One year ago today: January 4, 2022, eggs & bratwurst.
Five years ago today: January 4, 2018, JZ, go see a doc!
Nine years ago today: January 4, 2014, different chefs.
Random years ago today: January 4, 2017, the cardinals.
By now you’ve figured out I’m on the road again, and Google in their finite wisdom has locked me out of my account again. It’s another trip to Miami and this one was not short drama. The blogs are written, but I managed to forget my pen drive in the Pinecrest Library, where JZ has to go pick it up next Monday. I’ll give you some of the features, but return later for the details of this tragic-hilarious trip. Some of these photos are out of sequence. They are part of this trip for sure, so enjoy. What’s this picture? Between appointments, I was at Barnes & Noble. This is a blank journal, with dots instead of lines inside. I didn’t buy, why spend $30 on a scribbler?
10:44AM Surprise, that gas station where I used to tank up the sidecar is still there. It’s ten miles south or so of Arcadia on the road to Olga Mall. It’s a nothing intersection, the nearest inhabitation is a trailer sales lot a few more miles on. Unless you know it’s there, you may have to turn back to Arcadia for gas. I’d like to know the story of that business. They were able to cling on, so I stopped and bought $40 of gas (12.088 gallons). Let me guess, I’ve not been down that way in five years anyway. Clear quiet day, traffic is picking up but still moving well.
11:44AM This route used to be a relaxing drive but I see the truckers have found it. With no shoulder, it’s a tight squeeze. I’ve decided to go through Imokalee. It won’t be long before the tractor trailers pound this road like they did Route 66 (the Florida leg, not the real thing, which pretty much closed up around 1970 due to the freeways). At 112 miles into the trip, 56mph is not a bad clip. Through Buckingham, past Lehigh Acres, we’re reminded Florida is a wealthy place, though none of it is your money. All those empty fields out near Highway 82? Not no more, shitbox subdivisions as far as visible.
Beagle Channel (Tierra del Fuego).
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12:44PM Through Immokalee, not one white person seen. I’m driving along with the window open. The pavement here is deteriorated below motorcycle standards. Thus, I’m turning on Alligator Alley, which is always taking a chance. It is Florida’s super-highway, but they let everybody use it. I’m actually now running a big late. Here’s some video of the AAA, Alligator Alley Arseholes, blocking the passing lane. Just after this, things slowed to forty minutes at 27 mph in a 70mph zone. It took so long, I stopped at a rest area to stretch. A soda from the machines is now $2.75. Smooth sailing but too much traffic.
1:44PM The process is automated. Instead of three to four hours of testing, it is now less than 40 minutes. Mind you, the new people operating the machines have no idea of the readings are good or bad, or even the theories involved. If your blood pressure was 2,000 psi, they would just record that, they would not know to call the doctor. I was back outside before 2:30PM. What a gorgeous day but too hot for the wintertime. I have one more appointment, after which I’ve been fasting for 18 hours.
2:44PM It was smart leaving that extra hour this morning, it got a bit rushed. Miami traffic is always third world. Alligator Alley is your reminded the DMV does not exist to weed out back drivers. They exist to fine and tax you. Soon as I got out of the last appointment, I was straight over to the Taft Street Café for the largest meal I’ve ever had in probably a year. Was I famished? Did the pope die again?
3:44PM Traffic was tolerable all the way to S. Miami, where JZ was sound asleep. I arrived in the same condition and made up the sofa, where I was dead to the world for seven hours. I got up, made coffee, then back asleep until 5:30 tomorrow morning.
