[Travel] Omaha

I'm not sure why they would name an entire city after a Peyton Manning audible call, but there you are.  (Such a dad joke…ugh.)

Omaha is a good place. In any practical sense, Omaha is a success. The living conditions in even the worst parts of the city seem acceptable, which is more than I can say for most cities I've been in.  The infrastructure seems solid.  There is no evidence of labor shortage keeping venues closed.  No significant issues with homelessness.  Folks seem generally friendly, but not overly familiar.  All in all, Omaha seems like a fine place.  

That said, everything everybody says about it being non-descript is true.  The landscape is truly boring: mostly flat, as expected, but lacking the depth of greenery that can make such a landscape attractive, ala Michigan.  

One big advantage it has is that its main industries are clean industries.  Omaha is big in telecommunications, with many call centers located there (although one wonders how this is standing up to off-shoring).  Insurance and financial services are even bigger, I think.  The  military has installations also.  

There are museums and theaters and restaurants and parks, including a world class zoo, but none of it is ostentatious in the slightest and there appears to be no impetus to attract broader attention.

You have a solid economic base of largely high-skill work.  You have an environment that doesn't attract any attention.  It will bring in the sort of people who value a steady, if a bit conservative, life and generally just want to get on with the business of living and growing.  And that's what Omaha appears to be.  

I admire that.  I am very pro-Omaha.  It's nice to find a place that pretty much eschews all the fashionable nonsense that dominates the world. If I was past my youth and settling into a career and being a grown-up, Omaha would be a great place to do it.

[Travel] Parks Outside the Box

I've spent a fair amount of time in National Parks.  They are wonderful places and I'm glad I saw so many before the deluge. I have visited many of the places mentioned in that article and can confirm the mass increase in visits.  A few years ago when I visited Zion to hike the Narrows I literally walked right in from my hotel just outside the park and hopped the (mostly empty) first shuttle of the morning to the river trailhead. I set off almost in complete solitude and maybe encountered 10 people along the 10 mile river route.  There is a picture of that trailhead in that article and it looks like Woodstock.  The first time I ever went to Arches National Park in Moab, I casually showed up and explored without a second thought.  Now, I believe you need a reservation.

Yelling at clouds aside, I really hope the Park Service manages to find a good way to maintain control of this without making it too onerous to visit. The article seems to blame this on Instagram or other social media, but that is, after all, the purpose of the parks.  To present natural beauty and generally cool stuff -- things you will want to take a picture of to share and remember. 

And while you may have second thoughts about visiting some of these more popular parks, I can assure you the less visited ones are also filled with visual delights.  Here are 13 good ones from Outside Magazine.  I can vouch for Everglades with its 13-mile loop through gator country.  Death Valley, the largest park in the lower 48, with great views, bizarre landscapes  and one of the best lodges in a National Park, the Inn at Furnace Creek, which has one of the best pools I have ever swum in.  I was just recently in Sleeping Bear Dunes with its challenging dune climbs and pseudo-California style views of the coast. I have Isle Royale on my bucket list.  And for getting yourself turned into a missing person statistic, Canyonlands has some of the most remote hiking you'll ever dare attempt.  Outside my comfort zone are the huge parks in up state Alaska that you have to be flown into.

So, yes, the big names have traffic issues, but think outside the box and you can be on the cutting edge of Instagram.

[Travel, Rant] Scurrying About Down South

I flew down to Southern Headquarters this time.  Interestingly, for the stretch I was down there, Savannah was cooler than Michigan.  In fact, for this entire trip the weather was of the sort that makes you feel that the southern realm is a climate paradise.  My long history tells me that is quite rare in June, but the uninitiated could be fooled. (Michigan was sweltering and dry and I came back to a brown lawn thanks to my sprinklers not yet being turned on.  That's a separate rant.)

The first week was a week of chores.  Mostly gardening.  The SH (Southern Headquarters) features very productive fruit trees in the backyard. The SO (Significant Other) and SSD (Sorta Step Daughter) enhanced those with a spice garden and have since taken gardening to heart.  So the week was taken up with mulching and planting.  Not unpleasant work as chores go, although we left a big part of the project to the professionals.  And the yard is looking good.  The star of the show is a Sunflower that is well over 5 feet tall with lots of growing still to do.

The other chore, if I can call it that, was getting the SO's car situation sorted.  She was buying out her lease, which was set up in Texas prior to moving, so she had to make arrangements to buy the car from a dealer in Georgia and finally get her Georgia driver's license.  If you have any understanding of how the world works, you can already see where this is going.

Buying out the lease was annoying, a complete waste of time.  I fail to understand why a process like this, where a price is already decided on, where boilerplate papers need to be signed, can't be handled in 15 minute meeting, but requires a three hour stretch in the dealership most of which is sitting around making awkward talk with a salesman while waiting for the business manager to be free.  Throughout my life I have had essentially no positive experiences at an auto dealership. Every single one of them has been frustrating and wasteful. Virtually every other commercial experience has improved in my lifetime but not auto dealers.  Their service model is the worst.

