Stories

Amongst all the hastles of packing and moving...
I missed noticing my ATM card expired on February 1st. That means I'm cash broke.
Thats going to make this a VERY interesting trip.
Technically, we're vagrants right now.

Finding Charles Kelleys place turned out to be very difficult. The one lane backroads were difficult to see at night, then my GPS went on the fritz. I pulled off the road to fix it and got stuck.
After a few minutes, I was dug down deep. I fellow pulling a trailer came by and offered his help. We unhitched his trailer, but still couldn't pull my truck out. Some one else came along. Then an off duty volunteer fireman came by. Then an off duty police officer came by. Before you could say grits, there was about 14 people there, all offering their help. I thought that was so cool.
We called Charles from a churches parking lot a quarter of a mile from where we got stuck.
The drove by us and asked us if that was us at the black church. I thought that was funny.
We followed Charles and Renee to their 7 acre plot of land with a double wide on it.

The coast in Florida was beautiful. Crystal clear ocean, with the whites sand beaches that I'd ever seen. We stopped at a convenience store and for the heck of it, I got some of their gumbo in a to-go cup. It was GREAT!
Alabama
Who'd guess, that the route would take us through a highway that averaged 20mph. The houses along the route were extremely dingy. Maybe there's more to Alabama than what we saw, but, I'd never go back.
Mississippi
The road improved A LOT, going across the state lines from Alabama to Mississippi. It seemed like everything changed. Meridian looked like it could have been a nice town to hang out at.

Monday, we stayed in Tallahassee, Fl at an interesting motel for $40 per night. In the parking lot, there were kids swinging sticks around and I thought it might be unsafe...BUT, they were students studying martial arts. Their swords were dull, 12 pounders. Walking around, I found a Sasha, Tea, Coffee house with wireless internet and a belly dancer. People buy a bowl of aromatic tobacco, and smoke it for an hour in an opium pipe. Pretty strange, but it seems to work. LOL.

The only people that say "it's how you play the game that counts", are losers.
Unless I missed something, the scoreboards are full of scores, not ratings or opinion polls.
If you play by the rules, you either win or lose. If you don't play by the rules, you are cheating.
So, If you stink at golf, don't play Arnold Palmer to win.
If you play for the fun of it, play Arnold Palmer and waste his time.

I like Forest Gumps answer, that he thought life is a little of both.
Then again, I like Skip's answer, that he didn't give a f.
Whether on not we chose to thinks so, we pick our paths in life.

Just woke up from a dream of me laying down, not sleeping.
A car alarm was triggered outside, and I realized I was in a pool of sweat.
Why does the temperature in this apartment vary so much?

The things I thought were Excellent:
- Places: Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Pleasure Island, the Cruise, Epcot, Key West, downtown.
- Terrain: trees, rain, ocean, lizards, alligators, swamps. The plant live, animals and insects here are widely diverse.
- People: Most are very laid back. Everybody seems to treat you like a friend.
- Food: There's a restaurant on every corner. The BBQ is actually smoked meat, not just sauce on brisket.
- Businesses: A thimble collector could have a lucrative shop here.
- Driving: No one honks their horn here. Drivers here don't pay attention to the road, but they are laid back.
The things that need improvement (sucked):
- The phone system. You may have to dial phone numbers four times to satisfy the phone system.
- The news is stupid. If what the news has said is true, justice doesn't work for poor people.
Its very irrelevent. A truck driver snoozed, rear ended some people, and the news mentions he's a sex offender. Why?
The news was showing weapons retrived from a gang at a park here. They were knives you can buy at a 7-11.
- The justice system:
A sober, poor immigrant landscaper hits a 4 year old who runs out into the street. He runs.
They catch him and give him a public defender.
The public defender pleads him guilty. He gets life in jail for hit and run. Why weren't the parents charged?
Any immigrant who has an accident here will have to run. They will be afraid of American justice.
His life was ruined by the parents who let their 4 year old run around unsupervised.
He would have gotten charged with criminal negligence no matter what he did.
- The roads, street numbers and street names are a mess.
- Most of the lakes are accessable only if you own a house on the shoreline.

Sun 4am-Orlando
Mon 5pm-12hrs-1236 Pleasant Ridge,Forrest,Ms (680 miles) leave Tue 8am.
Tue 5pm-08hrs-9427 sr-dd,Bloomsdale,Mo(1181 miles) 500miles
08hrs-Lincoln,Ne(1668) 487 miles
07hrs-Cheyenne,Wy (2100 miles) 432 miles
08hrs-Salt Lake City,Ut (2541) 441 miles
04hrs-Cedar City,Ut(2793) 252 miles
03hrs-Las Vegas,Nv(2965) 172 miles
50 hours

Orlando,New Orleans,Ida,St Lake City-46
Orlando,New Orleans,Houston,San Antonio,Tucson,Phoenix,Grand Canyon-46
Orlando,New Orleans,Memphis,Ida,Topeka,Denver,Albuquerque-45
Orlando,New Orleans,Ida,Oklahoma City,Albuquerque-44
Orlando,New Orleans,Houston,San Antonio,Tucson,Phoenix-41
Orlando,Ida,Oklahoma City,Albuquerque-40
Orlando,Ocala,Atlanta,Nashville,Paducah,Ida,St Louis,Kansas City,Topeka,Denver-41
Orlando,Ocala,Atlanta,Nashville,Paducah,Ida,St Louis,Oklahoma City,Albuquerque-40
Orlando,Mobile,Shreveport,New Orleans,Amarillo,Dallas,Albuquerque-37

Thinking about coming back to Vegas. Thinking about all of the favors I've done there.
One good deed every day can add up to the thousands after years go by.
I'm saddened that I'm not worth a free phone call during the holidays.
Some think this planet might be another planets hell.
This planet is simple and beautiful. People make it hell for each other.
John Lennon couldn't spread the truth with his song (Imagine).
People just keep blowing each other up, stealing, politicing land away from others.
If only people could see, the harm they do others hurts themselves.
We only think we are individuals. We can't see that we are components of a single life force.