A Modern Stop at Willoughby

In 1960, the brilliant writer, Rod Serling, produced one of his favorite episodes of his show, "The Twilight Zone." It was called "A Stop At Willoughby."  An advertising executive gets chewed out by his boss and the combined pressures of his home life result in him falling asleep on a train and waking up in a peaceful town in 1888. 

There are places in this country in 2024 that are slow and peaceful and for people who need a break from the hustle and bustle of modern life.  One of these places is Mackinac Island in Michigan. Over 1 million people visit this place each summer and there are only 500 residents.

Since the beginning of the 19th century cars have been banned here.  They do have emergency vehicles, two fire engines and one police car and one ambulance.  They have incredible fudge here and produce 10,000 pounds a day during their busy season.  That sounds like a ridiculous amount of fudge, I hope they have plenty of milk.

A couple other unusual facts about this island.  There are only 70 students in their entire school system.  80% of the island is state property and it had an active military post for a hundred years.  If you're looking for some natural beauty, this may be what you're looking for. It is more beautiful than Willoughby.

 

"LOST" Again

It was twenty years ago that the television show "Lost" appeared.  When I heard that a show was going to begin where people were stuck on an island and it wasn't a comedy like "Gilligan's Island," I had no interest watching it.

However, that night I was flipping channels waiting for my youngest to fall asleep and I was mesmerized immediately.  The first thing that struck me was that it looked like a movie not a television show.  The pilot was the most expensive pilot ever made.  Secondly, it was full of unusual things such as a polar bear on a hot island. Third, the music was striking and a significant part of what was going on.

Our two oldest children and my wife and I watched the show every week for the six years it was on. I wish I had a dollar for every time we said, "What does that mean?" The characters were terrific.  The plot was extensive and fascinating.  It had everything you could possibly want in a television show or movie.  Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on.

On May 23, 2010, the final episode aired from 9-11:30 pm.  The local news was moved back thirty minutes.  Episode 121 had everything in it from the last six years.  Although some people panned it as disappointing, I remember when the show ended they had a special show on with some of the actors and a live audience. The first seconds of that show had an audience member crying after just watching the ending. (He was not the only one)

I've always considered "Lost" one of my top three favorite shows, with "Star Trek" and "The Twilight Zone being the other two.  I found it impossible to rate the three since "Lost" was so new and the others were from the sixties.  

In the fourteen years since the show ended, I have watched a couple shows again, but I've always thought about when I could watch the entire series again.  One hundred twenty-one shows of about forty minutes each is a lot of television.  "Lost" started on Netflix in the past year and my brother started watching it from the beginning. Surprisingly, my wife said that she would watch and in August we started by watching the incredible pilot.

This week, we watched the last show and it is clearly my favorite show of all time.  My wife said that she thought, "It was better watching a second time." The plot is still incredible, the humor was more than I remembered and the great and unforgettable moments were absolutely remarkable.  

When I first started watching this show, it reminded me of "The Twilight Zone."  One of my favorite songs is a one-hit wonder in 1969 by Zager & Evans called "The Year 2525."  I wrote the below song twenty years ago to the music of this song and I sang it probably a hundred or more times in my car.  

Congratulations to everyone involved in "Lost"-it is still a special show and I had a great time watching it again.

                                        LOST and FOUND?

                                          “The Year 2525”

 

There’s a place, oh so far away,

Where there are people, trapped today.

No one knows where they happen to be,

After their plane crashed tragically.

 

What did the psychic see in his head?

Is Jack’s father really dead?

What did Ethan want with Claire?

And how does a hot island have polar bears?

 

There are questions in our mind,

We’re looking for answers all the time.                   CHORUS

We don’t know what theories are true,

So we’ll keep watching until we do.

 

How did Locke get out of his chair?

How did he become a leader there?

What’s the story with Hurley’s weight?

And what will be Claire’s baby’s fate?

 

Is Sawyer really bad?

What will happen the next time he’s mad?

Will he go after Sayid or Jack?

And when will the monster next attack?

 

REPEAT CHORUS

 

“No monsters,” Danielle said,

Is the rest of her party really dead?

Why would someone kill for a toy plane?

Or kill themselves with drugs-that’s insane!

 

Can the boy make things appear?

Who are the voices in the woods they hear?

Will each person find what they’re looking for?

Or will they find something much, much more?

 

So now it’s been about fifteen shows,

How it will end, no one knows.

Will they ever get back home?

