Movies!

Today starts the film festival in beautiful Traverse City. We had breakfast with my wife's groovy grandpa, and we will begin the process of filling totes for shipping to Alaska. There is apparently a concert at the bookstore in Traverse City featuring (to me at least) my grandson, tickets to pick up, and movies at 3, 6, and 9 p.m.

Lotsa fun and hectic activity as we wind down vacation-but we are getting to spend quality time with important people. I got to see my parents and several of my siblings again last weekend, and we are catching up on seeing as many friends and family as possible in the days remaining...

Summer Summary...

(In no especial order of importance).

1. We rode our bikes-this takes on many forms. Last night, we rode out to Pleasant Lake. Today, we rode around Berry Lake. I dropped my chain on a front derailleur shift, and got all greasy getting it back on. This Saturday, we are planning on the White Pine Trail from here to a town called Leroy and back. We will apparently have company for that trip.

2. We went to the beach-today it was the beach at Lake Missaukee. Last week, it was the beach on Lake Michigan at the small town of Elberta. There maybe a beach trip on Friday as well, perhaps in the Leelanau Peninsula. Lots of beach time lately, and, from the sounds of it, we are well advised to take advantage of warm weather and sunshine, as there is likely to be little of either to be found upon our return to Napaskiak.

3. We entertained/were entertained by friends in the evening. Tonight it was Steve and Lorri King, as well as our friend Johanna Carey. Sunday night, we had the O'Hagan girls over for cooking lessons, and then we ate the results.

4. Starting tomorrow, we will be heading to Traverse City for the film festival. We have spent lots of time there this summer for various reasons. This week, it will be mostly movies (with one root canal thrown in for good measure). Saturday is our "day off" from the film fest, and that will be spent either on a bike, watching a triathlon, or hanging out with Steve and Lorri.

5. We take care of stuff that needs to be taken care of while we are here. In the past week, we have had dental trips (which triggered the recommendation for the aforementioned root canal), electrician visits (to fix a faulty circuit), and my wife made her pilgrimage to Sam's Club to buy stuff that we need to stock the new house.

That kind of sums it up. The same stuff over and over. It has been very pleasant, so don't take this as a complaint. It is just kind of boring to write about. It probably is kind of boring to read about. But it is how we are spending our summer vacation, and it is really nice.

Still Waiting...

There are no postings as yet suggesting the existence of a finished TC Lip Dub product on youtube. I will follow up when it is available.

Tomorrow may be the hottest day of the year, and my wife thinks that a trip to the beach is in order. She may have a point. There are several lovely sites available along Lake Michigan, and we have not been to any of them in a while. I may ask for nominations on Facebook to see what kind of results I get. I think that Lake Michigan makes the most sense as the water there will be the coolest available, and we are definitely going to want a refreshing dip if the thermometer hits 100 degrees, as is being suggested. Of course, a trip in the middle of the day may not make the most sense.

I plan on making another trip downstate this weekend to visit my parents one more time before we go back to Alaska. We are hosting a cooking class/tasting event on Friday night, which means that Saturday is the most likely option for departure. I also recall a dentist appointment scheduled for Monday morning, so my thought of staying over Sunday night is not likely to make sense.

Tonight we attend a wine tasting fundraiser at one of our local restaurants. The week is beginning to fill with engagements. Time runs short...

The Heat Has Arrived...

When we first arrived, my wife had me hauling up the air conditioning unit from the basement in short order. It had gotten hot quickly. After several days, however, things cooled back down, and have more or less stayed that way since. Not as of yesterday. The thermometers were hitting 90 degrees all over Northern Michigan. We, of course, chose that day to spend outside, in our first attempt at being movie extras.

The Traverse City Film Festival, occasionally mentioned in these pages, decided to create a Lip Dub event in Traverse City. I believe, although I do not know, that it was inspired by a recent event in Grand Rapids, MI (see youtube-Grand Rapids Lip Dub for details). As we walked down Front Street towards the area where extras were gathering, we could see that the streets had been closed down for filming, and clusters of folks were either ready to participate or watch. Extras were directed to assemble on an open area on Grand Traverse Bay called, appropriately enough, The Open Space. We dutifully walked there and stationed ourselves in the most reasonable looking shady area.

For the next several hours, my wife and I, our friend Ann and her daughter Nikki alternated between hot shade and hotter sunshine when it was time to do another take. We were reasonably well provisioned with juicy nectarines and water, so we kept reasonably well hydrated. Several takes were shot, and we were waiting for one last go-around, when word came that it was all going to be done. I suspect that time for the street closings had expired, or something of that nature.

It was good silly fun, and we are now awaiting the final results of the filming, which should be available in the next day or two. Details about viewing will be forthcoming...

Will We Ever Get Out Of Here?

Unfortunately, the news was no better down the street and around the corner. But there was a mall. Close by. So, we at least had someplace better to sit and kill time than the waiting room at the tire store. Just a couple of hours, and we would be on our way.

