This post is all about GUNS, ok?  So, Beth Anne, shut 'er down now.  For the rest of you, love it or leave it.

Twice annually, the good folks at the Hernando Sportsman's Club have a Machine Gun Shoot.  Bring your own machine guns, or rent one for twenty bucks a throw.

For a Canadian gun owner and enthusiast, this was Full Metal Jacket nirvana.  On arrival and exiting the car, I was immediately transported on an audiological warp to the midst of a small arms skirmish.  Viet Nam, Kosabo, Iraq, Afganistan, the impact was the same, I'm sure.  The sounds of semi-auto gunfire, machine guns, mortars and (the holy grail of automatic gunfire) the "gatling" minigun, the smell of gunfire and the heat, all combined to make this an extraodinary experience.

A variety of machine guns, ready to take on ISIL!

Locked and loaded

There were a lot of dudes who took this very seriously!

It took about 6 tries to get this MG to fire.  Seems there was a problem with the feed mechanism. Which is ok, unless you are facing one of those 'Human wave" types of situations one of the boys was telling me about.

What got my number 1 vote was the "gatling" minigun.  This sucker fires between 4000 and 6000 rounds PER MINUTE.  Do the math; 100 rounds per second.  Now, by any reasonable standard, that is serious fire power.  In the Viet Nam conflict, they would install these baby's on C130s, firing out of cut-outs in the side of the fuselage.  The grunts loved 'em.  Referred to these as "Puff the Magic Dragon".  I chatted with a vet who described the scene;  "puff" would be called in to "neutralize" a zone.  When firing commenced, there were simultaneous displays of, on the firing side a silver coloured hail, and on the other side, a yellow (brass) coloured spray of spent casings.  Nothing survived this onslaught.  It would cut a house, vehicle or person(s) in half in nano seconds.  Here's a a pic:

Mini gun

Now, when this puppy was fired, its like hearing a chainsaw.  It defies any better description  I don't know what the technical specs are for duration of fire, but in the 15 or so seconds I heard it rip, it ate up about $1000 worth of ammo.  Again, do the math.  The cost of fire superiority is not cheap!

Noi surprisingly, the NRA was a notable presence. There was also a well-received presence by the "Bomber Girls".  Not sure just what the origins are, but I can tell you there were all kinds of red necks lined up to have their pictures taken with these ladies.  

 After about 40 minutes or so, the range officer called a halt so that all those gunner could check their targets (lol - accuracy of fire was not a priority here; rather, maximum damage to things like old cars, trucks, dish washers, propane cylinders, water bottles, etc.).  I ventured out into the 'hot zone" for a look-see:

So, as you can see, it was great fun watching our US neighbor's having fun on a Sunday morning (Thank you Lord, thank you Jesus).  I think I had this permanent smile the whole time.  The coup de grace was the booth that sold tickets for $20 (US, of course) for a go with an  MP5 machine gun.  In my opinion, this is rather a wimpy piece; I'd have paid twice that plus for a go on the minigun.  But, that's just me...

At the end of the day, I left with a robust sense of confidence in the ability of our southern neighbors to repel, with vigour, the most vile and treacherous threat from any enemy; regardless of their choice of head gear.  Oh say can you see...  Yup, I can see it.

Heating up

Time for a quick update.  For you picture junkies, sorry, no pics on this post.

A mostly quiet week, mainly because of the unseasonably cool temps (I know, I'm not complaining, I'm sensitive to what family / friends are enduring back home, etc.)

Yesterday we drove down to Tampa / St. Pete's to visit a local icon; Haslam's Books.  This place has been around for decades, and sells new and used books as well as some extremely valuable old books.  The latter are kept in locked wooden cabinets, with glass front, and its not unusual to see price tags of several thousands of $'s!  Our purchases were considerably more modest, needless to say.

On our way to this mecca, we stopped at Gander Mtn., a sporting goods retailer along the lines of Basspro.  Picked up some 20lb test braided fishing line, and then of course had to buy a reel to put it on, heh heh...  What really caught my eye was the store's flyer.  These are similar in every way to those we get at home from Basspro, except that the first 4 pages were devoted to, get this, all types and caliber's of handguns!  What a great country!  The right to bear arms and all that good stuff.

