My big Week! Three Dog Night My Family, Florida, My Team Wins!

Well, I had a big week. Two Three Dog Night concerts, one at the legendary Surf Ballroom (The last venue Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and Big Bopper played at before their plane went down) and the other at The Crystal Grande Concert Hall in Wisconsin Dells, great shows and chance to see for few friends.  By the way Three Dog Night has anew song Called "Prayer For the Chidlren" A heart felt poignant how stopper!  Check it out at Prayer For The Children

 Then it was on to Milwaukee to see my son and his family, followed by a visit to brother and his family, then a stop on the way home to see my sister.  It was a 700 mile round trip and power visiting at its best.  Then I was off for some R & R and the beach in Jacksonville, Fl.  Even going to try and write...something?

The trip got off to a less than sterling start when I discovered, after we checked into the hotel we park and fly out of, that I had left my prescriptions sitting on the bathroom sink back home.  So at 10 PM we were on the road back home to fetch them, instead of relaxing in our hotel room. So after a 200 miles roundtrip, followed by 2 hours sleep and up early to catch the early bird flight to JAX.

Welcome to Jacksonville.  Nice airport and getting our rental car was a breeze so we headed to the beach   We had a great meal at the Sun Dog  Grill & Bar at Jacksonville Beach,  Then it was off to the city fishing pier to watch the surfers ride the waves that Hurricane Katia was stirring up 400 miles east and creating great surfing conditions . Definitely cool to watch the boarders ride that wild surf...

Before we left on this road trip my son and my brother ganged up on me during my visit mentioned previously and gave me royal hell over my need to get in shape!  Seems my formerly large   brother, (who has lost 60 lbs and is now a lanky fairly fit fellow) and my Tri-athlete son (who did a 70 mile bike ride that day) failed to recognize the fact that I actually had lost a whole 7 lbs over summer and had committed to myself to get off the duff and get the rear in gear.

So I started out my day (today) in Jax today with a long walk…I also discovered what happens in a state with no income tax and counts hanging chads.  I was so few other unique things I have not seen in the upper Midwest where I live...

1. No sidewalks or curb and gutter in most residential areas.  Also no one in this part of Jacksonville mows there lawns in the residential areas or does yard work.   A for rent sign said $2,000 for what appeared to be an average 1 story 3 bedroom house.  The lack of yard work (in what appears to be a pretty fair residential neighborhood) was a far cry from the Melbourne, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa/St. Pete, Sarasota areas I have visited and even other parts of JAX.
2. In the business area where my hotel is, the side walk is only on one side of the street.  The side across the street from my hotel.  You have to walk a block in weeds along the road to get to the intersection to cross to that sidewalk. 
3. The street that runs along the side of the hotel would not make a good alley back home, narrow, no curb, no sidewalk and it is in fact is a busy a two way public city street.

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School buses are all over and they are all doing 45 to 50 MPH ion areas with 25 MPH speed limits.  Elementary kids are on their way to school around 7:45 Am, but I see the high school students waiting for buses and walking to school at 9:15 Am., so I am guessing they don’t start until?  A bit different than what we would normally see in the northlands.

4. Jax public works recently put in street bridge over a stream in this neighborhood and there was in fact a new sidewalk for a block before and a block after the bridge on one side of the street.  At the bridge, there was no sidewalk on the side that connected to the sidewalk on the other side of the bridge...   Now, there was a sidewalk across the bridge that connected to nothing.  Go figure! Who approved that project?  Definitely a fubar/snafu.

5. Then there was a Native American Operated Reservation tobacco shop, on a major street, with a big sign that said “All brands $28.50”.  Wow! Almost made me want to start smoking again! Right now in Minnesota the price of a carton is about $58.00. Oh, the place had a drive-thru

We spent the evening glued to the motel TV and slept like a log after our Green Bay Packers outlasted the New Orleans Saints.  What a shoot out. 

After the lights were turned off, I lay in bed and it crossed my mind this southern big city was not too bad, but as I lay there I reflected why I live out in the country surrounded by soybean and corn fields.  The first I thought that popped into my mind was, I can walk to my mail box in my underwear and no one would care…or see me.  Can't wait to get back home and make a mad dash to the mailbox!

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 My New Book Game of Death: The Interstate Murders