Day 8 was slated to be all about Padre Island National Seashore. When I got there, I decided to throw down the cash to get the annual interagency pass – this is a card that gets you into all of the National Parks in the … Continue reading Texas Trip Report (the last two days)
Hey! Here I am on the road, and I haven’t ridden any roller coasters in the last FOUR days. Time to do something about that! But first, breakfast…or maybe not. When I went downstairs for the breakfast that’s included in the price of my room at Holiday Inn Express, I was greeted by a handwritten sign declaring the kitchen to be closed. The gentleman at the front desk explained that their oven was on the fritz – it just refused to turn on. I thought about the breakfast I’d had there the previous morning, when the oven was still among the living. They had (among other things) Froot Loops®, orange juice, fresh fruit, and pre-packaged Otis Spunkmeyer® muffins. I was about to ask him why they needed a working oven to serve these particular delicacies, when he suddenly launched into a glowing endorsement of a (relatively) nearby restaurant called Snooze A. M. Eatery. It sounded better than a Holiday Inn Express breakfast, so rather than harangue the hotel staff, I drove to Snooze. I did not lose. There’s a section of the menu devoted to variations of Eggs Benedict. I did a half-and-half order, with their Habanero Pork Belly and Pork Chili Verde benedicts. They was both yummy!
Next, I made my way to the Kemah Boardwalk, home of the Boardwalk Bullet. The Bullet was under construction when I was working in the area 15 years ago. Even unfinished, it looked awesome! This bad boy is the twistiest of twisters – the track passes in and out of the support structure, over and under itself, more than any other woody in the world with a total of 42 crossovers. To pull this off, the ride repeatedly “hops” from side to side – so when I finally got to experience it today, I found it reminded me of Dollywood’s Thunderhead and ValleyFair’s Renegade. But both of those coasters do their hopping over a large amount of land, whereas the Bullet packs its 42 crossovers into a MUCH smaller footprint. So most of this coaster is inside itself – you are completely surrounded by the ride’s own structural timbers, which makes it feel even faster than it really is. And at 51 MPH, it’s way fast for a woody! This is definitely in my Top Ten wooden roller coasters – maybe Top Five.
With my coaster lust satisfied, it was time for a leisurely four-hour drive from Kemah (southeast of Houston) to Corpus Christi. This drive was uneventful, apart from a few fights with my GPS navigation app. But I’ve gotten used to those.
As I was taking my first round of meds this morning, I noticed that one of my bottles was feeling pretty light. So I counted the pills and found to my horror that I DIDN’T BRING ENOUGH PRAMIPEXOLE for the whole trip! So it’s a … Continue reading Texas Trip Report (Day 6)
The dawn of Day 4 found me in the “NASA suburbs” southeast of Houston. Way back in 2007, I spent five non-contiguous weeks in this area when my employer at the time had a contract with NASA. This is the first time I’ve been here in the 15 years since. I only got about three hours of sleep overnight. That combined with a weather forecast calling for “the hottest day of the year so far” (over 90 degrees Fahrenheit) led me to decide that this would be my “day off” from this vacation. So I spent most of the day inside my air-conditioned hotel room, writing for this very blog, then just drove around checking out some of my old haunts. Nothing exciting or compelling, so let’s move on.
I am a museum geek. That’s not exciting or compelling either, but that won’t stop me from writing about the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS). I spent the whole day there, and I could easily go back and spend more time! The Hall of Paleontology is the star of the show. Most natural science museums I’ve visited had one or two complete dinosaur skeletons, and lots of individual bones. HMNS has probably a dozen complete dinosaur skeletons, as well as fossilized dinosaur skin on display. And it doesn’t end with dinosaurs. They also have skeletons of mastodons, huge extinct sloths and armadillos, saber-toothed cats, and much more!
There’s also a Hall of African Wildlife (current species, not dinosaur-age beasties). Unlike many similar museums where the visitor is in the middle of the room looking into dioramas, the displays at HMNS intrude in the visitor space, allowing you to see the dead animals up close, and from several angles. This is the best natural science museum I’ve seen, hands down. No, wait! Keep your hands where I can see ’em! Now wave ’em in the air like you just don’t care. OK, stop it!
