Successful Procedure

OK, so this photo has nothing about my hospital stay, except its where I would prefer to be - riding my bike at Manawa.
Doc was in to check on me this morning. Everything went well during my "US guided renal biopsy bilateral, renal cyroablation". They feel that they killed the tumor yet not harming the rest of the kidney.
My procedure was done in one of the CT scan rooms. In addition to the CT scan, they brought in an ultrasound machine. The surgeon and his assistant used the ultrasound to locate the kidney and tumor. It was also used to guide the "needle" for the biopsy.
Several trips into the CT scan as they froze the tumor (making sure they froze the whole tumor without damaging the kidney). They gave me some pain meds and some numbing drugs be was basically awake during the procedure. They needed me to hold my breath as they scanned.
The whole procedure was done in under 2 hours. While it was available to me, I did not need any pain medication over night. Slept soundly.
I was impressed with the team that did my surgery. The prep nurse (Nicole?) explained to me exactly what we were doing. Before the procedure started, Doctor Lagrange called "time out" to verify that everyone know who was the patient and what the procedure it was. I raised my hand to verify the patient name. They told me what they were doing, when they were doing it.
Thanks to Doctor Lagrange and the team.
Back in my room (they moved me to a different room, a quieter room) I was restricted to bed for 2 hours. Withing 4 hours, I eat a snack and was ready for my first post-surgery walk.
Now, we await the biopsy results and raising my INR number. Hoping to be released Friday or Saturday.

Flooding rain

It's traditional at this time of year to write about the top 15 rides from the previous year. Yesterday I had an early contender for . I hadn't realised how heavy the rain had been when I pushed aside the big southerly wind on the coastal strip early in the day. Evidently it hadn't reached this far. I realised the extent of the rain when I rode through Urliup, with three crossings of the creek flooded.


Further south I continued in the rain, around a wet loop through Stokers Siding, Uki and some back roads behind Murwillumbah before coming to a decision. I would return via the 'back' route, and the climbs of Numinbah Gap and Salmon's Saddle at Springbrook. This was where the ride really started, the climb of Numinbah Gap hesitates for a while, before settling into a 12-13% slog as it gains around 400 metres. Fortunately the rain decided to get particularly heavy here, which kept me cool for the duration.


From here the ride and the scenery were absolutely stunning. As I descended through the valley there were clouds nestled in the surrounding mountains, and "new" waterfalls cascading down the slopes, and it dawned on me that I was witnessing something very special. It was almost reminiscent of the crossing of Haast Pass in similar conditions in New Zealand almost two years ago -- the day that I rate as my greatest ever on the bike. Here it also dawned on me that virtually nobody else had been around all day to spoil the experience. Part of me hopes they never realise what they missed.


The rain continued as I approached the notorious western climb of Springbrook. Virtually nobody even attempts this climb, and I was soon to find out why. The first few kilometres are bearable, with an average grade of around 8%, but there is a final kick near the summit, where the gradient hits 24% at one stage, and probably averages 15-18%. In less technical terms, it's just a bloody hard grind. Fortunately, the surroundings in this area compensated for the effort, and the rain continued to make things easier.

The gale for wind returned at Springbrook, and it became apparent that the final few kilometres after descending the mountain would be hard work. The descent itself was an exercise in concentration as the wind had covered the road in a layer of debris. My familiarity with this road gave me an advantage here, and I negotiated it comfortably, before grinding my way home against the wind. The final tally for the day was 169km and 1,901 metres of climbing for those who care about the minor details.
This had been one of the most rewarding and special rides I could have asked for. Many people seek shelter from the elements, yet there is a special beauty in the rain, in a tropical downpour that is both invigorating and calming at the same time. It just requires the courage to put one's self out into the elements, and expose themselves a little. On days like this, the rewards far outweigh the risks.

