Category: Travel

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

1.  Happy Square Root Day !  3 X 3 = 9 – and that’s today’s date – 03-03-09. This numerical phenomenon last occurred on Groundhog Day in 2004 (02-02-04). It next occurs on the 04TH of April in 2016 (04-04-16), and then after that on Cinco De Mayo in 2025 (05-05-25). Numbers are my favourite toys !

2.  How many times did we hear on TV and Radio yesterday that ‘March came in like a lion’ with the late-season blizzard and Arctic-like temperatures all across the Gulf Coast and up and down the Atlantic seaboard ?  This has been an unusual Winter season all across North America. Here at America’s Riviera it’s been one of the coldest seasons in modern recorded history, and perhaps one of the dryest ever recorded. Does anyone remember what rain looks like ?

3.  Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) was widely panned by both Democrats (obviously) and Republicans (surprisingly) for looking unprepared, amateurish, and naive during the Republican response to President Obama‘s address to Congress and the Nation last Tuesday night. I just watched his response for the first time a couple of days ago, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it at all. If he were a Democrat then the media would have called him a refreshing breath of fresh air. The Democrats did what they do best – mock and ridicule anyone that doesn’t think exactly as they do. It’s politics as usual for the left-wing.

4.  My Mom and Dad and their Cat now live precisely 4.6 miles away (by road) from my Brother and his Wife and their Dog. My parents have moved to Fairview Texas, and my brother and his wife call neighbouring Allen Texas their home. That’s 1,416 to 1,420 miles away from my home here in Homestead Florida. This has been my home sweet home for the past (going on) 22 years, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. This is where I belong !

5.  We return to Daylight Saving Time this Sunday morning at 2 AM local time. At that precise time it will suddenly become 3 AM local time, and we will instantly lose an hour of sleep. Get ready for darker mornings and brighter evenings. Enjoy Daylight Saving Time for the next 34 weeks !

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Music Travel

Saturday Night Retro

I have returned back home again safe and sound. I officially walked in to my home at 9:06 PM EST on this Saturday night. I haven’t seen daylight here in America’s Riviera since before the sun went down on Monday the 23RD of February.

February was a crazy month for me. During this past month I was transported in 5 states – Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas – and one foreign country – Mexico – via my own car, my parents’ car, my brother’s car, my brother’s wife’s minivan, a friend’s minivan, several taxicabs (two en Cozumel Mexico y one in Jacksonville Florida), a ferry (across the Mississippi River in New Orleans), a Carnival cruise ship (down the Mississippi River and across the Gulf Of Mexico), a couple of shuttle buses (en Progreso Mexico), a tour bus (in New Orleans), and 3 American Airlines jets.

It is now time to settle down and chill for a few months, so hopefully I can do just that starting tomorrow to kickoff the month of March.

In the meantime I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review this appropriate transportation-themed track. It’s the International pop smash “Joyride” from Roxette from 1991. It’s one of my all-time favourite songs ever, and it’s a family favourite for my Mom and my Brother. C’Mon Join The Joyride !

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Travel

Blatant Promotion

It’s just after 4:30 AM CST / 5:30 AM EST, and I’m wide awake on this Saturday morning. I can’t wait to get back in my own bed tonight for the first time since 5 nights ago (Monday). During the month of February I have slept in my own bed with my own blanket and my own pillow a grand total of 16 out of 27 nights. Tonight will be the 17TH night. Even more revealing is the fact that I’ve only been at work for 8.5 work days (out of a possible 19).

It all returns back to a normal routine starting tomorrow – appropriately the First of March. I’m looking forward to it. February has been way too hectic for me.

Today’s trek back home to Homestead involves my brother’s car to the airport (DFW), an American Airlines MD-80 jet from Dallas to Jacksonville, a random taxicab at the airport, and then finally my own car from Florida’s First Coast down to America’s Riviera.

Depending on how everything goes and how I feel tonight after this long trek back home again I’ll post a fresh new ‘Saturday Night Retro’ tonight. If I don’t do so then I must have gone to sleep immediately upon arrival of my own bed with my own blanket and my own pillow – or I never made it home.

Please pray for my safe return back home again.

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Blogging Travel Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

What’s happenin’ my blogging friends ? !

– I am now in Allen Texas.
– It’s a northeastern suburb of Dallas.
– It’s where my brother and his wife and their dog call home.
– It’s in the mid-80s outside right now.
– This is North Texas in February, so that will soon change.
– Tomorrow it will only be in the mid-50s here.
– On Saturday when I board a plane for Florida wind chills will be near freezing.
– I’m looking forward to returning home after this long road trip.
– Allow me to briefly explain this road trip.
– I left Homestead Florida shortly before 4:30 AM on Tuesday morning.
– I drove about 375 miles up to Clay County (near Orange Park).
– I then picked up my parents, and we drove about 345 miles westward.
– That’s about 720 miles of driving for me in one day !
– We stopped for the night in Milton Florida (just east of Pensacola).
– We ate Dinner at a fancy Mexican restaurant called La Hacienda.
– We got back on the road again on Wednesday morning.
– We made it another 415 miles – straight into the heart of Louisiana.
– We stayed at a hotel in Alexandria – near their airport.
– Their airport used to be England Air Force Base for 50 years until 1992.
– We completed the long road trip into Allen Texas today.
– In all I’ve driven about 1,450 miles since Tuesday morning.
– Only the first 375 miles was done in my car.
– My car is still sitting in Florida in my parents’ former driveway.
– That’s right – former driveway.
– They are now residents of Texas.
– I moved them and their cat in their car.
– They lived in and around Jacksonville for over a dozen years.
– I fly back to Jacksonville International Airport on Saturday.
– I then take a taxi back to my car some 35 miles away.
– I then drive 375 miles back home to Homestead.
– I’ll be back at home late this Saturday night.
– Don’t worry I’ve still got your ‘Friday Night Blogroll Review’ tomorrow.
– I’ll also do a ‘Saturday Night Retro’ once I get back home.
– Most importantly I’ll see a lot of you at Life Pointe Church on Sunday.
– I have no trips planned for March, April, and May.
– That’s the way that it needs to be.
– I’ll be all tripped out come this Saturday night.
– It’s been a really crazy February for me.
– Perhaps the craziest of them all.
– I want March to be mundane.
– I can’t wait for it to start on Sunday.
– I can’t wait to go back to work again on Monday.