Responsibly Wed
01.16.2026 Got out of town on a boat*
Hey Now! Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. Come inside, come inside. In this chapter, Sweet Ti, Stretch and I are traveling south once more to visit and bob around for a bit. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We are officially Responsibly Wed. It's been quite seasonal back in Gloucester Co. VA . Last December it snowed twice which is highly unusual. It hasn't snowed enough to cover the ground once in the last 2 winters. But it lightened up a bit after the holidays. We had been having HVAC issues for some time and decided on just changing out the entire system. But the company we hired couldn't do the replacment until the 15th. The day before we leave. But everything went well and we made our way to RIC and parked Foxy at the Park n Go. Hopped a nonstop Jet Blue "Even More". Best seats ever y'all!
Boom! Into FLL and shuttle to Cypress garage and grab Midnight, the Sportage.
And off we go! Our plans are to see Sweet Ti's old Workmate Marie François (Maggie) today and see our dear old friends the Toczynski's tomorrow. Maggie lives over near Lake Okeechobee and Zig & Bo are in Boynton Beach. So I split the difference and booked us a room at a boutique hotel in Lake Worth Beach called the Palm Breeze. Got a killer rate thru AARP Expedia. They are currently doing reno on the rooms. Maybe we will get lucky. The traffic up I-95 wasn't too bad and Sue the GPS found our abode for the next couple of days in a rather charming residential area in Lake Worth. Kinda has an old school Florida feel to the neighborhood. I find the office and check in with a most pleasant lad. Being as it's around noon, our room isn't ours yet. We go to Plan 9 from Outer Space. We are planning on meeting Maggie for lunch and so Sweet Ti calls to tell her that we are on our way to The Original Mario the Baker. It's clos to her house so it's an easy drive for her. Turned out to be a good call. Great pie, friendly service and a very casual atmosphere. We visited for hours.
the girls
I'm sure that we will be back soon for yet another excursion and visit. Back at the ranch, we get the code for our room. Well the bad news is that it hasn't been renovated, but the good news is that it's clean.
Room 3
We crashed early. Long day, more fun and excitement lie ahead.
01.17.2026 Going to the Southern Islands*
Hey Now! I had given Sue the GPS a waypoint for the nearest Dunkin; which is indeed VERY close. Yet another reason for choosing the Palm Breeze. Middy obliged and I was back in a flash with the cash for the stash. Coffee Elizabeth? Rather. Later I took a shower and barely had enough hot water to finish. Did you notice that room picture of the closet??
world's smallest hot water heater...
I got a hold of our Ziggy an we
make plans to meet up at their house later this afternoon. So that gives us
several hours to gamble drive around the area. We went driving
down the avenue that's called the A1A heading south.
First stop is Boynton Beach Oceanfront Park.
This is a really nice and clean park. On the south end of the beach there's still damage from a recent hurricane, but a lovely spot.
We went a few miles past Delray
Beach admiring all the wealth. The landscaping is off the hook. Being as it's
Friday afternoon in this particular area of Florida I figured it would be better
to vacate the premises once the po-po start showing up at each intersection. We
hit an Aldi's on the way back for a couple of bottles of their best
Moscato for the cruise. We stop by the room and get gussied up for our evening
double date. It's an easy 20 minute ride over to Hampton Lakes. Bo and Ziggy and
Dusty are awaiting our arrival and we did our usual jawing. Such a nice place
they have here.
I played the part of Chauffeur and we took the movable feast over to Santo's Buffet. Our favorite place to dine in Boca Rotan.
4 sporks!
Back at our friends place we talked all things Alaska as Sweet Ti and I are headed there in May and Ziggy and Bo in July. Always so nice to hang out with our old friends, even if it's just for a couple of hours. We say adios and head back to where the Palm Breezes blow.
