Fayetteville, NC
This weekend we made the 500-mile trek to Fayetteville to spend time with Tricia, Tony, and Ava. The visit started off with a fifth-grade awards ceremony at Ava's elementary school on Friday morning. She made us proud by receiving awards for perfect attendance, citizenship, and honor roll.
Mrs. Baily's Fifth Grade Award Recipients
Ava is the really tall one in the back row
The main event was the high school performance of 'Annie' on Friday evening. The play includes scenes involving a group of orphans. The high school drama coach recruited elementary school students for these parts and Ava got to be an orphan – a small part but significant for her.
Visiting Fayetteville always provides a chance to snoop around for Ava's latest artwork. This time, she surprised me with two nice paintings done in acrylic.
It was a good weekend. In a few weeks, they will join us in Florida for a couple days at Disney World. Everyone is looking forward to that.
Fayetteville, NC
Do something that will make thousands of people stand up and cheer ...
... 100 years after you are dead
Every Christmas I realize that Peter Tchaikovsky is one of very few people to achieve such stature. He is hands down my favorite composer. No one else even comes close.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 -- 1893) was a Russian composer whose works included symphonies, concertos, operas, ballets, chamber music, and a choral setting of the Russian Orthodox Divine Liturgy. Some of these are among the most popular theatrical music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally Wikipedia. His piano concertos and ballet music are known world wide. Even those who don't know his name or his work recognize the tune to such pieces as the 1812 Overture and of course the Nutcracker.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The complete Nutcracker has enjoyed enormous popularity since the late 1960s and is now performed by countless ballet companies, primarily during the Christmas season, especially in the U.S. Major American ballet companies generate around 40 percent of their annual ticket revenues from performances of The Nutcracker. Amateur ballet companies and dance studios do the production as a fund raiser and as their major event in celebration of the Christmas season.Wikipedia
More than a few youngsters begin dance lessons after marveling at the ballet's swirling snowflakes and flowers, mischievous mice and regal Sugar Plum Fairy. Generations of dancers have emerged from the ranks of these students to play the ballet's children and then, as professionals, principal and character roles. Kids who will never become dancers will carry that music in their brain for the rest of their life.
Our annual reconnect with this wonderful music happens in Fayetteville, NC where our granddaughter's ballet studio joins with two other studios to become The Dance Theatre of Fayetteville to put on their annual performance. We have this event carved in stone on our calendar and happily look forward to the visit and her performance each year. Ava, our granddaughter, has been at this for four years – each year growing in the number and complexity of the roles she dances.
This was an important year for Ava. She reached the age, size, weight, and strength to get her "Toe Shoes". I did not realize how big a deal this is in the world of ballet. She is very proud and we could see an obvious increase in motivation as the year progressed.
Getting toe shoes is important
All the kids start as one of the children guests at the party
Some start as one of the mice
This year Ava had four parts
Act 1, Scene I, Christmas Party
Act 1, Scene VII - the Battle Between the Nutcracker & the Mouse King
Act2, Scene X - the Magic Castle on Candy Mountain
Act2, Scene XII - Divertissement, Mother Ginger & the Clowns
Our daughter Tricia, Ava's mom, has been a closet Thespian (pronounce carefully and check the definition) since high school. She has been supporting this annual production as Costume Mistress (Chief Seamstress) for the last couple years. When she told the boss (Miss Leslie) that Mother Ginger needed a new costume, Miss Leslie agreed to buy it if Tricia would wear it. Oh my, a star is born!
The Costume Mistress morphs into Mother Ginger
Peter does it again. All three performances got standing applause during the curtain call.
and this year the Costume Mistress got special recognition.
After the performance was time for staged photos ...
... some fooling around ...
Performance tensions evaporate and everyone relaxes
... and parental pride.
Dad's job is to be proud. Tony does it well.
Thank you Mr. Tchaikovsky for another chance to stand up and cheer.
6505 Bagdad Rd
Fayetteville, NC
34.98326, -79.036070
Glynn Place Mall
219 Mall Blvd
Brunswick, GA 31525
31.218683, -81.491561
Southeast Georgia Health System -- Brunswick Campus
2415 Parkwood Drive
Brunswick, GA 31520
31.175633, -81.486428
Yesterday we had a nice visit with Tricia, Tony, and Ava. We haven't seen them since July when Tricia and Ava joined us in Ohio to help pack up the house. It seems like every time we see Ava she has grown another six inches. It is scary when you stop to realize that we are growing older at the same rate the kids are growing up. We caught up on all her school activities and her preparations for this winter's performance of the Nutcracker.
Tony leaves for work at zero dark thirty so we didn't see him this morning but we got Tricia and Ava off to work and school and then put ourselves on the road about 8:30AM. Today's travel simply continued south on I–95 and our goal for today was to at least reach Savannah, GA before stopping for the night at a Hotel Walmart. That is about 250 miles and half way to our destination in Titusville, FL. If we get there early, we'll press on further.
Today's travel -- 325 miles
We left Tricia's with our coffee mugs full and stopped for gas and breakfast about 10AM. On travel days, we usually do breakfast late then a very late lunch/early dinner. Today was no exception; I had a delicious Meat Lovers Omelet. So far it was a good day to be living the RV lifestyle; good weather, easy travel, heading south for our winter digs in Florida. What more could one ask?
