Pages

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Touristy Stuff



Today we indulged in all the tourist stuff we could squeeze into a 12 hour day. We started at the spa in our hotel with a soak in two big bathtubs full of the famous Hot Springs Mineral Water. Then we each had a one hour Swedish massage. Noodleish, would describe how we felt.

Then we were off to the Mid-America Science Museum. This is a hands-on place designed for kids and easily amused seniors like us. They have the world's most powerful conical Tesla Coil; 1.5 million volts. When they start this thing, lightning leaps loudly from a round electrode in the middle of its 2.5 ton steel cage and appears to be trying to escape into the audience. This made the babies cry and impressed us all. See http://www.midamericamuseum.org/tesla.htm

Here, Theresa attracts a stream of plasma with her boobs. I, like the plasma, find them attractive too.

Next we boarded a 1942 military duck. An amphibious vehicle, equally suitable for landing at Normandy or shuttling tourists between land and water.
We enjoyed the banter of our tour guide. He was a huge tattooed biker, do rag and all. His jokes and timing were perfected by multiple daily trips to Lake Hamilton where he drove this floating bus right into the water. We motored around the lake at it's top water speed of 4.5 mph and even witnessed a 30 mph top land speed run. These things were made for war, not love. He called himself Bubba our, bouncer, driver, captain, protector, and tour guide and he earned his post ride tip.

Upon our return to land and our Bath House Row starting point we finished the day with a stroll through the wax museum and a wine tasting event at the local winery. They define the words "tourist trap".
We plan to rise with the sun tomorrow and do the 250 or so miles to Branson, MO.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

On the Hot and Dusty Trail

We don't like to use the Interstates as a rule, but with record high temperatures we made a dash for our air conditioned motel in Arkadelphia after stopping for a mid day movie in Texarcana. We had a bit of an intestinal scare last night. Theresa must have eaten something that didn't agree with her, or maybe it was the heat, but it appeared she might be getting sick again, as in the C. Diff. thing from 8 weeks ago. After consulting with Dr. Scafuri who was at home on his day off, (I swear we get concierge service from him), we decided to watch her for a bit before buying $1500 worth of Vancomycin. No kidding, 40, 250 MG pills cost $1500 and change at the Walmart Pharmacy. It may have been this sticker shock that compelled her sphincter to slam shut, but she has once again regained her digestive composure.

Our plan for today was to drive the scenic Route 7 to Hot Springs to procure a couple of days of pampering in America's First Resort. The Goldwing was gracefully carving turns through the mountain switchbacks when we came across a lovely stable with some very well mannered horses. We are not equestrians, but love new experiences. So, after much assurance from the sweet lady stable master, and having interviewed two kids, age 3 and 5 who had just finished their ride, we mounted our noble steeds, Rocket and Baldie. We rode a 2.5 mile trail to De Gray Lake. It was beautiful, and the horses, in spite of our total lack of equine experience, behaved very well. I was surprised to learn however, that the horses do love to eat poison ivy, so don't kiss your horse on the lips if you are sensitive.

We are now settled into the Austin. A pretty nice spa/hotel with a convention center attached. I have had great luck in picking our spots, this one is the venue for the Miss Teen Arkansas Pageant. Beautiful contestants abound, improving my tolerance for the 102 degree heat. We have appointments at 11:30AM for our "taking the waters" before our massages. The water thing is the reason for Hot Springs to be so, well, Hot. There are 47 springs here which issue 147 degree water laden with minerals that many claim have curative powers. This has created a large spa and bath house industry here. I will test these waters on my tired bones tomorrow and report to you in our next blog entry.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

On the Road Again...

June 24, at 3AM, we drove our rented a car to Miami Airport for a 7:45AM flight to Houston, Texas. Our friend Sharon Rios picked us up and after jump starting the bike, which we stored in her daughter Julie's garage, we were riding again.

I can't say enough about the hospitality of the Rios family. Not only did they store our motorcycle and trailer while we returned to Florida, they showed us some great restaurants, acted as our taxi drivers and tour guides and in general were as hospitable as Southerners are reputed to be. When Felipe got home, we met up with them for dinner and on the way visited a very interesting place.

