Thanksgiving Post (part 4)

The trip was fantastic. We had such a good time. Solstice really seemed to enjoy the time spent w/ Jean & Tiffany which makes me happy because I was afraid she was bored. As far as the drive home is concerned, along w/ the licence plated already listed, we saw the following: Illinois, Alaska, Louisiana, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, & Nebraska. All in all, 33 states & 1 province. The music on the way back consisted of a nice collection of rock, country, & classical:
Friday -
Allman Brothers: Fillmore Concerts
Grateful Dead: Reckoning
Rachmaninoff (2 times)
Beatles: One
Violent Femmes
Saturday-
Car Talk
Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
Ryan Adams: Ashes & Fire (2 times)
Ryan Adams: Heartbreaker (2 times)
Ryan Adams: Jacksonville City Nights (2 times)
Whitey Morgan & the 78s (2 times)
Phish: Billy Breathes (2 times)

And now for the final installment of the ship's log... enjoy!
10:18 - Depart from Doolin Inn after breakfast
10:26 - Turn on Bond St.
10:30 - Bought cheese @ Kroger's
10:42 - Burger King fries
10:57 - Questioned the news that the new Mars Rover will only talk 8 1/2 months to get to Mars
11:12 - Cheated death*
11:23 - passed the BP from which we got direction the night before... it's called Ron's Market
11:45 - Arch rock adventure on the side of the road**
11:53 - Cumberland Falls State Park
12:05 - Saw a slew of snails
1:30 - On the road again
1:50 - Barn photos 3 & 4
2:20 - Busted out pie
2:44 - City of Berea
2:46 - Bond St.
3:10 - Barn photos 5&6
3:13 - Fort Boonesboro
4:18 - Back on the road
4:20 - Saw a sweet waterfall***
4:30 - Marveled @ stone fences like the stacked ones in Ireland
4:35 - Barn photo 7
5:20 - Killed the cheese
5:25 - Offroading through a Kentucky field to get a sunset photo
5:49 - Realized that the "Franklin Y'all" water tower is actually the "Florence Y'all" water tower.
6:00 - Ohio
6:36 - 1st sighting of gas under $3:00#
7:15 - Gas @ a BP station. #.02 per gallon, $37.00, 1456.8 Miles
8:05 - City of Wapakoneta: Dinner @ Waffle House
8:20 - Toast allergy confusion##
8:50 - Neil Armstrong Museum%
9:50 - On the road again
10:25 - Michigan
11:09 - Home%%


*Turning off if US 27, Sara: "Oh My God, we're gonna die!!!" She almost missed the turn & then may have overreacted a tad.
** We pulled off into a fire station parking lot to see the arch & a huge dog came out of the woods. There was a lot of noise which suggested another huge dog, but it was actually a tiny lap dog. They were funny friends.
*** After turning around on Redneck Blvd.
# In Franklin (not Florence), OH
## Sara had to explain to the server that she isn't actually alergic to toast, but rather to the gluten
% It was closed but we saw stuff outside. Got a picture of me by the Moon thing, but only later realized that a picture of me mooning it would have been awesome
%% Neighbor's Xmas tree confirmation after the little melei that occured a couple weeks ago

Thanksgiving Post (part 3)

Once it became clear that we'd be traveling to Georgia to see Jean & Tiffany, the jump from that to road-tripping through the Smokys to visit Davy Crockett's Birthplace State park became obvious. He was a childhood hero of mine & since then I've always been interested in him. We planned to drive straight north from Jean's, see that, then head up to Kentucky for the night. As it turns out, we got side-tracked by all sorts of other roadside attractions & couldn't make it to the State Park. We also had to nix the drive up US 25W through the 2 mile tunnel that crosses the TN/KY state line @ the Cumberland Gap. It all turned out well though. Here's the log:

