“I guess you could say that I’m a shade tree mechanic.”
Eugene Thomas ducked back into the belly of the beast, a John Deere combine, and continued working. The combine was behind his shed and it looked like he had quite a bit more work to do. We both mopped our brows and got busy — he with a drill, me with a large format film camera.
I was documenting what makes Florida unique — her people. I have met alligator farmers, cowboys, and oystermen. I’ve photographed folks who call rodeos and school-bus demolition derbies hobbies. People are what makes a place a favorite for me.
With Mr. Thomas, we were close enough to Georgia that if I gave a rock a good a strong throw, it would land in The Peach State. But, even with the influence of border states, Florida's people are still her own and remote, red dirt spots of land are unique.
I actually got lost trying to find Mr. Thomas’ place and, as I drove along on the gravel roads, I realized, not for the first time, that Florida is a large state with different geographic and cultural regions. The dirt here was fertile and produced Southern crops like tobacco, cotton, peanuts and pecans. Little churches were situated at crossroads and small-town, mom-and-pop general stores tried to hang on and compete with the corporate convenience-stores.
Eugene Thomas, and men like him, made this spot a favorite place. Farm land provided a panorama landscape where sweat-stained clothes clung to backs of hardworking men and women coming in from the fields and red dust kicked up a trail behind passing pickups. The smell of oil and grease permeated his “outdoor” shop and I kicked at the dirt in front of me while listening to him talk.
“When you dry-land farm like me, you’ve got to depend on what the good Lord sends you. Sometimes, He just doesn’t want us to have any rain, so I have little worry spaces. Then again, right now, He’s given us some rain, and we still got problems.”
We laughed and told stories, and solved the world’s problem. I was hoping he would pull out some of the peanuts (boiled, dry roasted, salted, it didn’t matter) he had been talking about and we would sit down with a cold drink and talk longer. But, I was preventing him from working.
“I think a person should do what they like,” he said. “ I’m a lonesome person, a lonely person. If the equipment is going fine and I’m by myself, I’m happy.”
You can learn a lot about a place and a person through a conversation. Experiencing the favorite places of Florida is meeting a diverse population.
Eric Dusenbery / Cinderic Documentaries
