walking in the rain

Should we. Shouldn't we. That was the question.  It was drizzling one minute. Not raining the next. Then it was pouring. Ultimately we chose to go walking.

Since I'm the point of contact for the LV Volkssport walks, I need to turn in my quarterly reports on March 31. The only one I needed to collect was my South Bethlehem one.So we did the South Bethlehem Walk.

When we left my house is was dry. When we got out of the car at the Comfort Suites 5 minutes away it was pouring. When we left the Comfort Suites 10 minutes later, it was dry. We were off. No going back later.

We took the selfie on Lehigh's Campus. Clearly Lydia is getting tired of selfies.Or was just being a brat.

But she did take a minute to ask a cute boy for directions. 

We continued thru Lehigh, and down the Greenway to the casino. Then thru the Steel to ArtsQuest.That's when Lydia yelled, "He's Moved!" The Penn State lion moved to the ArtsQuest campus. Bonnie took a break for a little snuggle.

By the time we reached the skating rink it started to drizzle. By the time we reached Orasure the real rain started. We were 5 blocks from the finish.

By the time we arrived home, the rain stopped and I took Adonis for a walk.

rail to trails opening day!

Of course rail trails are open all year, but they are not used very hard in the winter. Unless you're nuts, like us. Today was the official spring kickoff for 2014. The Rail to Trail Conservancy encourages us to use this hashtag: #RTCOpeningDay. Not quite sure what it does, but there you go.

Earlier in the week I sent out an email with our walks for the weekend. There are now six people on the email list. Lydia, Bonnie and I walked.

Today we headed to the Saucon Rail Trail. We parked at the Water Street Park in Hellertown and headed east toward Coopersburg. We didn't go that far. Actually, we only went a mile and a half, then turned around and headed back. We also did the loop around the lake at the Grist Mill, and took the scenic route past the Heller Homestead.


Our total was about 3.5 miles. It started to drizzle on the way back. A few minutes later it was pouring! Our timing was nothing, if not impeccable.

Wednesday Is National Walking Day. I thought it was Tuesday. Clearly I need to read a calendar. Since that is my 15 hour day, I'll have to go out on College Hill at lunch time.

____


I never mentioned that back on January 29 I received my 2K badge on FitBit.

un-affordable healthcare deadline

Today was the day I was going to buy healthcare. Three days before the deadline. But I didn't. Ironically, I've supported National Healthcare since the early 80s. It's come back to bite me.

First stop was the Highmark store. Online they had the cheapest plans....which were not cheap. At least not to me. I was there 2 minutes. They had several computers all set up to healthcare.com. I told them I did that research at home and I wanted to talk to a human. That wouldn't be possible until after April 1. Say what? The deadline is Monday. I was not happy and stormed out without even saying thank you. Chock one up for customer service.

Next stop, Capital Blue. The atmosphere was so different. The receptionist took some basic information, offered me a seat, and I waited. There's a restaurant, kids area, exercise area, and a health testing machine. I'm sure there are other things. No less than three people offered me water or coffee.  I waited less than 10 minutes for a sales rep.

First she told me it was already too late to get healthcare for April 1, even though the deadline is the 31st. Clearly they don't mention that on the commercials. I think this is what the Highmark person attempted to tell me, but very poorly.  Any coverage bought today would be valid May 1, and you'd pay the penalty for one month. Of course they offered short term policies for the gap. The experience was better, but the quotes were high. Really high.

While there I found out the difference between HMO and PPO. Remember I haven't had insurance in 15, maybe 16 years. HMOs were in their infancy. Heck, there was no employee contribution. Or a small one.

When I returned home, I decided to bite the bullet and log on to the AARP's healthcare site. Guess what? They no longer offer full healthcare policies for people under 60. Just supplemental ones.

I think I am in the doughnut hole. I make too much money for subsidies. But make too little money to pay the full rate. I need a job that has benefits. Or at least a group plan.

