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Exodus Complete or, I'm Really Beat
2006-04-03, 4:01 p.m.

Day 589 Exodus Complete, or I�m Beat

Back from Florida. Unfortunate that what will possibly be my last trip to the area had to include so much damn work! Out of two and a half days of potential lounging by the pool sipping mai-tais and getting tanned, we spent a whopping total of 1 hour in the pool across all three days.

The quick update on the trip? Hit the ground running. Was on the phone with the movers while I was still at the Ft. Myers airport Tuesday, scheduling a meeting with them later that afternoon after a meeting at the lawyers for the closing. Packers showed up Wednesday, actual movers loaded up Thursday, we boogied out of town 7:30 Friday morning.

Best part of the trip? Tuesday afternoon at the lawyers. Bob signed all the requisite closing documents, we got the explanation of how the proceeds were to be disbursed from closing, we let them know which of Bob�s accounts they could wire the money to. Done with closing at 4:30 on Tuesday. Too sweet. No need to hang around Friday.

Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church got a pantry full of canned and boxed food. They will no doubt make good use of it. What food that was in the fridge that we didn�t manage to eat was all tossed. Kind of a shame, but we didn�t have a cooler big enough, and I wasn�t interested in a jar of 3 year old pickles. Really. All we brought back for food was a large jar of peanut butter, a jar of honey (weaknesses of mine, I�ll admit) and a few cans of ginger ale. Tried, tried, tried to get Bob to give up some of the 50+ short sleeve shirts he has. One human doesn�t need that many short sleeve shirts in upstate NY (I have none � long sleeves can be rolled up ya know) Problem was we had only a Toyota Solara (2-door Camry really) and it�s limited luggage space.

Even after I jam packed a dresser with as many clothes as I could fit, Bob still had 3 big suitcases full of clothes to pack in the car. Plus various & sundry other bags, satchels, boxes, a vacuum cleaner, cooler, spare blankets (it�s cold up north ya know) and my lone, carry on sized suitcase. Managed to get everything to fit, and we didn�t have to worry about picking up hitch hikers.

First day or two in Florida I let Bob drive to the grocery store and the lawyers office. Mind you, he�s lived there for 12 years. I visit for two weeks each year. I had to tell him how to get places. He was also making kind of bone headed mistakes while driving, not getting in the proper lane for turns, not getting in a lane period, making wrong turns, pulling out into traffic at REALLY inappropriate times He scared the crap out of me one time. We were either going to get T-boned by a pick up truck screaming in from the left side or end up under a school bus that was making a left turn in front of us. We need to thank the drivers of both vehicles for allowing us to live. After that, I pretty much managed to hide the keys from Bob, or at least beat him to the drivers door. Of the 1,514.2 miles we covered in getting from Ft. Myers to Rochester over 2 days, Bob drove precisely 0.000 inches of it. I know this because I measured it. And drove it. Man, is my butt sore.

In spite of the lack of leisure time, the horrible driving habits of the older generation, absolutely miserable traffic in Florida & Georgia on Friday we made it back home.


Spent Sunday helping Z replace the brakes on J�s car. Emergency brake cables, wheel cylinders, drums, shoes, whole bunch of stuff. Took us most of the day, but it saved J $900 based on the estimates she got from Firestone for getting her car to pass inspection. Personally, I think they were trying to take advantage of a single girl walking into the shop. Too bad for them she has a boyfriend that loves to tinker with cars and isn�t afraid to learn how to do things.

While Z and I were working on the car, I also managed to smoke a batch of spare ribs for dinner. Ribs are always good. One of these days, we�ll actually try the baby-back style instead of the spare ribs, but it�s hard to justify the extra dollar or two per pound for the baby backs, especially when the spare ribs turn out so well.

Now the real fun begins. With Bob safely up here in NY, W will be unfurling his plans to have his dad stay with them (permanently) and have his wife (K) quit work to become his care taker. I�m less concerned about this whole situation than I was, mostly because I�ve heard Bob say out loud on several occasions that he would rather live up near the city. Wayne lives 35 miles south of the city, in the middle of no where. The closest building to his house is a barn, and that�s over half a mile away. There are also real live humans that live on that same property, but they�re usually busy driving around on tractors planting & harvesting stuff. Wayne lives in the middle of a bunch of fields where veggies are grown for Bird Eye and some other local food co-ops. He and his wife both work up in the city, but prefer to live out in the sticks and have a one hour commute (one way) to work. Thinks he�s saving on property taxes.

Anyhow. Methinks Bob will be staying up here nearer the city in an assisted living facility. Between his pension, social security, 401K and some investments he has, he can live quite comfortably. Then there are the proceeds from his house. Invested conservatively, the interest contribution from that should be enough that he can live in that assisted living facility and not touch the principle of his nest egg for years. If he stays on a track anything like that which his own mother followed, he�s got 5 � 7 years to be concerned with. Well, we have 5 � 7 years to be concerned with. I have a feeling he�ll stop caring in another 4 � 5 years. The Alzheimer�s has got him that bad already. I can see how he�s slipped from last summer even. He also maintains a complete state of denial about any memory problem anyone says he has. So sad to see.

Got back in the swing of working out. Also re-learned how much harder it is to run outdoors for real vs. going in circles on an elliptical trainer. Ouch. Too bad I have that 5K coming up. I�ll be adding more treadmill work (with 0.5 or 1 degree of elevation) for the next month to get the old legs ready for the 5K run. Still need to tell Cindy I�m entered. She�ll think I�m nuts, but I�m used to that. Goal for the 5K � 25 minutes or less. Comes out to ~8 minutes per mile. If I can manage that on a treadmill at 0.5 degree slope, I�ll head into the race with a teensy bit of confidence. 5 weeks to go. Treadmill work starts tomorrow. Heaven help me.

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight 198.5 on 4/3/06 (Lost weight in Florida. Didn�t think it was possible.)
Target: 180 by 7/1/06 (looking harder & harder to hit)
Next weigh in: 3/25/06

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 3/24/06: 245.51
Miles with cooldown: 270.51
Target for 2006: 1000 miles

Might have to add a little something for the 5K training too.


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