5/9/2026
Besides Cinco de Mayo it’s been a pretty slow week. I played Back to the Future trivia on Thursday and took third place. Last Saturday the fights were at 3AM because they were in Australia so I didn’t get to watch them. I ended up trying a new brewery in Sanford, FL, Wop Hops Brewing Company. I tried a couple samples and then got their stout. It was fine, nothing really stood out for me. The beertender started talking about going to Rockville and I reconsidered going before coming back to my senses.
On Sunday I frolfed three rounds at a nine hole course in Lake Mary, FL. Monday I walked around Sanford and hung out at the library. I got a few good pictures from the harbor.
Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo. I had to do my blood draw in the morning. I wasn’t able to sleep at all the night before for no good reason. After the blood draw I took a three hour nap, made a burrito for lunch, and then looked for a bar that had holiday specials. I found a couple and they were right next to each other so I could bounce around if I needed to. I parked at the beach parking lot between the bars and walked to the Tipsy Taco Cantina.
The Tipsy Taco had $3 beers, $5 margaritas, and shot specials. Normally on Tuesdays margs are $3 and the bartender didn’t know why they were more expensive. As we were talking about it the owner walked by and said it’s because they were bigger than normal and that he told the staff that. If he did, no one payed attention because no one knew. After my first beer I went out to the patio to enjoy the weather. When I was out there I found out they were having a band that evening.
I ordered one of the margaritas and it was very weak. I did the math and even though they were three ounces larger, per ounce the bar was still charging more than the normal special. I went back to beers after that. I hung out watching people and traffic until it started to fill up a little more. Three guys sat down at the table behind me and I overheard that they lived permanently on their sailboats. I talked with them for a good half hour until they left.
It was getting to about the time for the band to start so I moved to a table so I could see better. The band was Lost Signal, a 90’s-00’s pop/rock cover band. They were really good and played tons of hits. I watched their whole show and then started talking to the drummer. We went in and got a shot then after a bit he invited me to a house party. I of course accepted. Someone drove us to the party and then the beers started getting to me so I went outside to chill.
After a half hour or so I decided that I was done for the night and it was bed time. I looked at the map and I was within walking distance, fiveish miles. I did the ol’ Irish goodbye and made my way to the beach. I walked five miles on the beach at the edge of the waves to get back to the van. There were a couple of big waves that caught me and got my shorts wet, but it was a nice sobering walk. I did end up losing my sunglasses though, oh well. That’s why I buy cheap sunglasses. Overall it was an excellent night.
On Thursday it got so hot out. There were records broken all over Florida. It got to be 97 degrees in Daytona. I’m so glad that I didn’t get a concert ticket. This whole weekend would be miserable at the Speedway, on the asphalt, surrounded by thousands of people. They were nice enough to lower the price of water bottles to $3, what a ripoff. I heard on the news that they were spraying the crowd down with fire hoses to keep people cool.
I ended up getting a hotel on Thursday to get away from the heat for a night. I got the cheapest hotel in the area and it showed. The rooms were nice enough as they had just remodeled, but the first room had roaches crawling on the floor and walls. I told the front desk and got a different room. This one had less roaches, not zero, but less so I just dealt with the one I found. The linens were new and clean. I double checked for bed bugs and got a good night sleep.
The last two days I have been trying to stay out of the heat as much as possible and gave plasma.