Headed South: Baton Rouge

During our overnight stay in Memphis, the streets froze again. Everyone was slip slidin’ away.  The temperatures warmed by the time we hit Mississippi, but not enough to melt the unplowed snow in the left lane There were numerous abandoned cars in the median—evidence of the unusual winter storm several days before our trip.

By Jackson, however, the weather reached the 60’s, and the snowy ground was replaced by greening grass. When we made it to Baton Rouge, we were ready to stretch our legs. There is a levy walk along the Mississippi River from downtown to LSU. It felt so good to be outside without a heavy coat, breathing in the scene with all of our senses.

We worked up quite an appetite, and Louisiana is a great place to eat oysters—something we don’t quite trust in Wisconsin. We started off with grilled oysters and then oyster po’ boy sandwiches. We ate at a table by an open door, and there was “open mic” music on the sidewalk. This was the most entertainment that we have enjoyed in over a year.

Next stop: Galveston 

Headed South

Last week, after a brief in-person check-in with Justin, Julia and I jumped in the car and started driving south. We were in search of warmer temperatures and new adventures after nearly a year of very little travel. As I previously mentioned, we are both fully vaccinated and plan to continue social distancing and wearing a mask when appropriate. 

The temperature actually dropped down to -5 F as we drove through Illinois. Clearly, we would have to go further south.

Five hours later, we left St. Louis in our rear view mirror. There was still a lot of snow on the ground. A few hours later in Memphis, the temperature warmed up into the 40’s. While the interstate was mostly clear of snow, the side streets had not been plowed.  After checking into an economy pet-friendly motel, we went searching for bbq.  Quite a few bbq joints were closed due to the weather and the water boil advisory (broken water mains) for most of the region, but we found that one of our favorites was still open.

We opted for carry-out and brought our food back to the room. Julia had pulled pork, while I opted for the beef brisket. We were in food heaven and almost forgot to save a bite for Callie.

We tried to stretch our legs after dinner on the side streets around the motel. But between the very wet snow (which covered up some standing water) and some crazy drivers, we retreated back to our room before getting our daily steps goal. 

On our next day, we would drive out of the snow. Our daily steps goal was not a problem for the rest of our journey south.

Traveling Shoes

This winter has been a long one. I guess it goes without saying that the pandemic hasn’t made things any easier. There has been some good news. Justin is back at school, living his best adult life. Allie is launched in San Francisco with a good job. And, as Justin's family caregivers, we were able to get early vaccinations. We are more than two weeks out and as protected as we are going to be for awhile.

We have no idea what the future holds, so we are going to take this opportunity to move about the country a bit, socially distanced and masked when around other people. At the time of this writing, and it was written awhile ago, we aren’t quite sure where we will be headed, but it will be to warmer places. I'm in the mood for some southern bbq and maybe some fresh seafood. Some place where we can walk without a heavy coat, hat, gloves, and long underwear would be nice.

The Scamp is not available, due to the steep hill and winter conditions outside its protected storage. However, the Subaru is available and ready for an adventure. I will keep you posted.

Deep Freeze

One of the trendy words of the last few years is "unprecedented."  Every time I hear that word, I can't help but start to do an eye roll.  Here, in Wisconsin, we aren't breaking any weather records.  It's just cold and snowy.  Usually, all that means is that we need to dress more warmly before heading outside.

Despite the subzero temperatures and snowbanks, it's a beautiful time of year.

Frozen Waterfalls

 

 

The best part is we don't have to go very far to enjoy winter recreation; it's right outside our front or back door.  

 

Our small vineyard

the backyard

We've been enjoying the first month of real retirement without the presence of adult children.  However, last weekend, we entertained Jill, Julia's sister from Kentucky, who was here to visit their dad, Gene, in hospice.  

Julia, Jill, brother Scott, and Gene

Gene has good days and bad days.  One day he is engaged in the conversation, teasing and joking.  Other days, he is out of it and can't swallow food or water.  We're grateful that he is now getting the care that he needs for the time of life that he is at.  Gene worked as a computer guy (mainframes), but loved the outdoors best (hunting and fishing). 

That night, I made bibimbap, one of Korea's national dishes.  We first tried it when we adopted Justin in South Korea.  It took us a couple of years to find the stone bowls to make it in. 

