On to Richmond!

…but it will cost extra if one doesn’t avoid the new toll road.

Like General “Fighting Joe” Hooker, my drive on Richmond back in early May for the 150^th commemorative reenactment of the Battle of Chancellorsville, came at a heavy cost. I was driving to my friend Wes’ house and the TomTom asked if I wanted to avoid toll roads. I said no because there are none.

Rather, it seems, there used to be none. The great state of Virginia added some lanes along 495 (the beltway) and called them express lanes. It costs to use them. On Saturday morning, one can save the money. I got a notice from 495ExpressLanes.com and a bill for a slightly less than $12.

To added insult to injury, Old Dominion scalawags have contracted the toll collection to dam Yankees in New York! If one chooses to mail a check instead of paying online, it costs two Yankee dollars more (Confederate money is not accepted).

Oh well, lesson learned!

New JC Penney suits

FitnessPal.com informs me that today (6/15) is my 450^th consecutive day of logging in. Go me! One consequence of that is I have replaced my 10 year suit (which looked like a tent on me) with grey and blue pinstripe suits from J. C. Penney. While the late Johnny Cochrane, known for his $5k suits, would not be caught dead in one (wonder what they did bury him in?) the look, style, quality, and PRICE make them my suit of choice. My only problem now is where and when to wear them!

Flying Dog Brewery Tour

I know someone who knows someone is an executive at The Flying Dog Brewery. On Flag Day, June 14, that person (my son-in-law) and I toured the facility. I cannot believe what goes into brewing craft beer and will forever open and quaff it with proper awe and respect.

We ate lunch at Growlers Brew Pub before we headed to Flying Dog.  This group of people came in and filled the table in front of us. One of the women had a tat on her shoulder; all I could make out was “ruela.” As in Cruela DeVil? Why do people do this? On top of that she was pregnant and so will be raising up a new generation of… 

I left with two bits of knowledge that are crucial to an old retired guy like me. The first is that they hire temp workers to assemble the “Shock and Awe” variety boxes that are samplers of their various beers and ales. This is about the only thing that a machine cannot do –yet.

The second is that workers get to take home the as much product as they want that fails quality control (usually because the label on the bottle was put on crookedly).

Since Wal-Mart is now hiring only temp workers too (thanks in part to Obamacare) I know which company my next employment seeking is aiming for!

One of the prominent people connected with the early days of Flying Dog is Hunter Thompson. His office, on loan from his widow, is set up in the brewery.

Brooks Hill Trail (6/15)

The regular reader of this blog knows I like to hike the Monocacy battlefield trails whenever I can. That may be scaled back as today I did the last one (excluding a nature trial) I have not hiked before – Brooks Hill Trail on the Worthington Farm. Parts of it came close to being Mount Brooks in my opinion. Fortunately I had my CW reenacting tent pole turned hiking stick to help me along.

This normally forgotten battlefield is quite crowed on weekends in seems, I saw about 10 other people and a dog during my trek including the lesbians in a Subaru Forrester with an Obama 2012 sticker. Like all most of them I see, it was put on crookedly.

Church Music

Modern church music is wretched, wretched! Listen to this execrable feces - I had to once in church and we were supposed to sing along! It prompted me to write about my concerns to the pastor. We have since left that church.

Last Sunday, we were in Montrose Baptist Church where we have been going for about six weeks now. The music selection was like, well, heaven and featured many southern gospel songs like “I’ll Fly Away,” “In the Sweet By and By,” and “when the Roll is Called UP Yonder.” I know the words to all thanks to listening to Statler Brothers greatest gospel hits cassette tape while driving down to visit my late mother many years ago.

Finally

I am watching “The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal.” Robert Ballard got someone to pay him to find more shipwrecks. One navy vet and a survivor of the lost cruiser USS Quincy told of his recurring dream of seeing the ship with its crew and feeling he was supposed to be there. I have had that same dream although no ship I ever served on was sunk in action (although all have been scrapped). It is the universal “navy dream” I think.

Adios!