Correction:  Their service model is the second worst.  The worst is the DMV.  AKA, Secretary of State in Michigan or Department of Driver Services in Georgia.  In Georgia you need to show your Birth Certificate, your Social Security Card, two examples of proof of residency (utility bills are good for this).  Furthermore, and this is especially hard on women who have been married, you must show proof of name change.  So the maiden name on your birth certificate must match with the name on your marriage certificate.  What's worse, the marriage certificate must be an official embossed copy.  

Problem:  The SO was married in California where they do not produce embossed copies.  And this is where you will find yourself in either 1984 or Idiocracy depending on your mood.  Situations like this are what two-bit bureaucrats live for.  They now have the power to tell you "no" and the excuse of "we're just following the rules".  What they really mean is "I don't have to care about your problem and there's nothing you can do about it and I'll still get paid." I would bet the DMV is responsible for more MAGA-drain-the-swamp-types than Fox News.

The truth is that they can help you.  They can make exceptions.  They can work to enforce the spirit of the law -- letting people they believe are low risk to be scamming them get licenses even if the documents don't perfectly conform -- rather than the letter.  They just don't want to. It is a true power rush for a basic bureaucrat to stiff arm you free of consequence. 

Luckily I have experience with this.  I knew from my days dealing with the Secretary of State that it all depends on who you happen to get at the window.  I also know that in small towns, rural areas, people are more inclined to be helpful and understanding since most of the folks who come in are their neighbors.  Our first attempt in Savannah produced a defiant stiff arm.  The situation was resolved by driving an hour away to an office in a much smaller, more accommodating place where we were in and out in about 15 minutes, further confirming the arbitrary nature of the whole mess.

Adding insult to injury is that there is a new initiative that most States are adhering to called Real ID.  When you have a Real ID license you have verified that you are who you are.  If you have a Real ID license in one state and want to get one in another state, you should just have to verify residency.  Your identity has already been verified.  The SO's Texas license has Real ID, but we were still put through the identity wringer.  Arrgh! 

Not that I was planning on it, but the whole escapade made me resolve that I won't ever be moving to Georgia. 

Where I will one day be moving is Florida.  And that was the second part of the trip.

Two stops in Florida, the first Sarasota.  

I have lost track of the fastest growing retirement communities in the country but I know the last time I checked The Villages, was on top and probably still is.  Second is Lakewood Ranch, a community -- or rather, a series of communities inland from the Sarasota/Bradenton area, just east of I-75.  Somewhat famously, Mick Jagger bought a home there for his in-laws.  This was Target One for this trip.  

Lakewood Ranch consists of 50 square miles with a dozen or so individual developments which have slightly varying features and costs.  Now bear in mind this was June, off season, and we are a good distance away from the beaches and the tourist areas, and it was still very active.  There are areas of commerce, including a nicely designed "Main Street" area which I assume is the center of any lifestyle activity.  There was a top notch farmers market going on the day we visited.

First, an aside about retirement communities.  These are obviously a big deal in Florida, and presumably,  a growing deal in most other places considering the aging population.  Some, but not all of these communities are called "55+", which does not mean you have to be over 55 to live there.  It means:

55+ communities do not allow anyone under the age of 18 to live there full-time, although visitors are allowed for specific numbers of weeks per year, as stated in the homeowner association documents.

People who are not yet 55 or older are also allowed to live in these communities provided their spouse is at least 55. Many communities require at least 80% of the housing to be occupied by 55+ owners or renters, with up to 20% only required to be 50 years or older.

When we visited the Villages last year I was surprised at the number of young people I saw.  In our new world where rent is so high, adult children continue to live at home and I sense that there are many such situations in these communities.

Aside to the aside: Folks look on this phenomenon as a kind of failure, but multi-generational homes have been the rule, not the exception, for the bulk of history.

Only a couple of the developments in Lakewood Ranch are 55+, although you wouldn't know it since the bulk of the people who can afford these homes have had to have long, productive lives to get there.

Developments like these, where for the most part you are buying new construction, are centered around a builder. Pulte, Toll Brothers, Lennar are some big names. These builders supply buyers with alternative floor plans of varying specs -- square feet, number of bedrooms/baths, garage space, etc. -- and varying ability to customize.  The houses themselves typically range from 500k for the most basic all the way up into the millions.  On top of that you have to pay what is called a lot premium -- an extra amount that depends on the desirability of the location, usually starting about 50k but into the 200k range for water view and golf course abutting lots.  So, yeah, this is a big purchase and generally reserved for what one hopes will be their final home.

Lakewood Ranch has some nice benefits.  First it is in the Sarasota/Bradenton area that I know well.  There are limitless things to do, there are beaches within an hour, there is a big-city level commerce and services available, including high-end medical facilities.  There is an airport in town used by most of the big airlines.  All in all, it would be a solid place to settle in and hope you don't get swamped in new developments.

