We had a wonderful time in Florida, and it did indeed, prove to be a good week to be there considering the weather back home. We had to don jackets at the Florida v Mississippi State game on Saturday evening, but since it was snowing in Williamsport, we managed to

Dunedin takes off for second in the early innings of Opening Night.

maintain our perspective. Mississippi State, ranked #10 at the time, defeated the then-ranked #1 Gators 10-4 in an entertaining game. Two nights before, we attended Opening Night in Dunedin, thus adding a new ballpark to our list of venues. The Blue Jays defeated the Clearwater Threshers, a farm club of the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2. I have no idea why a Clearwater team is named the “Threshers” when there was nary a wheat field in sight, but then I have no idea what a “Baysox” is either.

A hazy view of the Seven Bends at 8:50 a.m., April 11th.

Our flight was uneventful which is ALWAYS good. We saw the Seven Bends of the Shenandoah from the plane’s window and eight minutes later we touched down in Hagerstown. That’s probably 60 miles as the crow—or our airplane—flies, which by my calculations meant that we were traveling about 400 miles an hour, or approximately the speed of half the idiots driving on Interstate 81 below.

We visited Clearwater Beach one beautiful sunny day. There, we discovered that the traffic patterns were laid out by an 8-year old with an Etch-a-Sketch. I don’t want to say that the roads were crowded, but it’s possible that the backup across the causeway that we witnessed heading out to the beach as we were leaving has not cleared yet.

As always, Martha and I are grateful to our hosts, Al and Margo Smith for their hospitality. And for taking us to Sonny’s Barbecue three different times during our stay. Forget orange juice: Nothing says “Florida” like Sonny’s Barbecue!

Post-game fireworks in Dunedin. I wasn’t done eatin’ pork barbecue the entire week.