patrickjegan

January 20, 2016

At The Alamo: All The History I Needed Was On My Pajamas

[Source: Google search] I grew up in a time when kids had heroes. Mythic heroes. These days, it seems like anyone who performs his or her duties is a “hero”. It’s fair to say that most children, throughout history, had their own heroes. The ancient Greek boys had their Spartans and the Irish youth had…

January 18, 2016

Dear Moxie…

So long, honey baby Where I’m bound, I cannot tell But goodbye’s too good a word So I’ll just say “Fare thee well…” –Bob Dylan “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right“ Dear Moxie, We’ve been through a lot in our short life together, Moxie. But there comes a time when the best thing to do…

January 15, 2016

Confessions Of My Scrabble Nemesis

Mariam thought she was going to be visiting her fellow high school graduate…from the Class of ’63, the Long Island City High School in Queens, NY. Why else would we be driving for hours through the Texas Hill Country to the small town of Burnet, TX? We had three days to spend in the great…

January 13, 2016

Night Of The Living Entropy

[Just to give you the right perspective. We are a small fish in a large sea of RV’s] [en-tro-py n, pl -pies 1 : the degree of disorder in a system 2 : an ultimate state of inert uniformity] —Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2014 ed. I recently completed reading Deep South by Paul Theroux.…

January 11, 2016

Don’t Mess With Texas

All the tired horses in the sun How am I going to get any riding done? –Bob Dylan “All The Tired Horses” Well this is a fine howdy-do. There is some good news and some bad news in this here posting. The good news is that we joined Cosco and promptly spent $139.95 ( +…

January 7, 2016

A Silent Eulogy: Late But Heartfelt

Is it possible that a eulogy can take forty-one years to deliver? The dreaded answer is yes. I know because I spoke that eulogy…silently, silently so that only I heard the words. It was a rambling prayer over a heart-breaking death. I knew the young man who had died. In truth, I was with him…

January 5, 2016

The Tomato Place And The Perfect Man List

This is the coldest night of our trip. After complaining about the heat and humidity of Florida, we’re shivering in the chilly air a few miles south of Vicksburg…still alongside Highway 61. My trusty thermometer tells me it’s 37 degrees just fifteen inches behind me and through the thin wall of the R-pod. I push…

January 4, 2016

Out On Highway 61

You leave todays newspaper unread on the table next to your front door. A dozen flies buzz around the hole in your window screen next to the formica table in your kitchen. They get in despite the wad of toilet paper you use to plug the hole. You walk home from a bar. You weren’t…

December 31, 2015

Dark Roads And Distant Lights

So much of Florida is simply and without question, beautiful. The beaches come to mind. The wetlands of the Everglades are near the top of the list. The seemingly endless forests of the Ocala National Forest are a reminder of what Florida once looked like before Disney, Developers and Big Sugar got their hands on…

December 27, 2015

To Let: Site # 143/ A Farewell To The Sunshine State

[As I write this post, Site #143 is occupied] On December 30, 2015, around noon, the radio in our red Ford Escape will begin to emit static. It will crackle and hiss as my favorite country music station fades in strength. Fort Myers will be receding, falling away into the south…into the muggy soupy haze.…