Rice is the bottom layer with a small circle left open.  Stir fried vegetables and a protein are colorfully arranged on top of the rice and along the sides of the stone bowl.  The final step is to place the stone bowl directly over the gas flame.  An egg is placed in the empty circle at the bottom for the last few minutes. Fermented hot chili paste, called Gochujang,  is optional (but we like it). 

Served with Kimchi and Bell's Two-Hearted Ale

 

Breaking Trail on White Tara

 This is a post for the third day of our trip to the northern Wisconsin border.  Microspikes would have been a better choice for most of the trail conditions, but we were wearing snowshoes.  Not surprisingly, our best memories are of the short, unmaintained White Tara Trail, where our snowshoes broke through fresh snow.

The trail system is called the Three Eagle Trail--just south of Eagle River, Wisconsin.  The specific property that we were on is called Tara Li.  Most of the property was machine-tracked for cross country skiing:  striding and skating.  Some of the trails were marked for snowshoes, but these were mostly machine-packed also.

The entire property was so beautiful.  This is an area inhabited by bears, wolves, and many other animals.  

Just past the bridge, we saw a narrow, winding trail with fresh snow veer to the right.  An intriguing sign waited for us.

The deeper snow and downed trees across the unmaintained trail forced us to slow down and be more aware of our surroundings.  The heavy woods made me feel  like we were Hansel and Gretel, walking toward the witch's gingerbread house.  Alas, we never found the witch, but we enjoyed the trail immensely.

It was time to head home.  At present, we are settling into the daily routines of retirement.  I've been hiking every day--mostly at the marsh or at Gibraltar Rock.  Julia has been cross-country skiing almost every day.  We are trying to decide where our next trip should be.  

One of Justin's caregivers turned out to be a dud (didn't show up three out of four days and was late on the day he showed up).  Justin is in the process of hiring someone who will replace most of the hours, but the vetting takes several weeks.  Julia had to drive to Whitewater to fill a shift Sunday.  I'm on deck, although this week looks set.

That makes any longer trips problematic.  It's probably better to stick closer to home anyway.  One of these days though, we are going to make another run to the border (Wisconsin's border anyway).  Justin is supposed to be eligible for the vaccine around March 1st.  Ironically, as part of Justin's caregiving team, we are already eligible. Even Justin's young friends who help out occasionally without pay are eligible. That doesn't  make sense to me with Justin being high-risk.  

No one put me in charge of things, and that's probably a good idea. 

 

 

The North Country: A Day of Snowshoeing

Day Two of this trip was the best.  After a hearty breakfast, we drove into the Nicolet National Forest. The roads were snow-covered and slippery.  Julia's Subaru was up to the task, but there were a few challenging moments on downhills where all-wheel drive is inconsequential and at the trailhead's unplowed parking lot, where we nearly high-centered.

The parking lot was off of Fournier Road, which appears on the map to the left edge just above center.  We were the first on the trail, and we did not see another human in the woods that day.  

Like a lot of trails in the National Forest, this one was lightly maintained.  We got lost a couple of times, and there were lots of downed trees to clamber over.  

We took the Butternut Trail, continuing on Ash Meadow until it looped around to the Gulch. Our plan to take Gulch to the Roller Coaster failed when we couldn't find the continuation of Gulch.  Eventually, we had to backtrack on Gulch to Ash Meadow again, where we retraced our steps to Butternut.  It was a five mile hike through some fairly deep snow.  

After a quick lunch back at the cabin,we drove across the Brule River into the Upper Peninsula.  Our destination was Alpha Michigan Brewing, which proclaims that it's the smallest village in America with a brewery. 

 

Interesting trivia, but how was the beer?  I'm pleased to report that it was really good.  After enjoying a stout and Christmas Wit on the patio (the temp was in the single digits), we took a half-growler of IPA home. 

The tap room was closed due to covid, but true northerners don't let the cold interfere with a good beer. 

 

 

Little Cabin on the Brule

Last week, Julia, Callie and I jumped into Julia's car and  drove north for a three day getaway along the Wisconsin/Michigan border.  Our goal was to get deep into the north woods for hiking and snowshoeing.  On the way to our rented cabin along the Brule River, we stopped for a hike in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest south-east of Woodruff, WI.

