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Spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon today out exploring our new home. Gotta tell ya — we have already seen most of the island, but we managed to find a couple of new roads we hadn’t traveled yet – and let me tell you… them were some roads. We wound up on mountain tops – in peoples driveways a couple of times (hey – it looked like a road) but I just had a ball….. every time I saw a road that disappeared into the wilderness, I took it. The only way to find out what your new island is made of….. what a really  great day…. and pictures~~~ boy do I have some pictures for you. I took right at a 100 of them. By the time I weeded out the junk shots, I still had right at 90 shots left. Now if I can get this slower than molasses internet to load some of them, we’ll be off like a herd of turtles~! As we weaved our way around the southern coast and East end of the island – it became readily apparent – we live on a very beautiful island…. wow. I got some pretty nice pictures, but it just don’t do the beauty of this place justice. You’re just gonna have to come see us and hang out for a week so we can take you around and let you see the beauty of this place for yourself. (just let us know when you’re coming though so we can make sure we have space for you in that time slot)

As we worked our way back toward the apartment/condo…. we stopped at a little place called Cheeseburger in Americas Paradise……. I had heard a lot of good things about it, so we stopped in. Neither of us were particularly hungry, so we got a drink and had a couple of smokes while we sipped our drink. The place smelled heavenly, so we will most certainly be back to check out the cuisine….

Moseyed on in toward town. Stopped at a local grocery store for some toilet paper (the job is never finished until the paperwork is done). Headed on back West. As it would have it, we were going past Blues again (go figure, right ?) We both agreed a drink was in order and my Queen indicated she wanted something to eat….. got us a drink and she got a meatball sub…. she wanted ribs (which looked and smell AWESOME…. but they ran out by the time she put her order in. She said the meatball sub was very good…. I opted NOT to eat anything, as bad as I wanted another smoked turkey breast with bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and drizzled with ranch sammich….. so I just drank……. seeing as how we wound up sitting there for about 3 hours….. I probably should have got the sammich…… but – it’s all good…….

They had a band playing there tonight that  I was really under impressed with, and I (and apparently most of the people there) were really happy when they quit playing. We finally bid adieu and headed back here…… now all that is left for the day is to see if I can get some of these pictures of our beautiful island to load. I’ll only try to get 15-10of them…. and save the rest for non-picture days….

Thankx for stopping in……… have a good evening~!

Dream as you will live forever, live as you will die today.

Picture you get when you don’t realize it’s still on selfie mode

 

Any how……….. my veteran buddy told me about this guy who was playing at their place (Blues Backyard BBQ) that if you closed your eyes, you would swear Johnny Cash was on stage singing…. yea, yea, Jim – sure…….we had a couple more drinks, paid our tab and headed back for the apartment /condo — made a drink when we got there and was relaxin’ from poopin’ on a stick. I could not get out of my head what Jim had said about this guy sounding like Johnny Cash. Me and Jim are cut from the same bolt of cloth so I figured he knew ‘good’ music…… so I finally told my Queen – ” I want to go check this guy out”. We finished our drinks and headed back out to the bus and again for Blues. Got there and got saddled up to the bar while ‘the guy’ started setting up on the backyard stage….. I got me another Turkey sammich….. did I tell you about my new favorite sammich ??? Smoked turkey breast, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion and drizzled with ranch dressing…. OMG…… tie me to an ant hill and smother my ears in jelly~!! My goodness that is some kind of good sammich right there………!!! MMmmMMMmm…. Anyhow…. I finished my sammich and was smokin’ a cigarette, listening to ‘the dude’ now playing music. Just one guy and an amplified box guitar. Good tone and all – nice selection of music… I was enjoying it. Standing in the shadows, away from the bar (us nasty smokers get banished away from the crowds even at fun spots like Blues) enjoying the last of my smoke – and became aware there was a slight pause in the music when I suddenly heard the undeniable beginnings of Folsom Prison Blues. I enjoyed the young man’s effort that he put in for the guitar intro into the song and waited anxiously for the words to begin………………..

That young man finally started singing, and if I’m lying, I’m dying — I almost came out of my flip flops spinning around to make sure that Johnny Cash had not re-incarnated and walked out onstage. I literally got goose bumps listening to him sing. – wow – I always used to think I did a fairly good rendition of Mr. Cash — hush my mouth…… I couldn’t touch this guy with a flame thrower….. Pretty sure my cigarette dropped out of my mouth as I stood and listened to this ‘kid’ belt out an absolutely perfect version of Johnny Cash………….. at the end of the song, the crowd there at Blues erupted in a very appreciative applause…… The singer (I hate myself that I have already forgot his name) launched right into another song [different artist] and kept right on singing.

