Trawler Fest Fort Lauderdale

We are at the Bahia Mar Resort and Yachting Center (map), on the barrier island between the Atlantic and the Intracoastal Waterway. We have a nice spot next to the marina, with a view of the ocean across Fort Lauderdale's city beach.

Thursday night, while we were still parked at the casino, we decided to head downtown to the Tower Club for dinner as an early celebration of my birthday, since we'd be at the show on the actual day. That gave us an opportunity to swing by Bahia Mar on the scooters to check out the lot. I spoke with the parking attendant, gave him one of our cards with a photo of the bus, and asked where we could park for Trawler Fest. He indicated where we should go, but told us he'd have to check with management about the rate -- they weren't going to just let us in for the car rate of $18 per day. When we got back to the casino we stowed the bikes.

Yesterday morning we got rolling around 9:30 and made a stop at Easterlin County Park to dump our tanks and fill up with fresh water. They charge $8 for the privilege, but it is really the only game in town. Even though the total distance was just a dozen miles, it was nearly 11 by the time we rolled up to the parking gate at Bahia Mar. The attendant there had been briefed and recognized us, and informed us it would be $50 per day. Fine by us, so we took our parking ticket, rolled in and got settled in what looked to us to be the most out-of-the-way corner of the lot where we could get level.

At some point in the afternoon, the attendant that I had originally spoken to came by to collect the money. We ultimately negotiated it to $100 for both nights, since that would be just 48 hours. While that sounds like a lot to park in a parking lot with no hookups, consider that a 40' boat in the marina would pay $240 for the same period, and a room in this hotel for both nights (which does not include parking, a separate charge) would be $340. Add to that the fact that Fort Lauderdale is RV-unfriendly -- the on-street parking as well as the city park across the street are clearly posted "no RVs" (even for day use) -- so we couldn't even park in this neighborhood for the day, and $100 to spend the weekend here just a few steps from the show docks is a bargain. To top it all off, I found a 20-amp receptacle in the shrubbery a few feet from the bus, so we have hookups after all.

We're really glad we came to this show. We've barely seen half of the boats, but already we checked a bunch of to-do's off the list. Two boats that I've been looking at seriously "on paper," the Lagoon 43 catamaran as well as the Great Harbour N47 long-range cruiser, are both here and are now officially off the list as unworkable layouts and other unappealing characteristics. We finally got to see a Nordhavn 47 (we'd previously seen just about every other size), which is the closest modern Nordhavn to the original 46, probably the only boat from this builder that will fall within our budget. This turns out to be a very livable arrangement, although the newer boats have many nicer amenities that will be absent on the vintage we'll be looking at.

It was also good to be able to compare the Nordhavn 47 side-by-side with the American Tug 41. For us, the tug has a more livable interior, and it's easier to maneuver and cheaper to dock. However, poor access to the engine room, and a much more limited range are conspiring to strike it from the list.

We met several interesting folks at both lunch and dinner, and reconnected with people we met in Stuart as well. Dinner started off with a Mardi Gras themed cocktail party, and there was a costume contest after dinner. Our table elected me as our representative, and managed to dress me up, complete with a set of bodacious ta-tas consisting of a pair of balloons, a purple-green-red-gold grass skirt, cyalume tassles, and Mardi Gras mask, and we won first place, which earned me the crown as King of Mardi Gras. Now there are dozens of incriminating photos of me (none, unfortunately, on our own camera) "dressed up" on my birthday; I'm sure they'll start surfacing on the Internet shortly, or maybe even in Passagemaker Magazine. As a side note, the crown reminds me of those Imperial Margarine commercials. It was a fun time, though, and we stayed at least another hour just chatting with cruisers over cocktails.

In a few minutes we'll be heading out to the docks for our second day of browsing. The show actually runs through tomorrow afternoon, and if we don't catch everything today we can buy another day pass. More likely, though, we will just pack up in the morning and roll out. I'm expecting another cocktail-intensive evening over dinner, which is why we paid for a second night of parking.

Two on the Isle

We are back at the Isle Pompano Casino and Racing (hi, Elissa!) in Pompano Beach, Florida (map).

Yesterday we rolled up to Southeast Truck Specialists, also in Pompano Beach, right at our appointed time of noon. After ten minutes of noodling over the alignment specs I brought with me, which included three different axle models, technician Pete rolled us into the shop and got started.

This shop has a fancy shake-table type device mounted astride the pit, which puts lateral stresses on the running gear while the tech can watch from below. That's the first time Odyssey's been on such a contraption, and it looks to be a great tool. The good news is that none of the suspension parts appears to have excess play. The play I am now noticing in the wheel is in the steering box itself, but Pete felt it was not excessive. If it gets to the point where I am uncomfortable with it, the only remedy will be to rebuild the steering box, a ZF-built Mercedes-spec item whose parts will have to come from Germany.

Inexplicably, the alignment was off. I'm a bit annoyed, since we just had the alignment done, to the tune of half a bill or so, 15,000 miles ago at Los Angeles Freightliner. Both camber and toe were off slightly on the steer axle (and one side of the suspension was high, so I need to recalibrate my leveler control), and toe was out significantly on the tag, which may account for the rapid inside shoulder wear we had on the last set of tires there. I'm glad we decided to get it checked.

I'm not sure why I didn't think to ask when I called to make the appointment, but while I was in the shop I noticed they do lube, oil, and filter changes as well, and I asked them to just take care of it. Unsurprisingly, they don't carry 40-weight, and I had to pay an upcharge to their standard LOF pricing for them to run out and pick up nine gallons of Rotella. Even so, the total bill was probably less than what Atlantic next door would have charged me, and we didn't have to go back out this morning to get it done.

The extra service had us in the shop longer than planned, and it was nearly 5 by the time we rolled out. Fortunately, the casino was only a couple miles away, and we were squared away before wine o'clock. There are two other coaches in the lot here, along with a number of semis, but we found a nice spot off by ourselves.

We wandered over to the casino for dinner, but had to settle for the short-order Trackside Grill, as Farraday's Steakhouse was closed and neither of us wanted to graze the buffet. The grill occupies what once was an Italian restaurant and wine bar, which we're sorry to have missed, as burgers served on Styrofoam and wine from plastic cups was not the experience for which we had hoped. Still, the burgers were tasty and it was convenient. We made up for it tonight, though, with the excellent prix fixe menu at the steakhouse, available until 7pm.

