So after our morning trip to the beach to watch the sunrise we came home and rested in preparation for our 3 hour trip to Cedar Key. With Sunset happening about 8:41 we figured we would leave at about 4:30 in order to get to Cedar Key in time for the sunset. We are merging onto I10 heading west and I take out my camera, the Nikon S220, to take some pictures of the street signs. To my surprise the camera was going through its power on self test and it failed with a lens error, I was like you have got to be kidding me. I played with it for a few minutes with no joy, left the battery out for a while and still no joy. I called Bride and after giving her the model number, Nikon S220, and asked her to perform a bit of research on the internet. The return call did not take long with the bad news, evidently the lens error is a VERY common problem with the S220 as well as many other models and sadly it was not an inexpensive repair. With a 139 dollar camera I could not imagine spending over 100 to get it repaired. I was thinking that I would look for the warrantee paperwork when I got home. She did tell me that she found some actions to take that were successful for other people to get their camera going again. They ranged from grabbing the lens and trying to gently rotate it clockwise while it was going through the self test all the way to banging it gently on the lower left edge. All attempts to make the camera work were fruitless, I was glad I asked my Niece to bring hers and with a quick swap of the memory chip we were back in business.
On our way down RT 301 it started to sprinkle and then all of the sudden it started coming down so badly that we had to pull over and stop. As we sat and watched the rain come down I again called Bride and asked her to check the weather radar for the weather over Cedar Key, if the weather was going to be crappy we could turn around now and call the trip busted. I was wondering if my Bride was beginning to feel like home base for expedition the likes of scaling Everest, she is great woman I tell ya. We waited until the weather let up and we took off again, it rained all the way to Gainesville and once into town we ended up thinking we made a wrong turn and ended up stopping at a convenience store to ask for directions. When I asked the clerk if the road we were on was RT 24 he indicated no it was Archer road. I looked through the maps and they did not even have a map of Gainesville, that Shell station sucks! He then asked where we were going and I told him Cedar Key and he says he is not sure where that is. After some other idle chatter from him I hear him say he is new here and does not really know his way around. I remember thinking, that key bit of information would have been nice to have received right up front at the beginning of the questioning but there is no accounting for some folks. After a ride back a few blocks and after verified the road we were on was actually called Archer through town it was also RT 24.
We get into Cedar Key about an hour before the sunset and it immediately became apparent that my research was lacking, I had no idea where to go to watch the sunset. I guess I was thinking that is it just not that big of a place and that surely the place to watch would just appear to us, kind of like driving east until you hit the ocean. That was not the case on Cedar Key, we drove around for a while and we did find the Cedar Key School and learned that their mascot was a shark, which was evident by the gigantic fiberglass shark prominently displayed on the front lawn of the school. We started looking for someone to ask, where would be a good place to watch the sunset. It did not take us long to see someone and imagine our surprise, we have been in Cedar Key less than 5 minutes and we found our first BOGO on the Blue Bell. There he was innocently sweeping a sidewalk and as we pulled over to ask he did not even acknowledge our presence, we were less than 6 feet away in a 2000 pound car and until I said excuse me sir he did not even look up. I asked if this was the right road to follow if we wanted to go watch the sunset over the water. He slowly stopped sweeping, placed his right forefinger up to his right ear and froze for about 10 seconds before he said “yep” and went right back to sweeping. I asked again, just follow this road and pointed, without looking up he again stated - yep. His actions could not be mistaken for anything other than, this conversation is OVER so we continued on our way. After witnessing his very odd behavior we classified him as the get one free.
After driving around for awhile without finding the Gulf of Mexico, I know how hard can it be right, we found a small bridge that overlooked a channel and there were a number of people there obviously watching the sunset. Since it was getting close to time by now we decided that this would be our spot. We pull over and I quickly realize that I have also forgotten a key part for the camera tripod so my pictures of the sunset would have to be taken holding the camera. Oh well it was more about watching the sunset that photo documenting it. When we first start walking onto the bridge there are some folks who were obviously tourists to Cedar Key, just like us. They were taking pictures and I offered to take one for them so they could all be in the shot, the offer was accepted and I snapped a couple of pictures for them and they thanked me. There was also another couple a bit further down the bridge on the opposite side, we could tell they were locals and they would turn out to be our other BOGO’s on the Blue Bell. They were smoking cigars and watching the sunset. We said hello and little did we know how talkative they would turn out to be.
They talked about a range of topics, from the fact they stopped fishing on this bridge because they were using dynamite to catch fish and it ended up damaging the bridge so they stopped letting folks fish there. She was pretty sure that was the reason and was equally sure that his explanation of someone getting hit was not the reason. They talked about their 3 months of marriage and his moving here from Tennessee. They talked about a seagull that flew over and whether or not it was a hawk, he did end up convincing her it was a hawk in the end. They also talked about a pink albino pelican and at that point we realized they were even drunker than we had initially thought. We classified her as the buy one and him as the get one, mainly because of her dominant personality. We moved to the other side of the bridge to watch, it was truly an incredible sunset and it no longer mattered that most of our plans did not work out, we were here and we were watching the majestic transformation from day to night and it was COOL. As it started to get dark the bugs came out and that drove my Niece into the car, which we had pulled out onto the bridge by this time. I was able to brave the onslaught for only a few more minutes than her and if we ever go back it will be with some product that contains DEET, the mosquito repellent because I am pretty sure there were over 978 trillion of those little bastards on that bridge trying to literally kill us.
