Archive for Uncategorized
April 10, 2006 at 9:57 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Hoping to repeat our dinner feast back in Austin TX, when we visited Whole Foods Market, we dropped in on a place here in Tampa called Wild Oats.
It was not nearly as large or fun as Whole Foods Market, but we still found a lot of great goodies for dinner, and laid them out here for you to see.
Our smorgasbord tonight. Click for larger view.
OK, from top center going clockwise: Emma’s pepperoni pizza slice, a combination tray of sushi (with tuna and salmon) for Rich, croissants, a slice of fig almond cake, miso soup, dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with rice), sushi for Eleanor (eel roll), calamari salad, salmon pate, Australian blue cheese. In the center of the table, cornichons (little pickles), olives, onions, and more dolmas.
We never even got to the cheese, pate, or fig cake, and there were leftovers of most other things, so we’ll have an interesting lunch tomorrow. Between tonight’s shopping and other things we’ve had in restaurants lately, the 8-cubic foot refrigerator of our Airstream is stuffed full. I think I’ll be eating leftovers for a few days, but I like that, so no problem!
Well, maybe a small problem… Last night I had leftover gyros from Tarpon Springs. I had to eat them because every time we opened the refrigerator, the entire trailer would smell like garlic. I may have to prioritize what gets eaten based on what smells the most.
Financial note: this three week stay in Tampa has been by far the most expensive part of our trip. Camping here is expensive: $39 per day at this campground, and other places near Bradenton and Sarasota cost up to $55 per day. We are paying a weekly rate of $220, so we’ve spent as much to stay here for three weeks as we spent in the first two months of our trip.
This would have really trashed the budget but the offset has been that we aren’t spending money on fuel. Our propane bill has been $0 since we got here and our gas expense has been minimal. I’m glad we came and spent time with our friends in the area, but I wish we knew someone with courtesy parking. I’ll be glad to get back to our cheapskate ways soon.
April 8, 2006 at 10:47 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We had a houseguest last night. My mother escorted Emma down from Vermont yesterday, and spent the night with us in the Airstream. She’s only the second guest we’ve had overnight — the first was back in Tucson when Andy visited. As before, it was no problem having a guest, but we’ve found that it takes a while for people to get used to the small space. We’ve learned how to move around without bumping into each other, and we’ve gained a sort of awareness of what other people are about to do before they do it. This allows us to move efficiently, but when a new person is added to the mix it gets a bit tricky, even humorous, as people crash into each other and say “Oh, excuse me!” a lot.
Today we needed something kid-friendly to do, so after dropping off my mother at the airport for her return flight home, we took in the Museum of Science and Industry. This one is great for little kids since it has an entire building filled with an exhibit called “Kids in Charge”. It easily kept Emma (and us) occupied for a few hours. And once again, we got in free with our ASTC Travel Passport. Today’s admission would have been about $56 for the three of us.
I hate to admit it, but we’ve been parked within a hundred feet of a heated pool in the beautiful Florida sunshine for nearly two weeks and we haven’t gotten in the water yet. So tonight we all jumped in for a while before sunset. They keep the pool well at about 80 degrees, which is fine this time of year. In the photo above, you can just see an Airstream at the top. That’s us.
A pool is one of our favorite modes of exercise. Emma always makes friends with the other kids too, and there are several here who are her age. I expect the pool will be a daily visit from here on in.
We are debating where to go from here. Right now the leading contenders are Hillsborough River State Park (not far off), and then Kissimmee for a visit to Sea World. We promised Emma she would see Sea World in San Diego and then we forgot … so this would be a chance to make good on that promise. I’d also like to drop in on Blue Spring State Park, and perhaps some place in the Cape area on the east coast. Eventually I think we will work east to St Augustine and then up I-95 to the Region 3 Rally in Myrtle Beach.
April 5, 2006 at 5:30 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
It has been a working day so we can’t claim any grand adventures, but it has been a beautiful day anyway. The big thing has been that the new Airstream Life store is up and running! I’d appreciate it if you took a look at our early efforts. We’ll be adding a lot more cool stuff to our virtual “shelves” over the next few weeks.
The store has been consuming a lot of my time over the past few months, so it is good to have it finally launched. While I’ve been here working out bugs with our programmer, Eleanor was out shopping for groceries, so I’m expecting a very nice dinner tonight. She said something about spicy chicken coconut curry. (She was watching the Food Network all the way back from Vermont on those seatback TVs Jet Blue has. Thank you Jet Blue!)
But dinner won’t be ready for a couple of hours, so I’m going to head out with Brett and check out digital cameras at the local Best Buy. He dropped in this afternoon and brought his laptop & cell phone, so the two of us have been working from the dinette, both using the high-speed Internet from our campground. (I think he is realizing that he can work from his motorhome several days a week if he wants to. More and more people are able to do it.)
Both of us at work at 5:30 pm on a sunny Tampa afternoon
It has been a very pleasant day, working with the Airstream’s door open and the Fantastic Vents humming. It has been sunny, around 80 degrees, bug-free, with a light breeze all day. I feel so productive when things are quiet and beautiful like this. Offices depress me, so this is the way I want to work for as long as I can.
Now, with the working day done, we’re ready to go browse gadgets and then come back to Eleanor’s Indian food. Not bad!
April 4, 2006 at 11:28 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Another beautiful day in Tampa! Eleanor and I had needed to catch up on some work today, but by afternoon we were able to relax a bit and enjoy the nice weather. At 6:30, we met up with Barry and Susan for a special night out at a local sushi restaurant.
Susan and Barry in Barry’s Miata. Click for larger version
First of course, we had to give Susan a quick tour of the Airstream. Like nearly everyone, she was a bit curious about how we live. But a tour of an Airstream takes only a few minutes if you don’t get into rivethead talk, and besides, we were hungry.
