Yep we made it back in one piece. Boy 2400 miles is a long way to drive but doing it in the van was much more comfortable, albeit very expensive from a gas perspective. We decided to pull out early Tuesday afternoon to get up there because Ali was concerned for Pop Pop’s health. Luckily it turned out it wasn’t quite as serious as we thought. Within the first few miles I could tell that the steering on the van was going to be a problem. The 1600 dollars didn’t fix the issue. The steering stuck, instead of returning to center when you would release the wheel, even going around turns, the wheel would not move. So the end result was while on a highway you were constantly making steering corrections. If you nudged it too far one way it would stay that way, then if you over corrected back too fast it would veer the other way suddenly. I’m sure to other drivers it looked like I was drunk, it was that bad. Eventually I got used to it enough to only have the occasional veer but it was a royal pain. When Ali drove for a little while she really struggled with it. While she drove I watched the second Matrix movie. It was sort of weird, during the car chase scene in the movie I felt like I was in a simulator with the real life swerving and bouncing that was going on.
We drove straight until 2 am Wednesday morning and stopped in upper South Carolina. By that time coffee stopped working so I pulled over into a hotel parking lot and we got four not so restful hours of sleep in the back of the van. Our original plan of Ali sleeping while I was driving didn’t work out well. The sudden veering made it impossible to sleep.
I drove the rest of the way to PA and we arrived somewhere around mid-afternoon Wednesday. My Dad, stepmom, sister and brother-in-law were there. I knew my sis was going to be in PA, I didn’t know they were also staying with my Dad. My sister is 3 months pregnant. I had not seen my brother-in-law since they got married 3 years ago. My dad bought a townhouse in Flying Hills so they can do the snowbird thing. He and my stepmom had been there for the past two months. It was a cool little place.
One of the big things we were worried about was how Nicki would get along with my Dad’s dog, Maggie. Maggie is a black lab / border collie mix. Her and Nicki look like sisters. Maggie is very friendly and immediately greeted us with dog licks. Nicki was hesitant for a few minutes but almost immediately warmed up to Maggie. By the time our stay was over they were best buddies.
The first night we stayed in the bedroom that is used by my other sister when she is home. It is sparsely furnished with a bed, a shelf unit and little more. There was really no space to unpack anything so we just sort of had stuff strewn across the room on the floor which looked like hell. After the first night we relocated to the basement that had a fouton. It wasn’t bad and that room had the computer so it worked out better.
On Thursday morning we all piled into the party van and went to Dempsey’s for breakfast. Driving around the area was weird, especially the part of 222 near my old stomping grounds of Gouglersville. They redid the highway and now I have a hard time figuring out where I am. All the familiar landmarks are either gone or hidden by huge manmade hills or concrete sound barriers. It makes travel faster but it sure is less appealing for someone like me that grew up there. After breakfast we drove up to my Dad’s old house to take a peek. It was nostaligic driving by the house I called home for my first 18 years or so of life. It looked pretty much the same as when my dad had it, although he said that they did some major upgrades to the inside.
Late Thursday morning I wanted to try to shake off some of the lethargy I was still feeling from the drive up so we went to the Flying Hills gym. I used to go to this gym for the year we lived with my mom before moving to Florida. Since we moved they did away with all of the racquetball courts and converted them to more space for fitness equipment and classes. I forgot how old and crappy the free weight equipment was there, it made the stuff at Powerhouse look first rate. I tried to do a few exercises for each body part. I felt weak and unmotivated. After an hour we left with me feeling no better than before.