The bottom line. I won't be buying healthcare. I will pay the penalty. The most it will be is $500 for 2014. Then I have a year to figure out plan B before the penalty spikes. Hopefully they come up with a "Safe Auto" type policy for people like me. If they don't I'll have to bite the bullet and buy. To do this, I will need to stop being a ATM for people in financial trouble, stop racing and other crazy events, and pretty much use all my disposable income.

everyone has arrived in 'nome"!

Everyone has arrived in Nome. Let the eating begin. Then it's time to pack up and leave town...until next year. I've already reserved my room at the Nome Nugget Inn.

What took Dave so long? It wasn't the bourbon trail after all. I'm glad, that made no sense.

Dave told us that "Sharon needs to take the peanut butter from her ears. I said I was going on the 'birch trail', not 'bourbon trail' ".  Apparently Alaska specializes in making birch syrup similar to maple syrup but more intense. It takes 3 times the birch sap to make birch syrup.

Today we will have to go sample birch syrup and bring some home. So far I've avoided the gift shoppes in town. Now I will have to visit one. Heck, I bet they even have it at the Safeway. I never went down the syrup aisle.

See you back in "Pennsylvania". Everyone will get home before me. They are taking Alaskan Airlines out of the Nome Airport to Anchorage, then home. There's only 3 passenger flights a day from, so I'm not sure which they will pick.

Me, I'm renting a car testing out the highway system in Alaska. I'll be home in a week or two.

st. patricks day 5k

Today was the St. Patrick's Day 5K, before the parade. A week late. Why? I'm clueless.

Things were different. We usually meet at Memorial Hall. Today it was in the student union. Across campus. There was a volleyball meet in Memorial Hall.

Parking was more of a nightmare than normal. The volleyball game, a symposium, tours you name it. I ended up parking on Liberty, I think. But to do that I arrived about an hour early. I was alone. It was boring.

I took my iPod. That helped during the actual walk. But I was dead last for the whole thing. I think I was the only walker. There were a few run/walkers. The course was similar. Start at Memorial Hall, go down to 21st, then to Tilghman, back to 26th, and repeat. The second time you go to 19th. I guess that's the extra 10th mile to make it 3.1.

At the split I was at 22.38. I think that's pretty good. I finished in about 45 minutes.

No pictures. Sorry. I left my camera at work on Thursday night and can't do selfies with the iPod. I tried. They were horrible.

After the race I went to Cedar Crest Boulevard. I wanted to go to the Highmark store for "affordable" health care. That March 31 deadline is looming. Highmark comes up in my searches as the cheapest each time. And they are not cheap. The highest ones are $1K a month! I thought talking to a "real" person might help. But alas they were not open. So I walked to the other end of the shopping center and bought sugar-free frozen yogurt with fresh fruit.

sharon and barbara have "arrived" in nome.

Barb arrived the other day. She's in her hotel room catching up on work. Thank goodness her job is portable.

Sharon arrived this morning. I asked her if she has seen David.

She said "A while ago".

Do you have any idea where he is?

"Yes. He took the bourbon trail. He should be here soon."

I didn't know they made bourbon in Alaska. I think what she meant was he stopped a checkpoint for some bourbon.

He should arrive in the next couple days. Then we'll have wild Alaskan Salmon for dinner. With bourbon.

I forgot to tell you that the last musher arrived in town on March 15. Marcelle Fressineau extinguished the widow’s lantern after 13 days, four hours and 42 minutes on the trail. Extinguishing the lantern closes the race. Bonnie and I were out walking and missed it. We read all about it in the Nome Nugget, Alaska's oldest newspaper.

Most of the mushers and dogs have left town, and things are retuning to normal. After Dave arrives and rests up, we'll all head back to Pennsylvania together.

one thousand three steps

Yesterday we planned to do the Wegman's walk. Lydia overslept and didn't come, Bonnie was a little late, and the walk evolved into the Lehigh stair climb.

We are nothing, if not flexible.

I left my camera at school, so the photos are from my phone. Actually, they are not half-bad.  We headed up the hill to Sioux and out Sioux to Wyandotte. Since this walk is traditionally short, we walked down the Wyandotte street hill to Broadway.

The sidewalks on Wyandotte are a mess. Almost as bad as Fiot.

