I’m going to do a “Trip Report” but in stages. Why? Because some of the topics are highly divergent, and because I’m just a wee bit too tired after a drive across the continent to put it all in one posting!
Day One after arrival was “Boat Inspection”, so this posting will be about the flight out, the culture “on arrival” and The Boat.
The Flight
It was largely uneventful. Arrived at the airport at 4-ish AM and had an hour to clear security. They had a “New Gizmo” that lets them see the inside of your bags in detail, so no need to unpack your electronics and make separate layers.
As I travel with just a backpack as “carry on”, that means all I had to do was lay it in a tray, put shoes and belt next to it, and put my jacket and any other odds and ends in another basket. Through it went!
When flying, I put all my “pocket stuff” in a clear plastic zip lock bag in my carryon. So wallet, keys, coins, etc. already “not on me”. I do have an ID carrier with one Debit Card ( two sided plastic sleeve thing) that I hold in my hand as I step into the scanner gizmo. So I was through security is more like 4 minutes than the expected 40… Nice.
For about the next 9 hours I got to be “with mask”… Aboard the flight we were encouraged to do the “sip and cover”, but most folks seemed happy to just let the mask hang while drinking or eating the cookies. (Your choice of cookies or “goldfish” cheesy cracker snack).
I had one plane change. I generally avoid at all costs a plane change in Denver, Chicago, or Dallas (in roughly that order) and prefer Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Houston and maybe some other mid-country medium to smaller sized airports. I’ve “had problems” in the first three big ones, and never had a problem in the other three smaller ones. Honorable Mention goes to LAX Los Angeles. It’s generally worked well for me, but it’s just kind of old, grungy, and a bit tacky if you have to set around for a while. I also don’t feel like I’m really on my way until I’m not in California!
So plane change was easy. The plane had a screen built into the backs of the seats. Nice that. They sold ear buds for $2 each. I thought they were handing out snacks and when offered the buds for $2 declined (as I wanted the snack and didn’t care about the movie or whatever…) Well, the guy behind me thought I was unable to pony up the $2 (I guess) as he bought them and then handed it to me! OK, I thanked him for his generosity and didn’t explain about the cookies ;-) I did get some use out of them afterall…
Not only was I able to sample some news programs (they have live TV aboard now!) and look over the list of TV series; but I did watch a movie after-all. THE Suicide Squad. I thought it would be the original (that I’ve never seen and love the clips from it) but no. It was the 2nd in the series. Turns out the Original is name “Suicide Squad” and the sequel is “The Suicide Squad”… Um, that’s going to cause confusion…
THE Suicide Squad is a very brain dead plot with mostly gore special effects and some crazy “super” characters. (One is a human sized weasel… another throws poka-dots at people and cuts them up edge on…). Not nearly as much interesting plot development (or skin) as in the original. Oh, and they use the classical Latin Dictator as the Bad Guy foil. Yeah, that un-original.
So, OK, I watched it. No cost so no loss. It wasn’t bad, just wasn’t particularly good either.
Upon landing, and out of the airport, I was back in The Free State of Florida! Masks basically not to be seen but in a few aliens adjusting to Free American Florida.
That night was spent at the home of Florida Friend working down his beer and scotch inventory ;-)
The Boat
The next day we got up at some Zero-dark-thirty… (6-ish?) and headed to the Atlantic Coast. At about 10 AM we were sitting on a nice sail boat that is up for consideration (i.e. offer made, but need sea trial and survey to complete).
I liked it A Lot. Lots of wood below and enough above to make it pretty. Not a shoal draft keel and not a fin keel either. More a rhombus shape of about 5 foot draft. So good sea keeping but can still sail some of the shallows. Roller Reefer jib, and classical main. Aft cabin next to the 20 hp Diesel and a forward V Berth, plus two settees in the middle, a nice galley, and a shower separate from the head. Has a dingy on davits and both solar and windcharger for power to run the watermaker. You can take this out to sea for Long Time if you like. As long as the food holds out or you can catch fish!
I know I ought to be saying more specifics, but until the Deal Is Done, I’m not saying ;-)
Florida Friend has been working on his Captains Skills. In a sailing club and getting ASA Certified. Oddly, my years as a live aboard counted for more points with the insurance / financial folks; despite me being all self-taught and it being decades ago. Go figure. F.F. will be a much better skipper of this boat than I will be as he’s up to speed on things like radar and radios and right of way and all that. (Maybe someday I’ll do the cert thing… or maybe not. After all, I will have “staff” driving the boat for me ;-)
Sometime around April we’re supposed to take her out into the Atlantic and run down the coast for a few days. We’ll see if I’m up for days on end on Atlantic waves, or if “tossing cookies” comes with bigger waves…
We spent about 2 hours sitting on the boat. Just enjoying the slight rocking you get in a harbor and the ocean breezes. A tour below decks and all was right near as I could tell. So agreed to be “all in” on 1/2.
