Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Hagerty Classic Car Driving (Lashdeep Singh)

[Luke Graves (buyer1]

And Cottonmouths!!!  Always remember that Florida is about 1 ft above sea level in most places and when you leave the road you are on your own.  Once out of the city limits, Gators, Rattlesnakes, Cottonmouths, Coral Snakes, Large Brahma Bulls, Sink Holes and Skeeters are quite common.  The Turtles, however, are land Turtles referred to locally as "Gophers".  The big hazard there, is stepping into one of their holes while avoiding one of the other hazards I mentioned!  As far as excitement on the road, the best Florida has to offer is Daytona Beach.  I am not referring to the Speedway.  At 2 a.m. when the Moon is right, and the Tide is out, the Beach can be a wild and crazy place.  In the mid-'50s, during Speed week, there would be thousands of drunken race fans drag racing on the Beach until the Sun came up!  You had to be there!

 

Luke Graves

U. of F. '56

Old Florida Cracker

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From: Ferrari [mailto:ferrari-bounces+buyer1=airmail.net [at] ferrarilist.com] On Behalf Of Doug & Terri
Sent: Tuesday, August 6, 2019 8:45 AM
To: Col Luke Graves
Cc: 'The FerrariList'
Subject: [Ferrari] Hagerty Classic Car Driving (Lashdeep Singh)

George shares “. . . Dad brought his vintage Jags to FL at different times, but stopped doing that because the roads down there were boring. . . .”

 

Picture this – abut nine years ago business brought me to St. Petersburg, FL for two weeks.  The weekends were ours.  What to do?  Ahhhhh – the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing, of course north in Ocala.  Florida is pretty flat.  Lots of green.  Both coming and going I see yellow highway signs with a black turtle silhouette.  What the heck?

 

On Monday I ask one of our folks at the company we were working with what the heck is that?  Ohhh he says – you don’t want to hit a turtle.  Oh? State pet or something?  Nope – they’re squishy and you’ll stand a good chance of sliding off the road . . . into a ditch . . . where the alligators are.

 

Is there any truth to that? 

 

(shudder)

Doug