Helicopter Pilot, will travel

I was talking to a retired Professor in St.Augustine Florida a few days ago. He was an interesting person and a pleasure to talk to. In summarizing our recent lives we found that we had a mutual acquaintance who had lived as the Professor had in Key West.The six degrees of separation is always in play for us as we travel.I have talked to people from Mexico to Monaco and found that we had friends and associates in common.

The professor talked of his time in Key West and mentioned that he had written for the local newspaper. There was no shortage of characters and strange events to write about in Key West. Paula talked of her travel writing courses and continuing education and I added that we blogged about our travels and I also wrote about my career experiences.

The professor turned up his nose at the blogging and said, “Blogs? ,oh everyone is blogging”

Not everyone, I thought and for everyone that blogs their reasons for doing so are as diverse as their lives  . I blog for me. If someone is interested in what I have written thats cool. I write for the record. I write to recall and I write because I like to learn and teach.

To not blog because it has become common ,seems about as logical as not going online because anybody can.

Different people with different views. It is a small part of what makes life so interesting.

Setting up our RV in most RV Parks, folks come over to say Hi and see if you can use a hand with anything. Its just the way most RV people behave. After a few minutes of the usual where you from,where you headin’ and where you been, most people make the assumption that I’m retired. Other than the fact that I have trouble believing I look old enough for retirement ,I never mind the assumption. It is difficult for most folks,even the full time RV people, to get their heads around the way we live.

Our Office stays the same,just the view changes

Full time RV’ers are generally retired or working locally in the area that they are parked.The retirees can understand our moving around, although most of them tend to stay longer and travel less between stops than we do.The working full time RV’ers generally spend weeks or even months in one place and move along to the next assignment. When I tell people that we travel full time,live anywhere and seldom if ever work anywhere near where we are parked ,it takes them back. A minute explaining the international nature of my assignments, coupled with the fact that I seldom know from one month to the next where I will be working next ,starts to sink in.

One gentleman who heard our story ,told me that since we could live almost anywhere, we should pick that place and live there. His friend said, “why would they” ? “They can travel all over while they are still young”.

Yes, I agreed , if you like to travel, you should not wait till you are too old. Having traveled a lot ,the three of us all agreed, that travel is not only work ,its also not really for people who need to be near a health care facility.

So, no I am certainly not retired. I have just chosen to get my retirement travel done and out of the way while I am best able to do it.For my friends who plan their travel adventures some time after 65 or so, I say good for you. Come on down and visit us in Belize,Mexico and the Caribbean, by the time you are ready to travel ,we will have a nice place for you to visit. We ,won’t be going far from home for long. We will have been there and done that already.

Zoey, checks the new view out the office window

Would we find my little cabin/ cottage home of 50 some years ago ? It was an old place when I lived there as a child so I could not be sure it would be still standing.The GPS on the truck had allowed us to take the old highway across from Highway 11 to Dwight. Beautiful lake country with old cottages and newer homes, boat houses and small islands just the way I had remembered them.

In the little four corners of Dwight we stopped at the old Grocery store and asked the lady if she had perhaps known the people whose place I had lived at so many years ago ? Charlie and Dorothy Thompson had owned the farm we lived on and I hoped that lady in the store may have known them. Sorry ,she said but that was before her time. There was a road called Charlie Thompson road though, would we like directions?

I got the directions and frankly they were the same as the directions my Mother had given me some hours earlier without mentioning the obvious. The road was named after the man I had called Uncle Charlie.

We drove the road and although it is a paved road now it looked familiar as we climbed the hill towards the lake. And there it was. Charlie and Dorothy’s cabin the barns and our little place sitting there looking exactly the same as it had when I lived there 51 years ago.The new road goes closer to our little house and the apple orhard is gone but everything else is the same.The old barn looks as sound as the day it was built and the number 1897 above its door attest to its vintage. It appears nobody lives in our little cottage now and peering inside I could not believe how small a place it had been. Just right for a young family of three in 1957.

