Waldo Hamfest 2019

Friday, April 19, 2019

We had heard that a storm was due this afternoon so we decided to leave home early so we could arrive at our destination and be all settled in before it hit.  We packed almost everything yesterday so we had very little to do this morning.  We hooked up the car and drove through the gate at 8:25 a.m.  The temperature was 74°F and the sky was overcast with the sun occasionally trying to peek out between the clouds. 

We drove north on I-75 for just a few exits, passing the huge Fed Ex distribution center and the equally huge Chewy distribution center.  Because of these – and the many jobs they brought to the county – there are plans to add another, more direct exit/entrance ramp to I-75. 

We exited the Interstate, passed the Florida State Fire College and headed north on Rte 301.  We both commented on how pleasant this drive is — horse farms with rolling hills dotted with huge old oak trees.  The wind had picked up and Al’s shoulders were beginning to feel it while working to keep the Roo from being blown off the road. 

We passed the turn to Anthony, where John Travolta and his family live.  They own property in Jumbolair, a development with a massive airstrip that can accommodate the huge planes he flies.  It is said that: “The airstrip at Jumbolair is as long as Miami’s airport.”  John and his wife, Kelly Preston, have been very good to Ocala in several ways.  One way is to premier, “red-carpet”, some of his movies here in town.  Unfortunately, some of his films coulda, shoulda stayed in the can!  He and his family can sometimes been seen shopping at Target in the middle of the night or eating at Red Lobster.  They are not the only celebrities who have chosen to live in the Ocala area, but they seem to be the most prominent.

Cattle.  Horses.  Goats.  A sign over the gate to a long dirt driveway, “Almost Heaven”.  Another sign, the Adobe Hills Pet Motel.  The Moondance Farm sells both shade and ornamental trees.  And yet another sign, “Eggs and Goats 4 Sale”. 

Citra is an unincorporated community and is known as the home of the pineapple orange — originally called the Hickory orange — a name coined in 1883 for an orange with an aroma reminiscent of the pineapple.  There is a pretty little white church that I took pictures of and wrote about while passing this way years ago.  It was erected and dedicated in 1881, the same year the town of Citra was founded.  Also in Citra is the Hoe Down Bar and Grill. 

Island Grove is a tiny community that is home to the Island Grove AG Products, a major supplier of fresh organic and conventional blueberries harvested throughout Florida.  “Fresh Blueberries — U Pick”.  They produce approximately 2 million pounds of fresh fruit per year.  Since 2010, they have also been producing sixteen different types of fruit wine.  Hmmm…  Sounds like a place we’d like to visit sometime. 

Lochloosa is on the shore of Lochloosa Lake and is known for its fishing.  In an area with no buildings around, a golf cart crossed Rte 301 and drove down a dirt road toward a small church.  A golf cart?  In the rural south?  Long ago I stopped counting all the tiny churches along this route.  Many of them are no larger than our home garage. 

There is a taxidermy clearance sale at the Museum of Stuffed Birds and Animals in Hawthorne.  There is not enough room in the museum’s driveway to park the Roo or we would have stopped in here long ago.  Railroad tracks follow along beside the road for several miles.  A 40’ RV is for sale in a field.  We saw nothing but trees and tracks for more miles.  Just dirt roads and driveways (sometimes it is hard to tell the difference), and another sign for another church down another dirt road.  A sign: “Horse and Pony Riding”.

In the late 1800s Campville had a post office, general store and train depot.  There were two sections of town – separated by race.  There was also a huge brick manufacturing plant – owned by the Camp family – and a nearby turpentine still.  Today, Campville is a ghost town.

As we entered Waldo, we discussed that we had either missed the old AAA sign, or it has been taken down.  Waldo and Lawtey were first designated by AAA as Traffic Traps in August 1995, with Waldo being the worst in the nation.  Its police department was found to have been told to issue speeding tickets based on quotas.  The citations issued generated enough income to fund the entire police department.  We were warned about Waldo as soon as we decided to move to Florida.  After 23 years as the worst speed trap in the U.S., in 2018 Florida lawmakers ruled that traffic citation quotas were illegal.  Today, the huge billboard sign warning drivers that Waldo was a huge speed trap, is gone.  The entire Waldo police department has been disbanded and traffic enforcement is now handled by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.