There are, naturally, some downsides.  First, while there are nice clubhouses with pools and fitness facilities, I'm not sure they will be up to snuff for me.  I have pretty high-end requirements in those areas.  That means I may be looking into the surrounding area.  Second, I have seen how busy and chaotic it can be when the snowbirds flock in.  That could get frustrating. But otherwise this would be a cool spot.  Well, not in summer, but I have already resigned myself to finding ways to spend high summer back in Michigan.

Target number two was a couple hours north in Crystal River.  Crystal River is famous for being the place you can swim with the Manatees.  A thing I have done twice and highly recommend.  It's not swimming in a tank or pool with captive manatees.  You are swimming with them in their habit.  

All areas of the Florida coast have names.  Here is a map of them. Crystal River is part of The Nature Coast.  If any area of the Florida Coast can be considered to be undeveloped it's the Nature Coast.  How it was spared is interwoven with the story of I-75. Back in the 80's I-75 was being extended all the way through Florida (it starts in Northern Michigan).  Eventually it reached almost to Marco Island before hanging a sharp left and connecting with the Atlantic Coast via Alligator Alley.  This did two things.  It alleviated traffic on the former north-south corridor road, US-41 and also encouraged commercial development another 5-10 miles further inland.  Another interesting effect of this was to essentially freeze US-41 in the 80s.  With the bulk of the pass through traffic taking I-75 there has been very little new development on US-41.  All the old buildings and strip malls and motels still exist there in all their tedious-road-trip-in-the-family-station-wagon glory.  I-75 was indeed a blessing.  I am one who had to make this road trip on stop-and-go US-41 so I know that to be true.  But I digress.

Anyway, as I-75 grew southward it passed through Gainesville and at some point it was going to have to veer towards the gulf coast to relieve US-41 as planned, but drawing it away towards the center of the state was the 900 lb. gorilla of Orlando and The Mouse.  This made Crystal River an afterthought for snowbirds barreling down from the northern kingdoms.

The vibe in Crystal River and the surrounding areas is palably different from Sarasota/Bradenton.  To me it's more normal.  The traffic is not bad.  It's filled with two-lane roads with long distances between stop lights.  And there is only one really nice retirement community, but it's really really nice.  Although it's a smaller community, the homes are just as nice as Lakewood Ranch and a bit more customizable. It's also what is called a lifestyle community, like the Villages, where the recreation and social world revolves around the on site amenities.  There are restaurants and health clubs and, of course, golf courses and pickleball courts, all for residents only.  Even I was impressed with the gym, and that's not easy.

Crystal River is not a backwater. But the retail atmosphere is Publix/CVS/Target level.  And the good restaurants are few.  The growing (and, I think, affluent) city of Ocala is about a half hour away where choices are better.  Tampa is probably an hour and a half.  Orlando is probably two.  So there are citified choices if you really need them.

One concern with being away from the city centers is medical services, a thing that is likely to grow in importance as time passes.

At one point in the visit the SO turned to me and said, this is kind of like Dexter.  A major plus as I love my current home of Dexter, MI.  There is still time, but at least for now, I would say Crystal River is the frontrunner.

I have probably been talking on this site for at least 10 years about retirement planning.  It's getting closer and more real with each passing month.  Soon a decision will have to be made.  And money spent.  Lots of money.

[Travel] Swiftly to Atlanta

It was all about Taylor Swift.  The SO's daughter is a massive Swifty.  (That is to say her Swiftiness is massive, not herself.  She's very petite.)  Remarkably she was able to score two tickets to Taylor in Atlanta through legitimate online purchase from the execrable Ticketmaster auction some months ago.  Atlanta is a 4+ hour drive from Savannah so the plan was to drive out on Friday, drop the two Swifties (SOs daughter and her friend) at Mercedes Stadium, get checked into the hotel and entertain ourselves for a few hours then pick the girls up post-concert and back to the hotel to sleep.

I really have no opinion on Taylor Swift.  I am only familiar with one of her songs (Shake it Off) and that only because I randomly heard it once and it was bouncy and catchy and high-energy and seemed like a good choice for my running playlist.  From what I have seen she is clearly a very talented and intelligent lady and there is simply no arguing with the overwhelming success she has.  At a time when a musical artist is lucky to get a pittance in streaming revenue, she is making hundreds of millions.

A Taylor Swift concert is not just a concert, it is a Happening. In our case, the girls (early 20s) had VIP status (yeah, I know) so got early access.  They had us drop them off at the stadium as soon as it was opened to them, three hours before the concert.  That time was spent engaging with other Swifties -- they exchange bracelets and trinkets, it seems -- and getting prime access to "merch" (Taylor Swift branded merchandise).  Swifties are unified in their utter devotion to Taylor and their comprehensive knowledge of her life and work so there is always lots to talk about.

They descend like an avalanche.  The hotel district was swarming with them.  The path to and from the stadium was like a Swifty parade.  And it would be all weekend for the three shows.

