What a Long Strange Trip it's Been

I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari... and then.... the whole shebang just ended right there folks.  (That's for those of you that know the song "Willing" and our attempt to hit all four towns in it, along with a corner in Winslow, Arizona.) Ahhh, the plans of mice and men.  When we last left you, we were on an extended road trip out West, having made the decision not to go to Italy...  because everything was on lockdown over there.

So we decided to head out West, and of course, as we traveled farther from Florida, the world slowly changed and ultimately drew to a crawl.  So we lined up a very nice little casita in the desert mountains of the Oro Valley in Arizona to ride things out. 

Before hiding out though, we made an obligatory stop in Tombstone for another Boo Radley Tee shirt sighting photo op, but then off to the desert we ran.

The place was perfect, isolated with great wildlife, hiking and biking.  The mornings were graced by bunnies and birds playfully scavenging their days intake ignoring the humans intruding on their world.  As my mind works, the thought that perhaps these furry and feathered friends would one day be our future meals flittered in and out of my mind's imagery.  I do like rabbit.  I recalled conversations with my Grandmother explaining why they came to America, and more so why there were no pigeons in Southern Italy.  But in that moment the bunnies and birds would continue their playful antics as we stocked up on food, beer, wine, scotch, gas, beer, wine and scotch.  We even scored an abundance of toilet paper.  As far as isolation, we were pretty much set to ride things out.

But as all good things come to an end, within days we saw the writing on the wall, and began to fear the US domestic lock down coming soon.  We were in a good place, yet everything we owned was in our storage bay in Tallahassee.   This included all my affectionately named "End of Times" gear.  Yes, it is true, I have been expecting the end of times since 2008, and also have lived in the Keys through many hurricanes, as well as Michael in Apalachicola, and had always been well versed in the ways of preparation regardless of the current emergency.  However, at this point in time, all of my EOT preparedness was back east in a storage bay.

Admittedly, I had with me my rudimentary Colloidal Silver manufacturing kit, (Don't leave home without it!) but there was soooooo much more I needed to be adequately prepared for that was about to unfold.  I could see it coming in the crystal blue sky, I could feel it in the dry desert breeze, I could taste it with each gentle sip of single malt I rolled over my tongue.  At the time everyone was focused on the Spring Breakers in St. Pete, and there was talk of closing beaches.  It was also around the time that so many politicians were assuring us that there would not be domestic travel restrictions.

In my short Libertarian influenced life, one thing I could always count on.... if the Government says they aren't intending to do something... wait a week.  Or if they tell you something is temporary like the Income Tax, or Highway tolls.... well, you get the point.

The decision was made (none too lightly) to leave our pristine little bungalow in the isolated desert, and boogie back east.  We loaded up in a flash and made the bee line back for Florida.  Our good friends Janine and Kathy offered us the use of their house, and our other friends the Woodducks suggested we park a camper in their compound.  We oddly had sold our beloved 1991 Toyota Dolphin just as we were expecting to board a plane for Sicily, yet even more odderer, we had run into our friend Mark Friedman in Tallahassee as we were packing our things into storage in January.  He owned a beautiful, almost new travel trailer directly adjacent to our storage bay and had mentioned off the cuff that he was selling it.  What did we care at the time, as we were off for Italy?!?!  Right?

So, due to the fact that since that moment our life feels like the following, I will now make an attempt at the longest run on sentence in the history of odd blogs in the end of times.... hang on!

We drove straight back from Arizona being careful to use hand wipes and latex gloves at gas pumps, stopping briefly in mid Texas to price RVs and of course to stand on Main Street across from Mr. Blues in Robert Earl Keene's home town, as we heard about my old job opening up on the Naval Air Station in Key West, and arrived at Janine and Kathy's for a night or two, met Mark in Tally and bought his RV and loaded up all our End Of Times (EOT) gear and headed back to Woodducks' where we enjoyed his well prepped compound, ran crawfish traps and ate luxuriously of wild game, applied for my old job at the Naval Air Station, took the RV to a nice place in Crystal River, got the job, and we are now waiting for an Easter Sunday entry into the Keys where we have a slot reserved at Geiger Key Marina and I plan to start work April 24th at Naval Air Station Key West.

And that... is all she wrote, whoever she is.

Regardless, it's not all I will write... there is more to come, a lot more.  The rest of the Bowery Station story, a new format to share our musicians' music in a virtual BS setting, pictures of Lisa not working while Matt slaves away over a hot computer... there will be a lot more to come, yes indeed.

Stay tuned, stay safe and be well one and all!!