We arrived at Dixieland Music and RV Park, checked in and set up our site.  There is no cable TV, but we are close enough to Gainesville to get pretty good reception with our antenna.  The wind was blowing furiously so we opened the door and windows and let the fresh air fill the Roo.  It was still mid-morning. 

There is a small restaurant beside the road with a large parking lot behind it.  The Dixieland RV Park is behind the parking lot.  A large pavilion is here in the park and there is frequent music entertainment.  The front gate is electric and we were given the opening code.  We closed the Roo’s windows because of the coming storm and went to eat lunch at the cafe, which isn’t much more than a diner.  Just walking from the car to the door felt like we were in a wind tunnel.  The inside of the restaurant was what we remembered: drag racing-oriented.  The food is basic, good and inexpensive.  As soon as we walked in, Al saw a woman he recognized for running a booth at ham fests.  She and her husband own Tower Communications and travel around the country to various ham fests.  She was sitting with other people and one man, John, is a ham who lives near us in OTOW.  They are obviously in town for the show tomorrow.

Before we could order we heard the rain start, and it was frog strangling.  If a fire hose had been overhead trying to drown the restaurant, it would not have sounded any louder.  While we waited for our food, the power went out.  There was no backup.  When we left the Classic Cafe the wind was bitingly cold.  The power was still out when we got back to the Roo so we turned on the generator and the TV.  However, the weather disrupted most of the antenna-based stations.

Strangely, by late afternoon the storm was gone, the temperature was back up into the 70s and the sun was shining.  Al wanted to make a dry run to where the ham fest is to be held tomorrow.  So we took a little ride.  It is not far.  Back at Dixieland RV, rigs were lined up to check in.  There is to be a huge Garth Brooks concert this weekend in Gainesville and the park is almost totally full.  We really like Garth Brooks, but we really hate large crowds.  We prefer to listen to him from the comfort of our home. 

Maddy settled in as usual.  Dinner at home in the Roo and an early night. 

Total miles for the day:   60.9.

 

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Al was up and out the door at 7:00 o’clock.  It was a little chilly at first, but it slowly warmed up.  The sun was shining with just a few puffy clouds in the sky.  He attended the Annual Gainesville Ham Fest 2019, held by the Gainesville Amateur Radio Society (GARS).  The society was originally formed in 1955 and one of their first activities was a “Talk with Santa” day during which 156 children had the chance to talk to Santa over ham radio.

My morning was quiet and unrushed  —  just how I like it.  Saturday morning TV is usually child-oriented and not worth watching.  Today, the line-up seemed to be total extremes: sweet small-child sing-a-longs; disturbing political news; silly cartoons; death and destruction from yesterday’s storm, etc. 

One station showed white-tailed deer fawns being raised in a refuge and their keepers worrying that they have already imprinted on humans.  While the very next TV station showed a hunter stroking one of the long, spiral horns on the huge kudu he had just killed.  A kudu is a kind of African antelope, part zebra and part deer.  “Kudu bulls grow their horns over the course of their entire life and a mature bull will have two and a half or, in rare cases, three full curls.”  The horns can measure 40 to 60 inches long.

I finally settled on the old Wagon Train program (1957-1965).  The show managed to keep me from reading my book because the story line was about women’s suffrage.  The women of the wagon train were demanding the right to vote.  It ended with them learning that Wyoming had just given women the right to vote.  In real life, that happened in 1869.  It was interesting to see the 1959 take on the subject.  Although I always knew what women’s suffrage meant, I had always equated the word suffrage with suffering.  Today I learned it does literally mean “the right to vote”. 