01.18.2026 Sailing a reach for a following sea*
Port Everglades
Hey Now! Yet another glorious day in southern FLA. Except for the fact that it's 47º! Brr. I hit DD for Coffee Elizabeth and we do our packing and whatnot. There's no major rush- although we are in a concierge cabin this trip so we have early boarding that's not until around 11 a.m. So we take our sweet time. The traffic headed south on I95 is basically non existent. Noice! We pull Middy into the Hertz rental return. The last trip upon the return of our rental we were personally escorted to our ship by a lovely Hertz employee of 35 years- Wes. Such an unexpected kindness. Could lightening strike twice?? I get out of the car and ask after wes. And there he is! We greet him and ask how his family is doing. And oh by the way how about a lift? This is doable except that our car hadn't been processed yet so we had to move everything to another car. That done we are on our way. Everything was looking good until I realized that I had left my phone in the dash of Midnight, Shit. the. bed. Wes is thoroughly nonplussed. He gets on the phone and starts barking orders while executing a textbook u turn. We blast back into the Cypress Garage and search Midnight to no avail. Wes takes off for the office. He's still trying to run down the dude who processed our car. Turns out the dude found my phone right away and turned it in. he just didn't bother to answer his phone. Wes shows up with my phone. We take off once again. In no time we are pulling into Terminal 25. Great job Wes! We lavish him with praise and greenbacks and promise not to forget anything next time. Thanks for the ride Wes!!
there's our room!!
smiling happy people holding hands!
Welcome to the Celebrity Eclipse! We find our muster station and checked off that one and went to our cabin- 9292. We dropped our parcels and loaded the safe, got our sea pass cards and left. Nice to be able to get rid of carry on stuff right away. The rooms are usually ready around 1:30 or so. Never saw Johnny our attendant. Since we are in Concierge we get to have lunch in the fancy eating parlor, Moonlight Sonata. This used to be a perk for Prime Access too- but not anymore. But it is nice to be able to avoid the crowds upstairs at the buffet. We passed by El Bacon (Cafe al Bacio) and grabbed a small table in that strange middle wall in the cafe. I call it the fireplace because that's what it's always looked like to me. The manager came by and asked if we had been waited on. We said no, and he took our order. He apologized for the service.
We immediately made friends. Bob and Jane from Boston. Today's cruise locals. They are on the 2nd leg of a b2b as the hipsters say. We start talking about casino comps and Jane says she had a streak of bad luck there last week. We can relate. At least they seem to be fair on the offers generated. Bob works part time for Delta. He retired from a real job but it didn't stick. Great people.
We found hopefully the right entrance. There are 4 in total. Ah! Right one. We are soon seated. Swanky joint.
Australia!
We met a lovely young couple at the next table. Jackie and Houston from Nevada. They are newlyweds. Kinda like us 25 years ago. We call them "the kids". I took a terrible picture of them-
photo by RB
photo by Jackie
The meal was fine. The service as thin and the plates came out painfully slow. Food was good. Time to wander. Passport Bar seemed likely.
there's that Peroni 0.0
Seems to me it's always a struggle to get on the WiFi once aboard the ship. They did have a podium with a photo/wifi tech available. We bought one premium unleaded package and I get one free for being Sapphire, the uppity blue card. They hooked me up. Then we met Chu Chu bartending at the Passport. She had her hands full with a rowdy guest. Really lady? Chu Chu also worked at the Buffet in the evenings. These guys are everywhere. The nice lady DJ finally came over the intercom to announce that the rooms are ready. Cool.
Perfect room location. Extra hallway width thanks to being on the center hump and right off the elevators.
the proverbial footstools!!
We did a bit of preliminary unpacking and met our room guy Johnny from India. He's by far the oldest crew member we have ever seen. It's his first cruise of a new contract along with his first time attending a concierge class room. We ask after our complimentary sparkling wine and afternoon canapés. I slip him a preliminary gratitude to grease the wheels a bit. We are also invited to the Helipad for the sailaway but demur. We both are wearing flip flops and the invite specifically says closed toed shoes. I don't plan on wearing anything but flip flops for the next 10 days. The captain comes on the blower and gives his spiel about safety and weather (3-4 meter seas!) and then spends quite a while talking about health and hand washing. There was a pretty substantial outbreak of stomach virus an a recent voyage on the Eclipse. Everywhere you go crew are cleaning and dispensing hand sanitizer. And we're off!
