“Oddly Quiet… With Just a Hint of Thunder Runners and Aviation Fuel”

We took to the streets of CocoaCounty last night (formerly known as Friday Night) and were greeted by small groups of revelers, empty bar seats and the faint, bleating protests of a citizenry battered and beaten by current times, the exorbitant cost of a martini and Dino fuel. (We made up that last bit, in case you couldn’t see through the obvious bloviation.)

We’re not saying it was uniform but the lack of Friday Night Buzz was palpable and we pushed our sail-driven News Cars farther as police chases criss-crossed the county and an air ambulance crew delivered a motorcyclist found down and injured in Crockett (good luck, amigo, hope you heal up, soon).

With so many Nocturnal Patrols under our belts it was normal to encounter the regular cast of Vampires who live and move at hours when most of us are asleep in our beds. Some recognize us now and call out and point as we pass, knowing travelers sharing a moment in a less-traveled world.

Pushing up the volume on our personal sound system as the hours fell away we considered buying a fruit drink for a favorite mendicant and puzzled over our current condition after learning that naysayers had liberally sprinkled an overpass favored by political pundits with canine byproduct – failing to silence the commentary but turning that bridge into a minor bio-hazard. (Ed. it didn’t work. Protestors called dog-owning friends with appropriate cleanup gear and the attempt at counter-commentary was safely removed.)

On the back-end of our local news machine – where all our tips and tidbits come in – we continue to hear of trying times for local bizznesses (drop us a line if you want to talk – on or off the record) – and other facets of life in the Golden State. We also noted an apparently organized effort to dump on our fair state, usually by people (bots?) who “saw the light” or the “handwriting on the wall” and moved to bastions of gun ownership and Freedum and “haven’t looked back.” If you’re real and have, in fact, left us – good luck in your greener pasture but, remember, we have The Google and it doesn’t take much to find out what’s happening in your chosen part of the world and, frankly, it’s not sounding all that attractive.

That’s it. Time to caffeinate and sneak in a Pilates class before heading out again later tonight. Keep California Real, y’all – The West is the Best.