I’ve been experiencing some strange vision-related phenomena lately. I’ll try to remember to write about them in detail once I get home from this trip. In the meantime, it’s a patty melt and onion rings from Whataburger for dinner.
If you’ve been following my ThrowBack Thursday posts, you probably already know that I love walking around downtown areas, photographing the ornate architecture of old buildings. If you do already know that, then it would seem you know me better than I know myself. Y’see, … Continue reading Texas Trip Report (Day 3)
I actually got an acceptable amount (six hours) of sleep last night. This would be remarkable on its own, but it’s flat out amazing when you consider that I didn’t get to sleep until 1 AM – i.e., I slept until 7 AM. Central time. … Continue reading Texas Trip Report (Day 2)
My airline-related fears have been confirmed. You may recall (or you may click here) that during my previous trip, I shared my experiences with Spirit airlines. During that trip, I also learned that Spirit will soon be merging with Frontier airlines. I used to love Frontier. Denver used to be their only hub, and I flew Frontier frequently when I lived in Colorado. But since I’ve lived in North Carolina for the last several years, I haven’t had much chance to fly Frontier…until now. For my flight to Texas (San Antonio, specifically) I managed to get a great price for a one-way ticket, with the caveat that there would be a 7.5-hour layover in Denver. So I decided to give Frontier another try. Today, I was disappointed to learn that they have already implemented several of the things that I didn’t like about Spirit: the uncomfortable seats, charges for both checked AND carry-on luggage, having to pay extra to choose your own seat, the tiny tray tables…the list possibly goes on.
As for the 7.5-hour layover, I still have family near Denver. They came to the Denver International Airport (DIA) to pick me up; we had lunch and generally roamed around the northern suburbs for a few hours, before they deposited me back at DIA. But wait, isn’t this a Parkinson’s blog? Why, yes. Yes it is.
Long-time readers of this blog (if such beasts actually exist) know that the single aspect of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) I’ve given the most attention, is insomnia. A few weeks ago, my PD Specialist prescribed me another sleep aid to try. There have been more than a few cases where I posted great news about a specific treatment, only to have it stop working within a few weeks. Therefore, I am waiting this one out. I will discuss this latest prescription once I am more certain as to its long-term efficacy. For the moment, I’ll just say that I woke up too early on Day 1 of my Texas trip, and that I think it was due to me actually being afraid of oversleeping since this was an early flight, rather than being due to any failure on the medication’s part. Regardless of the cause, the effect of this lack of sleep was that I did some pertty decent sleepin’ on both flights. But I also fuzzed out a couple of times – both of which were right when the flight attendants had the beverage cart next to me. “Fuzzed out” is the term I just now made up for this experience. The experience is like a kind of detachment…my senses are still functional, but I feel as if I’m observing (dimly) from a distance; like I’m not really there. Or maybe this would be more accurate: it feels like my conscious mind has unexpectedly stepped aside, forcing my subconscious mind to take over for it. Each time it happened today, it lasted only a few seconds. But it lasted a full morning once. In that instance, I was perfectly functional – drove my car, went for a hike, took photos – I just felt like I wasn’t consciously in control of my actions. Like I was being operated remotely.
Anyway…got my rental car, drove to my hotel, had an EXCELLENT dinner at a local restaurant called, I think, La Torta, ready for bed.
© 2022 by Cedric Williams
(for part one of this story, click here)
With the failure of the Grand Experiment came the failure of Elvin’s heart and spleen, and thus his untimely demise. He was survived by his wife Dawn and their five-month-old Young’n. That’s right. They named their son Young’n. Soon after Elvin’s death, Dawn was offered a job as floor manager at a major cotton canning plant. With the demand for canned cotton at an all-time high, this opportunity was not to be missed. Eager to put the past behind her, Dawn loaded Young’n into the Microbus, and they moved to whatever state the cotton canning plant was in. Dawn would never again set foot in Colorado.
