Highway or back street?
I was driving on the FL interstate I4 the other day, as I so often do, and I was struck by the monotony of sights - large corporate buildings and/or factories, one story and with no redeeming architectural qualities; mobile homes backed up almost to the highway, always with numerous broken down cars and sheds surrounding an elongated tin can of a home; rest stops, always with a McDonald's, the same five gas stations, and a Cracker Barrel. The best attraction along this road is where the countryside is allowed to open up, and cows lazily graze amongst the Florida scrub land. This a welcome retreat from the otherwise uninspiring views. To anyone who comes to visit Florida, particularly tourists who come just for Disney World and never venture anywhere else, this must seem like such a fabricated place to live. But I know otherwise. Because I've lived in Florida for so long, I've seen the old Florida - the small towns along the coast with quaint main streets and little harb...