I spent most of today collating and organizing maintenance records for the bus. After yesterday's engine maintenance, I realized that I really had only a vague sense for when transmission filters and fluid, or coolant replacement were due. As it turns out, we'll need a tranny filter in another 5,000 miles, and the coolant is probably overdue based on time (we're a long way from the recommended 300,000 mile replacement). We've got another 55,000 miles before the fancy synthetic tranny fluid needs to be changed. Nothing further needs to be done before we leave Florida, though.

Tomorrow we're going to ride the scooters down to Bahia Mar and check out the parking situation. And Friday morning we'll drive the bus down there for Trawler Fest.

Quick stop in Delray Beach

We are at the Elks lodge in Delray Beach, Florida (map). The lodge has a tiny parking lot, but it's just three blocks from Atlantic Avenue, the main drag downtown.

I didn't want to have to leave Stuart at 9 this morning to make our alignment appointment, so we decided to come here yesterday afternoon, leaving us only a half hour drive today. The guide said it was a free parking lot, but it turns out the lodge asks for a $15 donation. Pricey for dry camping, but considering Delray Beach is a tourist hot spot and the lot is right downtown, it's actually a good deal.

We, of course, walked to Atlantic for dinner, stopping at the upscale Cut 432 steakhouse for a pleasant meal al fresco. We realized we were not far from where we had dinner with friends when we were here for the holiday boat parade back in December.

In a few minutes, we will head to Pompano for our alignment check.

Add Stuart to the list

Of places, that is, where we could settle down for a while, if and when our wanderlust subsides and we are looking for such a place. It is a finding that, for us, was somewhat unexpected.

As you know, we are in Stuart because of the boat show that was held here a week ago. Situated, as it is, at the confluence of the St. Lucie River, the Okeechobee Waterway, the St. Lucie Canal, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, and a break in the barrier island chain leading directly to the ocean, it is no surprise that Stuart is a hotbed of marine activity. What surprised us was the sheer number of nice restaurants and interesting shops in a community of less than 20,000, and the wonderful, pedestrian-friendly downtown area with shops, parks, docks, community services, and even plentiful parking.

We've already been in town for 11 nights, and we've had dinner at a different restaurant every night (save the two where we ate in). We found a massage place nearby -- one of perhaps a half dozen -- and enjoyed a pair of reasonably priced Swedish massages. There is even a UU fellowship in town, and we enjoyed attending services yesterday. All the usual chains are also available a short distance away; I've already been to Lowe's for parts, and Home Depot, Ace, Wal-Mart, Penneys, Sears, and many more are also here, and, of course, West Marine and a host of other chandleries.

What seals the deal for us, though, is the fact that there is a good mix of residential right downtown. We'd like to think we're done with cars; we haven't owned one in nearly six years. Wherever we land, one of our top priorities is to be able to walk to dining, shopping, and other services most of the time. Here in Stuart, one can live in a place within walking distance to downtown dining and shopping, and at the same time have a boat dock out back and a garage for the motorcycles (hey, I said done with cars, not bikes) out front, if so desired.

All of that added up to us spending several more days here than we had originally planned. Downtown is a good walk from our digs at the Elks, and everything else is an easy scooter ride from right here. We have no hookups, but the temperate weather has required neither heat nor A/C, and we've gotten along with an hour or so of generator time per day. All in all, it has been a great stay.

I've made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon to have the alignment checked down in Pompano Beach, so we'll be leaving here either this afternoon or first thing in the morning. We just had the alignment done 15,000 miles ago, but I am feeling a little play in the steering, and the front tires, also new 15,000 miles ago, are showing the barest hint of abnormal wear. I want to check it just to be safe.

We also need to have the engine oil changed; I've asked around for local shop recommendations to no effect. There is a Freightliner dealer, Atlantic Truck Center, not far from the alignment shop, and absent any further recommendations we'll probably just go there for the oil change. We need to wrap all this up by Thursday. Between now and Friday morning I expect to be staying at the Isle Pompano Casino, who have been very welcoming every time we've been there. (Isle's director of marketing, at their headquarters in Saint Louis, is apparently tracking our blog, and I get a big "welcome back" message from her on Twitter whenever I mention we'll be there.)

Friday and Saturday we will be at Trawler Fest Fort Lauderdale. This is our third Trawler Fest, and we decided to skip the seminars, which are mostly repeats of ones we've already done. In addition to halving the cost of the event, it means we don't need to arrive until 10am on Friday, at which time we can just drive right in to the parking lot at the Bahia Mar resort. Trawler Fest published a discount "overnight" parking rate at the resort, and I am hoping we can get away with just leaving the bus right there at least through dinner on Saturday.

The show runs through Sunday afternoon. I've purchased passes, lunches, and dinners for Friday and Saturday, but if we still feel the need to look at boats or shmooze over lunch on Sunday we can buy those on site. One way or the other, though, we will be out of Bahia Mar on Sunday, giving us a full week before our next event.

That would be the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, currently scheduled for 4:39 in the morning on Sunday, February 7th. We'd like to be in position somewhere in the Titusville area sometime in the morning of the 6th to get a good spot; I am trying to confirm right now that we'll be able to park overnight at one of the many roadsides in the area, which are normally posted "no overnight camping" but are rumored to be permissible the night of a launch. We're already aced out of tickets for either the Nasa Causeway or the Kennedy Visitor Center.

As anyone who's tried to see one knows, shuttle launches are a dicey proposition. They are often scrubbed at the last minute, sometimes for just a day but oftentimes longer. This particular launch window is mere minutes, but there will be a second chance the following morning about 23 minutes earlier. If we miss the shuttle altogether, an Atlas V is scheduled to launch from Canaveral the morning of the 9th, so I think we'll have a good chance of seeing something go up before we have to leave Florida.

Photo of downtown Stuart by Rrrodrigo, used under a Creative Commons license.

Haiti is broken: send money -- and nothing else

Yesterday, while researching the answer to a question about solar power that came up in an on-line forum, I landed on the web site of a large supplier of solar panels and equipment. I was disturbed to find there a plea for the collection of a large number of items for Haiti relief, including clothing, blankets, and prescription medicines. I was equally disturbed to learn a couple days ago that well-meaning but ill-equipped civilians from the US have been spontaneously showing up in Haiti "to help." (I am not talking here, of course, about materials collected by legitimate and well-established relief agencies, many of whom are asking for specific donations such as medical supplies, or about volunteers being sent to Haiti by these agencies, which are both needed and logistically supported.)

