Long day

Who is Stagger Lee?

Been listening to Chris Kristopherson sing a song about him.

You know I trust people who take care of my vehicles. Wrong!! The guys who pumped up my tires put way too much air in them. I have banged and swayed, bumped and bounded all the way to SC today. I feel like I had been run down by a bus instead of driving one. It was very windy too ...right on the beam.....weather helm big time. Sailing lingo!! The roads in this part of the USA are awful. For those of you who take 301 to 95, going N is terrible. Pot holes right in the tire track so you cannot avoid them. Then I95 was very busy. I got to GA and suffered through miles and miles of construction, narrow lanes and slow speeds even on this sunday.
I tried to stop in GA but campgrounds were all full. I had called Point South earlier and left a message. They never called back so I didn't know if I had a spot or not. When I pulled in here, I would have slept in the parking lot. My neck, hands and shoulders sure could use a good rub down. Guess I will have to settle for another glass of wine and a tylenol. Bummer!

I went to the Moffat Cancer Center in Tampa the other day with Sharon to join some cancer patients for lunch. The Center is large but the appearance is nothing compared with the work they do there. These patients were all Melanoma victims. Since my sister Marilyn passed away from Melanoma in 1974 at age 37, I found my emotions pretty raw listening to their stories. There is so much happening right now as opposed to '74 when there was barely anything. Marilyn never had a chance. There is an entire language attached to Melanoma now. A huge break through is about to happen as two drug companies prepare to present and manage a trial together. Brent is one of victims of this disease. Tomorrow he flies to Houston, TX to MD Anderson Cancer Ctr for more tests on the result of his current Mek trial. He is being flown by 3 separate pilots of small planes called Angel Flights. Most of the pilots are female. What a blessing they are when you consider his flight out and back would have been $600.

I want to comment on a difference I observed between Tampa area and the Naples area. I love Naples as my special place but the level of anger has been on the increase and this year it was actually scary. Tampa is not as beautiful or as rich and is more populated but I didn't see any evidence of anger from the motorists. No horn blowing or birdie tossing or screaming obscenties out of the window. Something to think about.....

Sharon and I went down to the Power Plant to view the Manatees. There were many of them there, all sizes. I think they feed them cabbage leaves since they cannot find food naturally there and certainly can't swim out into the creek to eat when the water is so cold. Many calves have been found dead this year with grass in their stomach which says they tried to swim out for food and suffered from the cold. Power Plant water is 79 degrees; creek water the other day was 66 degrees. They are all identified and named by the scars they carry on their bodies.

Today was my Dad's birthday. He was riding in the passenger seat all day chewing on a cigar. Thanks Pop!

Gotta take Bashey for a walk before I crash.... We are well on our way.