Take me to the Pilot please Jim!
And during that exciting event the rest of our bags showed up. So we spent a bit more time moving in and then it was time for the main event. Gambling. It's not too busy in there. The layout of the joint changed quite a bit since we were on the Eclipse on our Bermuda Daydreaming trip. There are now fewer slots crammed on top of each other which is a good thing. And the 6 VP machines have been pried out of the cul de sac they were shoehorned in and placed out in the open. Beautiful. We stopped by the Host desk and Sophia the assistant host said she remembered me from that cruise. I appreciate that. Franky is star server along with Saleh. Pretty much kept us well served. 7 drops of rum at a time. Starting off at 7733 tears on our way to 15k to maintain Sapphire.
Insert coin
We make our first appearance at the buffet and meet Pradeep from El Bacon II. And Chu Chu too! The time share (specialty Restaurant) sales force makes you run the gambit from the elevators to the buffet each way each time. We got snagged. We make reservations for Murano for lunch tomorrow for our big day. Great first day- the ship is in great shape, our room is so easy to get to and yet quite. The crew are very attentive too. Nice start.
01.19.2026 She was making for the trades on the outside*
Sea Day
Hey Now! Happy 25th Anniversary to us! Hard to believe sometimes but I wouldn't change any of it for the world. We start out the day the same way virtually for the whole trip. We ordered the continental (complimentary) breakfast each day. And as an added bonus I fetched us fancy coffees from El Bacon along with some of their killer pastries. I did upgrade our carrier to Gen III.
We do have time for a morning session before our lunch date. Imagine that!
Robots must Pay!
Dewa is our server for our lovely lunch. Pictured above are interesting breads, crab salad, scallops, filet and lamb chops. Delicious. As we are awaiting our deserts, Dewa shows up with a surprise.
They certainly made us feel very special
fancy yogurt soufflé
Happy Anniversary Sweet Ti!
And it gets better!
I guess there are some hidden concierge perks available after all. Chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of their Peruvian Red. We hung out for a bit in the room. I needed to finish the stage lights anyhow.
It's rougher than it looks out there. Right decent swells fetching too. Being on the 9th deck is telling.
Still kinda on the fence about these afternoon canapés . They lack instruction manuals.
Insert coin
The video poker machines here are very popular and few so that tends to make procuring 2 machines side by side is challenging. Us regulars always end up as friends rooting for each other. I meet Bob and Edie. Edie got a 2x royal playing Ult X for quarters. We love it when there's a VP handy! Takes 'em forever to pay though. Nice crowd and great service. Right up till it wasn't. Once the casino hits the saturation point I call it. You can't get around the overflow from the pit. We cash and hit the buffet for a light dinner and Rum Raisin ice cream. A stroll back to the room.....
Seems like Our Johnny is trying to outdo everyone in our anniversary celebration. Cheers Johnny!
Solo evening session
1640 tier pointers so far
01.19 2026 And the downhill run to Papeete*
Sea Day
Hey Now! Time change this morning. In our favor too! As if traveling over the ocean completely out of sight of land wasn't disorienting enough. The seas are once again feeling agitated. The Bovine does the trick for the most part. We enjoy Continental Coffee Elizabeth.
stock photo by flysrb
Then it's off to see the Solarium. I love the way each ship kind of tweeks the layout just enough to keep things interesting. The Eclipse has a nice Spa Cafe with a fine array of exotic offerings. Both of the hot tubs actually work too.
enjoy!