8:57 - Departure from Covington, GA*
9:06 - Saw a cop car in an accident w/ a semi
9:13 - passed Booger's Hill Rd
9:15 - Stopped for a photo of a dilapidated old barn for a possible coffee table book of dilapidated old barns. On Rt 81 just before Walnut Grove.
9:15 - Passed McNutts Creek Rd
9:50 - City of Athens**
9:51 - Saw a police escort for some kid carrying a football
10:23 - Gas in Athens: 817.9 miles, $30.00, $3.29 per gallon
10:31 - Unintended adventure via wrong turn (or lack of right turn)
10:39 - Found US 441N after some trial & error
10:50 - Georgia's largest flea market. No one was there. Big let down.***
11:04 - Busted out pie
11:22 - Stopped for 2nd dilapidated barn photo
11:53 - Entering Chattahoochee National Forest
12:00 - Tallulah Point Overlook & hilarious gift shop. We sampled boiled peanuts... gross!
12:40 - Passed huge sign reading "GOATS!"#
12:56 - North Carolina State Line
1:15 - Smoky Mountain Visitors' Center
1:30 - Scottish Tartan Museum in Franklin, NC##
2:35 - city of Cherokee
2:52 - Smoky Mountain National Park
4:07 - Tennessee State Line
4:52 - Hit 1,000 miles (Between Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge)
6:23 - Didn't find a Mexican restaurant
6:45 - Found a Mexican restaurant. Lake City "La Fiesta" exit 129
7:31 - Drove over weird white tarp thing on I75. No damage to the car.###
7:54 - Kentucky State Line
8:05 - Gas in Williamsburg, KY. $3.19 per gallon, $35.00, 1110.3 miles
8:22 - Welcome to Kentucky sign... again???
8:28 - on Rt 90 West towards Cumberland Falls State Park
8:29 - Daniel Boone National Forest
8:53 - Stopped for directions^
9:07 - Mystery animal crossing the road... possible jackalope sighting!
9:20 - City of Somerset
9:30 - Doolin House Inn B&B

* "Smells like Georgia outside"
** A nice looking town, but it lacked a certain musical flair one would expect in the home of REM & Widespread Panic
*** perhaps they were eating leftovers
# "Oh, there's weird shit going on there!"
## Bought a scarf but not Haggis flavored potato chips.
### It may in fact have had something weirder like an animal under it
^ Andre: "This road is really windy & narrow in the dark."
BP Attendant: "Yeah"
Andre: "How far to US 27?
Attendant: "7 miles"
Andre: "Thanks"
Attendant: "Bless your heart"

Thanksgiving Post (part 2)

The holiday went swimmingly. We had a great time; we sat around & did next to nothing all day. I got to kick a ball around for a while w/ Jeanothan for the 1st time in a couple years. We watched WKRP & the Lions game. Good times indeed. And most importantly, after my shower, while wearing my bathrobe, Dan & Elizabeth simultaneously pointed out that I look like Rocky (Cousin Eddie's son in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). Now, in keeping w/ my archive fever, here's a series of lists referring to get us all up to date.

The Food:Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Corn casserole
Green been casserole
rolls
Cranberries w/ almonds
Cranberry sauce
Cherry Pie
Pecan Pie
Turkey gravy
Mushroom gravy
Portabellas
Wine
Beer

The Music in the car:
Fun Country Mix (skips)
Alt Country Mix
Mother McRee's Uptown Jug Champions
Bob Dylan: Christmas in the Heart
Grateful Dead: American Beauty
Beatles: Abbey Road
Tony Rice: Manzanita
Flying Burrito Brothers: Close Encounters from the West Coast
Miles Davis: Live Evil
Bela Fleck: Perpetual Motion
Glenn Miller: Chattanooga Choo Choo

The Licence Plates:
Michigan
Ohio
Kentucky
Tennessee
Georgia
Florida
Massachusetts
Maine
Indiana
North Carolina
West Virginia
Virginia
California
New York
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Texas
Mississippi
South Carolina
Oklahoma
Wisconsin
Alabama
New Jersey
Utah

Thanksgiving Post (part 1)

Here's the 1st day's worth of the trip log. We got a small notebook & kept detailed notes of the drive. Enjoy!
6:45 - Leaving Boggs ($3.29 per gallon)*
7:30 - Crossing the Ohio state line
8:40 - McDonalds drive through for breakfast. Sara's eggs were nasty & they screwed up Solstice's coffee.**
10:15 - McDonalds bathroom break*
11:00 - Kentucky state line
11:20 - Franklin, KY water tower: "Franklin Y'all"
12:00 - Lexington, KY Marathon station. 327 miles, $3.25 per gallon*** Sara Takes over driving***
12:30 - crossed the Kentucky River
12:38 - First sighting of a tree that still had leaves on it
12:45 - Mullet confusion
1:35 - looking for a death-defying tunnel. Found the Col. Sander's Cafe & Museum. It has a certain je ne sais quoi
1:55 - Back on I75 via US 25 W
2:15 - got water @ a Shell station on US 25 W
2:29 - Tennessee state line
3:00 - Museum of Appalachia (w/ continuous complaints from Solstice)#
4:00 - Back on I75
4:15 - Constructed chronological list of CDs to which we'd been listening
4:20 - Traffic jam in Knoxville
4:30 - Started eating a block of cheese sans crackers
4:40 - Saw our 1st Georgia licence plate
4:43 - Put away the cheese in order to construct a list of the licence plates we'd seen
5:21 - Traffic jam over
5:29 - Tennessee River in the sunset... beautiful
5:57 - Gas & Dinner @ a BP Station. 20 bucks in the tank. 559.9 miles; $3.19 per gallon. Andre takes over driving again. {{Sara's notes start here}} ("Dinner" seems questionable - "Junk food" is more specific)
6:34 - Chattanooga (w/ scenic overlook we suspect it actually looks nicer after dark w/ the lights of the city & w/o the industrial crap##)
6:46 - Georgia state line
7:27 - Decided against stopping @ Popcorn Haven^
7:33 - Saw sign for peach pie & composed a tongue twister^^
7:45 - Stop @ BP station. Failed experiment w/ a "Dickie's Pecan Roll" (claims of divinity were decidedly exaggerated)
8:25 - Atlanta
9:09 - City of Covington!
9:10 - Discovered Mater juice box under the seat while looking for the pen
9:21 - The Arrival!


