In Other Words With Dave

Head out on the highway, looking for adventure (Steppenwolf, Born To Be Wild lyric). Yep, that was us. Alison and I took a road trip to Florida. Was it an adventure? Sure there were some moments.

The road trip allowed us to put some miles on a car we purchased pre-pandemic. Our gray coupe ate up miles and an assortment of bugs native to Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Texas. Splattered bug guts harden to the consistency of concrete when blown dry by somewhat legal highway speeds and cured by the southern sun.

Is it really a vacation if you have to haul your company laptop and large screen monitor up to every hotel room, VRBO and condo rental? To us, Wifi connectivity is just as important as thread counts of the bed sheets. And a suitable in-room workspace is just as important as a quality complimentary breakfast buffet.

Our multi-day stay on Florida’s gulf was wonderful. Rain was forecasted, but we beat the odds and had sunshine every day. We also beat the odds at a casino hotel in Alabama. Honestly, I’m not much of a gambler, unless you count owning your own business, consuming gas station lattes, and dating in your 50s (how I met Alison).

Night after night, a different town and a different place to stay. Fun and exhausting at the same time. We experienced a leaky ceiling, some roaches, a limited supply of towels, TVs we couldn’t figure out, a variety of lumpy pillows and several instances of a most disturbing interior design trend: bathrooms with barn doors.

We arrived home on a Friday night after nearly 2 weeks on the road. As we pulled into our driveway, we were looking forward to sliding back into our nice, controlled, predictable life and relaxing for the weekend. Unfortunately, life had other plans. One of our air conditioner units was near death and the dogs picked up a case of the fleas. Oh joy, welcome home, so nice to be back.

Dave Miller

Publisher & Back40 Design President

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Features

8 LibertyFest Event Calendar 10 Miss Oklahoma 12 Local Faves: 6 Summer Activities for Kids 14 The Missing Sibling 16 Jude’s Joy of Dancing 18 The Edmond Way of Honoring Veterans 30 Kentucky Daisey’s Legendary Locomotive Leap

Business

22 Car-Mart 24 The Exercise Coach 26 Memorial Road Church of Christ

Columns

7 In Other Words With Dave 28 Louise Tucker Jones

Cover Photography by Marshall Hawkins

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July 2021 Volume 17, Number 7 l Edmond Outlook is a publication of Back40 Design, Inc. l © 2021 Back40 Design, Inc.