For the rest of the evening, I listen carefully for each Johnny Cash song, that he remarkably knocked out of the park each time. During his break, I walked up, tipped him generously for a job very well done and asked him if he knew Ghost Riders in the Sky ? He said he knew the song, but not the words…… because I understand what it takes to put on a show [with “help”] – and the fact I was about half hammered at that point – I resisted the urge to offer to sing it for him if he played the music…….. maybe the next time  😉  I will find out this young man’s name and if any of you are visiting on his next tour through Blues, we’ll make sure you get to hear this kid…… I’m tellin’ ya – it’s freaky….. he goes from sounding kinda like John Denver – flipping a switch – to Johnny Cash and then back…… if you like Johnny Cash….. you’ll definitely want to listen to this guy~!! (Plus the bar is just plain ole fun~!!!)

No pictures tonight because: 1) I didn’t take any new ones and 2) internet is running at Glacier speed and I don’t want to sit up til midnight (my time or yours) loading it…….

Thankx for stopping in……….. Good night ya’ll~!!

Holy Crap on a cracker…… I have been at it 10 minutes to get this far – so not sure what you’re gonna wind up with today…… It’s getting late enough [here] that I thought traffic might slow down a bit and actually let me get something done….. NOT~!  We watched a DVD the other night called SNOWDEN – about the “traitor” that leaked a bunch of NSA intel…….. It’s based on a true story but you still have to figure out what is horse crap and what ain’t – but it’s spooky when you see the kind of technology out there….. definitely worth the watch though…. (Alex – if you’re reading this, the actor portraying Snowden, reminded me the world of you)   Any how – the reason I bring this up…… is he had this handy little antenna kind of deal that he could point at the sky and apparently NEVER have internet issues, where ever he was at…. I told my Bride – THAT is what I want and in her never ending ability to shut me the f**k up….. said “Baby, he is a top secret agent for the CIA and also – that is a movie….”  Dammit Emmit ~! I still think that type of technology is out there …… and I want it~!!!

We started our day off by pooping on a stick and getting our food handlers cards. To the untrained ear that may sound contradictive…… but that’s what it takes to get a food handlers card here. I’ve never had to poop on a stick before…. kind of a messed up degrading affair….. and having been through a military induction center – I thought I had been through it all….. but this was a first for me – and if I have anything to do with it a LAST for me as well. But we are now certified by the U.S. Virgin Islands to handle food in a restaurant environment, should we feel the need to do so……. A lot more to the story – but will get into later….. No – we are not so broke we have to start working again, so just cool your jets and wait for the rest of the story later…….

After the trials and tribulations of pooping on a stick – we both felt a drink was warranted…… maybe not warranted – but we both wanted one and since we had skipped breakfast – figured a bite to eat wouldn’t hurt anything either. It takes a lot out of you (well, me anyway) to poop on a stick…… so we stopped at Blues for a drink and a bite to eat…….. again, 1 drink and a bite to eat turned into a bite to eat and 6 drinks…… The owner was telling us about the local entertainment for the evening….. he said it was just one guy and guitar, but this guy could ‘do’ Johnny Cash almost better than Johnny himself…… Well….. this I had to hear……

I’m gonna leave you hanging here….. I’m at my 500 words already – and ain’t even got good and started….. so you’ll have to tune in tomorrow….. “same bat time, same bat channel” (as long as the internet cooperates) for the exciting conclusion to pooping on a stick and Johnny Cash……

Thankx for stopping in…..  : )

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. – Vivian Greene

 

Really beautiful mountains on the island (waaaaay in the background)

“Bacon Brittle” a little bit sweet and AH-MAZ-ING~!

Camera angle

My Honey Bear and her new hat~ <3

Today has been a WHOLE bunch of hurry up and wait…… we started the day off with a dang fine breakfast though — Ooooo-weee~!   I had biscuits and gravy with 2 eggs and 2 pieces of sausage and my Queens Bloody Mary that she ordered and then didn’t want, because it had to much of a ‘bite’…… woman, please…….. 😉 Followed that up by getting my ears lowered…… the barber talked too much and it was really expensive ($25.00) but he did a really good job, which included hot shaving cream and a straight razor on my neck. Love that~!  I was way over due and had an official ducktail going on in the back – which as most of you know just looks ridiculous on a bald guy….. so it’s nice to be cleaned back up. Left there and stopped by Blues Backyard BBQ for a quick drink and some advice on where to get the best insurance on the island. A fellow veteran that owns the place, that I have come to trust gave me some good insight on where to get the best insurance on the island. Left [amazingly] after 1 beer and came back to the apartment/condo to work on the insurance and wait for news on the Jeep.

