Sorry to skip the entire return trip, but we'll get to that later as it was uneventful and enjoyable.
After considerable delay, the surgery to repair my torn rotator cuff is complete. I've had several major and minor surgeries in the past and this is the most painful by far. The nurses told Micky that the number of nerves and vessels disturbed in the shoulder joint explains the difference. A nerve block in the neck was to prevent most of the pain for the first 12-14 hours. It did not work well and when they awakened me, it was not a pleasant time. The anesthetist did a second block that calmed the misery down to a bearable level.
I enjoyed the time before the surgery in the prep area talking with Pete Flanagan, my commanding officer when I was First Sergeant of the Augusta Marines. Pete was having both knees worked on. In both our cases, decades of physical fitness training had damaged the weight-bearing joints of our legs. Marines run. The cult of running and physical fitness is literally bone-deep in the Corps to a level found only in the elites of other services. And we pay for it in our senior years. Most of the career Marines I know have knee, hip and back problems that can be laid squarely onto the overuse of our legs through running. I am not talking about jogging or occasional distance running, but daily long-distance pounding out the miles. From this side of life, it seems wasteful to have required and encouraged such extreme behavior. But that's exactly what we did. More than any other activity, running defined your ability to lead. Intellect, zeal, competence, and ability were completely negated if you could not run three miles in 28 minutes. And that just allowed you to remain in the Corps. 24 minutes or less was required for a first-class score. Promotion to the upper ranks was dependent on a first-class score.
No one can deny that it takes real fitness to carry the combat load of a Marine. The weight of arms and armor is immense. The picture of Marines struggling along with full packs fighting insurgents in tennis shoes is ridiculous.
But enough of that!
I came through the cutting well and can begin to see that the surgery will work. This time next year, this will all just be a fading memory. It just can't happen fast enough!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Campgrounds and Rocket Launches
One of the major expenses with driving an RV, is camping fees. Although you can just pull off in a WalMart parking lot overnight, It ain't a resort. And just like timeshares, there's a secondary market for campground memberships. Most of the trading and buying is done online. But this area has enough business to support the Campground Membership Outlet in Minneola, Florida. Micky found them because the building beside US27 looked like a fruit stand that was ready to fall down. Online she learned that they had moved a few miles and were now in a better building.
Chad Hoel has been reselling memberships for 11 years. The business has been there for 25+ years and is a BBB member. We made an appointment and had a very pleasant, no-stress hour discussing the ins and outs of getting into and out of these arrangements. Many people buy into them and then want out later as their situation in life changes. And the programs vary from deeded property like a timeshare in one park that gives you access to several others to straight discount programs.
The one we were primarily interested in is Resort Parks International. With them we pay a yearly membership of around $150 and then camp for $10/night. The initial outlay is where the negotiations and hoodoo lie. With our Thousand Trails membership, we would have to upgrade to "National" access before they would even offer RPI. Total cost invariably around $4000. Chad listened to what we wanted, and was very impressed when Micky pulled out the 2" binder full of notes and printed web material. He accurately explained what we were going to be quoted by TT and how the system would work. Then he offered us a contract with a campground in Unadilla. Georgia that would get us into RPI Preferred for $850 with a yearly $150 dues! We bought it. If you can make Micky happy to spend, you've hit a real sweet deal!
The next morning we sat through our required presentation with TT and a truly nice guy named, ominously, Jim Jones. He worked out his program and sure enough, it was $3999, but with the buy it nows it came out to $3000. The part that was of interest, was the spiel being given to the couple behind us for $15000. They were just regular folks that had accepted a 4-night stay with TT in Orlando in exchange for the required presentation.
Like all of these programs, they take you on the tour of the property, then start adding things into the pile right up until the time for a decision. The price will come down considerably if you're walking out, but many people have bought packages that include condo is Hawaii for $18000 and even more! It is legitimate! You get everything they offer, but most people never do the math to figure out the cost/night and compare that to what they're getting.
Micky and I figure a full hook-up site in a resort-style park is going to cost us $30-80 per nite depending on season and location. Here in Orlando, our rate with a KOA discount was $79/night plus taxes. The bill for all the nights we've stayed here is zero! and we can come back for two-week stays as often as we like as long as we're out of their system for a week. Since we truly are travelers and not snow-birds that's not a problem. Using $60/night as a good Florida and Keys average the initial lump of money has been well-spent and all the rest of our visits to Thousand Trails preserves anywhere are free!
