Days 19 – 21 of retirement
world tour reunions
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Dr. Terrell Neuage ⋅ December 19, 2016 ⋅ Leave a comment
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Under B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore Maryland, I-95, low-carb diet, Lutherville-Timonium, marijuana, Melbourne Crown Casino, Portland, Sheppard Pratt Hospital, Solar Vortex day
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Day 19 – DC ~ Baltimore
15-12-2016 Wednesday
The
rumour of a polar-vortex starting tomorrow got us out the door and heading
north. I had thought that it would be interesting to go past where I used to
live @ 1719 Broadway Rd
Lutherville Timonium, MD 21093 in 1977 – 1978 or so for a couple of years. The
only reason I know this address is because it has been listed online under
‘Marriage & Family Counselors’ and/or ‘Individual
and family services’ for about twenty years. Go figure. Firstly, I am far from
a family counsellor, especially marriage. And there is not just one listing but
many. (under Terrell Adsit which was my name at the
time – having changed it to Neuage in 1980) I am amazed how it stays there.
Perhaps back in the 1990s when I was a single parent I put that in for a joke
but I do not recall. I am listed in Maryland’s top counsellors pages too. Good
grief. I did enjoy living in Lutherville Timonium in the 1970s when I was
working as a psych worker at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Towson and doing art
shows around the northeast. For years before then I was in a cult-order that
was located in Baltimore then Towson so I wanted to have a bit of a look-see
and poke around the area. Once again perhaps I overestimated what could be done
in a day. We left our pre-polar vortex habitat a bit later than planned and
actually headed out of DC by eleven am with the desired thought of being back
before dark. Sure!
Traffic
between DC and Baltimore – we sure miss quiet little Adelaide (1.3 million)
which has the population of DC (658,893) and Baltimore (622,104) combined with
the close to a no-wait traffic pattern. Perhaps few leave Adelaide and fewer
come to Adelaide. There surely is no five-lane road; just a couple of lanes up
the South-Eastern Freeway toward Melbourne eight hours through scrub-outback
try-and-stay-awake territory. But I-95 – give it a miss if possible. We didn’t.
Sitting in traffic with absolutely no movement and Baltimore in the distance we
manoeuvred ourselves around a truck or two and escaping to a close by ramp with
no known perspective of what direction we were headed toward. The first thing
we saw after abandoning the freeway was a Dunkin Donut; which of course we did
a few days before, vowing not to do again, keeping my low-carb diet low-carbed. But we were frazzled from the drive from DC, which
was in reality only a bit of an hour already though we were in dire need of
coffee and whatever else they sell at Dunkin Donuts.
I knew we
wanted to find the tallest buildings as they are near the inner harbour which
was one of my original goals to go to after Lutherville Timonium and Towson and
Fells Point none of which we were getting to and a couple of other places I
wanted to see. Sometime early afternoon we got to some city street that was
blocked by police cars with flashing lights. Keeping the tall buildings in view
we went up and down several streets with our direction taking us on some
historic scenic street, Pratt Street, where the first thing we saw was the
B&O Railroad Museum which looked interesting so we parked, went inside, saw
a sign about admission but as no one was around we went in and had a great
couple of hours looking at and going in trains and hearing tour guides, watching
model train sets and generally having a good old time. We assumed because it
was part of the Smithsonian Institute was the reason entrance was free. It was
not until we told Chris and Jessica about it when we got back that they said it
wasn’t free and in fact admission was $18 or $16 for the likes of us (seniors)…
oops. We did purchase a fridge magnet for $4 so we did sort of pay our way.
B&O
Railroad Museum: Baltimore Maryland
Being
hungry and the day quickly slipping away we saw signs for the Horseshoe Casino
and knowing that in Australia casinos have good meal deals we went in. For
example, Melbourne Crown Casino has an all-you-can eat restaurant which is good
for a low-carb vegetarian such as me: lots of choices of lettuces and stuff.
