The other day, I mentioned seeing a Kmart here on St Thomas, and said that I would go back and get evidence. I have been to that Kmart now, where I purchased socks, Pringles, and PowerAde. Here is the evidence:
And now, back to our story…
Day 8 was my last full day in the islands, and I had set it aside to be a full “beach day” – just lounging on the beach, reading a book, and getting in the water every now and then. Nothing else. I had read that Bolongo Bay Beach has hammocks at one end of the beach, so I decided to check it out. I was quite disappointed. First, there were no hammocks anywhere to be found. Second, this beach is very narrow – just a teeny strip of sand between the waves and the grass. Finally, it was very rocky – and I don’t mean cool rock formations like Hull Bay Beach. No, I mean piles of loose, slippery stones that are difficult to walk upon. So I left Bolongo Bay and headed for a beach I already knew to be a good one – Lindbergh Bay Beach. On the way there, the traffic lights reminded me of home…
On my arrival at Lindbergh Bay Beach, I asked how much it would cost to rent a lounge chair and a beach umbrella for the day. It was twenty damn bucks! I paid less than that when I bought the lounge chair I have on my patio at home! But I went ahead and paid it. As planned, I plopped down with a book (Ideas and Opinions by Albert Einstein, in case you were curious). Being paranoid, I didn’t want to leave my phone, car keys, or wallet sitting on an unattended chair while I was in the water, so I sealed them all up in a Ziploc bag, which I stuffed into the inner netting of my swim trunks. This worked well the first couple times. But after my third float/swim session, I noticed there was water inside the bag. I pulled the phone out. I couldn’t get anything to come up on the screen, and the upper half of the phone was very hot to the touch. By then it was close to 4:00, so I decided to call an end to my beach time, go back to the hotel, and watch YouTube videos about drying wet smart phones.
The YouTube videos I found mostly said that it takes multiple days to successfully dry a wet smart phone. I had to fly home the next day, so I opted to wait until I got home to deal with the phone. In the meantime, I didn’t want to be roaming around airports with no idea what time it was, so I decided to return to Kmart the next morning to get me a cheap wristwatch.
Day 9:
By this point, I had gone past (and to) one of the island’s two Kmarts several times, and I felt like I knew my way around that portion of the island well enough to get back to Kmart without my GPS app. I was wrong. I got lost. Oddly enough, though, I happened across the island’s other Kmart. This is a weird Kmart. It has two levels, and is vaguely triangular in shape. And they don’t have old-school wristwatches. So, with tears in my eyes and phlegm in my thorax, I got back on the road. I was still lost, but this time I knew I could just head downhill and I would eventually be on the coastal road, which is damn near impossible to get lost on.
I paid one last visit to Lindbergh Bay Beach, this time to have a relaxed lunch at Emerald Beach Resort. I had a pair of chicken tacos that were interestingly spiced, but a bit on the dry side. Afterwards, I headed back to the car rental joint. Despite my early enjoyment of the crazy driving conditions, I was now glad to be done driving on St Thomas. Or maybe I just missed my dog. Either way, I was glad to be headed home. My flight didn’t leave until 3:30 PM, and I had a four-hour layover in Orlando, so I didn’t arrive in Charlotte until midnight, and didn’t get to my house until about 1:00 AM. I didn’t get around to retrieving Bear until almost noon the next day. He was happy as poop to see me, and I suppose I was pretty glad to see him, too.
Appendix A: Wet Phone Results
The videos I found on YouTube convinced me to start by taking the SIM card out and using a vacuum cleaner to suck out as much water as possible. I did this, but then managed to break the SIM card. At this point, I said “To Hell with drying/repairing this phone” (I actually pronounced the slash), “I’ll just get a new one.” So, on my third full day back home, I went to my local T-Mobile store and got another free phone by pre-paying for another three months of service. And had another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn’t be beat with a bloody diaper. OK, now I don’t know what the Hell I’m on about.
Voyages with Parkinson's 