We headed out Broadway to Fourth, and then to New.  We headed up New to Campus Square. And started our stair climb. Problem is we didn't start counting until we almost arrived at Packer Avenue. Oops. bonnie guess-timated 35. I think it was closer to 75. But oh, well. I was not walking down and redoing them! We took the selfie in front of the Love sculpture.

 Then we started climbing stairs. I have no idea where we were on campus. The picture below is Bonnie going up a long flight next to Grace Hall. We came back down on the other side of the Neuman House and went back up next to Zoellner.

Ultimately we ended up at the top of the hill where the frats and sororities are. Then we had to come back down, trying not to go down stairs.

On our way up we were at about 700+. I said we need to get to 800. But then we were at about 850. So of course we had to get to 900. Which turned into about 925, then we had to get to 1000. It's a horrible mind game.

We were at about 975 so we went down the hill and came back up to 8th Street via  the stairs betweent eh parking deck and Chi Psi. We were three short. So we went down a flight and back up.

Total stairs: 1003.
Total Distance: 4.1 miles.

Then we headed home.

Afterwards I went to New Balance and bought new sneakers. Made in the USA of course.

Tomorrow, I'm off to the St. Patrick's Day 5K in Allentown.

tail on the trail swag

I was leaving to pick up Bonnie to go walking and the mail carrier came. It was 12:30. I was shocked. Lately he doesn't come till nearly 5. And there is a large bulky envelope and I didn't order anything. What the heck?

It was my Tail on the Trail swag from the 30/30 winter challenge. Gloves and an ice scraper. After Bonnie and Lydia receive their 30 mile gifts (I met the 90 bonus challenge) I'll find out what the 30/30 gift was.

Funny, I was wearing my Tail on the Trail summer swag today—the fleece jacket and the hat.

Since my scrapper went AWOL this winter, I appreciate the scraper. I'll lose the gloves by the second time I wear them.

spring!

Today is the first day of spring. Now that the bulk of the snow has melted, there are signs everywhere. I saw some yesterday and again today.

Let spring training begin!

failed hike

Lydia and I decided to head to Jacobsburg to hike on Sunday. It was still too early for a walk in the woods. The trails were snow and ice covered and hard to walk on. A few spots were bare. Clearly I should have worn my Yak Traks. We only did about 1.5 miles total and it took 45 minutes!

On the plus side, on the way home we stopped a Cheeses of Nazareth for cheese!

Back to the mound of grading. I usually do it Spring Break week. However, spring break has been cancelled. YUCK. Can't wait till Bonnie gets back to force me away from this never ending pile.

two bridges

Lydia took an old photo dump on Facebook Thursday. Let's call it Throwback Thursday, Extreme Edition. I told her about my walk thru the old 'hood Friday, and decided to show her our house. See, I told you it still looks the same.

The plan was to head over the Hill to Hill bridge, go around and come back the other side. Things don't ever go as planned.

We were walking under the bridge and decided to go to the historic district.  There still was some snow.

It was there where I saw this odd yellow sign. I have never seen one of these before. Have you? Maintenance? I've seen many a historic marker that was barely readable. I didn't know that they actually maintained them.

 From there we headed to Sand Island. Look, even after 60 degree days the canal is still frozen. That ice must have been thick.

Lyd headed for the restrooms. I headed for the pedestrian bridge. I wanted to check to see if that section of the path was open again. They were doing some construction there in late fall. It is done and the path is open. Now I'll need to go to the Hotel B this week and tear the detour tags off the Volkssport instructions.

Sadly plans to improve the west end of the park have been shelved. It was in yesterdays paper. That money was rerouted to the snow removal budget. Booooooo.

We headed up the stairs to the Fahy Bridge. Those stairs are narrow and steep. Lydia apparently hasn't been on the bridge since the sidewalk was closed. I wonder when they will ever fix it?

When we returned to the southside, we took a selfie with the Penn State Lion. This is the best we could get.

It took 2 hours to do 4 miles. Bonnie would have been getting antsy with all the stops.

a walk thru the old 'hood.

