Things go bump in the night and kerplunk in the day regularly but their sounds often are muted by the rhythm of our live-a-day lives. But living our lives on the road the bumps and kerplunks are more noticeable.
First it was the loss of our interior lights in the minivan in Boston. That was the 4th of July weekend so we waited till Tuesday after the 4th to visit the Nissan Dealer in Keene, NH. They were most accommodating, even took Kirk on a test ride in the Nissan Rogue while the service guy ran it through a diagnostic work-up and concluded he didn’t know why the lights went out, but here’s a new fuse, and let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.
Well, it did happen again, a week later in Columbus, GA. The service guys at the Nissan dealer of Columbus were not confidence inspiring and their fees were greater than the previous dealership, but the wrench found the problem--a shorted out rear interior light that was blowing the fuse. Nice work guys.
Next it was my Kindle that worked perfectly at lunch in Durham, NC, but by the time we arrived in Seneca, SC the screen looked like someone had erased it with an incompetent eraser. Amazon delivered service beyond my expectations. A new Kindle arrived at G’ma Mary’s house in two working days!!!! Didn’t even need to return the broken one before receiving the new one. How sweet is that??
Next it was a broken foot. You’ve already heard the “how it happened” story, but that it happened while we were in Columbus where G’ma knows both of the leading orthopods way better than yankees know their neighbors is short of miraculous. That the doc I saw was the Dad of the Baker kids whose house our kids swam at every day in those GA summers is doubly short or miraculous. And, that one of those Baker kids is now an orthopedist himself and that Dad and son consulted on my treatment plan, well...we’re truly blessed.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Oh No!!!!!
Nasty coral bugger
The pool at G’ma’s was more popular than the hotel pool cuz it was diveable at the deep end. The pool deck at G’ma’s was actually quite lovely, too: imported coral. BUT, it was full of divots, imperfections, and just plain holes waiting to turn an ankle or break a foot. And that’s just what happened. As BBQ was being served I rolled my right foot in a divot and...
• it’s 4-6 weeks off the bike
• no weight bearing for at least 4 weeks which means crutches for the same length of time
• aircast/boot only because I’ll be car-bound for another 10,000 miles. Otherwise it would have been a non-weight-bearing cast
• no Circle Tour of Lake Michigan
• no helping Kirk drive most of the next 10,000 miles
• no getting SC, DE, MO, and KS under my bike wheels on this trip
I guess it’s a blessing that we’re on this trek. If we were at home living Wilmette life, I would be seriously curtailed with Kirk working FT and my being housebound unable to ride or drive.
Celebration #90
G’ma Mary celebrates her 90th b-day this August, but we celebrated a month early given the schedule of 19 busy family members. Planning actually began 11 months ago at Nate and Danielle’s wedding in Leesburg, VA.
Mary and Dan moved to Columbus in 1960 when Kirk was in the 7th grade, Pat the 5th. Except for a brief interlude in Atlanta in the early 70’s, Columbus has been home. Both Mary and Dan have been, and continue to be deeply connected to the fabric of Columbus, mostly through Rotary and St. Luke United Methodist Church. Dan died on Bryan’s wedding day in 1999; over 800 people attended his funeral. Mary took over his responsibilities as the Executive Secretary of the 340 member Columbus Rotary Club. Until last year she worked full time. She’s cut back to 3 days a week and anticipates reducing further to 2 days a week in 2012 as her work is interfering with her social and travel schedule.
Without a doubt she is a model for us all about how to grow older in years with enthusiasm, grace, and gratitude.
She invited 350 people to her birthday bash; 250 attended, about 40 of whom arrived 30 minutes early in order to be assured of a parking space.
Quotes of the day:
“If you received an invitation to my birthday party, you are obligated to attend my funeral.”
“Attending my birthday party does NOT count as a Rotary Make-up.”
