I've been pretty busy, and haven't been here for a while. It's been an eventful couple of weeks.
By now all of you faithful readers know that my middle child, Jessica, married the father of her son, which is a Good Thing, although she did take her sweet damn time about it.
There's a lot of this marrying stuff going around. This past weekend, I went to Las Vegas to help a first cousin once removed get married. It was an interesting trip.
My last trip to Las Vegas was from Los Angeles in a Mooney owned by an uncle - the very physician who delivered my son, and it occurred about four days after his delivering my son. Phyllis and I were out there to pick up this child and bring him home, and the tradition at the time was that whenever someone came to visit, it was Uncle Jim's job to get them up very early, stuff them in the airplane, and go to Las Vegas for breakfast. My recollection is that the food was incredible, and the choices so varied one could starve just making up one's mind what to choose. I won a few bucks on the slots, and we flew back to San Bernardino before the air over the mountains got too rough. I got to fly his Mooney and loved it, although one of his daughters told me this weekend I almost made her airsick.
But that was 40+ years ago.
This time when I went it was for a wedding at Caesar's Palace. I almost did not get a rental car since I looked at the map and it appeared that everywhere I was likely to have to be was a short walk from my hotel, Harrahs. The maps didn't have a scale anywhere and I was soon to find out why.
I have lived in towns smaller than Caesar's Palace. It was a good half hour's walk from my hotel to the garden in which the wedding took place. It would have been 20 minutes, but I am not 30 any more, I have recently broken a leg that is healing, my knees are probably 30 years older than I am and, of course, recovery from abdominal surgery tends to slow one down. I never walked so damn much before in my life, nor did I ever find it needful to sit down so many times in the course of one journey to a place that looked so close by.
I out-smarted my self once by using what they call the Monorail. It is technically interesting, and on Google Maps it looked ideal - and I guess it was ideal for someone 35 who can run a mile without breaking a sweat. For me, it took me to a place about half a mile from my destination. I was inside a casino all of that half mile, and it had the ceiling not flat, but curved and painted like a night sky - so well done one could believe oneself to be outside. I saw no clocks ever inside any place that I was, and it was impossible to walk anywhere without a slot machine so close you had to deviate from the planned route in order not to run into it. The hotel had no free WiFi - they suggested I go downstairs to Starbucks and use theirs - their tables are right next to about 128 new slot machines, all electronic.
These new slots are so different from the old three-reel slots (mechanical) that I soon figured out I was too dumb to work them without 24 hours of dual - so I stayed away from them. Didn't gamble, so I got no free booze, and wasn't buying.
The wedding was lovely, tastefully done, and not at all what I kinda expected from larger-than-life Las Vegas. Everywhere we went, the food was the best I have ever had - and the portions far too large for me to consider eating, even before my gastric bypass. It was hard for me to believe it, but when I got home (after I woke up) I got on my scale and found I had actually lost almost 5 pounds. That was a truly unexpected result.
I flew in and back on Spirit Airlines. The prices were really great, I thought - at least until I started doing things like seat selection and baggage arrangements. My checked bag was overweight, so it ended up costing near to $100 for the privilege. There went the price advantage....
The aircraft were all A-320 Airbus aircraft - apparently a good workhorse much in the class of the old 727 (of you are old enough to remember having flown in one - I am) and they are not (or did not seem) as cramped as other flights I have taken - but they flew full aircraft, and both times I managed to request seating in the only row that did not recline, so there was no sleeping, not even on the late red-eye I took to get home. Also, I had walked so much I was in a lot of pain, and having to cross my arms to avoid molesting the person next to me wasn't much fun.
Next time I think I will take the train, if I can be sure I can get enough time to manage it. I really do not enjoy flying any more.
It was great to see some family I seldom get to see, and to spend time with them, although it seemed as if we got together only at mealtimes - it was the only way to get us around a table that didn't have slot machines on it.
I was fortunate to have reserved a rental car, and even more fortunate to have done so when there was a mistake on their web site, allowing me to ask (successfully) that they honor a truly stupid low rate, and I got an upgrade to a Toyota 4-runner, which was nicer than I expected. Had I not had a reservation, they would have had no cars - the PBR was in town, and that's a really Big Deal for Las Vegas.
Arriving late Friday night as I did, I drove to the hotel. Any more, I make sure I take the car mount for my Android phone, as I like Google's Maps and GPS services better than anything else I have found, and it really works well. It managed to find the entrance to Harrahs by the desk, which was around back and almost underground - the only trouble I had was finding a parking place, and when I did, it was free and I could park near the elevator. Check-in was a breeze, and it was only about a mile and a half to my room (if I counted the distance the elevator had to travel to get to my floor.) I found vending and ice - and found that snacks were cheap, but sodas and such were not (I found the same to be true on the plane, incidentally - Spirit does everything a la carte, so you get nickeled and dimed without realizing it.) There was no in-room coffee, but Starbucks was right downstairs (next to a boatload of slot machines....) and there was noise and music all around.