The Hindu Mandir, is a temple in Houston. See http://houston.baps.org/ . To try to describe it with a picture is like trying to photograph the Grand Canyon. It just can't tell the story. First, the building is constructed from 33,000 pieces of Italian Marble and Turkish limestone. Each piece is carved into a magnificent work of art. The level of skill and detail evident in every statue is incredible. From a distance, it is breathtaking, but as you get close and go inside, it becomes ever more impressive as an exquisite level of detail begins to reveal itself, reminding you of the microscopic detail in a piece of jewelry. Every sight inside the Mandir is amazing.
As impressive as the structure is, the kindness of the people we met matched the surroundings. We had several Indian gentlemen offer to explain the shrines, works of art, the construction of the Mandir, and their Hindu Faith. When we thought we had seen everything, most of those present gathered around some doors that were opened to reveal several Murtas; lifelike statues of some of their dieties and swamis. This signaled the beginning of a worship service where all those gathered chanted and clapped in unison for about 30 minutes. There were several rituals demonstrating the devotion of the followers. It was fascinating and will make memories we will take to our graves.

We will take a couple of days to get to Branson, Missouri. The heat here is stifling. I was told the temperatures were at or near record levels and numbers like 106 and 108 were reported to us. I know that pulling the trailer causes the motorcycle to generate more heat than normal and when you combine the sun, heat, and a hot motor the ride can be brutal.

On today's ride we visited Adventure Caravans at Rainbow's End in Livingston, Texas, an Escapee RV Park. We have been Escapees since 1991 and my brother Bob and his Wife Marcia work for Adventure Caravans. If we ever hit the lottery, we would consider traveling full time and would love to join them as tail gunners or wagon masters. See http://www.adventurecaravans.com/ to get an idea of what they are about.

Many, if not most Full time RVrs are Escapees, see http://www.escapees.com/ . This is the best resource there is for people who live full time on the road. They pool the talent of over 100,000 members to refine the art of the RV lifestyle, and they do it very well. They even have a Care Center for RVrs that get too old or sick to travel. It's a great organization.

Tomorrow we plan to rise early and make most of our mileage before it gets very hot. Then we will look for a movie theater and watch a mattanee during the hottest part of the day. We are 477 miles from Branson.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Packing Again!

Our six week respite is almost ended. Theresa and I are itching to get back on the road. Her battle with C. Diff has apparently ended 5 years of colonic difficulties. Amazingly, the ordeal seems to have reset her bacterial balance in her gut and what had become chronic digestive problems are apparently in remission! Life is good!

She has our bags packed and our rental car is due to be picked up Tuesday at noon. We might go and eat crabs one more time before we leave, but at about 3AM Wednesday, we will drive to Miami and head for Houston, TX to resume the ride.

Our friends Felipe and Sharon Rios, were kind enough to have garaged our motorcycle and trailer for these last 6 weeks at their daughter's Houston home. That solved some potentially huge problems. We will be forever in their debt and hope we can show them some Floridian hospitality in the future.

Our, chiseled in Jello, travel plan looks like this: Houston to Rockdale, Texas to tour the Alcoa Aluminum Plant, see: http://factorytoursusa.com/TourDetails.asp?TourID=245&State=TX&Search=&CategoryID= Then we go through Arkansas to Branson, Missouri for a couple of days of entertainment. Then Tulsa, Oklahoma for the 31st Honda Wing Ding. http://www.wing-ding.org/ .

The Wing Ding is an annual event for owners of Honda Gold Wing Motorcycles. About 10,000 of us will invade the town like elder wild ones, marauding our way through the restaurants and ice cream parlours, looking like Marlin Brando's dignified parents. There will be hundreds of vendors, parades, custom bike shows, rides, and more. Three or four days will be enough before heading westward to Pikes Peak.

There will be fosils to dig in Green River Utah, bears to feed and pet in the Teatons and Yellowstone. We might get as far north as Glacier National Park before our nine days at Sturgis, South Dakota. http://www.buffalochip.com/

This will be the 69th year for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I think it is the largest event of this type in the world. Somewhere between 500,000 to 700,000 people will bring their bikes to the tiny town for 9 days of riding and rock concerts. We have reservations at the Buffalo Chip Campground where a who's who of rock and comedy stars will entertain us every night after our Black Hills rides every day. Flashing, a time honored tradition at events like this, will offer great photo opportunities whereby I can sharpen my photographic skills. Expect some R rated content on the blog my mid August.