While both these efforts are most certainly well intentioned, they are actually counterproductive to real, meaningful relief in Haiti. Rather than spend another several paragraphs here explaining why, I will just refer you to the following excellent articles:

This article from the New York Times does an excellent job of explaining why anything other than cold, hard cash is not worth the cost of delivering and processing it. We can confirm first-hand the part of this article that mentions piles of donated items rotting on the gulf coast after Katrina -- it helped virtually no one and diverted actual relief resources to deal with it.

This article from MSNBC does a good job of explaining why unsolicited volunteers are not helpful. Again, we can confirm first hand that there is very little a relief agency can do with an untrained, unbriefed volunteer from outside the area -- Haiti has no shortage of manpower right now, as virtually the entire capital is out of work, and able-bodied locals need the focus that self-rescue brings. Believe me, if we thought we could help, we'd be there -- and we're highly trained responders with specific technical knowledge that is badly needed there on the ground. (Some of our colleagues, who are certified for international deployment, are already there.) Without arriving under the auspices of a bona-fide aid organization, there would simply be no way for our skill sets to be put to use, and no provision to house or feed us while we're there.

In a related item, I will share that the cruise ship we sailed back at Christmas, Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas, has been stopping in Haiti every other week (our week was the other half of the itinerary, so we did not make that stop). Royal Caribbean invested millions of dollars into a private beach area on the north shore of the island for its passengers; this concept is nothing new, as most cruise lines sailing the Caribbean have done something similar, mostly in the Bahamas. They directly employ over 200 Haitians, and many other islanders come to the beach to sell their wares on port calls.

RCI has taken something of a black eye for electing to resume port calls to Haiti. (The private beach, in Labadee, is a long way from Port-au-Prince and was undamaged in the earthquake.) This despite the fact that they did so only after consulting with the Haitian government, who understandably were eager to have that economic activity resume. In addition to continuing to employ many Haitians (who otherwise would have to be laid off) and providing loads of direct revenue to local merchants, RCI has stated they will donate all net proceeds from Labadee operations to the relief effort, and the ships have even been delivering pallets of aid supplies.

While some cruise passengers are understandably conflicted about sitting on a beach in Haiti sipping cocktails while millions are suffering on the other side of the same island, morally speaking that's not any different from them sitting instead on a beach in, say, Jamaica, doing the same thing. I applaud RCI for sticking to its decision to continue to provide this business to Haiti rather than shifting it elsewhere; I remember how hard it was after Katrina for the gulf coast to reclaim its tourism business, which, in many communities, was the only industry at all. So if you really want to go to Haiti, take a cruise and spend some money there.

Read more about the ethics of cruising to Haiti right now in this article from the New York Times, and this one from CNN. If you would like to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, we've added a link in our sidebar to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

Photo: Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross

Catching up in Stuart

We are parked at the Elks Lodge in Stuart, Florida (map), just a few blocks (and across the river) from the empty lot where we parked during the boat show.

We squeaked one final night out of that location; the show ended Sunday, but they were still packing it up well into Monday and the street also remained blocked off. I'm guessing we could have stayed even longer -- no one so much as gave us a second glance, least of all the local constabulary -- but we did not want to push our luck, especially with this Elks lodge so close. In fact, this spot was our "backup" plan had we been unable to park right at the show; it would have meant leaving our scooters at the south entrance each day and hoofing it to the Expo, though.

We rolled down here about mid-day on Monday; since the show still had the route to the Roosevelt Bridge on the Old Dixie Highway closed off, we had to backtrack a few blocks and take the new US-1 bridge instead. The lodge here just has a parking lot, but it's free. We pulled the scooters out and rode to dinner at Luna restaurant right downtown, now easily accessible since we are on the correct side of the river.

We decided to stay right here in Stuart and get some downtime to catch up on a few things. The weather has been pleasant and there are plenty of services and restaurants here. Yesterday Louise rode across to the nearby laundromat and caught up on laundry as well as some essential shopping, and we rode down to the Honda/Suzuki dealer where were were able to find a mirror with a usable right-threaded stem for her scooter, so she can now use the nifty quick-release our new friend in Largo made for us.

They're working great, by the way, and we're ecstatic about how easy it now is to set up and tear down the scooters. On our way back, we stopped at Carrabba's for dinner, and it was packed to the gills at 5:30 -- early crowd here in Stuart.

The big news is that we finally have the makings of a plan for the next few weeks. The Red Cross finally nailed down the meeting we are scheduled to attend, which will be starting February 25th in Tucson, Arizona. You may recall we hinted earlier that this meeting might be somewhere in Florida, which was possibly an earlier plan, and we've been casually hanging around here waiting on official word -- no sense expending diesel to drive someplace else only to have to come right back here. Now that it has been confirmed to be in Tucson on a specific date, we are free to leave Florida and start heading west.

In the meantime, however, we've put the next space shuttle launch on our calendar, which is scheduled for February 7th. This is one of those things where I've been saying for years "one of these days, when it's convenient, we'll watch a shuttle launch." Well, of course, the shuttle program is in its final months, so we may not get a more "convenient" chance than right now, where we are already in Florida just two and a half weeks from launch. That still gives us plenty of time to make it to Tucson for the meeting, albeit on a faster schedule that we would otherwise choose, and so we have decided to remain here through the launch. As a bonus, it is scheduled to be a night launch, which will be particularly spectacular.

Shuttle launches, of course, get scrubbed on a regular basis, sometimes for weeks or even months depending on launch windows. Fortunately, there is also an Atlas V launch scheduled just two days later, on February 9th, so once we are in position for the shuttle, if it gets postponed, we will still have a good chance of catching a rocket launch within a couple days. Now all we need to do is figure out a good place to park Odyssey for the duration, starting the afternoon of the 6th, or possibly even the 5th to beat the weekend crowd. That week is also the lead-up to the Daytona 500, which might bring additional crowds. Which reminds me, perhaps that week will be our big chance to take in a race from our race-ready roof deck -- maybe I should look into infield tickets for one of the warm-up events.