Finally got the insurance thing squared away, but that was the extent of what happened for the rest of the day….. no word from the Jeep dealer…….. or realtors or anybody else…….

Watched “State of Jones” on a DVD – turned out to be a much better movie than I was expecting……

Now, our trusty internet is so horribly slow – that I can’t connect to hardly anything. I’m really amazed I’m on here and it’s letting me type….. pictures should be a real treat – but we’ll see shortly how than pans out.

Gonna leave it at that fellow peoples… Thankx for stopping in and have a good evening………….

If the “sky is the limit” – how is it there are foot prints on the moon ?  😉

Sorry…… pix just ain’t gonna happen tonight…… maybe tomorrow – thankx~

 

Got  up fairly early this morning in anticipation of going to see our possible new place to live…… had a couple cups of coffee and before you know it, was time to light out.  I wanted to leave a little early because we have found out (the hard way) that sometimes they shut down entire sections of road (for line work or clearing of brush) – and you occasionally have to drive all the way around the island to get to where you’re going. Kind of one of those “you can’t get there from here ” things…… As it turns out, no roads were closed, but a wrong turn put us on a stretch of road we had yet to travel. Pretty scenic little road that I come to find out was the South Shore road — some amazing scenery~! I didn’t get any pictures because I had to pay attention to where we were going (and get us back to where we were going)… and my travel companion [I won’t mention any names] is too busy gawking at the scenery to take pictures for me………   Anyhow – we wound up at our designated meeting place in plenty of time to meet a new realtor. She led us up a very steep driveway to the unit. Even though it is a ground floor unit, the balcony for the unit is about 20′ off the ground. Let that sink in a minute. It is planted on the side of a fairly steep mountain….. but let me tell you – when you walk in that front door……. that view….. butter my butt and call me a biscuit…..!!! WOW~!! Just plain ole WOW~!!! It just almost takes your breath away….. unfortunately – so did the condition of the condo. The place needs LOTS and LOTS of TLC……and LOTS and LOTS of updates. It’s not a bad little place, just hasn’t been taken care of in a lot of years — and they were asking $ 1700.00 a month for it~! Pretty sure I could get them down to probably $1400-$1500 a month – but still way too much for what we were looking at. The unit has a really nice pool and an Italian restaurant on the premises…. but still not worth the money…. even with the “million dollar” view….. Hopefully can get some pictures to load so you can see it.

Came back through town and stopped at Blues Backyard BBQ for a quick drink and a bite to eat…. Had a pulled pork sammich (excellent) and what turned into a half a dozen Budweiser’s…… Dammit Emmit how does that keep happening ??? 😉

Finally got out of there and stopped by the local auto dealer…. after much talk and walk – we found a nice little Jeep we both like — -took it for a test drive. Liked the way it handled, good and solid and in pretty nice shape inside and out – 2014 Jeep Wrangler…… a lot more money than what we want to spend…. but I think it will be a good fit for us under the conditions. They are gonna run it through the shop…. change oil, check it out. Need to replace the window crank on the passenger side and then give us a call tomorrow or Wednesday. They want $ 20,500.00 for it and from what I can find on line – that is a fairly reasonably price, but I obviously want to get it as cheap as I can….. so when we go to see it again…. the dance begins….. but I think we have us a Jeep~!!

Thankx for stopping in….. ya’ll come back now – ya’ hear~~
(Well – I had more pictures… but after almost half an hour of trying to get them to load — the hell with it)

Don’t let someone else’s opinion of you become your reality.

Slow day today, still looking for Jeeps and places to live. We’re making some headway though. We have a showing tomorrow at 11:00 – it’s not exactly what we’re after, but close – and it is in a price range that would be comfortable for us. Really amped just for the fact we have a place to go look at.
As far as the Jeep – think we’re bite the bullet and up the price we had intend to spend on a car and go with a Jeep from the local dealer — I just think we will be money ahead if we get a good reliable car right off the bat we can trust. I have been chatting with some real humdingers out there – trying to scam the hell out of anybody they can.  🙁
After about 6 hours of that – got nosing around on line while I had halfway decent Wi-Fi signal and saw advertisement for the local cinema. One of the movies playing was 12 Strong. I wanted to see it from the first time I saw the trailer, then found out I guy I used to work with at SABIC, that, that was his old unit. I don’t know for sure if he was actually in the unit at the time of that mission that the movie is based on – but still cool insight to him.
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie – I would highly recommend it. I had no idea we had guys fighting that kind of combat on horseback. Very cool.
I’m gonna leave it here — it’s taken me almost an hour to get this far – Will try to load some pictures that I couldn’t on previous posts.
This site is acting squirrelier than usual tonight – so not sure what I’ll get done.
Hopefully some new pictures from our adventures out and about tomorrow.
Thankx for stopping in~!