Return to Burringbar Tunnel

The reasons why we do things aren't always clear. A couple of weeks ago I decided to join Martin and his friend Haggis on a return to Burringbar Tunnel. I had only just recovered from the scrapes from the last time, and shaken off a persistent cold, but with the Rajneeshee off the road for the weekend anyway, I couldn't really think of anything better to do. We all set off at the slightly later time of 6.30am, but made reasonable time down through Urliup, Murwillumbah and Stokers Siding, despite Martin getting an early flat tyre.


We were soon riding along the old railway line again. This time I wasn't as nervous as previously, although I suspect that's because I still had some of the effects of the cold and was probably too tired to get nervous. Either way, we made much better time on this stretch to the tunnel than previously. It was actually quite a warm day by this stage, and I was relieved to get into the tunnel itself and get a temporary reprieve from the heat that was blazing down from above. In that respect, it reminded me of some of the tunnels I rode through in Japan a couple of years back. This one, however, had glowworms, clinging to the roof, looking almost like stars above our heads.

Someone had hacked a narrow path through the scrub that covered the line south of the tunnel. I could almost actually see where I was going, and Haggis thoughtfully made the decision to charge ahead of everyone else, and pick up all the scrapes from the lantana. After this, it was time for a quick lunch, then the scenic ride home through the Mooball National Park, and the final stretch over Tomewin. This part of the ride is very pretty, largely because this is an area of virtually virgin bushland, with different types of forest all along the length of the dirt road. After the bumps of the railway track, a dirt road was a relatively pleasant diversion.

That only left the final climb of Tomewin. We were all doing it tough in the heat, and I don't think any of us got up there in super quick time -- I certainly didn't. It was, however, much cooler and greener at the top. It just left us with a simple ride home after the descent, to ponder why we had done it all again -- and whether we'd be silly enough for No. 3.

Little Rock

Hey, I am still around. Not much to blog about the last 3 weeks. Cold, nasty weather. So, I decided on a rode trip to Little Rock.
Made a quick ride in town to check equipment, then headed to the N. Little Rock River Trail. Rode to Burns Park. Coming back was in the wind. Riding over the Main St. bridge almost did me in, heart rate way up, riding at 5mph. Fast recovery.
Damn, it felt good to be back on the bike!

This Old Rock

As more gardeners put the daily events into garden blogs, will anyone still make entries in paper journals? In the nineteen seventies & eighties I used the kitchen calendar to jot down frosts, rains, bloom dates and first tomatoes. By 1989 the garden had expanded too much for a small square, and I started filling the first of a series of blank books. The entries range from rapturous descriptions to weather complaints, to terse mentions of plant names and dates. Sometimes the subject has nothing to do with gardening, as family joys and tragedies, politics or world events take over the pages. Because I kept notes, even in my slapdash style, I can look at this photo and know that the holey rock with the sedum growing out of it was bought on July 7, 1993, in Cave City, Kentucky

UV Water Sterilization

Thursday, 21 February (part I)
On the road to Maxwell AFB Famcamp — Montgomery, Alabama

It’s great to be rolling down the road again! True, the Phaeton did get to drive around a bit while in Red Bay, but not enough to stretch her legs. It’s a sunny day; no sign of any thunderstorms, but I imagine we’ll be getting some wet stuff tonight if the radar images are any indication of what is awaiting us. It’s an easy drive from Red Bay back to Montgomery … a good time to write a post or two.

After touring Ivy Green, Helen Keller’s birthplace, and having one last dinner in Red Bay with friends yesterday, we returned to the Phaeton where we had parked it at Brannon’s shop for our overnight stay.

The last time we were here (Feb 1), we parked in front of the bay farthest from the road to take advantage of the warming rays of the sun. On that occasion, we had no internet whatsoever in the coach, but I was able to get an intermittent signal in Brannon’s lounge. It was a different story this time. We parked near the road and we had blazing fast internet. Either Verizon made some improvements to the cell tower in Red Bay in the last couple of weeks, or just moving a few hundred yards made all the difference in the world to getting a signal that our Wilson trucker’s antenna was able to boost.

A golden sunset sends us on our way to dinner with friends in Red Bay …

… and a colorful sunrise starts off our last day in northern Alabama.