As long as we're going to be here at least through the 7th, we'll head back down to Fort Lauderdale for Trawler Fest, the last three days of January. While we enjoyed Cruiser Expo, and especially meeting the DeFever Cruisers group, who represented the lion's share of attendees as it coincided with their rally at the Harborage Marina, there was not a good representation of trawlers in the boat show. We got more out of cruising the docks (pardon the pun) at Harborage when the DeFever folks had their boats open for an informal trawler-crawl Saturday afternoon. That said, we did spend a fair bit of time on a pair of new American Tugs, the 34 and 41, at the show, and both those boats appealed to us a great deal.

I had really hoped to see more power cats (one of the DeFever folks actually had an Endeavour 38, and we enjoyed seeing that), as well as some other trawlers that are notably absent on the west coast, where most of our show attendance has happened thus far. The lineup for this Trawler Fest seems to be more comprehensive, and so we'd like to at least register for the boat show portion (the seminars are getting to be old hat for us now). That gives us a good ten days to travel only 75 miles -- one of the reasons staying a few extra days in Stuart made sense.

We've been using the time to catch up on projects that have languished around the house. In my case that's included quite a bit of writing, between submissions to Bus Conversions magazine (I am now writing a monthly column answering electrical questions), writing recommendations for former employees (the job market is brutal right now), and helping a good friend with a business proposal. Whenever I get caught up, I then have some items to list on eBay.

I'm also going to try to line up someplace to change our engine oil as well as someplace to have the alignment checked in the next ten days, preferably somewhere along the direct route from here to Fort Lauderdale. If I can get all that taken care of, we might even try to squeeze in some more scuba diving before we have to leave the warm-water part of the state.

The Red Cross meeting and our travels thereto will mean we will once again miss our friend Linda's birthday bash, held each year on Presidents Day weekend, usually in Death Valley. In fact, we already have reservations at Furnace Creek this year, which we will have to cancel. I am especially bummed because she has just announced her engagement (via Facebook -- welcome to the 21st century) and we'd like to pass along our congratulations in person, but it will have to wait. We missed her party last year as well, which was in one of our favorite spots, Baja, while we flew off to Hawaii for yet another wedding -- the last of our single friends are dropping like flies, but we enjoy any excuse for a party.

I expect we will leave Stuart tomorrow or Friday, heading for another Elks lodge in either Palm Beach or Del Ray before heading, most likely, to the Isle Casino in Pompano Beach. A lot will depend, though, on what arrangements I can make for the oil change and alignment.

Greeting from Cruiser Expo

We are at the Cruiser Expo conference, within the Stuart Boat Show. The expo started at 8 this morning with coffee and bagels, followed by a run of four seminars in succession. We opted to skip the fourth and look at boats instead. After a box lunch, provided, we joined a group of four other attendees for a low-speed cruise around the marina on a Krogen Express 52. We then spent some more time on the docks before retiring home for a break before the 5pm cocktail party.

We arrived here in Stuart sometime after 5 yesterday, after a brief stop at the Flying-J in Fort Pierce to dump our tanks and put some water in. We had directions that only brought us so far, with instructions to then follow the signs to the free parking; fortunately the signs were already in position when we arrived. The parking is scattered across several lots throughout the general vicinity of the show, and we found the closest one (map).

This particular lot happens to be a parking lot for a long-defunct and now leveled business, which I think was a night club. It's just the sort of place we might have chosen for a stealthy urban boondocking location anyway, and so we took up residence in the furthest corner of the lot, and stuffed a very official looking sign that I made on the computer in the window, identifying us as three-day full conference attendees. We were undisturbed for the night.

This morning as the program began one of the organizers informed us that the lot would be staffed by an attendant starting sometime after 9am (the boat show starts at 10 each morning). I ran home after the 9-10am seminar to check in with the attendant; apparently our sign had already done its job and they cleared us to remain here for the rest of the show. It's a great spot, just a couple blocks from the main event.

Even though we are fairly close, it's a long walk, and it would have been an even longer walk to dinner last night at Wahoo's, which is not far as the crow flies but a long way around over the railroad crossing. So we pulled the scooters out last night, and have been parking them just a few feet from the main show entrance -- one of the real beauties of scooters is that you can get away with parking them anywhere, and a Stuart police officer was even the one to suggest it. They've closed a stretch of Old Dixie Highway for the show, so the police are stationed at the road closure.

The show runs through Sunday afternoon, and we apparently have a fairly full agenda of seminars and activities. I am hoping we will just be able to stay right here Sunday night as well; since Monday is a holiday I can't imagine it will be a problem. As for where we go from there, that is as yet undecided.

Photo by kreegermc, used under a Creative Commons license.

Departing Tampa

We are parked at the now-familiar Wal-Mart on Dale Mabry just north of I-275 (map). We're here because it is just five minutes from the Centre Club, where we ate last night -- or at least it should have been.

We left the airport economy parking lot just after 5pm, and rolled over to the spot I had picked out across the street from the club. It was just 5:30, and our dinner reservations were for 8pm, chosen because we had a conference call at 7:00 that we thought might go nearly an hour. So we got parked and squared away, and found a friendly Wi-Fi signal so we could leave the dish stowed for more stealth. Around 6 or so, we poured ourselves a glass of wine, knowing it would be four hours before we had to move the bus; besides, we'd otherwise have a second glass at dinner for $8 or so.

Our call ended right on time and we had a very nice dinner. We headed back to the bus around quarter till ten, and packed up to leave. Somewhere in all of this, though, we forgot about the pair of wine glasses sitting on the table between our seats. At the first left turn, one of those glasses leapt off the table, bounced, then launched itself over the edge of the penthouse floor and crashed down onto the tile-covered stairs, sending shards of glass everywhere. I pulled over at the next opportunity, where we carried the dog up to her house, then spent the next ten minutes cleaning up. We both got hit by flying pieces, and the explosion sent glass in every direction, including back up the stairs into the living room. Oddly, the other glass was still sitting calmly on the table. We buy these glasses at Wal-Mart, $4 for a set of four, and we are now on our third box of four due to various mishaps over five years. Before we had our securement all figured out, they would sometimes leap out of the cabinet and onto the granite counter when we opened the door.

We need to make it all the way to Stuart today, so after picking up a couple items in the store, and returning some project leftovers to Home Depot across the street, we will get rolling. It's a four and a half hour drive, which is a long day for us nowadays.

Photo by trieu88, used under a Creative Commons license.

