the VET isn’t about rules. there aren’t a lot. or many. or any? there’s like… one rule. but the VET is about following your bliss, going with whatever feels right in the moment. let go, and the VET will guide you. this is what it’s been about from the beginning, and when a VET goes right, it’s because we just… let it go right.
so the one thing you don’t want to do is to try to force your will on the VET. and i miiiiight have kind of done that this time. did i ruin the VET? maybe. we’ll have to let time decide.
my VET began early, 7 or something. as most of my mornings do. it was pretty much like any other day – walked abby, showered, had some coffee. i considered a button up shirt for a fancy VET, but i wound up doing my cool tarot-style ice king baseball tee instead for a casual, big boy VET. i think that fit the mood.
i messaged corey while i drank coffee and watched some TV with nicole. he let me know we’d get down to business once holly was safely dropped off at the doggy daycare, and that we could meet up after he did so, or i could come by and we could drop her off together. i opted for the latter.
so i loaded up my newly-rebirthed car with my camera bag, CDs from VETmas past, and a phone charger cable, and set off on adventure. after a few years of neglect, my car was recently repaired by none other than my brother tim, who took about 7 years off its age. AC, brakes, axle, spark plugs, window, other car things – all good as new. i had it detailed before my recent trip to philadelphia, and vacuumed it out one last time before the VET to provide the closest i could to a new car VET experience (something corey has me beat at like five to one). so at least i didn’t ruin the VET by my car exploding.
i picked up corey and holly after an uneventful ride listening to incubus. we drove to the daycare, talking about korean bbq, 90s music, and holly’s previous “vet” experience (vaccines and BULLSHIT). after nearly missing our stop and pulling into an adjacent lot to park, we arrived at holly’s drop-off. the daycare seemed cool, lots of dogs and whatnot. nice people.
around this point i began to exert my desires on the VET, and my dreams of a south-eastern directed VET began to “take shape”. we made our way southward on 66th street in st. pete. we discussed general food plans / hunger statuses, and outlined thus: a nice sit down breakfast with lots of carbs for corey to cheat by; drive; enjoy a hot steamy mcrib sandwich; drive; find a din din; etc. the mcrib was not necessarily an outside will or plan for the VET, but we did discuss the possibility of getting one on the adventure before the trip, so perhaps it was also a bad energy to bring.
so as we drove south, we kept an eye open for food breakkie. and as luck would have it, the famous egg haven cafe was directly on our route. sounded good, sounded right. we u-turned and grabbed a parking spot, and as soon as we entered we knew we had been there before as a tryday friday. now this isn’t the first time that we’ve eaten at a place we’d been before, and this was just a coincidence. but… it feels like reverberations through the structural elements of the VET itself; a punishment, perhaps a warning?
that was neither here nor there though, because it was pretty fucking great. it took some time to be seated, and then it took some time to order, but we got some great food. we both got coffees, and i also got a 7 dollar glass of fresh squeezed orange juice (squeezed by a looney tunes style machine with white-gloved appendages, and worth every penny). and we both also got cinnamon french toast – corey with a side of sausage patties and eggs, and mine as a “lumberjack combo” with eggs, hash browns, sausage, and bacon. the eggs were cheesey and delicious, bacon just chewy enough, solid sausage, hashbrowns nice and crisp. and the french toast was excellent – not as eggy and fluffy as a classic french toast, and not a full-on cinnabon as corey had somehow hoped, but still a delightful start to the day, full of high-octane carbohydrates.
we set off once again, perhaps more full than intended. corey recognized my desire to travel southward, and recommended we make our way to 275 to go across the skyway. and so we did. and thus began our slow descent down the shaft of florida. we discussed my hilarious need for a new cell phone and the state of modern technology / software in general. after the merge with 75, we continued along the visually uninspiring interstate (a classic VET folly), running parallel to what would likely be an objectively more stimulating drive down 41.
around venice we made our first stop, pulling off the interstate to gas up and grab snacks. they had no cow tales, and no salted nut rolls. they did have a zagnut, which i was soon to discover kind of sucks. my planning took over again, and we decided to try our luck eastward from the gas station, and were met with a dead end. not a great sign.
slightly south (and east) on 75, we made another attempt to travel to the east, and wound up driving through a small neighborhood with no exit, now blocked from further eastward travel by a river. thwarted again, we got back on 75, counting up road numbers until we finally “broke free” onto 80 near fort myers. here we eventually found our next stop – labelle.
labelle is a tiny, boring little dinkus of a town. attracted by “main street”, we decided to turn. we found a library, and a park, and also some weird engine thing. we stopped and got out, and watched a cat almost get run over by a car. there was some sort of (veteran’s day???) event going on, with… like singing or something? it was kind of lame. there was also a small art gallery. we went inside to find two older ladies who loved art and were clearly very invested in the local art scene. there was some competition the night before, and we got to see all the top prize winners – some dumb shitty leaves in oil paint, and a crappy photoshop portrait of some old dude among them. it was disappointing, to say the least. and the two pieces that corey and i were really interested in weren’t for sale / were like 200 bucks or something insane.