Insert coin
We eventually reunited- (and it felt....so good) in the room and decided on an early dinner in the main dining room. Once we actually found the right floor. We were quickly seated. Nothing really stood out about the entire meal. The service was once again adequate. Way too long a wait for each course. The food was alright. All told we prefer to eat at the buffet. Or Murano. We hit El Bacon for some après dessert dessert. "I'll take a pistachio latte and a double double Carmel Macciatto". At home I only drink one medium Cafe Bustelo in the morning and have never been in a Starbucks. But give me El Bacon and I go apeshit. Otherwise I only drink water. We hit the casino but the VP machines were heavily occupied. So we went on a slot machine tour of the casino. Nothing but naught. We hung around for the 10 pm snowball drawing. I didn't win again. But we are up to 2964 tier pointies too.
01.20.2026 Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas*
Antigua
Hey Now! Oh look, LAND!
I'm swilling my patented Frozen virgin mojito, extra mint leaves. Sweet Ti is guzzling a Virgin Piña Colada.
We were just on Antigua a few months back and there's not much else to see right around the port area. Maybe I can come up with a mascot for Stretch. I guess I need to hit the Boardwalk Casino to see if they are dealing. Plus try to retrace my steps from a previous trip and find that dirt cheap souvenir shop. Sweet Ti is set at her Solarium. I set off.
Off to see the lizard. I swiftly make my way thru the crush of shops and touri a couple of blocks in. "Braid your beard?". No thanks.
As I was passing one of these numerous entrances to King's Casino I was approached by a shill for the joint. He offered me a dollar gaming token. Yepper, just what I collect. Seeing that I was pleased, he handed me another. These are really nice tokens. 1987 and 1991 vintage. I thanked him profusely and walked into the casino.
Chill atmosphere. I've already got a regular table chip from here. So I make for another of the multitude of exits. I'm looking for that souvenir shop I found last trip. Oh, there it is just down the street from the Western Union office.
The proprietor sort of remembered me and I asked after a companion for Stretch. He's got about 90% clothes. I did find a sweet fridge magnet. And he gifted me a factory 2nd. piece of porcelain. Still no mascot. Onward to a line of small kiosks leading down an alleyway.
I found a lost kitty that was somewhat the worse for wear hidden amongst a family owned shop. Lady and her teenaged daughter. We started bartering over the price. I pointed out the various flaws and she countered that it was carved on the island. I show her the missing claw. When she reached her limit I gave in. We named her Spot.
Stretch and his Spot
well used tokens
Life on a boat.
Insert coin
01.21.2026 We got 80 ft. of the waterline*
St. Marten
Hey Now! A bit of a changeup today. We are going on a rare shore excursion. I ordered this tour from the cruise line. It was on sale for some cheap price. Maybe 28.00 pp. 3 hour tour to the other side of the island and back. So we went. It's a fairly long walk to where the tour busses park. Pretty humid and steamy too. We are herded and routed to an awaiting coach.
With our Proctor Driver and part Catholic school nun- Denis.
Denis let us know in no uncertain terms that he was in charge. There will be no talking in the ranks when it's Denis time. And it's almost always Denis time. Denis likes iguanas. Especially orange ones. He is from the island and has been driving this bus too damned long.
We finally finished our circumnavigation of the island. As far as we know, Denis is still talking. And singing.
I kinda get the feeling that most of these islands look the same once you leave the main towns. Whatever breaks down pretty much sits there and rots. There was a tour bus on the side of a fairly busy road that was obviously abandoned. If it's not too much in the way they just go around it. Then there's also the leftover damage from various storms. Although the shrewd Danish have been reclaiming land here at quite a pace. Just like they do at home in Europe.
Insert coin please Jimmy....
Remember this one Jim???
So every evening they have a so called Snowball Raffle. One lucky player has 10 minutes to respond to their name being called. One entry per 100 points earned in the casino. Nobody won it last night. I'm playing with Bob and Eddie and boom! they call my name. So I jump up and head for the cage. I'm standing there in line and get up to the counter and the tller says that I've got to go to the host desk. That's on the other side of the casino. "You have 2 minutes!!!" I made it.
