Is this me in paradise? No, but My Lady bookstore in Savannah last week. It beats anything happening here today. The store lets you take your coffee to any of the comfy armchairs, though unlike Borders, you should buy the book first. My Lady seemed to have an excellent filing system and managed to keep all the books in order. I have not yet finished the book shown here, “This Far, No Further”. A detective mystery with no basis in real life. I would probably have made an excellent detective.
Late afternoon I got a call from Colorado. It looks like before, that everything once again will be left up to me. Sigh. There is no longer any reasonable chance of having a place near Denver. I’ve been really concerned for over a year about an underwater property and now it looks like the best that can happen is we walk away from it. Dang, it is a pretty fancy place. It is not a panic situation, but one where I would have liked to help out if that had been possible. But I don’t have $180,000 kicking around.Not yet, anyway. Remember, what I lost was half my heart and half a million dollars, not half my brain. During the same conversation, I will take Marion’s advice and dump all the women I’ve been seeing and start over. Sorry gals, she knows I don’t have anything to waste and she asked the very questions you would not want another woman to ask about how things were going. She’s wrapping up divorce number four and she knows to the nth degree how to read the warning signs.
There was money left over from Savannah (actually quite a lot), so I went downtown. By that, I mean the beach, the broadwalk, the clubs along Dixie. It was a fruitless search. To keep entertained, I parked the scooter up near A1A, the beach road, and walked to the beach. A new place had people, I sauntered in. What an old-folks home, but it was a Karaoke crowd. Lots of old people singing dirges. Didn’t take me a minute to get the room rockin’.
First dibs were the two ladies sitting next to me at the stools. A mother-daughter team with their hair done the same. They start talking to me, but only after they saw my act, duly noted. For the next eight minutes they spewed out all the same useless garbage you heard back on the farm. Every wrong viewpoint, old wives tale, nothing but stupid claptrap. I listened because I was amazed such people still exist in the Internet era. They gave me nonsense advice on how to meet women (go to church), invest money (buy a condo), and sing (you should do Sinatra). When the next lady got off stage, I walked to her table and joined her. She wasn’t any smarter, but at least she knew it.
I collected several phone numbers each place, but with Marion’s words still ringing in my ears, there is only one I might call. On the other hand, Marion and I discussed how the pool of partners dries up but I don’t agree that it is worse for women. What’s holding women back is impossibly high standards and their attitude that you should lower yours. The most common reaction I get from most women is bewilderment that I don’t even try to seduce them. Since I’ve never had to try, so I never learned how. Don’t worry, my brothers have to make up for it.
One item I was glad to see is the judgment that a man did not have to provide the password to his encrypted computer, an exercise of his Fifth Amendment right. It seems the police failed after five months to crack his codes. I would like to know what encryption software he was using. However, be aware the authorities will now try to beat this ruling by making it a different crime. Don’t say you “don’t remember” the password, as you could be imprisoned for giving “evasive answers”.
The probable tactic by the authorities will be a court order to provide the password, so that refuse-niks becomes guilty of contempt. This abomination is very common in British law. Rumor is that ¾ of all convictions in Canada and Australia use this Catch-22. I like British law as the prosecution must prove a motive, but dislike it because one can be convicted on testimony alone in such jurisdictions (that is, without any evidence or witnesses, just clever talking). My advice has always been to code everything and plead the Fifth.
ADDENDUM
Okay, the books are closed for the Savannah trip. Total cost, a mere $935.26. Considering I went everywhere and did everything, ate in fancy places, and left early because I ran out of things to do, not a bad deal at all. Here is the breakdown, largest expense was again accommodation. I stayed in a beautiful place, but overall, American needs an entirely new lodging system.
I’ll elaborate on a few of the items. I don’t have the mileage; I may not even bother to calculate it. With all the side trips and look-sees, I probably drove 1,400 miles. The weather was nearly perfect until I hit rain on the last leg back to Broward. Other than accommodation, it takes less than $50 per day to travel this way, most of it gasoline.The motel had a huge breakfast buffet, which accounts for my rather low food budget. I did not skimp, so these are the valid costs of everything I did. Coffee, for example, was at a coffee house near Forsythe Park. Groceries are small items I took back to my room, such as midnight snacks. Entertainment includes books and admission to museums as well as the trolley ride. Total daily costs ran about $100.
A spin-off of motorcycle travel is that you will not purchase anything you cannot easily carry, so that contributed a bit. Travel expense, other than gasoline, amounted to parking fees and ferry rides. The motorcycle is a very economical way to see things and I am again drawn toward one of those tow-trailer campers. Not just for savings, but nice as my motel was, it was nine miles from downtown. I’d rather be able to keep on the road and pull over whenever I want.
It was an amazing adventure and proof of the motorcycle sidecar concept. It was the center of attention almost everywhere, even on the ferry boat. I’d rate this trip as one of the best, something that probably cannot be duplicated. Last year to Colorado, I had a sense of urgency to press on, often driving eight hours per day, a tough proposition.Best part of the travel was staying off the freeways and puttering along secondaries at 55 mph. Fewer trucks and the local police wave at the sight. Best eats were the Beach Hut on A1A north of St. Augustine, and Susie-Q’s on SR70 near Arcadia. I never did see any peach orchards or stands of Georgia pine, though I have a hankering for pecan pie. Quaintest sight was Steinhatchee, FL.
Best travel time was into Macon, averaging 68 mph. Other than Savannah, most memorable places are Tybee Island, GA, and Mayo, FL. Every leg of the trip was short and made at a leisurely pace except the few occasions I had to use the interstates. I would recommend Savannah but be aware car travel is inconvenient compared to the motorcycle and you could wind up spending a lot more to do the same things.
