I am a fan of straight lines

For whatever cognitive gifts I might possess, I do have to contend with some significant challenges. One of the more debilitating is my lack of direction. I never really know where I am at or where I have been. I would not have lasted long in pioneer times. I would wander off and that would have been the end of me.

I have developed some compensating strategies over the years. I have apps on my phone that allow me to be s little more adventurous when I am walking or driving the Ranger in the woods. There is always that potential risk that my battery may run out and I will be unable to retrace my steps. That little element of danger does make my life interesting, but I do keep an eye on the battery meter.

My go to strategy for all conditions is to move in straight lines. The beauty of this strategy is that it does not rely on a sophisticated mental map. I am incapable of generating such a map even when familiar with an area for many years. What I can do is to remember turns as long as the list does not become too long. As I acquire a lot of experience, I can modify this strategy to get to new places by remembering the turns to get to an old place that is close to the new place and then taking a straight line to the new place.

Camp grounds are a bad environment for me to navigate. Things are normally laid out as connected loops rather than straight lines. I guess I would be fine within a loop - within a loop the strategy is similar to the strategy for following a straight line. Follow the path and do not take an exit. However, moving from loop to look gets very tricky. I hate it when there are few lights at night and I have to try to get to the bath house and back. I take my phone in case I have to call someone to come and get me. 

I am lucky at this state park. I am located on a great straight road so I can get some exercise without experiencing stress.

I still take my phone for security. You can see what I mean by a straight line.

Chickened out

We abandoned our camper and head for a motel last night. We were in a tornado watch area and the friends that had stayed with us already had a room. It was an easy decision.

We decided to take down our attached screen porch. The structure did not seem strong enough to stand through a wind storm. The middle of the night was not the first time to do this and not with the winds coming up. We ended up creating a large rip in the fabric. Good plan, poor execution.

No tornadoes in our area. We are still receiving heavy rain this morning. Not much more I can say about the nylon porch. One day and it is gone. I guess experiences such as this just offer material for one more blog post.

Team building

Teachers often begin their year with workshops and the workshops often begin with team building activities. The teachers may be divided up into groups and then asked to complete an unexpected, competitive activity such as making something out of marshmallows and pipe cleaners or toothpicks. They must complete these tasks without benefit of a beer or other drink that might loosen folks up a bit and encourage the timid or reserved to get into the marshmallow task. Somehow these tasks are to prepare you for the challenges ahead. You really never know when a tooth pick construction project will be required.

We had out own team building task today. We are in Gulf Shores, Alabama, staying at the state park and we have guests (Cindy's brother Scott and wife Denise). We have grown to really like the rPod, but it is a little small for four people. It turns out it comes with this screen porch kind of thing that pretty much doubles your space. No offense to the Chinese, but they cannot write an instruction manual. It also seems that they have tried to save a little work and they combined the instructions for three or four porches in the same manual. Some go on the end of the rPod, some go on the side, some work with a different rPod. It struck me as similar to folks who have several different puzzles and for some strange reason throw everything in the same box. That and discarding a few random pieces is the reason I refuse to work on puzzles with the rest of the family. Pardon my use of these strange analogies that only occur to me. 

Anyway, we did get the porch assembled. Some creativity and problem solving were required. I heard only a few offensive words expressed and I maintained my normal, calm demeanor. Once we figured out which was the inside and which the outside, things went much better.

I am going to sleep on the porch tonight just because it sounds like fun and because I go to bed earlier than my traveling companions. I am a little concerned about wind. This nylon structure is pretty large and sitting on a blacktop slab so it cannot be staked down. I watched one of those wind surfers today and was impressed by the speed they could reach with their little kites. I am hoping I am not launched in the same way.  

I also wonder about raccoons. They are common camp ground visitors and I would not want a couple to begin nosing about in my new sleeping quarters.

[Gulf Shores, Alabama]

Fishin' from the pier

I was taking pictures of the sand dunes when I noticed the two guys in the kayaks. I decided to walk to the end to get some photos of these guys against the sun. When I reached the end I found something more interesting.

Here was a young guy with half a dozen heavy fishing rods. He was lowering a bait fish about the size of a northern (a game fish we catch in the north) down toward the water. This is where the guys in the kayak come in. One of these guys maneuvered his boat so that the bait fish dropped into his boat and he started paddling toward open water. Even though the pier was long it was evidently useful to get the bait much further out than a fisherperson could cast. 

These guys were after shark. With 1000 yards of 130 point test line, they had worked out a system for going after Dusky or bull sharks. Mako sharks were also moving through and were supposed to be a thrill to catch because they are the fastest shark. Imagine a 6-foot beast.

Unless you like to kayak, the guy on the pier seemed to get the best of the deal. It turned out that they usually take turns, but getting through the surf into deeper water was quite tiring at this location so the kayak guys got to the end of the pier they just stayed there.

No, we did not see a shark being caught. It takes patience to fish or to watch fishermen (or fisherwomen) fish,

My haven

One of the secrets to keeping me happy while on the road is to allow me to escape from shopping. I love coffee shops and everyone has more fun when I can visit a local shop as an alternative. Today's visit was to Amavida Coffee. A plaque on the counter declared them winner of the Reader's Choice award (coffee category) in Saint Andrews, FL, for 2015. What you see here is my usual (when available) - Cafe au lait (pretty much regular coffee with steamed milk). 

There do not seem to be as many coffee shops in Florida as I usually encounter, but there are some different items on the menu. I decided to try an Espresso Cubano in addition to my regular drink. This turned out to be a double shot espresso pull over raw sugar. Very good. Several of their espresso drinks have a "southern influence". I am about at my caffeine limit for the next several hours so I will wait to try something else until another day.