On The Way Back
After that, dinner was seated indoors with no masks at a local fast food place.
On the way back, we took a detour to the ocean. Randomly following Highway 1 looking for something going eastward. We ended up at “The Town Of Jupiter Island” at the beach. The drive in is through a tree lined avenue with old trees and sheer beauty.
http://townofjupiterisland.com/
Welcome
Town of Jupiter Island BeachWelcome to the Official Website of the Town of Jupiter Island, designed to better inform the community of the activities of its local government.
Your comments and suggestions on the web site and other issues are always welcome; please contact us.
Town Organization
The Town of Jupiter Island, which was incorporated in 1953, operates in a manager-council form of government, with the Town’s day-to-day administration managed by the Town Manager. The Town has three separate operating units, the Town Commission, the Beach Protection District, and the South Martin Regional Utility (SMRU). The operating departments of the Town Government are Administration, the Building Department, Public Safety, and Public Works.
Many years ago, Circuit Court Judge Wallace Sample dismissed a zoning case against the Town of Jupiter Island using wording that still holds true today, and upholding a concept that we hope will forever endure. We share these thoughts with new residents as we welcome them to our unique Island:
The community is unique – it is the one and only, different from all others, having no like or equal. It is unusual, extraordinary and rare. It was cut from one mold and its counterpart cannot be found elsewhere. Many people would consider it dead – but it is very much alive with genteel living, friendship and compatibility. The Town doesn’t want what many others have, but many others would be better off if they had more of what this Town has and wants to keep- seclusion, solitude and tranquility.
Supposedly in my email ought to be a video of the beach. I’ll look for it (maybe tomorrow…) as time permits. It was just your ordinary beach crowd. LOTS of folks, swim suits and not much else on, sitting on the beach, having food and drinks, swimming. Basic standard Beach Day. Nobody in masks. Nobody afraid. No Fear Porn influence here! I walked to the ocean and lifted my pants legs. But not enough. An incoming wave wet them to my knees. Oh Well (shoes were in the car, so no worries there, and the pants dried fast enough).
In the distance we could see a Cruiser going about 30 knots south, and it passed a sail boat doing about 5 knots south. Folks just enjoying life and the Sea. My turn comes in April… maybe March if I can swing it ;-)
Then the drive back to his place and ready for Another Day.
It was incredibly pleasant to be back in a land of normal people doing normal things and not giving a Damn what the Federales and / or Potusino Bidet were saying. Nobody wringing hands over Fauxies latest flip-flop-flail or utterances du jour.
The Chinese Wuhan Covid Report
Oh, and note that I’ve once again done a week on the road and got nothing bad. I ivermectin dosed before leaving and it ought to have lasted until the return home. I did have a brief (few hours) feeling of something trying to move into my nose on the 2nd day. That slightly warm and irritated feeling. Then about 30 minutes of drips and blows, then nothing. All Gone. I had a similar event a couple of days ago in Quartzite Arizona. Also over in a few hours.
I’m pretty certain it was Omicron trying to move in, and failing. Given my (trivial near nothing; but real) symptoms, I’m pretty sure I’ve got natural immunity going for me now, too. Likely from various exposures where the ivermectin prevented it taking hold, but still I had some virus parts to present to the immune system for inventory and response training.
All in all I think we’ve got some really good existence proof that it works. Spouse is also free of anything (and had a covid test pre-surgery to confirm it). So 2 of us over 2 years in 2 hot-spot contagion locations and both quite healthy through it all.
Florida Friend had done an around the nation “bucket list” car trip to visit old friends. He was fully vaccinated. Toward the end of the run visited a married couple (also fully vaccinated) with about 3 days drive left to get home. On the 2nd day he got a call from them. They had Chinese Wuhan Covid. By the time he got home he had symptoms too, likely picked up from them given the couple of days delay. He did the recommended prep (vit-C vit-D zinc etc.) and unfortunately was not supplied with ivermectin. Still, his symptoms were mild and he was over it in a few days. The husband recovered nicely too. His wife, however, died in the hospital. So tell me again how this Vexxine is supposed to prevent infection and transmission? Tell me again how it will keep you from a severe case and out of the hospital? Near as I can tell, it does no such things. Oh Well.
So back at the present…
Florida Friend is now both vaccinated and has natural immunity exposure. He’s not planning any more jabs as it doesn’t seem to do anything useful at this point. I’m planning to continue to use the Ivermectin for about a year, maybe two. By then this will be all over, one way or the other, and the virus ought to have mutated into a “Common Cold” (as Omicron seems to be 90% there already).
