Whew Times Two

Last year we took the Pequod, our RV, on an epic (for us) trip along the Gulf Coast from Houston to the Everglades. We were gone for a month and had a blast. On our way back they closed the Louisiana border behind us. So began the pandemic. We took that trip at just the right time, and thank God we got back with all those great memories. I was looking at Mardi Gras too on the way back, which turned out to be a super-spreader event. But we missed that as well. Whew.

Last week we took it out for a week at Lake Corpus Christi State Park. Saw some cool stuff: Padre Island National Seashore, Goliad, Corpus Christi, and discovering the state park itself. We were having such a good time that we seriously wanted to extend the trip to another site. But we decided against it, and returned a week ago, Saturday. On Sunday, historic statewide winter storm began. If we had been out there another day, we'd have been screwed.

That makes Whew Times Two.

The neighbors

"The Castle" overlook, built by the CCC 

Something Fishy: Here's to beautiful, boring Routine

On this hellday, hypnotized by horrible images, I'm sooo looking forward to a chunk of sanity to grab onto. Something nice and predictable and boring. I'm going to play Mr. Fish again.

During the lockdown my wife @char2go and I started drifting. It was a weird, anxious time for all. So what we tried was to exercise to a YouTube video together. It could be short, it could be easy, but we tried it. Then we tried it a second day, and then a third, and eventually it became our habit that we laughed about and looked forward to every day.

I'm a quadriplegic, she is not. She does all the movements, I do few if any. But I flop all over the place. I flop around like a fish out of water. It ain't pretty. But every day I do so, and I laugh and by the end I'm out of breath just like she is. It became our routine, boring and beautiful.

Today that routine sounds mighty good. I'm zipping into my Fish suit.

Who dat, bottom right of Skype screen

BTW congrats to my lovely @char2go for helping ring the closing bell yesterday with @PlanetFitness on the New York Stock Exchange! The sky's the limit, Coach.

#disability #multiplesclerosis #PTSD #BipolarDisorder #Anxiety #Depression #PanicDisorder #Agoraphobia #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #MentalHealth  #MightyTogether #ADA #planetfitness #move #exercise

My new article @The Mighty: When the handicap sign starts looking like someone you know

https://themighty.com/2020/12/admit-need-disability-parking-permit/

It’s an epiphany when you realize for the first time that the white stick-figure on a disability parking sign is you. That’s you. Now you may park in this fat sirloin of a spot. Now you are “the disabled.”

This leap to disabledhood is as much a mental process as a physical one. And I fought the knowledge, down the line, tooth and nail. I always do, with every new adaptation or assistive device, fight, fight, fight. It sounds courageous, but it’s really it's ridiculous. I have a very thick head.

I can’t remember the moment I resolved to pick up the disability parking permit application. It must have been some watershed event, perhaps my 3,000th fall, the one that rattles your very teeth. Falling itself was no big deal, and I might do it a dozen times in a day. After a while, my body looked like Keith Richards’ after a bender, but big deal, you dust yourself off and get back in the game. But maybe that 3,000th time was the one to slosh my brain in its comfy bath of cerebrospinal fluid: Wake up, you green-gray piece of fat!

Keep reading...

Serving with MS webinar, Friday & Mab's 1st 5K!

Happy Veterans Day! 

On Nov. 13, the MS Society's Ask an MS Expert webinar will feature the challenges of serving while dealing with multiple sclerosis. This Friday, Air Force veteran Karla Clay will share her story of living with MS. One of my best and strongest friends went down this same difficult path: I'm watching for him.

Also, this lady ran her first official 5K! (She usually does one on her own every week.) She ran to raise funds for the Wounded Warriors Project.

For years she performed patriotic musical shows for veterans on this day. She got into her special audiences, and they were really touched by her show too. So many of them would thank her afterward and share their stories. It was one of her favorite days of the year. Now she misses those Veterans Days. Today she ran in their honor. Her write-up:

First, a big thank you to all the veterans out there - we owe you so much! Today I did the Carry Forward 5K for the Wounded Warrior Project (and another big thank you to all who donated.) The goal is to raise $600,000 by the end of the year and to date we're at over $586,000.  Of course, the temperature dropped from the 70's yesterday to 46 degrees today, but as you can see, I was appropriately ostentatious in my attire for the event.  I started by giving a flag to my neighbor across the street who is retired Coast Guard and ended by giving my Wounded Warrior Flag to another neighbor who is retired Air Force. My plan was to jog as much as I could, but I must have jolted one of those pesky inner ear crystals loose when I started to jog and got a little vertigo, so I ended up walking. Last Saturday, I walked out my course for the 5K, but when I got to the end my watch said I was only at 2.7 miles - so I kept going. Turns out the GPS from my phone wasn't connecting to the watch and I ended up doing an extra 1/2 mile (I'll be ready for a marathon soon --- NOT!)