Now, the special thing about tonight was that Susan speaks Japanese and knows what the heck everything on the menu is. She goes out to this place every week or two. We sat back and let her order. And of course, since she did it in Japanese, we had no idea what was coming.
Only half of the feast! Click for larger.
But we weren’t worried. We like to try new things and it was all great. Salad, miso soup, squid, sushi, tempura, yellowtail “shoulder”, two types of tofu, rice … yum …. It was a great dinner.
We tried to get some dessert at the Panera Bread nearby but they closed at 9. We actually ended up at Border’s bookstore, huddled in the corner among some books slurping coffees and iced chai. I regaled Barry and Susan with tales of towing through the desert, the redwoods, and a couple of tight car washes. They tolerated me for quite a while before we all called it a night. It was what I hope will be the first of a lot of lovely warm evenings in Tampa.
April 2, 2006 at 11:44 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Today was my last full day of bachelorhood. Eleanor comes back Monday afternoon. (Emma will stay in Vermont a few more days with her grandparents.) And while I’m looking forward to see Eleanor, it was a great last day for me.
Florida is warming up into the 80s every day now, with endless sunshine and palm trees waving in the breeze. I took care of some business online and via phone in the morning, and then decided it was just the right sort of day for a bike ride.
Our campsite. Click for a larger image!
So I called up Brett and we headed out to the Pinellas Trail, a rails-to-trails bikeway that runs north-south along the coast. I’ve taken the old bike rack off the Armada because I got sick of it and sold it on eBay (that’s another story that I’ll explain later, but in short we do have a solution to the bike problem). But without anyone else in the car it was a simple matter to toss the bikes in the back and head over to Tarpon Springs, just a few miles away.
I recommend the bike path. You’ll see some older “historic” downtowns, and there are plenty of opportunities to cut over a couple of blocks to the waterfront. The trail itself is mostly scenic and very easy to ride. We took it about 11 miles south before turning back. And we stopped for ice cream TWICE, so you know it was a nice day.
I’ve spotted enough things to do in this area that I think we will stay here two more weeks. There are 2-3 parks to check out, some nature trails, the Clearwater beaches, several interesting restaurants, and a couple more old downtown districts. Plus, Brett has promised to teach me how to swing a golf club some evening soon.
Tomorrow I’ve got to finish getting this trailer cleaned up for Eleanor’s return. I am trying to make her homecoming as pleasant as possible. This is the first time we will have been without a child since we launched our trip last October. It should be a fun week!
March 29, 2006 at 9:54 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
OK, we’re on our way toward a more comfortable trailer! First, we got Eleanor and Emma on the airplane for Vermont, so I ‘m on my own for the rest of the week. That makes plenty of room for Brett and I to get into some interesting upgrades on the Tour trailer!
(By the way, Eleanor started feeling much better within 30 minutes of getting in the air — no pollen at 30,000 feet I guess. She’s quite happy to be in Vermont right now, and she’s got an appetite for the first time in a week!)
This evening, Brett and I did some shopping, for a 20×16 HEPA furnace filter, some aluminum L-channel (1″), and a screen door spring. Then we rigged up a nifty filtration system for our furnace’s cold air return.
As you can see, the original system just had a wide-open mesh. It wouldn’t filter out anything smaller than a hampster. But a high efficiency filter will easily filter out pollen, without impeding normal air flow.
Here’s how we did it. First, we cut the aluminum L-channel to length and screwed it to the bottom of the cabinet. This provides a secure base to hold our HEPA filter.
Then I cut the 16×20 HEPA filter in half, to make two 10×16 filters. The cut end goes down into the L-channel, so it won’t crush.
The spring is mounted to the wood and provides tension on the filter so it can’t go anywhere. Replacing a filter is easy, and since we get two filters for $9 (by cutting them in half), it’s inexpensive.
Now, whenever we are in a place where it is cool at night during pollen season, as in Tampa right now, Eleanor will be more comfortable. When the furnace runs, it will be filtering out pollen rather than blowing it all over us!
March 28, 2006 at 11:00 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
We’ve been so busy (me working, Eleanor prepping to go to Vermont) the past two days that we’ve hardly had a chance to explore the area. Since we’ll be here two weeks, we really ought to get to know the area we are in, so today I took a break and found out where the post office is, where the grocery is, etc.
It’s a funny thing, getting acquainted with an area. When we were traveling through little towns on the California coast last December, it was easy. But big metros like Tampa are a completely different challenge. Every long 4-lane artery looks the same. We rely on our GPS database, the Internet, and local contacts to help us find what we need. Being gregarious helps.
It hasn’t all been work, however. Tonight, Emma and I again joined some local friends for …. yes … bowling. I’ve done more bowling in the past week than I have in the previous two years. My game remains pitiful, however. Emma nearly beat me. She drops the ball on the runway and it slowly meanders down the lane and knocks over a bunch of pins. I swing the ball dramatically and manage to hit only one, with the gutter bumpers up.
I wanted to bring you some photos of us bowling but I was distracted by Eleanor not feeling well again, and so I left the camera at home. Instead, I snapped a shot of Emma by Barry’s hot little Miata with my cameraphone. This cameraphone takes what are likely the world’s worst pictures.
We are all stressed by Eleanor’s continuing allergy problems, and they would prevent us from doing much outside this week. So I am glad she is flying to the land of low pollen count tomorrow morning (Vermont). Hopefully she will return with a better prescription medicine in hand. In the meantime, my bachelor friends are compiling ideas of what we should do while they are gone, and I am compiling lists of fixes and upgrades I want to make to the Tour trailer. The idea of retrofitting a HEPA filter into the A/C has been dropped — there’s no room in there. But I’m still working on other ideas. I’ll document the work that gets done this week.
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