So many memories here. Paula took photos as I walked around the property. I couldn’t find the spring and water trough and the out house is gone and likely not missed but really not much has changed. I know Charlie passed away years ago but what about Dorothy? She would be in her nineties if she is still alive and there should be relatives. It will be Monday tomorrow and I’ll do some checking. We drove from Dwight to Huntsville to check on my other old house on Fairy Ave. Not the most macho address in the world but the street climbs a small hill and descends to the shore of Fairy Lake. Pretty little street with an old restored brick house at the bottom, FOR SALE, hmmm?

Thompson Real Estate.I am thinking that there may be a connection here.

We drove past what I think was my other old house but I am not sure. In town we searched and found a nice Motel for the night. I was humming an old Harry Chapin song as we walked to dinner later that evening.

“All my life’s a circle”.  Yes it is.

Waking in the night, I slid out of bed and stepped into the chair,throwing me off balance and bouncing off the wall that should not have been there. I stood still and oriented myself to this nights Motel room. One of the hazards of a different Motel every night, is that you often wake not knowing or remembering where you are.

Last night we had been in Ellensburg WA., staying at the Inn at Goose Creek. We had seen the Inn on previous visits but traveling with the dog sometimes limits our options. Tonight we were dogless and the owner Gary asked if we wanted to see a few of the 10 theme rooms of the Inn.Since it was our first night back together after 5 weeks apart,  we chose the Rodeo Room  🙂

The next day we picked up the  new truck and headed east dropping the rental car at the FBO Hertz location in Moses Lake. Paula had the GPS program installed and running in the new truck in no time and we rocked along listening to the Sirius radio and learning all the truck features as we enjoyed the Fall colors.

It will be a 2500 mile trip that will retrace our Spring road trip east up till Billings Montana. At Billings we will stay in the north country and cruise south of Superior crossing at the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie Michigan and Ontario. Should be a nice road trip and from Billings on,its all new to Paula. I’m hoping to swing buy the little log cabin that I started out my life , near Dwight Ontario and get a photo of me in front of it 50 some years later. I’ll check in with my Mom to see if the cabin is still standing and get some directions to the old place. I have not seen the old cabin since I was about 14 so directions may be needed.

I might have to ask the locals around Dwight if they know the cabin. Some one will surely know.

I have been working with my insurance carrier for the past few days. I even hesitate to use the word with, because the process has been less than a cooperative effort. Insurance companies and mine is State Farm, get mixed reviews from everyone who has ever had to make a claim.

Unfortunately for me, this is my second claim in as many months. If you follow my blogs, you may recall the tree on truck incident.

My truck had been repaired and returned to me for about 6 weeks when I called to tell State Farm that my repaired truck had been stolen.

I had dropped the truck in long term parking at Montreal’s, Dorval airport on Sept. 16^th and according to records the truck was removed that same evening.

I reported the truck stolen to State Farm on my return on Oct.10^th. It seems that there is a 21 day waiting period before my claim is paid. State Farm offers a car rental stipend or contract which pays 25 bucks a day. It’s not enough and initially I was told by my agent that I would have to pay for my own car rental. It turns out; that was not true and a big thanks to my buddy Scott for telling me that they were lying to me. When I questioned the adjuster on this she told me that State Farm could arrange a discounted rate but that it was still not likely going to be as much as the rental would cost. What she didn’t bother to tell me was that rental car company would direct bill State Farm rather than just give me a discounted rate. I found this out by calling and quizzing the rental car company directly. In fact, the rental company said that State Farm typically pays up to $900 max and $35/day.

My adjuster had given me just enough information to make it sound like I would be just as far ahead to keep the rental car I now had and bill State Farm or be reimbursed at the $25/ day rate later.

This does not portend well for the rest of my claim process. It appears that some of the items I purchased for my truck and installed can be claimed. My air ride hitch, the roll top cover, mp3 radio, G.P.S. and that’s all.

Claiming I had them is one thing, but proving it is quite another. If you are like me and kept all your vehicle receipts, registration and insurance in your glove compartment you may now be considering an alternative plan.

At the very least make copies. I have never kept my drivers license in the glove box and had I done that I would not be complaining about the rental car deal. No license; no rental car. Also no registration for our 5^th wheel trailer,(yes it was in the glove box), means no proof that we own the trailer.

No worries ,get a new registration, right? It takes two weeks minimum after the DMV gets your affidavit of “lost” registration to get another.