A really different experience. I am well beyond the age that I would seek excuses to go back - but I might go back just to visit people I met there. It is always good to put faces with names of folks you 'know' from many years of meeting on-line but have never seen.
All in all I am glad I went - it was mostly a good experience, and the pain will go away in a few weeks.
Aside from that, I guess there isn't much all that new, so I'll close this down and get it posted.
Y'all take care....
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Moto Guzzi, redux
Well, yesterday I took the new (to me) motorcycle on a trip with some other riders who I know from the Baltimore Ramblers Motorcycle Club, a club of which I am a member.
It was an eclectic mix - a Triumph, my Guzzi, a BMW, a Suzuki Burgmann superscooter, a Harley Trike and about 5 Harley 2-wheelers. The route was set by Jeff Hutchins, the club president, and was a really pleasant back road tour to see the leaves (although I spent more time looking down the road to see what I had to do than looking around) and included some rough roads, some twisty roads, and some turns that were not easy to make. I was somewhere in the middle of the group, and managed everything pretty well, although I did go wide at one intersection and ride up on the grass. Happily all I got for it was a muddy boot.
The day before, a group had gone on a ride that covered about 300 miles. What I learned yesterday is that my arse isn't good for much over 100 miles, and I run out of strength soon after the 100 mark is hit. I don't actually collapse, but my skill erodes to the point that I really need to get off the bike and into a car if I am traveling farther.
Getting old is really a bummer - I used to think nothing at all of 300 and 400 mile days - now I don't even think about them because I am not strong enough to manage them, although there is hope if I get more weight off and finish healing this leg that I broke that it will become easier. My fear is that I'll have to get my knees done first - and that is something I don't really look forward to. I keep telling myself if I could get off another 60-70 pounds, my knees might stop yelling at me. Then again, they might not.
But the Guzzi is one of the most pleasant bikes I have ever ridden. It is right up there with my old BMW's as nimble, and I don't exactly get on it and ride it - it's more like I pull it on and wear it. Lean angles are (or seem to me to be) easy; very little requirement for counter-steer; no flex laid over in a fast curve, flexible power (although the engine does prefer to be kept over 3000 RPM,) good power delivery from the fuel-injected engine, and even decent mileage. I'm slowly getting used to the brakes (the right hand lever controls one disk on the front - the other disk and the back disk are actuated by the rear brake pedal, and the proportioning valve is apparently set up very well.) The pedal placement is not ideal after riding the Big Suzi, but I think I can get used to it (or change it if needed). The shifter is the same, but the weakness of my knees and upper legs make the problem a lot worse than it has to be - maybe I'll get more strength back in the coming months....
But riding it is a real giggle - it doesn't need muscled - it seems as if all I have to do is drop a hint what I want to do, and it satisfies. Hands-off it tracks straight and true for as long as I am that silly, and it even has a steering damper that it doesn't need. No shakes at all, no temperment at all - a wholly friendly ride.
This lack of strength is beginning to bug me. It isn't apparent in the car (of course, the car isn't as much work to drive) but it sure makes itself known on the bike. The commute ride is OK at 25 miles each way, and there's plenty of recovery time, but spending a couple of hours in the saddle wears me out to the point that I begin to scare myself (and possibly the folks around me, although they don't say anything....) and I am not happy about that. Motorcycles have been a part of my life for so long now I hate to think that the day will come that I can only look at them and drool...
However, within my own limits, I am enjoying the Moto Guzzi a whole bunch, and the weather has been cooperating enough that it hasn't yet come to the time to put it up.
Anyone out there need a big Suzuki (VL1500, 2004?)
Until later - I'll have more to say about family changes as time goes by - right now, we are all feeling very positive, and thankful that we feel that way.
It was an eclectic mix - a Triumph, my Guzzi, a BMW, a Suzuki Burgmann superscooter, a Harley Trike and about 5 Harley 2-wheelers. The route was set by Jeff Hutchins, the club president, and was a really pleasant back road tour to see the leaves (although I spent more time looking down the road to see what I had to do than looking around) and included some rough roads, some twisty roads, and some turns that were not easy to make. I was somewhere in the middle of the group, and managed everything pretty well, although I did go wide at one intersection and ride up on the grass. Happily all I got for it was a muddy boot.
The day before, a group had gone on a ride that covered about 300 miles. What I learned yesterday is that my arse isn't good for much over 100 miles, and I run out of strength soon after the 100 mark is hit. I don't actually collapse, but my skill erodes to the point that I really need to get off the bike and into a car if I am traveling farther.
