The best frat house party ever imagined.
The most incredible adolescent wet dream unfettered by real life experience.
Bourbon Street.
Wow!
This place is many things. What it is not is a safe place for addictive personalities. It is far too easy to lose oneself down there, and never wish to come up for air. And this wasn't even Mardi Gras.
Go.
Whatever the excuse, whenever the opportunity, go. The adventure will not be regretted.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Monday, January 17, 2005
From Here to There and Back Again (With Apologies to J. R. R. Tolkien)
First, let me recommend not breaking your tailbone.
Second, let me further recommend you not have a job requiring extensive air travel if you are unfortunate enough to have disregarded the previous recommendation.
Third, permit me to finally recommend that if you choose to ignore one and two above, don't offer to drive a rental moving truck across the country. Even if it is on behalf of you child.
Or, if you are as thoroughly masochistic as I appear to be, go ahead and do all the above and simply make the best of things.
Following the day-after-Christmas breaking of my tailbone, I flew to Maine. The next day I flew home. The day after that it was off to Worcester, Massachusetts (add to that trip the bonus experience of a van trip in a poorly suspensioned vehicle). Then on January 4th and 5th, it was a flight back to Washington, D.C., then on to San Diego via Baltimore and Denver. It was almost a relief to hit the truck after that!
The trip home was every bit as long as the drive out with my son's truck was this past summer. We didn't get away until nearly 9:00 at night, so the sightseeing I had hoped for wasn't to be. Worse than that though, at the rest area just before El Centro, California, heading East on I-8 (still "the 8" I suppose since it is in California, but I'm an easterner!) we discovered that the two left rear tires had chosen to no longer retain air. Not what one wants to discover near midnight in the middle of nowhere! The rental company quickly found someone to get out there though, and in little more than an hour we were back on the road again. Three or four slashes in the tires were never explained, but at least the adventure wasn't ended almost before it began.
The late departure and flat tires totally destroyed our planned schedule. After a few failed efforts and a final detour looking for lodging brought us out on I-10 35 miles west of Phoenix instead of east, the relatively early stop we had planned instead wound up happening at 9:30 AM rather than six hours earlier. Things gradually improved, and by Friday we saw most of the daylight available and not too much more of the night than we wanted to. Note to anyone crossing Texas though: El Paso to Texarkana is NOT the way to go. That route is longer than long, and the only bright spot to that segment of the trip was a falling star seen between Ft. Worth and Dallas. We deserved some free fireworks by that point!
We finally reached Quantico late Sunday night. It was with slight amusement that I wound up leading the kids to places on the Marine base, even though it is almost twenty years since I was last there. 2:30 AM Monday morning they finally got me back home. After too brief a nap in my own bed for the first time in too many nights, I enjoyed an uneventful day off and then took to the road again. How relaxing to be back at work once more!
Now if only the whole tailbone thing would clear up enough to let me look forward to flying again.
Second, let me further recommend you not have a job requiring extensive air travel if you are unfortunate enough to have disregarded the previous recommendation.
Third, permit me to finally recommend that if you choose to ignore one and two above, don't offer to drive a rental moving truck across the country. Even if it is on behalf of you child.
Or, if you are as thoroughly masochistic as I appear to be, go ahead and do all the above and simply make the best of things.
Following the day-after-Christmas breaking of my tailbone, I flew to Maine. The next day I flew home. The day after that it was off to Worcester, Massachusetts (add to that trip the bonus experience of a van trip in a poorly suspensioned vehicle). Then on January 4th and 5th, it was a flight back to Washington, D.C., then on to San Diego via Baltimore and Denver. It was almost a relief to hit the truck after that!
The trip home was every bit as long as the drive out with my son's truck was this past summer. We didn't get away until nearly 9:00 at night, so the sightseeing I had hoped for wasn't to be. Worse than that though, at the rest area just before El Centro, California, heading East on I-8 (still "the 8" I suppose since it is in California, but I'm an easterner!) we discovered that the two left rear tires had chosen to no longer retain air. Not what one wants to discover near midnight in the middle of nowhere! The rental company quickly found someone to get out there though, and in little more than an hour we were back on the road again. Three or four slashes in the tires were never explained, but at least the adventure wasn't ended almost before it began.
The late departure and flat tires totally destroyed our planned schedule. After a few failed efforts and a final detour looking for lodging brought us out on I-10 35 miles west of Phoenix instead of east, the relatively early stop we had planned instead wound up happening at 9:30 AM rather than six hours earlier. Things gradually improved, and by Friday we saw most of the daylight available and not too much more of the night than we wanted to. Note to anyone crossing Texas though: El Paso to Texarkana is NOT the way to go. That route is longer than long, and the only bright spot to that segment of the trip was a falling star seen between Ft. Worth and Dallas. We deserved some free fireworks by that point!
We finally reached Quantico late Sunday night. It was with slight amusement that I wound up leading the kids to places on the Marine base, even though it is almost twenty years since I was last there. 2:30 AM Monday morning they finally got me back home. After too brief a nap in my own bed for the first time in too many nights, I enjoyed an uneventful day off and then took to the road again. How relaxing to be back at work once more!
Now if only the whole tailbone thing would clear up enough to let me look forward to flying again.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Happy New Year
It is amazing how quickly time can slip away when one is busy traveling. Since the last time I took the time to comment here, I've been stranded in Hawaii for a week (I know - I didn't get any sympathy about that on the home front either), visited California, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and Virginia, squeezed in a Christmas and the celebration of another trip around the sun.
On the subject of Christmas - I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Should you choose not to celebrate that holiday, that's fine. Please simply accept the sentiment in the spirit it was intended. In turn, I promise not to take offense if you wish (or wished) me a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yule, offer me the finger or choose to say nothing at all. All I ask is that you commit yourself in this new year to joining those who refuse to go out of their way to find any possible excuse for offense in any situation. There are plenty of legitimate issues to get upset about on a daily basis. Be satisfied with those problems, until they are all resolved.
While it is my intent to resume regular postings, the travel schedule interferes more than I originally expected. Just after getting back in the saddle tonight, I find myself flying to California starting tomorrow for a cross country drive that will occupy the rest of my week. This is the reverse of a trip I made in July, and with luck I'll get to document at least a few of my thoughts and observations along the way.
Be well.
On the subject of Christmas - I hope you had a Merry Christmas. Should you choose not to celebrate that holiday, that's fine. Please simply accept the sentiment in the spirit it was intended. In turn, I promise not to take offense if you wish (or wished) me a Happy Hanukkah, Kwanza, Yule, offer me the finger or choose to say nothing at all. All I ask is that you commit yourself in this new year to joining those who refuse to go out of their way to find any possible excuse for offense in any situation. There are plenty of legitimate issues to get upset about on a daily basis. Be satisfied with those problems, until they are all resolved.
While it is my intent to resume regular postings, the travel schedule interferes more than I originally expected. Just after getting back in the saddle tonight, I find myself flying to California starting tomorrow for a cross country drive that will occupy the rest of my week. This is the reverse of a trip I made in July, and with luck I'll get to document at least a few of my thoughts and observations along the way.
Be well.
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