The Lost Towns & Forgotten Backroads In Florida Panhandle - Cross Country Road Trip Nov 2021 Begins
Florida Panhandle Small Towns & Backroads
Transcript
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welcome everyone adam the woo here has
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the recording of this saturday november
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13th
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2021 i have not filmed a video since
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halloween night
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just about two weeks ago
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at the end of october
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but i'm on a road trip
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i've been driving about four hours i
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love celebration florida
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this morning around 6 00 a.m it is now
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11
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a.m so four and a half
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five hours on the road already with a
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couple stops to fuel up and whatnot this
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is not my vehicle however this classic
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car alert is at this
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looks to be a
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seen better days type
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car wash here you see the vacuums
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are set up and with christmas in view
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you know
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early november
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places small towns i'll be doing a back
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back road excursion throughout the
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course of the day and a lot of towns big
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cities that i will not be going through
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but small towns are already starting to
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set up for the holidays this horse
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trough
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is being utilized by a couple of
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a couple of stationary
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horses here
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you can see they already
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they have the garland and whatnot set up
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i am in
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chattahoochee there is a song i believe
1:22
that says way down yonder on the
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chattahoochee
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it gets hotter than a you know what and
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i'm going to be going across the upper
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echelon of the panhandle
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right below
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the alabama border basically
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right on the alabama florida line but
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i'm not going to peek up into alabama
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i'm going to stay right below it
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right below the on the florida line
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upper panhandle a route in some of the
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small towns i've never been through
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before but chattahoochee
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check it out
1:53
and i'll walk down there a little bit
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too before i get back in my vehicle and
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i'm heading west something came up i got
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to be in california by the end of the
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month
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so the next you know series of days
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will be a road trip westbound i'm
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inviting you to join me it's good to be
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back
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shall you
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i do love
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some of the
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off the beaten path you could say
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areas of states
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something i like to do it kind of clears
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the mind
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get away from
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the hustle and bustle
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isn't that right
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fake horse
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yeah you can see they have the lights
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all decorated
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up inside there
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i always like when you see
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advertisements on the side of brick from
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the bygone era
2:55
look at this relic it's called the
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station
3:47
a couple of international trucks
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this one parked here in the front
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another one
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around the back
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looks to be like there's a feed store
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down there
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on the back side of that cylinder
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building probably a garage at one point
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to sell fireworks there now
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and there is a gentleman
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painting a new mural
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over there on the side of that wall
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very quaint town
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58 degrees
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11 11. 58 degrees at 11 11 a.m
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we also have the reset up here
4:36
on this former train well still a train
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but it's no longer in use parked on part
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of the tracks
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right here in the heritage park area
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and they have a
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tree
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makeshift tree here where the fountain
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used to be
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and i do love a good mural
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or two and this town has a couple of
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them one is being freshly painted down
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the way
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and this one looks like it's seen some
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years
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has the riverboat there
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on the side looks like it says john
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callahan
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on the side
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states john
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john w callahan
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this could be a rendition of john
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here
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at the riverboat and down here it says
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dedicated to the artist
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von tipton
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who did this an artist a friend
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states there he was a gentle man
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i always like when you can see who
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painted something
