We had an invitation to join Abe and Frances for a trip to Madison and Monticello. We never say no to an adventure! They picked us up at 9:30 on Friday morning and off we went across State Road 46. We side stepped across our old favorite, Wolf Branch Road, with all the beautiful horse farms to reach SR 441 and on to Interstate 75 heading north to I-10 where we turned west to the Panhandle. This is a familiar route! We are doing in reverse the trip we completed just two weeks ago.
By lunch time we were getting close to our destination. We stopped for fuel and lunch for ourselves at a convenient Wendy’s. Then went on to check into our hotel at Madison. We settled in to two comfortable rooms at a Days Inn and headed out to a farm on the outskirts of Madison.
Abe’s son, Steve, owns the farm where he raises thoroughbred race horses. Dan had visited the farm when we were living in Florida and had helped to build a new shelter for the horses. I met Steve when we went to Tampa Bay Downs to see his horse, D'Artagnan's Spirit, run in a race there. The big events of this weekend are Abe’s grandson, Patrick’s, T-Ball game and Patrick’s sixth birthday party.
We had lots of time to visit before the T-Ball game so Patrick showed us around the house demonstrating many of the toys we were unfamiliar with. It does not take long to get out of touch with the current characters! We toured the grounds as well looking for the horses in the upper pasture who eventually came to see if these visitors had anything good to share. We watched Pride in the home paddock looking for signs of her approaching motherhood while Abe and Steve prepared a more comfortable bed for her in the foaling shed. Big excitement! But nothing doing while we were there.
Then Patrick got into his uniform and it was time to go. I had not been to a T-Ball game before. The community sports park was very impressive. The parking lot was full and there were a number of activities under way. For us, it was fun watching such young players learning the basics of baseball. Some things are universal among the very young learning team sports - a little competitiveness, a little confusion, some lack of concentration, some daydreaming and the occasional moment where everything works as it should. It was a lovely warm evening for families to be sitting together in the sunshine cheering on their little ones. I don’t think we won but I can’t be sure. It did not seem to matter!
We all headed for a local Mexican restaurant and had a good dinner. Lots of food and conversation. After dinner Steve’s wife, Mary, walked me around the corner and pointed out shops I should see. It was the only opportunity I had to see the town of Madison. It looked like a place I would have liked to explore but our days were full this trip. Maybe another time… We headed back to our hotel for an early night.
After breakfast the next morning we drove out to a park on the Suwannee River and went for a short walk. Even in Canada we learned Steven Foster’s song in school. Who would have believed then we would actually see the river? The park was beautifully kept with nice cabins and swings to sit in while watching the river go by.
We headed to the birthday party in plenty of time. We visited and watched the young people swim and play. Steve manned the barbeque. Mary and the older girls controlled the kitchen. There was lots to eat! The highlight was a piñata full of party favors. The children, youngest to the oldest, took turns hitting it with a bat. It was the oldest that caused the first crack but the youngest who managed to open it up. Then everyone scrambled to put as much as possible into their brown paper bag while parts of the piñata became party hats.
When the party wound down we moved on to Abe’s brother’s farm in Monticello. Another lovely little town in the vicinity. We walked the farm enjoying the afternoon visiting with more family. There are acres of pecan trees in spring green and azaleas blooming at the end of the drive. There is a nice little fishing hole with an elegant old wrought iron chair for the occasional fisherman. A local man did drive in, set himself up on the chair and caught a bass while we were there. We were going to stroll through the woods but ran into ticks almost immediately. Abe got one, I got two and Dan won with a total of three. No more woods that day!
We decided to go and buy a bottle of wine, order a pizza and go back to the hotel for a leisurely dinner. That is when we found you could not buy wine in Marion County - there are dry counties in Florida and this was one of them. We decided to drive back to Steve’s for a pre-dinner “Happy Hour”. Mary kindly loaded a basket with a bottle of wine and goodies for the evening then invited us in to join them for another visit around the pool. Impromptu visits are often the best. We certainly thank them for all of their hospitality!
We heard the storm coming in during the night. A gust of wind hit our hotel room hard enough to shake it. It continued to blow but did not actually start to rain until the car was loaded. It would have been wise to leave then and hope to outrun it. We were traveling with Floridians and they did not seem concerned so we stayed as we had arranged the night before.
We met the whole family again at a local restaurant for breakfast. In the south there is a tradition of the “Community Table”. We did not know about it. We just saw a large table near the TV showing news of the storms to come and the tornado disaster in Mississippi so we moved up to watch while we waited for the rest of the family and our breakfast to arrive. Apparently that table is reserved for significant locals only. Mary and Steve had not been invited to use it before and may not be again! They joined the clueless Canadians on this occasion. The locals left. Apparently it was time for church. That put us on the heathen list as well.
We finished our breakfast said good-bye once more and headed south for home. This time we planned to stay off of the Interstate and to travel more slowly on the older highways to see the area. It was a lovely drive. There were many farms in the area, cattle, horses, crops of various kinds. I saw my first tobacco drying sheds leftover from earlier times.
In time the rain caught up to us. Then it got heavier. Then it got too heavy to see the road. Abe pulled over and stopped in someone’s driveway. Not likely they were going anywhere! The rain was thundering down on the car. The wind appeared to be coming from all directions. Then it hailed! Suddenly it was calm and bright again. Had we just been through a small tornado?
We began to drive but soon caught up to the storm. Now there were trees down on the road. We pulled into a parking lot and waited until we were sure it was safe to go on. Finally we stopped on the outskirts of Ocala for a late lunch. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Oh, oh… The lights of the restaurant flickered and the satellite signal for the television failed. The storm had caught up to us again. The service was slow and we took our time over the meal. By the time we were ready to leave it was over and we drove the rest of the way home in sunshine.
I told you it would be an adventure!
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