Swifties are probably 95% female and, if I understand correctly, the bulk of 5% males are homosexuals.  The females are from a very broad age range.  Teens and twenties are the most common, but young girls who are accompanied by their moms are plentiful as are groups of thirtyish women having a girls trip.  They have spent a good amount of time on their make-up -- colorful and sparkly -- and their clothes -- lots of glittery ensembles that are not outright provocative, but rather flirty.  I was struck by the near complete absence of men.  Would this have been different in the past?  I wasn't paying attention to the fan bases of, say, Madonna or Britney Spears.  But there is something that makes sense about it.  The girls just want to dress up and have giggly fun and share enthusiasm with other girls.  I detected no sort of negative activity going on at all, apart from spending four figures for tickets and a smaller fortune on "merch".  They seem like a well-adjusted, high quality group of people.   

My slightly creepy observation, however, is that this is a failure of millennial males.  If I were forty years younger I would be following Taylor around the country.  Fish in a barrel if you know what I mean.

Last word on Taylor:  Here's a thread about the logistics of her tour.  She stands to make close to half a billion dollars from this tour. 

As for Atlanta the city, it's good enough but I saw nothing special.  The downtown area seems nice, I note there is a university or two down there which gives it a young-ish vibe.  The hotel district is nice also with some interesting shops and restaurants.  I do suspect that it is another example of a "protected" area of high quality while the rest of the city struggles and degrades.  As we walked from hotel to stadium to meet the girls and walk them back to the hotel I noticed the telltale bars on the windows, pawn shops, and graffiti that act as warning signs. But that's just impression, I could be very wrong. And like most big sites there are luxurious suburbs.  Still, I saw no particular reason to spend any time in Atlanta.

There are better places for a four hour road trip from Savannah. 

[Travel, Florida] St. Augustine

The Southern HQ in Savannah is proving to be a great spot to start weekender exploration along the Atlantic coast.  As you know, I've spent many a short trip in Hilton Head, which is barely over an hour away.  Last month's run down to Palm Springs was quite doable.  Charleston and even Myrtle Beach are easy striking distance.  This time it was a dead simple sub-3-hour drive to St. Augustine.

In many ways, St. Augustine reminds me of Savannah or Charleston.  It is a city that has embraced its storied history as essential to its appeal to visitors and is deeply dedicated to its preservation.  In the case of Savannah and Charleston that history is of the old South.  In the case of St. A, it's that of conquistadors and pirates.

Juan Ponce De Leon was the first European to explore the area.  Fun fact about De Leon:  He was serving as Governor of Puerto Rico when Columbus used his influence with the Spanish monarchs to replace him with one of old Chirstopher's relative.  That's what prompted him to head north and explore Florida.   Also, he was a wee man.  Under five feet tall. There is a statue of him in the center of St. Augustine and people comment that it seems small.  Those in the know inform them that it is actual size. Ho, ho, ho. Juan P de L also explored up the Gulf coast, getting as far north Ft. Myers and Manasota.  St. A was officially founded in 1565 (decades after Ponce de Leon) in the name of Spain, making it the oldest city in the U.S.  What followed was pirates, British takeover,  Spanish re-takeover, then eventually U.S. takeover.  

Also like Charleston and Savannah there is a sizable pedestrian old town area where the history intermixes with bars and restaurants and quirky shops and arts venues.  There is a smallish college wedged firmly into the historic community in all three locales (College of Charleston, Savannah College of Art and Design, Flagler College) and a broadly youthful local base.  And B&Bs everywhere.

Some quick notes:

• Strong recommendation for the Centennial House B&B, and I don't usually like B&Bs, but the breakfast was tasty, the room comfy, and lots of free hooch.  I would definitely stay there again.

• There is a place called The Bath Junkie, which is a bath soaps and amenities shop which connects to The Tipsy Duck, a bubble bath themed bar.  It is immensely cool.  Visit it.

• Be sure to visit the St. Augustine Distillery for a Bourbon tour.  And the Winery for some more free hooch.

• Most places that claim to be artist communities are just a bunch of pretentious retirees doing crafts. St. A is much more legit.  Visit the galleries.

Regrets, I have a few.  We took a Taste of St. Augustine walking tour and while the tour itself was fine, the food was awful.  Oh well, but the real regret is we never got to St. Augustine beach.  St. Augustine is on the mainland, just off the coast is a barrier island called Anastasia where the (separate) community of St. Augustine Beach is.  Renowned for sit-by-the-water fish restaurants and, of course, the beach.  It was a bit chilly for a beach day. Next time for sure.

Rather than hit I-95 immediately, on the way back we took A1A along the coast, through Ponta Verda, as far north as Jacksonville.  Beautiful drive. Beautiful beaches and not very crowded.  It almost made me want to consider the ocean side for my retirement.  Almost.  As beautiful as it was, I'm a gulf coastal dude.  That aside, I'm really enjoying these Atlantic Coast road trips.  I hope there are more in my future.

