Here’s a day written in two parts. The part before I got back to town, and the rest. I left St. Augustine down mostly I-95. Folks, it is not your imagination that Florida drivers are the worst. I just drove half-say across the nation and the only jam in progress was the last two hours into Hollywood (Florida). Where I arrived to great number of people waving postcards who remembered me.
Florida, land of the drive-thru burger joint. Speaking of which, Checkers has gone downhill by adopting restaurant pricing. You know, underprice the meal, then zap you $1.89 for the smallest drink. There was a rainstorm to welcome me back, I had to suit up all the way from Sebastian to Ft. Lauderdale. Florida is one scam after another, the proverbial sucker’s paradise. Now real estate agents are trying to bump sales by slightly raising the asking price. “Just increased $5,000”. The smart money is waiting.
Mars Curiosity has traveled a thousand yards while I was away. It looks like I correctly guessed NASA is plugging the whole affair as a publicity stunt ahead of the science. They’ve released a lousy 29 pictures, mostly of the distant horizon and part of the rover itself. And one photo of the ChemCam, the device that shoots a laser at rocks, to let any Martian microbes know the invasion has begun. I am impressed, mind you, by the shots from the orbiter showing details of the landing.
Elliott, my inventor buddy, has reminded me of his motorcycle trip through California and Oregon, via Las Vegas. That was twenty years ago, when I was busy driving my Cadillac and never considered land travel any other way. He actually rode across Death Valley during a hot spell. I’m going to assume he broke the speed limit on that one. Anyway, hello from the blog, Elliott, and yes, your name is spelled wrong on purpose. No breaking the speed limit here, n’yuck, n’yuck.
I’m bagged beyond exhausted. Seven days on the road. I could have done it quicker but I got worn out enough to keep me sleeping in for a week. It took five hours to get 300 miles, then another two hours to drive from Cypress Creek, the last thirty miles. So peeps, it is not your imagination, Florida drivers are really that bad. Speed could be improved 50% by merely arresting the 5% of known bad drivers who cause all the jams, but the cops don’t want to stick their necks out on that one. That would mean they had to think before acting, you know, make effective value judgments.
Here’s something that defies science. I’ve mentioned how, for a guy that loves travel, how badly I get jet lag traveling east-west. Guess what? And it is 4:30 AM right now. From a road trip! Figure that out. But the difference is there is no alarm clock to remind me I was born poor. I can snooze myself back into the local time zone. In the same vein, driving a motorcycle does not leave me immune to the same stress as driving a car, and I can detect when I overdo things. I could have made the return trip in four days, but that is why I took seven.
Oh, and did I mention Charlie, a regular at the old club? He’s the first guy I ran into when I got back, and he’s now got a perfect set of teeth. Said it cost him less than half what I was quoted. Waaaah, I want perfect teeth, too. He gave me the dentist’s card.
Here is a snap of the transistor clock I’ve been tempted to build. It has around a thousand components and the attraction is that it uses no integrated circuits. No link provided here, as this kit is very easy to locate. The point is that I’ve downloaded the instruction manual and every part of it makes sense. So that is progress, at least for me. And much of that understanding was gained in the Aurora Public Library. The rainstorm that welcomed me back is Tropical Storm Nadine, so I get to check out my wet weather gear by unloading my sidecar in the blinding rain. And wunderground says it’s gonna pour all day and half of tomorrow, so I don’t get my bakery coffee unless there is a letup. I just don’t know how much more of this Florida insolence I can take. Ah, did you see that study about rainy weekends? It seems there may be something to it. The car exhausts during the week build up the particulates, which come calmer days, form the nucleus of raindrops. After my 15 years in a cubicle, I believe it.
Anyway, back safe and mostly sound, I’ll get the exact stats on the trip for you later, but here’s one fact where I usually quote only statistics: on entertainment, I spent $1,700. That includes the trips to Colorado Springs, Boulder, Estes Park, the Da Vinci Exhibit, taking Marion to Outback, steak at the Big Texan, and the licensed theater. If I’d done everything I wanted, I could easily have tripled that.
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