Today, despite forecast highs of only 9C, I waited for the tide to come in before heading out to sea for another attempt to catch fish.  The wind had died down some, but still, by the time I got out to the Gulf was glad I'd taken along my down vest and windbreaker.  Did some gunkholing along the coast just to the north of where our river exits into the Gulf, and found another osprey nest.  Could hear them clearly, but failed to spot them.  Spotted large numbers of large fish including snapper and jacks, but they were not interested in what I had to offer.  The crabs, on the other hand, devoured my shrimp with much enthusiasm.  Skunked again!

Tonight we went out for dinner; our first dinner out since arriving here more than 2 weeks ago.  The Bonefish Grill (for a chain restaurant, one of the best), but the lineup suggested we fall back to plan B.  This was a local (Weeki Wachee Gardens) Italian place.  There always seemed to be a lot of cars in the parking lot, and, as we discovered, for good reason.  The place is called La Bella Napoli, and we enjoyed some of the best Italian food ever! Karen had the Osso Bucco, with a pork shank.  It was gustatory heaven!  I opted for the linguine with a tomato / conch sauce.  For the life of me I can't recall the name of the dish and I couldn't find the menu on line.  Suffice to say it was outstanding!!!

Tomorrow calls for temps in the low 20's, so I will head out for some more fishing, while Karen enjoys her book poolside.

Gotta say, if you have to work almost 50 years to get to enjoy this lifestyle, its worth every minute!

Some perspective...

To make some of you ice bound people feel maybe just a wee bit better, the weather today totally sucked!  High wind, rain, and cool.  Just thought I'd mention it...

Connecting with Mangrove Snapper!

Well, having been here two weeks and having purchased the boat, it was high time to put my equipment and expertise to the ultimate (well, for me) saltwater fishing test.  Mangrove Snapper!  That elusive, gray / orange, fang-toothed chunk of local gamefish that you spot by the hundreds in the clear waters of the local rivers, but are difficult to catch.

Sunday was the perfect day.  Clear, 70F, and only a moderate breeze.  We headed out around 11 am to take advantage of the incoming tide which was scheduled to crest around 1 pm.  Karen settled in her deck chair with her book.

I tried trolling a surface bait in the river, but it proved too difficult to manage that and steer the boat through the winding channels.

So we continued on into the mouth of Weeki Wachee, where it begins to open up into the Gulf.  Here, the wind was noticeably stronger.  I opted to anchor near the windward shore of some marsh grass and baited up with some live shrimp.  Now, I really had no idea what kind of features I should be looking for, except that mangrove snapper tend to, co-incidently, hang out around and in mangrove roots.  The marsh grass was as close as I could get to ideal.  The mangrove swamps would have meant a trip out into the Gulf, and this could have caused spray to dampen the pages of K's book.

Anyhow, after about 5 minutes, there was a tug on the line, and shortly after that, having put up a terrific battle, I boated my very first mangrove snapper!

Ok, I agree, its not a trophy size, and a closer look is warranted:

It really is a pretty little fish; the minimum size limit here is 10 inches, so these guys went back to grow some more.  It seems that the vast majority of these fish were in the "under size" category.  You can see schools of hundreds, dare I say thousands, in the rivers.  They spend the first few years of their lives here, and then head out to the off shore reefs, were they grow to several pounds.  Guess I've got to fine tune my navigation skills and get myself out there for some real challenges!

Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and at least I know I can catch 'em.  Now I just need to focus on catching keepers, as they are excellent eating.

On the way back, we ran into a weekend-category of kayakers and snorkellers in the river checking out the manatee.  We'd forgotten this was President's day and a national holiday.  After trying to dodge some incredibly stupid swimmers and paddlers, I finally had to announce my presence in a most authoritative fashion, taking into account that 95 % of residents in this state have concealed carry permits, and gingerly threaded my way through and back to our dock.

Another adventure brought to a successful conclusion!  The bar is now open!

Classic / Antique Car Swap Meet

Just a couple of months before leaving home, I reconnected with an old high school buddy of mine, Johnny Watkins.  He and I and a few others "back in the day" created quite a bit of havoc.  In Gr. 13, it became a practice for one of the gang to buy a case of beer at lunch time on Fridays (obviously, with fake ID).  We would then pile in one or two cars and head for our house on Finch Ave.  There, listening to Bob Dylan, the Stones, Beatles, etc., we'd polish off said case of beer and then head back to class, which is where the "havoc" inevitably occurred.  But I digress...

