On The Road, In The oleragtop

As I mentioned earlier, the wrecked oleragtop went on down the road and I am now out of a parts car. When the, I thought, water pump started making noises, I was bummed. Even more so when it was realized the water pump was not the problem, it was the timing belt tensioner. In order to remove this part, removing the radiator is required. When the dudes were removing the radiator, a part on that 20 year radiator cracked.

I was bummed but JohntheOwner, told me not to worry he could fix it. And he did.

The hoon who was working on the car has the biggest Napoleon complex of anyone I have met in a long time. He knows more than anyone about anything and is not afraid to let you know he has that knowledge.

Just few examples. The others involved the number of teeth on a timing belt for the oleragtop, how long it would take to install that water pump, the number of miles my BMW would get on a new timing belt. Of course, wrong on all counts!!!

I was shooting the bull with JohntheOwner, about how I switched over to Geico insurance and reduced my auto insurance by a grand a year. Of course, Napoleon told me he gets his Progressive at 1/2 that. Well, I had checked Progressive and they are slightly higher than Geico.

Needless to say, I did not mention this to Napoleon and just kept on talking to John.

I hate people like that with a passion.

Anyway, as tomorrow I am heading down to Jessica'a hometown, I thought I would put a few miles on the oleragtop just to make sure everything was hunky-dorry. thejeepjunkie told me I should drive around town at low speeds and try to get it hot, then do a road trip at highway speeds.

If you have been Counting Along with me, you know I love driving on the beach.


And I do so, every chance I get.

So I took my oleragtop down on The World's Most Famous Beach and just cruised along and she worked perfectly. Time for highway cruise. I wanted to stay in the immediate vicinity so I decided to head up A1A toward St. Augustine and see what I could find.

On the way, I came upon a rare accident where two motorcycles ran into each other, albeit at low speed. The authorities had not shown up yet and there were civilians directing traffic. No pics as the riders were laying on the ground with folks surrounding them and to take images of them is, to me, a bit morbid. Further north, no fewer than eight emergency vehicles were roaring south, lights and sirens blaring. One of the was a fire patrol marked 90's era Ford Windstar!!

Just north of Painter's Landing, yes, a high end beachfront community, A1A meanders away from the beach. I thought I was in the middle of the Ocala National Forest. Just trees and trees everywhere to be seen.

Suddenly, on my left I see a huge building with this inside!!

It was a shipyard. In the middle of the woods!! And how the hell are they going to get that ship to the nearest port up in St. Augustine, still 30 miles away? Look at that forward reaching forklift at the bottom of this image and you can scale how massive this thing is. I mean, it's not a cruise ship, but I still was surprised.

So I got those images for this blog and headed back north. About 1/2 mile away was a county park on my left and it was situated on the intercoastal waterway. That's how they are going to launch that sucker. I had not realized I was that close to it. I google earthed that place and it is, indeed, waterfront. Excellent!! Another mystery solved and this time I was able to solve it myself and didn't need assistance from the dirtsister or Not So Lil Jim! Yahoo!

At this point in time, I must interrupt this post to let you know it is 6:00pm here in the Birthplace of Speed.

And how did I know this and what significance does it have?

Well the radio in the Taj Mahal is a digital CD/Radio/Alarm Clock. Quite candidly, I have had the thing for over a year and don't know how to program the clock. I bought it for the showroom I was managing in Sl-Ocala and it left when I did. I have a analog alarm clock bedside and don't use the clock on this one. I don't know how, but everyday at 6:00pm, well 7:00pm, daylight savings time, the radio shuts off. Could be an alarm thing or whatever. I don't care, I just get out of my old easy chair and march all the way across the Taj Mahal and turn it back on. Gives me exercise. Yeah, it is all of 8 feet away, but rationalizations are better than sex. It's true, ever gone a day without a rationalization?

Oh, and the significance of 6:00pm this Saturday? It's

And since I had eaten earlier, I got up and fixed one for me.

And I could go for a woman who did this!!


OOOOhhhh Yyyyyeah. In the words of The Great One, "How sweet it is!"

Now, back to the post.

Most people, if they do, when they think about Florida beaches, it is all soft white sand. It is true the beach where BabySisterJoan lives is soft and brilliantly white. However, down in Naples, the sand is quite a bit darker, while on South Beach in Miami, it is almost grey. Here in Ormond Beach, it is white but almost the cream color of my olestationbus.

I am sure there are reasons for this but I would suspect the white sands of the Panhandle reflect the fact there are few river mouths from the mainland and, as it is clear fresh water, the sand did not become "stained". Naples and Miami, however, have numerous outlets from the Everglades and that water is pitch black. As far as Ormond, there are no outlets within about 30 miles in each direction. I am sure there is someone reading this and I will be corrected, but hey, the 6'1" longrooffan is being Napoleon, just now:)!

I remembered a few weeks ago, a friend of mine and I had taken an oleragtop road trip to St. Augustine. During that trip, I was shown a pretty cool beachside spot which was the farthest point of termination today, On The Road.

The beach here was almost yellow with fairly coarse grains of sand, and very soft. There are tons of shells on this beach also.


The cool thing about this beach! Rocks.

Coquina Rocks to be specific.

More shells.

But these rocks, well they Rock.

I don't know why these things have not eroded over time, as has the remainder of Florida beaches.

But the sight of those high tide waves breaking upon those rocks looked pretty cool.

Not as majestic as these bluffs but cool nevertheless.

Some of those rocks had circular holes in them where something had eroded out.

Up in the parking lot, I got a shot of the oleragtop facing the coastal scrub habitat the State of Florida has set aside as a park. Pretty sweet, excepting the entrance fee. The State wants $4.00 per car to park and go look at these rocks.

Good thing for this oldunemployedconstructionworker, the entrance fee was to be dropped in the slot of an unattended wooden box at the entrance.

And on the way home, I passed by the scene of the bike wreck and got this shot.

So, tomorrow I set out for points south. I plan on staying off the Interstate system and travel on roads I, except locally to Ormond and Naples, have not been on previously.

Should be fun for me and, hopefully, you. Stay tuned to On The Road, In The oleragtop.

and since the weather tomorrow, 4 days before Christmas, is to be sunny with the high of 80 degrees with a wind chill of 83, the oleragtop, like today, will be topless.

Wonder if I can that postergirl, similarly situated, for Martini Time tomorrow