DAYTONA TO DAYTON DEJA VU

Roaming Daytona Beach yesterday, and then the 14-hour drive to Dayton  Ohio today, seemed like deja vu all over again. I did my rehab walk at sunrise on the beach and I think the same gulls from last March are still looking for handouts! Barnacles and periwinkles still encrust everything that the tide washes ashore.

Of course it's a different month and instead of Welcome Bikers / Welcome Breakers (March), the banners say Happy Holidays (December). Palm trees look like bursting fireworks because they're wrapped in white lights like a festive straight jacket.

The same tedious but necessary long day up the I-75 shows dull bare trees (December) instead of greening trees (March). But surprisingly it has been so dry that brush fires dotted the mountains with smoke. There is always an ``Oversize Load``, but can anyone identify this gray giant?

The big difference this time was hours of torrential monsoon rains in Kentucky and Ohio. And at 70 mph, after dark! Like racing in the rain. Great to have the psychological hooray of arriving at the exact same Knight`s Inn in Dayton. But did we get the same room, 110, to complete the deja vu? Nah.