Getting old is really a bummer - I used to think nothing at all of 300 and 400 mile days - now I don't even think about them because I am not strong enough to manage them, although there is hope if I get more weight off and finish healing this leg that I broke that it will become easier. My fear is that I'll have to get my knees done first - and that is something I don't really look forward to. I keep telling myself if I could get off another 60-70 pounds, my knees might stop yelling at me. Then again, they might not.
But the Guzzi is one of the most pleasant bikes I have ever ridden. It is right up there with my old BMW's as nimble, and I don't exactly get on it and ride it - it's more like I pull it on and wear it. Lean angles are (or seem to me to be) easy; very little requirement for counter-steer; no flex laid over in a fast curve, flexible power (although the engine does prefer to be kept over 3000 RPM,) good power delivery from the fuel-injected engine, and even decent mileage. I'm slowly getting used to the brakes (the right hand lever controls one disk on the front - the other disk and the back disk are actuated by the rear brake pedal, and the proportioning valve is apparently set up very well.) The pedal placement is not ideal after riding the Big Suzi, but I think I can get used to it (or change it if needed). The shifter is the same, but the weakness of my knees and upper legs make the problem a lot worse than it has to be - maybe I'll get more strength back in the coming months....
But riding it is a real giggle - it doesn't need muscled - it seems as if all I have to do is drop a hint what I want to do, and it satisfies. Hands-off it tracks straight and true for as long as I am that silly, and it even has a steering damper that it doesn't need. No shakes at all, no temperment at all - a wholly friendly ride.
This lack of strength is beginning to bug me. It isn't apparent in the car (of course, the car isn't as much work to drive) but it sure makes itself known on the bike. The commute ride is OK at 25 miles each way, and there's plenty of recovery time, but spending a couple of hours in the saddle wears me out to the point that I begin to scare myself (and possibly the folks around me, although they don't say anything....) and I am not happy about that. Motorcycles have been a part of my life for so long now I hate to think that the day will come that I can only look at them and drool...
However, within my own limits, I am enjoying the Moto Guzzi a whole bunch, and the weather has been cooperating enough that it hasn't yet come to the time to put it up.
Anyone out there need a big Suzuki (VL1500, 2004?)
Until later - I'll have more to say about family changes as time goes by - right now, we are all feeling very positive, and thankful that we feel that way.
Monday, April 20, 2009
It's been a while
Sorry, I've been out of sorts for a bit. I ran out of Prozac, and decided that I'm just too damn mean when depressed to write anything useful. When I was no longer out, it got busy, and then my lovely wife and I took a road trip last week down to South Carolina (Charleston to be exact) to attend a reunion of members of my old military unit. Since the unit existed for around 30 years, there was no certainty that anyone would be there with whom I had served, but we went anyhow, just to see, and to meet folks with whom I had been in touch on various duty-specific forums for the past several years.
Much to my surprise, my wife asked if we would be driving or flying and indicated a desire to travel by car. Since she normally doesn't travel well, I was more than ready to drive even though I already had plane tickets (discovering afterwards just how damn hard it is to get rid of them and get back money.) She got to thinking about travel hassles, and the fact that I hate to fly any more, and decided to try a road trip - and it was a really good trip for both of us.
We broke the trip around Emporia, Virginia, staying in a Hampton Inn at a ridiculously cheap price for first-class lodging. When we woke up and had breakfast, it was a relatively easy day to get us into Charleston - it took time, but traffic was light, the scenery good and the weather pleasant. We let Gertie Garmin guide us, and let the cruise control keep the cops away, and just relaxed, stopping when it pleased one or the other of us.
Gertie Garmin is what we called the GPS that I purchased for her some time back. This was the first trip with that sort of device, and I have to say it was a great addition to the stuff we already were taking with us. The 760 model allowed all our cell phones to be bluetoothed to its hands-free facility, the alternate routes worked and were decent - all in all I cannot imaging going farther than ten minutes without at least having it turned on with traffic alerts enabled.
I did meet one guy I knew at the reunion, and met others with whom I had chatted, but whom I had never met - and lots of war stories got told. It was great! I was particularly pleased to see the one guy I already knew, as I had heard that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer several years back, and since I know the cure rate on that to be abysmal fully expected to hear that he was not with us any more - and was both surprised and pleased to hear from him that he'd be there. I was doubly surprised to see him when I got there using an artificial larynx - after beating the esophageal cancer he ended up with it in his throat, and lost his thyroid and larynx to it - but a more ready-to-go guy I have not known. He's 71, has had all this, and is more lively than ever! I had never met his wife before, but knew she had to be something else, and was not disappointed - although I was surprised to note that her German accent had been replaced with a Buffalo, New York accent!