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sometimes they'll have a signature on
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the side of the wall but this is a lot
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more descriptive over here von tipton
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about to head that direction
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see the
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leaves are kind of changing there
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but more importantly look at this sign
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i've never seen a sign
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that states that have you ever seen a
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sign this takes that big the foot
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be careful
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be really careful
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heading this way
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yeah never seen a sign like that and no
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this is not the chattahoochee river
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it's the apalachicola river
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it's now 10 30 am
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noticing the back of this truck says hop
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in
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huh
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town hall and grand ridge
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as well as the water tower
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also i can't tell you the last time
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i saw a hose that was left connected
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to a fire hydrant
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with no one around
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just a random hose connected to the fire
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hydrants just left there
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might see a tractor crossing the road
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also i think that's a former gas station
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up there
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classic car alert
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on a trailer
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not a whole lot in dellwood
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there is this lizard that's slithering
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there
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through the crack
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as well as
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the methodist church del wood methodist
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church founded in 1910
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by dr charles
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dr charles h
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riles
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gave the land
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so that this could be built
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looks like something out of a a movie
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old-timey church buildings like this
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love the architecture of them the feel
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the vibes if you will
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the occasional car going by but
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not a lot of traffic obviously
9:13
all right moving on also after doing a
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little more reading before heading on
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the pianist played the piano
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for the congregation for 41 years
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willie ross mcmullian
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the daughter of
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charles h riles
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daughter of doctor and mrs
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charles howell riles
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laid to rest
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there yes you were reading it correctly
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and yes my hair
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is being
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kind of tossed around in the wind there
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it's very windy
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to egg florida
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possibly the most unusual town name in
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all of the state
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2a
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not a lot here supposedly there is a
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general store
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that sells merchandise with the name two
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egg on it
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but the town
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is just here
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this corner
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as the road turns
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is the town
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see if i can find that general store
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here in two egg
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gotta love that
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that is unique
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i have found lawrence grocery where
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in here in two egg
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where they sell merchandise
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or
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used to sell
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merchandise i should say souvenirs
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etc
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it has fallen on
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some tough times
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structure is kind of similar
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there might have been a fire of some
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sort
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or just decomposed
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i would have bought a magnet
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but maybe even a shirt
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dang
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not seeing those gas pumps
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but the air conditioner unit as shown
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in this door over here to the far end
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and that awning
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still here
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but the gas pumps which
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you would have thought they would have
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been right down in here have been
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removed
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i mean obviously there's nothing like it
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did but there's the awning
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there's that door
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and there's that air conditioner unit
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gas pumps maybe
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someone probably bought them
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some antiques
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right here off of the highway
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this little corner
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moving on
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and a fun fact two egg was the
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childhood home of faye dunaway
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some say bascom which is five miles up
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the road because
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that's the nearest post office but then
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others say
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some others say two egg
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either way
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in this in this area
