Thanksgiving At Jekyll Island

 

A dog walk to start the day.

We reserved a table last March when we stopped at Jekyll Island State Park in South Georgia during Spring Break. We were too late for a table in the main dining room which needs a year advanced reservation. We were seated in the Crane Courtyard which worked out well for us.

We sat indoors by the fireplace and strolled out to the courtyard to check out the food.

Which included all the stuff you associate with Thanksgiving, lots of meat and fish, vegetables, stuffing and desserts.

We chose this place because it is so different for us, a climate more suited to the Fall harvest season, a state park preserved almost by chance, history still lived today in a pale reflection of the opulence of 1900.

Our brunch at Crane Courtyard, inside the Crane "cottage" turned out to suit us better than the main dining room where the food is the same. Crane felt less crowded and less stuffy than the main dining room, plus we all enjoyed stepping outside into the sunshine to get our food in the outdoor courtyard.

Crane Cottage was the most expensive vacation home built on Jekyll, and it was toilets that paid for it.

The main clubhouse is extraordinary. We couldn't take a room here as they don't take dogs, so we stayed at the Hampton Inn next to the beach.

It's just a hotel now, no longer a winter base for the masters of the world. Anyone can drink at the bar...

...or be seen posing...

...or sitting by the fire.

The masters of the world really did gather here. They created the Federal Reserve system in this room at the beginning of the 20th century. They created the private banking system to regulate the currency with no one's permission or vote. They did it here:

Cheyenne got a long cold walk in the morning so she was feeling no pain passed out in the car on a 55 degree afternoon with a cold north wind raking her. She loves this weather.

An after lunch walk was indicated so off we waddled passing another of these winter homes built as "cottages" by the millionaires of the day who liked to celebrate holidays in like minded company.

This magnificent structure was offered as a gift. They lived at the same time men were earning a buck fifty a day to sweat their balls off building the Over-The-Sea Railroad, and they took the work in horrendous conditions because it paid well.

The funny thing is, economists tell us wealth inequality is worse today than it was then.

A lot to be thankful for then.

 

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The Dead End

Overcast skies and restless waters.

A small submerged hulk.

In the distance Fat Albert on the ground, a sign of strong unfavorable winds. No aerial interdiction today.

On shore, at the turn around my Labrador spread herself across the surface of the Earth, connecting with her Mother, were she articulate enough to express such a New Age thought. That or she wanted

a rest.

A boat anchored just off the end of the boat ramp.

Blimp Road, a straight shot south back to the Overseas Highway. All side roads off the main road end in dead ends. Its the nature of land communication in the Florida Keys.

 

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Vespa Restored

Gene handed over my 1979 P200 today. I took a short test ride, he tightened up a few odds and ends, gave me some sound advice about breaking in the new motor and sent us on our way home.  Scooters Originali have done me proud. Now I want Gene and Andrea to do me another one! He had a rather nice restored Lambretta in the chop. My wife now thinks Lambrettas are prettier than Vespas. 

I picked up the trailer from the storage locker where I had left it and went over to the Allentown scooter shop. The whole operation went amazingly well.  Gene basically did a frame up restoration, all new fasteners, carburetor, clutch, cables, suspension and crankshaft and piston related gubbins. Like new I hope with a halogen headlamp and new wiring as well! 

And now time to start the 1500 mile journey home to heat, sunlight and lots of commutes to get this brand new motor ready to burn up some roads. I am hoping for some touring too, ambitious of course but that's me. 

My Island Life

I heard on the radio (because I don't have TV reception) that some "expert" has decided 46 million Americans will be on the road this week. Well, bugger, I hope they see me coming and get out of my way; I've got a Vespa to pick up in Pennsylvania before turning around to enjoy a leisurely traditional Thanksgiving with friends at Jekyll Island in Georgia. All of which means Cheyenne the wife and I have left the November warmth of the familiar for the frost studded steppes of the wastelands of mainland America. Brr.

I told a friend that Key West is a great place to live if you have to work and he looked at me, puzzled. Most people, he said, say Key West is a great place to on vacation. True enough but when faced with the daily grind I by far prefer it frost free and easy. I like sunshine, it makes me happy.

