A Sunday Afternoon Stroll, oleragtop Style

After the disappointment of not being able to spend a day on the beach yesterday, I decided today would be the day I would head down to the World's Most Famous Beach and just hang out.

Last month when thejeepjunkie and his family were in the Ozarks, he picked up a box of books from the Bus and drug them home. One of them is a book titled American Zoom. I had read about this book and was always interested in reading it but had never come across a copy.

Well, thanks to the Bus and thejeepjunkie I was able to get my grimey little paws on it and spent the bulk of the afternoon sitting right

here reading it. I had brought a few sodies and a couple waters and even an egg salad sandwich. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, quiet afternoon.

I enjoyed the sight of the crisscrossing contrails in that brilliant blue sky. It was a wonderful afternoon, light breeze, bright sun and warm temperatures. I walked down the beach about a mile or so and got some good exercise.

Even the faint buzz of jet ski motors off in the distance didn't interrupt my enjoyment of that old book.

Saw several different sorts of vehicles while a wisp of live music from hotel just down the beach persevered its way through that breeze to bring a joy to my Jimmy Buffett deprived ears.

Among the screeches of the local seagulls, this father and son arrived and headed out to deprive the Atlantic Ocean of a few fish. The youngster had taken his trucks down there to the water's edge, only to return them to their SUV a short while later. The kid, not the Kid, but the kid then got in that water with his old man and just played around in that shallow surf while Dad fished. Just loves his old man and wants to be around him. Enjoy it, Dad.

As I mentioned, there were several different types of vehicles on the beach today. Amongst the occasional airplane overhead or the occasional Harley, 1/2 a block away, over on A1A, I saw this baby cruise by. While I would think it is VW propelled, the grumble from that engine did not sound German produced. A mystery that will probably be solved because the next time I see this Volusia County Florida licensed beach buggy, I am going to stop it and interrogate the driver. I am sure he will be happy to share as much information about it as I can absorb.

The combination of the steady lullaby of waves hitting the shore, reading and sunshine must have been responsible for causing me to fad away in a blissful sleep for a time. I was awakened by the boomboom of the stereo in this slammed and bagged S10, yet another in the range of vehicles seen today. Less ground clearance than the olestationbus!

I grabbed my binoculars and was just sitting there, watching a kayak paddle north while a Scarab was heading south at a pretty good clip. I saw a seagull drop into the water and get dinner. This was an anxious seagull, its white fish grasped in its talons, desperately trying to keeps its cohorts away, as it struggled to get inland to a spot to enjoy its meal. A first for me. Normally, the only meal I see the seagulls get is from the tourists, mainly in potato chip form.

After reading a bit more, I looked over the kid and the Dad's SUV to see a front moving in and thought I might head over to the Taj Mahal and weatherize the olestationbus for the approaching, much appreciated, rain shower.

It was a totally relaxed and wonderful day, one in which I remembered, and hope you did also, to

Celebrate Life.