Stopping in Clermont

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5717Clermont, with its Citrus Tower and House of the Presidents, has been a stopping point since our family trip in 1960.

It was only logical that the Road Warriorettes Curator Jessica and Bike Partner Anne make a pit stop there on the final leg of our trip.

Built in 1955

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5663A handwritten note on the elevator wall gave some interesting stats. An elevator ride to the top cost us $6 a head. (If Miz Jessica had slouched a little more so she looked like my granddaughter, we could have gotten her the ride for the $4 kid rate, but she’s too honest. There was no senior discount, because EVERYBODY in Florida is a senior.)

A gazillion citrus trees

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5674When the Steinhoffs stood atop the tower in 1960, a sign proclaimed that we were looking out over a gazillion citrus trees, and the smell of orange blossoms washed over us.

When Post reporter Gayle Pallesen and I went up in the tower in 1990 when we were doing a story on U.S. 27 from Little Havana in Miami to Havana, Florida, in the Panhandle, we looked out over a gazillion dead trees killed by a series of disastrous cold fronts that moved through in the ’80s. The only smell was smoke from burning trees that had been bulldozed and piled up.

The landscape today is covered by gazillions of homes and businesses. There is no smell of orange blossoms.

With binoculars or a telephone lens, we could barely make out a square-shaped building on the horizon that we thought was the VAB at Cape Kennedy.

Mineola has been developed nicely

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5682That’s Lake Mineola to the west. A bike trail starting there ties in with the West Orange Trail that goes all the way to Apopka. The development along the lake has done a nice job of integrating the homes into the surrounding hills and making it a very bike / pedestrian / jogger-friendly area. I’d love to sit on one of their porches looking at the sun set over the lake in the evening.

Click on the photos to make them larger.

A little green left

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5678There’s still a little green left to the south. The highway is U.S. 27, which was once the main path to South Florida from the Midwest before I-95 and the Florida Turnpike were built.

The Penny Drop

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5688I told Curator Jessica that I’d spot her a penny to drop over the edge.

“I can’t do that, it might kill someone,” she protested. [She, obviously, hasn’t read the debunking of the penny-dropped-from-the-Empire-State-Building urban legend.)

She and Anne took turns dropping coins down a conduit that goes all the way to the base of the tower. With their ears to pipes on the side of the box, they could hear it spin and ding all the way down. It doesn’t take much to amuse them.

House of Presidents

Florida Citrus Tower 05-16-2014_5680Southwest of the tower is a large white building looking a little worse for the wear, which is to be expected, because it was here in 1960.

Its website calls it the The Presidents Hall of Fame, but the sign on the front of the building still says House of Presidents. I recalled the tickets were a bit pricy, so we opted to stay on the outside.

“Like a 70’s porn star”

Jessica Cyders - House of the Presidents 05-16-2014I photographed Anne with Washington and Lincoln behind the wax museum when we passed through in 2013. Miz Jessica, though, made a beeline for Theodore Roosevelt.

“He looks like a 70’s porn star,” she remarked. I wisely opted not to ask about her expertise in that area. I’m sure her interest was purely academic.

She enjoys making period costumes, so Anne and I were edified about the benefits of crotchless pantaloons and why the cancan was such a scandalous dance. Between Jessica and Anne, who wrote Kiss and Tell: Secrets of Sexual Desire from Women 15 to 97, this Missouri boy got quite an education on our road trip.

 

Anne Day 1: Clermont

Anne Rodgers in CLermont FL 06-25-2012Bike partner Anne Rodgers heard how much fun Jan Norris had on her winter road trip with me that she wanted a piece of the action. The first thing that happened was that my cruise control stopped working. That means I’m either 10 mph under the speed limit or 20 mph over it, depending on flow of traffic.

We had hoped to make it to a place on the Gulf coast for seafood, but it became clear that they’d be closed. That gave us an excuse to take the scenic route Mother and I drove in 2011.

Anne, a Texas innocent, had never been to the Florida Citrus Tower in Clermont.

No, you can’t sit on his lap

Anne Rodgers in CLermont FL 06-25-2012

While I was taking the shot of Anne and the tower, a nice man came out of the Presidents Hall of Fame. He told us the place was closed, but gave us a two-for-one ticket for our next trip. (Like Anne would sign up for another one.)

Oh, yes, he also said, “No, you can’t sit on his lap.”

She settled for second best, muttering, “Your loss, Abe.”

You should have been here yesterday

Anne Rodgers in CLermont FL 06-25-2012The nice man said if we had been there yesterday, we’d have been able to see him put Abe back together. A microburst in a storm tore Mt. Rushmore apart.

We’re newlyweds

Anne Rodgers in CLermont FL 06-25-2012We fought rain for about an hour before pulling into the Comfort Suites in Lake City, FL. I like the place. It’s clean, convenient (there’s a Waffle House across the street) and the staff is friendly.

I tried every trick I’ve earned from years on the road to get the best price. Finally I said, “Look, we’re newlyweds and we’ve had a spat. If we want this marriage to survive, we need separate rooms tonight. Will that qualify for a better rate?” We got another $10 knocked off, probably because that was one they’d never heard before.

“Do you want adjoining rooms?” the clerk asked?

“No,” I replied.” I think we’ve had all the adjoining we can handle for the day.

Stay tuned for more adventures on the way to Cape.