Some Helpful Links and a tour...

So if you are interested in keeping up with us during the trip, I wanted to quickly include some links to what's going on:

Click here if you ever want to see the live stream, where we are... we're live chatting a good bit from here too... basically whenever we're inside and driving the RV

And you can click here for the Jax2Jax home page... it's where the videos, stories, map, photos and everything else is.

So how bout some photos of the RV and what we're traveling in? I thought you'd never ask:

Every inch of streamer blew off less than one mile into the trip

That's Justin

That's me... the bandana was a personal choice. So were the pants.

This is the coffin bed I'll be sleeping in

So there are some basics for you.

Some highlights from day 1:

-As of this writing we are in Louisiana... it's dark now and I'm not sure how much longer we're going to drive, perhaps all night... I don't know, I don't know if there's enough time.

-We did get pulled over by the cops in Alabama. They were fascinated with what we were doing, and did not give us a ticket.

-I drove for a couple hours, and we're still alive.

So, overall... a nice success. We'll talk later...

Keep the luck coming,
Mahalo!
Lew

What are dogs doing when we're not around?

That's just one of the thousands (if not millions) of life questions we'll answer over the next week.

If you've been keeping score, by now you may know that Justin Patterson (a stellar photog, editor and supervisor of things that make air on First Coast News) and I are hitting the road in an RV loaned to us by the nice folks at General RV.

We're traveling some 3300 miles over the next week in the RV, bringing stories from Jacksonvilles all over the country... feel free to see if you can guess where we're heading each day as there are towns named Jacksonville in almost every state.

So, we left today around 10:30a.m., spur of the moment decision was to bring Justin's dog... Simon.

Simon, wearing his seatbelt. Good dog, Simon, good dog

Second item of note: We've got a live streaming camera so you can log on and watch us all the time. As long as we have good coverage, you'll be able to see us and at time hear us. Of course, many times we'll keep the audio down because I have the filthy mouth of a pirate.

Here's a link to the live video stream on the Jax2Jax section of http://www.firstcoastnews.com/

This also provides us with a great opportunity to keep an eye on Simon if we leave the RV to go shoot a story. We'll have a dog-cam, and I think that alone is worth every penny of this wild trip across the country.

So, keep an eye on Simon, keep an eye on us... starting Monday we'll be checking in on air at 6:00am, 6pm, 7pm and 11pm (or whenever else we feel like it). But we'll be posting behind the scenes things on the Jax2Jax page all weekend.

Next blog coming a little later: a photo tour of the RV, we'll meet Justin too. In the meantime, keep watching the live stream because you never know when we'll turn the audio on and get a little crazy.

Wish us luck...

Mahalo,

Lew

Some Basic Math...

So let do a video equation and see if you can guess what we're getting at here...

+

=

??

Well, maybe this isn't that complicated. Yes, there is a trip involved, on a rather large RV.

We'll be gone all week, traveling thousands of miles... but we'll be in Jacksonville each night.

Wish us luck,

Lew

How 'bout a guessing game...

... well it's more of a puzzle with a few clues over the next couple days. This extraordinarily quick video clip will be your first clue as to how I'll be spending a week of my life beginning on Saturday.

 Yes it is news related, so you'll get some answers starting on Monday... in the meantime, let the hints continue!

And you know we can't make a blog without this guy:

 

Editor's note: I used this still photo from the Mike Lyons Facebook page today instead of video, I didn't want to bother him as he looks rather stressed and on deadline at the desk next to me. I think this picture gets the point across just fine though!

Mahalo,
Lew

Submarines Both Scare and Terrify Me...

I am absolutely terrified of submarined.

Two reasons...

1. I was fishing once, and the invisible wake from the sub shook my small boat so bad that I couldn't open a pepsi for a good 45 minutes. And I get an awful pepsi thirst when I'm fishin.

2. I always feel like there's some sort of sinister plot developing on board.

Now I've never actually been on or inside a sub. But I garner all of my knowledge of these things from my vast experience with submarine movies.

