Visually challenged crosswalks.

In my home town, Mount Dora, FL. there is a crosswalk downtown. The crosswalk downtown is the intersection of the two main streets. The crosswalk has an auditory device that allows visually impaired pedestrians to apparently cross either of the two streets. The device makes two different piercing sounds, one for each street, I think. I find it interesting because, as far as I can tell, that is the only intersection in town that is equipped with this device. It is not the only intersection though. How does a visually impaired individual find their way to that intersection in the first place?

I bring this up only because I have found a second such intersection in Florida. My wife and I are at a crappy hotel at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Outside, right outside, is a device just like the one back home. The thing sounds like a laser in a science-fiction movie. A very loud laser. I don't know if the intersection one block over has one or if the blind are secluded to this four block area like Mount Dora. I do know that this thing is loud. Perhaps it is for blind folks who are hard of hearing also. It sounds like a space war out there.The space war, however, is not a problem in the least because we also happen to be across the street from what is obviously Tallahassee's dominant Thursday evening nightspot. This is not what my story is about though. This is just an observation.

I could not wait to pull my laptop and share with you our adventures in getting here. I wanted to tell you about Jack Riley in Ocala who helped us by loading up my blown tire, driving back to work, mounting and balancing a new tire on my rim, returning and installing the tire on his own time. He did not screw us. He is a very nice man. He is a small hero who helped a couple. I also wanted to share with you about how my wife who was very upset and freaking out a little then said I had to be the luckiest man EVER because the random man I asked at the gas station happened to be an honest man who worked at a tire joint.

That's not all. As far as being the luckiest man EVER is concerned, there are some things you just can't say out loud, like, "You are the luckiest man EVER!".
About a half an hour farther into our three hour drive we stopped again for a "potty" break. It was shortly after that, as the sun set that I noticed a variety of problems with my vehicle. The wire connecting the alternator to the battery had burned up because apparently the positive battery cable was loose. I then asked another random guy at a gas station if he knew where I could get a cable. He did and we left to follow him to a shop that was still open. We didn't make it. He, Kenny, called his buddy, Marty who then towed us to his shop, fixed the cables and charged us almost nothing for it. These guys, Kenny, Marty, and Marty's brother are also kind hearted heroes.

Two for two. Am I lucky? I don't know. I have a decent vehicle, two serious problems having nothing to do with one another is not good luck. That's bad luck, maybe, I mean no one got hurt. Then meeting several good folks gave me faith in people. I am a fortunate man though, it would seem I broke even today. We made it here and we will make it home and we learned that the trip, with the right attitude and the right point of view, the trip is everything, the trip is the destination or should be.

Then we arrived, met with our son and his teammates who were in their hotel room, shaving...each other. To be fair they were shaving each others arms in preparation for tomorrow's competition and an opportunity to advance to the state meet. I can only hope they shaved their own legs. Perhaps I should explain that they are swimmers.

I was in a rush in the crappy hotel to get my laptop and share with you all of this and then I opened my computer and connected and found out about the shootings at Fort Hood Texas.

I know now that if my truck breaks down everyday for the rest of my life I am lucky. I hope it goes without saying that our hearts are here a thousand miles from there reaching out to everyone, anyone, there. I hope that all the friends I met last year are safe and everyone they know is safe also.

The trip is worth the journey.