John, it turns out, is also a winter refugee with a place not too far away.  His passion is finding and restoring classic cars, and so it made sense for us to meet up at the Sumter County Fairgrounds for their annual Classic Car Swap Meet.  I left our place early, and stopped for a breakfast of shrimp and grits at the Florida Cracker Kitchen.

 Don't think the place has changed much in 50 years, and the shrimp were fresh, and the grits fried just right.  (with apologies to my GP).

From here, met up with John and another buddy of his, and just wandered around literally hundreds of acres of old cars, car parts, restored cars, candidates for restoration, greasy food stands, and motor homes (both vendors and visitors).

 One car in particular caught my eye; a 1965 Rambler American in Robin's Egg Blue.  I had one of these (but it may have been a '62), but this particular car was well-regarded by a lot of guys as the front seat folded back flat.  An obvious advantage at the local drive-in theater on Friday or Saturday night!

After a full morning of resisting the temptation to buy anything, headed back to our digs in Weeki Wachee and finished the day chilling by the pool with some nice cold beer.  Another awesome day in the land of all things laid back.

On our journey down here, I picked up a book called "Best Backroads of Florida".  This edition covers the "heartland", which includes our area.  So we opted to take a look along old Hwy 41, from Brooksville north to Floral City, with a side trip to Nobleton.  The latter exists today solely to rent canoes to tourists who want to wander down the Withlacoochi River.  It also opens up an option to hike along the Withlacoochi Trail, which is the old railbed for the train that delivered phosphate from the mines in the area, to the harbour at Tampa Bay.

All in all, it was an incredibly scenic ride; lots of cattle ranches, live oaks overhanging the roadway, quaint little "old Florida" towns and an overall sense that, although its history had not been quite so idyllic, it remains today a placid, laid back part of what is otherwise a state in the throes of beach-driven escapism.  These pictures will hopefully give substance to my feeble attempts to describe:

As you might expect, I have many more, but those were taken in RAW format.  Until I figure out how to save them in jpeg or similar formats, they will continue to reside in obscurity on my hard drive.  Until then, I will try to take pictures using both my Fuji and my Canon cameras, the latter providing the more accessible jpeg format pictures.

We stopped for lunch in Homosassa, another area that derives its claim to fame from a spring-fed river.  As with the Weeki Wachee river, this one also maintains a constant year round temperature of 72 F.  This allows the manatees and other temperature-sensitive sea creatures to survive the winter months when the Gulf water temperatures fall into the mid-60's farenheit.  Our lunch at the Riverside Crab House (http://www.riversideresorts.com/RiversideCrabHouse.html).  Very busy, but very good food.  Most patrons opted to sit inside despite the bright sunny day; the high today only reached 13C.  The breeze from the north put the kiss of death on dining on the patio!

All in all, a great little day trip!

Polar Vortex

OK, I know that much of this if not all of it will fall on unsympathetic ears.  But hey, this IS Florida, the sunshine state, right?  Well, sunshine doesn't necessarily equate to hot, or even warm.  The high today was +11C.  With a breeze from (where else) the north.  Went fishing this morning, but caught nothing; evidently even the bite is affected.  I did, however, witness about a dozen manatee in Jenkin's Creek seeking refuge from the colder water of the Gulf.

Unfortunately, all the pictures I took were in RAW format, which does not easily lend itself to uploading to this blog.  Trust me, they were awesome!

The tides tomorrow are exceptionally low, so we will opt for a driving discovery of some of the lesser-known parts of this part of Florida.

A rainy day...

Not much to report; started out with a bit of sun, which soon gave way to a day of rain.  Went down the coast to Tarpon Springs, which looks like a great place to spend an afternoon wandering around the mostly Greek shops, restaurants, etc.  We shall return in nicer weather.

Sunday afternoon on the Weeki Wachee river

Really nice warm day; 21C and light wind.  After running a few errands, waited for the tide to turn and headed out with Karen for her first trip by boat out to the Gulf.

Keeping a sharp eye out for manatee; lots of them in the river at this time of year

Just past Hospital Hole, a 100+ ft deep spring which, amongst others feeds the crystal clear waters of the Weeki Wachee river.  Also a haven for manatee who come in from the Gulf at this time to give birth to their calves.