Pix to follow
Mary and Dan moved to Columbus in 1960 when Kirk was in the 7th grade, Pat the 5th. Except for a brief interlude in Atlanta in the early 70’s, Columbus has been home. Both Mary and Dan have been, and continue to be deeply connected to the fabric of Columbus, mostly through Rotary and St. Luke United Methodist Church. Dan died on Bryan’s wedding day in 1999; over 800 people attended his funeral. Mary took over his responsibilities as the Executive Secretary of the 340 member Columbus Rotary Club. Until last year she worked full time. She’s cut back to 3 days a week and anticipates reducing further to 2 days a week in 2012 as her work is interfering with her social and travel schedule.
Without a doubt she is a model for us all about how to grow older in years with enthusiasm, grace, and gratitude.
She invited 350 people to her birthday bash; 250 attended, about 40 of whom arrived 30 minutes early in order to be assured of a parking space.
Quotes of the day:
“If you received an invitation to my birthday party, you are obligated to attend my funeral.”
“Attending my birthday party does NOT count as a Rotary Make-up.”
Pix to follow
Memories
Our kids spent a couple of weeks most summers of their childhood with G’ma Mary and G’pa Dan in Columbus--catching snakes and frogs with Meg and Chris, chasing ducks at Cooper Creek, touring all the houses in construction identifying plumbing and electric hook-ups, and playing Marco Polo in all the neighbors’ swimming pools.
G’ma’s house on Bondale Drive, the homestead of all these memories, burned down about 2 years ago, including her collection of 300 Santa Clauses which graced and ruled every square inch of surface space both high and low.
First order of business was a return visit to the reconstructed house on Bondale and a trip to Cooper Creek. 25 years ago the woods was so dense between G’ma’s house and Cooper Creek the kids had to tie strips of cloth to the trees to find their way home. Chiggers, Poison Ivy and the nastier cousin, Poison Oak were given hazards well worth the treasures of tadpoles, frogs, and maybe a coveted snake. Despite G’ma’s protests, once Bryan snuck his jar of tadpoles onto the Chicago-bound plane. Obviously that was pre 9/11.
The older 3 grandchildren, Elijah, Mya, and Ayva (ages 10, 9, and 8) did, indeed, find a box turtle which they named Dribble (no clue why) and a miniature frog named Drop; no clue on that one either. They were most certain Dribble and Drop would do well in the hotel bath tub, but the parents prevailed. Dribble and Drop were relieved to sink once more into the muck and silt of Cooper Creek.
Since G’Pa Dan died December 27, 1999 he was not around to help Mary put away the Christmas decorations, a process that took about a month. So, she just decided to have a Christmas House leaving all the decorations up all year round. After the fire and her relocation to a condo, she and her decorator decided to continue the tradition of decorating the house all year round as a Christmas House.
Six sets of great grandkids’ eyes were dinner-plate wide with wonder. While the current collection of Sandy Clauses is only 80, down from 300, Ayva (age 8) won the quote of this day:
Ayva: “With all these Sandy Clauses around, kinda makes you wonder.”
Mandy: “Wonder what, Ayva?”
Ayva: “You know.”
Mandy: “That maybe G’ma is Mrs. Claus?”
Ayva: “Bingo!”
Pix to follow
G’ma’s house on Bondale Drive, the homestead of all these memories, burned down about 2 years ago, including her collection of 300 Santa Clauses which graced and ruled every square inch of surface space both high and low.
First order of business was a return visit to the reconstructed house on Bondale and a trip to Cooper Creek. 25 years ago the woods was so dense between G’ma’s house and Cooper Creek the kids had to tie strips of cloth to the trees to find their way home. Chiggers, Poison Ivy and the nastier cousin, Poison Oak were given hazards well worth the treasures of tadpoles, frogs, and maybe a coveted snake. Despite G’ma’s protests, once Bryan snuck his jar of tadpoles onto the Chicago-bound plane. Obviously that was pre 9/11.
