Travels with AURORA

Date:                           November 29, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0900

            I awoke this morning to loud banging, doors slamming, and loud engines rumbling.  No, Connie and I did not have a fight.  She was not trying to escape my insanity.  It was the rest of the campground making all of that noise.  The holiday weekend is over and the car show that filled the raceway is over, so everyone is getting ready to hit the road and leave us behind.  Our little park was filled to over flowing and now it is time for most of those people to leave towing their car carriers behind them.

            I looked in our refrigerator and the turkey is almost gone, the mash potato container is empty and there is only one piece of pumpkin left.  Thanksgiving must really be over.  The revelry of celebration is gone.  The visitors are packing up their belongings and warming their engines. We now can sit in our rig and wave good bye as they pull their car carriers behind them and head for the road.  I am guess that “the road” is a place I do not want to be today.

            Connie and I spent yesterday not getting caught in traffic around Daytona. We did venture out for a short trip to the car laundry to wash some of the salt off of our Chianti.  She has been running up and down the beach for a while now and seems to be trying to collect as much sand as she can.  After spending a few moments with a vacuum cleaner and a brush I found that our car is very good at her hobby.  She had hidden sand in places that I did not even know were places.  With a little effort, a loud vacuum and a trip through the wash room and Chianti is abut 2 tons lighter and missing some of her sand.  I know I did not get it all and with the quiet of night I am sure most of it has multiplied and will appear as soon as my wife opens the door.

            We also had the pleasure of having another Thanksgiving dinner.  The main pleasure of preparing a feast in your own home is the pure ecstasy of the encore meals.  It is so very much more than just leftovers.  Leftovers are what you did not throw away.  An encore meal is a revisit to the ecstasy the original gourmet feast full filled and promised on future visits.  As I finish my morning excursion into the world of words our encore larder is becoming quite bare of substance. It is full of memories and pleasure, but the turkey bin is nearly empty, the pumpkin pie is but a small sliver and the mashed potatoes seemed to have disappeared.  We do have some dressing in a small container, but I don’t think that will last the day.  It is almost like loosing a best friend when the last dish of Thanksgiving feast is scraped clean.  You might even feel a tear form and trickle down your cheek.  Some of the forlorn pain is soothed by the full feeling in your tummy.

            I have meandered enough for one day and I have purposely avoided the day count located at the bottom of this page.  We have 1 day and a wake up until we board our ship in Fort Lauderdale and head to the Caribbean for 10 days of pampering and frivolity.  The arrival of our embarkation date has taken a seeming long time and yet here it is and I am beginning to wonder where the time went.  I am sure that the 10 days at sea will disappear all too very quickly and I will be looking for my bags on the dock trying to figure out where the last week went.  That is a scene I choose not to think about today.  I have a couple of peaces of turkey to eat and football game to watch instead.

1  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 28, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0900

            The month of November is quickly disappearing from our calendar and our cruise departure date is very rapidly approaching.  I know that there are probably a thousand things that I have forgotten to do or to get ready, but I have a wife so there is no real worry.  Somehow in the midst of preparing a Thanksgiving feast she has manages to get all of our needed supplies and cloths together and ready for me to place in the car for our trip.  Our bags are packed and we still have 2 days to go.  Of course I still have to find a way to fit the bags in the car.  I think this will include a slight rearrangement of our beach toys and the removal of a ton of sand from our car floor.  This has been my assigned job, but I don’t want to get it done too early.

            About a year and a half ago, or at least it seems like that long, I started a count down timer on my laptop to keep me informed on how much longer we had to wait.  In the beginning the numbers that appeared on the picture of our ship were three digits long and they seemed to indicate that the embarkation date was sometime far into the future.  Each morning as I signed on to my PC the numbers did decrease by one, but the time appeared to be proceeding at a snails resting pace.  What is the imminent anticipation elevation feeling difference between 120 days and 119 days.  It is not really a source of thrilling excitement.  Both numbers are more fingers than I have and seem to indicate a long time to this old mind.  So each morning I would note that the number of days left until our cruise were decreasing but not in such a large number that I should really get too excited.  Then we entered the double digit marathon.  But, I must admit that 99 days is still a long time and when we broke 70, Oh hum.

            Today we have 2 days.  Holy crap, where did all of the time go?  Do I have the right shoes?  Where is my favorite tie?  How many dress shirts do I need to take?  Will there be 2 formal nights or did I read someplace that there were 3?  How many days did you say we had?  You have to be kidding!  Do I need batteries for my camera?  Clean the car?  You have got to get serious!  I need to find my favorite book for that sunny day of reading on our private verandah we have been planning to enjoy.  Who hid my shoes?  These stupid pants must have shrunk, they are too small now.  You said we have how many days?