Weeping for Haiti

We are parked in the open-air portion of the Economy parking lot at Tampa International Airport (map). $9 gets you 24 hours here; I purposely pulled in to the lot just before 6pm, so we're good for most of the day.

I was a little nervous pulling in, as the web site said the clearance was 13'0", and I was expecting just to have to creep under the entry ticket booth, then drive around to the back along an open-air road, as shown in the satellite image. When I arrived, however, I saw they had completed a garage expansion since that image was taken, and I would have to drive all the way through the garage to get to the outside lot in the back. It turns out, though, that both the ticket booth and the garage aisle were 13'6", so I did not even have to "squat" the suspension; the route for over-height vehicles was clearly marked.

Once I got parked I immediately boarded a shuttle for the terminal, to scope out dining options for when Louise landed, and check out the Galleria Mall inside the terminal, where most of the stores would only be open till 7. It must have been 6:30 or so when I wandered over to the Skyye Bar in the airport Marriott, the only venue that would still be serving food when Louise arrived, to check out the menu. Like many hotel bars, this one had an array of televisions scattered throughout, and the news reports of the earthquake in Haiti were prominent on about half of them.

The magnitude was featured prominently on the bottom of the screen, and a quick check of my Twitter feed confirmed it (I follow @EQTW, an automated worldwide earthquake reporting system run by the USGS) -- 7.0 on the Richter scale. I've lived through a 7.0 quake and the recovery afterwards, and I knew instantly that Port au Prince was destroyed completely, a city of over two million. I returned to the bus to wait the three hours or so for Louise's flight, where I was surprised to find most major news outlets had already moved off the Haiti coverage to much more important news, such as Conan O'Brien refusing to move the Tonight Show's time slot to make room for Jay Leno (the media is nothing if not self-obsessed).

Today's reports, which as yet have not included an estimated death toll, have been unsurprisingly grim. From my reading of it, most of the hospitals have been destroyed, along with aid centers and even many relief agencies along with their supplies. This poorest of western-hemisphere nations, already decimated by years of civil unrest and pounded repeatedly by powerful hurricanes (four in 2008 alone), has once again been dealt a terrible blow by nature. Our hearts go out to them.

Several people, aware that we are volunteers for the American Red Cross, have inquired as to whether we might be deployed to Haiti. The short answer is no. Haiti has its own Red Cross, and is out of the purview of the American organization. I am quite certain that the International Red Cross will be mobilizing resources to help, and that the American Red Cross will be contributing personnel to that effort, but those personnel come from a list of folks who have received special training and been pre-qualified for international work. We can't qualify for that list because it requires a readiness commitment that we can't meet living on the road; we do have friends on that list, though, and I expect they will be deployed shortly.

I'd like to be there -- one of my specialties is communications, and that is a desperate need at the moment, as the country's entire communications infrastructure has been destroyed, crippling the ability to coordinate basic relief efforts. However, all we can do at this point is watch, and send money. Donating money is always the best way to support these sorts of international relief efforts; the logistics of dealing with individual contributions of anything else virtually negates the effectiveness of the donation. You can help by contributing directly to the the international relief fund of the American Red Cross (the American Red Cross has already pledged one million dollars to the relief in Haiti, as well as having released its cache of aid supplies in Panama), or to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

We'll remain right here at the airport until just before our 24 hours is up. Then we'll roll just a couple miles to the Centre Club for dinner; I've scoped out a spot where we can park the bus for a few hours. We can't spend the night in that spot, so I expect we will drive the three miles to Wal-Mart for the night; tomorrow morning we need to be rolling to Stuart for Cruiser Expo, which starts Friday morning. I still have my eyes peeled for motorcycle shops; the joint I walked to yesterday is apparently out of business, with a "for lease" sign on the building. Tantalizingly, I could still see stock through the store windows, as well as a fenced yard with at least a couple dozen motorcycle carcasses in it, and I'm sure I could have found what I needed had anyone been there.

Last hours of bachelorhood

I am parked at the Wal-Mart on Dale Mabry north of the city (map), the same one where I stayed on Friday.

I've spent the last two nights in the parking lot of a business northeast of here. The lot was graciously volunteered by a fellow bus enthusiast, who has installed a 50-amp service there for his own coach. Although it's warmed up considerably since just a few days ago, it was still nice to have the power available to run the electric heaters, which were more than adequate. He was also kind enough to take me to dinner both nights as well.

I am en route to the airport to pick up Louise; her flight should be landing around 11:15 or so. I needed a few groceries, though, and my research also showed a motorcycle salvage just a couple doors south of here, so I pulled up stakes around 3ish this afternoon and rolled over here. I needed to be in position by 3:30 so I could participate on a monthly Red Cross conference call. I've actually got the call on right now in the background.

Once I'm off the phone, I'll run in to do my shopping and also walk down the street to the motorcycle dealer to see if they have a mirror stem that might work for Louise's scooter. I expect to be wrapped up here in plenty of time to roll over to the airport in the daylight. With any luck, Louise's flight will be mostly on time, which will put her on the ground just in time to catch a bite at the airport hotel.

The kindness of strangers

I am parked in a nondescript multi-tenant light industrial park in Largo, Florida, near Saint Petersburg and across Old Tampa Bay from Tampa. No map link today for privacy reasons. I'm in front of a vacant shop unit, out of sight of the street. It was peaceful and quiet here last night, but so cold yesterday that I had to run the Webasto full time from shortly after I arrived.

I am here visiting with one of our loyal readers, who shall remain nameless to protect his privacy. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, he contacted me a few days ago to offer both a parking space and also his services to fabricate some quick-release mounts for our scooter mirrors. Long time readers will know that we need to remove the mirrors to stow the scooters in the bay, and then reattach them for use. In addition to being a pain in the butt, the constant removal/re-installation has been wreaking havoc on the threads, and sometimes the mirrors come loose on the road (for fear of damaging the threads further, we try to avoid over-tightening them). Watching one of our videos alerted him to our plight.

The nature of his business is such that he has a complete fabrication shop set up for exactly this sort of project, with cutting, welding, machining, and even powder coating facilities. All of his business, however, involves SAE-size fasteners, and of course the scooter mirrors are metric. We briefly discussed cutting the threaded ends off the existing mirrors and putting the quick-releases in-line, but I wanted to be able to restore the scooters to stock trim if need be, and on Louise's Vino, leaving the threads plus the quick-release on the bike would make the whole thing too tall to get into the bay. So off I went to Home Depot to buy some appropriately sized metric nuts, bolts, and cap screws.