My wife was surprised at how well she seemed to fit - there were some folks younger than us, but not many, and lots older, although they were uniformly old in years but not in spirit.
I was in what the Air Force called Security Service - it was an intelligence operation that had had its personnel described as a tightly knit group of loosely wrapped people - which, on reflection, I found to be fitting and proper.
We played tourist, took a mule-drawn carriage trip around old Charleston, which I expected to be a deadly bore and my wife expected would get her motion-sensitive gut - and we loved it - the guide was great, the city beautiful, the info plentiful, the pace slow and relaxed - just a great way to spend part of an afternoon. I have to admit that without Gertie Garmin I'd've never found the mule stables. We also did an excursion boat harbor tour, and while she went, she wasn't as relaxed because of the motion of a boat upon the water, and afterwards reaffirmed her wish never to go on a cruise - even to the point or telling me I could try to get an old flame to join me and leave her at home. I of course declined....
We took two days to come back, the second day stopping by my brother's place in Lorton, Virginia, and then stopping off to visit our baby and her baby and husband, finally getting home pretty late and really tired - but it was probably the best week for us in years.
Those who have served ought to do a reunion once in a while - particularly in these times when the military is held in such low esteem - it can reaffirm that the time was not wasted, that the duty did matter, and that the folks with whom one served were indeed crazy, but dedicated, caring, and good friends all around.
We'll be going to others as they are scheduled.
That's all I have for today - y'all be well....
Much to my surprise, my wife asked if we would be driving or flying and indicated a desire to travel by car. Since she normally doesn't travel well, I was more than ready to drive even though I already had plane tickets (discovering afterwards just how damn hard it is to get rid of them and get back money.) She got to thinking about travel hassles, and the fact that I hate to fly any more, and decided to try a road trip - and it was a really good trip for both of us.
We broke the trip around Emporia, Virginia, staying in a Hampton Inn at a ridiculously cheap price for first-class lodging. When we woke up and had breakfast, it was a relatively easy day to get us into Charleston - it took time, but traffic was light, the scenery good and the weather pleasant. We let Gertie Garmin guide us, and let the cruise control keep the cops away, and just relaxed, stopping when it pleased one or the other of us.
Gertie Garmin is what we called the GPS that I purchased for her some time back. This was the first trip with that sort of device, and I have to say it was a great addition to the stuff we already were taking with us. The 760 model allowed all our cell phones to be bluetoothed to its hands-free facility, the alternate routes worked and were decent - all in all I cannot imaging going farther than ten minutes without at least having it turned on with traffic alerts enabled.
I did meet one guy I knew at the reunion, and met others with whom I had chatted, but whom I had never met - and lots of war stories got told. It was great! I was particularly pleased to see the one guy I already knew, as I had heard that he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer several years back, and since I know the cure rate on that to be abysmal fully expected to hear that he was not with us any more - and was both surprised and pleased to hear from him that he'd be there. I was doubly surprised to see him when I got there using an artificial larynx - after beating the esophageal cancer he ended up with it in his throat, and lost his thyroid and larynx to it - but a more ready-to-go guy I have not known. He's 71, has had all this, and is more lively than ever! I had never met his wife before, but knew she had to be something else, and was not disappointed - although I was surprised to note that her German accent had been replaced with a Buffalo, New York accent!
My wife was surprised at how well she seemed to fit - there were some folks younger than us, but not many, and lots older, although they were uniformly old in years but not in spirit.
I was in what the Air Force called Security Service - it was an intelligence operation that had had its personnel described as a tightly knit group of loosely wrapped people - which, on reflection, I found to be fitting and proper.
We played tourist, took a mule-drawn carriage trip around old Charleston, which I expected to be a deadly bore and my wife expected would get her motion-sensitive gut - and we loved it - the guide was great, the city beautiful, the info plentiful, the pace slow and relaxed - just a great way to spend part of an afternoon. I have to admit that without Gertie Garmin I'd've never found the mule stables. We also did an excursion boat harbor tour, and while she went, she wasn't as relaxed because of the motion of a boat upon the water, and afterwards reaffirmed her wish never to go on a cruise - even to the point or telling me I could try to get an old flame to join me and leave her at home. I of course declined....
We took two days to come back, the second day stopping by my brother's place in Lorton, Virginia, and then stopping off to visit our baby and her baby and husband, finally getting home pretty late and really tired - but it was probably the best week for us in years.
Those who have served ought to do a reunion once in a while - particularly in these times when the military is held in such low esteem - it can reaffirm that the time was not wasted, that the duty did matter, and that the folks with whom one served were indeed crazy, but dedicated, caring, and good friends all around.
We'll be going to others as they are scheduled.
That's all I have for today - y'all be well....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)