FINALLY, A TRIP REPORT!!

Good evening from a quaint place called Rocky Mount, Virginia; population, who cares? Anyway, thanks to my mother's friend's computer with a very high-speed Internet connection, I'm finally doing a report so far on my two weeks here in the South while Golden Days has already kicked off back in Fairbanks. And knowing that I would miss out on all the fun including the parade tomorrow, I took a bit of Golden Days with me with a button I bought on Sunday before I would leave.

But the weather here throughout wasn't anything but golden. On the first full day of my vacation Tuesday (I arrived at Piedmont-Triad International Airport in Greensboro late Monday night, despite leaving my boarding passes on the plane after landing though I did ask the baggage claim office to print out my itinerary), the temperatures were hovering between 90 and 95 degrees! As a certain skanky mega-socialite would say, "That's really hot!"

My grandmother lives in one of those apartment buildings for seniors in Winston-Salem, and yes, she does have cable...analog cable. Come on; she's in her eighties and she doesn't have the money for an upgrade to digital -- which my cousin does have (as well as video-on-demand) and she's across town.

On Wednesday, we dined at Red Lobster for the first time in our lives. The occasion was capped off with those lobster beads the waiter gave to us after finishing our meals. Lobster beads, huh? Sure beats one of those "Jerry Beads" the female audience members flash their breasts for on "Jerry Springer!"

And last night, before heading to Virginia, I had lunch at O'Charley's restaurant across from the Hanes Mall, Winston-Salem's main shopping center. The Red Lobster bill was $86, but since O'Charley's was a regional chain the lunch total there was over $60, which is good.

What's also good about O'Charley's is at the bar section, they have two tabletop Megatouch touch-screen game machines. They're not gambling, but the games range from cards (including poker), quizzes, word, puzzle, and more. One of the games, "Mystery Phraze", has a very popular game show I won't even bring up (alright, its initials are WOF) cry out "RIPOFF!!!" Anyway, I hope some of the Fairbanks area restaurants/bars will get ahold of those Megatouch machines anytime soon; I'm sure that'll equal more customers.

Of course, I've been keeping an eye on the major happenings while down here. So far this week, three stories have dominated the headlines: Hurricane Emily tearing through Mexico but leaving Texas with nothing but winds, the nomination of John Roberts to pick up where Sandra Day O'Connor left off; and another series of explosions in London on Thursday morning. And I have an open message to the Tour de France people: JUST END THE RACE NOW; THERE'S NO WAY SOMEBODY WILL STOP LANCE ARMSTRONG!!!!!!!

Anyway, that's an abbreviated look back so far. After a shopping spree back in Winston-Salem for hard-to-find DVDs (there are those that we would never buy in Alaska except for online), it's off to Atlanta to spend the weekend there, followed by the second half of my Southern tour in the Mississippi coast. Barring any chance of another hurricane about to threaten to coast, will week #2 be more fun-filled than week #1? We'll find out on Monday. Until then, bye y'all from Virginia!!