We didn’t have to pull into a bay for today’s installation of an ultraviolet sterilization system on the water line that comes into the kitchen. This was a job that Mui was going to do, but we’re both paranoid about leaks, so we decided to have Brannon do it instead since he has invaluable information about the way the systems in Tiffin rigs work. Had we done it ourselves, we probably would have installed the unit on the main water line. Brannon suggested setting it up just for drinking water so as not to further reduce the water pressure coming into the Phaeton. Definitely a better course of action.

The bits and pieces needed for the install are laid out for the surgeon … ahem … Brannon.

Installing a UV water sterilization system in the rig was not something we had in mind. Until, that is, we went out for a pre-fulltiming dinner with some friends. Keith had installed a similar system in their cabin in West Virginia and shared enough information from his research to convince us to look at doing the same in the Phaeton.

What does UV sterilization do and how does it do it? I’ll let you read about that here. Suffice it to say that what organisms the UV light doesn’t kill, it renders sterile so that they can’t reproduce and make us sick. Considering that we will be getting our water from a variety of sources as we travel across the US and Canada, we felt this was a good precautionary measure to have. After checking out the RV Water Filter Store website, Mui ordered the UVC Lighting Model UV-2G. There is a unit that operates on 12V, but he opted for the AC version since we already have a 110 outlet in the under-sink cabinet.

Brannon made short work of the job at hand. He came into the rig shortly after 7:00a, and he was done by 8:45a. Knowing how frustrating it can be to work in tight spaces — as in the cabinet under the sink — I stayed out of the way and didn’t bring out my camera. While I sat on the couch, browsing the blogs I follow, Mui took a few pictures for today’s post.

The job entailed …

• drilling into the countertop to install the drinking water faucet we bought from Lowe’s in a finish that matches the existing faucet and sink wand
• tapping into the cold water line to add a t-connector for the drinking faucet plumbing
• installing an on/off valve between the t-connector and the sterilization unit to cut off the water if necessary (for example, to replace the bulb, which the manufacturer suggests doing after 9,000 hours, or once a year)
• attaching the water in/out hoses to the sterilization unit
• connecting the water-out hose to the plumbing for the drinking water faucet
• inserting the UV bulb into the sterilizing unit and mounting it on the brackets that came with the kit

(I may have left out a step or two since neither of us was under the cabinet doing the actual work, so don’t take this as gospel!)

After drilling into the countertop by the corner of the larger of the two kitchen sinks …

… the drinking faucet (left) is installed; the swivel head can be moved out of the way if necessary.

A look under the sink reveals all the t-connectors and whatnot that Brannon installed.

Using a piece of paper towel to hold the UV bulb, Brannon inserts it into the sterilization unit.
(The UV bulb comes in its own box with the warning not to handle it with bare hands.)

The unit is in place; the green light visible through the clear hose we picked up from Lowe’s
indicates that the UV light is working … and yes, that is the color of the UV light when you
look at it through a piece of plastic tubing … I checked it on the web ;-)

We have water!

A caution I have for anyone else who might install a similar unit … test the installation with both the water pump and city water so that the fittings can be tightened accordingly.

Brannon once again did a very professional installation for us, and we would not hesitate to recommend him. (He can be reached at 256-668-0973.)

We’re approaching Birmingham and there is a detour to negotiate, so I need to shift over to being the navigator — or the “nag”ivator, as some might say. Time to fill up — with diesel fuel for the Phaeton and with PB&J sandwiches for us. More later …

The Resurrection Life

"Grant me more and more of the resurrection life: may it rule me, may I walk in its power, and be strengthened through its influence." -The Valley of Vision

Arrived Deerwood, MN

Uneventful drive from home to Deerwood, MN. Weather was "changeable". Cloudy, sunny, sprinkling, humid, pleasant. Arrived at my hotel a little before 3pm. Took some time to unloaded the car.