Friday it was pretty nice out. It was maybe 30. I couldn't walk with Betsy because I ended up having lunch with an old friend who was in town. About 3:30, I couldn't stand it any more I had to walk. Then the phone rang.

I didn't get out the door till nearly 4:30. But I got out. Thanks to the time change. (I told you it comes in handy.)

I walked to Ahart's for chips for Pat, and a couple basic veggies. I knew it was going to be leftover night and the leftovers were pretty heavy.  Then I went up the Fourth street hill to Seneca and out Seneca past the old house. It looks pretty much the same.

What doesn't look the same is the row next door where the Quigley's, the boy with Down's Syndrome, and the kid who painted the third floor with glue to get high, lived. Ah, the 60s. Someone must have bought the whole row and stripped off the porches. Looks like they are gutting and remodeling. Even the windows look like they are being replaced. Next time I'm going out the alley and checking out the back.

Then I headed down Bishopthorpe and home.

During the entire walk I felt like I needed to be picking up litter. The streets are a mess since the snow melted. All the trash that blew out of cans and got buried. Your basic litterbugs. The pieces of old porch furniture that were used to hold parking spots. Broken recycle bins. Get out the brooms people!

almost spring. time to buy new shoes,

Both pair of my sneakers are shot. I need new ones. I've needed them since late fall. But I didn't want to buy them and ruin them in winter.

Athletic shoes are good for about 600 miles. I have two pairs and I walked nearly 2000 miles in 2013. Guess I should really have three.

Speaking of shoes, I cleaned mine out today. Some were shot and got tossed. (Goodbye water shoes. 15 years is probably too long for water shoes.) Some got placed in the bag for the shoe repair. Others were donated to a shoe drive,. And the remainder went back on the rack. I no longer look like a shoe ho.

Cleaning out is great, but replacing is expensive. Sneakers are about $100. I buy New Balance (made in USA) I need to buy one pair at a time, maybe 4 months apart, so they don't all wear out at the same time!

I didn't donate my muck-luks, but should have. They have been stretched out from heavy socks. Next time, I will try them on with heavy socks.  I'll wait till next fall to get a new pair.

I don't need the water shoes right away, so I'm hoping to wait to get them in June at the end of the season. Otherwise, I'll order them from Land's End. Finally, I will need new rain shoes. My old ones went in the donation bag. They were just too narrow and hurt my feet.

Wait, I have hiking boots somewhere. My feet have changed a lot since I last wore them. I should find them and donate them also.

"nome" update

"Nome" is hopping this week. Dallas Seavey mushed into town on Tuesday at 4:04 am. My favorite, Ally Zirkle (above), came in 2 minutes later. Bonnie and I went to bed early so we could get up at two and wait for their arrivals. Only 13 mushers are left on the trail.

Word arrived that Sharon, David and Barb are about 224 miles from the finish line. They should make it by the end of next week. Lydia and Adonis left the day after they arrived.

We've learned a lot this trip. Nome is called Siqnazuaq in the native Iñupiaq language. It was incorporated in 1901. And more about panning for gold than I'd ever care to know.

Bonnie and I have had a lot of time to walk. There are no Volkssport walks in Nome—just in Fairbanks and Anchorage. So we made our own. We have found four schools, and the University of Alaska—Northwest Campus. No Volkssport walk is complete without a college campus. We have walked every square inch of this town. Someday I'd like to come during the summer and take one of the Bering Strait cruises.

daylight savings time is over!

Spring is in the air. Okay, maybe not today because it was really cold. But Daylight Savings Time is over. And not a minute too soon. Some people lost an hour of sleep—I finally returned to normal. It's light in the evening to walk when I'm not working.

It also means that I can park in the furthermost lot at school, (the lot isn't even on the map!) and take the longest way to class and back. Once the snow melts I can even do the walking path which will another half mile onto the route. The 5-minute walk to my car is now nearly 20. However, I need to figure out how to lighten the load I carry. By the time I arrived at the car my arm hurts.

a beautiful day on the irt

Today Lydia and I went to the IRT.

Walking in the 'hood would have been terrific, but Pat had dog sat all week and said "You're going to Lydia's; right?" By her are railtrails, and only the IRT is plowed. The rest are still snow covered. Now if Lydia had snowshoes ... (Mental note. Check Ebay.)