It is a good time now, to thank my buddy Chad who is in car sales and who walked down to the DMV and got me a replacement in 5 minutes. The new registration will be here by courier today.

The 21 day delay is pissing me off. The vehicle has been gone for 30 days now but the 21 days goes from the day of the report. I have a better chance of winning the lottery than I have of ever seeing that truck again and I don’t have a lottery ticket. Face it, my luck has not been that spectacular of late, so I’ll save my money and not buy any lottery ticket, ever!

My money will be better spent buying a new truck. I will get paid out, some day.

Will I get fair market value for my truck as equipped? Well, remember that these are the same people who tried to let the $900 rental slip by me…so I am thinking that my $55,000 truck, now valued at $36,000 a whole 2 ½ years later will be very fortunate to see a payout of even that amount.

In the mean time, I have my 5^th wheel trailer sitting in an RV park that closes for the season today. I am not leaving. Even if the park wanted to move me out, there are no rigs available to move me. Believe me I have checked! All the haulers are swamped moving boats on trailers. It’s the season end to the boating year. There are no RV parks to move me to anyhow. Not that anyone would care. Its end of the season for most everything except snowmobiles and ice fishing here in the North country. I can park the trailer at friends and relatives if I can get it moved but no water, no sewer and a 15 amp. electrical service makes life a challenge when the temperature dips below freezing.

So, I’ll just have to buy another truck. Except that the bit of money I have is making interest,(not much) and so I’ll finance, right?

Not so easy to do these days, but after a day of negotiating I have a deal. Except that my trailer hitch is back ordered. (7 to 10 days).

A truck without a 5^th wheel hitch will be just an expensive lawn ornament parked beside my not welcome trailer.

So, this is how I am spending my time off. Paula is on the other side of the country in California and heading this way on the 21^st after her school reunion. She will be flying into Washington D.C. where we plan to park our truck and 5^th wheel at a nice RV park we had reserved.

Perhaps you have noticed a slight “hitch”, (sorry) in that plan.

Oh well, I am still in good health and employed as far as I know. I’ll write the happy ending to all this in a few days I’m sure.

Some of you may know this part of the story. The two previous blogs start with my trip from Genoa Italy to home. Home this summer has been mostly in Gananoque Ontario Canada. Gateway to the Thousand Islands.

The adventure  of any trip is often not the destination but the trip itself. Not all trips are happy little tours and nobody wants to read that stuff anyways. In my opinion, people like adversity and misadventure over smooth sailing and endless scenic vistas.If thats the case, you may like the three blogs of which this is the last if the three.The first blog is called itinerary change.

I Just got back from an extended tour in Albenga Italy. Maybe the last for a while but time will tell. Paula is in Bishop for her school reunion that ends Oct.20. I am in Gananoque Ontario where my Mother and brother and two sisters also live. We will be celebrating Canuck Thanksgiving on Columbus Day if that makes sense.
Had a nightmare trip from Italy to Montreal. Several diverts and missed connections that had me in two different towns in Germany and concluded in Dulles where I missed my flight to Montreal. Montreal was where my truck was sitting in long term parking.
I got up to Montreal at 14:00 the next day which was the same time I would have arrived had I just left the next day from Genoa. I could have hung around the Genoa boat show for the day if I had only known.
Oh well, I made it to Montreal on Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and pushed through the crowds to the parking lot with my bags and could not load them in my truck.
There was no truck to load my bags in. After cruising the parking lot with two different security officers and much later a Montreal cop we managed to confirm what I knew 2 hours previously. My truck had been stolen.
No rental cars anywhere on a holiday weekend and no room at the Inn,or Motel or Hotel or well, you get it…
Managed to get the last seat on the train out of town to a town near where I had my trailer. The train broke down and we were finally on our way about 3 hours late. My sister Sherryl picked me up after midnight,bless her heart and after dropping my sister at her house I drove to my fifth wheel trailer.(with her truck) Thank you,thank you !
I fully expected that the thieves would have driven down to my trailer and hooked on with my truck and drove off at this point but my sister had been watching over the trailer in my absence and it was there.
So, here i am shopping online for another truck.The fancy hitch that I forked out 3500 dollars for; not insured,the roll top cover I added;not insured;the GPS in the truck;friggin ditto. What will my truck value at these days? Well, not what it would have a year ago before,diesel prices and the economy got ugly. I could calculate how much all this will cost me but why bother? Oh, and it was very entertaining calling my insurance agent. A couple of months previous I had the misfortune to have a tree fall on my now departed truck. Insurance forked out 9,000 for repairs. I paid the deductible and the cost get the tree off the truck. The RV park who I had prepaid for my stay would not cough up the money to have their tree removed from my truck. I will now be extending my stay at the RV park since I lack a suitable vehicle to tow my trailer away with. The RV park just may not see any further payment for the extra time of my over stay.
So , I called my insurance agent who naturally inquired if I was happy with the repairs to my truck, well, yes I had been, but..you can imagine how the rest of the conversation went.
You can always check on my latest misadventures and stories on my blog @ http://www.heligypsy.wordpress.com
If nothing else, reading about my life may make you feel better about your own.LOL !
So Thanksgiving in a couple of days. I have a lot to be thankful for and will celebrate the same with my family.

