A River Runs Through it
Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, Chicago, USA

This beautiful view comes to you from the 22^nd floor of the Tribune Tower.  We are looking down on the Chicago River and the Michigan Avenue bridge. Notice there are no cars on the bridge? It had just been closed for a film shoot for scenes from the new Transformers movie.

Last week I brought you a post about my biggest fan (after my mom, of course!), the always eloquent Kevin Fitzpatrick, whose witty quips or introspective takes on one of my tales from the road have come to be expected and very much enjoyed not only by myself, but a myriad of my readers. This week we are graced with this very special guest post from the man himself. The biggest question is: will he comment on his own post? You can bet on it.

I’ve been given the opportunity that mere mortals only dream about; to be a guest contributor on llworldtour.com. Lisa advises me that I’m only the second person to ever receive this privilege. I am one of those guys who doesn’t ask why the next ten best choices weren’t available. I’m more likely to say timing prevented me from being the first guest contributor. Having the opportunity to be beamed through websites all over the globe and trade on Lisa’s good name, good will, and remarkable spirit makes me not question anything. So here I am.

I’m told that any number of you wait with great anticipation to see my comments after Lisa’s posts. Okay, maybe that’s a bit too strong. When Cal Ripken retired from the Baltimore Orioles, the only team he ever played for in Major League Baseball, he was asked “How would you like to be remembered?” His response was “to be remembered at all would be special enough”. It was the single most gracious answer I’ve ever heard and appeared to be completely spontaneous. So the fact that anyone has taken time to notice and appreciate any post I’ve written is a flattering thing. So thank you to any of you who used up one of your smiles or chuckles on me. My Irish grandmother used to always say that every laugh spent earns you 3 more. She also told me freckles were kisses from God. I believe her. I have hickeys all over my body from God and laugh my ass off most of the day.

The Fitzpatrick Clan

My travel has been limited to a fair amount of domestic travel for work and some sojourns into the Dominican Republic when I was in the cigar business for many years. My darling and patient wife of 27 years and I have three children. Our family vacations are fun, but generally chock full of stress moving 5 people through airports, rental cars, hotels and attractions that a significant minority of the family are interested in. We’ve only once traveled without the kids since they were born… (more…)

The number one question I am asked regarding my travels is ‘what was your favorite place?’ The number two question? ‘Who is Kevin Fitzpatrick??’

Some of my more loyal readers may have noticed his name in the comments on my blog.  Kevin is, by far, my biggest fan or at least the most vocal fan.  Kevin has commented on my site 199 times (and counting – insert your comment here, Kevin). That is one quarter of all my comments! He has been so loyal and so consistent. In a way, he was like my virtual traveling partner, always there with a kind word and always there to keep me company and encourage me to keep striving for truth or at least some good food around the world.

Kevin and I had worked together several years back when I produced a TV segment on this amazing throw-back hat shop in Chicago (this is a new version of that story that I produced recently) and then again on a town which employed him to do the PR and marketing. We instantly hit it off and have been friends ever since. I appreciate his honesty and all around ‘goodness.’ He’s the real deal and one of the ‘good’ ones. He and his wife came to my going away party and I’ve since been to their lovely home out in the ‘burbs. Just good people.

His comments have been wonderfully witty, thoughtful, and often flat out hilarious.  He adds his own spin, knowledge and observations to my posts making them even better. I have often told him he should have his own blog.  I would surely be a fan, but not sure if I could compete with his dedication.   He has a fan in many of my readers and of course in me.

After reading through his thought provoking and/or amusing comments to almost every one of my posts, I found it extremely hard to just choose a few. Here is a roundup of some of my favorites. Stay tuned for a guest post from Kevin himself!

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Spain has won the FIFA World Cup title for the very first time in their history. Their extra-time goal claimed a dramatic 1-0 victory over orange-clad Netherlands in Johannesburg.

Congratulations & felicitaciones  to all my friends in Spain who are most likely still celebrating and knowing them, will be for a long time. Not sure if the hombre pictured here is still celebrating, but this modern-day ‘man of La Mancha’ looks like he certainly did some partying of his own back in the day…perhaps he was a drinking buddy of Cervantes.

Modern-Day Don Quixote
Granada, Spain

Thanks to the ‘train wreck’ known as MTV’s “Jersey Shore”, more than ever, I continue my mission to change misconceptions about my home state of New Jersey, dammit.   In the past, I have written about my quiet hometown, the bedroom community of Randolph and waxed poetic about some of the other wonderful traits of the Garden State.  And I am not just doing it because I am from there. A large portion of the state is beautiful and full of farms, horses, forests, lakes, and mountains.  So you’ve heard me say it before (um, like in the last sentence), despite the industrial area in and around Newark, much else of New Jersey is lush, green, rural and charming. Yes, really.

I recently had the pleasure of spending a lazy afternoon in the quaint little colonial town of Clinton, New Jersey.

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