False. We finally left at nearly three o' clock in the afternoon, with a nine-plus hour ride home in front of us. To make matters more fun, there was a hellacious storm at the WV-Ohio state line that stuck us on the side of the road and peppered our car with hail. There were many challenges in the course of that weekend. Despite them all, we all seemed to have a great time. I got to see my parents and family, Diego got to spend some time with my nephew and certainly enjoyed rafting, we both got to see Adam, and everyone enjoyed the West Virginia hospitality. I have been going to that part of the country since 1980, and it has changed considerably. The town of Fayetteville is truly a pleasant surprise, with many shops and a couple of really cool restaurants that we got to sample. The river trip was immense fun, and I got to spend some quality time with a neat kid.

We have all retreated back to our neutral corners for the moment, but the summer goes on unabated. We have spent a bunch more time with my wife's family, including my new nephew, who just got here on July 12. We are ready to hit the Traverse City Film Festival yet again, and we got into a film that they were shooting in TC on July 17. The results should be available on the internet in a few days. The weather has gotten very hot, and we spent some quality time at our friend Ann's swimming pool.

One of the best events of this past week was my exit interview from the AKT2 program. It was nice to hear some of the familiar voices again, and it was really nice to realize that I was done. There will always be more challenges, but it is nice to have this chapter of my life drawing to a close.

We have solemnly resolved to make this week a little quieter. I wonder whether that will work out...

More West Virginia Adventures...

So, we had encountered some tire issues with our rental vehicle previously this summer. There was a flat tire on the left rear, apparently attributable to not one, but two nail punctures, which we got repaired. On the day that we left the Detroit area for WV, we had another alert that the tire pressure was low on that particular side. A refill seemed to do the trick, at least until Sunday night. On Monday, as we began to travel back, the light went off again.

In the meantime, our friend Adam had pulled apart the front end of his motorcycle to see what the problem was. The front bearings had literally disintegrated...explains the clunking sound that he reported quite nicely. He was not going anywhere except to a repair shop, and there were none open until Monday morning. So, we got an unexpected, but not unwelcome, guest on Sunday night, and we both had vehicle challenges to deal with on Monday morning. Bode was able to get the bike together enough to ride down to Beckley and get the parts that he needed.

Our options were not quite as simple. The rental company had instructed us to take the tire to either a Goodyear or Firestone dealer for repair. By the time we got out of the mountains and down to Charleston, the light had come on again, despite the fact that we had filled the tire not long before. It was clearly not holding air. Thanks to the wonders of the 3g iPad, we knew the location of a dealer in Charleston and how to get there. Unfortunately, they were looking at at least a 1.5 hour wait to get the tire looked at. They were kind enough to direct us to another dealer only a couple of blocks away...

It Got More Complex (part II)...

So, there I was, realizing that a large raft, full of eight people, was sitting on top of me in the middle of a rapids. Actually, I don't remember it being all that distinct. I did realize where I was, and the fact that I needed to be elsewhere in a hurry. Either the boat moved or I did, or maybe a little of both. I popped up to the surface, and heard our guide calling to direct me. I followed the suggestion with alacrity. About the time that I got back to the boat, I realized that the middle finger of my left hand was really smarty. Not OMIGOD-I can't take it-I'm going to pass out pain, but definitely the kind that made me wonder how I was going to grab anything to pull myself back in.

Not to worry. The guide grabbed my life jacket, I kicked, and out I came. I immediately resolved to stay in the boat for the rest of the day. My hand still hurt a lot, and I had a sneaking suspicion that I had broken what my wife's cousin now refers to as my "communication finger." I continued to paddle as we went down the river, and at lunch, I got together with the trip leader and fashioned a splint out of tape and q-tips. It would do for the afternoon. The rest of the trip was a ball, and I was very happy to see that Diego was clearly enjoying himself a lot. I think that we won a new convert to the world of whitewater.

At the end of the day, we worked together to load the rafts on a trailer, and hiked up a hill to the pick-up location. There was cold beer and pop, and the cans made a lovely ice pack as we rode back to the company headquarters. I sat down with the trip leader and went through the ritual of filing an injury report as my companions changed into dry clothes...(more to follow...)

It Got More Complex...

We made it to the rafting rendezvous on time Sunday morning...but Bode was nowhere to be found...the time was ticking away, and we had not heard from him. We went to the final staging area to get our gear, such as life jackets, paddles, and helmets...no Bode. The crowd of people who were going on the trip continued to grow, but no Bode. Sunscreen was being rubbed into skin all around...no Bode.