[Travel] Seaside Sojourn

I was once again down in my Southern Command Center in Savannah from whence the S.O. and I made a weekend road trip down the Florida Atlantic Coast to Palm Beach, where one of her sons lives.

The travel itself was a cinch. Straight down I-95 from start to finish.  It being January and tourist season in FL I would have expected a lot more traffic than we got.  One (relatively) new benefit is the existence of Buc-ees, now in Florida.  Buc-ees was formerly a Texas-only asset, but in the past few years they have spread throughout the South.  You can think of Buc-ees as a sort of rest stop theme park.  Everything you would normally find at say a Pilot or a Loves is cranked to 11 at Buc-ees. The food is rest stop food, but better.  The jerky options are endless.  The assorted t-shirts and hats and knick-knacks are even more cheesy.  And most importantly, the bathrooms are huge and CLEAN.  It's really quite remarkable -- Disney levels of maintenance and service.  And, I suspect, quite profitable.  The one in Daytona Beach is packed from morning until night.  Most of my respectable friends would likely sneer at it, but I think it's quite an achievement, speaking as someone who has spent his fair share of time waiting in line to access a filthy, partially functional solo men's room in a gas station and hoping the sad looking burrito in the warmer isn't toxic.  God Bless Buc-ees.

In my view I divide Palm Beach into three distinct areas.  First is Palm Beach island proper.  This is what most people think of.  It's where Worth Avenue is and where The Donald's Mar-a-Lago is and where lifestyles of the rich and famous are a reality.  

Once on the Mainland, you are in West Palm Beach.  If Palm Beach is the front of the house, West Palm is the back of the house.  There are some gritty areas where the folks who staff the hotels and restaurants and resorts live, but it's not without charm.  There are a couple of very nice commercial areas in West Palm Beach.  There is City Place -- an upscale open air shopping and recreation mall.  Very cool spot.  They have a central lawn with live music, an AMC theater, even an outdoor Soul Cycle, in addition to an endless supply of restaurants and stores, including the national chains.  A few blocks north of that is Clematis Street -- more youthful and party oriented, the shops are funkier and bars louder.

The Third area is Singer Island, the island immediately north of Palm Beach proper, with the main town being Palm Beach Shores. It's a nice, homey spot.  Call it upper-middle class vs. the ultra-high end Palm Beach to the south.  Most everything is a short walk to the beach. It's a good compromise between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. 

Accommodations-wise, West Palm is pretty standard Florida rates.  Moving to Palm Beach Shores you get a noticeable increase in prices due to proximity to the beach, but not outrageous.  On Palm Beach Island you get places like The Breakers for $2500 per night.  When I hit the lottery, it will be one of my first stops.

Though our tri[ was brief and family-visit oriented, we were able to steal away one day for a brief walk down the storied Worth Avenue. Yes purchases were made, although mine were confined to gelato, then a drive south on A1A among the luxury estates along the oceanfront to my favorite town on the Atlantic Coast, Delray Beach. 

Now, it had been a decade or so since I had been to Delray and let's just say an awful lot of people must have shared my opinion.  My memories of a quaint beach town were dashed.  It was crowded as everywhere else on the Coast. And yet, it retained its charm.  It's an easy walk down Atlantic Ave with its shops and restaurants, ending in a pavilion on the beach. What was a flagship Marriott hotel has been replaced and renovated by the Opal Grand Resort where you can grab a delightful drink and snack at the open air Drift bar.  Despite the changes, Delray remains my favorite spot on the Atlantic side.

But nothing during this trip changed my preference for my beloved Gulf Coast.  I can't honestly say the Gulf side is less busy.  I know traveling down I-95 (Atlantic) this trip was vastly easier and faster than a similar trip down I-75 (Gulf).  The Atlantic Coast has a few oases of sanity.  I'm told places like Port St. Lucie or Vero Beach are not yet insane, and perhaps that's true.  But I just don't think the ocean side has anything to compare to, oh, Boca Grande or Crystal River.  

There is just a level of intensity on the ocean that isn't there on the gulf. The suggestion has been made that it is because East Coasters settle on the ocean side and midwesterners settle on the gulf.  So be it.  I don't intend to buck that trend.

[Rant, Travel] Hertz Hurts

Long time readers know that I have a hate/hate relationship with car rental agencies.  The glaring exception to this is National Car Rental and if I have one piece of advice every traveler should follow it is: Join National's Emerald Club and never rent a car from anyone but National unless it's a dire emergency.  If National has no cars available, consider flying into another airport when cars are available or rescheduling your trip until they do. (That last sentence is only partially tongue in cheek.)

The corporate culture at every other car rental company is aggressively adversarial.  Whether it's misleading you into buying add-ons or scaring you into insurance you don't need or charging you for damage you didn't cause -- they are looking for ways to squeeze you and slap you.  They do this not because it is especially profitable, but because their culture teaches them that their customers are either easy marks or dishonest cheats.  Despite my jaded view, I have to admit, the recent actions from Hertz surprised even me in its outright contemptuousness. 