Thursday evening we arranged to go up to Gary and Sue’s place. Gary and Sue are friends of ours that used to run a casual volleyball league from their house that we played in. They are great people, probably two of the most generous people I ever ran across. Rich, Beth and Gail also showed up. We drank beer, ate and had a nice time just shooting the shit. Our friends in PA are the only thing we miss about the state. We talked about coming back the following Wednesday for me to play in the league if I survived the Rumble, unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
Having the computer in our basement bedroom was nice. We were able to check our email, read the news and surf. I also was looking for some entertainment so I signed on to pogo.com, a website my neighbor is addicted to. It is a website that combines hundreds of games with social interaction. At one time when I signed on there were over a half million people in the site. I tried several games on there like a simple balloon popping thing, bowling and baseball. However I eventually settled into chess. I have not played chess in years but I always have enjoyed it. You had the option to play the computer or real people. I did surprisingly well against both, winning much more than I lost. Of course I was in the room for people with average to low skill. As you play you can chat to your opponent, which I rarely did. In most cases I would issue a “doh!” if my opponent or I did a dumb move. Only 1 game got nasty when I lost on a stupid move and the guy shot me a “You are terrible…” message. We had a short nasty exchange where I challenged him to a rematch that he declined. The highlight of my online chess playing was when I three move checkmated a guy. He immediately left.
Friday I went with Ali to see my grandmother in the home and Pop Pop in the hospital. The grandma visit was very brief. I had my Rumble facial hair so I don’t know if that threw her off but I had the feeling she didn’t really know who I was. She never said my name. Her hearing is getting worse so we had to talk very loud. Most attempts we made at starting some dialogue were met with YES or NO answers. Several times I looked at Ali for help since she is used to old person talk but it didn’t help much. After you talk about the facility cat and the weather, there just wasn’t much to say. My sister and her husband came along reluctantly. They were both very uncomfortable just being in there. So after maybe 10-15 minutes I gave grandma a hug and said goodbye. It was a tough visit. Next was Pop Pop.
He looked tired but not too bad otherwise. He was chatting away with us while he had the Price is Right on TV. He will be 93 in a few days and all things considered has managed to do ok. His condition was improving and although he still is unhappy about not being able to do whatever he wants he understands that it is necessary to get help at this point.
After the Pop Pop visit we met back up with my sis to see Nacho Libre at a matinee. There were less than 10 people in the theater. The theater itself seemed junky compared to what we have grown accustomed to down here. The movie wasn’t good. It got a few grins out of me but little more. None of the four of us felt differently, a bad flick. Thankfully it was only an hour and a half. C- to D+
Friday night was our big dinner where everyone was going to be present, my dad, step mom and all of my siblings. We went to Victor Emmanuels, a members only big Italian restaurant that I always loved going to. They had good, cheap food and had a bare bones atmosphere that I always found appealing. Well evidently business had been good because the remodeled the entire place. Gone is the 20 foot high drop ceiling with flags hung around the perimeter, the big TV’s in strategic locations and the atmosphere I enjoyed. Now it looks more like a conventional restaurant, they lowered the ceiling, spruced up the bar and waiting areas and gave pretty much everything a facelift. I preferred the old Vic’s but the food was still good. It was good to see everyone together. My half brother and sister are all grown up. Patrick just wound up his 2nd year at Pitt and is going for an engineering degree. Meg just graduated Penn State with a marketing degree and is interning at some place in NYC. It’s weird seeing them as young adults since I saw them both as babies. Just another thing to make me feel old.
Saturday was the big day, the primary reason for the trip, the Pottstown Rumble. The weather forecast was bad with a 90% chance of rain but so far the doppler radar showed most of the precipitation as being north of us although it had rained like hell Friday night. So I hoped for the best, figuring the grass will be wet to start and hopefully dry if it doesn’t rain more. Charlie picked me up and we got there a bit later than last year. It was obvious there were less cars than last year, surely due to the dire forecast. There were puddles on the road but I didn’t see standing water on the courts, maybe it won’t be so bad. My left knee was aching before we even started, it had been feeling real stiff since the drive up from Florida. I reluctantly decided to slap on a knee brace for the first time in 2 years, hoping keeping it warm would make it easier. I also stayed doped up on Advil all day.
Our net was good, probably the best set of teams I ever had in my pool at the Rumble. Normally you will have one or two weak teams on a net. All of the teams were good. Right before our first match the first rain came, a brief burst that was enough to make the grass slippery again. The match had lots of slipping and sliding. We lost the first game pretty badly but then came back to win the second as the field dried out a bit. It’s so nice to play on a big court with side out scoring, it’s the only time I get to serve hard anymore. Even though Charlie and I only play together at the Rumble, we clicked pretty well. Our next match was wierd. During the first game we were down 10-6 (game to 11) and we came back and won. Our opponents were majorly pissed. In the second game we were in control and had it at 10-7 or 10-8 and we choked and let them come back and win, another split. Then the real fun began.
