Lakeland, Florida

I made a short trip down to Florida to watch my son’s college baseball team play – many of the teams in the northeast travel down south at the beginning of the season to take advantage of warm weather and get in some games.

I didn’t have much time for sightseeing. No Sleeping Beauty Castle or Tinkerbell. The Beverage Castle in Lakeland will have to do.

Shuffleboard, Lakeland, Florida

There are many, many, different Florida sometimes in jarring juxtaposition to one another. There are retirement communities of prefab homes with shuffleboard courts and disused pools. And there are retirement communities of McMansions and yachts. Here, adjacent to Snowbird Avenue, the old Florida slumbers on into twilight.

Snowbird Avenue, Lakeland, Florida

Driving southeast toward Sarasota, I left the Interstate behind and took off across the countryside on two-lane highways. I passed more retirements enclaves, factories, distribution centers, citrus groves, strip malls, strawberry fields, pasture land, churches – lots of churches – pro-Trump displays, and eventually, arrived at the glittering Gulf Coast.

Hopewell, Route 49, Florida

Fort Lonesome, Florida

Along the way, I stopped in a small town called Wimauma, which was largely Spanish speaking. You think of Cubans when you think of Florida, but these were evidently Mexican or Central American immigrants. There were several Taco stands, a couple of convenience stores, and a church that was just letting out on a Sunday morning. In front of Swigers Crates and Boxes, which was now a purveyor of cheap clothes, there was a display of face protectors – not to protect against the Coronovirus epidemic – but more likely for field workers to shield the sun and filter out the dust.

Wimauma, Florida

Wimauma, Florida

I saw a lot of baseball during my trip, including a Yankees Spring Training game. Gleyber Torres his a home run, and my son, Brendan Rose, got a solid hit in a game against Union College playing in Chain of Lakes Stadium, which once was the spring headquarters for the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox.

Tampa, Florida

Winter Haven, Florida