When Al came home shortly after noon, we drove around the park.  There are about 150 camp sites with about 10 of them around the well-stocked catch-and-release pond.  And there are a lot of sites that are totally shaded by huge old trees.  We, on the other hand, are in the very front row nearest the street, and our site is gravel.  When we called for a reservation a few months ago, we were told they were already almost full because there will be a Garth Brooks concert in Gainesville’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, commonly called “The Swamp”. 

By 2:30 the party had already started.  The air smelled like grilling burgers and the beer was flowing.  Next to us, two pickups arrived to join the rig that had pulled in last night.  One of them had a huge cooler in the truck bed that was full of beer (the cooler, not the truck bed).  Groups were forming in several places around the park and many were wearing Gator gear. 

One thing we had looked forward to on this trip was ordering dinner from Randy’s Rib Shack.  When we first moved to Florida, Randy had a restaurant not far from our home.  Al swore he had the BEST catfish and the BEST baked beans, and I swore he had the BEST mac-and-cheese.  Then his restaurant closed and we were disappointed.  We were pleasantly surprised when we learned he had moved here to Waldo and opened his very tiny rib shack.  We ordered over the phone and when we returned with dinner, the concert goers had all left for the stadium.  Al really enjoyed his catfish and beans, but Randy’s mac-and-cheese had gone from a rating of 10 down to about a 6.

The only sound we heard during the night was the traffic on Rte 301. 

 

Sunday, April 21, 2019

This morning was another beautiful day, but a little cool for my liking.  We drove to what is basically just across the street – the Waldo Flea Market.  It is the largest flea market in north central Florida  —  fifty acres of vendors. 

The first building we entered was a kitchen supply store.  We have been in many stores like this, but this one was impressive because of its sheer size and extent of merchandise.  There is something for everyone: home cooks; professional chefs and fully equipped restaurant kitchens.  A large wall of kitchen gadgets included many items I have never seen before: a mango tool; pickle slicer; avocado slicer; reusable straws; potato feet and cupcake corer.  The straws are silicone and come with a long, narrow brush for washing.  I would say the timing for these is perfect considering the recent push to eliminate plastic straws from our oceans .  Pots and pans of every size; cookie sheets larger than my oven; one pan that makes two dozen cupcakes; every size and shape of cast iron pots and pans, including a small pot to heat marinades on a grill. 

There are regular stores (although not well built); open air tables and at least three long, covered pavilions.  Most of the regular stores were open, the parking lot was only a quarter full and there were only a handful of patrons. We assume this is because today is Easter.  Only a handful of open air tables were in use — there were dozens of empty tables.

Another large store sold all kinds of tools: for carpenters; plumbers; electricians; builders of all kinds and the home handyman.  It also sells canopies and large replacement tarps.  Another store sells fishing gear and many items I cannot name of even guess their use.  Still another store sells mattresses.  We bought a baker’s dozen hot mini donuts. 

Everything for outdoor cooking such as grills to set on an open fire and tripods to hang pots  —  pots of every size up to and including 100 quarts.  Clocks, clocks, clocks.  Mostly old and ornamental, all sizes and prices.  New, unused bathroom fixtures: faucets; towel racks; lights; door knobs; shower heads and even mirrored medicine cabinets.

At least three places sold wicked-looking weapons: swords; knives; daggers; throwing stars; nunchucks; chain weapons and some items so vicious you cringe just looking at them.  Of course there were the expected jewelry and toy booths and tables and a whole bin full of brightly-colored plastic bugles.  Signs: “I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian”, and “Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ought to be a convenience store, not a federal agency”.

Off to one side was a structure that looked as if it has been there for at least a century.  A shack?  A hut?  A lean-to?  A shanty?  Inside, we were surprised to see baby chicks.  There were rows and rows of chickens in cages.  They were different colors but I know very little about chickens so I don’t know if that means they were different breeds.  The place was dirtier than any barn I have ever been in.  A door was open at the back with chicken wire across the opening.  Outside were ducks and geese.  They all came over to the doorway looking for food.  There was a stand filled with dried corn for 25¢.  Yep.  I couldn’t pass it up.  A few kernels and they all became very aggressive toward each other.  Down another row of cages were rabbits – all different colors. 

