Michael Sharp:  

Fortunate Son became my anthem after Vietnam and was the driving force behind my incredible success in business and life. I am now fortunate to be able to do whatever I like whenever I choose to do it. My mantra is "Excess in Moderation" and my life has been just that.......IL DOLCE FAR NIENTI! The following is from a book I've been writing....... It was January 30th and I had just returned from three incredible weeks of sun, snorkeling and consuming prodigious amounts of adult beverages while sailing the Grenadines out of St. Lucia when I heard a weather forecast that the storm of the century was going to slam the northeast sometime late in the afternoon of February 4th. Having no desire to lose the tan I spent the last three weeks cultivating, I decided it was time to take the road trip I had been dreaming of since I first viewed Route 66 and saw Tod & Buz in that Corvette convertible. My plan.....this would be my version of Steinbeck'™s, œTravels with Charlie but without Charlie. I replaced Charlie with CD'™s loaded with all the music on my iPod along with a CD containing only one song Free and Easy Down the Road I Go by Dierks Bentley. Little did I know I would wear out that CD on this trip! At 2 PM on February 4, 2010 my black C-6 Corvette convertible (which had been sitting in the garage gathering dust for far too long) was packed and ready to have some miles added to the 6103 currently on the odometer. I pushed the ignition button and the 430 horses roared to life....it was time to feel the warm sun and see the USA! My destination was Key West, but the immediate goal was to get below the snow line, so I drove until reaching Florence, SC where I spent the evening certain that the only ice I'd see during the next four months would be in a Margarita machine. It rained all day on the 5th but I made Daytona in time for happy hour at the Hilton on the ocean where, after a few margaritas, I met a couple who told me not to miss the No Name Pub on Big Pine Key during my stay in the Keys. I promised I would stop and hang a dollar bill on the wall while consuming..what else..a margarita! I spent the next two days traveling along the intercoastal on routes A1A and 1 through places like Melbourne, Vero Beach, Hutchinson Island, Port St Lucie, Stuart, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, South Beach, and Miami before reaching Key Largo at the top of the Keys. I found the bar where Key Largo was to have taken place only to discover that Bogart never spent any time there and the movie had been shot on a set in California..what a bummer! My next stop was at an Outback Steakhouse in Islamorada that had a great tiki bar, where I learned you don'™t drink 151 rum on the rocks! Arrived at my home for the next month in Key West late on the evening of the 8th and decided exploring Duvall Street could wait a day or two. A friend of mine told me about the Hogfish bar on Stock Island, so I decided to make my first meal in Key West not in Key West. It turned out to be a place loaded with locals and tourists where the food and drinks were adequate and worth seeing at least once. The next month was spent doing all the tourist things; like the pub crawl on Duvall Street, watching cruise ships and sunsets at Mallory Square, taking a tour of the Hemingway House, dinner and a show at Lah De Dah, tapas at Martins, dessert at Better Than Sex, lunch at BO's, a peek inside The Garden of Eden, ribs at Turtle Kraal, drinks at Sloppy Joe's and Captain Tony's (which is the original Sloppy Joe's), a photo of the Southernmost buoy, a drink at the Green Parrot with a photo of mile marker one, a great cigar at Square One, drinks at Louie's Backyard, dinner and drinks on Sunset Key, sunrises and sunsets at the White Street Pier, and a bunch of other things I can't remember, but I know I did. However, the best find was watching the sunsets from the tiki bar at Casa Marina..Suzanne (Drexel Grad doing what she wants whenever she chooses) makes the bests drinks in Key West and John the valet always parked the Corvette in a premier parking spot. I departed Key West treasuring the memories while feeling the sense of anticipation one gets when preparing to explore someplace new. Next stop.. New Orleans! Once out of the Keys I followed Interstate 75 through the everglades. Always conscious of my speed, I was pleased when an SL550 went past me like I was standing still I had a point man! I set the cruise on 80 and sure enough the Benz had been pulled over by a state trooper when I made the turn north toward Tampa. After spending the night in Tampa I followed 75 north to the exit for 10. The trip to The Big Easy took all day but I arrived at the Hilton Riverside in time for......you guessed it.....Happy Hour! Spent five days in town and the highlights were coffee and a beignet at Cafe du Monde, a mufalatta at The Central Deli (where the sandwich was invented in 1906), a cocktail walking tour that started in Jackson Square, included five adult beverages, and made stops at Muriel's for Pimm's Cup, Two Sister's Court for a Bayou Bash & Hurricane, Antonio'™s for Sazerac and The Bombay Martini Bar for what else..a Chocolate martini, saw the filming of the HBO special Treme, a trolley ride through the Garden District, the Commodores Palace for brunch, a wild carriage ride through the historic district, a visit to the WWII Boat Museum, a ride on a bayou airboat and an explanation of the ECO system that surrounds the city, and numerous trips to Bourbon Street. I departed New Orleans on Rte.10 with San Antonio as my next destination. I arrived at 4 PM local time but that'™s five PM EST so once again I made happy hour. The Hilton on River Walk makes one of the best margaritas I'™ve ever had and, since the water level in the canal wasn'™t very deep, I decided I was in no danger of drowning should I over indulge while watching the river boats go by. The highlights of my three days in San Antonio were the River Walk and The 750 ft.™ Tower of the Americas (where I enjoyed not one but two of the very best chocolate martinis I'™ve ever had) for a spectacular sunset. However, the day spent at the Alamo was awesome. A docent told the history of the Alamo and the men who fought and died there in 1836. He also directed the group I was in to an archeological dig that contained Alamo artifacts and a scale model of the fort. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Phil Collins, the singer, is the man who saved the model from being destroyed and is an Alamo junkie! One last thing......I met Glenn Beck on the river walk! The ride from San Antonio to Las Cruces, NM was uneventful and to say the terrain is flat is to understate the obvious. However, it was a great stretch of road to push the pedal to the metal. I spent the night at a Hilton Garden Inn near the University of New Mexico. The next morning I was back on 10 and headed for the Coachella Valley in the California desert with a slight detour to visit Tombstone and get a few photos of the OK Corral. I Crossed the Colorado River around dusk and arrived in Palm Desert a few hours later. I spent the next week in the desert, The Follies in Palm Springs was hilarious and the windmill farms along 10 west of the Coachella Valley was a sight but the highlight was taking the Corvette thru the turns on routes 74 & 371.... the roads where It'™s A Mad Mad Mad World were filmed. Next stop.....San Diego & Coronado. Departed Palm Desert around 10AM and went over the mountain and picked up Interstate 15 outside of Temecula. I Arrived in San Diego around no...Expand for more