I was lucky enough, lucky enough I was lucky enough to move to Florida in 1964 before there was a Disney World or a Universal Studios or and when I moved to Florida, Bush Gardens was free. You had to take a tour of the beer plant and then you got to go out and all they had was birds and a couple of giraffes and it was all free. It was free. You could pay to park there or you could park for free across the street on Bush Boulevard at a realtor's place where they were going to try and sell you time chairs but you could go there for free and it was cool.
We're going to talk about an old Florida location today and why I'm so grateful that I got to hang out there. And how are you? It's one of those days. It's just one of those wonderful fun and great days.
It's Tuesday. I just watched a video on the YouTube about a place that I've been to a gazillion times. As a matter of fact, the very first time I went there was on my Yamaha twin jet 100. It had less than five brake horsepower so it was legal for me to drive at 15.
So I was like 15 years old and my buddy Greg and I, he had a Honda and we rode our motorcycles from where we live on the west coast of Florida to Yeehaw Junction which is kind of like in the middle of the state. It's out in the middle of nowhere and it was a major place back in the day but not that major and it was out in cow country and it was originally called Jackass Junction and that was pretty cool. That was in the 1930s. They called it Jackass Junction and they built this place they're called the Desert Inn.
Now when they built the Florida Turnpike, they decided that a lot of people would be stopping off there. So maybe the local town folk and I'm going to say town folk, there was no town folk, there was a couple of people that lived around there said maybe we ought to think about changing the name. So they came up with the name Yeehaw Junction which I thought was pretty cool and they built the Desert Inn which was the landmark. I'm telling you it was the landmark and they had a restaurant and it was a two-story building that upstairs they rented out rooms and in the 1940s, even I think into the 50s.
It was a, dare I say it, a den of prostitution that was upstairs and then downstairs they had the restaurant and I guess they had a bar at one time. I don't know, but they had rooms downstairs and then behind it they built one of those a long building. They were just hotel rooms. As a matter of fact, Adam the Wu actually stayed.
If you don't know who Adam the Wu is then you're just not cool. Google him. But he actually stayed in one of those hotel rooms in the back and a couple of years ago a semi truck was driving down there at Yeehaw Junction and the place was closed. And thank God it was closed because they were going to, they'd gotten a bunch of money and they were going to rebuild it and make it look real pretty because it had gotten on the historical registry, whatever that is.
So they were going to go in and fix the place up and no one was there and the guy's doing like 75 miles an hour and he makes the turn to go on to highway 60 and he loses control of his semi and drives it right into the building and just totally destroys the front of the building. And that was the end of Yeehaw Junction. It was the end of the desert end. That was that was it.
But you know, gosh, about 19 years ago, I bought a truck in Vero Beach on the other side of the state and my friend Peggy and David took me over there. My computer just made a noise. But they took me over there so that I could, you know, pick up the truck and come back. But on the way over there, we stopped to have lunch because I had heard nothing but wonderful things about their fried chicken.
So we go in there to have fried chicken and the place is just as creepy looking as you would think it would be. And it but the air conditioner, you know, sounded like it was struggling, but it was cool. It was very nice. And the fried chicken just smelled delicious and they bring out the fried chicken and we're sitting by the window only to see all of these live chickens walking up and down the parking lot outside, which made Peggy feel a little weird.
But for the chicken was good. We ate it anyway. But that was, you know, the only time I ever ate there. Now when Greg and I wrote our motorcycles over there, we went in and bought sodas is what we did.
And we tried to go upstairs. There was an outdoor, you know, there was a door that you opened up and there was a stairway. And we wanted to go upstairs because, you know, we were explorers and we were 15, leave us alone. And we're we make it about, I don't know, five, 10 steps up the thing.
And this woman behind us, this really mean woman behind us is get out of there. You don't belong up there. So we came down and she's, as a matter of fact, get off our property. That's okay.
We got on our motorcycles and headed down, you know, state road 60 heading back home. You know, that was a long drag. These motorcycles would go at the top end. If the wind was at your back, 58, 59 miles an hour, and we had a long way to go.
Because that was, I don't know, 200 miles from home. So we just scooted on back home. But when I ate there with with Peggy and David, we ate there, we had the fried chicken, the mashed potatoes, it was it was delicious. It was good.
And then the restaurant closed not terribly long after that. But it was just kind of it was a cultural hub in its day. Because back before there were, you know, roadside attractions, or back before there were super attractions, there were just roadside attractions. And the desert in into itself was a roadside attraction.
By the way, Yeehaw was a seminal Indian word for the name or for woof. So that, you know, that that's a little bit of history about the place. And it's, it's a quirky place. Now in the video, it was a husband and wife made the video on YouTube.
I'm not going to tell you there, you're gonna have to find them. They did about a 20 minute video. And the wife had, she was bold, husband, very conservative. Young wife, she goes inside because the fence had fallen down because they fenced it all off where you couldn't get in there.
But the fence had fallen down. And you could just walk right into the place. So she went inside and he's outside having a thrombo because she's inside, and anyway, I look there and I see a chair, just like a dining room chair, just sitting there, and I want it. I really wanted it.
And I said to my son, Zach, and his girlfriend, I said, if you guys love me, you would drive over there right now, you would go in there and you would get me that chair. And they said, no, no, no. But then something better happened after that. There was a shelf back there and up on the top shelf, there was, she goes and there was somebody drew them, some kid drew a nice little picture and left it there.
And that was nice. And then there was a postcard and then there was some religious thing. And then underneath that was a sign that said something to the effect of warning, you know, large amounts of alcohol consumption will make you forget where your clothes are, which I said, I want that sign. I want to put that sign inside.
I wanted the chair in the corner of the studio, but I didn't do that. Oh, well, if you ever have a chance to go to E-Hog Junction, Google it, you can find it. The remnants are still there. It is still there.
By the way, when they went back to the motel, she's sticking her camera through the broken glass window and she sees some nail polish on the floor. She tells her, I want that nail polish. I want that nail polish. And well, I can't get in there.
You're not, you know, she was just upset. She wanted it. It had very been sitting there for since the place. Anyhow, I totally enjoy hidden locations.
That's not even hidden locations, but I enjoy going to places like that and wandering through it. Maybe someday I'll tell you about my trip to the Aquitarium on St Pete Beach after they closed. That's the story. All right, have a pleasant day tomorrow is Wednesday.
And I have no idea what I'm going to talk about. But be grateful for all you have. Be grateful for all the old deserted things where you live that you can go and explore. Be grateful for your health.
Be grateful for your family. And be grateful for the dog you used to have. See you later.