On my bike, things were very straightforward. The quick-release base is a short section of square tubing with a set screw pushing a pressure plate; he welded a flat plate to the end of the tube with a hole punched in it, and the base bolts down to the existing mirror mount holes with an 8mm socket head cap screw. An 8mm nut is welded to the top of the mating square tube which slides into this piece, and the existing mirror stem threads into that nut, secured by the existing jam nut. The mounts are identical left and right, and the whole assembly adds nearly an inch to the height of the mirrors, which suits me fine, as they were a bit low for me anyway.



Louise's Vino presented more of a challenge. First off was the fact that her mirror mounts are higher than mine, which would make the system we used on my bike too tall for the bay, so the mounts had to be offset to the front of the grips in such a way as not to interfere with the controls. Then there is the matter of Yamaha's insistence on using left-hand threads for the base of the right side mirror on all their bikes. Of course, left-hand metric fasteners are not stocked at Home Depot (or most other places, for that matter).

The left side mount was easily secured with a 10mm bolt into the existing mirror mount hole. I could not get exactly the right length (and, ideally, these fasteners should be stainless; I'll change them when I find a real hardware store or perhaps a chandlery) so we had to use a washer. The square receiver tube sits in front of the left switch housing, moving the mirror about an inch forward.



The right mount is secured using the pinch bolt that holds the switch housing, stood off with a spacer. Additional strength is provided by a 10mm "plug" extending from the bottom of the mounting bracket into the old mirror mount hole -- the one with the left hand threads. In this photo, you can also see the top portion of the quick-release, which is topped with a 10mm nut to which the mirror post will thread.



Of course, this nut is right-hand thread, and the existing mirror upright has a left-hand thread. What I need to do now is to find either a left-hand mirror, or a right-hand mirror for another brand of motorcycle (Yamaha is the only major brand to do it this way -- all the other marques use right-hand threads on both sides) and swap the upright out for one with 10mm right-hand threads (the other end of the upright, that threads into the mirror, is already right-hand thread).



I'm hoping to find one at a motorcycle salvage yard; often the mirror itself will be destroyed in an accident without damaging the upright. These stock Vino mirrors are a common "Ken Sean" part; I happen to have the exact same Ken Sean mirrors on my Kymco with the exception of them being 8mm mounts instead of the 10mm items that Yamaha uses.

In spite of having something like four hours into this project, plus materials, he would not accept any payment. He was unavailable for dinner last night, but at least I was able to take him to lunch today. It was a real pleasure meeting (and watching a master craftsman at work), and I am very grateful for this random act of kindness. I suppose it is now on me to pay it forward.

In a few minutes I will be packing up and heading back across the bridge to Tampa. I only have two nights left here before Louise returns, and I know I have several parking options, but a fellow bus nut here in the area has offered me a spot with 50 amps of power. It's a generous offer, but more importantly I'd like to meet and spend a few minutes with him, so that's where I will likely be heading. I'll remain there until Tuesday afternoon, when I will roll out to the airport and head to the economy parking lot, which can accommodate oversize vehicles. Then I can meet Louise in the terminal via the parking shuttle, rather than being hassled by another airport parking Nazi. The entry gate for the economy lot has a 13' clearance, so I will have to "squat" the bus to get in and out, but that seems easier than dealing with either the weight limits or long stretches of 13'-0" clearance at the terminal complex itself.

Bottoming out

I am parked next to Northern Tool and Equipment in the Horizon Park Shopping Center (map). It's just over 34° outside right now; the diesel boiler has been running all morning. It was just over 50° in the bus when I woke up. The good news is that today is supposed to be the nadir, with a high of just 41° (the low was 25°), and things will start to warm up tomorrow. The bad news is that it is also raining, which the forecast says can become "ice pellets."

The spot I am in is the same one that I chose from the satellite view as a good spot to park while I ran off to meet Steve with Louise's package. I had no idea from the overhead view what business was here; when I arrived to find Northern Tool, I figured I would do a little browsing when I returned.

The package retrieval trip took longer than expected. I had figured Steve to hit the meeting point along I-75 possibly as early as noon or shortly thereafter, and since I landed here after 11, I scrambled to get the scooter out and get on the road. As luck would have it, it started raining just as soon as I got the bays open, so I pulled out my rain pants and heavy riding boots -- the only thing worse than riding in the rain is riding in the rain when it's cold.

It took me a good half hour to ride the 13 miles or so to the meeting point. I had chosen a Crowne Plaza hotel for the meet, so I would have a comfortable place to wait. Good thing, because Steve's GPS apparently had some ideas of its own as to how he should travel, and it did not bring him up I-75. That made my verbal directions to the hotel obsolete. He called me sometime before 1pm when he was half an hour out for an address to put in the GPS, and again half an hour or so later to tell me the GPS couldn't find it. It was very nice of Steve to bring Louise's package up from Arcadia, and I felt a little bad that, not only did he need to divert from his route, but he had to drive around a while looking for me as well. When all was said and done, though, it was nearly 2pm by the time I rolled out of the hotel.

Google Maps on my Blackberry told me there was a Chase ATM nearby, across the road about half a mile, and I needed cash to replace what I blew at the Citgo on diesel. Of course, you can't believe everything you see on the internet: the ATM probably existed, but it was inside a secure corporate complex for JP Morgan Chase. The security guard gave me directions to a Chase bank ten miles in the wrong direction; I gave up and headed back towards the bus, but the excursion cost me another fifteen minutes or so.

When I got back to this neighborhood, I rode around several of the side streets and scoped out a number of locations that looked like empty lots from Google Earth, hoping to find a nearby place to park for the night; it was already late enough that I did not want to go far, and a small-print sign on the way into the Horizon Park lot said no overnight parking. This whole neighborhood, just east of runway 18L at Tampa International, was part of the old Drew Field WWII airbase that later became the airport, and some of the buildings remain from that era. Unfortunately, I did not find any good candidates for an overnight spot, and so I figured to do more research back at the bus.