Debated for a while - Do I just have dinner? -or- Do I take a bicycle ride THEN dinner. Eventually, I decided I really wanted to get out and ride. Visited a little with the hotel owner as getting ready to leave. Headed out for a road ride to Crosby. Hwy 6 from Deerwood to Crosby has an awesome wide shoulder - even wider than a bicycle lane. (Need to take a photo of the hwy while here.)

When I got to Crosby, I rode on to the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail. (today's photo - the road bike on the trail) Rode the trail to Hwy 6 at the Croft Mine. Could have ridden a little further, but knew I had to ride along the highway on the way back and there was a rough hill as I enter Deerwood.

Felt energized when I got back to the hotel. Showered and walked over to Coach's for food. Special was a 1/4 lb burger. Pint of Fat Tire and a cheeseburger & chips cost me a whole $5.15!

Now that this blog post has been written - time for bed. Was a productive day - 500 miles in the car, 9 miles on the bicycle and $5.15 dinner.

Riding in the red dirt at Cuyuna Country Ride Center tomorrow.

Learning to Live by Remembering Death

‎"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."
Steve Jobs, 1955-...

It's hot!

I'm sitting here typing this in a pool of sweat on another disgustingly humid night. Last night was similar -- I don't think it feel below 25 degrees C all night. Well, there was nothing for it but to head up to the mountains today. It's been a while since I visited Green Mountains/O'Reilly's. The first thing I had to do was negotiate a road block at the base of the climb.



This involves a long gradual climb up the mountain, taking about 13km to gain 500 metres. The road was built in the 1930's and some of the old road cuttings are still visible today. After cresting Mt Cainbable, the road winds around the mountains delightfully, before the final climb to the summit.





I decided to do the Treetops walk once I got to Lamington National Park, largely because I haven't done it before. It's basically a circuit on a suspension bridge positioned at a higher level in the rainforest canopy than simply walking along the ground. It offered some pleasant views through the forest, but it was too dense for any mountain views to be visible here.





Then for some reason I decided to ride back in the middle of the day. Big mistake. I could feel the heat rising up out of the valley on the descent. By the time I reached the town of Canungra, it was 36 degrees C. It would stay there for a long time. It's a shadeless 9% climb to get out of that place, followed by a shadeless 10-12% grade a little further down the road. In fact, I handled them surprisingly well (surprising given my general hatred of temperatures above 12 degrees). I had been anticipating that the temperature might drop a little as I got closer to the coast, but it just wasn't happening. It even increased to 37 at Maudsland.

In a grim kind of way, I began to enjoy it. It's that unique feeling that comes when conditions get harder, when it eventually reaches a special point that you start willing it on, wanting to test the limits of your own capabilities. At one point I was checking my thermometer, and hoping it might hit 40. That said, the humidity was relatively low by now, which generally makes the heat a lot more bearable. I made one mistake of thinking I'd gladly have the magpie season back if I could get rid of the heat. No prizes for guessing what dropped out of the next tree. This was actually a problem, my usual tactic of simply squirting magpies with water would waste a valuable resource.

As it was, I was running short by this time. I eventually decided to use that $5 that I generally carry around with me and buy a couple of drinks. That gave me enough to reach the coast -- finally things started to cool down here on the back of an impending storm. Unfortunately, the storm didn't arrive, but it did block out the sunlight for a while.

Perhaps stupidly, I actually passed through Surfers Paradise in the middle of schoolies' week on the way home. Not surprisingly, there weren't too many intelligent conversations going on around me. Fortunately, there was a bit of Sunday Afternoon gridlock going on. It gave me the boost I needed, I was really in form picking my way through that. At the southern end of Surfers, I heard a voice call out "you're only human". The form I had through that patch of gridlock, I was in serious danger of forgetting that. In anycase, I was glad to finally make a statement against the heat. I'm sure it will be back soon, however.

Right now I'm about to see if I can score some belated tickets to the Oasis show in Brisbane, the one that they told me was sold out three months ago.

Lake Manawa Clean-up Day

Was out for my bike ride yesterday. Was a nice, sunny day. Short bibs, s/s jersey, and light jacket, but a stiff wind from the NW. Headed out from the Wabash Trace trailhead towards Lake Manawa.

