Jul 28

FLORIDA: THE DARK SIDE

Category: Features

by Ken LeClair

Seemed like just about everybody I knew had moved to Florida. Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Naples, Ft. Myers, Tampa-St Pete, Orlando, Jacksonville and of course Port Saint Lucie. So off I went with all of my belongings and my 2 cats on a snowy January morning, driving all the way to North Carolina where I spent the night in a motel . The next morning I was up early and on my way to Florida, still excited about my new life to be. I made my way through South Carolina then into Georgia and finally crossed the border into Florida with a good ways still to go. Finally, at dusk I reached my destination: Port Saint Lucie- where half the people from my little NJ town had moved to.

Next day I went to the beach… it was January but 84 degrees and the water was warm and beautiful and I couldn’t believe that I had transformed my world into such a incredibly beautiful place. Like being in some kind of paradise with no snow, no icy wind, trees with leaves on them and flowers blooming everywhere and palm trees everywhere! Aha! Now I knew why everybody moved to Florida – it was a dream world come to life..like a magical garden in the middle of a snow storm.

Then, it was time to look for a job.  There weren’t any that paid more than $8.00 per hour and none of them had medical benefits or any benefits for that matter.  I went to a Chinese take out. The people behind the counter were white..egads! I went to the beach and got sun burned again and saw a shark swimming just off the beach with the fin actually sticking out of the water.  I saw two buzzards pecking at a dead armadillo and then I saw an alligator swimming in the canal as I drove by. I went home and turned on the evening news..there was a major snow storm blanketing the east coast.

The next morning I packed up and headed back to New Jersey……..End of Story

11 comments

11 Comments so far

  1. Ken Leclair July 28th, 2010 8:40 pm

    I also packed up and moved to California,Louisiana,Michigan and Georgia but those are different stories..

  2. Sunny July 29th, 2010 12:57 am

    what happened in california and michigan

  3. Ken Leclair July 29th, 2010 6:46 am

    Spent a year at the beach in Santa Monica,went to Santa Monica City College,drank a lot of beer n then met a hottie from New Orleans who was in CA on vacation n moved to New Orleans…we lived together in New Orleans for a year n then moved to Detroit,MI where we lived for 6 months n then moved back to CA, I left after 6 months (broke off the relationship after 2 years) n moved back to NJ..

  4. Ken Leclair July 29th, 2010 6:47 am

    why did we move to Detroit? Must have been crazy..

  5. Sunny July 29th, 2010 1:43 pm

    do you let relationships guide your travels? sometimes travels should guide your relationships

  6. Ken Leclair July 29th, 2010 2:30 pm

    gotta go with flow some times and some times the other way around..and some times you just gotta fold your cards and let a bad romance float down the drain without you..

  7. Sunny July 29th, 2010 11:21 pm

    instead of fold your cards you mean improve your odds

  8. Ken Leclair July 30th, 2010 6:48 am

    yeah…get rid of the loser n go for the winner!

  9. KARY July 31st, 2010 2:22 pm

    how would you know if it is a loser?

  10. Ken Leclair August 1st, 2010 7:54 pm

    if you have to ask you dont have a clue

  11. Ken Leclair August 4th, 2010 11:17 pm

    Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for. -Bob Marley-

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