WORDS Josh Carples
When the weather warms up, it’s sometimes nice to book shows near a beach. Of course, in April the weather didn’t quite warm up as much as expected, and yes, the water was a bit cold. That didn’t stop people from hitting the beaches, and it didn’t stop us from getting in the water. How often do people in Montgomery, Alabama get to step in the waters of the Atlantic, right? Salt life, baby! (No, not really.)
So we hit the road to Florida, first to Destin, then to Jacksonville. A special note about Destin – your GPS system, if it hasn’t been updated, may send you on a road to a toll bridge. That road will not lead to the toll bridge. In fact, it will lead you to the toll bridge employee parking lot and a cul-de-sac style dead end. That’s when you send your drummer out, on foot, to talk to the person in the booth. “How do we get to where you are?”
So anyway, sometimes when you’re on the road, showers are scarce, and the ocean is your salty-but-cleansing friend. So we travel through Jacksonville toward the beach. Traveling through a new city, you get to see all the sights and local businesses, and some of the names really catch your attention, but not necessarily in a good way. There’s the “Hands On Children’s Museum,” and a bit down the road is “Kids by the Hour.” Luckily, our van has windows, and we don’t all sport mustaches, so your kids are safe. I just, personally, would have gone with different names.
One of the perks on the road is finding local food places. And I think we found the holy grail of burrito restaurants in Jacksonville – Burrito Gallery. Had George Lucas and Steven Spielberg met there to discuss Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, that film would have ended much differently. Ever had a yellow curry chicken burrito? You should. I got the carnitas burrito, and it was great. I can only assume the secret ingredient is unicorn tears because it was pretty magical. Unicorn tears, man. Unicorn tears.
Josh Carples is a member of the Montgomery-based band Hail the Titans, a singer-songwriter, actor and writer, and he somehow manages to work a “big boy” job in his free time. Find out more at HailtheTitans.com and JoshCarples.com.