March 20 Tuesday Day 23

Tonight we are in Comfort Suites in Daytona Beach.

We did not have breakfast at the Inn so we headed out to find something. We were going to see another Botanical Garden and on the way I spotted The Gathering in Largo FL. Turns out a home-style restaurant. Many selections on that menu, even half orders of eggs Benedict, with four different types. The coffee was tasty. Shirleen’s eggs and potatoes and my frittata with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and ham were really good.

Off we went to the Florida Botanical Garden. This was a mix of gardens with many of the same palms we became familiar with more south of here. We see fewer orchids but still many lovely flowers. We did see Shirleen’s most sought after animal an alligator next to a Watch Out for Alligator sign, what a coincidence.

Another part of this Garden was a heritage farm. There were many structures, houses, barn, smoke house, general store with a little garage. The store had many cans of food, boxes of crackers, and man household items. The garage had a 1925 Model TT truck, the two TT’s are right. A neat sign which I think I will put up in my garage was “Mechanic Out”.

Down the line was a LaFrance fire truck, one of the different elements on that truck was the rear tire. It was solid rubber with a deep grove in it.

Then the quaint little house, a kitchen, setting room and two bedrooms, I found an instant connection with the front porch and two rockers, one which fit me just fine. To the back was an outhouse with directions for use, cute, wish I had photo’d, the garden for the house had carrots, little green tomatoes, a scarecrow with a moss beard with grass clippings between the rows of plants.

Now off to the University of Southern Florida’s Botanical garden. No need to go there, they are too interested in football and basketball to give monies to a program like gardening.

We found a nice place to stay for the evening. ¼ mile from Daytona 500 Racetrack! I asked the desk where a good steakhouse was? He said Gene’s Steak House in Daytona Beach since 1948. When I got back to the car Shirleen said she found a good place Gene’s, so must be good. After going the wrong way for five miles, I turned around and went another ten miles the other way to find the restaurant. It is an unpretentious building on an open highway. We were seated by the daughter of the owner. She told us that her grandparents owned the restaurant, when they died their daughter took over. The third generation daughter is now the manager, her brother the night manager and her mother owns it. We were handed a wine menu, it had some of the fine wines of France, most twice to 30 times my budget. Louie XIII shot of cognac for 125$, no period in there. We bought a bottle of Cabernet by Salmon Creek, California 2002, tasty. If we had not finished it there state law permits taking the leftovers home. There complimentary starters were spicy hot garlic pickles, baby corn with corn relish, and carrot sticks. We ordered a flame broiled filet Mignon for Shirleen with a baked potato and I a New York Strip with French fries. Our salads were accompanied by ranch and Roquefort cheese. Those steaks were among the best tasting I have had in a long long time.

Now came the fun part. Did I mention this restaurant caters to the rich and famous race car drivers, and motorcycle enthusiasts? Well it is. We sat behind a picture of Shirleen’s favorite race car driver – Paul Newman. At Elkhart Lake I have a pic of her by his pink race car. Pat, the owner, sat by the people who were next to us and soon we became part of the conversation. Pat had come by the table before we ate and I asked why she was working, she said one of the waiters had a sick mother in the ICU, so she came in to help. Turns out her son came in for a snack after working 14 days straight, now he is waiting tables to help out. A family thing I guess. Now the table next to us mentions Paul Newman and how he made her mother feel really good after she had lost her brother three weeks before. Turns out he rarely is part of a picture and never autographs. This gal had asked him to be part of the picture and he obliged and autographed for her. Well it turned out that he likes Oreo cookies for desert and they had given him the leftovers, which he gave to this lady. Turned out that her deceased brother, each night had had 6 Oreo’s with milk before sleeping. Paul giving her those Oreo’s was just divine guidance. Now the conversation drifted to his love of apple sauce. A couple times before they had made some for him when he came in. this time Pat made some from scratch, brought it out to him and he said no thanks. she said she had just made it for him, he said, he only used it on baked potatoes and tonight he had French fries. Really cute stories. Pat also talked about her run in with Montoya, Target’s race car owner Chip Ganassi. When we left she was sitting at the bar I went over and said how much we enjoyed the evening. Her question was, were we locals? No from Minnesota and had a daughter in Milwaukee. She asked if we had eaten at Mader’s, of course we had. She said the schnitzel was delicious and I agreed with her as I had also had it. She said go to the Harley factor and tell the president that Pat Young from Gene’s told us to stop by. Love these racing freaks, I fit right in. jerr