOOKED at was VERY spectacular and GREATLY appreciated by the crowd. And Ziegfeld costumes were great, too. To France to piss and onto Flume line at 8:23, things looking VERY high! On at 8:33, and off for root beer and wander to Octoberfest and watch start at 9, and cute guys in calf-warmers clap and bandstand ROTATES AND LIFTS. But whoops are awful in 500-people-in-2000-place ambience, and I leave at 9:10 to stand on skyride line for Banbury Cross at 9:15. Across at 9:20 and bounce back and forth, lost, before joining Loch Ness line at 9:26, hearing people behind me say "We'll ride on the LAST ride." Wonder how they'll CLOSE it? Off at 10:05 ALONE, because girl "with me" wanted to ride alone and DID. GREAT ride in the dark, too. Leave Busch at 10:22 pm at mile 458. Slow dark ride down 64 to Virginia Beach, having to turn around when I miss the VERY tacky Econo-Lodge, and across to Burger King to bring food to room and jerk off again to mirror VERY nicely, bed about 1 am.
MONDAY, JULY 5. Pack and phone Helen, who reluctantly says to come over, and leave Econo-Lodge at 8:42 at mile 501.1. Long slow drive there, and they're waiting breakfast for me: pancakes, fruit, coffee, milk, good. We spends LOTS of time talking (see NOTEBOOK 473-478). Out about 2 to walk to 36th Street, looking at crotches and sunburns and classic tans and not as many FABULOUS bodies as I'd hoped for, but enough to make me hunger. Pay 75 for the pier, watching them catch crabs, blues, and a Japanese mackerel. Guy ACTUALLY has hair on his arms that glitters in the sun like scraped copper wires, and I WANT to take a picture of it, but can't think of the words that would satisfy his GIRLFRIEND. Look through a bookshop, get a roll of film for change, and board the boardwalk tram back to 8th, and then walk the rest of the way at 5. Helen has the fish for dinner, good, and she says she'll pack the rest for me tomorrow. I think of going to the movies, but we talk again, and I get into my room at 11 and read till 12, but really can't stay awake so fall into bed: the hell with the eclipse.
TUESDAY, JULY 6. Wake PERFECTLY clear at 2 am, out to the balcony to see the moon at a PERFECT angle, but when I try to get the binoculars, the middle door is LOCKED between us: like Helen SAT when I was on HER balcony! Then Jimmy's up AFTER it's total, and I have trouble explaining to him that the ECLIPSE SHADOW was from left to right, so the 3 pm sliver was the last to go when totality hit, but this light from BELOW is from light refracted through earth's atmosphere around Antarctica, giving the BRIGHTNESS, and the clouds of volcanic dust, giving the ruddy color. Watch till 4, in fascination, but can't stay awake until 5:30 for the setting, and it's getting very DIM anyway.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7. Bed at 4 and up at 8:30 with Helen playing music VERY loud. Breakfast and last talk and take lunch and key limes to car and leave at 10:30, getting 44.3 liters and two quarts of oil for $19.16 at mile 521 at 10:45 in Virginia Beach. Then $16.25 for 13.3 gallons at mile 736 in D.C. before the Baltimore tunnel. At mile 902, on New Jersey Turnpike at 5:10 pm, I FINALLY get the windows washed and 10.6 gallons for $12.25, and at 6:45 I'm home at 75471 and 982, for 4148 miles when it was working, having left with $2011 and back with $987 to have spent $1024 in 21 days, just about $49/day, having spent ONLY three nights NOT in someone's apartment, though I "paid" for the stay. Didn't REALLY keep the notebook up to date, so some of the days aren't complete AT ALL, but this log is certainly unusual in that it uses 19 pages to describe 21 days!
FLORIDA TRIP: JUNE 16 - JULY 6, 1982
WED, JUNE. 16: Indexing and typewriter hassles delay departure until 5:30 pm. Heavy rains on Pennsylvania Turnpike down to Laird's in Paoli, and he serves great rib dinner until Beau arrives at midnight and we hot-tub till 2 am.