The skies had looked ominous for most of the day but up to that point we only had a few quick showers. Our luck ran out shortly before we were ready to start our third match. It poured, for a long time. Thank goodness Charlie brought a shelter. A bunch of both our families came down to watch us and they all huddled underneath as the water steamed down. The game we were watching continued on in the downpour even though huge puddles instantly formed on the court. It was comedic. The game ended and the young kids that we were scheduled to play immediately came over and asked if we were ready to play. I told them we would wait a bit to see if it slows down.
We got a small break where the rain let up so we trudged out to the soppy court. We wound up playing with Charlie’s $15, glow in the dark, plastic ball because it wouldn’t absorb water like a leather ball would. That thing was heavy and hard, your arms hurt after bumping it only a few times. The parts of the court that were puddles turned to mud in short order from the trampling. It was horrible. Just before the game began it started to pour again. We were already we soaked so we just stayed out there and played. The kids we were playing did remarkably well considering the conditions, they hit and served hard and seemed to almost enjoy playing mud volleyball. We on the otherhand were not fairing well. The muddy spots made movement very dangerous. On numerous occassions we both took muddy spills. Our best offense was just wailing on the serve, trying to drive them back. We once again split the games, sitting at 3 and 3 with one match to go. The field was a total mess now.
I was feeling like hell, most joints in my body hurt by this point and the cold rain amplified the misery. The last match was a big one, if we won both we insured a playoff berth, if we lost both we were done. The rain had stopped but the court was still a muddy disaster. The team we played had one 30 something A player and a younger kid that wasn’t quite as good. The A player had a killer jumpserve that hooked hard and fast across the net. He ran off tons of points with it by hitting into the muddy areas where we could do little to pass it. I bet between the two games he ran at least 12 points. After we lost the first game we had the second in hand, ahead 9-6 or 10-5. The A player got the serve and promptly served us off the court. It was a dreary way to end the day. It was the first time I didn’t make playoffs in BB at the Rumble. Granted the weather had a ton to do with it. Shortly after getting off the court it started raining once again, making me at least in a small way relieved that our playing day was done. I just didn’t want to play anymore in the mud. I have some video from our mud ball matches that I will get online sometime.
It didn’t take long for my body to start making me pay for pushing it when I shouldn’t have. I hobbled in the front door like an 80 year old man, my left knee started to swell badly as soon as I pulled the knee brace off. I threw some ice in a freezer bag and iced my knees. My twice operated on, chronically sore right knee had now become my good knee. Doing stairs was the worst part, I had to go one at a time and turn at an angle to minimize the bending of left leg. The whole idea of having to go under the knife to fix yet another knee issue was on my mind. I silently growled at myself for the entire creatine experiment and the foolishness of my thinking. I just can’t take the stuff and do impact activities, yet I thought this time would be different. Idiot. I would be thrilled to trade a weaker bench press for pain free knees now.
Sunday was slow going. Torrin had left on Saturday so things were a bit less crowded. It was still raining, it had been raining since Friday. Ali had the idea of going to Philly to run in a 5k around the Sports Complex. We set the alarm and got up but after seeing Philadelphia surrounded by red blobs on the doppler Ali decided to bag it. Running in rain just is no fun. So we had a free morning that I spent with ice on my knee while playing more online chess. Any upright movement I did looked ridiculously strained. I tried taking Nicki for a walk but had to turn back. I couldn’t stop her from pulling with my gimpy legs.
Around 1 oclock we met Ali’s family for lunch at the country buffet. Ali’s family love to eat so the buffet is high on their list of favorite places. Originally we hoped to have Pop Pop there with us but instead after we finished eating we all went over to the hospital to see him for an early birthday party. It was nice to see Pop Pop smiling and having a good time talking to everyone.
