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| Petty Coat Junction |
First of all it's nice being away from home. Yes, I missed my twins and my step daughter and my mother in law and my wife and my dog but it was good to miss them.
I'll tell you a secret, I really missed my dog, Lola, she's such a good friend.
My wife, too. If you're married you know you always love your wife but absence does make the heart grow fonder. And being away accomplishes that.
So off I went to DC with a stop in Charlotte. I had been suffering from a cough and it seemed everyone on the way up coughed as well. Like everyone. On the planes, in the terminals, I wasn't far from a hack and in a way it was kind of nice to know that everyone had what I had.
When I finally arrived at the hotel in Washington it was great to be in the room and perusing the room service menu. I'm boring when working, I was there to give a speech, and instead of going out carousing, staying in the room in my shorts and a T shirt is fine by me.
I extended my stay, and I'll tell you why in a minute, and had extended my rental car and they wanted to charge me double for that. When you rent in Washington and return in Maryland that spells double.
Here comes my smart wife.
She had all these ideas after first being aghast at the rental price. Renting the car for one day and driving it to BWI airport, turning it in and then renting another one there was an option. Taking an Uber was my idea but she thought that might be too expensive. We hung up and I called down to the hotel operator and asked to be transferred to the concierge. She informed me that the concierge had left for the day and that's when the whole thing took off.
When I told her my predicament she took over. "Do you have a laptop or a way to get to the internet?" I told her I had an iPad and off we went. When were done she showed me how to take the Metro to a bus that would take me to Baltimore Washington Int'l airport and to the rental cars. Booked the reservation and went to sleep.
With a smile on my face.
The next day was the speech, which went very well, for the Cardiovascular Health Policy Summit. I did some Q & A afterwards and headed outside to go to the Metro station. My guide mentioned how hot it was and I wryly thought, "I live in Florida, you don't know heat."
Do you know how long it's been since I was on a subway? Do you know how long it's been since I've been on a bus?
I rode both, rented the car, and went to see my 89 year old Dad who I hadn't seen since January. Every time I see him is precious and this was no different. Dinner with him and my sister was divine and we were eating good in the neighborhood.
Afterwards I headed to my brother, the Kirkster, where I stayed the rest of the week and he's the reason why I extended my stay. He's a rock and roll Disc Jockey on Baltimore's 98Rock, he's a stand up comic, and he also has sung with his band, and his new band's first gig was that Friday.
I wanted to be there for that.
The band sings Tom Petty songs and is named, wait for it, Petty Coat Junction.
Now to get to that night meant I would have to go through a few things. In no particular order they were: two podcasts, being on the air with my brother, seeing my Dad not once, not twice, but three times. I also saw my BFF, Tony Colter, twice and had dinner with him and the fellas.
And it rained, hard, the whole week.
So there I was that Friday evening, in a packed club, waiting like everyone else for them to begin and take us there.
And they did not disappoint.
Man, they were good.
I'm always amazed at how talented my brother is. And remember he's my brother and I've known him a long time. The band was superb and played like they wrote every song. And the songs? I'll just say that I love me some Tom Petty.
All the songs were there and the night was a Special Night.
The next day I drove to the airport, through the driving rain, turned the car in and flew home. And grinned all the way there.
One last thing. When we landed it was raining here.
The Sunshine State.
#MarkMcEwen
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