Thursday, May 7, 2009

It don't get much better than this!

On the road again and headed to Memphis, TN.  I am sitting here at a Pilot Truck Stop in Valdosta, Georgia as I type this.  Ate dinner at the nearby Waffle House and that experience practically drove me - running - back to the Wanderlodge so that I could drink a couple of shots of mezcal to get the Waffle House taste out of my mouth. Here I am running the A/C, watching the TV, and surfin' the net as the sun goes down and the lot lizards commence their nightly mating calls on the CB radio. 

Doesn't get much better than this, right?



 This will be the first run of the latest modifications to my trailer, and I am carrying a motorcycle as well as the Rover.  So far, maybe 150 miles into the trip, things are riding well although I did notice a tiny dent in my Conch Republic front license plate that looked suspiciously like the crash bars from the bike caught it.



Oh well. Land Rovers and gnarly touring motorcycles are supposed to be a bit beat and rusty. They are meant to be used and used hard and often. There are no trailer queens in my little fleet.

On top of that I am personally becoming increasingly annoyed at the New Keys tourists whose idea of something adventurous is to try a different drink flavor at Margaritaville.  Those people have no clue about the Keys when Key West was a working community and the last outpost for scoundrels, smugglers, and the military. That bent Key West vanity plate represents the antithesis of the matronly and cranky New Keys women, who fly in from Heathen Northern regions, and then proceed to complain about the heat and the uncivilized, crazy men of the Keys as they wear their fake Hawaiian shirts from one tourist trap to another.

There.  Thanks for letting me vent ;)

Anyway, more photos of the traveling circus:




The shop here at the Pilot gave me a good price on an oil change.  The reliable ol' Detroit takes 7 gallons of oil and the particular oil that the "experts" on Detroit Diesels recommend is pretty hard to obtain.  I ordered some before I left JAX so with a little luck we'll be taking care of that project tomorrow.  We would have changed oil tonight 'cept that they couldn't get the trailer in the shop bay and I was too tired to unload the Rover and drop the trailer.  Tomorrow, however is another day, as they say.

Turns out that Graceland has an RV park.  That's right - I will be staying in Elvis' very own trailer park while in Memphis.  I'm also getting there in time for the Memphis in May bar-b-que contest, so there should be some tales coming out of this trip.

Stay tuned!