Bad Monkey on Route 66

” My vision of the monkey was of a show business monkey that just crashed and burned and went bad, sort of the, you know, sort of a Lindsay Lohan of monkeys”, Stated  Carl Hiaasen in a PBS Interview  about his then new release ‘Bad Monkey’

Hiaasen is one of Christie’s favorite authors and I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, I had never read any of his books! ( okay, I already can see who is shaking their head in disbelief that I have never read his books. It’s like admitting you never watched friends..which I did ..just a hypothetical example. “How you doing?” I digress)

So I have to enthusiastically exclaim how much I love his writing! OMG , all his quirky characters…right up my alley! ( Note to self…listen to husband…occasionally)

For those of you who know and those who don’t , Carl provides a delicious description of the florida keys, the salt in the air , the humid nights, the Aztec colored seas…ahhh take me away calgon! ( Bob you will get that for sure )

So I am squinting my eyes trying to envision the laid back lazy yeah man vibe of the keys, imagining  the sounds of  waves splashing against the shore all while I am rollling through the Enchanted Sandstone Buttes of New Mexico

A fascinating area on the indian reservation that was home of the Acoma people until a massive landslide and severe storm completely demolished the area. ( source google lol as we just rolled by these incredible Buttes)

Meanwhile back in the Key West we finally meet Mr Driggs , the monkey in the story ,

( haven’t you always wanted a monkey? for you Court LOL)

Carl describes Driggs  in his interview as , ” I wanted a monkey with a back-story. I wanted a monkey who was a complete character, who had a literary role in the book. So I just sort of imagined a history for this monkey who was, you know, who was managed, had managers in L.A. and got into the set in the Exuma Islands to do this movie, and then he does a couple of very bad things on the set of the movie and he gets himself fired, and he ends up on this island.”

As my imagination wandered as we sailed through the desert a semi truck decides to weave into our lane as we are passing him! Honking, swerving shaking, Captain Christie navigated the near hit with expertise . Thats when the blue ox monitor started beeping !

Upon looking at the trouble shooting sheet I have handy in the side pocket, it stated the car that we are towing has a dead battery. What?

How can that be possible? We both thought it had to be something with the idiot who almost ran us off the road, but lo and behold we pulled into a rest area and diganosis…dead battery in the jeep.

Leaping into action , Christie pulls out his portable charger as we wait for the battery to get a charge. ( no battery, no break lights, no breaks in jeep , not good) This is after an already 7 hour day, 1 hour time change and 88 miles to get to our destination!

We are here safe and sound and battery is almost charged again . We will but a spare tomorrow . This is 2 batteries in 2 days that have failed on us.

When I read reviews about Carl’s book I realized “Bad Monkey ” was a metaphor not referencing a real monkey ( not always the brightest) but I guess our stoney cold battery was our “Bad Monkey “ today

BTW- All photos were taken with my Canon Camera ( Thanks Courtney!) while driving and through the windows. No filters applied