I get to work where people come on their time off. A visit to Key West is a hard fought privilege for many people and for me a walk among the orchids is a lunch break.

You've got to get yo the very end of the road to find half a town built two hundred years ago, and maintained just so. The other hundred miles of islands are a jumble of free range unplanned neon chaos, but Old Town Key West is this:

I admire people ready to pay hundreds of thousands to spend a few winter weeks in these architect-free structures. Just because they are among the costliest houses in Florida doesn't mean they are nests of modern conveniences. What you see is often a lot more than what you get. Straight floors...right angled corners...central air? Nah, not needed in 1828 so not really useful now. Enjoy! I like my modern conveniences in a modern, weatherproof house on a canal twenty miles out of town, but I'm weird. Long live suburbia.

The best free entertainment in this high cost town is taking your dog for a walk, and she will thank you. But there's so much more. Live music, education, restaurants, theater, parties, movies, fund raisers masquerading as events and gatherings called to raise money for community needs. If being a social butterfly is your thing and you have time and money to spare and a powerful alcohol-proof liver, Key West is your oyster. But Key West is a hard taskmaster for most people. Living among beauty and culture and copious expensive alcohol often requires a punishing work week from two or more part time, benefit -free jobs. I have been feeling the heat lately working too much overtime to fill holes in the schedule desperate for a couple of trainees to get trained to take the heat off. Not much free time left over...

I still get a chance to check out some of the odd corners of this great little town. Left over paint brush strokes anyone? Typical of this lovely little town the devil is in the details, not clean, not spiffy, frequently shy of maintenance, not displaying a city cherished and loved by its residents. There's a big debate ruffling the city at the moment about Fantasy Fest. A coalition of city residents led by native born prominent citizens is pressing for an end to raunchy nudity and displays of middle aged flesh on Duval Street each October. The rules are clear but this event is a money raiser and now we get to see if money talks over the wishes of the bubbas who feel this event has gone too far. I figure that if someone could guarantee all nudity was youthful and sexy all objections would evaporate, a conclusion that bothers me more than tasteless displays of poor costuming. In the end whatever they decide works for me but I shall watch the process with interest. Money versus morality, the ultimate capitalist dilemma, made public.

I miss it when I'm away. I love traveling, but I like coming home to the Keys. I miss my friends at work, we deal with life and death every night but we laugh at each other a lot. It's natural that we we do, because life is contrasts and we see a lot of shit in people's lives every night. Key West is beautiful but it's not easy, it's not cheap, though sometimes it looks it. It's got problems on display for all to see, it never makes a best place to live list, it's population is graying and getting steadily wealthier and less creative. But I'd rather live here than Montpelier, Burlington, or any of those podunk little towns that national magazines profess to love as best places to live. I get to ride my Bonneville year round. Beat that, snowmobilers.

Yet, yet yet. For all that I've lived in interesting places Key West remains the best place to earn a living. I have a great job, dispatching at night and by day I get to enjoy more sunny days a year than I deserve, warm waters all around, fantastic views and a few solid friends. Is that all it takes to make me happy? Guess so. Can't wait to get back.

 

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Cheyenne

She's doing great, just about five years since I got her. She's 13 now and still loves to walk every day twice a day. The cooler weather has woken the inner puppy and I enjoy her company as much as ever. She seems to like my company too, even though every now and again her inner stubborn Eeyore comes face to face with my implacable deadlines of daily living. She gets grumpy when I need to end the walk before she's ready. "Come on Cheyenne!" I can be heard to implore from time to time, trying to hustle the old impostor ("Look at me, I'm so old, so slow, so tired!") back to the car. When life gets tough, the tough walk their dog. And their dog can be pretty tough too and determined to have her own way.

She has been a bit anxious about being left behind as we prepare for our road trip. The plants I can leave behind with a house sitter, but not my Labrador. She comes with, but she'll only beleive me when she is tucked up on her bed behind the driver. Her previous owners have a lot of unhappiness to answer for as I don't think they treated her as one of the family and that's what dogs crave more than anything as they are pack animals above all. Cheyenne rules her roost.

 

 

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Monochrome Veteran's Park

 

 

 

 

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