I forgot I had taken this shot of my loaded van just before I pulled out of the driveway. Not everything in there is mine: two-thirds of it is taken up with some old computer equipment I’m donating to the museums in Altenburg and Athens.
Morning started off great
I mentioned how I had gotten a good rate on a small, but clean room in Lake City. When I checked out, I had a nice chat with the desk clerk. I asked if he knew of anyplace close where they could replace a nosepiece on my eyeglasses. He suggested Eyeglass Express, just up the road.
Kristina (“With a ‘K'”) McFarland replaced both nosepieces at no charge. They even grind their own lenses there. I’m tempted to get my next set of glasses in Lake City just so I can watch them being made.
Even cheaper rooms
I might have been able to get even cheaper rooms here on 231 outside Troy, Alabama, but I think the sign may have been all that was left.
It reminds me of the place Friend Shari and I ran across last year.
A squirrely encounter
Yesterday’s rest stop photo involved horsin’ around. Today’s photo was a little squirrely. I couldn’t figure out what a young couple was doing. They were running around trying to take low-angle photos with their cell phones and tablets.
Finally, I saw what intrigued them: there was a squirrel running around on the sidewalk. The woman got some potato chips out of her car and tried to entice the little rodent into eating from her hand, but it wasn’t biting, so to speak.
I should have checked out their car tag to see where they had come from that didn’t have squirrels. (Like yesterday, I didn’t even have to get out of the car to shoot the rest stop photo.
Where’s my peanut brittle?
The Oaks Restaurant in Marianna, Florida, has the best peanut brittle I’ve ever eaten. I picked my route specifically so I could snag some for family and friends who also love it. I even called ahead of Friday to have them set aside seven slabs of it for pickup on Monday or Tuesday.
When I got to the place, I was sure glad I had called ahead because the basket where the crunchy nectar lives was empty. The cashier called the owner – Eddie, I think his name was.
Eddie said, “I thought you were coming Tuesday.”
“I said Monday or Tuesday. I’m usually late, but I’m actually either on time or early, depending on how you look at it.”
Eddie broke the news to me: he hadn’t been able to get the word to the woman who makes the brittle. He’s leaving her a voicemail message in the photo. “Could you not smile so much?” I asked him. “I need a sad photo to show all the people I’m going to disappoint.”
No tailgating this guy
As soon as I saw the “Explosives” placard on the back of this 18-wheeler, I decided to pass him and put some distance between us. Maybe I should stop at a truck stop to buy one of those signs to put on the back of my bike.
I should roll into Cape late Tuesday afternoon.
Ken, I’m glad u explained that u are donating computer equipment. When I saw the pic, i thought, “good gawd, he carries his own laser printer!” Doesn’t he know he can load files on flash drive and take to Walgreens or Office Max to print.
When I was in the Army in Germany, I drove a truck with “Explosives” written on the ft on and rear bumpers. In reality it was Crypto equipment used in surveillance of Eastern block nations. Very expensive equipment. Most likely , that is also what you actually experienced.
Peanut brittle? The best roasted peanuts I ever had were bought at a roadside stand in Alabama. It would almost be worth the drive down to get more. Another bike ride might be even better if I wanted to eat a lot of them. But in the same region you can find roadside stands where you can buy peanuts that have been ruined by boiling them in the shell. Extreme goodness and extreme evil, side by side. I’ll bet they could make good peanut brittle down there, as long as they kept away from those people who do the boiling.
I have to agree with you about boiled peanuts. I think you have to pronounce them “biled peenus” before you can appreciate them. I was covering a hurricane in North Carolina with a young woman reporter. She just about died when the local farm report came on the radio and the announcer talked about the penis harvest for about 15 minutes. I had to translate the local dialect for her.
And yes, it would be good to know what kind of place it is that produces people who can smile at squirrels. Though at our place, the really deadly enemies are the chipmunks. Both are Enemies of the People, but is easier to defend our house from squirrels than from chipmunks.
You people have no soul! My daughter and I once raised a little gray squirrel from a baby. “Squirrel Nutkin” lived for several months in an upstairs spare bedroom, sleeping in a ball cap, hanging on a chain from the ceiling. During the day, she hung out on the curtain rod, waiting for me to come home.
She was the cutest little animal I ever saw!
I took her to school with me one day, when I had to teach an ACT class. The kids loved her!
We set her free on my farm, and thereafter I had a population of gray squirrels to add to my red ones.
Your car looks about like our RV as we attempt to get it loaded to head back north. Living in it for three and a half months we have accumulated a lot of extras, but nothing a museum would want. Have a safe trip.
You have a bicycle pump but no bicycle? Why?
Cheers,
Matt
I need the pump to top off your grandmother’s wood cart.