A couple hours after breakfast, I started experiencing some "gastro–intestinal distress". I assumed it was the omelet getting back at me and the pain would pass. The pain didn't move and it intensified.
We reached Savannah early in the afternoon and decided to press on further. I was feeling lousy but stopping wouldn't improve that so we kept rolling.
About 3PM we approached Brunswick, GA. My pain was pretty intense and I was having trouble breathing. This was definitely not the omelet. We got off the highway and I used the Walmart app on my phone to locate their nearest store. It was nearby but this area is a "no sign" area and shopping centers are hidden behind bushes and trees. We drove around a bit unsuccessfully and finally pulled into the first shopping center parking lot we could see. Michelle called 911 and reported me as having a heart attack. I had no problem with that report since I didn't have any better idea what was happening. We didn't know where we were. All we could say was "We are in a shopping center parking lot behind JC Penney". I used my hand–held GPS receiver to mark our coordinates. When Michelle tried to give the coordinates to the 911 operator, they said they didn't need them they had our location. I don't know if they got the location from our phone or from the JC Penney comment. In just a few minutes, an ambulance arrived. Good thing. By then my pain was really bad and I was having serious problems breathing.
Glynn Place Mall
Off to the hospital in an ambulance for the second time on this trip. My turn to be in back and Michelle to be up front.
I don't remember much about the next few hours but the end result was that I was admitted to the hospital, I had a gall bladder attack not a heart attack, and I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow. "Acute cholecystitis; Choledocholithiasis with obstruction" was the diagnosis. I cannot pronounce it or even spell it. I copied this from an information sheet they gave me after the fact. Anything that hard to spell and pronounce should hurt really bad and it did.
Southeast Georgia Health System -- Brunswick Campus
What about our rig? While I was being poked, prodded, and drugged, Michelle contacted hospital security to inquire about parking our rig in the hospital parking lot. They were very accommodating. They assured us that we could park but were quite emphatic that we should park in Lot F. After I was settled in, Michelle took a cab back to the rig and moved it to the hospital. While trying to find Lot F, she encountered a different security person who emphatically directed her to Lot R. That would cause a problem later.
Now I'm going to preach. Almost all of our RVing friends are couples. In too many cases, the wife cannot and will not drive the rig. "Hubby does all the driving" is the standard smiling response. "What happens when hubby has a heart attack?" never produces a satisfactory answer. This is especially disheartening when you consider that a large percentage of RVing couples are seniors. My admonition to all RVing couples is that both parties must be able to drive and maneuver the rig – no excuses; no exceptions. That is as much a part of RVing safety as checking your tires and brakes. I am proud of the fact that Michelle and I both can drive our rig. Sometimes she lets me.
Our rig
6505 Bagdad Rd
Fayetteville, NC
GPS: 34.98326, -79.036070
Yesterday (Sunday, 26 Oct) we stayed in the Baltimore area and spent the afternoon visiting with Jean and Mary Morais. We got to see their apartment then went to The Mall in Columbia where Mary works at the Hallmark Gift Shop. We had a nice lunch at Maggiano's Little Italy, then Michelle and Jean shopped for a bit. We spent a couple hours back at Jean's apartment catching up on our lives, then returned to the hotel for a quiet evening anticipating our travel on Monday.
Today's weather was beautiful and our goal was to reach Tricia's house in Fayetteville, NC – a trip of 362 miles. First we had to get back to the Naval Support Facility at the Naval Academy to pick up the Cougar. The folks at the marina were fascinated with our story of being full–time RVers. We thanked them for their hospitality and hitched up the Cougar and got underway.
The primary north/south route along the eastern seaboard of the US is I–95. Before the interstate highway system came into being, this role was filled by US Routes 1 and 301. Today my goal was to get onto I–95, but from Annapolis the shortest distance would put me on I–95 north of Washington DC and we would be pulling the Cougar through DC on the infamous beltway. Using US–301 would let me connect with I–95 south of Washington DC and north of Richmond, VA. I opted for that choice. US–301 is an old highway so it goes through every town as a surface street, obviously slower that I–95. I was OK with that. The weather was beautiful and getting to see some towns and farms was a pleasant relief. We had a substantial number of miles to cover but it was not unreasonable.
Today's route – 362 miles
Of course we had to cross the Potomac River. I knew that and gave it no extra consideration. When we reached the bridge I got two big surprises. First, the Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge is very high and very narrow–one lane each way. Second, the toll for our rig was $19–CASH ONLY. A sign for the toll charges gave the rate for passenger cars only and nothing about cash only. We got this surprise at the toll booth. Single lane, cars behind us, no room to turn around, and between us only $13 in cash. The lady in the toll booth told us to drive on through and the camera would take a picture of our license plate and we would get a bill in the mail. We did, the alarm went off, and we continued on our way. We'll see what happens with the bill.
Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge
The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived at Tricia's house about 6PM.
Fayetteville, NC
This past weekend we left TGO (without the Cougar) for a visit to Fayetteville, NC. to see Ava perform in The Nutcracker with her dance class. She was excited and so was her stage mom (and Grandma).
Ava had two parts. First she was one of the children at the party:
Then she was a mouse:
Christmas wouldn't be complete without the Nutcracker.