Hertz's (reasonable) policy is that cars that are not returned in the time frame expected get reported to the police as stolen.  Now I am sure even Hertz doesn't report a car stolen as soon as it's late.  There is probably a grace period, during which they expect you to contact them and/or they try to contact you, but after that, yeah, the car is effectively stolen.

Well it seems our friends at Hertz had what they are calling a "computer glitch" that ended up having them report legitimately rented cars as stolen.  Imagine tooling around in your rented Hertz -- having been scammed into an upgrade and liability insurance despite already being covered by your American Express -- when you get pulled over, arrested, and even jailed for auto theft. It was not just one or two cases.  There were three hundred and sixty-four claims against Hertz for this in a class action lawsuit.

Now, I work in technology so I know the kind of bad situations "computer glitches" can get you in.  And I am not someone inclined to decry big corporations needlessly.  They are, in fact, easy targets.  They are risk averse, vulnerable to PR assaults, and easy to demonize because there is never a human face to them.  Still, I can't help but wonder how this "computer glitch" was left in the wild for so long without somebody saying, "Maybe we should do a manual review before we report cars stolen and have our customers thrown in jail until we get the glitch fixed."

The lawsuit itself calls that out (not manually reviewing stolen car reporting) as an act of corporate malfeasance.  And it goes one better, claiming that in some instances, when confronted with a false report, Hertz actually backdated the documentation to make it look like the customer was at fault.  Here is a good summary.  If that is true, it's outright fraud.

Perhaps we will never know the truth since Hertz has settled the cases (or at least "most" of the cases) for $168M.  My advanced math skills tell me that is well in excess of $450k per claim, which suggests they really, really didn't want this to go further.

On the one hand Hertz has been a mess.  They filed Chapter 11 during the pandemic and have settled other class actions brought against them including not paying overtime, false claims of damages, excessive toll fees, and more.  You'd think they were a hair's breadth from folding.  Then it turns out, they just arranged to buy a 100K Tesla fleet for $4.2B.  Da hell?

By the end of April 2020, Hertz was missing lease payments on its fleet. On May 18, Kathryn Marinello stepped down as CEO. Four days later, on May 22, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $18 billion in debt. Shortly after that, famed activist investor Carl Icahn sold his entire 39% stake in Hertz for a mere 72 cents per share, taking a $2 billion loss.

Then, a funny thing happened. Retail investors started flocking to Hertz stock. Some were driven by a belief that the Hertz brand could eventually sell for enough to return some value to equity holders. Some were driven by pure speculation. Whatever the reason, the result was that Hertz shares soared 1,000% in the span of two weeks, climbing from as low as 59 cents per share up to $5.50.

Covid taketh away and then Covid giveth right back.  Bankruptcy law is a strange thing.  You would think going bankrupt would mean destruction, but it often means the opposite.  You get a clean slate financially and your lenders have to eat it.  The adage "If you owe someone $100 and can't pay you are in trouble, but if you owe someone millions and can't pay, they are in trouble" is very, very true.

Those financial machinations may bring profit.  It's possible they will attract a whole demographic of retail renters with the offer of Teslas instead of Chevy Malibus. But if there is any justice, it will be short lived unless they change their behavior toward their customers.  "I got falsely arrested for auto theft and thrown in jail, but at least I was driving a Tesla," said no one ever.

In contrast, think of the disaster Southwest Airlines just went through.  They, like Hertz, have a lot of fundamental problems but they are generally well-liked by their customers.  Speculation currently is that Southwest will weather the reputational storm.  People are forgiving if they don't think you're malicious.

The moral of the story:  join National Car Rental's Emerald Club.

[Travel, Rant] Gratitude Checklist

I drove down to Savannah.  I stayed a couple of weeks (which is why I drove). I will now try to catalog the things I am thankful for from that trip.

• Google Maps/Waze -- miraculous things, really.  Not only do I not need maps, I don't even need to know the directions, they just tell you what to do and when to do it, even routing you around construction and accidents when it is optimal. Young'uns are saying "Yeah, so?" But to anyone old enough to remember cross country trips from the days of yore it's a miracle.  If you had told 10 year old me in the back of the family car, with everyone yelling at everyone else over every wrong turn or missed exit, that in the future you could just give a little machine the address you wanted to get to and it would guide you their effortlessly, I would have said you're reading too much sci-fi.  A lot of modern tech is pointless crap, but mapping apps are a world changer.

• My car works flawlessly -- this was not previously the case.  Prior to the ascendance of Toyota and Honda, all cars were, by current standards, unreliable.  A multi-day road involved a constant low-level dread that your car would simply fail and leave you stranded.  You just prayed that when it happened you were in reach of help, otherwise you were left at the mercy of the road.  Hopefully other drivers might offer a ride to the next exit, or at least not serial kill you.  My car has 140,000 miles on it and it is superior to literally every new car made before 1980, and most before 2000.  Perspective breeds gratitude.

