8/13 - Fate and our trip to the Keys

Do you believe in providence, karma or fate?

I planned out a trip to the Keys this summer.  The game plan was to take the Amtrak out of Penn Station to Miami.  From there grab a hotel for the night then rent a car.  Drive to the Keys and get a room at the Sombrero Hotel in Marathon.  Why there? Cost and it is in the center of the Keys for the most part.  We would leave late in July and come back to NY (yuk) the first week of August.

While there I wanted to reach out and meet face to face some of my FB friends.  Lunch or a drink or two, or something like that to BS a bit.  I’m not going to mention who I wanted to meet here.  I want to learn firsthand the business climate there and see where I can market myself to prospective employers.  After all I specialize in network / computer support and webpage design plus have a lot of marine service experience as a chief mechanic and parts manager from working in a yacht dealership.

Of course while there do some ‘tourist’ stuff.  Things like hanging out at Mallory Square during sunset, lunch at the Hog’s Breath Saloon, a brewski or two or three at Sloppy Joe’s, maybe lunch at the No Name Pub.  Watching the Dolphins at the DRC.  And enjoy sitting on the beach just letting time slip away.

Next thing you know, my pathetic below poverty level unemployment ran out.  There is no way I could finance the trip on that but it did supplement what we have.  At least it would have paid for a few nights at the hotel.

Because of the stoppage of funds the trip is now on hold, again.  Please feel free to insert some appropriate language here, I know I did.

As you would have it we were hit with yet another tragedy.  My sister-in-law who lives in Phoenix had two CVA’s with the second being pretty bad.  For those who do not know what a CVA is, it is a Cerebral Vascular Accident or a stroke.  We have been on the phone with her and her husband on a daily basis.

There is improvement and she is now stable and out of the hospital, but there is a decent amount of damage.

It was decided that we are going to have to drive, you heard me, drive to Phoenix from Long Island.  My wife refuses to fly and the train is totally out of the question.  So we are going to rent a car and three of us are driving the entire distance.  It will not be cheap and it will not be comfortable.  But it is something that we have to do, for what if.  We are leaving NY on 9/1 and hope to be back 9/11 of all days.  Of course if things for her get worse then we are going to bump the trip up sooner.

I figured that with the three of us taking turns driving we should make it in about a day and a half depending on traffic and how we hold up.  But I am allowing three days each way to be on the safe side.

I guess there was a reason as to why we never made it to the Keys in July.  Providence, karma?  Who knows?  But I am NOT giving up on my dream or plans on going to the Keys.