THU, JUN. 17: Drive south in increasing heat to visit wild-horse Assateague Island, lots of mosquitoes and sand dunes, then across Chesapeake Bay via the Bridge-Tunnel to Aunt Helen's and Uncle Jimmy's on ocean in Virginia Beach.
FRI, JUN. 18: Watch about 50 dolphins cavorting in ocean from their sixth-floor balcony. Eat good waffles before they drive me on a tour of the lighthouse at Fort Story and other Virginia Beach memorials, then to Rudee Inlet behind their condo for fishing boats and fish, and I spend the afternoon in Edgar Cayce's Institute. Dinner at Lighthouse Restaurant and chat before bedtime.
SAT, JUN. 19: Fast day's drive south to Midge's home outside Orlando, Florida.
SUN, JUN. 20: Morning in Central Florida Zoo, very hot; drive in cooling rain to Circus World for lots of entertaining shows and not too many thrilling rides. Midge serves dinner again and I show her the Russia-China slides, which she's pleased to see since we met on the trip and she takes no pictures.
MON, JUN. 21: She shows me the lovely Springs complex she lives in, then takes me to Raffles for the biggest chocolate dessert in the world. I leave for my sister Rita's and meet my nephew Paul for the first time, at age 364 days.
TUE, JUN. 22: Two bus tours of Kennedy Space Center, preparing for Sunday's shuttle launch, and I'm amazed there's so much space "history" already! Take a cake for Paul's first birthday, so Rita and Denny invite neighbors in.
WED, JUN. 23: Visit cousin Greg in his Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove, lunch and chat; then south to The Mangroves on Summerland Key for dinner for 14 given by Joe Elkins and Bob Worthey, formerly of NYC, now in real estate.
THU, JUN. 24: Talk with Joe about building problems in the Keys; pick up key limes from Joan Knight, as she offered at party last night; tour Hemingway House and other Key West sights; wade on coral reefs; great dinner at Buttery.
FRI, JUN. 25: Stroll ON beach and photograph four nurse sharks mating in shallows. And I was wading there yesterday! Back to visit Audubon House, then drinks at Joe's parents' home and dinner back at The Mangroves, showing them slides.
SAT, JUN. 26: Whole family out to watch shuttle launch on time at 11 am: huge orange flame and putt-putt explosions like distant backfires. Chat and TV.
MON, JUN. 28: Leave for Tampa and Busch Gardens, entertaining but somewhat small now that larger places have been built for animal viewing; phone Midge who invites me for the night; we dine at Lord Chumley's on onion loaf and veal.
TUE, JUN. 29: Tiffany glass exhibit in Winterhaven and lunch at the exquisite La Grande Verriere on smoked chicken salad, Midge's excellent recommendation. Afternoon at Sea World, nicely designed, and Florida Festival. Dine at Midge's.
WED, JUN. 30: Cypress Gardens for pleasant shows and gardens, then back to Rita's for dinner and more slide shows; Paul's now recovered from a slight fever.
THU, JUL. 1: Relax with their videotapes of movies, then dinner at The Strawberry Palace is delicious, and back for more relaxing before the drive back.
FRI, JUL. 2: Drive north to Columbia, SC, by nightfall, seeing the movie "Annie."
SAT, JUL. 3: Columbia Zoo is pleasant and spacious in morning, then to Carowinds, an enormous amusement park, straddling the SC-NC border, lots of shows and rides. North before dark to Charlotte, NC, for dinner and movie "Blade Runner," stylish.
SUN, JUL. 4: Drive north to Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, for The Loch Ness Monster, the longest, highest, biggest, and best super-coaster I've been on. Again lots of shows, foods, tourists, rides, and amusements. Sleep in Va. Beach.
MON, JUL. 5: Phone Helen and Jimmy and they invite me over again, so we talk and I tour the beach and streets of Virginia Beach; they serve great fish. Wake at 2 am for the eerie lunar eclipse lit from below by refracted sunlight even when the earth stands totally in the sun's rays. Back to sleep at 4 am.
TUE, JUL. 6: Having seen SO much and SO many people in just a few days, I decide I've had enough of travel and return to NYC by 7 pm, a glorious evening there after some extreme heat on the trip (102 in Key West!). A grand time!