Road Weary
Annie and I left Richmond Monday morning, heading for Florida, a little for vacation but mostly so Annie can check out a couple of areas of the state she wants to move to this summer. We drove through a whole state’s worth of rain (North Carolina) on the first leg and arrived in Savannah not too much the worse for wear–and had a wonderful dinner at a place in the City Market called Tapas by Anna. Tuesday morning, we did the trolley tour of Savannah, then had lunch at a terrific little pub called Molly MacPherson’s Scottish Pub & Grill, had Molly’s Favorite, the sandwich to die for (roasted turkey, cheddar cheese, thinly sliced green apple, drizzled with maple butter and grilled, YUM).  Then we hit the road again. So far so good…
…until we crossed into Florida and became the latest victims of the state’s highway signage system, apparently designed to cause heartburn for unsuspecting travelers. See this sign?
Now look at this one—
Do you see the difference?  The Florida sign assumes you know all the route numbers coming up but there’s no need to tell you the distance to any of the towns before Jacksonville. All the signs are like this so you have no idea how far it is to your destination unless that destination happens to be the ONE city or town they chose to put on the sign.
The second sign, on the other hand, is useful— well, except for the fact that the designer of this one thinks you need to know how far it is across the country. I figure this guy comes from Ocean City and is homesick living out there in California. A little goodhearted humor never hurt anybody, right? So, come on Florida, make it a little easier on travelers, OK?
And that brings up another question, Florida—you’re a big state so why are there so few bookstores, especially indies? In Daytona, Port St. Lucie, Stuart, Ft. Pierce and Jensen Beach, we’ve seen exactly one Barnes & Noble. If I had the freedom to move down here, I might be forced to rectify the situation 
 Booklovers of Florida, UNITE!
February 25, 2010
Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller
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One Response
Appears you had a good trip, and that sandwich sounds yummy.
It is sad that bookstores are dwindling. Hate to see that keep happening.
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