March 23, 2016

March 20, 2016

“Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi (er… Montgomery) again”.

On the 17th, we made the run up to Maxwell AFB in good time without too much hassle except running into some thunderstorms just west of Quincy.  There was a lot of stop and go driving up Highway 231 but we just took our time and enjoyed the day.

When we got to Maxwell AFB things changed after going through the main gate.  After leaving the gate, I was trying to get into the left lane but was being blocked by a little car next to me.  While watching him in the mirror, I hit a speed bump a little too hard.  Now, this is not your ordinary speed bump.  In the left lane it’s not very high but as it slopes to the right, it gets very big due to the slope of the street.  Although I was going less than 10 MPH, we thought that everything in the coach had come loose.

We then drove on to the base’s Famcamp, checked in and found our parking site.  After parking, we went back to unhook our tow car and that’s when we saw the damage.  The tow bars had bounced up very hard and took out the whole front of the car.

So we started making phone calls.  Joyce talked to the Honda dealer who recommended a Capital City Auto Body.  I called Good Sam’s to get a tow truck started our way and then called our insurance company.

To make a long story a tad shorter, we got the car into the shop.  They told us they would try to expedite the repairs as much as possible and then we picked up a rental car at Enterprise Rental.  Our insurance is covering the rental car up to $25 a day or for a total of $750.  More later.

March 22, 2016

Yesterday we made a trip over to Selma, AL to do some sight-seeing.  As you probably know, Selma is best known for the 1960s Voting Rights Movement and the Selma to Montgomery marches.

On the way into town we stopped just east of the Edmund Pettus Bridge where “Bloody Sunday” took place on March 7, 1965.

Our next stop was at the Slavery and Civil War Museum but unfortunately it was closed.  We then walked back up the street to the Side Porch Restaurant for lunch.  I had their Crawfish Po-Boy and Joyce decided on the Catfish Nuggets, both of which were excellent.

Next, we walked up to the National Parks Service’s Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail office.  There is a small area in the back that has interactive displays that were interesting.  Also, while there the ranger introduced us to an Army veteran named Joanne Bland.  Before we left, the ranger gave us more information about Miss Joanne.  More on here is below.

Next, we drove a few blocks to the Brown Chapel AME Church and King Monument, the starting point for the marches.  Miss Joanne was there giving a tour to a high school class from Los Angeles, CA  she asked if we wanted to tag along.  Well, yeah!

Our group was led to an cement area at the back of the church and Miss Joanne told us all to pick up a rock from the ground and hold them up above our heads.  Three students were asked to come forward with their rocks and Joanne to us that this is where the marchers gathered before leaving for Montgomery on March 7th.

Joanne asked us to keep our rocks and put them in a place where we could look at them everyday.  Then, if we every saw see an injustice happening, think about what went happened in Selma and do something positive about that injustice.

Joanne was 11 years old and along with her 13 year old sister Linda, marched to the bridge on Bloody Sunday where they were beaten and gassed buy the state troopers.  Joanne was arrested thirteen times, the youngest person jailed during that time.  Linda later made the march to Montgomery, the youngest person to do so.  To say it was an honor for us to meet Joanne is an understatement.

Read more about Joanne Bland and her sister on these web sites:

http://www.baylor.edu/alumni/magazine/0202/news.php?action=story&story=7595-title=Joanne

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/norma-adams-wade/20150127-youngest-marcher-at-selmas-bloody-sunday-to-speak-in-dallas.ece

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanne_Bland

https://cj222.wordpress.com/2015/10/26/civil-rights-activist-shares-her-story-and-calls-students-to-action/

 Joanne Bland

 Joanne is in the center in the black coat.

March 23, 2016

Looks like we are going to be in Montgomery for longer than we thought.  We got word yesterday that our car won’t be ready for at least 12 days, maybe longer.  That sure wasn’t good news.

The good news is that the famcamp here on Maxwell was able to get us a parking site for as long as needed.  We will have to move on Saturday but that’s OK with us.  And, the insurance company will be extending out our rental car for us.  Also, we are life members of Good Sams so we have $500 worth of trip interruption insurance that will help us out.

