Out for a ride

Thursday morning, the Felice's headed out to do some sneaker shopping while Pop and Cathy headed to the local airport to pickup the brother in law pilot. We had spotted some rather nifty looking pedal bikes earlier down at the beach, so Thomas, Elizabeth and I were dropped off at the bike shop to give one a spin after lunch.










While the bike did LOOK fun, after actually getting on one, you realize that they are made of cast iron and the entertainment of pedaling one wears out in about...hmmm.. 30 yards. So the entertainment factor was short. But we did catch it on camera.

Rehoboth continued

Wednesday night included a stop at the local Tiki inspired mini golf. And there were straws hats for the borrowing. And there was much rejoicing.

Welcome to Rehoboth

We arrived Monday evening after our fun ferry trek. We have rented a house from my friend Nicholas - who has been a great host for us. Joe will be arriving tomorrow morning sometime and Eric is driving down late thursday evening after work.
Aside from Michigan poker, Arthur has been taking some spins at the Lego aircraft assembly line alongside the nephews. As for me - well...
As always, the workload at the job has hit a pinch just in time for vacation - so i am actually working while we are down there. I have had several phone meetings so far that involve me walking down a street with phone in one hand and waving the other arm wildly - all in a very public way. At least people seem to be getting out of my way.

On to Rehoboth

Leaving Owego early on Monday - the Prato's, Pop & I headed down to New Jersey to meet up with the Felice's and pay a visit to the New Jersey Myers clan and our Aunt Esther. Route 81 was under lots of construction, so we took some back roads down to Clark Summit and proceeded down to New Jersey.

Our cousin's Cindy and Joe met us at our Aunt's hospice along with Cindy's kids Shavonne and Cj. Our cousin Steven also stopped in later as well. A very nice visit, it was good to see our Aunt Esther ( my godmother btw!) Heading out of Howell, we booked down the Garden state parkway, we headed to Cape May to make our 6:oo Ferry. The ferry was a good source of amusement, before and during.





























The sea became a bit choppy - but we fixed that with additional beer.

Pimp My Golf Cart









I am starting a new sitcom! Did you know? It is gonna be great. I am trying to think of names right now...

That Gay Golf cart...

Homo Over-Haulin'

Queer eye for the ... eh never mind.... you get the point. This all started this summer at our site at Jones Pond campground. The place is rather big and hilly - and many campers have picked up golf carts to bop around. GayEvolution naturally kicks in and the carts have gotten much more upscale this season, with some campers laying out some very large bucks ($6000+ ?) for the most fabulous of rides. Eric, Jeff and I talked about picking up an old one and I considered it another creative target. All of this was on the back burner until 2 events.. Jeff found a cart for $400 and in the most egregious of events...

A bigger than life drag Queen /friend pulled up to our site July 4th to pay her due respects for the progress on our site - only to wind up taunting me with her fabulous $$$$ golf cart complete with many color changing light options. In the most evil of Drag Queen laughs - she said we could never hope to compete with her....


Oh - that Bitch pushed a button alright. And she knew it.

So what she did with $ - we will do with ~Spiteful Creativity~.

Phase one was completed this weekend. The fabulous Sassy Green Pearl paint did not come out so fabulous - but still very striking. Additional lighting, roof assembly and more dash lighting are all coming in the next month. Stay tuned....for now - some before and after pics....

























Masking and primer

























The first problem was the metallic paint. It really needs to be put on with a air gun. The spray cans really could not do the job. The other problem was that I really never checked what color primer I should use. So naturally - I picked white to help with the brightness.

OH IT HELPED ALRIGHT.

The paint came out practically neon bright ... but we still liked it.

















Eric and I spotted this fake diamond plate at the store and thought it would make for some great trimming.
























Lights and trim
























Phase One finished

Cedar Point









Eric and I trekked out to Cedar Point this past weekend for Eric's birthday.

Cedar Point also had a light show this summer over by Frontierland. At first, i dismissed it as just a lot of LED Christmas lights, but it was actually pretty neat underneath them all.



A very nice weekend. We managed to hop on the Maverick, Gemini, Millennium Force and Magnum [ my favorite ]

For me - the scariest part of these rides is the ride up. Once i get slowly up several hundred feet - I start looking off to the sides and begin the math on this Skinny tOtTeRy 7 foot wide structure and Metal fatigue. From there - the descent is a relief. Check out the Magnum Video below at the :52 second mark. YIKES.