The weather finally broke Saturday and was clearing up as we finished our shopping trip to IKEA (even I love going there! The meatball dinner is superb!). We hurried back and picked up the camera, warm clothes and most importantly, my amateur 2-meter/440 Mhz handheld radio. I drove over via SR 528 (Beachline) and enjoyed hearing the beep from our pre-paid toll transponder as we flew through the toll booths at 75 MPH! We spotted the crowd at the base of the Banana River bridge and were looking for a place to turn around near the Port Canaveral cruise ship docks when I spotted people off the road with and even closer view of the gantry. We pulled in and I setup the camera and met a guy name Dave as he came by letting us know the latest launch time. I thanked him and said that I was listening to the EOC on the Ham bands. So was he! They had another repeater working on 146.940 MHz. Made it very informative since one member was a retired missile guy at home monitoring SpaceflightNow.com and relaying the updates. At the last opening in the window, a weather balloon failed, but a backup gave them enough data to launch.
I know for Rhonda and others in her generation that space and rocketry are just old hat and part of the background noise of their lives, but for my generation it is THE BIG DEAL of all time! When I was born, steam locomotives still pulled into Union Station in downtown Augusta, so the chance to see spaceflight happen is terribly exciting. It was perfectly clear, cold, windy night with Orion rising in the East as the rocket lit the entire world! Starting slowly and silently the Delta IV cleared the tower and began arcing away from us. We were well to the side of it so the arc was very apparent. After the rocket had traversed maybe 35 degrees, The sound hit us! Literally and physically hit us and pounded the hollows of your chest like a drum! The sight of the red glowing nozzles of the separated solid-rocket boosters tumbling through the constellation of Orion is absolutely seared into my cortex.
Can you tell that I want that experience again!
I know that you can't set your watch by rocket launches. They are hugely complicated, expensive things that need great care before they are committed to fly. But you all need to add a rocket launch from Canaveral to your "bucket list"! And it is Cape Canaveral not Cape Kennedy! Correctly it is the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The navigational treaties of the Western World wouldn't let the actions of an over-zealous Democrat congress stick.
More later.
Chad Hoel has been reselling memberships for 11 years. The business has been there for 25+ years and is a BBB member. We made an appointment and had a very pleasant, no-stress hour discussing the ins and outs of getting into and out of these arrangements. Many people buy into them and then want out later as their situation in life changes. And the programs vary from deeded property like a timeshare in one park that gives you access to several others to straight discount programs.
The one we were primarily interested in is Resort Parks International. With them we pay a yearly membership of around $150 and then camp for $10/night. The initial outlay is where the negotiations and hoodoo lie. With our Thousand Trails membership, we would have to upgrade to "National" access before they would even offer RPI. Total cost invariably around $4000. Chad listened to what we wanted, and was very impressed when Micky pulled out the 2" binder full of notes and printed web material. He accurately explained what we were going to be quoted by TT and how the system would work. Then he offered us a contract with a campground in Unadilla. Georgia that would get us into RPI Preferred for $850 with a yearly $150 dues! We bought it. If you can make Micky happy to spend, you've hit a real sweet deal!
The next morning we sat through our required presentation with TT and a truly nice guy named, ominously, Jim Jones. He worked out his program and sure enough, it was $3999, but with the buy it nows it came out to $3000. The part that was of interest, was the spiel being given to the couple behind us for $15000. They were just regular folks that had accepted a 4-night stay with TT in Orlando in exchange for the required presentation.
Like all of these programs, they take you on the tour of the property, then start adding things into the pile right up until the time for a decision. The price will come down considerably if you're walking out, but many people have bought packages that include condo is Hawaii for $18000 and even more! It is legitimate! You get everything they offer, but most people never do the math to figure out the cost/night and compare that to what they're getting.
Micky and I figure a full hook-up site in a resort-style park is going to cost us $30-80 per nite depending on season and location. Here in Orlando, our rate with a KOA discount was $79/night plus taxes. The bill for all the nights we've stayed here is zero! and we can come back for two-week stays as often as we like as long as we're out of their system for a week. Since we truly are travelers and not snow-birds that's not a problem. Using $60/night as a good Florida and Keys average the initial lump of money has been well-spent and all the rest of our visits to Thousand Trails preserves anywhere are free!
The weather finally broke Saturday and was clearing up as we finished our shopping trip to IKEA (even I love going there! The meatball dinner is superb!). We hurried back and picked up the camera, warm clothes and most importantly, my amateur 2-meter/440 Mhz handheld radio. I drove over via SR 528 (Beachline) and enjoyed hearing the beep from our pre-paid toll transponder as we flew through the toll booths at 75 MPH! We spotted the crowd at the base of the Banana River bridge and were looking for a place to turn around near the Port Canaveral cruise ship docks when I spotted people off the road with and even closer view of the gantry. We pulled in and I setup the camera and met a guy name Dave as he came by letting us know the latest launch time. I thanked him and said that I was listening to the EOC on the Ham bands. So was he! They had another repeater working on 146.940 MHz. Made it very informative since one member was a retired missile guy at home monitoring SpaceflightNow.com and relaying the updates. At the last opening in the window, a weather balloon failed, but a backup gave them enough data to launch.
