Category: Driving

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Animals Driving History Life People Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

If it’s Tuesday night then the grab bag is full, so let me let some thoughts loose !

1.  Since March 01ST over a FOOT of rain has fallen at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport – and it shows. All of the vegetation in the Metroplex was green and lush – well nourished by Mother Nature. Meanwhile less than 3 inches of rain has fallen at Miami International Airport – and the extreme drought continues. Everything is still brown and crunchy. The Everglades is finally receiving some rain, but until we get some westerly winds in here we won’t see much of it.

2.  TODAY is my brother’s and his wife’s 2ND anniversary. They were married in The Bahamas on this very special date in 2007. I’ve often stated that my brother is my favourite person in the entire world, but I’ll also go on record by stating that his wife – Christina – is my 2ND favourite person in the entire world. I like her a lot, and I’ve liked her ever since the minute that I first met her. She has fit in perfectly in our Day family.

3.  This past weekend in the northeastern suburbs of Dallas Texas me and my family officially celebrated my brother’s 34TH birthday, my brother’s and his wife’s 2ND anniversary, Mother’s Day, and my 42ND birthday (early). I got one of the nicest birthday gifts in modern history, and it really has to do with modern history – mine. It’s a professional photo album hand-made by Christina (my brother’s wife) chock-full of classic pictures of me from the 1960s through the 2000s. She spent many days (probably weeks) working on this masterpiece. I shall cherish it forever. I also plan to share it with some of my closest friends.

4.  This upcoming Sunday marks a sad event – the 2ND anniversary of the death of my cat Boots. A memorial still sits to this day at the edge of one of my living room couches where he used to spend a lot of time. Boots was my little buddy for over a dozen years. His life was cut short by several years due to a variety of feline diseases. I will never forget Boots.

5.  I received my brand new Florida license plate in the mail this afternoon. It replaces my current license plate of the past 5 years. The old plate will join 3 others that are currently on display on my master bedroom wall. I can’t believe that I’ve been driving here in America’s Riviera for the past 20 years.

Those are my thoughts on this Tuesday night. Thank You for reading them.

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Driving History Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

I’ve owned 4 cars over the past 25 years of driving. My very first car was a beige 1980 Chevy Citation. I bought it in 1984 with my paper route money. I was supposed to have it for at least several years, but as it turns out I only had it for a single year. I had to sell it fast just before I got shipped off to the U.K. to move to my first duty station within the USAF.

I returned back home stateside in November 1987, but it wasn’t until a year and two months later that I bought my second car – and my first brand new car. It was a red 1989 Geo Spectrum. To this day it’s the longest-running car that I’ve ever owned. I put 96,745 miles on that car over the course of eight years. That was eight turbulent years in my life in which I lived in seven different homes in less than three years due to the effects of Hurricane Andrew.

My 3RD car overall was a dark green 1997 Saturn SL1. That was the first of my three Saturns that I’ve owned over the past dozen years. I replaced that first Saturn with a gold 2001 Saturn SC2, and that Saturn was subsequently replaced by my current silver 2003 Saturn Ion Quad Coupe 3. I’ve owned my current Saturn a few months shy of the combined time that I owned my first two Saturns. I thought about buying a new car last year (a Honda), but I ultimately decided to enjoy the fact that my current car is totally paid off. It’s the first time that I’ve owned a car long enough to actually pay it off since that red 1989 Geo Spectrum was paid off in full during the early-1990s.

I can see myself still driving my current car for at least a couple more years. I’m in no rush to replace it with something new (and the new car payments that would go along with that). I’m content with what I have.

And so that’s a little history of all of my cars through the years.

The theme is “Cars”, and so this weekend for your ‘Saturday Night Retro’ review I present to you this 1979 / 1980 pop smash from Gary Numan. The now 51-year-old musician is still very much active. He’s still recording new music and touring all around the world. It’s hard to believe that when this song was an International pop smash the kid was just 21-years-old. Check it out, and feel free to get up and dance like a robot can’t dance no more !   

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Driving Humor Weather

Monday Night Countdown

This week on the ‘Countdown’ I’ve got the TOP 5 South Florida ‘Traffic & Weather Together’ lessons learned over the past 21½ years:

5.  ‘Partly Sunny’, ‘Partly Cloudy’, ‘Mostly Sunny’, ‘Mostly Cloudy’, and ‘Fair’ are all distinctly different, and if you have perhaps an hour of spare time over Dinner I can explain all of this to you. Just promise that you won’t fall asleep on me.

4.  Roughly 8 out of every 10 drivers on the road will blow through stop signs and red lights, and just sit there for at least 5 seconds after the light turns green. The protected green arrow light means absolutely nothing to the same 8 motorists.

3.  Just because there’s a flash flood with streets under a foot of water at home does not mean that a single drop of rain has fallen at work. Also if it’s pouring down rain but the sky nearby is sunny and clear then that’s pretty much normal.

2.  ALL traffic laws do not apply to Miami-Dade County school buses. They are allowed to drive as fast as they wish, and they may tailgate you at their discretion. They also have the right-of-way no matter what, so if they turn right in front of you then simply slam your brakes on to avoid dying in a firey collision and inferno.

1.  Every new hurricane season is going to be the worst one ever seen and recorded since the existence of mankind, but you should never ever panic. Just be warned that South Florida may be completely destroyed by every single tropical wave that forms off the west coast of Africa.

This Street Sign Would Not Work Here In America's Riviera
This Street Sign Would Not Work Here In America's Riviera

I hope that you enjoyed that. Be sure to check out my ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’ tomorrow night – same blog time – same blog station. Until then – keep it real homies.

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Animals Bugs Driving Shopping Travel

The Major’s Walk-A-Thon: Special On-Location Edition – Everglades National Park

– My ‘2009 Economic Stimulus Tour’ continues.
– For the 2ND Saturday morning in a row I went to Everglades National Park.
– But this time I went to the north part at Shark Valley off Tamiami Trail.
– Me and a buddy got there shortly after 11 AM.
– We took the 2-hour / 15-mile tram tour starting at 12 noon.
– Our tour guide was a crazy lady who was a child of the 1960s.
– She took us on a tour of her ‘office’ – The Everglades.
– She was good, as she definitely knew her stuff.
– She clearly demonstrated that she has an intense adoration for the ‘Glades.
– She was totally passionate about her ‘coworkers’ – the wildlife.
– She introduced us to all of her alligator friends.
– The gators were just chillin’ in the shallow water tryin’ to get some sun.
– Some showed off their teeth as if they were smiling.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– We saw a whole bunch of baby gators.
– It’s breeding season dude !
– If the gator is less than a foot long then it’s less than a year old.
– If the gator is between 5 and 6 feet long then it’s an adult.
– Most gators stop growing in length after that and start getting plumper.
– The gators are just like you and me !
– If you see a gator that’s 8 or 10 feet long then it’s well fed !
– Female gators never lose the ability to give birth to baby gators.
– In addition to the 15-mile tram tour we also did a whole lot of walking.
– I’m talkin’ several miles of walkin’ in the hot and dry Everglades.
– We hit up this tower:

shark-valley-tower

– The 18-mile panoramic view up top was really cool.
– That tower is about 27 miles due west of The Falls Shopping Center.
– I thought that I saw Macy’s from afar.
– The sound of the Everglades – incomparable to anything else in Miami-Dade.
– The smell of the Everglades – it’s pure nature – as natural as can be.
– Man has already destroyed much of what used to be the Everglades.
– But the Everglades is tough – so tough that several million acres still exist.
– I will respect the Everglades.
– I will also visit again sometime real soon.