Weekends here are a mecca for kayakers, some of whom actually know the rules of the "road".  Here, we're approaching Rogers Park, where we launch the boat.

The entire area is pretty much a "Venice" in Florida.  The closer you get to the Gulf, the pricier the real estate.  We're located at the ass end of this scale, but love it.

Karen observing our entry into the Gulf, about minutes at idle speed from our place

A bad ending to a fine sunday for these folks.  For whatever reason, they needed a tow back to their dock courtesy of  TowBoats US; the marine equivalent to CAA

Following a great outing, we decided to splurge with a superb steak, custom cut at our local Winn Dixie.  The butcher and I got along great, as i was one of very few customers who appreciated the culinary value of NOT trimming the fat from the steak.  And it was outstanding!

A large day by any reasonable standard!  Weather was tops; cloudless blue sky, light winds and 22C.  We waited until the tide was favourable and then took the skiff down the river to the Gulf.  Saw several manatee on the way, managing (just) to avoid collision with dozens of kayakers who were also looking for them.  This was particularly tense in the area of Hospital Hole, an area where an underground spring feeds the river.  The "hole' is at least 100 feet deep, and the managees congregate there.  In addition to the kayakers, there were quite a few people swimming the hole and making actual physical contact with these wonderful creatures.

We continued on past the fishing pier at Pine Island, and went out about 1km into the gulf.  Even though the winds were light, I had no fishing gear with me, nor did I bring my Fuji camera thus limiting my photographic efforts to the little canon powershot.

On the way back we spotted an eagles nest in a palm whose top had been removed in a hurricane some years back.  No eagle, but an osprey was making use of the structure.  I will return with the long lens for some up close pictures.

Arrived back at our dock just about the time the bar opened.  After a couple of drinks, dropped a nich chunk of beef on the bbq, while Karen organized a salad.  Washed all of that down with some reasonable Aussie merlot.  All in all, another great day in the great state of Florida!

January 21, 2015.  A day which will live in twilight memories!  The day we loaded up the CRV and pointed her south.  With nary a backwards glance, off we went.  But first, our traditional departure breakfast at Katherine's Grill.  Next, a fill-up of still-overpriced Canadian gasoline.

We crossed the border at Fort Erie at 11:30 am.  US Border Security was right on top.  "Where are you headed?"  Me:  "Florida"  USBS:  "So, what's happening there?"  Me:  Well, duh!  Look around.  Its frikkin freezing here.  In Florida, its sunny and warm.  Need I say more?"  Well, I didn't really say that, heh heh.  Instead, just meekly said "ahh, just rented a house down there for two months".  USBS:  "Ok, have a good trip".

And that was that.  We were in the good ol' U S of A.

By 1:30 pm we'd reached Erie, PA, which is where you make that all-important left turn onto I-79.  At about the same time, the light drizzle turned to snow, which became progressively more heavy as we entered the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

Made a quick stop at Amity, PA for a tank-up at 4 pm.  Distance travelled:  627k.  Gas:  12.37 gal, at a total cost of $29.20 US.  Shortly after that, decided to call it a day  and checked in at Morgantown, WA for the night.  Got a room at the Econolodge for a rather hefty $78 US.  Already craving the seafood to come further south, we dined at a local Red Lobster.  I've had better fare at Red Lobster restaurants in the Toronto area.  Anyhow, our total distance for the day was 687km.

January 22, 2015.  Before leaving, we made a pact: "no rush" and so got on the road again by 9 am.  Weather still cold (1 C) and miserable.  Stopped at a Waffle House for an amazingly good breakfast:  scrambled eggs, sausage, cheese slice topped off with a generous helping of grits.  Grilled biscuit on the side.  Awesome artery clogger, but lasted me till dinner.

As we headed further south, it became a practice to announce, with much relish, each degree of increase in the outside temperature.  Stopped for gas at Dobson, NC at 2:55 pm:  1186 km, 11.64 US gal., and $24.31.

 By the time we made it to Charlotte, South Carolina, we were basking in 14C.  Found a Days Inn and looked for a place to eat.  Came across a joint called Azteca Mexicana which was right next door.  It seemed well attended so we gave it a go.  Turned out to be one of the best mexican meals we'd ever had.

