I, like many of us, am in constant "exploring mode." And, I run across lots of interesting information. I can't write about all of them, but, I hate to toss something of worthiness into the abyss. So, I've created my "Odds and Ends - Along the Merry Way."

I chose "Travel and Places" as the best category because anytime we venture from where we are to some other location, physical, or, otherwise, we have traveled. And, its during those travels we find things, along the merry way.

I do intend to be true-to-the-category! The majority of my posts will be, certainly, aimed at taking our physical-selves on an adventure.

The top item will be the newest found along the merry way.  Old will give way to new topics, but, the best of the old will be archived under the new...

Spaceship Two from Virgin Galactic will make its public debut today in Mojave, CA. Spaceship One, last year, won the $10 Million X-Prize for becoming the first private entry into space travel through the completion of two successful flights.

Spaceship two will be mounted atop its launch plane, named Eve, after the mother of billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic. Designed by the same designer as Spaceship One, Burt Rutan, the price for the upcoming three-day space tour package, including training, is $200,000.

This craft is the first of a fleet of at least five expected to be built. This one has been dubbed the VMS Enterprise – in a nod to the famous starship of the “Star Trek” television and movie saga.

As, stated from within the entire informative article, “SpaceShipTwo is designed to carry six passengers and two pilots to the edge of outer space, past the 100-kilometer (62-mile) altitude mark. The flight profile would provide about four minutes of weightlessness, a commanding view of a curving Earth below the black sky of space, and the world’s highest roller-coaster ride going up and coming down.”

Want to read more? Follow this link to the full-version very informative article: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/07/2143953.aspx

Visit the website of "Along The Merry Way..." - Good Reading Every Day

Now here's a new vacation item - the Gas Mask Bra!  And should you find yourself in a perilous situation with leaking gas, you'll be ready with this item.  It's off with the bra and on with the mask.

Photo above: At the 2009 ceremony, Public Health Prize winner Dr. Elena Bodnar demonstrates her invention — a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of face masks, one for the brassiere wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander. She is assisted by Nobel laureates Wolfgang Ketterle (left), Orhan Pamuk, and Paul Krugman (right). PHOTO: Alexey Eliseev.

I don't know if colors are offered, but it's sure to be one of this years big stocking stuffers, arriving just in time for the holidays! A new item to travel with along the merry way...

For more information: http://improbable.com/ig/winners/#ig2009

and Routes 40, 50, 99, and 101. "Giant Orange" and Mammoth Orange" covered the California hot spots. I wonder who remembers those giant-sized “orange shaped” structures offering fresh squeezed ice-cold California Orange Juice? They were always a welcome sign of refreshment considering most vehicles did not have a/c. It was “the place” to quench a thirst. Summer temperatures in California valleys were downright hot, dry, and dusty, and it was not uncommon to reach triple digits.

Up until about 45 or 50 years ago, citrus was a star-studded king in California. During the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and (pre-Interstate) 1960s, huge plaster orange roadside stands sold fresh-squeezed juice along California’s busiest highways, signifying the importance of citrus to the California economy.

Only a handful of these once iconic stands exist today. Before they are all gone why, not, stop for a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice??????

If you'd like to read my whole article which includes a great photo gallery, and information regarding the "California Citrus Historic State Park" please follow this link: http://hubpages.com/hub/Giant-Oranges-of-Old-California

Sharron "Kay" Thornton of Florida is one excited lady.  She became legally blind nine years ago.  This procedure (not used much in U.S., a lot in  Europe -- been around since the 60s!) has almost immediately returned Kay's sight to 20/70!

She can't drive yet, but, she can see TV, read, see the sky, and people.  And, ya, know, that's got to be pretty exciting....

Read Kay's whole story at: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Technology/woman-regains-vision-tooth-implanted-eye/story?id=8595589