Oowy chewy rich n gooey cheese - Spiral Diner, Dallas

1101 N Beckley Ave, Dallas, TX    214-948-4747

https://spiraldiner.com/

My first quesadilla since I went vegan! Seven years is a frckn long time. That's a big deal to me. Quesadilla is one of a handful of dishes I truly miss. Vegan cheeses just don't cut it in quesadillas, so I had written them off to my rearview mirror. Until today, when I saw it in the Spiral Diner online menu and locked in, and all day long I was a'yearning for the time when I could order. This miracle cheese is the real deal! It's gooey and tasty and something to sink your teeth into. What is it? How does it work? Cashews and something else that we can't figure out. Anyway, this fat quesadilla oozed with it and faux beef and had a chipotle sizzle even before I garnished with pickled jalapenos and guacamole. I was no mas after tackling this monster.

Mab got the barbecue nachos special, loaded with tangy saucy strips on crispy homemade chips and topped with queso. They gave us a tub of queso to make a mess with, which we bloody did. Definitely leftovers in the morning, mushy but too good to throw away. Spiral Diner's got its cheese down. What a fun meal. This place is exceptional. Big menu that I can't wait to see again, and three locations. Treat yourself, check them out.

Nearby camping, Cedar Hills State Park

flight museum, Frontiers of Flight

da Plane, da Plane! - Frontiers of Flight, Dallas

6911 Lemmon Ave, Dallas, TX   214-350-3600

$7–10 · flightmuseum.com

If you like planes, here is your happy place. Located at Love Field in Dallas, this mid-sized museum houses dozens of aircraft from all eras. Parts of flight simulators for the SR-71 and T-38, and a fun little tribute to Southwest Airlines that started at Loves, including an airliner built into the side of the museum, half-in, half-out. (In fact, isn't Southwest's stock symbol LOVES?) All wheelchair accessible.

A few small displays brought it home to me. The section on the earliest air balloons was all new to me. There's also a tiny recreation of the Wright Brothers shop, which I don't know if it was historically accurate or not, but it smelled of cedar, which took me right back to working on construction sites. The good smells from worksites, that is. Smells do that.

Back to FOF, my favorite parts were the real Apollo VII capsule and the models of the Wright Flyer, Sopwith Pup (I geek over World War I planes) and the Sputnik that was amazing to look at because it's only the size of a metal beachball yet it changed the world. The announcement of the beachball that was the first object in space was one of the high points of the Soviet Union and probably all of Russian history, and it sent wonder through the world and terror through Americans that led eventually to landing on the moon. A beachball with antennas did that. Like the Wright Flyer, disruptive technology.

Wright Flyer model, top left

Outer space disco ball: Sputnik model, top middle

Another of my favorites was a video playing way in back. It is a World War II P-47 pilot telling his stories, and he can tell em. I started listening out of a sort of duty because it was stuck behind another newer exhibit. I felt bad, thinking here's a vet literally elbowed out of the way, I'll give him a couple minutes. I ended up spending more time here than anywhere else, because the man tells some excellent yarns! Here he is, Charlie Mohrle. Wish I could buy him a few beers. Look for him in the corners of the World War II section. There's also a super-knowledgeable volunteer who walks the museum fishing for questions, but boy, some Texans can talk!

There are plenty other aircraft - military, experimental, helicopters - not pictured. We spent a few hours here, fun afternoon.

Also Dallas, the Mab Tower (Bank of America), 72 floors she climbed

Nearby camping, Cedar Hills State Park

Nearby messylicious vegan eats, Spiral Diner

This Year, Everybody in: Abilities Expo Virtual Experience Nov. 20-22

Great news - like everything else this year, the Abilities Expo will be online. You, you, you and you are all going!

Whether you're in the market for equipment or not, whether you have money or not, going to the Abilities Expo is a good idea for people with disabilities and their families. You're seeing some of the latest tech available on the market. Service organizations come out to show you what's out there to take advantage of. There are excellent and fun presentations by experts and entertainers alike. And tons of people with disabilities and their families to see, to meet, to swap ideas and numbers with. I come away with new ideas to talk out, new numbers to call, new websites to check out, new friends to email, brand new energy.

Of course you got to get their first. Sometimes that's a hassle or an impossibility. The Abilities Expo only takes place in six cities every year. Good for the folks near those cities, right, but what about the rest? And of course Covid wiped out the in-person Abilities Expos earlier in the year, all canceled.

Well the great news is that the circumstances leveled the playing field for everyone, and the Abilities Expo goes completely online from Nov. 20-22. Everybody can attend, for free. All the exhibitioners, service orgs, presentations (Tony-winner Ali Stroker!), all waiting for us to visit in our jammies.

Good on ya, organizers!

I already said Free free free, but first you gotta register.

November 20-22, 2020

Online Globally

Accessible 24 hours a day starting Friday, 9 am PST.