* Forgot to get ice
** Conversation @ McDonalds:
Me: "These eggs are undercooked & nasty."
Cashier: "OK. Well remake them & make sure they are well done."
Me: "Just done would be fine. You don't need to go from 1 extreem to another."
*** got ice (& a pen)
# W/ lots of peacocks & chickens
## We apologize for the vulgar language here.
^ 2 nays w/ 1 abstaining
^^ Impecably prepared peaches placed precisely in a perfect peach pie

Every Dude Gets Pays his Dues: A Bitch of a Day in the High Court

the other day, I hinted @ an adventure earlier this week. The Fact that Cosby is coming to Nicola's tomorrow made this other adventure take a back seat. This other adventure, my day in court, needs telling though.

Here's the thing. You may remember that a couple years ago I totaled my Ford Escape. Well, when that happened, I got a ticket & also a "Driver Responsibility Fee" from the Secretary of State office. I promptly payed the ticket & replaced the car w/ a Ford Taurus that died a month ago, but was unaware of the state fee. Apparently it came in the mail. Who knew? Fast forward to last Dec. 22nd. I was pulled over for a burned out light on my licence plate @ which point the officer told me my licence had been suspended for not paying the $200.00 fee. When I said I didn't know I'd had the fine, he said that most people find out about it when they are pulled over & told by the cop. I got the light fixed, paid the fee, but w/ the holidays I forgot to take care of the actual ticket.

A couple weeks ago, I got a letter in the mail reminding me to take care of it. Sure, I thought, no problem. So last Tues. I called the court to find out how much I owed & if I could just pay over the phone. What follows is a rough recreation of the conversation (that occurred after 10 minutes on hold).

Me: "Hi, I need to take care of an old ticket."
Her: "What's your name?"

So far, so good. Nothing out of the ordinary. I explained the situation & waited for the total. Here's where things went south. After another couple minutes on hold, the conversation continued thusly (I know there are plenty of problems w/ the word "thusly," but it makes me chuckle):

Her: "There isn't a fine, there's a warrant & you need to come in & speak w/ a judge."
Me: "What to you mean, 'a warrant'?"
Her: "A warrant for your arrest. Driving on a suspended licence is a misdemeanor."
Me: "SHIT! What happens now? Can I take care of it today?"
Her: "No, there are walk-in meeting w/ the judge on Thursday [remember, this was Tues.]. When you see the judge, he or she will determine the penalty which could be up to $500.00 &/or 93 days in jail."
Me: "WHAT???"

I canceled my 11:00 class on Tues. & went to court. As it turns out, I was the only walk-in person who looked anything even resembling decent. I wore a coat & tie. Everyone else was either ready to go hunting in orange & camo, or go do a drive-by. I was admittedly shocked by their appearance. I was 3rd in line so I got to see what happened to 2 people before me. They needed to take care of old fines & set up payment plans which went smoothly so when the judge then proceeded to read me my rights, ask how I plead, & advise me to get a lawyer, I freaked out. I'd spent the previous 2 nights sleepless fearing the worst, while I was sure that they wouldn't actually lock me up for this. The reading of my rights reawakened all those fears. I plead guilty, to which she re-advised me of my rights, the possible punishment, & made sure I didn't want a trial.

