Morning all:

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” — Alexander Graham Bell

Happy mid-morning. Today, even with some strong coffee I am having difficulty kick-starting myself—that’s what you get for driving back at 3:30 AM. Let me explain.

Tevita and Adrianne have both started new jobs. According to a well established American tradition this absolutely requires a second vehicle, it is a must have. Adrianne did the research and set the price point. It was left to dad to scour the marketplace.

What was available on the local market did not meet spec. So, it was back to good old eBay. A missed bid, and then a new one popped into view. Through the wily and wondrous world of “sniping”, at last: success! Or so I thought.

The vehicle was located in the midst of a small backwoods town in Vermont. The only way to reach it was driving in a Zen like state through miles of green mountains, past a hundred or so bed-&-breakfast establishments, too many potpourri scented antique ‘shoppes’. All this, in and of itself, was no problem since I had worked into the price the cost to have a transport company do the door-to-door delivery thing.

Week one turned into week two. Then week three ended. No car!

Eventually it became clear that truck drivers avoid Vermont like the plague; something about hating the smell of potpourri.

If you remember, over Labor Day weekend our whole gang was over. Some collaboration took place and a decision made (this decision was greatly influence by the smoke and noise from the previous night’s Labor Day fireworks on our riverfront). The truck delivery process was cancelled. Friday after work Jason (displaying an amazing show of love to his sister and brother-in-law) and I climbed on JetBlue and at midnight landed in Burlington, Vermont. By the way, all you legacy airlines managers be very, very afraid of your future. As a gold and platinum flyer for many years I had not experienced the kind of service and amenity JetBlue gave us by any mainline US carrier.

Anyway. Yesterday it was up and at it at 6:30. We drove a rental “unit” through the potpourri forests and retrieved the car. Next it was back to Burlington for an oil change and belt/hoses/fluids check. It was just 11:30 and life was good as Jason and I headed south and around Lake Champlain for New York State. Soon, at 12:30, it was a wonderful stop in Hague, NY for lunch. Then it was stopping for gas followed by a ‘pit’ stop. More food and more gas and several ‘pit’ stops and we began to realize that we were quickly and completely messing up on our planned travel schedule. It’s amazing how time flies when you are having fun.

As I started out—we arrived home at 3:30 this morning. Let it be said, a twenty-one hour day has taken a toll on my old frame.

Happy birthday Vince – promise that today you’ll watch a football game for every one of your years.

Make it a great week.

Cheers,

Dirk