The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1919-02-25
G. R. Maize Writes
OF Camping Trip
To East Coast
CHAPTER II.
(By G.. r. Maize.)

| lo Icll LIE lTutH lWulCu nope u
do all the way through this trip, my
wife and / didn't sleep much, every
thing being strange and the bed being
hard. / very foolishly left the
| springs behind. We were up as
soon as it was light, made a cup of
coffee and felt some better. We fooled
around getting packed up after a
breakfast of buckwheat cakes and
bacon, visiting and swapping yarns
and getting dope about roads and
points Of interest until about II
o'clock. Then we started on TWEEN
ty-six mile jaunt to New Smyrna. We
crossed some sorry country; moth
| ing to be seen but dead spruce. and
| bogs and water and once in a while
tie camp and few pine-wood
shrubs, but the road was good being
paved with she'll. We scarcely stopped
in New Smyrna but turned north up
the coast leading for st. Augustine.
We were determined to see the An
| cient City. AS we neared the ocean
the wind began to blow and get cold
At Daytona we stopped at Hatties
Cafeteria and had good dinner.
| Here we crossed the river over to Or
mond and found another toll bridge.
1t only cost 25 cents this time. We
stopped at the Ormond garage and
paid 80 cents for gas and 80 cents for
Mobile (A) oil, but we didn't COM
plain. We were Kidding ourselves
into the belief that we were tourists
and expected to pay high prices
Leaving Ormond going north, the
river on our left and the ocean on our
right, the wind blowing gale, and
getting colder every minute, we put
up our curtains and wind shield,
which was big protection. After five
or six miles out of Ormond the good
road played out; it began to get bad.
and the farther we went the worse it
got until within seven miles Of
Bunnell. ! hope I may never guide
Lizzie over worse one. At this
point we hit little narrow single
track brick road, but it looked like
marble and hundred feet wide com
pared with the deep sand, chuck
holes, roots and bumps we had just
passed through. On entering Bunnell
we discovered another form Of bad
road. What was once apparently Q
good paved road (brick) was now a
tumble of brick. on end, edgewise,
sidewise, two to six inches apart.
We had about eight or ten miles of
this and it nearly shook us to pieces.
It appeared to be brick laid on sand.
which goes to prove the story of the
house being built on sand instead Of
rock or clay. We were going through
miles of high pine land. Once in a
while we saw tie-camp but not
much else. Within five miles Of Hast
ings the road got good again and on
both sides of the town there was
nothing but potatoes-solid acres
end acres of them. They even named
a little station Spuds; it is just north
east of Hastings. We were now with
in twenty miles of st. Augustine, but
it was getting late so we decided to
camp out If we could find suitable
place. Just three miles from Hast
ings we saw an old abandoned lum-
Der camp with a lot of empty houses,
so we pulled up to one that was in
habited by an old Cracker. ask him
for permission to stop, Well" he
said, Il don't see what is to stor you !:
this camp belongs to a bankrupt COM
pany and has heen abandoned for
} fourteen years" So we took posses
sion Of little three-room cabin with
n good hot supper retired again not
hung side curtains up to keep out
the wind, and carried all our things
inside; borrowed homemade pal
metto broom to sweep ont with. Their
} went to work on big fat stump with
an Ak and soon had fire going. We
made our bed on the floor, and after
agood hot supper retired again, not
because we were sleepy but to keep
warm. Thus ended the scond day
Of our journey and distance of 2o3
miles. And right thankful we were
tc be inside out of such high wind
Another installment later.
l nyATnH