So then I went back to my machine and there's some dude sitting there. I explained the situation. Oh well. Time to move on.
5102 pts.
01.22.2026 Nicely makin' way*
San Juan
Hew Now! Good Morning from San Juan. Beautiful day here in Puerto Rico. We slept in. Since we were just here a little over a year ago on our Leeward Ho saga. We probably won't even leave the ship today. But we lucked out with our berth for today. The whole of the eastern side of the harbor is within our pervue. And the pop up thunderstorms provided an all day matinee.
We enjoyed lunch at the Spa Cafe and since they only have a hand full of tables here we noticed two ladies searching for a seat. Our table was a four top so we invited them to join us. They are today's cruise ship locals, Sue and Judy. Sue has on a t-shirt that says "Woman with Altitude" . She lives at 9,000 ft above sea level. Damn near off of the grid. She's 83. Her long time friend Judy lives in Denver- a mile high. She's 81. We are at 12 ft. A random lady at the next table sez 0 ft. - Va. Beatcheey. Sue and Judy always get the hell out of Colorado for a couple of weeks each winter. Quite on their own. We had a jolly old time hanging out.
Sailaway
We decide to hit the dining room for dinner. Once again we were under whelmed. But we sat next to the windows!
Insert coin
I couldn't even get close to the VP machines. They realty need more of them fleet wise. Beyond learned their lesson.
5654 pts.
01.23.2026 In a noisy bar in Avalon*
Puerto Plata
Hey Now! On to our last island stop as we make our way northwest back towards reality. The seas have finally subsided just a bit. They have been running 6-9 ft. pretty consistently but the ol' Eclipse seems to handle it pretty well. Let's dock.
Coffee Elizabeth etc. Once again we don't really have any plans or excursions set up. We were in Punta Cana back in 2007. But we have never been to the north side of Hispanola. They have set up another tourist trap area similar to Amber Cove here (Amber Cove is up the coast a few miles) called Taino Bay here right at the terminus of the dock to shuttle everyone off the cruise ships thru in order to get to the town itself. Ingenious. Sweet Ti is all about the Solarium as usual so after the other ship docks and the crowds thin a bit I take the long walk to see what adventure awaits in the never ending quest for the prized Magnets of Destiny.
Well that took damn near 10 minutes just to get to the taxi stand. Helluva installation. Bars, shops, water rides, and restaurants abounding. I join a group of likeminded people from the ships who are looking to go downtown. A couple of people say they are going to the church in the town square. Seems like a good start. I start talking to a nice lady who was also kinda tagging along with this group. She introduces herself as today's cruise ship local, Julie. She is representing for siblings and her young daughter and solo. Since I was too we pair up to explore. Julie has lived in Puerto Rico and around the US. We walk. First stop Umbrella St.
We found Umbrella St. Then an entrepreneur appeared with a macaw and an offer. Pics and video with macaw $1.00
Cue da Bumpershoots Jim?
Once around again there J.J.
What a nice diversion. And that bird was HEAVY!. Next stop is the town square. Top of the hill.
The amount of cruise ship passengers has really dwindled here. Julie and I look around a shop and I find a couple of reasonable mags. I'm done exploring and I ask Julie to forgive me but I'm heading back. We exchange info and hugs. It was charming spending a couple of hours with her. We never saw her on the ship again though. I descended back to the wharf and greeted as many locals and visitors as would accept it and enjoyed the walk.
yepper, it's a toilet....
These guys are on every street intersection. More than one too!. I really felt safe walking around even by myself.
dood
Let there be music James!
Tuk-tuk home
We got back together and buffetted ourselves and then awaited the early opening of the casino. It's kinda interesting that several of these island nations are offering casino licenses to cruise ships. We find video machines available along with Diane and Bruno. Apparently we were on our ABC Repo trip with them but my mind is a bit fuzzy. But anyway they are great and we have a great time playing.
ufo sighting
Final sailaway
Insert coin
Roll the Halloween bit please Jim!!