Next Posting Preview
In following postings we’ll cover my inventory of the car that was parked over dirt for 6 months, and the cleaning of it. Then the search for a rental house and The Decision. Finally the wrap up and head home fairly quickly. I drove the wagon back (the one Florida Friend used for his drive home / people visit trip) and was able to sleep flat in the back of it ;-) So a bit of Quartzite Trip Report on sleeping in a LVA (Long term Visitor Area) on B.L.M. (the classic one…) land with all the other Snowbirds. After that, it was just a drive home. But more leisurely than usual and I explored some back roads between States ;-)
But those topics are for other postings a bit later. Right now I need to go make dinner ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
I did the 2, but no more. The vaccine is useless. I am hoping to catch the XI variant. I figure that will give me natural. Since I donate blood, they always check it and so far, I am still negative for the antibodies.
I do not do ivermectin, but all the rest. My doc told me to do 5000 iu of D3 daily. Not because I get no sun either. He is not a Faucci fake.
Glad to hear you are on the move and getting things done.
– – – –
Early August I had a few hours of sneezing and then sniffles for the next 18 hours. Then all gone. No explanation.
In November I got a booster and a week later a flu shot.
I’m a fan of the “hygiene hypotheses” – – grow up around animals and play in dirt; stay healthy.
Never had a reaction to any shot, not even a sore spot. But that’s me. I don’t think others should use me as an example.
[I took a Percocet tablet once. Upchucked 20 minutes later.]
@John Hultquist – seems you and I are on the same page about hygiene. My philosophy is what does not kill you makes you stronger. SO I rarely take anything for colds and flus, and do not use sanitizer. God put the germs here for a reason (in case the Martians invade), so why argue with the omniscient one?
Like you, I did take Percocet once (I had an abscess on my neck and they were draining it – the hard way). It did nothing for me (I did not ralph either), so have never used it since. Including after my partial nephrectomy.
Percocet works a treat for me. I don’t notice any effects – drugged out, woozy, loopy – and it is effective for pain. I would get a 1/2 dozen for oral surgery when I was getting dental implants.
Then Los Federales interfered, and my dentist was no longer allowed to prescribe Percocet. He can prescribe the acetaminophen + hydrocodone(?). I hate that stuff and take half pills only as absolutely necessary. I don’t finish the prescription for the dental pain, but I use half pills from the remainder when my back or hip is whacked out and ibuprofen isn’t working. The scrip is for 10 pills and that’s usually been good for a year or longer.
So… one upvote for Percocet. I used those the same as the other stuff; for about two or three days, 1/2 pill twice on the first day and 1/2 pills for a bit longer. Then the rest saved for hip or back pain whenever I did something I shouldn’t outta dun. The only effect I ever felt was that the pain was gone.
I absolutely hate opioids, mostly from the constipation I get afterwards. I’ve had a few doses. Morphine for kidney stones and tylenol with codeine a time or two. Just enough for pain relief. Otherwise, NSAIDs for me when tolerated. I’ve been intoxicated once. That was enough. (By the way, percocet is,or was, acetaminophen plus hydrocodone. So likely limited to tylenol plus codeine, though I have to wonder given how the DEA usually operates.)
@CDQuarles:
Yeah… fentanyl coming in by the Millions Of Doses but your M.D. can’t prescribe a less risky effective pain relief drug. Go figure…
A friend had persistent pain and needed a constant supply of pain meds. Had to have a physical M.D. visit monthly to get just one month of pills. Her condition was chronic and never going to go away. The trip to the M.D. painful for her. Just Stupid Rulz from Government Idiots In Charge.
Look, find the one or two rogue doctors handing them out like chocolates and do the law enforcement thing on them IFF needed. But leave the rest of the patient population alone, OK? Sigh…
It is actually easier now to score opiates on the black market than via a prescription. That’s just wrong. Unsupervised is NOT better than medically supervised.
FWIW: I do fine on Aspirin / Codeine. Acetaminophen doesn’t seem to do anything for me. Hydrocodone works well too. I’d rather have the pills without the acetaminophen in them as it is just screwing with my liver for no benefit. Oh Well.