The older 3 grandchildren, Elijah, Mya, and Ayva (ages 10, 9, and 8) did, indeed, find a box turtle which they named Dribble (no clue why) and a miniature frog named Drop; no clue on that one either. They were most certain Dribble and Drop would do well in the hotel bath tub, but the parents prevailed. Dribble and Drop were relieved to sink once more into the muck and silt of Cooper Creek.
Since G’Pa Dan died December 27, 1999 he was not around to help Mary put away the Christmas decorations, a process that took about a month. So, she just decided to have a Christmas House leaving all the decorations up all year round. After the fire and her relocation to a condo, she and her decorator decided to continue the tradition of decorating the house all year round as a Christmas House.
Six sets of great grandkids’ eyes were dinner-plate wide with wonder. While the current collection of Sandy Clauses is only 80, down from 300, Ayva (age 8) won the quote of this day:
Ayva: “With all these Sandy Clauses around, kinda makes you wonder.”
Mandy: “Wonder what, Ayva?”
Ayva: “You know.”
Mandy: “That maybe G’ma is Mrs. Claus?”
Ayva: “Bingo!”
Pix to follow
Arrivals
It’s a big deal for families with young children to travel long distances by plane. Bryan and Mandy’s flight from Eugene to Atlanta with 2 intermediate stops was to have been about 12 hours, but add another hour for an Atlanta weather delay.
Katie and Aaron’s flight from Chicago, with no intermediate stops, should have been a proverbial piece of cake, but their flight was canceled. Anyone have experience entertaining a 3 year old for 6 hours at O’Hare before the 1-1/2 hr flight followed by a 1-3/4 hr drive from Atlanta to Columbus? They arrived in their hotel at 2:00 a.m.
Daniel’s flight was rather straightforward save for the luggage, + 2 child seats, + a 2 and 5 year old, + toting an Aerobed which goes with him everywhere given his particular flavor of back issues.
All the travel annoyances dissipated into ethereum as sibs and cousins reunited after a spate of years, and visions of swimming pools danced in their heads.
The family was about as complete as it could be by Friday after Kirk’s brother, Patrick and his wife, Pam, and their adult children, Emily and Nate and his wife, Danielle arrived in time for a pool-side BBQ.
Quote of the day: 3-year old Jet to 2-year old Kallil: “Are you my cousin?”
Pix to follow
Katie and Aaron’s flight from Chicago, with no intermediate stops, should have been a proverbial piece of cake, but their flight was canceled. Anyone have experience entertaining a 3 year old for 6 hours at O’Hare before the 1-1/2 hr flight followed by a 1-3/4 hr drive from Atlanta to Columbus? They arrived in their hotel at 2:00 a.m.
Daniel’s flight was rather straightforward save for the luggage, + 2 child seats, + a 2 and 5 year old, + toting an Aerobed which goes with him everywhere given his particular flavor of back issues.
All the travel annoyances dissipated into ethereum as sibs and cousins reunited after a spate of years, and visions of swimming pools danced in their heads.
The family was about as complete as it could be by Friday after Kirk’s brother, Patrick and his wife, Pam, and their adult children, Emily and Nate and his wife, Danielle arrived in time for a pool-side BBQ.
Quote of the day: 3-year old Jet to 2-year old Kallil: “Are you my cousin?”
Pix to follow
Scouting A Route
So good to unpack, scrub the car inside and out, sort through clothes that we don’t need for shipping to Tucson, and just generally regroup after the first 2 weeks of road-trippin.
Got in two longish rides before all the kids and grandkids arrived: one to Hamilton, GA just south of Callaway Gardens, and one to Andersonville, GA the historic site of the Confederate POW Camp. Columbus is decidedly bike unfriendly--no bike lanes, no shared lanes, no shoulders, and generally just very unaware drivers. On top of that roads are a lot like Boston in that they meander, change names every few blocks, and a lot like Austin in that they often bang into 4-lane expressways when you least expect.