Or, will they be stuck there, all alone?

 

Why is there magic in the air?

What is happening on that island down there?

Why do so many people care?

Can’t you just tell us about the polar bears?

 

REPEAT CHORUS

 

There’s a place, oh so far away…..

MY MOST MEMORABLE SEPTEMBER RIDER COMMENTS

 

She: "The one thing I am very good at is I am the best parallel parker."

The anxious male college freshman, suddenly said to me, "I'm not getting kidnapped, am I?"

How did you two meet?" He laughed and said, "We met at McDonalds where she was working. She was in high school and I was in college. The first time I saw her she took my breath away, and it's the only time in my life everything slowed down like a movie. The first thing I said to her was, "I'm going to marry you." (Married 38 years)

He told me that, "Saddam Hussein was addicted to nacho cheese Doritos, it was his heroin." AP fact check: "He could down a large bag in 10 minutes."

He was almost 81 years old and I asked him, "How are you in such great shape?"  He said, "Cheerios." After I stopped laughing he explained, "I used to eat the colored ones when I was young." He meant Fruit Loops.

I asked them, "Do you have anything funny for my blog?" She said, "That kind of pressure makes me feel like the most horrible person on the face of the earth."

The amazing woman told me, "When my fourth child was born, I was cleaning the crib, and I had to give birth suddenly by myself.  I called the midwife and she came to cut the cord."

My frequent rider said, "I just got an oil change and my 10th one was free, when do I get a free ride from you?  Even American Airlines gives us two free Uber rides a month." Me: "I'm working on a Frequent Rider Discount program."

The young woman asked me a question no one has ever asked me- "Can you do a cartwheel?"

After speaking with the singer/songwriter about the songs I've written, he said, "You don't know how close you are to writing a hit song." (How far is Pluto?)

The man from Tennessee said, "It took me thirty years to find the love of my life." She: "It was 28, you're thirty now."

Jack Moore was an instructor on the PGA tour and a great putter: "I once gave Tiger Woods a tip, I won two hundred amateur tournaments, and have trained golfers at $3,000 per hour.  I also sold four million videos at over $50 each."

He: "I've always wanted to be an animation character, maybe a cat."

I asked, "How did you two meet?" He said, "Through the divine power of the internet."

I told him I drive nine hours a day out to Colorado and he said, "I'd have to be on acid to take a nine- hour ride."

The 26-year-old Brazilian has four car dealerships in the Boston area. "We come here to work, we go home to sleep. There is so much opportunity in this country."

I asked the guy from Texas, "Are you a Cowboys fan?" He replied, "I used to like them when they played, but now they are just cowgirls."

How did you become a lawyer? She said, "I didn't want to do math and I said, 'Why not?'"

The intelligent singer said, "Life would work so much better if each person would be working in a job that they are passionate about."

I asked the experienced salesman what the secret of his success is and he said, "I don't have customers, I have friends."

The woman is about to turn 30, but she looks closer to 20.  I said, "You could wear a grey wig to look older." Her boyfriend said, "That would turn me on."

The English major who graduated from Harvard is writing in the film industry. She: "I'm working now on a movie for Amazon, "Sixty-nine Million Reasons Why I Hate You."

I asked, "Have you ever gotten a gift in an Uber?" She said, "I once got a Koran."

She said, "My favorite Uber driver was in a $100,000 truck. He looked like Greg Allman or one of the Doobie Brothers and his car smelled intoxicating.  He said the smell was called, " My uncle's pipe.'" After our three-minute ride, he's now number two!

The Uber driver in Pawleys Island said, "When I was new, I took a ride from Georgetown in the pouring rain.  She was an Uber driver from the Charleston area and thirteen drivers turned the ride down.  It was a three-hour ride to Buford and she told me a lot about the app and helped me.  When I dropped her off, she gave me a $200 tip."

MORE RIDER COMMENTS

I asked her if she was in sales and she said, "How did you know?" Me: "How do you think I knew?" She: "Because I'm so charming?" Me: "I think it's charming that you said you were charming."

I said to the man from India, "The people in Thailand have the reputation of being very friendly."  He replied, "A little too friendly."

She: "We were out in Nevada in a gated community for Halloween and they hired a band to play in the park in the middle of the development."

She: "I come from a long line of hoarders and I throw everything out."

She: "I'm writing a book about stories in my life and it's called, "Seriously Folks, All Day Long, I Kid You Not." I'm going to write about you."

