R and J in the USA

We’ve had nothing but friendly encounters in our time in the Sunshine State. Despite being on day 7 of a lengthy (for this trip) 10 days here and there being 23 million people milling out and about throughout the state, we haven’t actually had all that many people along the encounters at all. Most people we’ve encountered are doing just what we were doing, enjoying soaking up the rays in their own little bubble and going about their business. So, while we’ve been crammed right up next to people in RV parks, on beaches or roaming the various sites, towns and attractions, most of the people we’ve encountered along the way are people that have just been people we passed by. And we have no complaints to register.

However, we did meet one couple that had a few of their own.

We were in line for entry at the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine. St. Augustine is not just Florida’s, but the United State’s oldest town. It was a really neat town where the narrow streets were filled with history and old architecture and the old architecture was filled with colleges, churches, museums, monuments or shop after shop of familiar modern tourist fare. While the streets were jam packed with walking tourists, most of our first hand encounters were with the delicious food that Julie couldn’t stand to pass by. We didn’t really talk with many folks at all.

However, as we were standing in line to enter into the fort, we noticed that, with Julie’s National Parks Pass, we were allowed to bring in a total of 4 adults. Obviously, that was enough to cover both of our admission. We figured, well, we’ve got an extra 2 adults we can bring in for free. While Julie felt a little bad short-shrifting the National Park service two more admission tickets, it was allowable and certainly no skin off of our backs to bring in another couple. We turned around and said to the couple behind us, “Hey, we can bring in 2 more adults on our park pass. Would you like us to cover you?”

After a look of pleasant surprise washed over their faces, without missing a beat and with the most frank sincerity, the gentleman of the pair said, “You two must not be from around here.”

We weren’t sure if it was a Rochester accent sneaking through, but we figured that would be tough to discern as far afield as Florida. Maybe it was in our dress. We didn’t know, at first, why we must not be from around here. 

”Why is that?” We asked.

”People around here are pretty rude. Nobody around here would do something like that. That’s so nice of you. And, yes, thank you!”

HIs companion nodded in agreement. 

We immediately started laughing. He wasn’t complaining. He wasn’t lamenting. He wasn’t wondering or suggesting. He expressed all this simply as a fact, and one that was so solid that he knew, with total confidence, that we couldn’t possibly be from there. He didn’t say, “Are you from around here?” He didn’t even say, “You are not from around here, are you?” He asserted it. “You MUST not be from around here.” Full stop. He knew it to be true. It was the only explanation he could think of to make sense of our foreign behavior. Maybe we shouldn’t have found this as funny as we did, but we kept recalling it throughout the rest of the day and found ourselves laughing again each time. 

And this couple wasn’t the only one with this opinion that we ran into. We managed to meet up with Ryan’s nephew near Melbourne, Florida, and, after a decade living in Florida, he was ready to give up on the whole human race. “People are rude. Everyone is just getting crabby and mean.” 

There is a lot of meanness in this world and we came on this trip with the hopes of discovering that it’s not as prevalent and mean as it appears in comments sections or media outlets or in political arenas. 

And, we are happy to report, at least for own experience, we’ve found pretty close to nothing but kind, welcoming, generous and lovely people all over this country, from all sorts of world views and walks of life –  and we’ve had no negative encounters in Florida to report thus far.

Then again, we’re not from around here.