• I'm rich -- OK, I'm not rich.  But by any measure of the expectations of my youth or when compared to 99% of the global population, I am rich.  I have a house in Savannah that I purchased entirely for the sake of convenience of people I love.  Even if I'm not actually rich, I am rich, if you get my meaning.

• Home office technology -- ridiculously, I have a home office in both my homes, each with multiple monitors, and the tech miracles of the day allow me to be in constant face to face contact with people all over the world.  I can work from anywhere, which may sound like hell to a lot of people, but for me it means I only need to use vacation time when I am actually taking vacation.  If I go to Savannah and my loved ones are working I don't have to take time off except when they are free to enjoy it with me.  Not to belabor the point, but thoughtlessly video-conferencing is another sci-fi dream from my youth.

• At least I have my health -- Yeah, it takes a lot of work, and it'll never be what it once was, but the old bones are hanging in there, arthritis notwithstanding. Ands miracle drugs…well, that's a topic for later--

• Loving and Being Loved -- Somebody once said happiness is not the purpose of life.  The purpose of life is to love and be loved and accept the consequences.  Fair.  I think I'm doing OK at both.  But happiness, or at least gratitude, is a nice bonus.  The family that has welcomed me into it are among the most thoughtful and well-adjusted people I have ever known.

I hope your Thanksgiving was as good as mine.

[Savannah, Travel] Savannah Views

It's been a long time since I wrote about travel.  20 years back I was constantly in motion.  Not a month would pass when I didn't take off to a new destination.  I also had the self-indulgent ability to write a novella length travel report about an overnight stay in a cheap hotel in some cowtown somewhere. 

Of course, back then I had a condo with a tiny payment and no attachments of any sort.  Then came the house, which sucked a good deal of money away -- not just on purchase but incredibly more than I expected in ongoing maintenance -- along with taking up a lot of my time. Then of course, I found myself in a long-term, long distance relationship which involved buying a second house and pretty much precluded me from spontaneous solo travel.  

So now my travel tends to focus on three spots.  In-State trips summer-y locales, especially Mackinac Island.  (Did you know Mackinac Island was voted Best Island in the Continental U.S. by Travel + Leisure magazine?  Thanks to my previous travels, I have known this for years.)  Florida to visit my brother.  And formerly Houston, but now Savannah to visit the GF.  I am a train and my tracks only run to those three spots.

But that's not bad.  Savannah is a place I was visiting long before my current connections.  I once even brought my sainted late mother there as an 80th birthday gift.  As I look back on that trip report, I wonder if I can still write with the level of guile I did 17 years ago.

Northwest flights to Savannah are on small planes operated by those two-bit, third-rate, fourth-class outfits - Mesa Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, Canadair, Assclown Airlines; I never figured out exactly which one - that seem to exist solely to employ angry, dull-normal cretins who pissed off one too many customers at Burger King.

I had reserved an aisle seat (like always) but I thought I might check at the gate if an exit row was available. The attendant was a battleaxe of a woman who was muttering hostile missives and wondering aloud why "...they blame me for everything. It's not my fault if Northwest overbooks." I gave her my best ingratiating smile as I approached. In return she glared through two-inch thick lenses, thinned her lips to taut ribbons, and tossed me the kind of look that Tony Soprano reserves for someone who is late on a payment. 

In my defense, that passage is probably offensive to some number of disadvantaged demographics; battleaxes and dull-normal cretins to name two.  Even quoting it might get me kicked off Blogger. 

But we were talking about Savannah.  You would be hard pressed to find a city in the U.S. more dedicated to its own history.  The locally powerful Savannah Historic Preservation Commission ensures that it remains that way.  Wandering the historic district with its period correct restored homes and pedestrian squares with old growth trees for shade would be Nirvana for anyone who's ever wanted a trophy home.  If you are someone with dreams of home restoration and lording your authenticity over your friends and their McMansions, Savannah is for you.  (Me, I dream of a one room beach shack.)

From the tourist point of view, the Historic District and its party-time waterfront are what Savannah is all about.  SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, plays an interesting role here also.  Claiming the historic district as its campus, SCAD punches above its weight as an influence in the area.  The students are intertwined with the district in many ways beyond the artistic events and atmosphere.  In any restaurant your server is likely to be a current or ex- SCAD student.  For me, this gives the area of Savannah the feel of the city I know best  --  Ann Arbor.  The Historic District also doubles as a college town.

The house I own down there is not in the Historic District.  It's in a very nice middle-class suburban area.  This has given me a chance to get the pulse of the city for day-to-day life, although I admit I have just scratched the surface.  Some observations:

• If I read my regions correctly, Savannah is the southern tip of what is called "The Low Country".  Basically the sea level bayous that run from Savannah up to roughly Charleston SC.  Even well away from the coast, every neighborhood has its riverway or wetlands.  There is nary a hill to be found.  The southern gothic image of gnarled tree limbs and moss covered vines in the dusk can be viewed just about every night.  There is a regional beauty to it, and it photographs very well.