One surgery, the M.D. got his shots mixed up (or the nurse did…) and I was given a Demerol / Nembutal (pentobarbital) mix, but with excess Demerol and not enough Nembutal to put me under. The result was that I was quite awake and aware during the procedure (instead of ‘out of it’) but really feeling NO pain. There was an interesting moment when the surgeon said: “He’s still awake, we’ve given him two shots already. What? That was supposed to be Nembutal not Demerol. We can’t give him any more, it will kill him.”…
Then he asked if I was OK with him proceeding with the surgery and I said “Yes, I am not feeling any pain at all”. So I was “awake” if a bit high, during the drilling of my ear canal and surgical reconstruction of ear drum… And it took about 3 days to finally get all the drug metabolized out. I think my liver took a bit of a break the first day ;-) Yeah, that close…
Bottom line though is that Demerol really does work well for me. After it wore off the pain was “exquisite” (the highest level) and I didn’t sleep for a day or two… the pills I had worked for about 3 hours and I could take the next one at 4… (They were not Demerol… hydrocodone I think…)
@ EM:
So, how did they figure out you were still awake? Were your eyes still open, or what?
Back when I had the choice, I’d have colonoscopy done without anesthesia. An excellent gastroenterologist could do one without necessarily requiring it. Now, you don’t get a choice; and I do not like propofol for the side effects that I get, plus having to have someone else drive that day. Yes, I’d watch the video feed of the doctor doing it. Can’t do that now.
Flip side of the fentanyl thing. The controlled-release patches were quite effective and generally safer. Yeah, the adverse effect of prohibition enhanced smuggling this stuff in, increasing the risks.
@Power Grab:
I was talking to the nurse…and quite lucid even if very very happy ;-) They had to ask me to just stop talking so they could do the operation… And I did.
Sorry, this may seem inappropriate given your experience, but in telling Power Grab what was going on, I got this picture in my head of a corpse correcting a Ministers sermon on his life’s story.
I have a sick sense of humor.
@E.M. re the boat: It’s 38 feet long, but what’s the beam? Is it racing slender or does it have a bit of meat for living aboard?
@philj – That’s not sick humor. That’s actually a pretty funny visual.
During the funeral service, the corpse sits up in the casket and says, “That ain’t the way it really was, Rev.”
A good film director would have a field day with all the reactions that could be conjured up.
@H.R.:
It’s a “Live Aboard” class. Don’t know the exact beam, but I’d guess between 8 and 9 feet. You can stand up below decks. One person can be cooking in the galley while 4 others are on the settees, two sleeping forward, one in the aft cabin and 2 on deck sailing… Heck, you could even fit another person in the bathroom (shower or toilet or, really, both if they were good friends ;-)
That would be a crowded load and not comfortable longer term (more an “at dock party” load ;-) but I’d be comfortable with a crew of 4 at sea for an extended period. (Really it would depend on the water maker capacity but I don’t know that number). With 4 you could all be below decks sleeping and still have some room left over. With one on watch minimum (night watch) you could still have 3 sleeping below decks without even doing the settee to bed conversion.
There’s room for about 6 to sit in the steering well if friends (or 7 if one is standing at the wheel). There are two settees (2 person each) opposite each other with a small table area between them AND the galley AND a chart and “office” area … before even getting into the bathroom with curtain between head and shower (i.e. not the same space) or the aft cabin or the V-berth forward…
It’s big…
Full dodgers above deck. Rear davits with dingy. Hoist and mount for dingy outboard on the rear railing. Swim deck / ladder out the back. A/C. Fridge / freezer. Solar panels AND wind charger for unlimited electricity at sea (so also constant water from the water maker…). Did I mention it is set up as a live aboard?…
@E.M. – You did mention all the live aboard amenities. From that, my guess was that it was a 9′ beam or perhaps a bit better than that. Just askin’ though, to see if my guess was close.
@HR; I suppose being deep and broad beamed will make a boat a bit of a pig at sea. But living aboard is a lot nicer then one of those slim fast ones. You want to live in a race car or a station wagon ? 8-) I think I’d vote for the wagon or even a truck! On Prince William Sound I had a 60ft motor barge, slow but lots of room and capacity, a bit of a fuel hog though, with it’s 671 “sceamin gimmy” engine…pg
I also had use of a 36ft “Alaskan” CristCraft with 2 – 427 engines, a full live on boat. That thing had 2 speeds, flat out- on the plane, 25-27 kns or idle, displacement 8 Kns. Anything else she was a gas hog that just plowed water. I did go out on a 32ft sailor of a business partner. That was awesome as the wind filled the sails and took a hold of the mast and boat. Instead of a bobbing cork in the water the boat became a solid part of it as she moved through it smartly…pg.
“Don’t know the exact beam, but I’d guess between 8 and 9 feet.”
I’m guessing that number is based on interior impressions.
I’m also guessing that it is wrong. The real beam (exterior measurement) will be over 10 feet for sure. As evidence, I present a web page:
https://www.sailboat-cruising.com/cruising-yachts-35.html
In a sailing sailboat, interior width is a bad thing. Imagine a slippery floor (except they don’t call it a floor) at what feels like 45 degrees. When at a dock, width is good.
@YMMV – Looks like my guess at the beam was a couple of feet and more off the mark.