Reinventing Mike Lake Read Online Free PDF Page B

Shack in Brunswick, protect each other a little better than their brethren up north. 
                  Back in the car, wallet in place, I weighed my options.  Thankfully the money lost wouldn’t set me back that much but I still cursed myself for carrying that much on me to begin with, especially considering that my debit card did the same as the cash I had just lost.  At that point more than ever, the feelings in the back of my head got louder, constantly asking me, “What is it you hope to accomplish with this trip?”  All I had accomplished so far while I was along on the trip was being irresponsible with my valuables and putting my identity at risk. 
                  I considered driving back to Florida because it was only 8 p.m., but I had been driving about ten hours, including backtracking.  After my wife died, I am not sure I drove ten hours the entire year.  For the first four months I was only a passenger, as my parents came occasionally to pick me up for dinner at their house.  Then when I started feeling a bit better, or at least doing a bit more, I would drive to the library, and maybe to the video store, but both of these were just a couple miles from my house.  After I purchased the movie streaming service through my video game system, I cut my already meager driving time in half. 
                  Here I was in Brunswick.  There was a Comfort Inn across the street, which seemed promising, so I crossed the road, only to see the telltale signs of construction.  As I was about to leave the lot, I did see a hand written note written on big letters on the front door that read, “Excuse the dust, but we are open!”
                  I was able to secure a room for what I thought was an obscene $89.99 a night for this part of the country, but the front desk told me that the Emerald Princess II, a gambling boat that can operate once it hits international waters, had just reopened after a lengthy renovation, so the rooms were about twice the price they usually were to house the itchy gamblers. 
                  I now had information for the next time I found myself in Brunswick, GA.  I could eat pork and gamble.
     

8
                  The next morning I woke up around 7 a.m. and was starving because I hadn’t eaten since my soggy sandwich early in the previous evening.  I knew pretty clearly that the “Shack” wouldn’t be open that soon, but still I held out hope that they had a pork pancake special.  Even before the ritual morning bathroom call, I wandered over to the window and peaked out just to confirm my thoughts.  Closed.
                  With no real reason to stay at a motel in Brunswick for any longer than one absolutely must, I threw myself, Bahama, and our belongings back in the car after a quick shower and a quicker walk.  I gave the Pig one last longing look, and got back on the highway heading to Florida, wallet in place.
                  A couple of exits down the interstate I had found some golden arches to suppress my hunger for the time being.  It was around my second bite of this waffle, sausage, egg, and cheese contraption that I began thinking about my health so far on this trip.  I had never been a health nut but I knew enough to know combining hours of driving with pork and red meat meal after meal wasn’t the greatest of ideas.  As many vacationers know, it’s really hard to maintain a healthy diet for a week or two.  I was planning on being out for a lot longer than a week or two.
                  As I passed the Jacksonville rest area where I had discovered I was missing my wallet, I instinctively reached into my pocket.  It was still there.  Good, we will now be conquering new land, I thought.  Well, not entirely new land, as I had been in Florida a few times, mostly in my youth, visiting the mouse with big ears and his fun land.