Travelogue

I write from the deck of the Darien Waterfront Inn in Darien, Georgia, my home for the next two nights.  I left the Pentagon yesterday afternoon and was driving out of the garage at 3:15.  Two hours later, I was still ten miles north of Fred Vegas (Fredericksburg), VA--a dismal start to an otherwise great trip.  Stopped in Colonial Heights VA for a bit of fat and protein at Outback and continued to the McGrath ancestral home in Clayton, NC where I bunked in the "Bryan" suite at my parents' house (thanks Mom and Dad!).

I woke early and got underway for Darien this morning, arriving at 2PM after a nice stop for lunch at the Savannah Hooters.  And yes, I had the wings.  A few random thoughts as I travel.


--Automotive technology is wondrous.  I averaged 72MPH and 29.3 MPG from Clayton to Darien.  This, in a high performance V-8 automobile.  Cruise control and efficient design paid off in the Cat.
--Americans are fat.  Just plain fat.  I've eaten at steakhouses the past three nights, and the fatness on parade there is amazing.  A HS girls softball team was congregating at the Outback last night as I was leaving, and I was struck by how portly these young, presumably athletic girls were.  Not that I'm thin, mind you.  Just sayin'.
--While in the Hooters today, I espied two freshly minted Marines eating with their families.  The young ladies gathered them up at one point and sang a song to them, as they had this very day graduated from Boot Camp at Parris Island, SC.  Lunch for both families on me--and I floated out of the restaurant brimming with hope for the future.
--I'm struck by the degree to which globalization has hit the South.  Why, who knew that the residents of North and South Carolina and Georgia were as interested in the ancient arts of Asian massage?  Heck,  I couldn't go a dozen miles without a billboard for such a cultural diversion.  Long live cultural exchange!
--Forgot to order a new course from The Teaching Company--the 1416 miles of driving this weekend is going to be a bit of a grind without mind gymnastics.

The good folks of the Golden Isles Chapter of the Navy League of the United States have invited me down to be the guest speaker at their annual "Armed Forces Day" fish fry tomorrow night.  They're taking me out to dinner tonight, putting me up in this nice Inn, and we'll head out on a Coast Guard vessel tomorrow for a wreath laying.  Time to sit back and enjoy the Georgia Coast....lovely here....