Driving Means More Obnoxiousness

We were going to fly to Florida for our nearly two weeks at Disney World. Now we’re driving. This means a few things. Obviously it means we’re leaving earlier and getting home later and it also may mean cutting the last day at the parks a little short. It means we’ll have a car with us for the whole time which implies we can leave the resort if we need to (as in, we need to buy protein bars or something). It also means gas money. We are going to do our best to leave the car in the parking lot for the whole trip. Disney provides transportation between everything on the resort so we will be able to travel all over the place without using our car. That’s the goal, and it’s worked fine the two times we’ve stayed on the resort in the past.

There are other things that driving allows too, and for me it means I have the opportunity to be WAY more obnoxious. Heh Heh.

I was planning on taking two cameras, the new Z5 and the film FG-20. I was planning on taking one lens for each camera. I was also planning on leaving some of my film behind, just the two rolls of ISO 800 film that I picked up from Amazon not too long ago, out of fear of X-Ray/CT scans at the airport. I was also planning on bringing some envelops with me so that I could ship film off to the lab a couple of times, rather than fly home with them and risk a second X-Ray/CT scan.

Now that we’re driving? All of the lenses are coming. All of the film too. No more worries about luggage space on the plane. We’re taking the Mazda because it’s the bigger of our two cars, and with just me and Jen on the drive we can fill up the back seat as well as the trunk. That means we can take the kids’ suit cases so they don’t have to check their bags, and it also means nerd boy can take his big camera bag rather than just putting the two cameras into his carry on backpack. Oh yeah, babie. Robbie is going to be photographically insufferable. Insert maniacal laughter here.

Driving also means we will have to load up on protein meal replacements for the drives down and back. I was likely going to do that anyway, but this just adds an extra couple of days to consider. It also means Jen and I will need to do laundry more often, though possibly the same number of times but needing to do the first loads earlier in the week. Something like that.

What else does it mean? I’m thinking! We might end up listening to an audiobook during the drive. Something like that. Maybe I’ll put together a Rob’s driving while Jen is sleeping music playlist. I once made a playlist of favorite guitar moments from the Big UK Three, Clapton, Beck, and Page. I shuffle it and let it go. It runs for a few hours. I only get the urge to use that playlist on long drives. Maybe it will get some use.

That reminds me! Total change of subject.

On Monday Jen, Bellana, and I went car shopping. We were in our second dealership and we found The Car. As we sat down in the office to start the purchase process, the classic rock station playing in the background (it was a Boch dealership. Ernie Boch, Jr is a rocker. Jen and I saw his band play at the Brad Delp Memorial concert back in the stone age. Ernie and the Automatics. Two ex-members of Boston were in the band. Or was it three ex-members… I can’t remember if Fran Sheehan was in the band or not, but Barry Goudreau and Sib Hashian [aka Dwayne The Rock Johnson’s father in law] were) played the Golden Slumbers medley by The Beatles. Pretty much my favorite thing in the entire Beatles catalog. I took it as a sign from the music gods that we were buying the right car.

Not long after that the radio played Trampled Underfoot by Led Zeppelin. I haven’t heard that one in years. The next song they played was Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton. I thought to myself, two songs by two of The Big Three in a row. If they play something by Jeff Beck next it will be more proof that universe approves of the car purchase. They did not play a Jeff Beck song next. Oh well.

But wait, there’s more!

Last night we went back to the dealership to pick up Bellana’s new car. The song that was playing as we walked in the door? I’m a Man by the Yardbirds… with Jeff Freakin’ Beck on guitar. Holy Shit Nuggets! They weren’t consecutive, but the universe gave me all of The Big Three. Woah!

Anyway, back to planning the trip and being obnoxious… I can’t think of anything else right now. I’m sure I will later, and I am sure I’ll write a 50 page essay describing it. Until then, go listen to some Jeff Beck and then maybe go buy a car.

Everything is in Flux

We are booked to fly to Disney World on Wednesday January 4th and to fly home on Thursday January 12th.

Two of the four of us likely will keep those flight reservations. The other two? Probably not. It’s still all up in the air right now, but it looks like Jen and I will be driving to Florida, probably leaving on the evening of January 2nd in an attempt to both get South of New York City by the end of that night, and to get to the Orlando, FL airport in time to meet the kids when they land. The reason is medical and I am not going to mention it because it is minor overall, but it is just safer to not fly.

Coming home, the flight is in the late evening. Jen and I will probably leave in the morning, possibly after spending a little time at a park though equally possible we will just leave from the hotel, and take two days to drive home. The kids will get home on the 12th and we’ll get home on the 14th or maybe 15th if we dawdle.