The college professor's advice: "Stick to the things that bring you joy."

I asked the couple who had been married for 27 years, "What's the secret of a successful marriage," and he said, "Whatever she wants-most of the time."

She: "We call ourselves, 'The Two B's.' We're just two bitches."

She: "The beaches here in Myrtle Beach are better than the West Palm Beach area."

"I had to change careers and do something doable and didn't irritate me." He became a college professor.

I asked the two friends how long they have known each other and she said, "I've known him almost since birth."

I asked the physical therapist, "Why did you move to Florida?" She said, "There's a boat load of old people there."

From Wilmington, North Carolina, he said, "I'm a musician with a hard rock band." Davey Williamson

I asked, "How did the two of you meet?" He said, "We were in a running club."

Married 29 years, I asked them, "What is the secret to a successful marriage?" He said, "Understanding, understanding."

I asked her is she had any funny stories and she said, "We have funny stories, but they are not funny to other people."

"It feels like a vacation here everyday."

The young Mexican woman said, "Americans are so kind."

He: "My job is now inside so I don't have to experience the 900 degree summers."

I asked the funeral director how he got interested in the profession.  He said, "My dad was a pastor and I went to a lot of funerals with him."

I asked, "Have you ever gotten a gift from an Uber driver?" She answered, "Yes, I've gotten the gift of kindness many times."

She: "I've had a couple Uber drivers that were falling asleep."

She: "I had to get a reservation at The Dayton Hotel.  When my daughter was two, I won a contest to stay here when I submitted a picture of her at the beach."

She: "What I liked about New Jersey was that it's always busy."

The woman in the car with three friends said, "I hate those people."

He educated me about this: "Purple and orange are complimentary colors."

Me: "What do you like most about Charleston?" She: "I love everything about it."

He said, "After thirty years in the hotel business, I've had enough of people."

SPECIAL OCCUPATIONS:

Working for the NBA doing social media.

Funeral Director

Georgia Tech professor

Fire watchers on a boat

Fire engine technicians on an island

Hard rock musician

Very successful PGA golfer and instructor

Data Scientist

COMMENTS ABOUT LILY, MY MANNEQUIN

Waving at her, she said, "Is there a camera in there?"

The esthetician said, "She has perfect skin."

"It's hilarious."

"She's awesome."

"And who's the pretty girl?"

The country of New Zealand is my 58th country in my car and this coin has Queen Elizabeth on it.

COMMENTS ABOUT ME AND MY CAR

"You're creating memories."

"You're such a fascinating human."

"This is as cool as all hell." (I'm pretty sure he was complimenting me,)

"This has been so memorable and unforgettable."

I said to him that the bills were insane and he said, "Amazing, fascinating, but not insane."

"What an experience!"

"This was the most fun I've ever had in an Uber."

"This was a great ride."

"We were lucky Uber gave us you."

"You  have the customer service, I hope you can keep it up."

"We enjoyed your museum."

"I really had a good time."

"This was the most fun ride."

"This was the coolest Uber ever."

"Amazing!"

Hearing the dolphin and seagull impression, she said, "I can do a whale." It really sounded like Dory from "Finding Nemo" movie.

"You're a great guy."

When she heard the seagull impression she said, "It's not great." (She's the only one)

"This is so fun."

"Take care sunshine."

"You do a great job."

"This is the most entertaining Uber we've had."

"This is the coolest Uber I've ever been in."

"This is the best ride I've ever had and I like your stories too."

"This was the best Uber ride of our trip."

"All I can give you is this taradactle penny." (It said, "Myrtle Beach")

"I hope you get the record for most Uber rides."

"There's a lot of information here."

"That was a good ride."

"That was interesting and cool."

"I love the history on how this all started."

"You would do very well in sales."

MY MOST MEMORABLE SEPTEMBER RIDERS

                                                                                                                                                             

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

I have picked up a lot of couples and I have heard some amazing stories on how people met, but this may be the best one.  I picked up a couple living in Florida and they told me that they had been married for 38 years.  I asked the husband, who had his own finance company, "How did you meet?" He started laughing and told me this story:

"We met at McDonalds where she was working.  She was in high school and I was in college. I was with friends and they were talking to her at the counter.  I was sitting at a table and one of my friends moved and I saw her for the first time. She took my breath away. It's the only time in my life that everything moved in slow motion like a movie. I walked up to the counter and the first thing I said was, "I'm going to marry you."