January 23, 2015.  With clear skies but temps still in the low single digits, we hit the road at 9am again.  Stopped for breakfast at a place neither of us can now remember; obviously not very memorable.  Stopped again for gas at 2:15pm.  Distance to date:  1787 km; 12.2 gal, and $26.78 US.  The weather forecast for our arrival at Russ and Ginny's trailer at Fort McAllister, GA had, since the previous week, called for heavy rain and high winds.  The learned meteorologists were bang on.  The wind was howling our of the east driving the rain in horizonal sheets.  And in these conditions, we found our good buddies and sat down to a real healthy belt of, in my case, Scotch and for Karen, Vodka.

Our total distance driven over the past 3 days was 1906 km.

The stay in Ft. McAllister was a great change from the wicked cold back home, even tho the weather remained cool and windy.

January 24, 2015.  Because of the weather, and having spent 3 days driving, we decided to just veg out today.  Did some reading, watched a bit of TV, Karen and Ginny went for a walk.  All in all, just some solid down-time.

January 24, 2015.  The weather having improved significantly, the four of us went into Savannah and wandered around the historic waterfront area.  So much to see!  Although this was not our first time in this wonderful city, I'd forgotten just how majestic the live oaks lining the boulevards can be.  Lots of spanish moss hanging down, and beautiful architecture evident in both commercial and residential structures.  The history of the place is evident everywhere you look.  It doesn't take a lot of imagination to envision how it must have looked 100 years ago.

We dined this evening at a local seafood joint - Fish Tales.  From the number of cars parked outside we figured it had to be pretty good.  Which it was, but by no means outstanding.  Russ and Ginny each order the 8 oz grouper sandwich.  In my opinion, both portions together might have made up 8 oz., so there was some disappointment there.  I can't remember what I had, so its fair to say that, apart from the "low countries" atmosphere, the place fell somewhat short in the food department.

When we returned, Russ backed the truck in to the campsite and unfortunately took down the tent shelter fixed to his trailer awning.  So we spent the next half hour with a step ladder and flashlight jury-rigging the damaged shelter so that we could at least sit out of the wind when Russ went for a smoke.  Having done what we could in the dark, we sat out by a nice little fire and cured all of the world's problems.  A fine day overall!

January 26, 2015.  Time to head further south.  Packed up the trailer and were on the road by 10 am, bound for Crooked River State Park.  This is almost at the border with Florida.  Taking our time, we arrived around 1:30.  Karen and I carried on to look for motel accommodation for the next 7 nights, and Russ and Ginny proceeded to the park to set up camp.  K and I figured we'd have a take out pizza, but were unable to find any in Kingsland, which is where we booked into the Best Western.  So, we figured we'd just head out along the main strip and see if we could find a pizza joint. I'd just left the hotel driveway, when we spotted Angelo's Italian Eatery right next door!  Well!  Put the car back in the parking lot and walked over to Angelo's, where we enjoyed some of the best pizza either of us could recall having in a long time!  Great stuff.  Plus the beer and wine was cheap and the wine was generously poured!

January 27, 2015.  The Best Western throws in a hot breakfast with the room, and as these go, this was a really good feed.  Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, yogurt, hot waffles, etc.  Figured that this made the $69 per night rate very well worth it.  After brekkie, got some errands done, including a session at the local laundromat.  In the afternoon, found Russ and Ginny in their new site at the Crooked River state park, and enjoyed a fine walk and dinner with them.

January 28, 2015.  Karen and I decided we'd check out Amelia Island today.  This is the most southerly of the Georgia "Golden Isles".  We toured the historic district; lots of typical old Georgia homes, live oaks and spanish moss trailing from beautiful curved limbs.  Also spent time at Fernandino Beach, another site of historical significance dating back to the initial "occupation" by the Spanish.  Dined on a grouper sandwich (shared it) and some good cold local beer.

For dinner, we thought we'd check out a local favourite, Steffen's.  Its about as close as you could possibly come to a 1950's diner, complete with soda counter, pedestal stools, lino floors, chrome / arborite tables and chairs.  The food is fabulous!  All good, home cooked southern fare such as fried green tomatoes (awesome), collard greens (didn't try them), chicken fried steak (arteries would have clogged 100%), biscuits and grits.  I settled for the fried oysters, which were heavenly.  Karen had the roast beef sandwich, with tons of gravy.  There is no way we could do justice to the portions.  With wine and a beer, the tab came to just under $25!  Outstanding dining experience.