So, when life those lemons at you, make some lemonade and that is exactly what we plan to do.  Not sure what just yet but you can bet it we ain’t going to be sitting around here feeling sorry for ourselves.

Nuff for now.

Barry & Joyce

Mar 18, 2016

March 16, 2016

A lot has happened since I last wrote, some good and some bad.  The bad first.

The very next day after the cardiologist in St. Augustine said I was good to go I had a dizzy episode while adjusting the air conditioning temperature.  I laid down on the couch in hopes that it would go away but it didn’t.  In fact, it got much worse and to top that off I started having a hard time breathing.  Well that really got my attention and scared me some so Joyce called 911.

When the med tech’s got there and did their assessment, they recommended I go to the hospital.  It’s funny, when they got me up from the couch I immediately started to feel better but we decided to make the hospital trip anyway.

When I got to the Emergency Room at Putnam County Hospital, the nurses got me hooked up to several monitors and started an IV.  A few minutes later Dr. Zabad came in and ordered blood tests.  He said my heart rate was really low which didn’t make him or me happy.  And, my blood pressure was high as well.  He also sent me down for a chest x-ray.

After Dr. Z got the blood test results and after analyzing all the other stuff going on, he decided to admit me for more testing.  So, off I go to the ICCU where I was put on oxygen along with more sticking and poking.

Later, along comes a neurologist who ordered a CAT scan so I had another ride downstairs to the CAT lab.  Later, the neurologists comes back and said that I had “significant” calcium buildup in the arteries that go up to the brain and then proceeded to tell me what my options are, none of them good.  He decided to do another CAT scan, this time using dye to get a better look at the arteries.  He came back later in the evening and said that the new CAT results were much better and that the buildup wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought after the first test.  Yay!!!

I also saw another cardiologist who is also a member of the First Coast Heart and Vascular Institute who did all of the work on me before.  He looked at my charts and told me he was going to recommend to Dr. Z a change in my medications.

So, after two nights and the next day, the doctors finally let me go.  They took me off of two of my meds I have been taking for several years and put me on a new one.  Then during the followups in their offices another new drug was added.

That is the bad stuff so here is the good times.

On March 12th we drove down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, FL to spend the night before our cruise to the Caribbean.

The next morning we boarded Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas which happens to be the largest cruise ship in the world at the present time.  Harmony of the Seas in presently in sea trials which will eclipse Allure buy a few feet.  Our trip took us to Labadee, Hati (RC’s private resort), Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico.

The Allure is huge!  We were on her for seven days and didn’t see all of her but we did try.  When we wanted to be in the back of the ship it seamed like we were always in the front and vice-versa for the back.  And of course that happened several times a day so we did get some exercise just walking back and forth.

This cruise was all about the ship and since we had been to all of the ports before, we only got off twice and for very short times.  We did a little shopping in Falmouth and Cozumel but other than that we just enjoyed the Allure.

The Allure is huge!

Time to get the party started!

Labadee, Hati

Falmouth, Jamacia

 Cozumel, Mexico

Here comes Liberty of the Seas

The Captain turned her around and backed her in just slicker than heck.

Joyce cleans up really good!

We will be taking another cruise out of Seattle, WA in June sailing to Alaska on the Explorer of the Seas.  This will be our second cruise to Alaska but we will be going to the Tracy Arm Fjord, a new destination for us.  We are going to be joined by Joyce’s mother, Jim and Jeanne Glaspey and Jim’s brother Ron and his family including some grad children.

March 17, 2016

On Tuesday night we went to the St. Augustine Amphitheater to see a production of the Lion King with Michelle, Abigail and Skyler.  The play was fantastic but it was a sad evening as well as we had to say goodbye to them.  We had a wonderful winter spending time with our family and of course we were sad to leave them.  Sniff, sniff.

Yesterday morning we hooked up our towd, jumped on highway 100 and headed toward Quincy, FL, our first stop on our way west.  We pulled into the Beaver Lake Campground about 3 PM, not a “destination” park by any stretch of the imagination but for $20 a night, it works.  We’ll be leaving here this morning headed to Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL where we will spend two nights.

Well that is more than I had intended to write.  More later.

Barry & Joyce