This is a popular area for snowshoeing, which meant that the Raven Trail was well-packed and easy to hike in just my trail shoes with micro spikes.  No snowshoes needed here.  

 

We hiked about 6 miles.  

The one-room cabin was located on the Brule River, which happens to be the border between Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  That blue sign to the right of the cabin is the "Welcome to Michigan sign.

The cabin was equipped with a small kitchen, so we brought all of our food with us.  That night, we dined on salad, lasagna, and a bottle of Chianti.  It was a perfect start to the trip.  On our next day we would get to snowshoe in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

Living the High Life

 Yesterday, we dropped Justin off at the dorms.  He was excited to be living the dorm life again.

Last year, after dropping Justin off, we flew to Aruba for our winter getaway.  This year, still in the shadow of the pandemic, we headed to the islands again:  David's Jamaican Cuisine on the south side of Madison.

 

 

Unlike some places in the southern United States, there is ample outdoor seating available at most Wisconsin restaurants this time of year.  With temperatures in the 20's, we opted to dine in the luxury of the wheelchair van. Julia had jerk chicken and ribs.  I had curried goat with Jamaican rice and cabbage.   Since this was one of our few meals outside the home in 10 months, I wanted something different than a burger.  David's did not disappoint.

 

 

We washed everything down with a Red Stripe and Dragon Stout.  It was a great way to spend a Monday afternoon in a parking lot. 

Recently, I posted a photo of a fox at our bird feeder.  We're not sure if global climate change and/or local habitat changes have these foxes on the move, but something has changed. Our fox found a friend, and we see these two around through our windows almost every day.

Off the back deck

No future big trips are planned, but we will have more time for day trips and maybe even an overnight trip or two.  Retirement has officially started for both of us. 

Sixty

I turned sixty this week.  It feels more like a milestone than fifty or forty.  Officially old, even though I feel like I can do most of the things that I could at fifty or forty.  Maybe not quite as fast and without knowing what day it is.  

This has been a family week without much time for outdoor recreation besides the daily death marches through town at sunrise.  Just kidding.  Those walks are often the highlight of my day.

Julia's dad is back in the hospital after another stroke.  Things are not looking good. The stroke affected that part  of his brain that controls swallowing.  He isn't eating or drinking on his own.  Because of Covid, no one is allowed to visit--not even his wife.

I spent part of my birthday moving some of Justin's medical equipment into his dorm room.  We keep  older worn-out equipment at home to limp along for occasional weekends and spring break.  The Hoyer lift and shower/toilet chair are too big to fit in the car, so the equipment was transported in the back of the Frontier.

After the work was done, we returned home for an excellent outdoor-grilled rib eye, tin-foiled mushrooms and onions, sauteed spinach, a lovely glass of Washington-state Cabernet, and peanut butter and chocolate frosted brownies.  After a relaxing evening, I slept well.

 

"I've been aware of the time going by
They say, in the end, it's the wink of an eye
When the morning light comes streaming in
You'll get up and do it again, Amen."    

(Jackson Browne, The Pretender)

Showing Kindness to my younger brother

 

Trading one backpack for another.

Treading Water

Not much has been happening around here for the last couple of weeks to blog about.  

We had a quiet New Year's.  Well, mostly quiet.

Julia and Allie got some cross country skiing in.

Justin had neuromuscular day at UW Hospital. Twice per year, he gets seen by just about every specialist that you can imagine.  The thing about Duchenne's  muscular dystrophy is that there are never huge changes---just small changes that add up to big ones over time.  At the hospital, they tweak his medications, update his bipap settings, prod, poke and measure.  

 

There are usually follow-up visits.  Justin's lungs are weakening, and they will have him stay overnight next week to get some more measurements.  He uses the bipap for night time breathing assistance.  Many of the young men with Justin's diagnosis use an oxygen sipping tube during the day.  They will be deciding whether he needs that at this point.  

Before he can stay overnight at the hospital, Justin needs another Covid test.   We will be doing that tomorrow. The sleep study will happen next week--before he moves back into the dorms on the weekend.   

Assuming that Justin is successfully launched at school and the caregivers are all showing up per the schedule, Julia and I will probably head somewhere in February.  I don't even want to start planning until we see where everything is later in the month.