Young’n grew up knowing very little about his father. Dawn had always disapproved of Elvin’s involvement with the Grand Experiment. Now her biggest fear was that Young’n would follow in Elvin’s foot steps, ending up heartbroken and spleenless like his father before him. Dawn figured that Young’n would be unable to follow in his father’s foot steps if he knew nothing about the man. So she told Young’n his father’s name, and nothing else.
Then, on a beautiful Thursday afternoon one September, Al Gore invented the internet. Young’n instantly recognized the potential of this new technology. As soon as he obtained connectivity, he Googled “Elvin Q. Flatulence”. To his amazement, Wikipedia had an extensive article about his father. Young’n read with fascination about the Grand Experiment and, ultimately, his father’s untimely demise. But even with this new knowledge, he still felt an emptiness, an emptiness that he knew could only be filled by experiencing the homeland of his ancestors. But he was only four years old, and he knew his Mommy wouldn’t take him. So he waited…for several years…. Finally, when he reached crack-smoking age, he embarked upon a pilgrimage to the Denver Coliseum.
“All I want is justice,” he said to anyone who’d listen. “Justice and/or revenge! Well all right, I want justice, revenge, and a Korn dog.” But let us never speak of the Korn dog again.
On the night Young’n arrived in Denver, the Coliseum was to host a concert by a new band known as Karrot. The opening act was the same freakin’ can of peas that had opened for Korn so many years prior. Young’n decided to start by taking a moment to adjust to the crisp Colorado air, so he simply parked his rump on the Coliseum’s front steps. Unfortunately, a passing police officer somehow mistook Young’n’s rump for the new Volkswagen Rump, and Young’n was immediately impounded under the No VW Zone law. Sadly, the shock of being confined to an impound lot caused his heart and spleen to fail, resulting in his untimely demise.
On the evening of Friday 23 April 2004 (more than a decade before I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease), a few friends and I got together at our friend Ken’s new house in Boulder, Colorado. (Ken took most of the pictures that are in this … Continue reading Broken Cedric
New fiction (© 2022 by Cedric Williams) :
(for part one of this story, click here)
Upon his arrest for possession of controlled substances, Elvin was transported to the City of Denver Municipal Dungeon. Whenever other prisoners asked him what he was in for, Elvin explained the Grand Experiment, and his small part in it. Many of the prisoners were inspired by the idea of the Grand Experiment and offered to help in its execution, once they had done their time in the dungeon, of course. A multitude of them wrote letters explaining the Grand Experiment to friends and family on the outside. Word spread quickly, and soon there were hundreds of Coloradans looking to play their own small role in the implementation of Phase One.
With each concert booked at the Denver Coliseum, the number of Microbus-based substance disseminators grew. Meanwhile, Elvin’s lawyer succeeded in getting the charges against him thrown out. Since the arresting officer had himself commanded Elvin to control the substances, this was a clear-cut case of entrapment. With this verdict, the devotees of the Grand Experiment (or Elvinists, as they came to be known) realized they could not be imprisoned for carrying out Phase One, so long as they made no attempt to control their substances. As a result, the number of Microbus-based substance disseminators skyrocketed. Concertgoers could no longer get to the concerts, as all the area roads were completely clogged with Microbuses. Over time, the would-be concertgoers became furious, to the point of carrying out violent attacks against many a Microbus. In an attempt to avoid these attacks, some Elvinists began driving to the Coliseum in Volkswagen Passats, Rabbits, and even a Golf.
By now, it had become clear to the Supreme Allied Commander of Denver that something had to be done. Accordingly, the Supreme Allied Commander issued a decree making it illegal to get within three miles of the Denver Coliseum in a Volkswagen. Absurdly, this worked. Almost as soon as police began jailing folks for violating the No VW Zone, the number of people who identified as Elvinists began to decline. Within a few months, the Grand Experiment was nothing more than a memory – a passing fad with no more significance than Rainbow Brite or the Hair Bear Bunch. But the No VW Zone law remained on the books…
End of part two
(click here for the end)
Voyages with Parkinson's 