Rode down to the river so see what flora what is coming back. Seems trees are doing well. Grass is coming back in areas that were not inundated with sand and silt. Where there are dunes of sand and sild, nothing seems to have taken root. Its still as wasteland.

Turning back onto the Lake Manawa Trail, I noticed the sign advertising Lake Manawa Clean-up Day, Sunday, May 6th. This is an annual effort. If you are in the area, please try to attend and help clean up one of our State Parks. THOR (Trails Have Our Respect) has been supporting the clean-up. We usually lead the effort around the river boat ramp.

Back to the ride - I stopped at Indian Creek Bridge for water and a shot blok. Knew it would be rough riding the 1 1/2 miles into the wind. When I got to Veterans Memorial, I decided to head back (instead pf riding on to the Trails Center). After all, I still have over a mile into the wind to get back to the car!

Legs were almost spent when I got back to the car. But, glad I was out for the ride.

Spider heaven

The only good thing I can think of about the drought is that mosquitoes weren't much of a problem this summer. Bugs were down overall, I think.
One day before we had a frost, there was an explosion of tiny flying things. You may have to click the picture to enlarge it enough to see, but it was clearly spider heaven.
Now that it has frozen and warmed up again, the explosion is of those ladybug look-alikes, Asian ladybird beetles (Harmonia axyridis).
Harmonia! If ever a species needed renaming, it's this one. How about Discordia detestabile. OK you can tell I don't really know Latin, but you get the idea.

Moving to Hunting Island State Park

Sunday, 9 DECEMBER
Hunting Island State Park — SOUTH CAROLINA
TEMPS: LO 57F / HI 75F (14C / 24C)

No unorthodox wake up calls today. I guess even the recruits get a breather on Sunday morning :-D

We were up around 6:00a, which might seem early to most of our readers. We’re used to getting up between 4:00-5:00a, so we consider this sleeping in ;-) Knowing that our move to Hunting Island State Park (HISP) was going to be short drive of 24 miles (38 km), we took it easy and didn’t get going until the official check out time of 11:00a. We set out under blue skies and plenty of sunshine, keeping fingers crossed that the weather would hold for the rest of the day so that we could enjoy a little beach-sitting in the afternoon.

An easy drive takes us from Parris Island MCRD to HISP.

On the way here, I decided to play around with the Microsoft Streets and Trips software we purchased before we got on the road. We bought the version that comes with an antenna and a thumb-drive GPS device that plugs into a USB port. What fun! With tracking turned on, I was able to watch the coach make its way to our new temporary home at HISP. Now I have my very own 17” GPS to double check what the Garmin trucker’s GPS tells Mui to do; and I can even monitor his speed ;-)

Very useful … and fun too!

We arrived at HISP shortly after noon (about two hours before the official check-in time). Seeing as how the campground is pretty empty this time of the year, no one blinked an eye at our early arrival. The volunteer at the gate simply checked us off the list on her clipboard and welcomed us to the park.

After unhooking the toad, we left the Phaeton in the holding area and drove over to our reserved site for another look-see. The roads at the park are fairly narrow and the grounds are heavily treed, so we wanted to figure out the best approach before taking the Phaeton to the site. Smart move on our part — but for a different reason.

During our recon trip to HISP on Friday, we had checked out the sites and made a list of the ones that looked good to us. We then made reservations for #110 on the 50A loop, because it had a great privacy factor. Well, it turns out that this site has a slight grade towards the rear that had gone unnoticed during our recon. If our levelers were functioning, it would not have been a problem. Since they aren’t, we decided to switch to one of the other sites on our list — #36 in the 30A loop. Luckily, we figured all of this out before we took the Phaeton to the first site, so the switch required just a simple conversation with the attendant at the camp store.

In the campground map above, the site marked with a thumbs down is #110; the site circled in red
(in the green loop) is #36. [map courtesy of the Hunting Island State Park website.]

