Travis McGee was born in the early 1930s, but didn’t come alive until 1964. That was the year The Deep Blue Good-by” was published; the first of 21 crime novels written by John MacDonald about a private investigator living on the Busted Flush house boat docked at the Bahia Mar marina in Fort Lauderdale.

The books are written about a Florida I thought no longer existed. Jalousie windows, coquina walls, real neighborhoods with sidewalks and green parks, palm trees touching blue skies, under-populated by people with character, ingenuity, and the common sense to leave well enough alone.

I was invited to lunch today by my old friend Bill Adam and discovered the haunts of Travis McGee.

“Take I-95 to the Broward Street exit,” Bill instructed. “Head east. Make the first right past the police station, cross the swing bridge, go around the park and it is right there.” Alrighty.

I’ve known Bill forever. I followed his career when he drove the Group 44 Jaguar with Bob Tullius. We became friends when he drove the Champion Porsche with Hans Stuck. I have photos of Bill and his daughter Shea when she was 6 years old. We have worked together on magazine stories, corporate ride and drives, endured the challenges of arrogant Wall Streeters wearing a the same prancing horse logo laced driving suit at racing circuits and then through hotels lobbies, while declaring themselves “a Ferrari racing driver,” and shared the funniest cab ride ever in streets of Shanghai.

Right there was the perfect place to relive all of these memories and make new ones. Right there was the Riverside Market Cafe. Established in 2002 in a hole-in-the-wall building from the 1930s. 650 different beers, the best reuben sandwich this side of NYC, and the vibe everything John MacDonald wrote about. Located right next to the Riverside Park, unchanged since Hawkeye and Hot Lips returned from the Korean War, and a couple blocks past Sailboat Bend on the New River. The Snow-Reed Bridge is located at the bend. Built two years before Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, it is the oldest operating metal pony truss swing bridge in Florida. It opens a couple dozen times a day; the bridge turntable powered by hydraulics, or if that fails, the original hand crank system. A traverse of time and space. A span between here and now with there and then.

Great friends, cold beer, warm food, and good times. A day in Florida. The journey through a lifetime.

MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM

Burke Brise Soleil, the masterpiece of Santiago Calatrava, is what first attracts you to the Milwaukee Art Museum. 90 tons and a 217 foot wingspan of pure genius. It captures your realities and doesn’t let go. This is one museum where every minute spent on the outside is not wasted. And every minute on the inside is rewarding as well.

You enter into the Quadracci Pavilion, light and scale perfectly proportioned. Check in at the ticket desk - visits are free at the moment, however reservations are required - and walk east to the bank of windows overlooking Lake Michigan and the Oak Leaf Trail.

Due to Covid-19, the museum has set up a one-way route through the exhibits. The starting point is Rodin’s “The Walking Man.” Not a bad place to start. Exhibits ranged from the sarcophagus of Pedurisi to mid-century furniture to American Pop Art paintings, emerging artists from all disciplines, and a bit of everything in between.

Tom Wesselmann - “Still Life #51” (1964)

Burke Brise Soleil - Milwaukee Art Museum

If there is a better museum in a mid-size American city I would love to see. The Milwaukee Art Museum is top notch. Located on Lake Michigan, near the 3rd Ward. Underground parking available on site. This is Milwaukee’s gem.