According to http://www.submarinemovies.com/ (it's a real site, just click it)... 110 movies about submarines have been made (dating back to 1916).

I've seen a great deal of those movies, and it always seems like Harrison Ford has to stop Sean Connery and Gene Hackman from flooding a compartment of nuclear material before President Denzel Washington hits the panic switch and starts a thermo-nuclear war.

But luckily, none of that's real... it just seems real because of the unbeatable and incomperable acting by each of those gentlemen. ACTING!!!!

So, without further delay (I don't know what ado means)... here's your Mike Lyons blog report, featuring a special guest:

There's a point to all of this, I promise. My story for tonight at 6 is about a special submarine homecoming. News crews are almost never allowed on Kings Bay so this will be cool. Nothing better than families getting back together, and it'll be especially cool to see the sub come back to port. It's the USS Florida... WELCOME HOME!!!!!

See you at 6...

Mahalo,
Lew

Cougars... and Outtakes... nuff said...

There's nothing more boring in the world than city/county council meetings. NOTHING!

However, as good stewarts (or stewards... or is it stuarts? i don't know, who cares?) of the community the news needs to keep folks in the know when it comes to issues in county/city council chambers.

And there's nothing I hate more than sitting through one of those meetings or going through those documents.

HOWEVER... every so often an issue pops up that totally kicks that argument in the shins. And tonight I get a good taste of one of those issues.

Here's the dollar version:

There is a woman in St. Johns County who has been running a non-profit animal rescue mission since 2000. And since 2008 a couple neighbors have complained about the noise one of her animals has been making.

I know what you're thinking... a noise ordinance issue is more of a sedative than a lavender bubble bath (which will come full circle in a moment, bear with me).

However, the animal the neighbors are complaining about is a lion, and the noise it makes is a roar.

The woman's name is Deborah and she runs the St. Augustine Wild Reserve. She takes in abandoned wild cats and animals.

Apparently every once and a while her lion will roar... which i didn't hear during my visit... and that upsets a couple people.

Though she insists most neighbors don't mind.

"Many of my neighbors actually come volunteer with me and help me do feedings with the animals," she told me during our interview today.

Her website is hilarious... i mean it's informative... but there's a funny section as well, which brings us full circle, as promised!

TIGERS IN BUBBLE BATHS... she gives them a nice relaxing bath... neat pics... click to see

So, apparently the lion is noisy... will she get fined when he roars... watch at 11.

I know that's lame, but it gives a purpose to my day I guess.

Anyway, here a quick anecdote:

Deb has a couple cougars. I assume many folks out there are aware of the new slang term "cougar" and what it refers to. If you aren't familiar, ask your 12-year-old son, your husband or the next guy you run into on the street.

So, Deb took me to see a couple of her cougars... and every time she'd say "cougar" I'd chuckle like a moron.
I'm pathetic.

Anyway... here's a little taste of what's going on tonight: some lion and tiger video: Sorry, no Mike Lyons tonight... he already left.

Mahalo,
Lewis

Is Vinyl Coming Back??

Judging by the pants I'm wearing today, I'd say vinyl never went anywhere.

Vinyl pants provide the support I need and the comfort I deserve.

....

But I digress... I'm actually talking about records, albums, you know the music thing. Apparently Saturday is national vinyl record day (or something like that) and that's what I'm working on today... a story about vinyl. Naturally any hometown, locally owned shop that still sells old fashioned records is going to contain some neat people... that have seen it all when it comes to music and recording, that's what I'm after today, something bizarre.

But this blog is never complete without embarrassing my co-workers with my roving camera. here's my loose poll on whether anyone actually owns a record player or not... not as predictable as you may think!

A. Mike Lyons is ALWAYS clutch. In everything... but especially in my video blogs. I'd like to use him in every story i ever do from now on.

B. I've heard that the store I'm going to visit today actually has X-rated soul albums and a rap record featuring Darryl Strawberry.

Letter B is reason enough to watch my story tonight at 6pm on First Coast News.

Mahalo,
Lewis

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