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Marlene is turning 80 on Monday and that is a milestone that demands attention. What could I do? Well, I could – and did – buy her something that she wanted: new tinting on the rear window of her Toyota Camry. That was done last week. But more was needed.
What kind of “special” gift could I get her? Many options passed through my head but one fact kept popping up: she loves cruising. I am a busy guy and I am not rich, so a long cruise was out of the question (and we have a couple of those already booked). So a short cruise. But not on Carnival as that would be old hat. Some other line.
I settled on a 5-day, 4-night cruise on the MSC Seaside from Miami to the Bahamas. We have been to the Bahamas many times, so the first port, Nassau, was nothing special. But then this ship docks for two nights on their private island, Ocean Cay. I was there back in 2020 with Jett and her sisters, on the MSC Meraviglia. I had fond memories of this island – and some good photos. The combination of a new line for Marlene and more than a full day on Ocean Cay seemed special enough for this birthday. So I booked it.
As my first MSC cruise was designated MSC1, this one will be MSC2.
Marlene’s air conditioning unit failed on Thursday which just happened to be the hottest day of the year so far (isn’t that always the way it works?). I went over to her place Thursday night and tried to diagnose the problem. Turning the unit off, waiting a bit, then turning it back on – which had “fixed” the problem in the past – did not fix it this time. The symptom was the unit would start when the electricity was turned on, but would shut off after about 2 seconds.
We slept Thursday night with no air conditioning. The inside temperature dropped from 89 to 84 by morning and we actually slept well with the lanai door wide open and a couple of fans running. But it was imperative that the problem be fixed on Friday as we were leaving for a week on Saturday (more on that later). So I took the cover off and, for the first time in my life, looked into the guts of a big AC unit. It was simpler than I expected. A large radiator and fan, a small compressor and a covered box of electronics. When I took the cover off of the box I was pleasantly surprised to discover a digital error display – “06′. A guide on the inside of the box said that “06” indicated a faulty run capacitor. As I had no idea what a run capacitor was, I had to research it a bit more. Fortunately there is this thing called Google. And YouTube.
The bad run capacitor
We agreed that one of the capacitors – there were two – was probably the culprit. One had been replaced relatively recently, about 2 years ago. The other was much older and may have been original with the 15-year-old unit. It was likely that the old one was the problem. But we found prices for the two and they were cheap so decided that getting replacements for both was a good idea. So we found an HVAC parts supplier in town and I went over there Friday around noontime. They had to search for a replacement for the old one but did eventually find both. Total cost: under $19.
I took both to Marlene’s house, noted the placement of wires on the old capacitor and carefully removed them and installed them in the same location on the new capacitor. Then I popped out the old one, slid the new one into place, crossed my fingers and turned the power back on. The AC started right up!
It took most of the day to get the house down from 89 to 79 degrees, but it did it. We slept well that night.
So a repair that probably would have cost over $200 if a certified HVAC repair guy had been called ended up costing less than $20 when done by me, a self-proclaimed HVAC apprentice.
The 12th trip south was almost as quick as the 12th trip north. But there was a bit of sightseeing – a full day on the Outer Banks.
By the numbers:
8 days, 7 nights in 4 hops, 1858 route miles (465 miles per hop)
92 extra miles
52.5 gallons of fuel (37,1 miles per gallon)
Total fuel cost: $178.22 ($3.39 per gallon)
Tolls: about $50
Hotel cost: $347.27 ($173.63 per night)
Highlights:
Time spent with family and friends.
The day of sightseeing on the Outer Banks.
The trip over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Lowlights:
The stupid argument with Family Dollar in Manteo NC.
Planned and actual routes:
TS_12 planTS_12 actual
The actual route was pretty close to the planned route. The greatest deviation occurred on the approach to Brooksville FL – we left I-75 further north.
196 miles via US 98, county roads, I-75, FL 80 and more county roads. Cumulative route miles: 1858. Cumulative auto miles: 1950. The extra 9 miles were due to a shopping trip to Aldi and a thrift store in Brooksville and a stop for fuel as we left Brooksville.
This was a simple trip, mostly down I-75, in good weather, with little traffic.
Everything was fine when we got home. Well, almost everything. I was surprised to discover a crack in the windshield of my car, which had been sitting in the driveway for 3 weeks. There must have been a ding which let go in the heat. Something to deal with.
The three days in Brooksville were at the home of our dear friends, John and Deb. We played a LOT of cards (Hand, Knee and Foot). Marlene did a little more sewing, but mostly this was just leisure time. I did a couple of Zoom meetings on my laptop.
This is #4 in the series (currently 7 in number) of Memory Man novels by Baldacci. The “memory man” is Amos Decker, a former pro football player who, due to receiving a brain injury on a blind-side hit, lost his career and gained a perfect, photographic memory. He could no longer play football but became a first-rate investigator for the FBI because he could retain every minute detail of a complex criminal case.