I asked her what her response was and she said, "I blew him off and through away his number." She was dating someone else.  He visited the McDonalds several times and when her relationship with her boyfriend was ending, she gave him her number.  The rest is history.  

I enjoyed telling them that I met my wife at Burger King and we've been married 41 years.  We have a lot in common.

THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF A FRENCHWOMAN

She was from the Bronx, New York, and she was impressive.  Her marriage was breaking up and she had four children between the ages of 1-15 and she decided to move to France to get a fresh start.  She did a little bit of everything to make it work and also had another two children in France where she has lived for 32 years.  Her best story she told me at the end of the ride. She said, "I was due with my fourth child and I cleaning the crib and I had to give birth suddenly by myself.  I wrapped the baby up in a blanket and I called the midwife to come over and cut the chord." She is one independent woman!

A GOLFING LEGEND

I am not a golfer, but I could tell this guy had done very well in the golfing world.  He said that he was, "A putting guru," and learned from one of the greatest.  He told me, "I once gave Tiger Woods a tip." He once got a putting tip with Jack Nicklaus from E. Harvey Ward, who was one of the best golfers in the 1950's. He told me that he won two hundred amateur tournaments and as a golf instructor he would charge people, "$3,000 per hour."  With another golfer he sold, "Over four million videos," on how to golf.  He's had quite an exciting career traveling the world and when he saw my money collection, he said, "I'm impressed."

EIGHTY YEARS YOUNG

He is close to turning 81, but he gave me the best laugh of the day and it was totally unexpected. He was in great shape so I asked, "How are you in such great shape, what's your secret?" He said, "Cheerios."  After I stopped laughing the black man said, "I used to eat the colored ones when I was young." We figured out that he actually meant, "Fruit Loops."  In his life he worked as a photographer, artist, and musician and he is still working in a store nearby where I dropped him off in downtown Charleston.  He did get around to saying that he has eaten healthy for a long time and, "Stayed away from the meats." He was a pleasure to drive, but I don't think I'll look at Cheerios the same way again.

A COLLEGE PROFESSOR

I had a great time talking with a professor from Georgia Tech, the school my youngest daughter graduated from.  He was working in product development for medical devices and was not enjoying it. "I decided I needed to do something doable and that didn't irritate me. He got the job at Georgia Tech and would up teaching a class in senior design and a semester many years in Ireland.  He's about to retire and he had some great advice for anyone-"Stick to the things that bring you joy."

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?

I was driving in a remote area of Charleston, South Carolina, probably 2 1/2 hours from Myrtle Beach where I live.  A moment before leaving the area I got a ride from a woman who used to live New York. I'm from New Jersey and it's not unusual for me to pick up someone from New York, but when she said she lived in Myrtle Beach, that is very uncommon.  She said to me, "What are the odds," and that was odd. The book I am currently reading, that was in my car, is called, "What are the odds?"

We continued talking and laughing about the coincidences and she asked where I lived in Myrtle Beach.  After telling her, she said, "My parents live right there!" They live in the same neighborhood.  She asked me if we had a dog and I told her we did and we walk around the neighborhood all the time.  Her parents have a dog and the dog's best friend is Dewey.  Dewey is my dog's best friend.  If that wasn't enough, I found out the night or two before we met, I was walking with a few people which included her mom. What are the odds of that?

IT'S FINE, FINE, FINE!

Usually when there are four passengers in my car there is a lot of talking going on and this was no exception. There was one couple and two friends going to a party, which of course is fine.  One of the three women did say, "I hate these people," but she was joking. They were not a young group, all over thirty and under seventy and if I'm wrong it will have to be... fine.

One woman told the story of going to another party recently that she had to pay I think $130 to go.  She was surprised, but said, "It was fine." She said, "It's fine," many times and the one guy and I started repeating it.  It was not the normal conversation I have in the car, but it was fun and of course, it was fine.  They were all very nice, but it's probably the only ride I've ever had that centered around one word....fine.  

What Store Would You Like to Live On Top Of?

If you didn't see this in the news, it's pretty unusual, creative, and interesting. This past week construction began in South Los Angeles and pictured below is a Costco surrounded by 800 apartments. The Costco warehouse/store is 185,000 square feet and the apartments range from 350 to 605 square feet.  

The complex will have 23% of the apartments for low income residents.  They will also have a rooftop pool, basketball court, and gardens.  This may be the future in solving the housing crisis.

