Day 5 -- April 5, 2003 -- Saturday

An eclectic bar, a bald star, hanging chads, rich people's pads, 60 rag tops, and the ultimate rag -- The National Enquirer. The joy of the unexpected! We had a great time today - mainly because we so enjoyed a number of things that we just stumbled upon. Accidental tourists!

We got up and at 'em early (very important since there is far more to see and do each day than we have time). I opened the window of our room to get a very interesting sunrise over the ocean photo. I then discovered our shiny, new Panasonic tape recorder (purchased yesterday from Tiffany, the young lady with two legal identities who we met at Staples) was filled with tape in places tape was not supposed to be. I lack the patience for such problems, but Bozzie Jane calmly dealt with it. We lost about half of the day's recording. This slowed us up a bit as I posted the reports for Day 3 and Day 4. We finally got out the door at 9:04 am. 80-degrees, blue sky, and hardly any clouds.

We are all decked out in our new Round America sportswear today - caps and shirts. Thanks to Rod Smith and the crew at Atlas Printing and Embroidery in Garfield Heights, Ohio for doing such a nice job and shipping them to us at the hotel in Jensen Beach.

Jensen Beach, Florida is a beautiful, lush spot with a nice long beach. We drove down the A1A (the highway that runs north/south along the Atlantic Ocean for much of the way through the state). We weren't expecting to see much for a while as our list of attractions was rather short until we got further south, so we were just scanning the roadway (mainly looking for speed limit signs, I'm afraid) when I saw a giant robot - probably 40-feet tall. I made one of my now-patented U-turns, and we found ourselves in the wacky parking lot of "Harry and the Natives" in Hobe Sound, Florida. We weren't sure what it was at first, but we saw a lot of people coming in and out, and we soon realized it was a bar/restaurant. The "yard" was filled with an assortment of wacky things, and the front of the restaurant had funny signs and odd décor. The interior was even better - hats stapled to the ceiling, lots of funny signs, and an incredible assortment of eclectic stuff. The rest rooms really are outside in "out" houses. Boz ordered eggs and orange juice, but I felt Key Lime Pie and a Coke was the appropriate breakfast for Harry's. Boz and I both agree that the Key Lime Pie is the best pie so far!

Our waitress, Kayla, introduced Harry, and we had an enjoyable chat. Harry and the Natives has been in business since 1949. Harry's 89-year-old mom still handles the cash register. I could write pages about the clever things we saw and heard at Harry and the Natives, but you can just check their web site at www.harryandthenatives.com. We found Harry's to be totally unique and enjoyable, and if you ever get anywhere near Hobe Sound, Florida, GO!

Harry would have to like Christopher Guest, producer/writer/director/actor known for "Waiting for Guffman" and "Best in Show," two of our favorite movies of all times.

Boz commented that the creativity and originality of American entrepreneurs is truly amazing, and it is so gratifying to see businesses like this that have grown and morphed and flourished for over 50 years. We will see a lot of this on our trip.

We laughed and smiled for miles after leaving Harry's. Then we saw a sign for the Burt Reynolds & Friends Museum. We'd never heard of a Burt Reynolds museum, but another U-turn, and I was knocking at the door. Unfortunately, Burt and his friends are apparently late sleepers and the museum doesn't open until 11 am. We took a photo so we could say we were there, and down the road we went.

The next stop was "Shipping Plus," a shipping place where we shipped many pounds of brochures back to Hotlanta. There, I met the owner, Lou, and a customer, Pat.

We made several stops over the first five days of the trip trying to find an American flag license plate for the front of our car. We got a free one at the Pelican Plaza Car Wash in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. There I met a young lady who should easily win "worst name" in our Best & Worst competition. I gave her our Round America card, thanked her for the free license plate, and asked her name. She said it was "Shithead." People can be strange. Maybe she saw the sign on our car. :-)

We pass through a lot of towns, but they don't have a sign on the road to say it's their town. Juneau Beach was one such place we passed through today. We aren't sure if we should credit them in the book since they are so delinquent. Maybe they want to keep it a secret that they are a town, and keep tourists away. That is possible.