It was well past 3 by the time I returned. While I was sitting here contemplating my next move, a tractor-trailer pulled up to the Northern Tool loading dock just a few feet away, and several store employees spent the next half hour or so unloading the truck. When I walked out to browse the store (thinking now would be a good time to look like a customer), one asked me some questions about the bus. That gave me a good excuse, when I ran into him inside the store later, merchandise in hand, to ask about staying the night, and he told me it was fine as long as I was out of the traffic lane. He expressed concern about the neighborhood (it seems fine to me), but allowed that the truck driver was also spending the night. Problem solved.

The aforementioned merchandise, BTW, was a couple packages of set screws -- Northern had the diameter I needed, in lengths that bracketed the old one, and I bought both sizes. I also looked seriously at several models of lube oil pumps, as it is getting harder and harder to find shops with 40-weight in a pump dispenser. I did resist the ever-present temptation to add anything to my tool collection. The truck which was supposedly spending the night actually booked out of the lot sometime around 6 or so, leaving me alone, which was fine with me, as he had been idling more or less full time since he arrived anyway.

Today I will be rolling down to Largo some 20 miles southwest of here, across the bridge. I will be meeting up with one of our readers, who has a business there. In addition to offering a place to park for a night or two, this gentleman fabricates custom parts for assistive mobility devices, and he has offered to make us some quick-release mounts for our scooter mirrors. The mirrors have to come off to stow the scooters in the bay, and we've just been threading them in and out of the factory mounts, which are worse now for the wear. The pot metal mounts were never meant for constant removal and insertion. I expect to spend at least tonight somewhere near his shop.

Special delivery

I am parked behind a different Wal-Mart on Dale Mabry (map), several miles north of yesterday's digs. The spot behind the store here was peaceful and quiet, and mostly out of view of other shoppers. I was in the store early enough to snag a $5 rotisserie chicken for dinner -- usually they are gone by the time we arrive.

I'm up here because I ended up driving well north in search of fuel yesterday. Gas Buddy said there was a Mobil station on Fowler with $2.75 diesel (cash price), and the fancy illuminated sign on the street confirmed that as I rolled up. Being 15-20 cents less than most of the stations in Tampa, it was well worth the ~12 mile drive. After I jockeyed up to the dispensers, though, the price said $2.95, with a $0.05 cash discount. Apparently the price went up a couple days ago, and they forgot to change the sign on the street. I complained to the manager to no avail, so I just drove away. This is always a possibility with Gas Buddy -- the prices are reader-reported, with a date stamp, but the market is volatile and the numbers get stale. It is also possible that whoever posted the price was going by the street signage.

I was ready with a backup option, a Citgo a few miles further north listed at $2.79 cash. It was $2.80 by the time I got there, but still 10-15 cents below the Tampa market. I had enough cash to put 150 gallons in. Once I was that far north, two Wal-Marts came up as convenient. I first stopped at the one on Dale Mabry (there are no fewer than four Wal-Marts with Dale Mabry addresses in Tampa) that was due west of the Citgo, several miles north of here. But the lot was small and cramped, with low trees, and steep driveways, so I came here instead. This one is a Super Center, and I needed groceries anyway.

My excursion to Home Depot yesterday was for naught, as the largest set screws they stock are 5/16", and I need a 3/8". I'm not sure where I will have to go to get these. While there, I noticed two dilapidated rigs parked in the part of the lot in front of the now-defunct Circuit City store. They appeared to have taken up residence; one had a contractor generator and an enormous Yagi TV aerial sitting on the ground a few feet away. I also ran into both Target and Best Buy in search of a suitable Blu Ray player with no results. So it was well past noon by the time I had lunch and got on the road.

I did knock a project off the list last night. The fridge has needed defrosting for some time now -- southeast humidity tends to build up the ice quite rapidly. (Super-efficient refrigerators for boondocking rigs are never frost-free.) As long as I'm having to suffer with near-freezing overnight temperatures, I took advantage of the situation. As soon as the outside temperature dropped to 40°, I shoved all the food out the hatch onto the roof deck, and set to work with the heat gun. There was enough ice buildup this time that it took me well over an hour just on the fridge side; by that time it was in the high 30s outside and I sent the freezer contents to the roof for the half hour it took to finish the job.

This morning I am on a mission. Our original plans had been for me to remain in Arcadia this week teaching, which would have meant finding a way to get Louise to the Tampa airport (2+ hours away) mid-week. As you know we changed that plan when the class size shrank to a single student, but in the meantime, Louise had ordered some merchandise sent to Jack's place. It arrived there yesterday, and, as luck would have it, the lone student is coming right through Tampa today on his way home. He's agreed to bring the package with him; I need to meet him over near I-75 some 15 miles east of here. In just a few minutes I will pack up the bus and drive down to a parking lot a few miles south of here that looks suitable in Google Earth, take the scooter out, and run over to the Crowne Plaza off I-75 for the meet-up. No sense burning five gallons of diesel to do what can be done with a third of a gallon of gasoline.

One fewer mammal to keep me warm

I am parked at the Wal-Mart on Dale Mabry in Tampa (map), where we parked back in November to dine at our club here. It turns out to also be just five or ten minutes from the airport, where I dropped Louise off yesterday around 2pm. I had a nice dinner sitting at the bar at Romano's Macaroni Grill across the street.

I suspect this parking option will not be available much longer. The only place the store lets overnighters park is an otherwise unused lot next to the old Tia's Tex Mex restaurant, now just an empty slab fenced off along with some of the parking lot. (There were four other rigs here last night, and I noticed a couple of them had tried to park elsewhere, only to be booted over here by security.) When last we were here, the empty lot had a large "available" sign on it with real estate details -- that sign is now conspicuously absent, and there are several aerial survey targets placed around the property. This suggests the lot has been leased and will soon be redeveloped, and that will be the end of overnight parking here.

Speaking of dropping off at the airport, this is always a challenge in the bus. After carefully researching everything I could on the airport's web site to no avail, I used Google's "street view" to take a virtual "drive" around the airport road, looking for low clearance and/or weight limits. That revealed that the arrivals level had a 13'0" height limit; we're right at that, with the emergency ability to drop 3" or so, but our strong preference is never to cut it that close. The departure level, on an elevated roadway, appeared to have a 15-ton weight limit (we weigh 23-24 tons depending on tank levels). So I called the airport police to inquire what to do, knowing that somewhere in the terminal complex there must be a place for large tour-type buses to pick up and drop off.

