Bait, Beer and Breakfast Biscuits

State Road 24 in North Florida.

We bought bait, beer and breakfast biscuits, alligator meat was sold by the pound and they had homemade jams.

This is ‘the south’.

I had flown into JAX the night before from Madrid. Jetlagged and groggy, the morning’s fishing came early. Southeast out of Gainesville down southern highways in the cool North Florida morning with a too-small-for-the-gulf fishing boat in tow. Between plantations of quick-grow Georgia Pines, majestic oaks bearded with spanish moss reminded me I was no longer in Castilla. Out here, off the interstate grid, the sameness of what lies off the grid thankfully remains…different. Deep drainage ditches border the highway and culverts wait for the heavy rains and the odd alligator. Enormous pick up trucks and boat trailers parked in every other driveway with the odd satellite dish rusting like garden gnomes on the front lawns.

We had got an early start but a pitstop had to be made.

The town of Archer passes by, a traffic light, a lonely boarded up Mexican restaurant and a beat looking used car lot. These roads out here still wait for passing trains. Warehouse looking churches dot the landscape letting you know that they know Christ and are making him known more aggresively than their competitors. Outdoor marquee letters tweet their messages of salvation and gardening style wisdom amisdt a flutter of stars and stripes.

Next comes Bronson where an Ace Hardware, local restaurant, package liquor store and chain gas station signify a town at the crossroads. Off the interstate, small, family-run businesses still make a go of it. Too far off the grid to interest McDonalds but just busy enough for these peeling businesses to keep afloat. The town of Bronson lets you know you’ve left with a colorful carved sign nestled in the tall pines and the flat road rolls on till the next crossroads.

Otter Creek is a major crossroads across 4-lane highway 98 and there I see the marquee:

BREAKFAST LUNCH D NN R

CIGARETTES

BAIT BEER PERMITS

WORMS

Hand painted on the side of the building under the corrugated tin roof.

Smoked Mullet Live Shrimp Boiled Peanuts Deer Corn and Hunting Supplies

This is the stop.

Hershel’s Quick Stop…what North America looked like before the franchise explosion.

Homemade, just greasy enough Breakfast Biscuits with sausage to chase away the side effects of chasing the sun across the Atlantic.

Live shrimp, worms and enough beer to keep hydrated.

Ready to fish.