On we drove... looking for the rich people's houses (something the Palm Beach area is known for). Before we found the houses, we found ourselves in downtown Palm Beach, and I spotted the Palm Beach County Courthouse - home of hanging chads. Another U-turn, and I had a prized photo. As you have probably long-since determined, Boz and I enjoy "quirky" things, so seeing the courthouse was right down our alley.

As we drove through West Palm Beach, Boz hollered for me to pull over, and I did. She spotted a place called the "The Museum at Ragtops." We went in to find a great assortment of antique and classic convertibles (rag tops) and a wide variety of memorabilia. We took a tour with guide Peter and met a half dozen fellow tourers, including Stephen Goldstein who turned out to be the cousin of Ed Aster, who I worked for in England from 1992 to 1994. Small world. Ragtops was great fun. We especially liked Jimmy Buffett's 1962 Nash Metropolitan convertible and a 1967 Amphicar, a car that will drive on the road or motor across a body of water. See www.ragtopsmotorcars.com.

We saw a lot of rich people's houses and boats today. There are a bunch of them along the coast in southern Florida. We saw one home that was the size of a mall.

When we reached Lantana, Florida, I knew it to be the home of The National Enquirer, so we set out to find their office for a photo. We couldn't find it, so we stopped three times to ask at a gas station, a 7-11, and then finally at a place that we were sure knows where everything is - Domino's Pizza. No cigar. No one knew where their office was. We decided The National Enquirer was out of business (the kind of thing they might write about someone else), so down the road we went.

We probably saw the world's smallest restaurant today, but Bozzie Jane wouldn't let me take a picture. It was a guy in a lawn chair with a backyard-style smoker outside of a convenience store with a sign that said "Rufus Ribs."

Boz noted that we saw an incredible number of chiropractors and furniture and clothing consignment stores today. She also commented that there is an interesting comparison between the architecture and people with whom we've come in contact - the buildings are really tired old worn out buildings or shiny and new, and the people are old or quite young and there's not a lot in between.

We saw Fort Lauderdale beach - Spring Break Capital of the World! A real party place. Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale are really interesting with canals like streets and rich people with big yachts docked out front.

We rolled into Miami Beach at about 5:00 and checked into the Blue Moon Hotel in the art deco district in South Beach. More quirky stuff! We ordered Chinese from a nearby Chinese Take-Away, Sum Yum Gai, and we had a quiet evening as we prepared to hit the sightseeing trail in Miami all day tomorrow.

Sometimes the best things happen when you least expect them. We were pleasantly surprised five times today, and it absolutely made for a great day on the highway of life.

Random Comments:

We did not see as many displays of patriotism today as we have seen in previous days.

It's interesting to see what happens to your body when you drive eight to 10 hours a day in a convertible in bright sunshine. I have a great tan on my face, but raccoon eyes from my sunglasses; my left arm is extremely tan from the elbow down to my fingertips with a lily white strip where I wear my watch and an even whiter arm above the elbow. My right arm is similar, though not quite as tan. And I am getting extremely tan kneecaps. My uniquely colored body may qualify as a tourist attraction after a couple of months of this.

We've had perfect weather - not a drop of rain in five days. We're really happy about Daylight Savings Time tomorrow; we can use an extra hour each day.

Many people ask us what motivated us to take this trip. Sometimes we tell the truth, and sometimes we make up humorous stories. A favorite so far is that at as a young man, I sat down and wrote down my goals and things I wanted to accomplish in life, one of which was to visit each of the 50 states. When I got down to the last 2 states, I decided to start over and visit them all at once.

Just 28,000 miles or so to go.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we've been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we've seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this web site. Other pages of interest include the running report of "vital statistics" on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you'd like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest and the full itinerary is shown.