Year: 2014

43,000 Palm Trees

Somewhere north of Palm City, on the Florida Turnpike, but not as far north as Palm Bay and nowhere near as far north as Palm Coast this morning, the Emperor passed through the 43,000 mile mark.

We went back down to Florida for the second weekend in a row so I could help BIL Paul empty all he and Sandy’s personal belongings off their boat, as they have decided to sell it. You wouldn’t think there could be that much stuff on on a 37′ boat, but because they could actually live aboard the thing, it was basically a second household.

Last week we drove the Miata down, but this week we had to take the Purple Whale as it did nothing but whine all week about how come we took the Emperor to Disneyland, but not him. I told the mauve mammal of the sea that we didn’t go to Disneyland last week and weren’t going this week, but if he wanted, we would take him to the same place we took HRH. So that’s what we did and now he is even madder at us because not only did we not go to Mouseville, we didn’t stop at Marineland to see his relatives..

Woo-Woo

Auto Train

On Friday night, just south of Ludowici, GA we were stopped by a train. Ohh, its an Amtrak train going north, it’ll be stopping in Denmark, SC soon. Hey, it’s one of the Auto Trains, it won’t be stopping until Lorton, VA. That is what my sunbird cousin uses when she transitions between Maine & Florida. By the time I get my camera out and turned on I almost missed getting a picture.

143,000 Cars On The Interstate

Destination - Dude Ranch

We started the drive home this morning from Ocala on I-75 with plans to make a little time and get off on to the back roads north of Lake City. Donna was driving and all three lanes were pretty full, so I started map perusing to look for a way off the Interstate earlier. We hated to have to drive thru Gainesville on surface streets, so she gutted it out until north of the home town of the University of Florida.

We have really been racking up the miles on the Miata with this whole Motoring Challenge thing, added another 1200 miles since last Thursday. The Emperor actually went over the 143,000 mile mark yesterday around Groveland, Florida, but I forgot to write about it yesterday. It seems like I forgot to write about when we went over the 142,000 mile mark too, but it probably had to be over the Memorial Day weekend…

Started up, went down, back up, back down, up again, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1376

Visit Florida

Rainbow

Where is it all rainbows, all the time.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1371

Welcome To Florida

Welcome To Florida

We got the Florida sign. I stood there posing for so long waiting on the person standing behind me to leave that my smile turned upside down… We got our ferry ride in between Fort George and Mayport, FL and that photo, but struck out on the pier at Jacksonville Beach.

Today was National Donut Day and we started it we a free one at DD. Today is also the 70th anniversary of the Longest Day, AKA D-Day and we ended it by watching the movie The Longest Day.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, down again, up once more, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1369

Cannabis Cabana

cannabis-cabana

A coworker asked today if were we going to go to Seattle this year. I said, “Yeah, it’s coming up soon.” “I’m going to have to be careful when we get back to not to have an accident at work though.” He asked, “Why?” “Because they drug test after an accident,” I replied. “Now that they have legalized marijuana for personal use in Washington state…”

I told him that I was of course kidding about the recreational marijuana use, because with just my luck, I would slip on some grease on the floor when we got back and end up unemployed. I think I’ll be waiting until I’m retried until I take a toking tour of the great northwest. This led to a nice little conversation about the state of medical marijuana and legalization.

Which gave me an idea for something to do during my retirement, I could get me a little plot of land out there in Washington and plant a small crop of cannabis plants. Then I would set up a roadside stand similar to the peach stands that are popping up all over South Carolina now and call it Cannabis Cabana. I’d use a striped canvas tent or something open with a thatched roof, prop up a surfboard or two for looks and I’d be in business. The staff, me, would be outfitted in a Hawaiian shirt with flip-flops. Slack key guitar and ukelele music would be playing softly in the background.

Replacing the F in FRS

John Lester

Since my last, kind of negative, post about the Red Sox and their seven game losing streak, they lost three more games to make it ten games in a row down the tubes. But now it seems like it is time to replace that expletive that starts with an F with the word Fun because they have reeled off 7 straight victories.

In a nice bit of symmetry, the pitcher featured in that other post watching a home run hitter from the opposing team circle the bases, was today’s starting pitcher as well. His performance today was as different as could be from his performance was those 10 days ago, he dominated, 7 innings, 4 hits, striking out 12, walking one and allowing zero runs.

Being a fan of the team is fun again and I bet playing on the team is fun again too.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1364