so we came away empty handed. we did a bit more walking around, checked out the engine and the invasive curly tailed lizards, packed up, and headed out.
of course, we had assumed that the REAL main street goodness was actually to the south, where we had gone north. so southward again we traveled, which of course i loved because it was the “RIGHT” direction. well, it was pretty bland. there was like fucking nothing. we talked about baldur’s gate 3 as we drove through absolute shit. eventually we tried to make our way east again, and at some point we decided we needed to make a decision based on our (lack of) surroundings and progress – consulting the map, we determined we could either go north to clewiston, or east to fort lauderdale. after comparing times and vowing to stop at the nearest mcdonald’s for a sweet sweet mcrib, we opted for east. AT LAST, MY PLANS WOULD BE REALIZED.
we drove through big cypress reservation and discussed our terrible legacy. then corey threw on the 90s jams. we spent some time talking about real shit, which was nice because i feel like i’ve not been great lately about that sort of thing. we cruised across the state on 75, making good on the original route that we could have stuck on, and eventually found ourselves in fort lauderdale.
this is only the second time on a VET that we’ve made it this far south and east (in my memory). we actually drove by and noticed the same building we ate at during our last time here, 11 years ago – no longer a pizza place, now phat boy sushi kitchen and bar. we drove past a mcdonald’s, but at this point we knew we wouldn’t have room for a mcrib and a real dinner, and we knew we didn’t want to have a mcrib for dinner on the fucking VET, so we finally threw in the towel and aborted our mcrib dreams.
we drove around a bit, and i pulled over when i saw a japanese market – a rarity in florida. we parked, got out, stretched a bit, and went on in. it was super small, and honestly i was pretty disappointed. they had sushi, but it wasn’t a sit down kind of place (meaning there were literally no seats, it was just like a bodega). the more interesting stuff was in the freezer, which i knew i couldn’t reasonably do, and i didn’t even find any particularly interesting snacks. so it was pretty much a bust, and once again we left empty handed.
back at the car, corey and i discussed food. i had just eaten pizza earlier in the week, we considered italian, and then he had the genius idea of cheese fries. pure inspiration. a VET with some messy schlub food. sounded great to me! we set off and cruised the strip in search of cheesy fries, checking out the sweet boat action and enjoying the incredible music curation skills of the spotify DJ.
we ended up looping around, going by the same mcdonald’s we passed coming into town, and going through the same tunnel several times each. eventually, i recommended we hit up yelp (having had such good luck with it last year to find what may have been the best dessert on a VET ever). corey eventually hit upon gilbert gottfried’s casual 17th street diner, and he was convinced by the photos and his tummy that this was the place. so we headed over.
the diner was somewhat busy. the man taking orders was crazy and thought i was a food reviewer (i was). he got a call and was pissed off at the caller who asked if they sold turkey. he asked me what restaurant serves turkey. i couldn’t answer. i ordered a mushroom and swiss style baby, corey got a BBQ sweetness burger complete with onion ring. i also got a classy glass of red wine. and of course, i ordered wings.
we sadly did not order cheese fries, as they did not serve cheese fries at this establishment.
the burgers we pretty good! giant patties, well seasoned. not as good as burger monger, but not bad by any means. the toppings were good too. fries were underwhelming, hot and fresh but under salted. and under cheesed. the wings were not worth it, more like fried chicken than buffalo wings, with very little sauce. i ate half of one and corey ate the rest (apparently we should have ordered them grilled).
we also ordered desserts, and while corey’s was dropped off (for free???), i was subjected to more of the same from the guy at the counter, who promised to give me his mom’s “special cheesecake” (and then proceeded to hand me a busted slice crammed into a plastic to-go container). the cheesecake was super fucking delicious though, so i mean who cares in the end. really great.
as we left, the guy asked me if everything was awesome (it was) and shook my hand (of course). back in the car, we set off. the drive home would be four or so hours, so we grabbed some gas, got no additional drinks or snacks, and just droooooooooooooove on the VET.
we went straight back on 75, through a dark alligator alley. we listened to our proper VET playlists (the two out of five that we actually worked on this year), and just enjoyed all the ins and outs and ups and downs of our musical selections. it was a good year for the big playlists, and they made the ride back a pleasure.
as our playlists concluded and we made it to the home stretch, we listened to various songs from here and there, including an incredible set by 2003 toyota corolla, and aborted playlist songs. we finally got to corey’s place and i dropped him off, then made the slow and sad journey home alone. i passed some event going down at the clearwater high school stadium, clogging the streets with idiots and sending at least one drunk driver home in my path. the rest of the drive was without incident, and i made it home to find nicole and abby in bed. we talked about our days and were up until maybe 2, until we finally fell asleep, bringing the VET to a close.
it may be unfair to say i ruined the VET this year. it certainly wasn’t terrible. but it was not as eventful as many in the past. it was definitely not among the best. but it was another one for the books. this year marked the official 20th anniversary of the VET. 20 years of learning and re-learning the lessons to go with the flow, not try to force anything, to enjoy friend’s company, and to enjoy living in the moment – even the little ones.