In this book he and his partner, Alex Jamieson, are taking a short vacation together, visiting Alex’s sister and niece in Baronville PA where her brother-in-law has taken a job in a new fulfillment center (think Amazon). The town was named after John Baron, an 18th-century industrialist who basically built the town to house the workers in his mines and factories. But the town has fallen on hard times – all the mines and factories have closed, along with many other businesses. The fulfillment center is the only major employer in town.
What seemed like a nice, relaxing break for Amos and Alex suddenly turns into an investigative job when two men are found murdered in a vacant house behind sthe sister’s dwelling. The local police grudgingly accept Amos and Alex’s offer to assist as they realize they are overwhelmed. It turns out that these two murders are actually the fifth and sixth recent very odd murders, along with a huge increase in drug overdose deaths.
The evidence seems to point in the direction of the only remaining Baron in Baronville – a lonely and nearly penniless man who still lives in the decrepit mansion at the top of the hill. Is it possible that the scion of the founding family is a serial killer?
It is an interesting question and it frames a complex plot. Amos’ legendary memory doesn’t play a huge role in this installment – and in fact it proves to be somewhat fallible. Key clues are provided by a blind man who lives across the street from where the bodies were found. Amos does eventually figure it all out, of course, and it is far deeper and more evil than anyone could have imagined.
449 miles via I-75, FL 121 and US 19 with a break at the Ellis Brothers Pecans in southern GA. Cumulative route miles: 1662. Cumulative auto miles: 1745. We made two shopping trips in GA that accounted for over 20 extra miles.
This was an easy trip in terms of navigation: just get on I-75 and head south. But traveling through Atlanta is never easy, even on a Sunday. We stopped for a break at Ellis Brothers, got some ice cream and a half pound of insanely delicious espresso beans and rested for a bit. Marlene embarrassed herself by dropping a container of pecan candy samples, but it was still a fun stop.
We opted to get off I-75 near Gainesville, taking FL 121 over to US 19 and coming into Brooksville from the west.
Our two nights in Acworth were spent with Marlene’s son and daughter-in-law. And their son and 3 dogs, one being a very large Rottweiler that terrified Becky. She spent most of the time in the bedroom, away from the other dogs. We hadn’t seen these folks for a year so it was nice catching up. And Marlene made a new friend – AI Leo who spoke to her more intelligently that I can. I might be worried.
The shopping trips were to Goodwill (of course) and Home Depot where we got a plug to replace the broken one on the Igloo cooler.
617 miles via US 64, I-85, I-285 (north of Atlanta) and I-75 with a fuel stop near Rocky Mount NC, an attempt to visit the Family Dollar corporate office in Charlotte NC (more on that below) and some zig-zagging on local roads in NC. Cumulative route miles: 1213. Cumulative auto miles: 1263. I will never be able to replicate that zig-zagging, courtesy of Google Maps, which must have cut off some miles because we logged just 617 miles versus the 644 shown on the Hop 2 map.
Both the weather and the traffic were pretty bad. The rain started and continued on-and-off for the first half of the trip. At times, east of Charlotte, the rain was very heavy. We tried to stop for boiled peanuts but it was too early. We stopped for gas just west of Rocky Mount, then tried to stop at the Family Dollar in Charlotte to give them a piece of our mind (see below) but they were closed as it was Juneteenth. We encountered several accident slowdowns on I-85 north of Atlanta. We were at an exit when we encountered a slowdown which Google Maps said would delay us 25 minutes. We saw many cars taking that exit and, assuming they knew something, followed them. It was about a 3-mile detour but it got us past the accident and probably saved us at least 15 minutes. Thanks, locals!
Becky in the hotel
The attempted Family Dollar visit was due to a kerfuffle Marlene had at the Family Dollar store near our hotel. She popped in for coffee filters (we had just purchased a used Mr Coffee at a thrift store) and saw a sign on the door advertising a “flash sale” of Lays potato chips – “buy 2, get 2 free”. The regular price for these was “$3.50 or 2 for $6”. Buy two, get two free – should be 4 for $6, right? But they rang up as 2 at $3.50 each. The manager said that “special deals can’t be combined.” Marlene contended that the 2-for-$6 was not a special deal – it was the everyday price. The manager handled it poorly. Instead of simply giving Marlene the $1 in dispute she called her “stupid.” As the Family Dollar corporate office was basically on the way we tried to stop to complain both about the signage and the manager’s abusive behavior. We didn’t get that satisfaction but, believe me, they will hear about it.