• It is as hot and humid as advertised.  Wow. 

• Like much of Georgia, Savannah is working hard to accommodate the film industry.  In Savannah's case, you get the bonus of the Historic District as a backdrop.  10 movies filmed in Savannah.

• The city's economic base is pretty solid.  Manufacturing and the Port of Savannah are big employers, giving it a blue collar feel in many places.  One of my neighbors down there is a longshoreman.  In contrast to, again, Ann Arbor, where the closest thing to blue collar work is leading classes at Orange Theory.

• Drivers are bad.  Significantly worse than in Michigan.  It is decidedly not bike friendly.

• You rarely encounter an actual Southern accent.  I believe that is pretty true of any sizable city in the South these days.  Kinda regrettable.

• I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Tybee Island.  Savannah is about 20-25 miles inland along the Savannah river from the Atlantic Ocean.  Tybee Island is right at the mouth of the Savannah River and, thus, is essentially the beach town for Savannah.  It's easy to access and it's really nice to be able to have a beach day on the spur of the moment.  As beach towns go, I'd place it above Galveston (as would my peeps from Houston, and they would know) and most Jersey beaches, but below Hilton Head and the best beaches in Florida.  It is about on par with an average Michigan beach town.  Nice little bonus.  

I'm sure I'll develop more understanding as the time passes.  For now, I still don't think I would want to settle permanently in Savannah.  I may feel differently about it as I gain experience and maybe spend some time there when it's cold up north.  I like Savannah.  Great place to visit. I'm just not sure living there is for me.  As much as I make fun of the Ann Arbor area, the upper-middle class trappings are part of my life now.  Savannah is not there yet, but gentrification may work its magic in time.

A visit to Savannah barely counts as travel for me anymore.  But the last trip offered the opportunity to visit points south.  As I mentioned, to the north lies the "Low Country".  To the south lie the Golden Isles.  These include Jekyll, St. Simons, Little St. Simons, and Sea Island.  Although we just visited for a day trip, I'm going out on a limb and declare these islands underrated as destinations.

Of these Jekyll Island is the most interesting. Jekyll started as a getaway for the fabulously wealthy of old -- meaning Rockafellers, Morgans, and the like.  They created the Jekyll Island Club where they built lavish mansions and would spend their winters hunting and socializing and generally engaging in revelry.  Although their houses were quite large, they maintained a summer camp sort of atmosphere by having a communal kitchen.  As you can imagine, this was not a serve-yourself establishment.  Dinners would go long into the night presumably with folks wandering in and out as suited them.  All the houses had lawns and wrap-around porches for entertaining.  It really must have been quite a time.  All this was built and utilized for maybe 3 months out of the year.

It all fell apart in WW2.  Deprivations kind of killed the mood and things fell into disrepair.  In time the great state of Georgia decided to take over the whole island, paying the owners a significantly below market rate for the taking.  The intention was to turn it into a State park, but it became clear that was too costly for the State, so they formed the Jekyll Island Authority, and charged them with running the island as a financially self-sustaining concern. They have done exactly that.

It costs $8 to get on the island and it's totally worth it.  The Jekyll Island Club still exists, although only as a luxurious inn.  The mansions, old buildings, and grounds of the club are delightful for wandering about.  Tours are offered of course.  Either on the grounds or adjacent to it is the Sea Turtle center where they do God's work keeping the sea turtle population healthy.  All of that is on the river side of the island.  The ocean side is populated with some nice hotels and bars of the Hilton/Marriott variety.  I gather it is a regional convention destination owing much to being pretty much right on the beach.

The beach, as all Georgia beaches, is just fine with a nice long sloping entry into the ocean. There is nothing wrong with it, but I am a spoiled Florida beach snob so…  The northern part of the island is pretty much unpopulated and left wild.    

If you are nearby, say a couple hours away in Savannah, Jekyll is a great day trip. In fact it compares very well to any number of vastly better known beach towns for weekend escape.  I do intend to spend a weekend here for just that reason in the near future.

The other islands (St. Simons, Little St. Simons, Sea) are tightly grouped together and are a more traditional wealthy getaway -- kind of a Hilton Head Lite.  On St. Simons there is a commercial center of a street filled with shops and restaurants leading into the main beach.  Little St. Simons is given over to wilderness and a pricey lodge.  Sea Island is also mostly natural, and given over to The Cloisters, a resort of legendary luxury and four figure per night prices. (I know, I had delusions of actually staying there.)  Neither of these places will let you near without being a registered guest.  Whether it's robber barons or nouveau riche, it seems the wealthy will find a way to escape to these Golden Isles of Georgia.

In any event, it was good to visit somewhere new. Even if it was just a day trip, it felt like actual travel. And it must have been since I just wrote a couple thousand words about it.  I hope, when retirement comes, to be able to write things like this as frequently as I used to.