I know for Rhonda and others in her generation that space and rocketry are just old hat and part of the background noise of their lives, but for my generation it is THE BIG DEAL of all time! When I was born, steam locomotives still pulled into Union Station in downtown Augusta, so the chance to see spaceflight happen is terribly exciting. It was perfectly clear, cold, windy night with Orion rising in the East as the rocket lit the entire world! Starting slowly and silently the Delta IV cleared the tower and began arcing away from us. We were well to the side of it so the arc was very apparent. After the rocket had traversed maybe 35 degrees, The sound hit us! Literally and physically hit us and pounded the hollows of your chest like a drum! The sight of the red glowing nozzles of the separated solid-rocket boosters tumbling through the constellation of Orion is absolutely seared into my cortex.
Can you tell that I want that experience again!
I know that you can't set your watch by rocket launches. They are hugely complicated, expensive things that need great care before they are committed to fly. But you all need to add a rocket launch from Canaveral to your "bucket list"! And it is Cape Canaveral not Cape Kennedy! Correctly it is the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. The navigational treaties of the Western World wouldn't let the actions of an over-zealous Democrat congress stick.
More later.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Rain, Fantasies, and Birthdays...
I keep telling everyone what a wonderful "catch" Micky is. Most people believe me, but put it off to public "sucking up" by a dependent husband. There is none of that. Micky is the most admirable person I've ever met!
This entire year we have planned and plotted a Disney vacation on her birthday. It just never occurred to us that the storm of the century would sweep in and make Florida through Maine wet and cold. The front stalled right over us and just poured 4-5 inches of wet, windy weather all day. The Disney birthday offer is only good on that calendar date. Micky didn't blink or whine, she faced the reality and moved on. "Pulled up her big-girl panties"
So we went to Kermit Week's Fantasy of Flight and had a ball. Kermit Weeks has a great technical collection, but what he does best is exhibit the romance and poetry of flight. One of the first displays is a simple six-sided box of mirrors with a video of soaring through the clouds playing and wind blowing. The simple act of leaning over the railing puts you in the clouds with a bird's soul view. I've done this before in small airplanes with open cockpits, but never without the life-affirming hammering of an engine.
The place is decorated in the art-deco style of the late thirties ,when flying was the penultimate expression of man's technical ascendancy over superstition. In addition to the airplanes, displayed next to them are the toys and silliness of aviation. Pedal car flyers and one man's road plane. Designed to drive to town on days when flying was out of the question. And the races and distance flyers are all here. I'm not sure that I'd like Kermit if I had the opportunity to meet him, but I do like his whimsical heart.
Micky found great joy in a simulator that let you try to fly and land a hot-air balloon and soar with cute little flying penguins in hang gliders.
More later.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Easy Riding!
We drove the coach down to Orlando today. We were supposed to leave last night and spend the night in Crooked River State Park just inside Georgia. I called that portion of the trip off.
Micky and I and have a long-standing agreement when diving that either one of us can call the dive off without ever offering an explanation. The psychology behind the lack of explanantion is that there is no embarassment involved. Most men are reluctant to admit fear and women will allow themselves to be dragged into bad situations in an effort to acommodate their partner. This policy removes all the mind games and forces acceptance of the reality that any reason for abandoning a recreational activity is good enough.
Fear, fatigue, lack of preparation, or any other reason can take all the fun out of it and make a pleasure dive into an ordeal. And safety is always compromised when that happens.
So I was able to go through the entire process of departure right up to the point of locking the house, and then say "Sorry, I don't want to do this." Micky immediately understood and did not press me or even show disappointment. I did offer the explanation aand she agreed with my logic, but it was not required. How many arguments and scary situations would such an understanding have helped you with?
The trip this morning was really very pretty. It was a crisp, middle thirties, sunrise on the road rolling through farmland. Very light traffic and a very fun responsive rig amke for the best sort of RV'ing.
We had one problem. After hitting a small bump in the road, the auto-leveling control panel lit up and set off it's alarm horn. Repeatedly. Almost every bump.
The purpose of the alarm is to prevent you from driving off with a leveler jack not fully retracted. Believe me, that would be very expensive and time-consuming. I put up with the problem until we got to Statesboro and then pulled into the parking lot of an AgSupply store and cycled the levelers down and back up. That did not work, but I did visually confirm full retraction of the jacks. My plan was to continue the trip and then call LazyDays for advice on disabling the system to stop the horn. But then I noticed the frequency of the alarm going off was changing. Eventually the problem stopped and now the alarm doesn't go off with road bumps. The problem is either an intermittent up switch (most likely) or an intermittent connector some where in the wiring (vedry difficult to find), so I'm glad the problem just stopped. And if it comes back, that's what we paid extra for the extended warranties for.