January 29, 2015

Spent the morning roaming around the little seaside village of St. Mary's again.  Just to check out places we hadn't had time to do a few days ago.  Lucked into a great seafood place - Lang's, which apart from being a restaurant, is also a fishing operation.  It was started in 1962 by Lang (can't recall his first name) and the food you eat is fresh caught either the same morning or the day before.  Karen had the crab bisque and I can't recall what I had, as I'm writing this a couple of days later.  Anyhow, it was damn good stuff.

Around 2:30 we joined Russ and Ginny at their trailer and I cooked up a batch of Nasi Goreng, which was well received.

January 30, 2015

Karen, Ginny and I took the ferry to the Cumberland Island National Seashore.  Its an 18 mile long island that started out as a cotten plantation in the early 1800's.  In the early 1900's the Carnegie family established their "summer home", Plum Orchard.  Google it; I can't do it justice.

For the more technically appreciative, here are some shots of the electrical panel and the original Onan generator; Paul might recognize some similarities to the unit we have up at Georgian Bay:

These shots also show how the wiring was run.  The hot wire and neutral wire were run through lengths of wooden slats that had 2 grooves; one for each.  The wire was laid into the groove, and then another piece of wood about 1/4 inch thick was nailed on top to "seal" the run.  The bare copper wire was wrapped in paper!  I reckon this set up would be enough to cause a major cardio vascular accident in any electrical inspector today.

We opted for a guided tour; 10 of us in a van.  Really a worthwhile experience.  You can't buy anything on the island so you have to bring your own food and drink.  Everything has to be packed out.  At some points the "road" (more like a cart track) was so narrow that the palmetto shrub on either side threatened to remove the paint.  There are still a handful of privately owned properties on the island, all of which are owned on a "retained rights" basis.   This means that the owners have pledged to turn the property over the the Georgia State Parks Commission upon their death or the death of their heirs, which of course has significant tax benefits.  There is one ol' girl who has lived there since the early '60's.  She's now in her  70's and is pretty well completely self sufficient.  She lives of what she shoots, traps, or scrapes off the road (seriously) and seems completely happy in her isolation.

January 31, 2015

By special request from Karen, we returned to Tybee Island, where we went in 2003 to celebrate our 30th anniversary.  Thankfully, there had been virtually no changes.  Still the same, quaint, sorta touristy area (reminded me of Grand Bend).  We had lunch at Coco's Seafood Shack, just off Hwy 80 - the only road into the island.  It handn't changed a bit either.  Comforting indeed!

For dinner tonight, we returned to Angelo's for another feed of pizza!

February 1, 2015

Happy Birthday to bro Paul!

This being the last day of our rather protracted trip south, we thought it would be worthwhile spending the day in historic St. Augustine.  Seems pretty well everything in these parts are historic.  St. Augustine was about an hour's drive south and we arrived there around 10:00 am.  We parked the car along the seawall.  I was just plugging the meter and fed it a couple of bucks when this old dude reeking of booze holler "stop"!, and explained that on Sunday's parking is free.  Well, I got my change back, but the meter kept the two bucks.  The old dude explained that he was homeless and could we spare him 50 cents for a coffee (not sure where he was buying 50-cent coffee, and didn't ask).  Anyhow, I figured one good deed deserved another so I gave him my entire change collection.  Poor ol' guy was over the moon!

Anyhow, here are a few shots that may give viewers a "flavour" of St. Augustine.

We bought a ticket on the "hop on/ hop off" trolley (the best investment you can make in an unfamiliar city, IMO) and learned all about the city of St. Augustine.  Seems that a fella by the name of Flager featured prominently in its early days.  His entreprenurial spirit made him millions, and his vision is captured in the archticture evident in the old hotels.  For one of them, he commissioned a guy by the name of Tiffany to put in stained glass windows in the round reception area.  Today, those windows are insured for $130 million!

All in all, this is a beautiful city, with a fascinating history.  We'd return here for a few days of more in-depth exploration in a heart-beat.

Well, this being our last "restaurant dinner" for a while, we thought we'd deviate from sea food and try the local BBQ.  Ended up at Sonny's BBQ Pit.  Not bad, for a chain operation.  Shared an full rack of baby back ribs, beans and close slaw, couple of beers and left feeling satisfied without feeling full.  Just right.  Back to the Best Western to watch the second half of the Super Bowl!