After a quick a stop for an ice cream, not Blue Bell, we were on our way back home, our quest for a sunrise and sunset in the same day more than successful. As gravy on the whole thing we also found 3 more BOGO’s on the Blue Bell – 6 in one day a record for sure!
On our way down RT 301 it started to sprinkle and then all of the sudden it started coming down so badly that we had to pull over and stop. As we sat and watched the rain come down I again called Bride and asked her to check the weather radar for the weather over Cedar Key, if the weather was going to be crappy we could turn around now and call the trip busted. I was wondering if my Bride was beginning to feel like home base for expedition the likes of scaling Everest, she is great woman I tell ya. We waited until the weather let up and we took off again, it rained all the way to Gainesville and once into town we ended up thinking we made a wrong turn and ended up stopping at a convenience store to ask for directions. When I asked the clerk if the road we were on was RT 24 he indicated no it was Archer road. I looked through the maps and they did not even have a map of Gainesville, that Shell station sucks! He then asked where we were going and I told him Cedar Key and he says he is not sure where that is. After some other idle chatter from him I hear him say he is new here and does not really know his way around. I remember thinking, that key bit of information would have been nice to have received right up front at the beginning of the questioning but there is no accounting for some folks. After a ride back a few blocks and after verified the road we were on was actually called Archer through town it was also RT 24.
We get into Cedar Key about an hour before the sunset and it immediately became apparent that my research was lacking, I had no idea where to go to watch the sunset. I guess I was thinking that is it just not that big of a place and that surely the place to watch would just appear to us, kind of like driving east until you hit the ocean. That was not the case on Cedar Key, we drove around for a while and we did find the Cedar Key School and learned that their mascot was a shark, which was evident by the gigantic fiberglass shark prominently displayed on the front lawn of the school. We started looking for someone to ask, where would be a good place to watch the sunset. It did not take us long to see someone and imagine our surprise, we have been in Cedar Key less than 5 minutes and we found our first BOGO on the Blue Bell. There he was innocently sweeping a sidewalk and as we pulled over to ask he did not even acknowledge our presence, we were less than 6 feet away in a 2000 pound car and until I said excuse me sir he did not even look up. I asked if this was the right road to follow if we wanted to go watch the sunset over the water. He slowly stopped sweeping, placed his right forefinger up to his right ear and froze for about 10 seconds before he said “yep” and went right back to sweeping. I asked again, just follow this road and pointed, without looking up he again stated - yep. His actions could not be mistaken for anything other than, this conversation is OVER so we continued on our way. After witnessing his very odd behavior we classified him as the get one free.
After driving around for awhile without finding the Gulf of Mexico, I know how hard can it be right, we found a small bridge that overlooked a channel and there were a number of people there obviously watching the sunset. Since it was getting close to time by now we decided that this would be our spot. We pull over and I quickly realize that I have also forgotten a key part for the camera tripod so my pictures of the sunset would have to be taken holding the camera. Oh well it was more about watching the sunset that photo documenting it. When we first start walking onto the bridge there are some folks who were obviously tourists to Cedar Key, just like us. They were taking pictures and I offered to take one for them so they could all be in the shot, the offer was accepted and I snapped a couple of pictures for them and they thanked me. There was also another couple a bit further down the bridge on the opposite side, we could tell they were locals and they would turn out to be our other BOGO’s on the Blue Bell. They were smoking cigars and watching the sunset. We said hello and little did we know how talkative they would turn out to be.
They talked about a range of topics, from the fact they stopped fishing on this bridge because they were using dynamite to catch fish and it ended up damaging the bridge so they stopped letting folks fish there. She was pretty sure that was the reason and was equally sure that his explanation of someone getting hit was not the reason. They talked about their 3 months of marriage and his moving here from Tennessee. They talked about a seagull that flew over and whether or not it was a hawk, he did end up convincing her it was a hawk in the end. They also talked about a pink albino pelican and at that point we realized they were even drunker than we had initially thought. We classified her as the buy one and him as the get one, mainly because of her dominant personality. We moved to the other side of the bridge to watch, it was truly an incredible sunset and it no longer mattered that most of our plans did not work out, we were here and we were watching the majestic transformation from day to night and it was COOL. As it started to get dark the bugs came out and that drove my Niece into the car, which we had pulled out onto the bridge by this time. I was able to brave the onslaught for only a few more minutes than her and if we ever go back it will be with some product that contains DEET, the mosquito repellent because I am pretty sure there were over 978 trillion of those little bastards on that bridge trying to literally kill us.
After a quick a stop for an ice cream, not Blue Bell, we were on our way back home, our quest for a sunrise and sunset in the same day more than successful. As gravy on the whole thing we also found 3 more BOGO’s on the Blue Bell – 6 in one day a record for sure!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment