March 13, 2016

Yesteryear
One year ago today: March 13, 2015, getting my gears together.
Five years ago today: March 13, 2011, 0.0939¢ per cup.
Nine years ago today: March 13, 2007, guitar clone music.
Random years ago today: March 13, 2005, made you look.

MORNING
           On the road again. I made it out the driveway at 8:34AM. At 9:34, I was at mile 66 on Highway 27. At 10:34, coffee break in Clewiston, and 11:34 at a Goodwill getting my reading material. By 12:34, I was gassing up in Lake Placid, then look around the area for an hour until 1:34, next on to Zolfo Springs at 2:34, and a tour of
           Wachuala and Bowling Green till 3:34. At 4:34 I was through Bartow and Mulberry to arrive in Plant City at 5:34.

           This means I was not exactly hoofing it. I even took a few side roads looking for shortcuts around known bottlenecks like Clewiston, but that was the normal fruitless waste of time that makes Florida so Florida. I’ve got over 200 pictures, but the library computers in a lot of these small towns just will not recognize my external drives. Which are pretty ordinary models that work everywhere else.

           Here is one of my little side trips to the interior, looking for a way to bypass Clewiston, useless Clewiston. It’s a town of migrant farm workers but also headquarters of the big sugar cane cartel. The two classes don’t usually mingle. This is a farm road called highway 827, I think. Don’t bother. It goes around 12 miles, bumpy and the only wildlife you see is what gets scared up by the roadside. However, you can see the black Okeechobee dirt that is so prized by the cane growers.

Wiki picture of the day.
Dust storm, Iraq.

NOON

           “Use credit cards only for convenience, never for credit.” – RHP

           Here is that massive structure east of Clewiston that took forever to get done. This shows you how Florida goes about replacing a$12 four-way stop. Hang the cost. They were working on this when I passed through in 2002. The overpass goes to Belle Glade(?) or some other tiny place nobody ever heard of. Put another way, this is the multi-million dollar structure Florida uses to replace four stop signs on a road twenty-thirty miles from the nearest small towns.

           I looked around a couple of towns that were pretty unbelievably nice. Upper, upper, upper middle-class. I refer to what I saw of Wachaula and Bowling Green, where even the cemetery is picture perfect. You get the impression from the highway, which runs through the center of town, that these are just more hick towns. I also took some time to tour the interior. There really is a nice community to the west of Lake Placid, for example, though I think it is called Lake June.
           Around not, my old clutch problem began to reappear. This is where the batbike won't find neutral easily. It works, but not first try. This gets tiring on the wrist driving through town, as you have to hold it in gear at red lights. In all, an enjoyable first big sidecar trip of the year. The only downside is the trailer hitch was making a chirping sound and I had no grease. The camper gains a lot of compliments, and it is very well lit including during the daytime.

           Motorcycle travel is something that can be stressful, but that disappears with a sidecar. It takes almost no pressure to turn and as I’ve mentioned, one can shift seating position to avoid motorcycle “back ache”. Plus, I limit my travel to 5.5 hours road time per day. When I discuss total trip time, which I’ll know by tonight, that includes breaks. I actually travel only the stated number of hours.
           Be aware that such travel is dehydrating. If you’re like me, you somewhat disbelieve the athlete’s claim that you can be dehydrated without being thirsty, it can happen. Yet, you don’t really get hungry on the sidecar. When I pulled into Lake Placid at noon, I had not had morning coffee yet. The local dinner with the bacon bin is closed on Sunday, so I just drove on without stopping and eating until I got to my destination.
           But liquids are a must. Cans of everything from V-8 to Clamato to bottles of ice cold milk work the best. Clamato? Yes, it was a sick s.o.b. who came up with that one, but it is considered healthy. I’m suggesting you might not be happy with the ingredients in store-bought, but on the road, that 43% rda of salt can be a blessing if you drink it knowingly instead of eating it. I’m a large consumer of lemon and lime juice, as I distrust chemicalized vitamins, like ascorbic acid.
           Hey, at least I’ll never get scurvy.

NIGHT
           The blistering summer heat is back early. It was 91F on the roadway, which is okay until you have to stop. You can easily trace out my path from this morning’s time list, I was only on the freeway for around the ¼ mile it takes to get off SR (State Road) 84 onto Highway 27. Traffic was very light all day. I’m beginning to recognize my way around the maze of strange little roads south of Lakeland. I hope to travel to the north this time around.

           It was an 11 hour trip and I arrived before sunset to get the best spot in the Wal*mart campground. I see I’ve made a few wrong measurements and the camper will eventually have to be made another 4” taller. The camper is already that much higher than the original, but the fact that
           Sunday, what else to do. I had a sandwich at the Dunkin Donuts on Collins, which is vastly a superior operation to anything in the Miami area. It has ice cream, a great separate seating area, a view, and staff that know what they are doing. I’ll give them an A+.

           I’m getting to know the downtown area and after dark, went directly downtown to the Silver Dollar. That’s the redneck bar where the lady lept over the counter a couple of weeks ago. That’s the joint where you have to dodge the dart games as the entrance path goes directly across the line of fire for all five dartboards. The establishment is a couple of blocks south of main drag, Plant City, shown in this photo.
           Sunday, what else to do. I had a sandwich at the Dunkin Donuts on Collins, which is vastly a superior operation to anything in the Miami area. It has ice cream, a great separate seating area, a view, and staff that know what they are doing. I’ll give them an A+.

           You’ll have to wait until I get to a decent computer system for the report of the trip. But as usual, I spent less on gasoline today than on used books. Let me count, yep, I’ve bought five books already, including one on how to make whirlagigs. These are those wooden lawn ornaments where the birds wings are propellers. I was hoping to find out how to make wooden weather vanes, but I got things like more birds and railway figurines where the propellers are little flags.
           The accompanying text says that the number of designs in limited only by one’s imagination. I think he’s right, since as you look through the book, nothing new has come along in about 120 years. All the patterns are ho-hum material you’ve seen before. Or if not, something as realistic as the elephant with a propeller nose.
           If the world grants me time, I’ll devote some time to thinking about new designs. Surely the propeller isn’t the only wind device that has potential. The designs shown here are mechanically simple, which may be for a reason but that reason is not given. It has to be outside, sure, but so does cow pie.
           Off the top of my head, I see no reason a wind device could not, say, wind a spring or make a random whistle. I have lots of time to muse these things on the open road. It clears away the clutter of civilization and the pettiness of people who are content to work for a living. What? I didn’t say that, I was referring to the ones that are content about it.

           One of the nooks I bought was a repeat copy of that “Life’s Instruction” series, which I’ve noticed are a little different each time. If you see a noon quote over the next few days, it will be what I think are gems not included in other versions.


Last Laugh
This guy again.


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