It was 1988 I think.  The Rockford, Illinois quartet that brought us The Dream Police and Live in Budokan was at it again with their album “Lap of Luxury” that spawned the hit song “The Flame”.  Have they had a hit since?  If they have I don’t know of it.

Yesterday I was thinking about the band Cheap Trick and their aforementioned 1988 album.  Given the circumstance the world is dealing with, I have the luxury, if you will, to be in wide open spaces.  Yesterday I walked 6.79 miles on a county road and saw three cars.  The UPS planes heading east to Louisville outnumbered the cars three to one.

I decided to give my legs a break today before one of them breaks on me.  That would be tragic.  Over the last four days my walks have averaged 5.28 miles. These walks are nonstop, save a break of a glass of water or the need to rid oneself of some water.

I have a 1.7 mile lap.  It is my Lap of Luxury I have found.  I leave the driveway and head toward Milltown and turn around .85 miles down the road.  I walk this way because I can faintly keep a cell phone signal in this direction.  If I head east up the hill, forget about it.

Don’t tell my friend Robert Becker from Seymour’s 96.3 WJAA what I am about to disclose.  During these walks I have been listening to iheart radio’s Classic American Top 40.  Casey Kasem counts ’em down from the 1970s and 1980s.  This has been a nice diversion to the not so normal way of life we are experiencing.  This takes me away from the gamut of emotion that wants to creep in.  Sadness, worry, fear, disgust, anger, and fill in the blank.

These walks are a real good time and all four food groups of leg muscles are given a challenge at some point or another with hills and curves and I don’t know what all.

So my lap goes like this:

Head west young man!  Horace Greeley said that.  What else was gonna say?  He was three miles from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.  This is a very overrated quote, don’t you think?

Down the hill we go.

The Blue River is across the field to the left and it looks very calm right now.  My dear wife, Carrie, and I took some large landscaping rocks from a dry creek bed behind the house today.  That story doesn’t have much to do with my walking route but I thought I would bring it up anyhow.

We start to climb a little again and the left side gets a little steep ahead.  Here is where you keep a careful eye out for cars and try to listen for the sound of whining tires from 4-wheelers or the rumble of a car or truck engine.  There is a curve at the top of the hill and it is probably the most ticklish spot on the walk.

This is a wide shot.  A couple curves and up toward the highest point of the walk.

See that car on the horizon.  It was our mail carrier.  He stopped.  We kept our distance as we chatted for a few minutes.  I am a social sort to a degree.  I like to talk.  I also like to listen.  It was good to hear a voice on this route besides that of Casey Kasem.  When he drove off I was reminded of how the voices of others I have heard the last two weeks are few and far between.  Then I rallied and got back to American Top 40.  It was long distance dedication time.

Keep going. At the top of the hill in the distance I start to head down for a little while and then my .85 mile marker is found and I turn around and head back from here:

That is the one way trip of my Lap of Luxury.  I am thankful I have it.  I know most do not.

Lord have mercy I will be glad when the last of these laps is a distant memory.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

Back from the longest hiatus in speaktherights.com history…

Wow, to quote Justin Hayward, we are living in “Strange Times”.

A couple October’s ago my dear wife, Carrie, and I went to a concert at The Brown Theatre in Louisville.  It was one of those.  When I heard Roger McGuinn’s Rickenbacker play the opening strains of “Turn, Turn, Turn” I sat a little deeper in my chair.  Is this real, I asked myself?  It was.  In front of me and Carrie from our balcony seats in the quaint Brown Theatre were original Byrds members McGuinn and Chris Hillman joined with Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives.  They played the 1968 album Sweethearts of the Rodeo in its entirety, as well as other notable Byrds hits.  The Bob Dylan tune “My Back Pages” is a favorite.  “Mr. Tambourine Man”, Hey Mr. Spaceman”, and “So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star” were highlights also.  Personally, I like the Sweethearts of the Rodeo album.  Not a critical success, I can listen to it any day.  Critics don’t make music.  Some of us do.

I practiced a little social distancing the last two days.

Yesterday I went for a 5.08 mile walk.  The coast was clear.  The legs were sore!  So later I went downstairs for 2 miles on the elliptical.  Woke up this morning feeling better than I expected.

Today that walk was 5.64 miles.  I did not have the will to go downstairs to further my exercising endeavors.  I will probably feel it in the morning.

In this time of hiatus I am looking forward to getting back to work.  On Thursday, March 12, it was announced at the North Harrison Community School Board Meeting that I had resigned my position as Guidance Counselor effective March 30th.  At the time I thought Carrie and I might be in North Carolina for Spring Break this week.  So much for that.

I appreciate the opportunity to work nearly five full school years at NH.  The folks there were good to me.  I am thankful.  I will certainly miss the students.  They make the building come to life!

A new opportunity found me, as I was not actively looking to leave North.

I used to kick a football over this goalpost and aim for the scoreboard.  When the ball hit it there was a “PANG” sound that echoed for a while.

And so it goes.  I am back once again where I used to swing my leg for fun.

And just like that I am a Paoli Ram. I will be a guidance counselor at the Paoli Jr-Sr High School.  It feels good I can tell you.  Even in these uncertain, if not downright weird, times we are in the midst of, I am looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity to help the students of Paoli Jr-Sr High School.  I appreciate the kind words and gestures I have already received from a place I have visited in an official capacity a total of two times in the physical sense. I will be delighted when the day comes that we are back in full swing like a school full of eager students needs to be.  I don’t like schools feeling like museums.  We’ll get there eventually and we will celebrate when we do.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson