Being retired is nice! It gives me lots of time to dream up crazy things to do, things that I occasionally even act on! When I was visiting the New River Gorge a few weeks ago, I didn’t get a chance to ride the jet boat that goes up the river to the bridge from Hawks Nest State Park so, with a burst of energetic determination, I drove myself back down there last Thursday.

Sometimes, I get lucky. New River Jet Boats does not accept reservations unless it’s for a group so I drove down there knowing that I might not even get to ride. When I found the ticket sales office, I cheerfully requested a ticket for the earliest available trip and I scored! I later found out that the ticket had been sold to me by mistake because they had two tour groups scheduled and weren’t selling individual tickets. Fortunately, they honored the ticket anyway.

I was originally going to spend the night but glamping by myself didn’t sound like much fun. I had also wanted to hike The Long Point Trail before coming home but my burst of energy fizzled. I headed north after a quick stop at Dixie’s Diner. Being just a few steps beyond normal, I had a small vanilla cone as an appetizer, followed by the employee recommended sandwich, a fully loaded burger.