Leaning to the finish
Last night after work I stopped at the running store to grab some more entries for this weekends half marathon. I am REALLY looking forward to getting the race behind me. There are a lot of moving parts to the race and this year it is even more so since we are using bib based timing devices, two timing boxes at the finish, a third one to collect names for the PA announcer and another set of timing boxes at the halfway point of the race. I am just a bit anxious about it all coming together. I need to utilize my lists heavily to make sure I don’t forget anything.
My dad had an interesting day yesterday while I was at work. He drove out to Ave Maria (Catholic Town) to hang out at the coffee shop there for awhile. After doing that he decided to visit the casino in Immokalee. He was there for over 5 hours playing blackjack. He had some good luck and then some bad but emerged $14 ahead. He said he enjoyed himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes back there today.
Last night for dinner dad and I headed down to Zookie’s, the nearest sports bar to me, in the same shopping area as Dunkin Donuts. The parking lot looked absolutely jammed but I was surprised once we stepped in the door that because of the size of the place, there were still plenty of tables available.
We both had fish tacos and a couple of beers. It was a fine way to spend a Thursday evening.
During the long trip to PA with Sadie by my side I gave more thought to a loose plan I had for another road trip. I have been considering hopping in the SSR and going for a long road trip, possibly all the way to the Pacific Ocean. My plan was to do it myself, thinking it would be a great way to really see the country and realign myself.
As I was driving the 3000 miles last week I questioned if I would enjoy doing such a trip more alone or with someone else. I realized that just having Sadie along made the drive much more bearable despite her inability to carry on a conversation or switch off driving responsibilities. Just having her riding shotgun with her always on happy meter was reassuring and made me feel like I was sharing the experience.
It made me unsure if trekking across the country with just me, myself and I would be more parts fun/exciting or depressing. I should make mom come along. It’s just the medicine she needs.
Speaking of the SSR, the CEL light is on again. I need to hook my code reader up to it. Depending on what it reads I may take it to the dealer to get some use out of the extended warranty I paid for.