The sites at this campground are water and electric only, and many of them are simply huge. Our site is $27/night + tax — and oh so worth it! The area on the driver’s side of #36 is non-camping space and we have palm trees on that side that provide a natural privacy screen. While our site is a back-in, the neighboring one on the passenger side is parallel to the road. Should someone come into that site, they would be facing us, but there is so much space between us that we don’t see that as an issue.

#36 is a grand site; we are looking forward to enjoying our stay here.

The one possible downside to this site is that the entrance road into the campground and the camp store are behind us. That could make the site unattractive during the busy season, but we don’t think it will be a problem for our 9-day stay this time around. The advantage to being near the camp store is that we have blazing fast wi-fi; and it’s free. From what we were told, the signal does not reach far, so the load on it is limited to a few campsites and the picnic tables placed next to the building for anyone who wants to bring their laptops there. Our mi-fi shows 3G service, but the trees create enough interference so as to make it unusable. That means we won’t have VOIP phone service, but we can stay in touch with family via email, so that’s not a real problem for us.

Our rooftop satellite could not lock on to a signal, but that is not unusual for such a highly treed area. We’re getting plenty of channels with the antenna, though, so we’re good to go. At some point, Mui will test his tripod satellite gear, but we had better things to do than to mess with that this afternoon.

Top left photo shows the empty space on the driver’s side; no camping there.
top right photo is a view of our site from the neighboring one (#34).

By the time we were settled in the site, which proved to be level enough that we didn’t need to resort to leveling blocks under the tires, it was past 1:00p. After taking time out for a quick bite to eat, we set up our screen shelter for maximum privacy. Then it was time to check out the beach.

Looking down the beach to the left; looking down the beach to the right.

The sun was mostly hidden behind clouds by the time we went out there around 3:00p, but that did not deter us from enjoying the mostly deserted beach. I think there were three people fishing, and a family of four at the far end; that was it. I took a book to read, but as usually happens, I was caught in a trance as the waves gently crashed ashore and the reading went by the wayside. That’s OK; the pelicans diving into the water a short distance from shore were plenty entertaining … when I was able to pull my gaze away from the waves.

This ring-billed gull is also mesmerized by the gentle waves.

Left: a ring-billed gull coming in for a landing adds interest to the pale rainbow in the distance.
Right: Mui tests the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean; too cold to swim today!

What a great way to wrap up our afternoon! So far, we’re loving HISP and look forward to exploring the beach and the trails in the upcoming days.

Cooler Weather

The heat broke - for a little while, anyway. Today I could ride a little later in the morning. Was a little cool while loading the bike on the car rack - wore a light jacket.

Ham Radio friend John decided to ride, too. Met at the Wabash Trailhead. By 8am, and ready to ride, I did not need the jacket. We headed toward Lake Manawa.

My heart monitor was giving high reading, telling me I am in A-Fib. Took it a little easy on the ride.

Wind from the NNW. Rode counter-clockwise (not our normal way. Wanted the ride down Indian Creek Trail WITH the wind. At the intersection of Veteran's Memorial Trail and Indian Creek, we had a decision - ride further or head back toward the car.

While I was feeling good, with my A-Fib, I figured it was better to just head on back. On the way back, I asked John if he had ridden the connector to the lake. He had not. So rode to the lake where I took today's photo. View of Omaha from the campground boat ramp.

The wind was kicking up by the time we headed back North along Mosquito Creek, Was enough for me.

Back to the car, loaded up the bike and headed home. Didn't really do much anytihng else the rest of the day. Seems that while I do not know I am in A-Fib unless wearing the heart monitor, I get tired easier.

Dreaming and Living

~If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.~ Henry David ThoreauI believe in this philosophy of life with one addendum; in order to have the desires of our hearts, we have to delight ourselves in the Lord. Our dreams should be lined up with the will of the Father.
I can have all the dreams in the world, but if I'm not doing what God wants me to do, I'll just be frustrated all the time. Believe me, I know from experience.
I still dream big, but I pray about what I want to accomplish and make sure what I want is what God has revealed in his Word. Then I can go forward with confidence that it's the right thing for me.