THE WEIGHT

Moving along. We left Jacksonville and drove southwest. Our first stop was Ocala. You probably already know this, but Ocala is horse heaven. Not that it’s where horses go when they die, but a lot of them live there and apparently live quite well. If you’re a horse. You know, “out to pasture.” Ocala advertises itself as The Horse Capital of the World. Marion County, which includes Ocala, has more than 1,200 horse farms, of which 900 are thoroughbred farms on more than 77,000 acres. Ocala is home to the World Equestrian Center, the largest equestrian complex in the United States. Needles, an American thoroughbred from right there in Ocala, became the first Florida-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby in 1956. He also won the Belmont Stakes that year. More recent, Affirmed, an Ocala-bred racehorse, won the Triple Crown in 1978.

Fun fact: You probably know that actor John Travolta is a certified pilot and flies his own jets. He owns an “airport estate” near Ocala. What does that mean? His house is located in a “subdivision” called Jumbolair Aviation Estate. The home sits on about 9.5 acres, which includes access to a 7,500-foot runway that has an extension to Travolta's backdoor. His house has two airplane parking pavilions so he can pull his jets right up to his door.

Now about Florida in general. You know about Nazareth, where Levon Helm and The Band pulled into … “Pulled into Nazareth, was feeling about half past dead ….” And, you know what happened after he pulled in there. All sorts of complications ensued.

Well, we stayed in a nice park, but it had a strong odor of MAGA. We drove past several neighbors with Trump flags, Trump plates on the trucks, and one car even sported a sticker with “Ultra MAGA.” ??? We didn’t ask and we don’t even want to know. Anyway, the place had a bad vibe and was offensive. In spite of the nausea, we drove around downtown Ocala and enjoyed the area. It has a nice park square and the historic district has beautiful old homes. So, it’s a nice place to visit but …. you know.

Next, we drove to the Tampa area. We stayed on the south side of the bay. We have to say that the parks there are nice - lots of amenities. One park is especially designed for the over 55 set. Pickleball courts, a bar by the pickleball courts, bean bag toss sets (we just can’t say **** hole without cringing), bocce ball courts, tennis courts, a pool, a poolside bar, a great fitness center, an indoor performance hall, pool tables, a room with card tables for all the card game players. We could go on. There were a lot of humans from the northern climes who were staying for the winter.

We explored the Tampa area a bit. We drove over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans Lower Tampa Bay to connect St. Petersburg, Florida, to Terra Ceia, Florida. St. Petersburg’s downtown area is beautiful. There’s a great park along the bay, the area is very walkable with nice big sidewalks and the businesses are trendy and look like they cater to the people with big wads of cash in their pockets. Lots of different species of palm trees are everywhere. We saw where the Tampa Bay Rays play and where not many fans attend their games.

Our favorite spot in the area is the small community of Gulfport. Gulfport is a relaxed beach town of about 12,000 on the Boca Ciega Bay. It has been inhabited since about 8000 B.C. The downtown area has a few art galleries and a community performing arts center. The Gulfport Casino Ballroom, located on the waterfront, is one of the main event venues in the city. The Casino is a community gathering space and has never been a gaming room. It was built at the end of the dock into the bay in 1906 as a transit station and ticket office. Now, the Casino hosts swing, Latin, Argentine tango, and ballroom dance events five days a week. The ballroom features a 5,000-square-foot dance floor which is authentic from the 1930s. We enjoyed walking the main street and had lunch at Stella’s. Stella’s is a SO COOL restaurant with a great outdoors dining area and a kick-ass menu. Stella’s niece started the restaurant in 2009. She was inspired by Aunt Stella, a nun who served the New York City area for many years. She says, “Aunt Stella's journey began on October 21, 1910, gracing the vibrant lower east side of Manhattan with her presence. After completing high school, a deep calling led her to embrace a life devoted to the church as a nun. Her path intertwined with the Dominican Congregations across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn, a choice that allowed her to remain connected to her beloved family. … I aspired to create a haven where every guest felt as cherished as family, and where the flavors of our food evoked the comfort of home. Who better to symbolize these values than my beloved Aunt Stella?” You can read more about Stella’s at stellasingulfport.com. Its tag line is Stella’s, A Hard Habit to Break. Cute, huh?

We toured downtown Tampa, which was largely unimpressive except Ybor City. Ybor City (pronounced EE-bor) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa. Wiki machine says that it was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain, and Italy. For the next 50 years, workers in Ybor City's cigar factories rolled hundreds of millions of cigars annually. Ybor City was unique in the American South because it was a successful town almost entirely populated and owned by immigrants. The neighborhood had unusual features, most notably its multiethnic and multiracial population and their many mutual aid societies. The cigar industry employed thousands of well-paid workers, helping Tampa grow from an economically depressed village to a bustling city in about 20 years and giving it the nickname "Cigar City." Ybor City has been designated as a National Historic Landmark District, and several structures in the area are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2008, 7th Avenue, Ybor City's main commercial thoroughfare, was recognized as one of the "10 Great Streets in America" by the American Planning Association. Close quote. We thoroughly enjoyed touring 7th Street. Lots of cool cats, lively vibe, coffee shops, cigar shops, historic buildings, and palm trees.

"The Weight" is a song by the Canadian-American group The Band that was released as a single in 1968 and on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. I can’t imagine that you’ve never heard it, but if you haven’t, do yourself a favor. The lyrics, written in the first person, are about a traveler's arrival, visit, and departure from a town called Nazareth, in which the traveler's friend, Fanny, has asked him to look up some of her friends. Robbie Robertson, who was the primary lyricist, was inspired by the movies of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel. The singers, led by Levon Helm, vocalize the traveler's encounters with people in the town from the perspective of a Bible Belt American Southerner. The song's lyrics and music invoke vivid imagery, the main character's perspective is influenced by the Bible, and the episodic story was inspired by the predicaments Buñuel's film characters faced that undermined their goals for maintaining or improving their moral character.

Speaking of, we believe that most people try to be good, but they get themselves in all sorts of predicaments when they try to follow the rules of a religion, a particular leader, or a political party. Let’s all try to agree about facts rather than a party line.

Smell ya later,

Betty and Buster

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