            Luckily, I am married to an organizer.  You can rest assure that all of my clothes are ironed, folded and packed.  My new shirts are placed neatly in a suitcase and any book I might want to read on our ship is already in a carry on someplace.  I will have the right number of undershorts and probably have too many socks.  If I need a tie for dinner I am guessing that by the time I realize that fact the tie will be hanging in our cabin closet and an evening drink will be waiting for me on the verandah to enjoy prior to our reservation time at the restaurant.  It is quite wonderful to be married to an organizer.  Being married to an organizer in a 40 foot motorhome has been interesting as we hurdle large suitcases trying to get out the door, but it has been and will be well worth the leaps.  It is nice being secure in the fact that all of my needs have been systematically addressed and prepared for as we countdown to our cruise.

            I do still have to clean out the car so that we can fit the luggage in the beast as we head for Fort Lauderdale and nice pre-boarding evening dinner with friends.  The sand needs to come out and I need to find a place for our beach chairs and umbrella.  And I guess we will not need our body boards for this cruise, so I had better find a place for them also.  I know that I must get all of this done before we can pack the car and leave.  But, hey, I still have 2 days.  Why should I start worrying now?  Maybe I will think about that tomorrow.

2  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 27, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0900

            Winter has arrived in Florida.  As I look out my window this morning I see people walking about wrapped up in jackets, hands in pockets and wearing long pants.  You might think, that in some manner, you have been transported to the frozen tundra of the northeast.  I can almost get cold just looking at the people.  In reality the temperature is in the 50s and it is not expected to elevate too far into the 60s before evening approaches. For Daytona I think that is a hint of the onset of winter.

            The feast day of the turkey is gone in our little abode and I feel like I may not need to eat until some time after the end of the world in 2012.  How Connie managed to prepare a full traditional feast of Thanksgiving in a kitchen the size of a thimble is far beyond me.  As I sat down at our fully decorated holiday table I could not believe the feast that was before my eyes.  It was a turkey dinner with all of the traditional trimmings and even one of her world famous pumpkin pies and real whipped cream.

            The fact that Connie went to all of the hassle of preparing a holiday feast is not unexpected.  She does things like that just to make my life wonderful.  The ability to accomplish this feat is almost beyond normal belief.  Our kitchen area is smaller than most phone booths and, though nicely equipped, is not set up to prepare gourmet feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, dressing, scalloped corn, cranberry sauce, and, of course, that pumpkin pie.  Our microwave slash convection oven was on from early morning until dinner time.  Our Crockpot slash slower cooker worked even longer and our toaster oven was a mini oven and far more important than a toaster.  Plus, of course, our stove top range was covered with pots and pans all day steaming and boiling away with great aplomb.  Yes, there was magic happening in our home and Connie was the wizard.

            You may wonder just what was the assigned task that I had to help make this a successful day.  It is easy.  I was relegated to my chair and told to stay our of the way.  Someone had to watch all those hours off football and I was doing a fine job.  I did manage to open a fine bottle of wine and carve a very delicious turkey when the need arose.  I was also first in live to fill my plate with a sample of every bit of scrumptious delight that had materialized from our tiny kitchen. By the end of the meal my tummy was full, our kitchen was tired and our Giants were ready to get their butts kicked by Denver.  It was good day, all but the football part.

            When I was complementing Connie on her magical accomplishments she reminded of a very simple yet profound philosophy.  I am sure that many full time RVers or anyone else that has a small kitchen has often said that they can not prepare a full holiday feast in their home. They don’t have enough room, they don’t have enough cooking space, the need extra ovens, they need or don’t have this or that.  Connie told me that the answer to all of that is quite simple; “You can do what you want.”  In a short sentence she summed it up quite succinctly and accurately.  Excuses make wind and desire with determination makes memories.

            So, with a full tummy, a full refrigerator, and clean kitchen I hope everyone had as good a holiday as we did.  I hope your feast was as scrumptious as ours and I will think of you when I have my piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast.  I will also know what it is I am thankful for on this and every day.  That is a wonderful wife and she and I are going to celebrate our 25^th anniversary at dinner aboard the MS Noordam in ST. Thomas, US Virgin Islands and we leave in just 3 days.

3  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

Date:                           November 26, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

1000

            As I set in my throne and begin my diatribe this holiday, Happy Thanksgiving to all, the sky is blue, the air is a bit crisp and the Macy’s Day Parade is on the TV.  Life is quite normal.  For those poor people that read my bog yesterday, the dismal grey fun of fog and rain has finally left our little spot in Florida and Connie and I are preparing for a nice private celebration of Thanksgiving.  We both wish a happy day of thanks to all that read our experiences on this blog and we wish a happy day to those of you smart enough to find other things to do besides reading my ramblings.