We may need a rest after Sturgis, so we will ride, at a leasurly pace, the 2,200 miles home via Kentucky. We don't have any agenda there but it will be our 49th state. Hawaii, next March, allows us to cross all 50 off our bucket list.

So much for the riding plans. This week I have had good news and bad news on the personal front. First the bad news... Theresa's mother, Janie is in the hospital and faces a battery of tests ot evaluate her heart. She has been struggling lately with a miriad of problems and Theresa has flown to her Maryland home for many visits this year and last. We love her and hope things go better for her soon.

Now the good news. For many years now, I've been thinking about how I think. Wondering why I am bent toward the technical and logical. Much credit goes to lifelong friend John Hite, who, as a gifted engineer, has also been my accidental teacher. However, the single most powerful hour of education in my life, I trace back to a High School chemistry class where Elaine Kilbourne led us through a class in deductive reasoning and the scientific method. I felt compelled to write her a thank you letter when I was in my 50s and had become smart enough to appreciate her. For the last 10 or so years I've been looking for her, to say thanks. A recent change in my search engine put me on her trail and yesterday we made contact after 44 years! The thank you letter I wrote for her has evolved into a short essay which I'll add here to close this blog entry. I hope it expresses the depth of my gratitude for her.



On Becoming a Scientist
Thank you Mrs. Kilbourne. In my junior year of high school you gave me a gift, disguised as a chemistry class. That was the day I became a scientist. I don’t mean that I got a degree in a scientific discipline but it changed my way of thinking about things; I adopted the scientific method.

You came into the class with a shopping cart full of cardboard cigar boxes, taped shut, each with a number on the top. You knew what was inside but told us we would figure it out by deductive reasoning and the scientific method. It took you a few minutes to describe how we would make and record observations, postulate a hypothesis, and test our theory with experiments. I was handed box number 8 and started writing my observations.

There is a hard object in the box, it rattles when I shake it.
When I tilt the box, the object rolls making a flup, flup, flup, sound.
The object rolls when tilted in one direction but slides in the other.
I can tell by the way it rolls that the object appears to be a cylinder with one or more flat spots that cause the flupping sound.
It is slightly conical because when I tilt the box and cause it to roll, one side hits the opposite wall slightly before the other.

This was getting to be fun. I was actually excited by the long list of observations I was able to make, simply by manipulating the box.
I began to think it was a wooden clothespin. I noted my theory on the paper.

If it was a clothespin, I might be able to balance it on its flat head but not its round feet. I did many such experiments and all were consistent with my theory. I found I could paint a mental picture of the object by my manipulations, attempts at balancing, hefting, sliding, and shaking. I reasoned I would be able to calculate its diameter by counting the flups as it rolled across the bottom of the box. I should not be able to influence it with a magnet and if I had an x-ray machine, there would be more definitive experiments I could do. I thought of many experiments and did enough to satisfy myself that my theory was correct.

I felt good when you congratulated me for getting it right, but you didn’t have to say anything. I knew what was in the box. For the rest of that week, I was consumed in thought. I realized that I had believed many things without foundation, but now, I knew that these mysterious things could be known. I was elated that I finally had confidence in the periodic table of the elements, the DNA molecule, the innards of the atom, medicine, and countless other things that were simply a mystery to me before, now had a foundation; the Scientific Method! All of the prior knowledge earned by scientific research now had much more value to me. I could trust Mendeleyev, Darwin, Einstein, Franklin, Watson and Crick because I suddenly knew how they came to their findings. Knowing that such things could be known with a reasonable degree of certainty changed my way of thinking. It changed my life!

In the 44 years since that day I have paused many times to reflect on the value of your gift. It allows me to think with reason, and figure out the truth of things. The method you taught has served me well in all aspects of my life and now, at 62 years of age, I think of it as the best spent hour of my entire education. I am in your debt.

Thank you Mrs. Kilbourne.