6512 tear pointies!
01.24.2026 I tried to call you*
At sea
Hey Now! Erin. Nice name, shitty storm. Looks like reality is gonna rear it's bone chilling cold head all the hell over our parade. The forecasts for this storm are down right scary. "Historic" Not great. I haven't even bothered to check my email for a few days. I checked it- JetBlue has cancelled our flights. Damn. And at this point there is nothing available till Tuesday. Well shucks. So using my Iphone 7 (PLUS!) with very iffy WiFi I sat in our cabin for damn near an hour and got us booked on an Award flight on Delta at 10 a.m. Tuesday for very few miles. And a room at Red Carpet Inn since Rodeway is all booked. Plus a Hertz rental. And JetBlue is giving us a fat refund which is nice. It's kinda tough being so far away from home just in case something goes bad at our property. But we let our Christina know and hopefully she can get out and check on the kitties and such. Meanwhile Sweet Ti is earnestly packing. And don't call me Ernest.
Our buddy Pradeep
Sweet Ti resumes restoring order to our mess and I go clock in. I'm feelin' it. I score the machine next to the wall which is where I first played here. Eddy and Sir Bob are in attendance. Bob hit 2 handpays yesterday and Eddy had a handy on the first night. My turn.
Insert coin
Delta time James!!
that put me over 15k for the year
So after that last quad I parleyed up to .50 denom. Remember I told y'all I was feelin' it???
Rex flick Jim!!!!
$2000.00
Hey Now! Sometimes you just know. If Franky the server hadn't stopped by I might still be waiting. But I did eventually get paid.
But interestingly enough, they paid me with 3- 500. "Purchase" vouchers and the rest fiftys and hundys. According to Sir Bob informs me I need to "wash" the tickets before I can take to the cashier. Which simply means insert them into a machine and then hit the cash out button. Pretty damn insidious of the casino bosses to do this. How many people who just hit a jackpot don't feel the urge to just go for it and try to hit another one with their winnings? I washed the tickets and immediately cashed out. Then it was time to cash out my earned points from the trip. So it's a buck for every 50 points. So 7450 points equals.......
I turned that into a hundy. I do like to end my trips with a quad. But a Royal will have to. I have one more item of business and that's to see if I can fandangle any comps out of Sophia. We talk a bit about VP and comps while she looks at my play. I do appreciate that they tell you up front that it's double the amount for a tier point. At Resorts AC when I ask our host Stephanie how much play it takes for video poker and she doesn't even know! They really should have more vp on the floor here. The Beyond took out theirs and ended up putting them back after the players raised hell about it. Or sa they say. Sophia said she could give me 151. towards room charges. That works!
Time to play our favorite song J.J.!
So after those festivities I figured it was time for a pizza party. So I elevated past the Hooters and ordered 2 pizzas to go. Tasty little suckers! Ran into Bruno and Diana and wished them safe travels. Turns out they are stuck to Fla too as they live in Massachusetts. But Diane's mother has a condo here so they are staying there. We feasted and I finished up packing and we called it a night. A profitable one at that!
01.24.2026 But on the midnight watch*
Port Everglades
Hey Now! Back in the USA. Is it just me, or is it a bit chilly here? Coffee Elizabeth. 8 a.m. room departure. We wait in the Tuscan Grill cause that's where they put us concierge folks. I make a desperate effort to catch up on my notes.
create content!!