What would a trial have done though? I'd clearly done what I was charged w/ doing & a lawyer would only have increased my end cost. She then swore me in & listed to my whole story. Afterwards, she (& here I'd like to interject that she was really nice, pleasant, & kind of cute) agreed that I was clearly guilty, gave me a fine of $300.00 & sent me on my way. In hind sight, it was so easy! I even told the bailiff on the way to the cashier about how scared I'd been. He said, "We try to be a user-friendly court house." It was funny, & in the end, I came out w/ 2 things. 1) a bloggable story; 2) a misdemeanor on my record. I looked through a list of misdemeanors, & it turns out, mine is about as boring as they come. Next time, maybe I'll try for indecent exposure, public drunkenness, or suspicion of mischief. Fingers crossed!

Bill Cosby @ Nicola's Part 1: Na Na Na We're Gonna Have a Good Time

I had a bit of an adventure the other day, but that 1 will have to wait until tomorrow as I have 2 more coming up early this week before a 3rd on Wed. On Monday, I have a dentist appointment which wouldn't normally count as an adventure, but w/ this sweet sweet clip, it seems an appropriate inclusion on this post. What do I have to get done? I need to get a broken tooth fixed which could end in a root canal. I hope to avoid that, but regardless, the real awesome is to come Tues. evening as we have American pop-culture legend Bill Cosby coming to Nicola's for a signing @ 7:00. His people called the store to set up an event in Detroit but then called back & said he would be in the store instead. I'm sooo freaking excited! If you plan to come, you should know that he'll only be signing his new book (so leave your Pudding Pops box & Betamax copy of Uptown Saturday Night @ home), he won't be reading, & he won't be posing for pics w/ people. I imagine it'll be huge, but you can get a line ticket number in advance. I would think that if you have a number, you needn't get there until 6:30 or so. I saw him on Letterman a couple weeks ago, & he was still fantastic. I'll have to hit Value World & see if I can score a nice cozy Cosby sweater for the evening. Here are a few videos, the first of which is from his concert, Bill Cosby: Himself, in which he discusses dentists.Dad is Great!

Is the Hiatus Over?

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted. What w/ the weather and all... plus I've been busy w/ work & the kids. Besides, the readership has been on the decline so it lost it's priority status. That's ok though because we're back, baby! Drifting into Deep Water is in full effect! (Just like Public Enemy.) It seems like the way to kick things off after a month long hiatus would be w/ a proper soccer post. However, in lieu of a proper one, here's a mediocre one for you to enjoy.

First up: In over the hill, drug addled, former Newcastle & England international star news, our favorite nut sack pain faced over the hill, drug addled, former Newcastle & England star, Paul Gascoinge (known to those in the media but probably not actually to his friends as Gazza) has recently admitted he spent 4 months eschewing food & water for a preferred diet of cocaine & whiskey. Now, I've had my fair share of whiskey over the years (though I've never done coke), but 4 months seems a tad extreme. Maybe I'm just a prude, but 4 months? Really? He claims that he needed it to fill the void lest in his life after he retired from football. if that's the case, I guess I better play until the day I die. I suppose the other response could be "4 months? Come on... man up! Ozzy could do 4 months of coke & booze standing on his head!" but that doesn't really seem responsible does it?
in his Newcastle kit, demostrating his "nut sack pain face"Second up: Donnie's favorite metrosexual former ManUre star turned current Real Madrid star, Cristiano Ronaldo, missed a sitter this week in the Portugal Euro 2012 qualifying play-off against Bosnia & Hertzogoviniad%jkfhla#kjfaja (sp?). In the end, it didn't really matter as Portugal qualified anyway, but he was embarrassed & ended up blaming the bumpy turf, claiming, "That wasn't grass, it was a vegetable patch." I guess he now knows what it's like to play @ Independence Park in Canton week in & week out. To be fair, I already know what's it's like to miss easy goals. The reason this is news though, isn't simply that he missed a goal... even I do that sometimes... the real issue here is that the patch of turf he blamed has sold at auction for 4,000 GBP. I thought this was a joke when I first read about it, but it seems to have made all the papers (or @ least all the ones that cover football minutia which in turn means "all the good papers").

I think this is all I've got for today. Oh, France beat USA on Firday 1-0 & then drew w/ Belgium 0-0 yesterday, but now we can get back to the SOP of the league stuff this week. After the loss to France, Team USA went on to beat Slovenia 3-2 in Ljubljana%hjkh#jkh (sp?). That said, we may now be back to our SOP on this blog as well. I'm not making any promises, but we'll see.

PS I know I've said this before, but let's leave comments in the comments section rather than on Facebook... it keeps the comments w/ the post for archiving purposes, & I have archive fever!