Sign at the pier in Naples...I have often thought that a diet should be based not on what you did eat but what you didn't. NOT eating a slice of chocolate cake should count just as much as choosing salad rather than fries for your burger dinner. Never mind common wisdom suggests maybe JUST having the salad- a thought too gruesome for contemplation- pure frivolity and we will discuss that no further. That the burger was not garnished with bacon and bleu cheese should be an act of virtue worthy of a nomination for sainthood. Oops. Digression- go figure.
What got me from the manatee sign to chocolate cake was- I didn't see any manatees- or for that matter while crossing I-75 from Bal Harbour to Naples- a road known as "Alligator Alley" I didn't see any alligators. I saw something with a scaly pointed end but I was pretty sure it was a blown out tire... At 85 mph the distinction was vague but I wasn't stopping- having just realized I was GOING 85 was a big enough realization. Alligator Alley is not much more than road and everglades- I think I counted 3 exits off the entire 80 plus mile route and I shared the road only for moments with other cars- At one point I figured out (right after noticing the spedometer) that the other cars were not exiting- they were WAAAY behind me eating a dust sandwich.
The other reason I didn't stop was a result of a TV show I caught in the hotel the night before where a serial killer was dumping women's bodies in the swamps right off of- you guessed it- I-75. This particular poor soul had been eaten from the waist down by gators. Stop for a photo op with the reptiles- nossir. There is no guarantee he'd only eat my not-so-good side and that my last photos would not be as unattractive leftovers from the alligator plat-du-jour.
So I covered the spots I was supposed to- and saw a fair amount of Florida in a week. According to National Rental Cars I drove 555 miles total and aside from a confrontation with a curb in a parking garage in Coral Gables, didn't hit anything big. And as I cruised alligator alley I laughed really hard when "Crocodile Rock" came on the radio and sang along at the top of my lungs. About halfway through the trip across I opened the car window, turned off the AC and the radio and just listened. A warm boggy breeze blew my hair and the sun was warm on my arm. It was a lot of things- but it was especially NOT home. And that was, for the moment, a really good thing. Home could wait, just a little.
View of Palm Beach from the causeway 
Submerged man sculpture Coral Gables
Koi Pond Bal Harbour
Sunrise Gulf of Mexico
Ultimately you look for the light in the window- the lantern in this case. And start to realize, home would be nice, and the things that greet you when you get there- nicer still. You know who you are.
:)X
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