There was no smorgasbord at the Horseshoe; just budget, almost fast-food
places. I had an omelette and Narda had some
meat-induced stew thing.
Narda wanted us to head back to DC about 3:45 to avoid
traffic and a sun setting too early. I had yet to see anything that was on my
original list and was determined to see at least the harbour. Getting lost and
a bit frustrated, by keeping an eye on the Baltimore World Trade Centre, we
managed to get to the water; I took a few photos then we fought our way onto
I-95. Eventually seeing the road was so slow and getting slower we got across
to Route One, The George Washington Memorial Parkway, and into
the night getting home at 7 pm. Bottom line, when on holiday, make no plans. Or
another translation: our life is a holiday – therefore, we make no plans – or
few and they turn out differently than anticipated so back to make no plans.
Day 20 Thursday ~ Solar Vortex day
warm
times for all in DC
Not quite
Adelaide weather. With the wind-chill it was -14. OK that is Celsius.
17.8 Fahrenheit but cold nevertheless. We stayed inside for the day; a
down-day, always so important when on holiday. Though lately it has been about
three down-days for every out and about day.
Feeling
better today, we have had a few days of feeling a bit crook, coughing, sore
throat, but no matter, a few days hanging about has been the right thing.
Jess was
done with her presentation at the conference in San Francisco, so we decided to
do some nice together slow paced activities. Had a great brunch at a true blue
American diner called Slim Jims. I was still full
from brekkie, so I had the Greek salad, really yum. Great little place, we hope
to return.
Then we
had pakjes, which is our family Dutch scaled down
gift giving thing. We bought Liam some stuffed Aussie animals and a little
music box, which turned out to be his favourite.
The kids
went out for a date night, and we stayed in and took care of the little guy.
Watched episode 2 of The Crown, really good actually.
Day 21
Friday to Oregon
Now at
the Dulles airport waiting for boarding. It’s not a nice airport; pretty old,
long walks, not enough food, and low ceilings. Can’t complain though, ours was
one of the few flights not delayed by the freezing rain this morning, which
coats everything in a layer of ice. So there’s a lot of folks here trying
to fly United, not looking at all happy.
Day 21 Friday to Oregon
ice on my
lines
Above picture is out the front door this morning –
the streets and porch were iced up.
This
flight is true of all flights, just the tool to get where we are going in life.
One minor difference they have only male hosties –
Qantas sometimes has that but first time I have seen this on United. The
glorified waiter in the sky serving the drinks is grouchy. He looks like he
would prefer to be out playing rugby – I expect him to tackle someone if they
ask for too much. I wanted tomato juice and coffee he said I already had a
beverage – so I asked him again – he gave me that ‘I am a pro-rugby tackling
dude’ look but because I am the customer he did cough up the coffee – giving me
a half a cup. Guess I will just have to push the buzzer and get him back for
the rest of my coffee. The other two seem like happy larrikins so maybe I will
ask one of them.
We got
this flight at a reduced rate. We used our United mileage points and paid $25
each which seems like a bargain. It is an over-booked flight and we could have
gotten $200 each to take a next flight which would have given us a profit of
$350 for a trip to Portland but we didn’t want to wait another day. We make too
many sacrifices in life to think of profit over fun.
Travelling
of course is great but we have this extra element this time of diet and
medication to deal with for four months. I also must keep track of this little
device that looks like an iPhone. It monitors my defibrillator/pacemaker that
some happy-go-lucky cardiologist in Adelaide shoved into my chest a few months
ago. Not only do I need to keep the bloody thing charged up but I am supposed
to carry it wherever I go. Someone in Adelaide checks it every morning their
time and the thing uploads to their server at one am Adelaide time (not the
same one that the Clintons or Trumps use I hope; perhaps in some paranoid
conspiracy embedded Russian think tank they are following the rhythm of my heart.
Gosh, how romantic). I forget which time zone I am in comparison to theirs and
forget to have it with me at times because one am in Adelaide is surely not one
am wherever I am. Perhaps when they log into my monitor they get a blank and
wonder if I am still alive or whether somehow they should send a jolt to
restart my heart.