This got me thinking about chicken, Costco's famous rotisserie chicken.  Would you be able to smell chicken in your apartment? I once drove a guy who lived on the same block as a barbecue place and he loved waking up in the morning and smelling barbecue-I get that!

I have seen apartments or condos in Charleston that are above a Publix supermarket, but what other places would you like to live next to or on top of?

PIZZA PLACE: For those of you who love pizza, can you smell the aroma with your bedroom window open? How about a pie delivery in three minutes?

STARBUCKS: It's not that they are at every other corner, what if you lived with a Starbucks? Could you somehow resist getting a coffee, now? How about, now? What about after you finish reading this?

WAL-MART: It's all there. You have an aisle of cereal with 4,495 different kinds, according to Mr. Google. It's not just in your neighborhood, you are their neighbor!

MEINEKE: You want an oil change? They come to your apartment, get your key and go to parking space 222 and they bring the key and the receipt back when they are done right to your door.

So, the next time you are ready to move, who would you really like to have as a neighbor?

Can You Say "Scammer"?

Over the years I've come across a number of situations that involved scammers or potentially a scammer. Below are three areas I have experienced this, but I'm holding one more situation that is the most interesting and questionable situation for a separate blog.

UBER DRIVER: 

For many years Uber has had a problem that scammers are contacting drivers on the driver app and pretending to be Uber Support which almost never calls drivers. (We call Uber Support which is our customer service and the riders too.)  Scammers have been able to convince some drivers to give them personal information and they emptied money from their Uber account that the driver had made.

I have probably gotten this call or text about six times in six years, but I knew it was a scam for two reasons.  I read about it on our Uber Facebook site and the scammers were clearly not as friendly as Uber Support.  

FACEBOOK: 

When I published my book a year ago, I was on many Facebook sites announcing the book and I replied to hundreds of positive comments about the announcement.  I also received a number of friend requests, some with a question about Uber or how they could get me as a driver.  I also got some scammers or people with questionable objectives.

I found that their Facebook site was usually very sparse in content. They frequently would message me in the middle of the night and would say, "How are you?" I did communicate with a few of them and asked who they were and what they wanted, but did not get a reply that made sense.  I also had two people with the same scam-they had just gotten money from a government program and saw my name on a list when they received the money.  I can't believe people fall for that. The second time I got it, I told the person I already had this scam.

PHONE CALLS ABOUT MY BOOK: 

I have probably received a couple dozen calls from so called different companies that want to market for me, represent my book in Germany, Mexico, or Canada, get me into more bookstores, or get a movie contract.  I have talked with them about my book and in almost all cases their deal involved me paying $700 to a few thousand dollars.  The record was from last week, $3,800, but they would take care of most of the costs.

The companies all had websites, but usually the person I was talking to was not convincing and did not understand what my book was about. I was interested in what they were saying and how they did it and I told many of them that they were not believable and I wouldn't be interested.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Anyone who knows me understands that I do not spend money quickly or easily, so I am a very difficult sell.  The important thing is to not give out any account numbers and a minimal amount of information. How many of these people who called me were really scammers? I have no idea, some of them could have been the same people. I did check their websites and some of them probably do marketing and promoting. By talking with some of them, it was easier to spot the red flags and things that may not have been real.

 

The Big Fly (Part 2)

It is time for my final Colorado vacation blog and I'm going to end it with the same blog subject as the first one I posted on July 28th.  I know that one blog about a big fly is enough, but I was not satisfied with the ending last time.

The day we were leaving our daughter's house, I went into the bathroom and found my friend-the big fly. It was just as surprised as I was. I grabbed a towel and took a couple swings and it was gone.  The walls are dark and the fly used them as camouflage.  I tried to draw it out by standing still for five minutes, but it was long gone.

A couple hours later, my wife and I arrived at our airbnb and immediately noticed there were two flies, one big and one smaller one.  The big one could not have been the same fly as earlier since we were thirty miles away.

My wife and I took several swings in a larger room and then the small fly landed right in front of my wife and she took her glove off and showed the fly who was boss.  The evidence is below-

My wife went out food shopping, leaving me with a dog and one big fly in the house.  Looking at the front window the blinds, I was surprised to see the big fly on the window.  I had nothing near me to get it and it was inside the blinds. Could I get my hand between the blinds and finally kill a big fly? YES, I did it and here it is on the window sill.  It was very rewarding!

I don't want you to think I'm just a one-fly guy, so here is another one I killed on vacation.  Fortunately for you, I did not write down the details.