There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.

Pictures ain’t gonna happen tonight….. sorry~~~~

Greetings and salutations O’ readers of this blog….. today was an exploratory kind of day again — I love these days except for the fact I don’t get to take many pictures because I am navigating and piloting the bus….. not knowing your way around (very well) is one thing – but when you have to stay vigilant for potholes – it adds a whole new dimension to driving.  And let me tell you – this place has some serious potholes~!!  We were told about a place that had ‘lots’ of Jeep wranglers on their lot – so away we went….. finally found the place out on the East side…… lots of vehicles and ONE Jeep – and it had been jacked up and blown out to the point where not even I wanted anything to do with it. Got talking to some of the locals while looking over the other inventory – I even looked at a FORD truck)  🙁 which should tell you how desperate we’re getting….. but the locals informed me, this place was notorious about bringing in reclaimed stuff from Florida and Texas, that had hurricane/flood damaged from Hurricane Hugo — buyer beware. Finding a lot of that nonsense – especially on Craigslist…… really miss the good ole days of being able to believe most of what you were told when trying to buy something……..

Didn’t find any vehicles, so made a pit stop at the store for a few essentials and came back to the apartment/condo…… We did hear from a new realtor we have been talking with and she has a showing for us Monday at 11:00~!! Not really part of the island we wanted to be on, but if it checks off the other boxes – we may snag it up — it is well within our budget – so we are excited~! More on that Monday~!

In the meantime – I’m gonna leave it right here and see if I can get some decent pictures loaded for you tonight….. hated to cut out on you last night – but it was past midnight and the ole fat boy was getting tired and frustrated……

Not sure what tomorrow brings…….. so check in again – Thankx for stopping by~~~  (Well – it let me edit ALMOST all of them this time)  😉

Sorry I missed you last night — we spent part of the day driving around to different car lots looking for a Jeep — little buggers (in our price range) are dang hard to find…… after being shot down for the 6th time, we finally said to hell with it and stopped at the Backyard for a drink….. Oh dammit did that go south….. Got to socializing with a bunch of good folks and lost track of time and drinks…… so we stumbled in here way past our bed time and fell into bed…… you probably wouldn’t have wanted to read those ramblings anyway  😉

Got up this morning, feeling a whole lot better than we probably should have. Checked listings for places to live (actually got a lead on one possible!) and then checked listings for Jeeps. Found a couple more dealers and went and checked them out- lots of cars but no jeeps…. Dammit Emmit~! It was about 1:00 O’clock by then and it dawned on us we hadn’t eaten in quite a while – and we were close to the Backyard again – so we whipped in for a bite. While having a dang good burger and an ice cold Budweiser – I noticed a sign saying they were closing early for JUMP UP. When I asked about it – turns out it is a street festival of sorts (think fall festival on a much smaller scale) that they have 4 times a year. We were told the Moko Jumbies would be there as well. I am familiar with them and have always wanted to see them — so we finished our lunch and then went back to the apartment to freshen up and change. We wound up downtown right at 6:00 (start time) and wandered the streets looking at the various tables and booths – they have craft booths as well as food. We walked and drank, didn’t partake of any food, still full from lunch. We ran into a lot of the Backyard crowd and chatted with them. Good times. It got to be 8:00 and the Jumbies finally made their appearance. I won’t go into a lot of detail tonight about them tonight – but you can look here:http://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/the-moko-jumbie-a-cultural-icon/ for a really good article on them (Turns out there is a link to JUMP UP on that page as well). I managed some pictures. It is supposedly good luck if you get your picture taken with one.

I’m gonna leave it here – it’s late, I’m tired…….. Thankx for reading – and have a good evening/day~~!