But all
that is the easy part of our travel. Next is keeping track of the medication.
Liver stuff, diabetes things, party-heart-parts, prostrate and you don’t want
to know the rest, I don’t, and on and on. I love being old it is such a thrill.
I used to take pills in the 1960s and 1970s for recreation now I take them to
stay upright but travel is recreation and on some cosmic level it all is
sustainable. I got the pharmacy (that I support) to put my pills into little
packs that when rolled up; with the dates and times on each sachet, are the
size of a pair of socks; winter socks. I have four rolls, one for each month –
another thing to fill our suitcases along with winter crap. By the time we get
to Cambodia we won’t need all the winter clothing and my pills will be reduced
to one thick pair of socks size. Maybe we can donate our winter clothes at the
Amsterdam Airport bin and have lots of room to purchase more crap to put in our
house. Like as if we don’t have enough on our walls from fifteen years of
travel. Of course writing this now reminded me that I have yet to take my
evening pills which are stuck in one of my pockets.
We worry
that I will lose my pills or my heart monitor or some other life-enhancing item
like we did last week when we (I) left the laptop on the bus between NYC and DC
of course as we explained in the last writing that turned out well and we were
able to collect it a few days later giving me a new lease on life.
The
really most difficult thing though is trying to do a diet. I have always been a
bit difficult with travel being a vegetarian. Of course I have done this so
long that I forget whether why I started this fifty years ago was because I
needed attention being adopted and a Leo or because of the hippie communes I
lived in during that time or that when I started I actually had some belief of
some sort but what is so groovy about being a vegetarian is that I get my food
before everyone else on flights that serve meals which now day is just
international flights. if you want to get a meal before everyone else on a
flight the trick is to have a special diet – doesn’t matter what. I am always
finished and onto wiser things such as playing on my computer or annoying Narda before everyone else gets served. Now with my
low-carb diet; yes, it does work for diabetes – I have been doing it for a year
and my blood sugars are normal except for when they aren’t which is when I go
off my diet. I do a bit of an intuition calorie count which is probably not as
accurate as someone counting them exactly. Wow, how boring. I have my fruit
smoothie then my veggie smoothie and my seeds and nuts brekky then for morning
tea I have one of my homemade you-beaut healthy
cookies and a couple of eggs for lunch and low carb stuff for din din. A couple of times we did the Donkin Donut flirt and it
fitted into my ‘intuitive’ carb count just as a piece of chocolate sometimes
does. I have managed to survive with thirty-seven percent of my marbles still
intact so I am sure something is being done right.
Bottom
line – still going and almost seventy which I forget but get reminded by my
body when I try to do anything too youthful like skip and jump which as you can
imagine is rare.
What does
keep Narda and I somewhat fit and is important when
on the road for months at a time is walking. I do weights at home but they kind
of don’t fit into my baggage scheme so on trips we try to walk a lot. here due
to the cold we don’t do much but in Hawaii we would walk most of the day.
Almost to
Portland now. Lots of interesting stuff for this next week. We will stay with
Randy for a week. I have known Randy since 1968 and he has played roles in my
life in LA, SF, Hawaii; 1969, again in 1980 I stayed with him in 1985 with
my children in tow (age two-and-half and four) and other times and places. I
lived in Eugene in 1969 and visited Randy there in 1992 with my two children
and the last time was in 2010 when we went white-water rafting down the
Willamette River. Perhaps the place has changed since last there.
We’ll
see.
The
announcement from the flight-deck at arrival @ Portland was something about
that there is no smoking of cigarettes aloud in most places in Portland – but
other things, well.. which of course got a laugh from everyone as Oregon is now
a legal marijuana state. I know when I was living here in 1969 an ounce of pot
was for sale at ten bucks and being sold in the cafeteria of the University of
Oregon here in Eugene but it was illegal though no one seemed to mind.