Three separate booths sold fresh vegetables.  When we were ready to leave the market, we returned to the one that looked the best.  While we were deciding what to buy, the man said to  forget the signs.  Each box of vegetables on two tables was just $1 each.  Wow!  We bought a quart of strawberries, a quart of blueberries, five huge tomatoes and five deep green poblano peppers for a total of $4.  When we got back to the Roo we feasted on strawberries and blueberries. 

Around mid-afternoon we began to feel the thump-thump that can only mean rap music.  It took us awhile to figure out it was coming from the Waldo Motorsports Park about a quarter mile down the road.  The noise not only continued, but got louder.  Welcome to the Easter Bowl.

The event was originally supposed to take place in Gainesville, but due to planning issues, coordinators had to search for a new location.  They asked Dixieland RV if they could have it here, but were declined.  The reason given was that Dixieland could handle 500 people, but not the 5,000 expected to attend.  We think that since Dixieland was already near capacity with diehard country western music fans (here for the Garth Brooks concert), rap would not be a good fit.  But of course they couldn’t actually say that.

Apparently, the event organizers were not too organized.  They promoted and sold tickets for the venue to be held at the county fairgrounds, but neglected to get the county’s approval.  Nor did they apply for a license to sell alcohol although that license needs to be in place 30 days prior to the event, along with an insurance certificate.  They also did not submit the necessary safety and security plan to the sheriff’s office. 

Organizers say the Easter Bowl is a car show, Easter egg hunt and concert.  They thought that since tickets were already sold, the county would give in, but they were wrong.  So… the organizers pulled the race card.  It still didn’t work.  Both sides have threatened to sue.  If the event organizers had supplied all the proper documentation in a timely manner, they would have had all the permission they needed.

Rappers Plies and NBA Youngboy were set to perform at 8:00 pm.  We don’t know if it was them or not, but we do know the thumps increased at that time.  I have slept through traffic noise, big semis rumbling all night at truck stops and train whistles every half hour, but this was more annoying. 

Sleeping was difficult to say the least.

 

Monday, April 22, 2019

We slept late. We talked to an RV neighbor who had come down from Georgia for the Garth Brooks concert.  He and his wife had paid dearly for good seats but everyone stood during the concert, so they had to stand the whole time in order to see anything.  They said they were still recuperating.   Every Dixieland RV staff member we spoke to apologized for the horrible night before.  They also said many people planned to complain to the Waldo Chamber of Commerce…they got rid of their crooked cops only to allow THAT!!!

We were supposed to leave this morning but, as usual, we wanted to extend our stay.  We compromised by closing up the Roo and moving the eight miles to the nearest WalMart parking lot.  We had a very slow, relaxing day.  I caught up on writing this blog but couldn’t post it  —  the Wi-Fi was spotty at best in the campground and almost non-existent here at WalMart.  It will have to wait until we get home.  Again, we usually run about a week behind on posting for this and various other reasons.    The weather is beautiful and the desire to be on the road is (almost) overpowering.

I grew up with a mother who disliked vacations and always looked forward to being home.  I am the opposite and can’t wait to see what is around the next corner.  My curiosity is unmatched by many people but, fortunately, Al has the same sense of adventure.  There is always something more to see and learn.  One of my biggest faults is that I cannot understand anyone who refuses to learn anything new. 

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

What to say?  Leaving WalMart was easy because we had disconnected all our hookups yesterday – water, sewer, electricity and we had hitched up our car.  Today, we retraced our drive and were home in no time. 

Maddy did her usual jump from the doorway, over the steps to the driveway and almost pranced up to the house.  I cooked the poblano peppers with a large onion.  Al likes them smothering burgers, chicken breasts, turkey burgers, pork or whatever.  He has lost 20 pounds with a simple diet of protein and vegetables. 

Life goes on.

 

Total miles for the day:  73.2.

Total miles for the trip:  142.1.