Internet is dying… only loading a couple of pictures and half of those are sideways and won’t let me edit — I’ll try again tomorrow…… sorry~~

B

 

We both actually got a decent nights sleep last night for the first time in about a week and got up feeling without feeling like we had been run over by a bus. We had our coffee and decided we needed to go out for breakfast. One of the bartenders at Blues Backyard BBQ had told us about a place his girlfriend works at and they have the best biscuits and gravy on the island~! That was all I needed to hear~! Love me some biscuits and gravy~!! So we jumped into the bus and away we went. Actually drove straight to the place. That’s how I know we’ve been here for a bit now – getting less lost 😉  Tiny little place called the Toast Diner….. managed to grab the last 2 seats at the counter and sat down. Turns out they specialize in Bloody Mary’s – they even give you a card to fill out, so you can “build your own” by  marking off the booze and extra ingredients you want. I ordered celery, tomato and shrimp as my extra’s….. wow~! Shrimp was amazing~! (SSsshhh – even better than mine) I’m gonna have to go back – just for an order of the shrimp. I ordered the biscuits and gravy with a couple of over medium eggs thrown on the top just for good measure. My Queen opted for a conventional breakfast plate. Order came up in fairly good time and was wonderfully delicious~! Course, any meal you don’t have to cook yourself – is always fairly decent.  Was it the best biscuits and gravy I ever had – Nope (mine are MUCH better) – Were they best I have had on the island ? Absolutely (there again, they were the ONLY biscuits and gravy I’ve had on the island) – but still very tasty~! I apparently inhaled my breakfast because my bride wasn’t even half way through hers – and I was still hungry – so I ordered an egg, sausage and cheese biscuit – it came out and was also very tasty~! We will definitely be going back there~!

Finally left there and wandered around the boardwalk area moseying in and out of the tourist shops. Angie was looking for a specific cut tank top. 5 stores later, finally found 1 she liked. Headed back to the apartment (owner calls it a condo – but, no – it be an apartment. I think they call it a condo so they can charge more) – just got in, checked mail and decided to run out to a local car dealership. The term on the bus is about to run out and I either need to extend it or buy a vehicle. I decided it will save me a ton of money in the long run just to go ahead and buy one now – even though I don’t have a ‘permanent’ address yet – I’ll figure those logistics out later. So we are now in the market for a vehicle. I’m wanting to get a small Jeep – but dang those dudes are expensive, so we’ll have to see what pops up. I figure I can rent the bus to use when we have kids and Grandkids in.

The rest of the day was spent doodling and doing a whole bunch of nothing – kind of a great way to wind up a Bloody Mary morning~~

Thankx for checking in~!!

Trying to stay ahead of the game here….. went on line (while it was working) looking for a new place to live in case we haven’t found our permanent place by the time the lease runs out on this place… Came a cross a place – 3 bedrooms, 2 bath… for way less than we’re spending here – and it supposedly has TV that works~! Woo-Hoo~!! The best part of it is….. it is actually coming in under budget~!! First time since we’ve started this adventure that we will actually be under budget~!!   Yay~!! With the hit the stock market has taken the last couple of days – we’re gonna need all the help we can get…… Excited at the prospect  we jumped into the bus and headed out to find the new place (even though we have 2 weeks left here)….. finally found it – sitting high on a small mountain top down in a little cubby — probably won’t be much of a view, but we’re a lot closer to the ocean and will be back to a second bathroom that we BOTH have come to appreciate….. Can’t wait to see how it pans out – but we have time yet – so more to come on that.

Left the ‘new place’ and since it is close to the West end of the island….. we motored on out to a place I read about that sounded like fun. Rhythm’s Bar on rainbow beach. ( http://www.rainbowbeachstx.com/ ) Drove straight to it, as we had passed by it once before on an exploratory drive…… found a place to park and pulled in. Fun little place sitting on a pretty little stretch of sand beach off to one side of it. Pretty typical looking compared to what we’ve seen so far in our island hopping — open air bar with a bunch of beat up tables and chairs. Bar was pretty much filled with what I presumed to be locals and regulars, so we picked a reasonably clean table and had a seat. Abby was quick to show up and take drink orders and returned with a Crown and Coke and a bottle of Bud…… My Queen opted for a couple of shrimp taco’s and I had a blacken Mahi-Mahi fish sammich served with some secret sauce Abby recommend. Food showed up in pretty decent time and was delicious~! Asked about a liquid dessert and Abby mentioned a shot that the bartender said tasted like Cinnamon Crunch cereal. Well yeah I had to try it~!! My Bride opted out so I let her taste mine and before we knew it, we had each ordered and downed 3 more shots. Good Stuff~! It would have been real easy to sit there and get properly stupid – but not wanting to test the [apparent] very lax drinking and driving laws on the island…… I paid our bill and away we went — Very fun afternoon, staring out at the beautiful water, watching people enjoy each others company and just soaking up the atmosphere…… A truly enjoyable afternoon I hope I get to recreate and share with some of you some time.

Now to see if I can get a couple of pictures to load for you. Thankx for stopping in~!