The Road Trip Portion Begins in New Jersey
Monday, July 22nd, 2013
It had been a great week in New York city and just as soon as I had grown accustomed to the Big Apple and its ultra-convenient subway system, it was time to leave Manhattan behind and begin the second portion of the two-week trip – which would be continued on the road. I slept in as long as I possibly could before packing up, but was still able to meet Bob and his merry band of travelers down in the lobby by 10am. A shuttle picked us up shortly thereafter and we headed out of the city toward Newark, New Jersey and the Liberty International Airport. It was Friday, May 31, 2013, and it was time for Phase B of our New York trip. Read the rest of this entry »
There are certain days in my life where I feel like I am unabashedly raking in every drop of fun that can satiate my wide varieties of interests. Monday, January 14, 2013, just so happened to be one of those days. I had already spent a very enjoyable weekend at the Hollywood Show meeting scads of celebrities, visited Disneyland twice, attended the memorial service of Our Ganger Peggy Ahern, eaten one of the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, visited the Grammy Museum, and hung out on Hollywood Boulevard. It would seem that this had been a great weekend without any extras, but there was more to see… more to do… more to experience, as many of my interests intertwined into a few further adventures with my friend Bob. 
In the old days of going to California – like in the 1980’s and 90’s – my trips to southern California were usually to see Bob, and thus I would generally spend most of my time with him. But usually during my weekends, it doesn’t often work out that I get to spend much time with Bob as he lives about an hour and a half away from the Hollywood Shows, and I am usually out of there by Sunday or Monday. For this particular trip, I chose to set aside two days so that he and I could maneuver about the L.A. area like the old days. So he took off Monday from work and we planned out a few things to hit on Sunday and Monday. 
I had been on the road for two and a half weeks: two weeks on a road trip traveling with Bob throughout New England – inhaling the historical sites, the Presidential locations, famous graves, Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives, a National Park, local cuisine, roadside curiosities, TV locations, and the beauty of the great northeast – plus another half-week at the 18th International Sons of the Desert convention in Manchester, New Hampshire. Yes, that was a long sentence…so just think how long the trip had been. But on Sunday, July 22, 2012, it all came to an end. 
After the vodka exposure from the night before, it was nothing short of a miracle that I was able to get up, get ready, and make my way downstairs to the lobby at 9:30am to meet up with The Wileys and David for the breakfast buffet at the Cafe in the Park restaurant in the hotel. But somehow I did… and with that, kicked off the final full day of the Sons of the Desert International Convention in Manchester, New Hampshire on Saturday, July 21, 2012.