My Italy tour is over and I am on my way home,sort of. My firefighting tour was supposed to be two weeks long ,but the day I was supposed to go home the Chief Pilot called and confirmed what I already expected. I would stay for another 3 davs. Ok, well make it an even week I said. No sense having somebody relieve for 4 days so that two of us get extended stays.

I would like to write a bit about my next tour but the fact is I do not know and what little I do know, falls under the heading of propietery info, not to be shared. Frankly, there is nothing to share so no beans spilled here.

So, as I said in my opening sentence,I am heading home. Eventually. I checked into my Hotel at The Genoa Sheraton last night. The International Boat Show is in town and Genoa Hotels have jacked their prices. My usual 90e room was now 280e but like the smiling desk clerk said,”we have a free wine sampling tonight”.

I looked over at the yacht crowd sipping their vino,wearing their “Armani suits and Valentino gowns ” and tried to visualize my uniform shirt and Khaki pants mingling in that crowd. Not happening.

Earlier in the week I did start thinking about staying over an extra day in Genoa and checking out our next potential bad investment at the Genoa Boat Show. Paying the ticket change fee,coupled with the slightly higher room rate was not an option so Ì will just have to wait till we get down to Fort Lauderdale to look at Catamarans.

My flight was delayed this morning and left 45 minutes late from Genoa. Turns out I could have gone back to my Hotel and had breakfast for no extra charge. Breakfast included for only about 400 U.S. a night! The thought of hauling my bag past the friggin imbeciles at security would have had me projectile vomiting my expensive breakfast so I decided to pass. Security, again questioned me at length about my flight helmet that I carried on board,or wanted to?

They had a problem with me carrying a flight helmet. Yes, I am a professional pilot and no, your baggage handlers will not be testing its structural integrity and breaking the visor. Not happening.

You could use the helmet to fly the plane the security guard suggested. Well, I countered, I suspect the Captain and First Officer would have some objection to that I responded. Besides if I was somehow in control of the flight would I not simply use the Captains headset? Its probably lighter than my brain bucket and fancier too!

My sarcasm was bordering on  risky and the result was that I handed the helmet to the ground handlers personally and asked them to please be careful.

I got the helmet back in one piece in Stuttgart,which was a surprise to me because we were going to Munich.

Fog at Munich forced a reroute to somewhere else and fog at that place forced a divert to Stuttgart. so, here I am in Stuttgart some 4 hours later and I finally have an new itinerary. Instead of Munich to Montreal where I would; at this moment be over the financially strapped Iceland ,I will be boarding my new flight shortly.

My route today and today is already been going for ten hours will be Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Dulles (Washington D.C.) and then Montreal .It looks like about 9.5 hours of flying and with the stops I will be enjoying another twelve to thirteen hours of travel. All in all about a 26 hour trip that ends with a nice leisurely drive from Montreal to Gananoque after midnight.

I could have over nighted in Stuttgart for another 100e and done a much shorter trip in the a.m. but fog covers most of Germany and it may have been worse tomorrow.Not a pretty picture and besides I would have lost out on all the extra airline miles I am going to accrue.

See you later,much later.