I picked her up and we headed to the Kridersville covered bridge to take snowy pictures. Looks all Courier and Ives, doesn't it? Then it was off to Coplay to Saylor Park and the trail head.

The path around the rear of the limestone kilns appeared shoveled, so we took it. That's where I found these pillars to walk on. But we quickly realized that  it was only part way. So it was thru the snow we went.

We headed east. Lydia has been doing walking tapes and wii all winter. She wasn't prepared to tackle the hill going west. There is one section going east that isn't paved. It was a sloppy mess. We continued to the bridge detour and turned around and came back.

It was about 3.1 miles. Lyd was tired but never stopped. Nor did she slow down significantly.

fat girl chasing fat girl

Today was the Daylight Savings Dash at Penn State—Berks campus. My camera was exhausted again so I took photos with my crappy phone camera. Clearly I can't do a selfie with it. So, instead I took pictures of the sculptures and quilts.

It was warm, maybe 40 when we arrived and the sun was bright. I wore a fleece and then a zipped fleece and once we got started I took off the zipped. By the third mile I wanted to take off the other one.

 The Penn Sate Nittany Lion. Every campus has at least one.

There was only about 150 people. We did two loops of the course. All on asphalt so there was no climbing on snow banks. Bonnie is on her way to Kentucky for her grandchild's birth, so I had to go it alone. Did you know that an iPod unused for 5 months dies and needs to be recharged? Ooops. (It's charging now. Next time I need it it will be dead again. Why do I have it?)

One person in the back of the crowd was overweight....a bit bigger than me. I decided if she ever got ahead of me, she'd be my challenge person. (Even playing field.) Well it turned out she walked/ran. And passed me quickly. She was always a half block ahead. As soon as I got near, we encounter another hill and I'd be far behind again.  This game continued for about 2.5 miles. At one point I even saw her look back before she started to run.

Now I didn't tell her it was a competition, but clearly she sensed it.

The last half mile I finally passed her. I won by at least 1000 yards. My time was 51:29. Not bad for alone and hills.

My sister Pat was in the car. She didn't want to wait in the building. The car was warm with the sun beating in the window. Apparently while I was gone a Good Samaritan knocked on the window and asked why she was sitting in the car.  He was worried about her to the point he was going to call the police and have me arrested for "abusing the elderly". (Ouch.) She told him she was plenty warm and to buzz off. That's Pat.

Then we went to the Reading outlets. That's the most she walked in months.

getting back to normal

I'm finally done with my substitute gig. Winter is almost over. Finally my walking life can get back to normal.

Saturday I volunteered most of the day. Then, my Tunesian student and I went to Dave's church for the Italian Dinner. She loves Italian food and the food at school isn't the best. When we arrived, they were running a bit behind—300 people to serve—so we volunteered to help get dessert ready.

Sunday, at the crack of dawn, I was back at the church making breakfast for the homeless. Bonnie arrived to walk shortly after I returned home.

We headed up Bishopthorpe to the hospital. Then out Ostrum and down the ramp of the bridge. We went up Broadhead and thru Lehigh. The sculptures have started to emerge from the snow piles.

 This guy really needs warmer clothes. How did his book and electronic survive the snow?

When we reached Taylor, we came back back Packer. Then out Summit, up Wyandotte, out Souix and home.

Tuesday we walked in Bonnie's neighborhood. We pretty much stuck with Salisbury Road and Lehigh Streets because they aren't well traveled and we could walk in the streets.

Today we walked again in South Bethlehem. This time we headed out Sioux and Summit and went thru Lehigh. This time we went all the way to Zollener and then headed down Polk, I think. The Greenway was still covered with snow so we walked out Mechanic till it ended.

Ultimately we ended up at Arts Quest. We came back first avenue, out Columbia, and Second Street. Then out Broadway and home.

No one arrived in Nome this week, but the real race has begun. The conditions are really bad this year. Hopefully all the animals and mushers make it to Nome safely. Has anyone seen Sharon? Is she still sitting in Anchorage?