Right after that we wnt to our friends Cheryl and Dave’s place. We hadn’t seen them in awhile. It seems most times I am up my time is so limited that I always miss out on seeing them. Now we had plenty of time to do so. They have lived in the same house for many years and over that time period have completely transformed it. Dave is incredibly handy, you name it he can do it. I wish I had his skills. They really have a nice little thing going. He showed me his 03 Mach 1 Mustang to complement the 68 project Stang he has in the garage (along with the sport bike and Tundra pick up) They recently put in a pool that looks great. Unfortunately it was still raining and dreary. We sat out on the patio, drank beer while Nascar was on TV and hung out there until 9 or 10. It was great to see them.
Monday was a pretty low key day. I went with my dad to walk the dogs. At one point he let Maggie off the leash to play ball which she loves to do. I still had Nicki leashed but she wanted to play along so I let her loose. Soon they started up a game where Maggie would run and Nicki would chase her, they circled a big bush countless times. It was so funny to see Nicki acting like a dog. They were both exhausted by the time they finished.
Around lunchtime we picked up a pizza and stopped over at Rich and Beth’s place. They too have put a lot of work into improving their house. Beth is soon due to have their first kid, a boy. Rich is in a different world than me that is full of responsibility and long term ideas about the family that is about to grow. He seems to be handling it well. I still am more or less in the same spot mentally I was 10 years ago, just in a different geographic region. I brought along my HULK dvd which we watched on their sweet new tv. They have two dogs that were as entertaining as the movie.
Monday morning my step mom and Maggie pulled out for New Mexico, leaving just us and my dad in the house. Dad took us out to eat at an Asian restaurant. The waiter was very hard to understand but he got the order right. The beef and broccoli was first class. We had some nice conversation, something I don’t get to do with my dad very often. That night I could tell he missed Maggie. He was very happy when Nicki interacted with him to fill the void.
On Tuesday (yes it was still raining) my dad and I planned to go to AC. We figured 2 hours down, 2 hours back and 4 or 5 hours there. Wrong. There was a horrific backup on the Turnpike that turned our 2 hour drive down into 4 hours. After eating lunch we had a rushed gambling session at the Sands. I played craps at first. The table wasn’t hot at all. There was very little excitement, even if things were going well. At one point the guy next to me made two pints and then crapped out. That was much better than anyone had did for awhile so I was trying to be positive and clapped my hands while saying “Nice rolling shooter..” he mumbled back something like “2 points isn’t good shooting…” F’in jerk. So after fighting back to even on the craps table I decided to join my dad at blackjack. I had miserable luck and blew through my hundred dollar mental limit in the span of 20 minutes. My dad on the other hand had great luck and finished 225 bucks up. He was running a system that went like this. If you win a hand, the next hand you bet double, if you win the next one, you bet 3 times your original bet, if you win that you bet 5 times your original bet. If you win that you go back to step one. Well he was completeing the cycle multiple times. He was getting very lucky with the draws. On one of the 5 times hands he had a 12 and the dealer was showing a 10, a terrible spot for the player. He draws and pulls a 9 for 21! He just could do no wrong.
The drive back was stressful. I had to be back to get pictures with Ali’s family. If we hit any delays like we did on the way down I would not make it. Luckily we only hit a few snafu’s and I made it back with about 10 minutes to spare. Ali, Nicki and I piled in and headed for the studio. The picture taking session wasn’t bad and Nicki did very vell considering all of the action. We did a group shot with everyone and then a picture of just Ali, Nicki and I, our first “family” picture. After we were done we went to see Pop Pop one more time. He was released from the hospital and was back at the assisted living facility. I have to admit I was surprised at how nice that place was. It could make being in a home almost enjoyable. Of course it costs you a small fortune to enjoy such accomodations. We got the picture of Ali, Nicki and Pop Pop together that Alison wanted so badly. We said goodbye to Ali’s family and went home to pack up for our departure early Wednesday morning. Of course it finally stopped raining on Wednesday, the day we left.