Other videos on YouTube of our rides

Millenium Force



Maverick



Magnum



Gemini



And of course -

The Blue Streak



The oldest at Cedar Point. And yet- an interesting lesson - when we rode this "old slow" coaster - i left my camera in my shirt pocket without much thought. Yet on the first drop - the camera floated right out of my pocket and I spent the entire ride with one hand keeping it in the pocket. It made me wonder about people bringing cameras on all these other coasters. Yikes.

In years past, we have always managed to time our trip with when the park is NOT full - but this year - it was a typical[?] summer weekend - and the lines were long for a lot of rides. We did manage to hit the Hibachi restaurant in our hotel YUM

Post Office Treat


Had to drop off a package at the Post Office today [ Yes Brian! I actually mailed your sandals back...] There are certain places visited on occasion that I always can be assured of a wondrous pageant of humanity and the post office is in the top 10 (?)

Others I can think of of the top of my head....

Department of Motor Vehicles!

Any Scratch Off or Lotto vendor with a roof, doors and chips.

Any Fast food within City limits

Dollar Store or Tree

and Walmart of course.


So - today - as I am in line at the Post Office - ahead of me is a woman casually dressed mailing a package. She is also wearing a full industrial respirator. ( Not around her neck either....) She was in full Darth Vader mode.

At first it was puzzling watching her try to talk to the clerk...

" You want that priority mail mam?'

" Mmmhgn mghdd mm meh muh "

I do not speak Respirator myself - but luckily the postal employee was Bilingual and the transaction was fairly seamless. My first thought was the lady was some kind of Germophobe nut job. But then my next thought is ... maybe this lady is Ms. Turbiculosis 2009?

I made a beeline for the other clerk - so I am sure that will keep me safe from the Ebola or whatever...

So upon exit, I walk past a man in the building leaning over in a telephone call. I did a shocked double take and noticed the mans pants were obviously functioning as a hammock for his ass. This was no Plumber's crack folks. This was hairy nutsville.

The guy was pushing 6"3 - so I resisted the temptation to toss in a quarter and make a wish.

He probably would not have noticed anyhow....

I am thinking I should start some kind of YouTube group. Then everyone could enjoy the show from the comfort and safety of their suburban home.

Time for bed

Thank God!



FDA Approves Depressant Drug For The Annoyingly Cheerful

Tornado 1 Train 0

Saw this on Gizmodo. Yikes




Of course - then i spend 2 hours watching tornado videos on YouTube. So much for doing any laundry. It is a wonder I manage to feed myself.**



**Mr. Eric would chime in here than if he did not do the grocery shopping, I would probably starve.

I remember as kid - they told us in school that upstate NY could not have Tornados because it was too hilly. Another one of those precious nuggets of baloney.

GayStreams!









My Friend Cristian had told me he was interested in coming up to visit the our campground after hearing about all the construction follies from last summer. Right after getting back from NYC, I found out the campground was hosting an Airstream Rally at the end of the month so it seemed like a perfect time for a campout. Cristian pulled in on Friday afternoon and as it so happened - there was a single spot in the Airstream row left for him to pull up his 1970 Airstream and join the fun. The Gay Airstream clan quickly too a ~shine~ to my straight friend on a novel visit to the campground and welcomed us to happy hour! Saturday was a trailer open house for everyone to check out the Silver wonders and Cristian stepped up to the plate in style with his camper dutifully decked out in Tiki and vintage memorabilia.

































The owners of the campground Steve and Doug also happen to collect Vintage Trailers among their many other pursuits and had all three on tour including a vintage Argessy and a Beautiful sister trailer to Lucy and Desi's in the famous movie "The Long Long Trailer"






Besides the tours, the weekend included more deck construction, a BBQ with the new Grill and a nighttime Bocce game! More pictures, including the trailer tours at my Flickr Site ==>

We are Jones Cousins














.. I really cannot recall the last time we all traveled together. Always seems like somebody's got somethin' else goin' as some would say.











































The Jones tribe made most excellent hosts as always as we took the time to tour around Phoenix before our cousin's Mary's wedding. Besides the Botanical Garden, we hit up IKEA and a Bead store along with the standard set of Jones parties and all the requisite merriment. Our Arizona and California cousins are fully equiped for silliness and revelry.. so when we are all together...it is critical mass time.

















We finally had an opportunity for a family portrait. I love the picture - yet find it a bittersweet reminder we are supposed to be a tribe of six.

Wherever Mom is now - I know we gave her a couple of good laughs over the weekend. - Tom

Time for a little Chihuly




































































































We stopped by the Phoenix Botanical Garden while we were in town to check out the desert flora and the Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Simply stunning. My brother Jim correctly noted how the artist was capturing within the glass the intensity and contrast of the desert flowers against the rather bleak desert landscape. More pics on my Flickr Site -->