Finally, we heard the trip leader refer to "some guy coming in on a motorcycle," and we knew that our friend had checked in and was going to make it, even if a little on the tardy side. I have taken to teasing Adam in slightly profane terms about his "abandonment" of the survivors in Napaskiak in favor of a job that actually employs his training directly. He is teaching agricultural ed and shop, which is what he is best qualified to do. Those opportunities were not so available in our school, with the exception of a wood shop class that appears to be a thing of the past now. Anyway, in keeping with my standard greeting of him as "You S.O.B," I extended a single finger salute to him when he finally ambled towards us. With my left hand. It has been suggested that I may be overly fond of the gesture, but I feel that I mostly reserve it as a deterrent to photographs that I do not wish to have taken.

All was well, and we loaded onto the bus that would take us to our put-in site on the river. As we rode, Mr. B explained that his motorcycle had suddenly developed a clunk in the front wheel which hindered his progress for the last 45 minutes of his ride into Oak Hill, where the rafting company headquarters are located. He thought that it might have something to do with his speedometer cable, but it would require disassembling the front wheel to find out for sure. That would come later. We had rapids to run first.

The trip started a little farther down the river than it has in the past. The trips that I have taken in the past have tended to start in the metropolis of Thurmond, WV, population 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurmond,_West_Virginia). This entailed a fair amount of long paddles down flat pools of water, with a couple of preliminary rapids thrown in along the way for practice. The new route puts in at Cunard, where there is a very nicely prepared site, including a boat slide down to the river. This, in turn, positions the boaters just above Upper and Lower Railroad rapids, two of the first more difficult rapids on the Lower New.

We ran the top, and decided to go play around in Lower Railroad for a while. This involved paddling back upstream into the hole at the bottom of the rapids. It is a good surfing site for kayakers. We settled mostly for sticking the nose of the boat into the mess, and flying around afterwards. On the second or third of these, I lost my thirty-year record of successfully staying in the boat. I could see my companions receding as I fell overboard. I quickly found myself under the boat...(stay tuned for Part II)...

Almost Heaven...

I couldn't resist the cliche for a moment. I will try to be more resolute in the future. We have made it, safe and sound, to West Virginia. It wasn't always clear that this was going to be the case. We had numerous false starts and challenges to this trip, and I thought for a little that it wouldn't get done.

But we are here, and we will be rafting in a few hours, along with our old friend from Napaskiak, Adam Bode. He has traveled down here from his home in Ohio to visit and spend the day. I know that my wife is looking forward to seeing him, and I hope that Diego enjoys his company as well.

It promises to be a wet and sunny day, so the sunscreen will have to be a necessary part of our travel gear. We are driving down to the rendezvous point, and we checked out the route last night. It is definitely tucked back down in the mountain hollows. We were trying to imagine getting out in the winter, and what a challenge that would be. The road is narrow, twisting, and steep. And it gets more so as you get closer to the destination. There is a camp back into the wilderness where President Truman apparently liked to come in the past. This is where we will meet up with our trip leaders. We will then be transported in some fashion to the river, where we will embark on a day of rapids and fun.

The other two travelers are still sleeping. They will awake for their day of fun in a couple of hours...more from the road tonight.

Self Improvement!

The summer has tended to be lazy and unfocused, when it wasn't frantic and busy, and my partner in crime finally indicated her frustration with this state of affairs yesterday. Although I may not have liked the criticism, I had to acknowledge its accuracy. So, as of today, we are going to be on a Schedule from now on. A little structure is in order, and it will help to get back into fighting trim for the upcoming school battles.

We have a month left before we depart for the sunny climes of Western Alaska, and we aim to spend more of it on the bike saddle and in the gym. Today's festivities begin with the running of the dogs and a bike ride for yours truly before I take it to the shop for a few adjustments.

We have the super grandson, Diego, with us, and we are taking this show on the road. Off to Southern Michigan to visit my parents, and ultimately to West Virginia, where we will sample the whitewater delights of the New River Gorge. I haven't been down there in about twenty years, and I am excited about the return.

I suspect that any serious attempt at self-improvement also means more meaningful entries in this blog, although " we went here and there" is kind of boring after a while. Still, this is an ongoing project that enough people apparently enjoy enough to complain when entries are scarce. My lovely presented me with a bound and printed version for our anniversary, which will be nice to share with my parents, who tend to be technophobes of the first degree. Yes, and they also will get some snickerdoodle cookies...

It is a little after 7 am, and coffee has been consumed, morning reading is nearly finished. Time to rouse the sleeping, and get them on Schedule...

More Visiting...

We got together with an old friend that I had not seen in years for lunch yesterday, and it was fun sharing memories and catching up on life. We later visited Traverse City to look at tattoo designs, eat cupcakes, and visit with our pals Andrea and Derek and their kids, Griffin and Taylor. I even spent some time watching a Detroit Tigers baseball game with Derek, which was very enjoyable even though they lost. They are in a tight race for first place in their division. It almost makes me miss television. However, it doesn't take a lot of exposure before my tastes begin to shift again...

There is a pool party at our friend Ann's house today, and we will get over there in a while. Fireworks tomorrow night, and a busy week before we leave. It is July now, which means that we will eventually have to think about getting ready for our return. In a couple of weeks, that is...