The drive back went smoothly. We were both more adept at controlling the touchy steering in the van so there was less veering. I watched the 2nd Underworld movie on the way back. That was a sweet flick. Vampire versus Werewolves, what a great concept. B+ We drove until around 1am and made it to northern Florida even with stopping for a bit to visit Ali’s friend Sue in North Carolina. Instead of sleeping in the van I stopped at a Red Roof Inn. I figured getting a shower in the morning would help me feel renewed for the final leg of the journey. Although we were in a normal bed, I still didn’t sleep much, I was up around 6. We cleaned up and were back on the road by 8. During the last leg of the drive my Garmin Quest GPS died. It was working fine when I turned off the van to get gas. I turn the van back on a few minutes later and it was dead. Weird stuff. The cruise home was smooth and we pulled into our house right around 1.
We were pleasantly surprised to see the neighbor had taken his tractor and mowed our grass, that was awesome. Of course when you get back from a long trip there are a million things to do which we chipped away at for the next 3 days. Actually later in the day Thursday we took the van right back to the garage so they could address the steering issue that plagued us for the last 2400 miles. This time I could clearly explain exactly what it was doing. It turns out the steering box that was replaced was defective.
We got some good news that they were going to start on our pool cage on Monday. In preparation I pulled down the temporary fence. I took the two gates I made and used them on the garden instead to make for easier access to the area. We then stripped the deck of items and I spent a couple hours pressure washing it off. I didn’t really feel like doing it but I knew that pressure washing with no cage would be much easier than doing it with one. I had a long list of things to get done over the weekend and managed to knock them all out.
On Friday morning we went with our neighbor to the Wellness Center. It is a big gym run by the local hospital. Ali has been going there on Friday’s with the neighbor to do classes. Wow is that place nice. They have tons of everything. I wish it was more conveniently located. It’s also very expensive, if I joined it would cost almost triple what I am paying now. I tried to make up for my lack of gym time by doing a complete body work out, minus legs. Again I felt weak and unmotivated.
On Saturday Ali made an appointment for us to use my gift certificate she gave me for a massage and facial. She got one too. The massage was great, I never had a full length (hour) massage before. I could get used to that. I was worried about inappropriate arousal occuring but I managed to keep things unhder control. The facial was not much fun. The woman puts a bunch of goop on your face and then goes after your clogged pores with a little torture device. It felt like she was stabbing my face, repeatedly. Pampering is quite expensive. I tipped 20 bucks for each service and Ali did the same. I only had twenties and would have felt dumb asking for change. The massage lady deserved the twenty, the facial woman did not. Between the two of us, another 300 bucks evaporated. Ugh.
I’ve found that since I got back I have been feeling extremely low on energy. My motivation is not there. I have been eating badly and just feel down. I think part of it is the whole knee thing. The swelling has reduced to the point where I can walk normally but my movement is limited. The reality of middle age is staring at me and I don’t like it. Another heavy weight is cash. We spent close to 500 dollars just in gas on that trip alone. The pool cage bill is now here and I can think of several other short term expenditures that will further stretch my wallet. It seems like a rash of things need to be addressed. The GPS died ( still under warranty), the charger for the Roomba died while we were gone and the batteries I got to fix the UPS on my server didn’t fix the problem so I need another UPS. It’s not like I can’t pay for the stuff but it will lop a big chunk out of our savings account. I just need a period of time where that number is steadily increasing. It’s not all bad. It’s nice to be back home in our own bed, it’s nice to have days filled with more sun than rain and be able to get back into a more normal routine. I will miss the walks with Dad, Maggie and Nicki. I’m going to give the knee a week or two and see where it is at. If it swells everytime I do some impact I will probably take the plunge and contact the knee doc.
I’m back at work for today and then off tomorrow only to come back for a quick 3 day week. Not a bad deal. I hope to go home to a partially completed pool cage and will be going to pick up a once again repaired party van in a few hours. Life is back to normal, mostly.
told me that they may be shutting down the casinos in Jersey I thought he was full of shit. There was no way that would be allowed to happen, there is just way too much money involved. Well yesterday I saw the story that it actually happened. The Jersey government is so inept that they were unable to pass a budget in time to avoid it. Not only did state employed casino monitors get laid off, so did a ton of other non-essential state service employees. I mean how in the world could the state government know this would be the end result of inaction and still fail to act? I would vote every single one of those f’in idiots out of office. It’s ridiculous. 
