Category: Driving

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Driving Holidays Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

December 25TH 1996 – It was the first Christmas with my Mom, Dad, Brother, and Cats up in Jacksonville Florida. They had just moved there after about 28 years up in the Washington D.C. area. That was 2 homes ago (for my parents) and 3 cars ago (for me). I was still in my 20s (!), and my brother was 21. It seems so long ago. It was just a dozen years ago.

Today I drove back home to Homestead from the Jacksonville area, and so another chapter in our lives has now ended. This was our last Christmas in Jacksonville. My parents are getting ready to move (for the final time) to the Dallas Texas area. I’ve got a lot of great memories from the past dozen Christmases (and years) up there, but the good times and great memories shall continue infinitely with my family over in North Texas.

Going back to 1996 I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review this MASSIVESMASH from The Smashing Pumpkins. It’s one of my favourite hit songs of all-time. It’s a 1996 smash that’s all about “1979”. It’s the biggest pop and rock smash of their entire career, and it was Grammy-nominated and certified gold. It’s a hot track that spent 10 months in heavy rotation on TOP 40 radio stations nationwide. Here’s the 1996 MTV Video Music Award winner for ‘Best Alternative Video’.

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Animals Driving Food Travel

Christmas Morning Stocking Full O’ Thoughts

Here’s what I’m thinkin’ ’bout on this Glorious Christmas Day Morning:

1.  I left work at exactly 9 AM yesterday (Christmas Eve) morning, and I arrived at my parents’ home at exactly 3:30 PM. It was a rather uneventful 6½-hour drive from Homestead to here. That included about a 30-minute stop-over in Fort Pierce along world-renown State Road 70 for Gas and Lunch.

2.  I’m currently in historic Clay County Florida – about halfway between the historic river cities of Orange Park and Green Cove Springs (the county seat) along historic U.S. 17. F.Y.I. – U.S. 17 extends from the foothills of Northern Virginia to the Gulf Coast of Southwest Florida.

3.  My last visit up here to the First Coast of Florida was during the Labor Day Weekend at the end of August 2008. I’ve been coming up here once or twice per year for the past 12 years to visit my parents (and my brother when he lived up here). 2009 will probably be my parents’ final year here. They’ll be moving to the north of Dallas Texas in a few months. They’ll be living just a few miles away from my brother and his wife.

4.  Of all of the cats that have been in our family over the past quarter of a century my parents’ current cat – Pumpkin – has the most beautiful fur ever !  She’s brown and black with hints of orange and tan – perhaps even a bit of burnt sienna. One time when Pumpkin was a kitten she was totally terrified of me, and she nearly tried to end her own life by jumping at least 20 feet to the ground below when she was absolutely frightened by an unintentional sudden movement of mine. Now she adores me and comes running to me whenever I spot my petting hand. Pumpkin loves me so much now that she even licks me at times. Even she has realized that cats all over the land adore me.

5.  Last night we enjoyed a MASSIVE Dinner at the local Longhorn Steak House. This afternoon we’ll be enjoying a traditional (also MASSIVE) Christmas Day Dinner. Don’t you know that I like totally dig that dudes and dudettes ?  SHYEAHZZZ !

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !

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Animals Driving Food Holidays Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

‘Twas the night before Christmas Eve, and all through my mind – were these thoughts that I’d like to share with you – if I could be so kind.

1.  The entire state of Florida from Pensacola to Jacksonville to Daytona Beach to Orlando to Tampa to Fort Myers to Miami to Key West will be basking in the 70s and even some 80s over the next 4 days from Wednesday through Saturday. It’s a continuation of a December that has been as warm as November was chilly.

2.  I’m driving over 350 miles tomorrow, so that means that I should encounter at least 525 crazy drivers on my way from here to there. Wish me luck that I don’t get involved in a firey car crash.

3.  TODAY I enjoyed a MASSIVE Lunch at Shiver’s BBQ (in Naranja Lakes), and it was my first visit there in several years. I used to eat there on a near-weekly basis. I need to go back there more frequently. I delighted in a stack of meat, sweet potato fries, and juicy collard greens. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout Willis !

4.  Homestead Air Reserve Base is hosting a MASSIVE air show in less than 11 months over a two-day weekend, and you can read all about it at wingsoverhomestead.com. It’ll be our first air show since 1992 !

5.  Exactly 25 years ago this morning on the 23RD of December in 1983 me and my little brother discovered a cat wandering around our backyard deck. We took her in, gave her some milk, named her Fluffy, and the rest is history. Read what I wrote about this momentous event one year ago here on this blog.

Elderly Fluffy
Elderly Fluffy
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Driving Food History Movies Television Travel Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Every Tuesday night the world listens to me. Hear me now:

1.  Aside from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida the entire rest of the free nation from coast-to-coast and from border-to-border is shivering in a deep icy freeze. Even much of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas is socked-in to a deep freeze. Here in Homestead we’ve got fast-moving tropical showers moving in from the Caribbean. It’s December in Paradise !

2.  The 17TH season of “Survivor” held in Gabon Africa is now done and over with, and it was quite the entertaining season finale this past Sunday night on CBS-TV. I’ve seen every single episode ever made since it became an overnight sensation back during the Summer of 2000. The 18TH season has already wrapped-up its filming up in the Brazilian Highlands. It premieres in February 2009.

3.  Yesterday I was on a portion of Campbell Drive that is off-limits to most vehicular traffic. It’s located on a secluded portion of Homestead Air Reserve Base east of the South Dade Labor Camp neighbourhood. The original road surface of Campbell Drive still exists. It’s not in very good shape though. Once upon a time the main gate to the base was right there at the intersection of Campbell Drive and Tallahassee Road (now Speedway Boulevard). Today’s Labor Camp was once part of Base Housing.

4.  Gas prices just keep on dropping. It’s in the $1.40s and $1.50s across much of the free nation. There are actually some analysts out there who state that gas prices could actually drop below $1 per gallon in 2009. These are the same analysts that forecasted gas to reach $10 per gallon earlier this year.

5.  I’m eating at the Outback Steak House this Friday night for the first time in recent memory (many years). I’m totally looking forward to that. Afterwards I’m heading off to see a movie – “Yes Man“. It sounds like someone is dating again !