We bid farewell to our floating resort and found our bags. Port Everglades is such an easy port for all of the 'barcations. I called and let the Red Carpet know that we needed the shuttle to pick us up. The waiting area is in the shade which is lovely except for the fact that it's about 62°. We occupy our time watching the circus parade around us. Just another cruising perk. The van shows up and it's already made a couple of stops. There's 5 cruise ships in port this morning by my reckoning. A couple of younger folk gave up their first row seats for us ."Much obliged!" We had one more stop to make and shoehorned them in. The driver even went so far as to put a fairly large bag in the space between the seat rows and the sliding door. Took a couple of slams, but he got it shut. White knuckle ride time. As we pulled into the Red Carpet, it was packed. The front was void of people, but the side entrance was a zoo. This place is right next to the Rodeway we normally stay at. We circled around back and stopped amongst the throng. We got out and tried to figure out where the line to the front desk actually was. We finally sorted things and presented ourselves at the front desk. The desk clerk must have taken a shine to us because she said the room wouldn't be ready till 4 or 5 p.m. but she would check our bags for us.I'm telling you we didn't see them make that offer to anyone else. And signed me up for the next shuttle to the airport so I can pick up the rental. So we check the bags and Sweet Ti finds a spot by the pool to wait. The shuttle is quick and in no time I'm behind the wheel and back at the hotel.
I had a hard time finding my way in the hotel and ended up around the far side to gain access. I found Sweet Ti at the pool and we walked to the rental. It's arounf noon and we are getting kinda hungry. The old 2 birds will work. The Casino @Dania Beach.
No smoking! Live Jai-alia season!
We ate at The Grill. We were going to procure player's cards to take advantage of whatever discount they might offer, but today is gift day. The line is plaid! So we dined sans comp. Ouch. We walked around for a bit and found the video poker machines in the high limit section. They offer an interesting variety of games including Pick a Pair. We played a bit and then headed back to the room. We got settled in and Sweet Ti was ready for an afternoon nap. So I tucked her in and hit the road again.
Welcome back my friends
I've gotta say that after being around zero smoking for the last 13 days the odor when you enter the guitar casino is overwhelming. I hit my loss limit and headed back to the hotel. I stopped by a WaWa and got some distilled water and some frozen treats. It's no Rum Raisin but it will do.
local 7/11
01.25.2026 I realized*
Hey Now! 5" of snow overnight changing over to sleet later at home in Gloucester VA. 52° and windy here. I hit the front desk for coffee Lizzy and when the local 7/11 opened I got us a couple of bodacious breaky sammys. Tasty! Our game plan for today is to come up with an ice scraper for Foxy back home. Apparently it's turned into an ice storm in VA. plus they are calling for the temps not getting out of the 20's for the forseeable future. And Foxy is parked in an open lot at RIC. No ice scraper in her either. So after a bit we set off. First stop Wally World. No luck. But you've gotta love the local color.
Next stop, Home Depot. With covered parking????
Once again, south Florida isn't exactly the best place to look foe blizzard supplies. No luck on a scraper, but I had a brainstorm and asked after plastic putty knives. Perfect. 3 pack too.
mission accomplished, time to play!
Well, there's no line so we march straight up to the player's club and are quickly helped. Friendly folk around this here joint! We need to earn a few points and then come back and get some free play. We did and scored 45. free play between us. Noice!
that's how to use free play
800. profit!!
This place is the bee's knees! They can keep that damned smoky assed guitar. I do believe this turned out to be a free trip!!
01.25.2026 Why twice you ran away*
Hey Now! 2 a.m. 42° and windy. Meanwhile back in VA. It's 12° with a high today of 24°. Brrrrr. Everything goes as planned at FLL and we are off to the friendly skies of Delta. That is until we tried to taxi to our gate at RIC........
this dude....
After 40 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to move the jet bridge they gave up and moved us to another gate. This time the jet bridge worked and we finally de plane an hour late. Quick shuttle and we return to an ice bound Foxy.
The putty knives were very useful and we were on our way thru the frozen tundra.
And safely home. It took 12 days until the ice finally melted. But it's still great to be back home. Well, that's our 25 year celebration of being Responsibly Wed. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Next up: North to Alaska!!!
* Southern Cross, Stephen Stills, Rick Curtis and Michael Curtis
6