Day Trip to Daytona

Except for a brief outing for dinner on Sunday, we haven’t been away from the house very much, if at all, in a week or so. Which meant my appointment with the VA medical center yesterday gave us an excuse to spend the day in Daytona Beach.

There are two basic routes to get to Daytona Beach from our home in Edgewater, Interstate 95 or US Highway 1. Since we live on US 1, and because we try to avoid the interstate as much as possible, that’s our usual route. It probably adds another five or even ten minutes to the trip, but that’s okay. Who’s in a hurry?

As it turned out, while our drive was okay, that didn’t seem to be the case for people on motorcycles. At the intersection of US 1 and State Route 44 in New Smyrna Beach police were dealing with a car/motorcycle collision. If anybody was injured they must have taken them away in an ambulance before we got there, but the bike looked pretty mangled. Then, later on we saw another accident where a small motorcycle or scooter was completely under the front end of a Ford pickup. I used to love riding motorcycles, but the way people drive these days, often texting at the same time, I’m glad I don’t have one anymore.

You may remember that I’ve been switching a lot of things away from VA medical care to civilian doctors, and while I was there for my appointment I wanted to talk to the VA people about that. They suggested that I at least come in once a year for an appointment with my primary care provider, just to stay active in the system. That way, if for some reason I ever need to switch back, I’m already enrolled and don’t have to go through the hassle of doing all of that again. I guess that makes sense.

After my appointment we ran a couple of errands, including stopping at Michael’s, where Miss Terry found some things she was looking for, and at the Staples next door. When we went in both places an employee greeted us and asked if they could help us, and both times I told them no thanks, we were just there shoplifting. I guess they didn’t take me seriously, since I didn’t see anybody following us around the stores.

With that done, we stopped at West Marine, which is kind of a toy store for boat owners. I didn’t see anything there I wanted as much as I wanted to keep the money in my pocket, but that’s okay. It’s always fun to look.

And since our favorite Chinese buffet, Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, is in the same shopping center, I allowed Miss Terry to twist my arm and make me go in there for dinner. Who am I to argue with the love of my life?

With our tummies full we headed home, making a quick stop at Publix supermarket for a few things. Then it was home to catch up on email and spend the evening relaxing in front of the boob tube. Yeah, I know, I said boob.

Before I close today, I want to clear up an error I made a few days ago when I was talking about so many of the old-time RV instructors and RV rally vendors who have gotten off the road in the last couple of years. I said that Charles and Chris Yust from C&C Marketing had retired. That was incorrect. While they have slowed down all of their work on the RV rally circuit and are out of the RV insurance business,no longer writing policies for RV or auto insurance, they still sell the Good Sam Extended Service Plan and Saferide Roadside Assistance. And they still give their customers the same great personalized service they have come to expect and appreciate from these long time professionals.

Thought For The Day – I’m so very sorry to hear that the direct and predictable results of your actions happened to you.