The police transferred me to the parking division, a private contractor, and when I explained the details of the bus, they told me unequivocally that the departure level was the right place to go and that the weight was not a problem. Of course, as I pulled up to the drop-off area, an airport police parking officer came running at us to tell me we could not be there yada yada yada, and then tried to make me turn down a 13'0" alley, which I refused to do. By the time she was done arguing with me, Louise was already out the door with her suit case, and we were done; the parking dweeb seemed mystified. I suppose she thought I needed to unload 48 passengers and their luggage. So, clearly, there is a breakdown in communications even within the airport police department; just remember, these are the same folks keeping our airports safe from terrorism.

To be fair, when I did this same thing in Palm Beach a few years ago, the police were very knowledgeable and helpful; they knew exactly what the limitations were everywhere in the complex when I called, and directed me to use the ramps and loading zones signed and designated for "buses only." Perhaps Tampa can learn something from them. BTW, we've now done this at perhaps a half dozen airports around the country, and it's never the same process twice. We know someone who had to have the airport police block traffic while he backed his Prevost out of a low-clearance ramp, so we are religious about doing the research ahead of time.

It was well below freezing again last night; you can expect your orange juice to cost more shortly, as the Florida citrus crop is in big trouble. Once my passive solar heating from the giant windows went away, I had to run the diesel boiler a couple hours last night, and again this morning. It's nice and toasty in here again with the sun streaming through the windows, but this cycle will repeat for the next several days, as temperatures continue to fall. Saturday's low is supposed to be near 20°, and the high will only be around 49° (I know, I know, the rest of the country is in a deep freeze and I have no right to complain). The cats were miffed that there was only a single human in the bed, and only one side of the electric blanket was on. In any case, my priority today is to get diesel fuel, as the tank level is perilously close to where the dip tube for the boiler stops (I'm sure it's already too low to run the generator).

After fueling, I'm still not sure where I will end up for the night, although I will be keeping my eyes peeled on the way to the station. I already checked out the casino, which has no oversize parking at all, let alone overnight, and the state fairgrounds, which only has camping for event participants. There are a pair of Elks lodges a little ways out of town that are my backup if I need them; I'm also going to drill down on the weather charts and see if anyplace in the greater Tampa/St. Pete area might be a degree or two warmer.

The cold weather knocks out over half my project list -- I really don't want to be outside futzing with the fresh water pump, for example, or doing bodywork. Even some of the inside projects, like troubleshooting a problem with a couple of our dash gauges, are really best done in more comfortable temperatures. I'm going to stick to catching up on my backlog of reading, paperwork, and computer issues, along with shopping for a Blu-Ray player.

This last item bubbled to the top of the priority list last night. I went in to Wal-Mart to stock up on supplies, mostly pet food, and pharmaceuticals which I blew through with my cold. As is my custom when stag, I also stopped at the Red Box dispenser to perhaps rent a DVD; I generally try to go through all those films that Louise has absolutely no interest in watching with me. I narrowed the selection down to two before I remembered that we no longer have a DVD player -- we sold our disc changer around Thanksgiving to make room for a Blu Ray player while the darn thing still had some residual resale value.

I could have watched a DVD on one of our multimedia Gateway laptops, but part of the appeal for me of watching these films alone in the coach is to get to see them in full surround sound from our Bose speakers. I seldom get to do this; when I am watching something Louise doesn't want to see, I end up turning the audio system off and just using headphones. So I am in the market for a Blu-Ray player; I think I want the LG BD390, but, as luck would have it, the Best Buy store just a hundred yards from the bus does not stock it.

In a few minutes I will walk across the street to Home Depot to pick up some set screws that have gone missing from the roof deck railings. Then I will be packing up and heading off in search of fuel.

Freezing in Florida

We are parked on the property of fellow bus owners Jack and Paula in Arcadia. We're here as part of the "Bring Your Own Bus" workshop which started yesterday, where I agreed to be one of the instructors.

As it turns out, only one of the originally registered participants actually made it as far as coming to the workshop, and mechanical difficulties precluded him from bringing his bus. So we've been doing a round table discussion and Q&A format with him, and everyone agreed to let me cover my portion (systems) in the first part of the week, so that I can take Louise to the airport in Tampa tomorrow afternoon without having to worry about getting back here to wrap up. We had a good discussion after he arrived yesterday afternoon, and we spent about seven hours today; I think my part is more or less finished. We'll be rolling out tomorrow morning around 11 or so in order to make Louise's flight; that gives me a couple of hours to answer any more questions that come up.

Saturday we left the Turner Center and drove the bus down to Punta Gorda, where we spent the night in the driveway of our friends Pam and Di's fabulous house. They fixed us lunch and dinner, and we very much enjoyed attending service the next morning at the Port Charlotte Fellowship, where Pam is the minister. It was a great visit, and we were sorry to have to leave so soon on Sunday to make it here in the daylight -- we did not want to be jockeying into our parking slot in the dark.

Unfortunately, throughout all of this, I've been struggling with a lingering cold that has sapped all my energy. I caught this crud back on our holiday cruise, with the tingling in the back of my throat starting Christmas day sometime, and a full blown sore throat by the time we were back ashore in Fort Lauderdale. Things escalated from there, and I was pretty miserable for the whole bus rally. As luck would have it, the absolute worst day was Thursday, which, of course, was the day I had to teach a seminar for an hour and a half first thing in the morning, followed by two hours of open house at the bus in the afternoon. I spent the whole rally refusing to shake anyone's hand, and continued that practice throughout our visit to Punta Gorda as well as here at the workshop. Things are finally getting better, but I am still coughing and wheezing; if I still have this on Friday that will make it two full weeks. It has not helped that it has been unusually cold here for the last few days, with nighttime temperatures below freezing.

In the meantime, Louise has been concerned that she might get it at any moment, making flying to California a bad move. So far, she seems to be in the clear, even though she has been complaining of a scratchy throat for a couple of days. If she shows any further signs of it in the morning, we'll wave off the trip; her tickets are on Southwest and she can postpone them pretty much without penalty.

Assuming she gets on her plane tomorrow as planned, I will then be kicking around the Tampa area stag for a week until she returns. I have plenty of projects to occupy my time, but I have not planned ahead yet for where, exactly, I will park. Her original tickets were for a Palm Beach return, based on what was available when she booked and the fact that our next stop is Stuart; that would have given me a couple of casino options between here and there. Today, however, she rebooked the return portion on more favorable flights and will be returning instead to Tampa.