Route 41
In 2000 I went to America to travel and experience an American Summer Camp as a Specialist Camp Counsellor. When Summer Camp concluded I worked in an Ice Cream store for a few weeks on Martha’s Vineyard and thereafter took a train to Orlando, Florida. In Orlando I befriended a Brazilian and an Englishman whose names were Renato and Stuart. Renato is quite a charismatic character and he persuaded Stuart and I to share costs on his rental car by joining him for roadtrip around the Floridian coastline.
On our way to Miami the road we travelled most was called Route 41 South and before the route came to an end we wanted to take a picture of the sexy Sunfire car and the Route 41 sign that we had seen so many of before.
Little did we know that the location we spontaneously selected for this photograph was harbouring a massive killer swarm of super ferocious blood thirsty mosquitoes. After we got out of the car to seek out the perfect angle for the picture, to our surprise, the sky became darker and we experienced an increasing amount of physical discomfort. Any cars passing by would have made us out to be madmen as we violently waved our hands and swatted ourselves as a measure to stave off the attack of these monstrous insects feasting on us. It is my belief that they anticipated our arrival and planned accordingly since even when we ran for the car, leaving a huge number of them behind, the other half of the swarm were waiting to execute the second phase of their ambush inside the car. It appeared that while we where defending ourselves outside the car they infiltrated the vehicle unbeknownst to any of us. We drove as fast as we could while opening all the windows and fiercely fanning a newspaper around defending ourselves against the relentless enemy. The cars we were passing that passed us previously probably secured their assumptions on our sanity.
Fortunately we survived the ordeal even though we sustained hundreds of mosquito bites and half a pint of blood loss. The only record of this event is the poorly photographed picture above- now with dual importance.
October 20th, 2005 at 10:22 am
Hehe, thoroughly enjoyed this piece. I’ve had a similar experience, when I went for a jog one morning. I’m sure they also planned the attack as it was perfectly strategized. They waited until my energy was depleted and then … the sky became darker. Took me down, but boy, I managed to make it home quicker than I left it.
November 17th, 2005 at 10:36 pm
[…] In my travels around Florida I was very fortunate to see a space shuttle launch. We drove from Orlando to Cape Canaveral by bus before dawn and prepared for the event. The viewing of a launch is not as close to the launch pad as one would think; in fact the distance deemed safe for citizens is 6 miles or just under 10 km. That seems awfully far and the shuttle seems so miniscule on the launch pad that I wished I had telescope handy. A launch countdown doesn’t start 10 seconds before the fact, but instead days before becoming more verbal as the call for ignition approaches. When the countdown was concluded and rocket fuel ignited if felt like the earth shook and rumbled like lightning. I was surprised by how loud and intense it was from that distance, but what I really didn’t expect was how bright the exhaust flames would be as the shuttle rises up in the sky. It was like looking straight at the bright element of a light bulb from a close distance, something you won’t pick up in photos or videos of a launch. Even though the space shuttle is almost more than 30 years old and have had a few terrible accidents, experiencing the launch of one is quite humbling and made me ponder the potential of human achievement. […]
March 12th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
[…] I bought an Eyewitness Japan travel guide during this past week in order to plan the second phase of my tour to the country later this year and on showing the book to my father he reminded me of my road trip in Florida. Renato, my Brazilian friend, had a Portuguese copy of Eyewitness Florida at the time and while he was driving he asked me to read a segment to him describing our next stop. In case you aren’t aware, I don’t have an ounce of Mediterranean in me (physically), I don’t have any Portuguese nationals in my extended Afrikaans family and have had little or no exposure to the language before. This was of course all the more reason for me to try reading aloud for the hell of it. I didn’t have the remotest idea of what I was reading and expected to be met with great amusement from my travel mates. Turns out however that he understood clearly what I was saying and he translated it back to us. It is an interesting experience when someone else can make out more of what you are saying than you yourself can ever hope to. 2 votes - Cast your vote! […]