Category: Travels
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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Christmas, 2015
On a Christmas Day, we were mushing our way over the Dawson Trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka’s fold, it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we’d close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn’t see; It wasn’t much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee. …
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Holiday Lights On Holiday Nights: A Visit To The Edison/Ford Estates
[The Banyan tree with a bronze of Edison standing guard] We arrived about thirty-five minutes before sunset. Heading for the admission window, we passed the largest Banyan tree in Florida. There was a family on the path in front of us. I heard the mother: “Isn’t that amazing that this is one tree?” “Not really,”…
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So Near Yet So Far Away/The Three Hour Tour
You’ve been waiting. Waiting by your warm hearths sipping an extra strong egg nog. You’ve posted your last holiday cards and only two remaining items are on your “to do” list. You have to figure out who is going to get the re-gift this year. But, what you’re really waiting for is the next chapter…
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The Old Man And The Sea
My father was the keeper of the Eddystone Light, He slept with a mermaid one fine night. Out of the union there came three, A walrus, and a porpoise and a little old me…” –An Old Sea Shanty I’m sure that you think differently of me now. Now that you’re thinking of me as a…
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The Fate Of The Ancient Mariner
A dream that has drifting through my brain for four decades has finally come true. I’m learning how to sail! The course I’m taking is for five days. On Friday, the other student (Russell from Canada) and I will be taking the 26′ boat out on our own. That ‘alone’ part means the instructor will…
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My 301st Blog: The Walls Of Fort Myers, The Benches Of Central Park And Fluffy
Remember me? I’m Fluffy. My human is the guy who writes these blogs. I’m here to cover for him because he made a mistake and is unwilling to go public with it. I’m also here to help him segue into two other topics about his recent time in Florida that he wants to “bundle” into…
patrickjegan 