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this structure appears to be a
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well it was a music store called brian
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brothers
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this would be the downtown
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of bascom
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or basket
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all three of these
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these spots are empty now
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and another building with the name brian
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on it so you got brian brothers the
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music shop
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at the end but then there was this
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it says brian's
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not a common occurrence to see a an
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active iga grocery store
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anymore
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but here in malone
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there is one
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the downtown area
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water tower
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says established 1911
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the town was
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alone florida yeah there are some active
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businesses but on this corner
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quite a few that are no longer active
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that convenience store over there
14:50
with the shell of a pay phone but i
14:51
check there is no pay phone
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just to shell the outer section
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of where the pay phone once was this
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place used to sell used tires
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still has the pumps out front
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these relics of the past
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being grown up now with this foliage
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and appears to have been a storm in
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recent days
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for recent months because there's an
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awning up here that's been
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kind of torn up pretty dramatically
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over here on the corner here possibly a
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tornado
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they've been known to
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known to do that
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plenty of farmland
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now entering graceville
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i gotta say i love this little corner
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store here
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this whole corner
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kind of screams nostalgia
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heading into the downtown section
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truck parked off
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side here from alabama just over the
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state line
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down here into florida
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graceville florida
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just over there is the community center
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in noma
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almost missed this
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one little turn off of the
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road i was on
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population 250
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residents
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very small little community of noma
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could have been a restaurant or a
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general store of some sort at one point
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i was like we can hear dogs barking off
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in the distance
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kind of adds to the ambiance
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not sure why
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that has been scratched out like that
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approaching some animals here in the
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field
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is that a donkey
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hello donkey
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got a donkey there got a horse
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in the distance and another
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another donkey
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how's it going
18:19
you doing good
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yeah i'm just rolling through noma
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there is a water i do i see the water
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tower now
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i wasn't sure if there was going to be a
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water tower but there is
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there's a noma water tower
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the end of this road
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almost looks like it's in someone's yard
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this is just an example
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to re-remind myself that i am on the
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back roads it does not get much more
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back road looking
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than this
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right here
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this is as back roads as it gets
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do not believe
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this flea market is open anymore
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states the hours days of the weeks and
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the hours
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here in esto the next town over
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very
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very tiny town
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there's a log truck parked here
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you can see the flea market area
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this one way sign
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the tree has grown around it take a look
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at that
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and the town of esto owns this property
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can faintly see the lettering there
20:24
property of town of esto esto
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got myself a beverage from the
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freeing
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art
20:40
some of the letters has been removed off
20:42
there i just felt like getting a
20:45
a bottle version of a soda
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so that's what i did i just felt like
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it just made sense
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kind of the vibe around here to get a
20:54
bottled version
20:56
the gas pumps from the
20:58
friendly mini mart
21:00
have been removed there's no gas pumps
21:01
here anymore
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they're all gone you can see where they
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used to
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kind of sit here
21:08
you have friendly mini mart
21:17
this sign over here still says it
21:17
correctly
21:19
little mom-and-pop places
21:25
yeah i just wanted
21:25
i just wanted a
21:26
soda pop in a bottle
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cheers
21:31
just noticing there's a meat processing
21:33
plant
21:35
within ivision as well
21:42
continued on a few more miles to
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miller's crossroad
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or miller crossroads
21:47
