Thursday, October 13, 2005

Wow, it is Thursday. This week has consisted of sleeping, reading, eating, and a little bit of the beach too.

Tuesday I went over to B&N to get a book. I had decided I didn't want to read the book I brought with me. The book I was searching for was The Gold-Plated Porsche: How I Sank a Small Fortune into a Used Car, and Other Misadventures by Stephan Wilkinson. If I couldn't locate that one I would get Truck: On Rebuilding a Worn-Out Pickup, and Other Post-Technological Adventures by John Jerome.

The store had neither but offered to order them for me. I explained that I wasn't local and continued to browse. Assuming I remember, I will just order those when I get back home, or better yet, from the condo. After all, I do have internet access.

I found a book. It is probably the same story just told by a different guy. This one is not about a Porsche or an old pickup but rather about a tractor, a Allis Chalmers WC tractor. This book, Busted Tractors and Rusty Knuckles: Norwegian Torque Wrench Techniques and Other Fine Points of Tractor Restoration by Roger Welsch, has turned out to be a surprisely good read, especially considering I settled for this book because I couldn't find what I was looking for. Roger, an admitted amateur mechanic, tells tales of rusted metal and broken bolts. Like many others I am sure, I can identify with much of the material.

18.4 MPG - I filled up the Tahoe Tuesday night. I have never really paid attention to its gas mileage before, mostly because I so rarely drive it. I was amazed that that the trip odometer showed nearly 400 miles, 391.1 to be exact. By contrast my truck hardly ever reaches 300 miles on a tank, I can only remember it happening twice.

More Notes on Dining Out
Tuesday night we had dinner at A.J.'s 'World Famous' Seafood and Oyster Bar. Basically another fried seafood joint for us tourist. Much better than the night before. Don't ask to sit outside or you will end up sitting at the bar upstairs. Thats ok if that is what you want but we enjoyed being inside and looking out the galley windows much more. Outside the windows you can see the boats coming in and weighing their catch.

Jordan filled out the comment card on the table, so I will go to it to complete the review. Here are the highlights:
What time did you visit us? 6:45 pm Tuesday 10,11,05
Server: Megan
What I ordered today: Shrimp, French Fries, Sprite
What I remember most about today? The good shrimp
Something I would change about AJ's is: don't be to loud

I picked up a box of matches to go into my match book collection. I started this collection probably 25 years ago when a friend and neighbor, Blair Tice, gave me some match books his parents brought back from Las Vegas. It is difficult to find match books these days but when I see a box, I still pick them up.

Yesterday morning we took the kids over to The Track to do some go-kart riding, and mini-golf. Jordan and Brianna even got to drive their own karts on the kiddie track. Jordan thought the carts were too slow, Brianna thought the track was too narrow.

I can hear the truck frame back at home calling my name. The tractor book really makes me miss the old truck.

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