            I mentioned a new experience yesterday.  It was a visit to the big Redbox movie dispenser at our local Wal-Mart.  It is, exactly, a large big red box and if you treat it nicely it dispenses a current DVD for your enjoyment.  Now, this may not seem too exciting to most people, but to an old duffer it stretches my imagination.  I used my laptop that was connected to nothing other than an electrical outlet to peruse the available titles in the local Redbox in Daytona Beach.  Then I drove to the store for some serious holiday shopping and while entering the store I stopped at that the large red box to press a glass screen a couple of time.  Soon a little slot on the side of the big red box delivered a DVD in a case and I was ready to go home and not enjoy the movie.  When I returned home I had an e-mail on my PC that logged my Redbox transaction and informed me that I could return my DVD to any Redbox in the USA.  All of this was for the large sum of 1 dollar a day, or free as this first transaction offered.  Does any of this sound like magic to anyone or am I just getting old?  I think I know the answer and there is a bit of truth to both answers.

            I understand the technology behind most of what happened.  Today’s data communication is still in its infancy but so far advanced from my youth it is a story beyond science fiction.  I remember working on date communications that were measured in analog frequency baud rates that are little more exciting than whistling secret codes.  I remember when you needed to be connected data terminal to data terminal and digital referred to your fingers.  I know, I am getting old. 

            I am not sure where I was going with this morning’s meandering.  I do know that things change and we must accept that simple reality.  I also am very aware of the fact that as technology advances I find myself falling further and further behind.  I, also, realize that Dick Tracey’s watch would seem old and insignificant to most iphone users today.  I am aware that we are just now heading into the realm of 4G LTE cell service with low frequency broad spectrum transmission facilities.  But I must, at times, reflect on the reality of my youth when phones were connected to the wall, movies were viewed in theaters, and the only things on discs were little kids sliding down hills.  I know, I am getting old.

            As the clock ticks, my body ages, and my mind falls further behind I must now go and watch the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  It is filled with people singing of which I have never heard .  It is constantly show casing people that are total strangers to me.  And I have yet to recognize any song or any music that has been played.  As the parade come to a close I hope that there will be at least one person that I recognize.  He will probably be riding a rocket sled searching his apps on his iphone and planning a stop at the local Redbox to rent “Miracle On 34^th Street” on the way home.  May I be the first to wish you all a Merry Christmas?

4  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Date:                           November 25, 2009

Location:                    Daytona Beach, FL

0830

            I have chastised the lovely state of Florida previously for being a little bit disingenuous in their travel brochure and on their license plates.  They do promote this whole “Sunshine State” thing quite heavily.  They lie, and today is a fine example of the proof of that statement.  I realize that I am to get very little if any sympathy from too many people as I pound away at my blog setting next to an open window enjoying the gentle, refreshing breeze of a tropical morning.  There is no snow and there is none predicted in the near millennium.  The temperature is in the low 70s and it is yet 9:00 in the morning.  But, there is no sun.  There is not even the hint of the prospect of a glimpse of the sun in the near future.  It is grey, and foggy and might as well be New York except, of course, for the comfortable soothing breeze that gently blows in my window.

            I am not asking for sympathy.  I know I would receive all of none if I did.  I am just reporting our day from my perspective and they lied.  There is no sunshine in Florida today and that is just how it is.  I do realize that this is Florida and by the time finish this diatribe there could be a bright sunshine day awaiting me outside my window.  There could be, but today I fear that is not going to happen.

            We are 5 days and a wake up call away from our excursion and, would you believe, that our bags are packed and we are almost ready to go?  If you know my wife you would.  She plans well and follows her plan.  I, on the other hand, just try to stay out of the way and complain about a foggy day in paradise.  We are both very good at our assigned tasks.

            We are doing so well, or should I say she is so well, that we had a chance to watch a new release DVD last night.  It was “Angels and Demons” with Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard.  We rented it from a Red Box, but that is another story.  It was a movie that made it to our “we want to see it” list after we both finished reading the book.  By the time we had finished the book the movie had left the local theaters so we had to wait until it was released on DVD.  Which it was, yesterday.  My advice is read the book.  The actors are great.  How could Tom Hanks be bad?  Ron Howard is a good director and the movie takes place in Rome.  All of this is good.  Connie and I love Rome and have visited most of the places depicted in the movie.

            We thoroughly enjoyed the book and could literally not put it down until we had finished it.  Dan Brown is an awesome story teller and does and excellent job of captivating his readers and holding them until the explosive end of his stories.  If we had not read the book we might have even enjoyed the movie.  Or problem is that we did read the book and have serious questions as to weather the movie adaptation was taken from the same story.  There were characters missing, events changed and parts of the story ignored.  I am not sure if that was done to save time, save money or the screen writher just never read the book.  What ever the reason, the movie is lacking a lot. It will not make it to our, “we must have this movie” list, and probably will not be seen by us again.  The movie was, however, worth every penny we spent to rent it.  It was a free offering from Red Box because I am a new customer.  Save the money and don’t buy or rent the movie.  If you must, buy the book and truly enjoy the story and when you finish you could send it to Ron Howard.  I seriously question if he has ever read it.

            My blog is finished. I complained about the weather.  I complained about the movie we watched last night.  And I filled my page plus with drivel that you have spent the better part of the last few moments reading.  I have had a productive morning so far.  I hope yours improves quickly.

5  DAYS to EMBARKATION

Wfdo2@wfdo2.com