Sunday, September 6, 2015

After England: American Road Trip!

     Last day in Malvern Link! Got up early and took care of the hound, met Deborah, the lady who would watch Nessie the one day between my departure and her people' arrival and after a brief SNAFU where Enterprise forgot to pick me up I drove the rental car to Heathrow, dropped it off and got through security with no trouble. That was surprising because LuAnn was looked at quite carefully but apparently that was random? Anyway, here's Dublin from the air!



     After a short uneventful flight I got through the "US Pre-screening" which basically meant I cleared US customs in Dublin. So that was weird, but cool. The guy said "You've been through 17 countries in 9 months and THAT'S all the luggage you have?" to which I replied "Well, yeah. plus this guitar." He shook his head and waved me through. I haven't flown into Boston in many years and I forgot how pretty it is!


   The long-ish flight got me to Boston Friday, and I waited an hour and a half for the Hertz rent-a-car because there were so many people in line and so few clerks. I was NOT pleased. Nevertheless I got a bitchin blue Chrysler 200 car, met up with some old pals in Burlington and had a blast. 



     Saturday morning after breakfast at the diner I grabbed some guitars and drove to Buchanan, NY to visit more pals, including the newest member of their clan above, got some more guitars and had another blast!!

     Regardless, I doubt we'll be house sitting again soon, so it's a moot point. You can't please everyone, but evidently pissing everyone off is a cinch. Meanwhile, blue Chrysler 200! Thing goes like a scalded ape! I want one but really it's not in the budget, especially until I find some work.



     Sunday it was off to NJ to visit my pals on the shore, then to DC to pick up LuAnn's art, that we left there, then the rest of the way to Richmond VA to visit my folks. After a nice night's sleep at the Arboretum there we had breakfast at yet another diner and finally I drove to Jacksonville in 8 hours flat (with two stops for gas & pee). Whew! Got all my guitars, LuAnn Dunkinson's art and got back in the fold with the wifeypoo! Yay! Let the Southern adventures begin!



     This week we bought a fancy Fiat 500 and secured an apartment since we have to be out of this short term rental Sept 26th. I was leery of buying a Fiat for various reasons, but we've driven several of them in our trips to Europe and LuAnn just loves them. I must admit she's pretty fun to drive; the car, I mean. 



     I wanted to name her Fiona cause she's Italian and fat and green like in Shrek, but we settled on 'Sophia' instead. Have I mentioned the beaches here? 'Cause DAMN! So clean! So flat! Prefect for running! And the water is so warm! Hallelujah! I'm already loving it here!



     
     Other than that there's been a deal of errands that needed doing while LuAnn was at work and now finally we have a weekend together so we went first to Jax Beach and then headed down to the St Augustine lighthouse. 



    St Augustine is having their 450th anniversary but the weather wasn't so great so we came home and watched Batman reruns. Good times! Got some new friends to see over the holiday and I hope you all have a fantastic one as well. Cheers mates! Happy Labor Day! Thank a union worker for your day off!

No comments:

Post a Comment