Our home for two nights in Manteo was the Heart of Manteo Motor Lodge. I booked this hotel because it was on Roanoke Island, just a bit inland from the outer banks islands where hotels were much more expensive. This hotel was reasonably priced. I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. The room was recently renovated, with a full refrigerator and a kitchenette. A large TV with many channels, Comfortable bed. Clean throughout. And an electronic door lock. Very nice for the price. I would stay here again.
We did a bit of sightseeing and shopping on our full day in the Outer Banks. We went first to the Outer Banks Fishing Pier in Nags Head where we simply walked the pier and took some photos. Then we drove north to Jockey’s Ridge State Park where we walked to the end of the newly-constructed elevated walkway, then walked a bit on the dunes. We did NOT slide down the dunes on boogie boards which is what some of the other visitors were doing there. Nor did we take hang glider lessons. The sand was hot but Becky ran through some of the sand and seemed to enjoy the freedom. A very nice state park.
On the fishing pierOn the new walkwayDunesDunesWalkway
Then we visited the nearby thrift store where Marlene found a pair of red shoes that she simply had to have and the aforementioned Mr Coffee. The coffeemaker was a great purchase because the in-room coffee was atrocious and our attempt to brew our own coffee (by throwing coffee grounds into boiling water and trying to filter into cups) was a miserable failure too. But with the coffee maker we were able to brew good coffee both that night and the next morning before we left.
616 miles via I-90. I-84, I-91, CT 15, Hutchinson Parkway, Cross-County Parkway, I-87, I-95, DE 1, US 113, some back roads into NC, US 50, US 13, I-64, VA 168, US 158 and US 64 with a refueling stop in Carney’s Point NJ and a couple of bio breaks. This was a LONG day of driving – off by 6am, arriving around 8pm. But the weather was good and, except for slow morning traffic through CT, there were no major delays.
Because doing the “no toll” route would have added at least 90 minutes to an already long day, we opted to pay tolls. A LOT of tolls. I haven’t completely tallied them, but they were probably over $40. About half of this was the toll over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It is only the second time I have traversed this bridge/tunnel. It isn’t visually impressive – just a very long causeway and a few bridges, with two long submerged tunnels. But I am sure it was a remarkable engineering feat. They are still working on it, adding two more lanes to the tunnel sections.
TS_12 Hop 1Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel through the windshield
The twelfth trip south (TS_12) will be, in many ways, the reverse of TS_11. It will take a week and most (but not all) of the nights will be with family and friends. But there will be a bit of sightseeing on this trip – two days in the Outer Banks of NC. Then there will be two nights with Marlene’s son and his wife in Acworth GA and three nights with John and Deb in Brooksville.
The first hop will be VERY long – almost 12 hours of driving. And it will be expensive as we will pay tolls on that hop, including about a $20 toll for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The other two hops will be toll-free. Gas will continue to be expensive and the hotel will be over $300 so it will be more pricey than TN_12.
Our home for a week in Worcester MA was the home of my brother-in-law, Ray, and his lovely wife, Kim. It was mostly a stay-at-home week, but the main reason for even being in MA was my 55th college reunion. Or, more specifically, a fraternity reunion that coincided with my 55th college reunion. There were 14 young men in that freshman class in the fraternity (which is a living group, so I lived with most of these men for 4 years and a couple of them for a few years more). I met them all 59 years ago. Three are deceased, two were unable to travel due to illness and one living on the west coast simply couldn’t make it. That left 8 of us to drink and eat for all 14, both at the Friday night gathering at the home of Bob Wilson in Weston MA and the dinner at Oscar’s in Dedham MA on Saturday night. We were joined at the dinner by the brother of one of the deceased brothers (a brother brother?), his wife and two widows. It was a very nice weekend with some very dear old friends, most of whom, thankfully, looked quite healthy and fit.
Video chat in WestonAfter dinner in Dedham
The video chat Friday night was with Walter Edridge, our freshman pledge trainer – kind of a “house father” to us all. He is nearly 80, in poor health and in an assisted living facility in Baton Rouge LA. It was nice to see and speak to him again, though his condition was sobering to all of us approaching his age.
Ray is not in the best of health, either. He recently spent 10 days in the hospital with what was eventually diagnosed as a rare bacterial infection of the spine. He was on 3-times-a-day infusions of heavy duty antibiotics the entire week we were there, finishing the day before we left. We certainly hope the medicine did its job and he will fully recover. I need him. He is more of a brother to me than my biological brothers.
Kim was, as always, an incredible hostess, serving us some amazing home-cooked meals. Becky bonded with both and became Ray’s emotional support animal.
Kim in the kitchenRay with new buddy BeckySleeping Ray and Becky
Marlene more than earned our keep by sewing some custom pillows. Hard work but they turned out beautifully.
Marlene’s pillow creations.
We made a pilgrimage to Kimball Farm in Westford MA on our last full day in Worcester. The seafood there is wonderful (and wonderfully expensive) and the ice cream is arguably the best I have ever had.