The campsite at Thousand Trails is more than adequate. Good power and sewer and level. Not scenic, or even pretty, but absolutely free makes up for it.
Be sure to follow along on the SPOT shared page at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0YGVEARyz58yYfP6WWJRxezsrv67JhLMZ
Even though it didn't get a fix and report position until Statesboro, it still did a good job after that. I need to find a better position on the dashboard to allow it to see satellites.
Tomorrow, we're going to poke around locally, but Thursday, we're going to see ICE at the Gaylord Center. They brought in forty Chinese ice sculptors from Harbin in northern China and created a show that's amazing. That night I may finally be able to see a rocket launch if the Delta IV makes it.
More later.
Micky and I and have a long-standing agreement when diving that either one of us can call the dive off without ever offering an explanation. The psychology behind the lack of explanantion is that there is no embarassment involved. Most men are reluctant to admit fear and women will allow themselves to be dragged into bad situations in an effort to acommodate their partner. This policy removes all the mind games and forces acceptance of the reality that any reason for abandoning a recreational activity is good enough.
Fear, fatigue, lack of preparation, or any other reason can take all the fun out of it and make a pleasure dive into an ordeal. And safety is always compromised when that happens.
So I was able to go through the entire process of departure right up to the point of locking the house, and then say "Sorry, I don't want to do this." Micky immediately understood and did not press me or even show disappointment. I did offer the explanation aand she agreed with my logic, but it was not required. How many arguments and scary situations would such an understanding have helped you with?
The trip this morning was really very pretty. It was a crisp, middle thirties, sunrise on the road rolling through farmland. Very light traffic and a very fun responsive rig amke for the best sort of RV'ing.
We had one problem. After hitting a small bump in the road, the auto-leveling control panel lit up and set off it's alarm horn. Repeatedly. Almost every bump.
The purpose of the alarm is to prevent you from driving off with a leveler jack not fully retracted. Believe me, that would be very expensive and time-consuming. I put up with the problem until we got to Statesboro and then pulled into the parking lot of an AgSupply store and cycled the levelers down and back up. That did not work, but I did visually confirm full retraction of the jacks. My plan was to continue the trip and then call LazyDays for advice on disabling the system to stop the horn. But then I noticed the frequency of the alarm going off was changing. Eventually the problem stopped and now the alarm doesn't go off with road bumps. The problem is either an intermittent up switch (most likely) or an intermittent connector some where in the wiring (vedry difficult to find), so I'm glad the problem just stopped. And if it comes back, that's what we paid extra for the extended warranties for.
The campsite at Thousand Trails is more than adequate. Good power and sewer and level. Not scenic, or even pretty, but absolutely free makes up for it.
Be sure to follow along on the SPOT shared page at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0YGVEARyz58yYfP6WWJRxezsrv67JhLMZ
Even though it didn't get a fix and report position until Statesboro, it still did a good job after that. I need to find a better position on the dashboard to allow it to see satellites.
Tomorrow, we're going to poke around locally, but Thursday, we're going to see ICE at the Gaylord Center. They brought in forty Chinese ice sculptors from Harbin in northern China and created a show that's amazing. That night I may finally be able to see a rocket launch if the Delta IV makes it.
More later.
Abortion Rights! A good deal!
Micky and I are too old and "modified" to have to worry about the more common problem, but aborting travel plans needs rules.
Today I aborted the trip to Crooked River SP. I invoked a rule that we use when diving. Anyone can abort any dive or the whole trip with no explanations! If you want to explain, you can, but you don't have to. I trust that if Micky says no, her reasons are good enough for me!
Today, I was the problem. The 1145 appointment stretched a little long. I don't take the narcotic painkillers heavily when driving, and being off the anti-inflammatory drugs means everthing hurts. I was also str4essed out about the operation of our headset radios (WGAC interference) and the portable lighting rig on the tow.
So I aborted the travel for today. Micky was cheerful, loving and appreciative. Made my decision so much easier.
Today I aborted the trip to Crooked River SP. I invoked a rule that we use when diving. Anyone can abort any dive or the whole trip with no explanations! If you want to explain, you can, but you don't have to. I trust that if Micky says no, her reasons are good enough for me!
Today, I was the problem. The 1145 appointment stretched a little long. I don't take the narcotic painkillers heavily when driving, and being off the anti-inflammatory drugs means everthing hurts. I was also str4essed out about the operation of our headset radios (WGAC interference) and the portable lighting rig on the tow.
So I aborted the travel for today. Micky was cheerful, loving and appreciative. Made my decision so much easier.
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