When a place gets wedged in your mind...

My wife & I have been talking about looking for a "home base". She had a place in north Georgia when we met.  It was comfortable but it was a long way from the ocean.

I find myself looking at the Treasure Coast in Florida... after some thought I have an idea as to why.  Back in high school in 1968, I read a book called "Pieces of Eight" by Kip Wagner. He found the Spanish 1715 Plate Fleet (ships carrying treasure) off the Florida coast of what is now called the "Treasure Coast".

Sebastian Inlet (FL) beach via the webcam 5-17-2018

Ever since, I've wanted to go there to walk the beaches.... and that was 50 years ago. That is a long time to have something sitting in the back of your mind.

I've almost made it there. I'm thinking I should BEFORE we start shopping with money in our pocket!


Florida is a Winter project (or so I've been told) and that is months away from now. The present is finishing a few chores, then a slow trek up the eastern coast to Maine.

Part of my plan is to stop in Philadelphia and have a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich.
Well a couple of them seeing as Pat’s & Geno’s, the rival shops,
are across the street from each other.

We have an old friend up in Maine (I've known Sara since the 90's & the old Homestead email list), Karen has friends/family up that way, there are a lot of historical things to be seen between Georgia and Maine and it turns out that my great great grandparents were from Maine. That was back in the 1850s but I have the names of  some towns and that ought to be worth a look!

12th line down on the left side, being able to make the
photo bigger sure helps these old eyes!

If there are any from the Besse or Boynton families still around that part of the world feel free to send me an email!

Here someone typed up what was written
it's the 8th line on the right side.
This helps!

Planning for touring up to Maine and the back of my head is still glancing at a place that parked itself there in 1968.  
Funny how these things work!

The 100th Meridian

We crossed the 100th meridian in Oklahoma, the line between the dry west & the wet east. There was a sign, the sign came & went fast! No picture....

The 100th meridian is in red on this US drought monitor photo

Even with the drought going on you can tell it's different east of the line.

I joked with my wife about my part of the world (the west) & her part (she's from the east) being different. 

She thinks I'm joking but I think things are (were) different depending on where you grew up, and it's not just having a warm ocean in the summer.

Then again, I think that modern America has been pretty well homogenized by the corporate interests (main stream media & the others) so the regional differences are a whole lot smaller than they were back in 1972 when I took my first cross-country trip as an adult.

The places to eat in northern Georgia are, for the most part, just like the places to eat in Olympia Washington (except no Waffle Houses in the west).  The television is the same, the movies are the same, the newspapers are the same. 

More BBQ in Georgia, fresher sea food in Washington, and you can still find the southern accent in Georgia but it's not like I remember from the early 70's or the early 80's.

We'll be heading towards New England this summer, I suspect it's part of the homogenized new America but maybe I'm wrong?
I'm looking forward to seeing for myself!


Speaking of BBQ ... 
The best pulled pork I've had is just outside of Copper Hill Tennessee, a place called Bradford's BBQ, (the link takes you to a google map). 
Just thinking about the pork piled on the bun, some sauce and a dollop of coleslaw on top of that makes my mouth water!