So, my 60 miles to Hamilton was a slow go as a I dug out a route. My route to Andersonville was, initially, much less successful than Hamilton as US Highway 280 out of Columbus turned out to be life-threatening: 4-lane, high speed, less than 3 inch “shoulder”, and trucks unceasing.
The plan was that Kirk would visit Jimmy Carter’s Farm in Plains while I rode to Andersonville and then we’d hook up there to visit the POW Museum and Cemetery together. As I had been relegated to a weed-walk far off the road along Rt 280, I called Kirk for a SAG to my next road, GA 26, which was just delightful. As it turned out we both arrived within 5 minutes of each other at Andersonville.
On each of my transcons as we “marched through Georgia” we stopped briefly at Andersonville. I had always wanted to come back to truly visit; doing it with Kirk, who, despite growing up in GA had never been there, was best of all.
Pix will follow later.
Got in two longish rides before all the kids and grandkids arrived: one to Hamilton, GA just south of Callaway Gardens, and one to Andersonville, GA the historic site of the Confederate POW Camp. Columbus is decidedly bike unfriendly--no bike lanes, no shared lanes, no shoulders, and generally just very unaware drivers. On top of that roads are a lot like Boston in that they meander, change names every few blocks, and a lot like Austin in that they often bang into 4-lane expressways when you least expect.
So, my 60 miles to Hamilton was a slow go as a I dug out a route. My route to Andersonville was, initially, much less successful than Hamilton as US Highway 280 out of Columbus turned out to be life-threatening: 4-lane, high speed, less than 3 inch “shoulder”, and trucks unceasing.
The plan was that Kirk would visit Jimmy Carter’s Farm in Plains while I rode to Andersonville and then we’d hook up there to visit the POW Museum and Cemetery together. As I had been relegated to a weed-walk far off the road along Rt 280, I called Kirk for a SAG to my next road, GA 26, which was just delightful. As it turned out we both arrived within 5 minutes of each other at Andersonville.
On each of my transcons as we “marched through Georgia” we stopped briefly at Andersonville. I had always wanted to come back to truly visit; doing it with Kirk, who, despite growing up in GA had never been there, was best of all.
Pix will follow later.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Georgia On Our Minds
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| En Route to The Soldier Museum at Ft Benning |
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| The Soldier Museum At Ft. Benning |
Family reunioning in Columbus, GA this summer has been in the works for 11 months.
The reunion wheels started to turn last August when Kirk and I joined his mother, Mary, in Leesburg, VA for Nathan’s wedding, Kirk’s brother’s son. What could be a better idea than to celebrate Mary’s 90th birthday by having all of our kids, their spouses, and our grandkids + Patrick and Pam and their 3 adult kids + Danielle, Nathan’s wife rendezvous in Columbus, GA. The last time “the cousins”, minus Bryan and Mandy, were all together was January 2000 for Kirk’s Dad’s funeral; Bryan and Mandy were honeymooning in Cancun. And, of course, there were no grandkids in 2000.
Mary loves to celebrate and 90 is an awesome reason to do just that; so, she invited 350 friends to her party scheduled for Saturday, July 16th. 275 have responded “Yes! Of course I’ll be there”.
We arrived a couple of days ahead of the traveling entourage and how good it was to land for a few days. We’ve been homeless for 17 days; traveled in 18 states for a total of 3,100 miles; and have 82 more travel days and an estimated 10,000 more miles before finally arriving in Tucson October 1st.
It felt great to unload the car, wash and vacuum it, change it’s oil, and triage our duffle bags for items we now know we will not be needing the next 82 days.
I’ve finally been able to stretch out my legs on the bike after a series of 20 mile rides hopping out of the car and back in again. Today was a fun 60 mile ride from Columbus to Hamilton GA. Good heat acclimatization opportunity with the heat index at 101.
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