Friday Night 6-4-'10...12 .5 hours on the road with my two youngest sons...They not once uttered the dreaded "are we there yet, pappy"...The GPS kept it all real! I can't believe what great travelling companions my tow-heads have turned into...and FUNNY!!
No Fast Food...(daddy made nice wraps with BBQ, Cous Cous and deli stuff...and ate most of them, himself.) just 'pit-stops' to relieve the boredom of the asphalt, and the pressure on our bladders! Why is it that when kids have 10 bucks in their pockets, they just have to go to some spot and blow it on say, a pocket full of (mumbles)...or Skittles ???
I-75 is a trip in and of itself...Too many insane Pulpwood Drivers for my taste. I just know they've got a Mason Jar of some bev to take the edge off the bennies...and that shit gets reckless. I have precious cargo to deliver, you ass-hats! Came down through Athens, GA...Macon...and on to the Panhandle of FL...where the tone got more somber. 250,000 gallons of crude being spilled into the Gulf...Daily. The locals are terrified. This is an unprecedented catastrophy...and the Revolution Starts...NOW!!
We hit the room at around 8-9pm...dropped our stuff, and proceeded to grab a slice at Gigi's House 'o Pizza on Treasure Island...Land of the Ex-Pats, Keouac the Prophet, and The Out Of Sight Shop. Just the best!! back to our room in one of the last 'real' motels on the western Gulf Coast of Fla. Nothing fancy...good rates, clean sheets...and the pool's right outside our door!
Logan and Clay with Carter ("Blues-Boy")
I missed Donna, already. She decided not to make the trip due to her brother Joe's battle with life and the end of it. She didn't want to be the one to say..."damn, let's go, we gotta get to Tenn., ASAP"...plus the poor girl's Rotator Cuff surgery (1 month, now) is giving her hell.
Regarding Joe...I feel like I gotta jump in with as much vigor and resources as I can muster, and help him do what he WANTS to do, rather than what the "System" has available...and that sure as hell ain't lying in some half-assed nursing home waiting to drift off into Stardust. While the staff might know the particulars...they sure as hell don't know, or want to know...The Man. And he's thinking about Hunter Thompson...and I'm thinking about building the Cannon. So, we're taking matters into our own hands, and moving Joe back to his comfort zone...Home.
But, I digress...
Update....7-21-2010
Joe is home, and is under the care of Hospice. He is losing his battle with his body...but he's winning the battle to 'Live Life Like You're Dying'. So many dynamics in family life. Mike Rutherford (Mike and The Mechanics/Genesis) coined it beautifully in his tune "In The Living Years". Closure, words not left unsaid, emotions running high...and the clock keeps ticking. Donna spent over a week with her big brother...se pic below...and got to know a great many things about what Is and what Isn't. Kids come out of the fogs that have kept them apart for years...and repent, share love, sorrow...and hope that the bridges can be repaired.
Esoteric?? maybe. Triumphant Epiphany?? damn right!
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