One year ago today: May 1, 2021, Florida rebellion begins.
Five years ago today: May 1, 2017, WIP
Nine years ago today: May 1, 2013, rich people and coffee.
Random years ago today: May 1, 2006, when 40 Gigs was big.
I got out of town for the day, taking a dozen back roads to Brooksville. My intention was breakfast at the Country Cracker, or is it Cracker Country? The place I like so much and would like better if it wasn’t 55 miles away. Well, I never made it and here is the tale from the trailer court. Taking the old Plant City Highway to an arbitrary north turn, I wound up on country lanes with names like Belamy Brothers Boulevard. If you get a map, it is the area north of Highway 4 and northwest of Lakeland. Here’s a classic, love bugs on the bumper. You don’t want to see my windshield.
Even though I was driving slow with the window down, I did not get you any pictures. It’s like storybook land, similar to hill country in Texas. But without winter, the ranch layout is different, with no need for barns and the water supply is ample. I found myself in little towns I’d never heard of in all these years, like San Antonio. In Florida? Yep, and they even have a gas station. It was a perfect late spring day, 78°F with a slight breeze, so I chose driving almost every road that went in generally the right direction. Toward Brooksville, they have something we don’t. Real hills and valleys, although the highest point of land in the area is less than 200 feet above sea level.
For the first time in years, I was conscious of the gas price, this trip of 158 miles used half a tank, but I’m glad I took it on this shakedown cruise. These trips are more realistic than freeway travel and yes, something went wrong. I remind the viewer I consider these things to be adventures. And because I don’t waste money buying new vehicles, I always have the cash for roadside repairs. I needed it.
Kitchen staff, Buckingham Palace.
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I’m a fan of museums and old houses. Alas, this area didn’t have anything I could see. My circuitous route added 19 miles to the journey. The farms were all old, but everything was new. The original plan was to grab breakfast in Brooksville, tour the town for an hour, and head back into Plant City. Around twelve miles south of town, on the only real road in the area, I felt a rumble in the van and made it to an abandoned driveway. Yes, folks a flat tire.
Sidewall blowouts like this normally result from hitting potholes, which exert undue pressure on that part of the rubber. I did not hit any, yet if you look, there’s a patch of tire missing at the 1:00 o’clock position. This was only the beginning of a three hour repair job. I jacked up the van and loosened the lug nuts, but the wheel was rusted on the rim. Not rusted, but corroded, and even hitting it with lug wrench, the big one I keep just in case, would not loosen it. I mean, that sucker was really on there.
By this time, a couple on their way home from church pulled over to help. A rancher and his wife from just up the road, this helping hand speeded things up. He zipped home for a sledge hammer and that got it loose. This is when we discovered the spare, one of those donuts was from another vehicle. Of course the idea was to throw on the donut and limp into town, but you can’t even buy those things from a dealer. And no junk yards are open on Sunday.
So Wal*mart it is, although I do not like their automotive. They want your life history on file or won’t do any work. I was not in a position to refuse, as the rancher had given me a lift into town and drove past several local tire spots, all closed. But, he happily stepped in and gave his info, since he’s lived there his whole life. Around $125 and nearly an hour later, we got back to the van and it was all ready in a matter of minutes. He refused $20 for the gas, but that’s America because so would I have.
Not to diminish the effort here, we had a heck of a time finding that spare, it is under the van. And the pieces for the jack had fallen into the well where the seats folded down. Without help, I would have been there at least four hours. The KIA tires are the ones that came with the unit, so if the brand new tires on the old Town & Country, which sits in my yard, will fit, I’ll have them put on. And, I’m opting for a donut spare kept inside the van, plus some heavier duty tools. Lesson learned.
Food shortages. In America? It’s impossible, but it looks like some people are going to try. If it works at all, it will be in the core of welfare cities. The attacks seem against food processing plants, where some 25 have caught fire this year. The effect depends on how much processed food they eat, which is correlated with how fat their arses are. It’s already recognized as a standard Democrat ploy. Create a crisis and insist you accept their solution. It certainly would not work in Florida unless they shut down all the farmer’s markets and start arresting hillbillies selling watermelons out of their pickup trucks.
So what is really going on? They might starve their own voters into violence, but it would be dumb to try to use that as an excuse to take over an entire state. What are they really up to? And once again, there are foreigners saying things like this could never happen in their countries. To which I reply again, that’s your friggen problem.
ADDENDUM
It was now three in the afternoon and the café was just closing up as I arrived. Dang, but there was a new place a few doors down. I didn’t care for the name “Coney Island Drive Thru”, however being famished from skipping breakfast got me inside, where the family restaurant décor was as cheap as the food was expensive. I had a foot-long hot dog with coleslaw and onion rings, it said. Yeah, four onion rings. $8.04 with a lemonade. It looks like a meal from here, but barely half filled me up. So I started for home via Plant City where I did not stop. No way I’m spending $16 on hot dogs. And I never did get that important cup of coffee.
Whoa, easier said than done. The powers of evil flood every search for the rallies with negative headlines. “Trump endorses alleged groper.” Mind you that one is so over-used nobody pays it any attention. And my favorite today, “Trump delivers remarks despite growing legal woes in New York.” Like anybody gives a shit about New York any more, plus we just heard now their “grand” jury finally gave up trying to slander Trump. Nobody believes the left any more, well except maybe their own packs of radicalized mad dogs. Throwing bricks off freeway over passes at the convoy truckers.
