Blow-out!

Clearly, yesterday's post only served to antagonize the lunar menace that has been plaguing this little corner of heaven lately.

This morning, as I was barreling down I-4 in rush hour traffic, one of the front tires on ye olde Blazer decided to explode.

Fortunately, yours truly was able to safely exit the interstate and thump-thump-thump to safety.

But, the repair bill remains to be seen.

Ah, well, such is the price one must pay, I suppose, when one tangles with a celestial menace . . .

Cleaning-up the wreckage

No, that headline does NOT refer to the mayhem that ensued up in New Hampshire yesterday.

Rather, it refers to the terrible accident this morning on I-4, the interstate we all love to hate here in Central Florida.

In the wee hours this morning, smoke from a nearby brush fire combined with rolling fog between the Disney property and Lakeland.

The consequences were deadly.

As I type this, there are three confirmed deaths in the fifty-car pile-up that ensued, and many more are injured.

Prayers are needed from ye socks of that inclination.

Going bananas in Orlando!

I just love it when Central Florida makes national news, especially when we are portrayed as idiots (which is not hard to do).

Well, we did it again.

Just as our infamous rush hour was coming to a close this morning, a truckload of bananas found its way all over the east-bound lanes of I-4 near the Par Avenue exit to fashionable College Park.

No big deal, right? Accidents happen.

Well, that's not what attracted all the media attention. That credit has to go to all the amazing local commuters who put their vehicles into park right there on a major interstate highway to pick up as many armfuls of free bananas as they could carry!

Come on, folks! They only cost 49-cents a pound at the Winn Dixie! Stop holding up traffic!!

How embarassing . . .

Back to reality, sort of.

Had a smoothe drive back from the beach. That is, it was smoothe all along I-95 and I-4. But, something happend on SR417, that had traffic backed up on the causeway spanning Lake Jessup.

That was a treat.

For you out-of-town or otherwise oblivious socks, Lake Jessup is famous for only one thing: Gators.

And, I'm not talking about the orange and blue national championship variety.

As we sat there waiting for the friendly officers of the Florida Highway Patrol to get the situation in hand, I casually surveyed our surroundings. And, within a matter of just a few seconds discovered we were completely surrounded by gator-infested waters.

Thank God for sturdy concrete construction!

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally made it to the other side of the causeway and exited the 417, more than glad to take the winding back roads to avoid further tempting the hungry reptiles.

I-4 is more than a nightmare

Anyone who's had to use Central Florida's most infamous road can tell you that.

But, now it seems we finally have proof of who's to blame:

Ghosts.

That's right, ghosts.

It seems back when the notoriously traffic-clogged highway was inflicted upon the region back in 1960, the builders neglected to relocate a small Catholic cemetery on the south shore of Lake Monroe.

Instead, they unceremoniously dumped a bunch of fill dirt on top of the graves.

According to compiled statistics, this disrespect has caused some 2,000 accidents (of varying degrees of severity) along the quarter mile strip of east bound lanes just before the St. Johns River Bridge. That makes it the most accident prone section of highway between Daytona and Tampa.

One of our local tv stations had several "experts" on the air this evening to testify about this so-called "I-4 Dead Zone." They told of orbs, produced some spooky photos, etc.

And, it's not even Halowe'en yet, folks!

I say, fine. So, we've identified the problem. Now, what are we going to do to solve it?!