It’s going to be insane, but we’ve done it before and it will be a fun addition to our already epic trip. Just think of all the extra film photos! Wow!

In less chaotic news, we are supposed to head to Norwood tonight to pick up the car we bought for Bellana two days ago. The hope is that we will leave as soon as I punch out of work. I am going to need to bring a protein bar or two with me and have them for dinner on the drive. I thought we were going to have to stop at Dad’s on the way back, but maybe now we have to stop at a grocery store instead? I don’t know yet. We probably won’t know until it happens. Once it’s done though, our brief experiment with being a one car household will end.

It’s been a crazy few days here in our house. It’s going to be a crazy next 2-3 weeks too. I am so freakin’ ready to go to Florida. I would leave right now if I could. After last night with the cat and all of the other shit that’s gone down I just want to get the hell out of here for a couple of weeks. I want to crawl into a hole and hide. Granted, I want to take the bathroom scale and a film camera and my new mirrorless camera into the hole with me, but the idea still stands.

Let’s Freakin’ Go.

Dixville Notch

My new favorite picture.

Leaf Peeping

I guess we will go leaf peeping today.

Lots of pictures, most look like trash, but one or two might be okay.

I have my D90, my Coolpix, and my iPhone. I dropped the Coolpix but I think it’s okay. I’m leaning toward my iPhone for random rest stop/gas station stuff. The leaf peeping is all D90 though.

Isn’t this fascinating?

The Scenic Route

We drove up to Vermont to have lunch with the kids. We left ridiculously early so that we could take the scenic route. We left the highway at the Vermont line and went back roads the rest of the way. We stopped at Quechee Gorge and a couple of random spots. There aren’t a lot of pictures but here are a few.

I was afraid we were going to be stuck behind this guy for hours. He was going 29 in a 50.

We stopped at this field to stretch our legs. I liked the view. The next door neighbor was a Jehovah’s Witness building. Oddly we found two Jehovah’s Witness places today.

Harry likes Stok Cold Brew coffee. I’ve never seen it like this before, but I really haven’t been paying attention.

The reason for the trip. The college crowd.

I thought this looked cool. Sorry.

Scenes from a Road Trip Part Three

Random moments from stops on the road yesterday.

What’s the deal with whale tails in Vermont?

This might be the cover for my next album, which will be called “awkward turtles have weird babies:

Stretching My Legs

Welcome to New Hampshire. I just crossed the state line coming out of Vermont. I still have about 100 miles to go but I pulled over to give my legs a good stretching. I’m in a Walgreens parking lot and the store is closed. That didn’t compute for me until I looked at my watch and saw it was 9:10pm. Oh, yeah. Closing time.

Okay, time to get back on the road. I need to get home with enough time to do my 30 minutes of walkies. Yikes!

One Hour Along

One hour into the return trip to Vermont. Somewhere near New London, NH.

Time for some Calcium supplements and maybe some Tylenol. You look overwhelmed with excitement.

Heh heh heh

Heading Back?

We drove up to Burlington yesterday, had brunch with Bellana (which was wonderful), then dropped a few things off at Harry’s new dorm room and helped him set a few things up. That was great too.

After we were done helping Harry we headed North, which is 100% in the wrong direction. We wanted to make the ride home a sight seeing thing. We drove across the islands in the middle of Lake Champlain. The lake looked amazing. We did get stuck behind a draw bridge for a while, and we also got stuck at a rail road crossing. There was no train. The gates came down and traffic in both directions stopped. It was weird until an ambulance drove up, the gates came up so the ambulance could cross, and they didn’t come back down. There really was no train. Did the ambulance trigger the gates?

Eventually we ran out of islands and just headed South. We left the highway for traffic reasons a couple of times and didn’t get home until after 8:00pm. It felt so good to just get out of the house and road trip like a couple of road tripping road trippers again. I really enjoyed the whole thing. I especially enjoyed the kid time and the Jen time, but the whole thing was great.

……and now we are going to do it again today?

Jen is at a doctors appointment. She’s texting with Harry about some additional things he needs us to bring up to him. I have a half day today for a doctors appointment at 2:00pm. Since I’m already leaving work early, I can just head up to Burlington again and take care of things. Why wait until the weekend? Jen and I are texting about planning things. I’m not clear on whether or not she will come up with me. I’m 100% committed to this today. The only question remaining is will I be able to stop at Quechee Gorge on the way home.

Road Trip Take Two, babie! WOOHOO!

Scenes from a Road Trip Volume Two

Friggin’ point and shoot. The settings dial moved in my pocket, It went from Auto (where I want it) to Scene with the scene in question being soft focus. I wouldn’t say most of the pictures were ruined, but I will say they SUCK. Here are a few anyway.