A.G.E's Joint

  If you have been following along on Facebook and Instagram, you know I spent a week in that fabulous den of iniquity and corruption, New Orleans. It was a trip planned several times, each time getting postponed for one reason or another. Finally, the stars aligned. My wife and I got the wheels moving on Sunday morning for the seven hour trip. Unlike other trips I could name, we didn't run into much traffic either there or back. Which is a nice change from my usual experience.  So, how do you describe the city in a swamp where the dead are buried above ground? It is a Jack-Of-All-Trades place, a combination seaport and oil town with a mix of people you won't find anywhere else. As with many other seaports, bribery is how you get things done. There are different terms for it: taxes, donations, tips... Add them all up and your travel budget just went up 15%.  Bring folding money. None of these folks take cards.  Yeah, I'm being a parsimonious cynic.  It's also a ...

What a morning.  Jimmy had won a trip to the beach at the dealership. But it wasn't a Kingdom by the sea and a big yacht. Instead, it was a small four-room cabin and a flat-bottomed barge designed to troll the marshes. Jimmy smiled when he saw it.  "Ooh, fresh seafood." As he put the car in park. "And who do you think is going to clean it, Cowboy?" The kids giggled in the backseat.  "I'll help you. Uncle Chuck taught me." Kathy wasn't sure about that. Chuck might have been who their son was named after, but he was about as useless as a fish on a bicycle. That was going to be her job. She didn't mind, though. It didn't take long to offload everything and set up the cabin for the night.  The next morning the four of them stood in silence when the Captain, a tall thin black man, introduced himself and walked them around the rusty craft. Emily spoke up.   "So, how do you make it go?"  The man laughed. " Hop aboard and I'l...

  A week at the beach Girls lined up along the pier To get thrown into the air It's all on video For everyone to see And make bets on whether Tops stay up This one is cute That one isn't. That one is too old This one is too young An artificial rush Maybe we should find a real one.

We interrupt your story for a vacation. Is it to Telluride ? I wish. I had lunch with a friend yesterday and she showed me a brochure for the house she just contracted for in Aurora. She moves in June. I’ve never been there. John Denver said it was a fantasy in moonlight to get high there (not that I do that anymore). And it sounds so much nicer than Buffalo. My current fantasy project is called “One Lap of America”. I take a trip around the country to all the sites I’ve been told about over the years. The original plan was thought up when I was in high school and I saw an article in the Whole Earth Catalog on converting school buses into living quarters. It was a nice day dream, but real life got in the way of the mojo . Now I have more time the dream has been rekindled. YouTube is a treasure trove of Nomad attention seekers willing to give me tips and advice. And, my wife is somewhat on board with it. We’ve done a couple of trade shows and looked at rigs that would fit. W...

Tooling down the highway In a stretch limousine Tell the driver to pull off To get some caffeine We were waiting For the line to flow forth An advert looked back For a nudist resort Driver went to the head I sipped hot liquid And wondered what That place would have listed Too much sun Too much drink Nekkid people frolicking A communal sink. Amenities shown With attractive ladies You can’t pray a lie, I found that out. None were liabilities. Too much flesh To be under the sun Too much information To be such fun. “How far is this place?” I asked the driver with a pout He caught me by the arm “Three miles due south” Another adventure? I thought with a smirk As I piled into The back of the Merc Oh, why not? My driver agreed. It would be lark Being all freed. A small white sign Sat at the drive Pointing through the woods Where we should strive. And strive we did Roostertail in our wake To have our skin Marvelously baked. Without prompting Our shirts levitated As our hopes Would ...

Our topic this week is "Lost and Found". When said, most people think of this Where bags go to die Another way to think of it is what has been lost to society as time has progressed or regressed. My wife Kathryn and I took a trip to the highlands of East Central Tennessee this past week and Fall Creek Falls State Park to escape the madness of the city. The original intent was to camp out and hike the falls. But further research discovered the Mountaineer Folk Festival, a large craft show, was being held two weeks earlier than we had originally planned. Kathryn wanted to go, so I moved our departure two weeks earlier to accommodate her (after all, if the wife isn't happy, no one is). Because of the event, I found the park to be completely booked up for the weekend. The lady on the phone was great. She referred me to a local RV park called Mountain Glen. A couple of quick calls to the proprietor, Joyce, we were set to go.   The trip up was uneventful exc...

Oblivious To the obvious Red elephant In the room Twenty foot tall Ignoring it You just plug in To your world An opportunity missed Because it's strange The Ramones you  Would rather hear This time won't  Come again Learn now To accept it all.