and there are some roosters over there
22:05
why did the chickens cross roads
22:05
cross the road crossroads
22:08
rooster chickens
22:24
didn't even notice the roosters or
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chickens until i stopped
22:27
what drew my attention is what was the
22:30
store
22:31
this grocery store
22:33
they had ice and groceries
22:36
inscribed up here on the wall
22:54
look at the awning here it's like
22:54
woodwork
22:56
and some wasp nests up there
23:00
and also
23:05
a healthy looking ant bed and i'm not
23:05
gonna
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i'm not going to pry into
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and now down the ways a bit probably
23:11
about five more miles down the road
23:14
it's a tractor sitting in front of
23:17
this little teeny tiny building
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now over to new hope
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another corner
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where both of the general store
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convenience stores
23:28
have closed down appears to be an
23:30
outhouse
23:32
in front of that when i walk over there
23:33
momentarily
23:35
new hope florida
23:37
doesn't give me a lot of hope however
23:40
but the sign says
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danger
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right here on the sign
23:46
well the side
23:50
paint it on the wood
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yeah there's an outhouse over here
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very clever
24:02
theming
24:04
not really an outhouse
24:06
this says hardware down here
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oh there's a
24:10
a saw
24:21
gas pumps are still in front of there
24:21
too
24:50
pulled over here noticing there's a well
24:50
underneath that shed
24:57
but more fascinating to me than the well
24:57
is
24:58
this mechanism
25:01
which i've never really seen out and
25:03
about i've seen it
25:05
you know at different museums or
25:07
like heritage parks pioneer villages and
25:09
things like that
25:11
but never just when driving down the
25:12
road
25:23
from my understand you would attach a
25:23
mule or
25:24
a horse up to
25:26
one end of that and it would turn it
25:27
around it's like a
25:29
it would spin around it would
25:31
either grind something or pump something
25:33
out of the ground either a grinder
25:35
or a pump of some sort
25:38
and it's just sitting here
25:42
little relic of the past
25:48
this is pretty neat too
25:48
this little home back in there
25:50
how cool
25:52
this is different
25:54
it's not a store it's not a rest stop
25:58
it's just a picnic table
26:00
an old building
26:01
and a few soda machines that are active
26:18
i don't know if i've ever seen anything
26:18
like that before
26:20
four well three soda machines and a chip
26:22
machine
26:24
outside of an empty building
26:30
but the machines are working
26:30
best i can tell
26:32
now from a little bit of a distance
26:34
showing the perspective
26:36
says crossroads snack shack
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how's it going cows
27:11
yeah just passing through
27:14
you've been to the little snack shack
27:16
back there
27:18
get some chips maybe a beverage
27:21
all right cows just wanted to say hi
27:23
just passing through
27:25
going to the next small town yep on a
27:26
road trip
27:28
going back to california i know it
27:30
wasn't planned but
27:31
gotta get out there
27:34
yeah i decided to drive and not fly
27:38
all right
27:40
see you next time cows
27:46
located in gaskin
27:46
gas g-a-s-k-i-n
27:49
is the dixie dandy
27:52
it doesn't appear to be open however
27:55
also at some crossroads you hear some
27:57
well one truck going by
28:04
doors are closed yep the sign says close
28:04
the dixie dandy of gaskin
28:22
got the fire department over there as
28:22
well and another
28:24
community building
28:26
and i'm headed this way
29:26
i don't want you to get bumped by the
29:26
front of the car
29:28
out of the road
29:33
out of the road stay out of the road
29:36
this went on for about
29:37
a half of a mile a mile they finally
29:40
gave up
29:42
goodness
29:44
i was afraid they were they were in
29:45
front of my car
29:47
i just wouldn't get out of him in front
29:49
of the car
29:50
okay doggies
29:53
see you later you'll see that one that
29:55
still stare in this direction
30:02
i just did not want to get out from in
30:02
front of the car but
30:04
they're good
30:05
they startled me
30:07
now in paxton
30:08
here at lakewood park
30:11
walton county florida's highest point
30:13
you can see
30:14
if you look over that direction
30:16
you can see a field with even more cows
30:19
not a lot of elevation in florida and
30:22
according to this this is the highest
30:24
point
30:26
in the state
30:27
at
30:28
345 feet
30:31
you have to really get acclimated you
30:33
got to get your hiking boots on
30:36
it's it's
30:38
i'm making a mountain out of a mole hill
30:41
345 feet is nothing in comparison to
30:44
other states
30:45
but florida
30:47
is its own
30:49
its own entity
30:52
look at that
30:53
345 points the highest point florida's
30:56
highest point
31:02
and they have
31:02
constructed this park over here
31:05
probably not for that significance or
31:06
maybe it is
31:09
they really do embrace it here's another
31:10
marker
31:12
a little farther into the end of the
31:14
park
31:19
and there's a star
31:19
kind of a you are here
31:21
star just showing
31:22
where i'm at in the pan about halfway
31:24
through the panhandle
31:26
right there on the alabama state line
31:29
so there's a marker when you first walk
31:30
in there's also that granite
31:34
marker i just showed
31:36
and there's also this
31:38
they do not want anyone
31:44
to not know this fact
32:49
and not only is the downtown well this
32:49
section anyway
32:51
all closed up
32:53
a lot of spray paint all over it as well
32:56
sometimes you get to these smaller
32:58
little communities
32:59
and you'll have things that are closed
33:01
but you don't see a lot of spray paint
33:03
it's not the case with
33:05
it's not the case with this place
33:18
oh this is real good
33:18
not only
33:20
got the old
33:22
school coke classic logo up top sign of
33:26
good taste
33:28
this former store
33:32
has a silhouette a relic over here on
33:34
the side
33:36
of a painting
33:38
of some other sort of soda
33:41
i can't make out what that is but you
33:43
can see it's faintly there there's the
33:45
soda pop bottle
33:47
yeah that's good that's the kind of
33:48
stuff i love right there that
33:51
oh yeah
33:58
cannot make out what it is
33:58
but it has the might even be a ketchup
34:00
bottle
34:01
could be a ketchup bottle maybe this is
34:03
a diner
34:04
oh look at this spider
34:10
that spider right there
34:10
a little daddy long leg
34:54
either this is no longer in use
34:54
or the grounds crew
34:56
or whoever's keeping up with the
34:58
maintenance of the place
35:00
it's taking some time off
35:02
barry dale
35:07
what's the name of this place the name
35:07
of the town
35:09
this facility
35:11
not sure
35:13
see as i get closer if there's any kind
35:14
of
35:15
designation
35:18
you see the
35:19
barbed wire up top there
35:22
razor wire
35:31
interesting wasn't expecting to see
35:31
something like this out here
36:13
it says forestry camp
36:13
this is a forestry camp
36:35
well this forestry camp means business
36:35
about another 20 miles down the road
36:37
maybe 15 miles down the road from where
36:40
i just was
36:41
that water tower is a little silhouetted
36:44
out
36:45
but i would imagine it says the town
36:47
name which happens to be
36:49
jay
36:51
the town of jay
36:54
true story
37:07
even has a pretty decent size downtown
37:07
for a tiny community
37:24
and there's a j museum
37:24
and next door to the j museum
37:28
is this structure that
37:37
nothing inside
37:37
except foliage
37:40
could have been a bank
37:41
now there's a trash receptacle there
37:44
impromptu trash receptacle
37:46
at the banker's window
37:49
yeah this could have been a bank
37:56
there it is
37:56
look at that the j museum in the town of
38:06
it's a couple different memorials here
38:06
mayor cannon
38:17
the whole family
38:17
there's lucy
38:22
and here's a antique fire truck down
38:40
you can see it glistening across the
38:40
road there
38:41
i was trying to notice if there was a
38:42
bank vault back in here so i walked in
39:02
an appliance store called scots
39:02
scots in j
39:06
florida
39:08
like the brickwork
39:10
on this place
39:12
down here on this end i'm noticing a
39:13
kind of like a new orleans style
39:16
architecture with the the balconies and
39:18
the railings
39:20
and whatnot
39:53
this is like the
39:53
plantation style version of the myers
39:55
house
39:57
michael
40:06
that was my first thought
40:06
it kinda looks like the myers house but
40:07
more of a
40:09
plantation style
40:11
maybe it's just me
40:12
just sitting here empty
40:15
right here in this
40:16
open lot
40:33
last spot of the evening
40:33
brat florida b-r-a-t-t
40:40
pretty close to the
40:42
gonna end this here
40:45
drive a little bit
40:46
cross over the state line
40:49
find a place to stay
40:53
sun is setting
40:59
back on the road heading to southern
40:59
california
41:00
not sure how many days will take me to
41:02
get there but
41:03
i'll move along at a brisk pace it's
41:06
nice and cool out right now too
41:15
not a lot here
41:15
just a little store there
41:17
that's about it