As a brash young man, I decided I would put my huge brain to use in solving the world’s energy problem. Of course, I had to do something completely different so I decided to become a nuclear engineer. I went to graduate school in Seattle where the campus not only had a nuclear reactor but it was housed in a glass building for all to see. Seriously, it’s a landmark now.
Not a full year into my studies the first large-scale accident at a commercial plant in the United States occurred at Three Mile Island. So much to my surprise when I noticed it along my route and I stopped by for a visit.
Three Mile Island
I remember flying with my professor in his private plane to the nearest NRC office in Portland Oregon to be briefed. The accident occurred in Unit 2 which has been shut down since the accident. Unit 1 remained in operation until 2019. Both are being decommissioned now – decade-long processes.
Old Training Center looks haunted!
For me, it was a short sharp shock that essentially ended my career before it started. The more I learned about the industry the less I wanted to work in the field. I think the final straw was when I heard that nuclear engineers had the highest rate of suicides of all engineering degrees (probably not true π).
The first destination of our trip was a visit to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. We stayed on the west side of the park near Harrisonburg. The area around here was very scenic farmland.
We were pleasantly surprised that this weekend was ‘KOA member appreciation weekend’ and we got one night’s stay for free! As usual, the campground was very nice and we had a spot at the very back overlooking a forested area.
On Saturday we got up early and headed for the park. Our goal was to drive the length of the park on Skyline Drive. This road runs 105 miles north and south along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park and is the only public road through the Park.
The weather was foggy and cloudy but nice and cool. We managed to get some nice views and had lunch at one of the picnic areas. The road was not busy at all but I was surprised to see almost all hiking trailheads nearly full of cars. I yearned to go on a hike but my knee isn’t quite up for it yet!
We ended up driving nearly 200 miles and got back to camp in time for our dinner! A great day at Shenandoah National Park. We start the second leg of our northbound journey with 4 stops between here and Maine and less than 200 miles a day driving.
Departure day saw fair but hot weather as we made out way up the Florida coast, through Jacksonville, and along the Georgia coast to Savannah. We made good time on one of our longer days and had a pleasant albeit warm night’s stay.
Music: The Tangent. Long-form Prog at its finest!
Day two had us drive through South Carolina – not as many miles today. The road south of Charlotte was rough but the Excellent Adventure road like a dream in heavy truck traffic until our stop in Lumberton, North Carolina. This campground was nice but not much shade for a hot-sticky day. They did have a nice trail along Back Swamp (part of the Lumber River system). Jake took a dip and cooled off!
Music: Peter Gabriel and related 80’s stuff picked out by the AI. Rumor has it Peter is ready to drop fresh tracks 20 years after his last studio album Up.
Day three started much cooler than the previous days, not even breaking 90F before our stop in southern Virginia – less than 200 miles today. The roads were better and a lot of truck traffic again. It dawned on me that 99% of the cars going in my direction pass me at my cruising speed of 60mph π! The campground, outside of Emporia, had a lot of residents that worked in the area. Very quiet and shady with lots of big trees.
Somewhere in southern Virginia
Music: More 80’s stuff ending with Tears for Fears. Everybody really does want to rule the world.
So much for the first leg of our northbound journey. We’ll spend the next couple of days exploring the Shenandoah National Park area before continuing on to Maine.
Our excellent adventure for this year has us heading north to Maine skirting the Northeast megapolis as much as possible. I’ll stay in Maine for a week visiting the coast and nearby areas. The return trip is planned through New Hampshire and New York and on to Pennsylvania where I will see the historic Tubridy and Kovac hometowns of Snow Shoe and Connellsville in Pennslyvania. Then down through the Appalachians to visit friends in Tennessee and then home. I plan to visit Shenandoah, Acadia, Watkins Glen, and New River Gorge parks and see the Mt. Washington and Adirondack areas.
With summer winding down and Excellent Adventure 2022 about to begin I hereby offer an assortment of Summer 2022 Sunrise shots. We had a lot of thunderstorm activity in August (after I started walking again after my knee replacement) which made for some awesome sunrise shots.
Although technically not correct, I like to think of myself as a cyborg now. Turns out that my left knee quit working this winter. I was surprised to learn that I needed to have the whole thing replaced. Not exactly high on my list of things that I wanted to have to do in 2022. Oh well. Iβm one month into the recovery now and it still pretty much hurts like a bitch.
Left knee X ray from Kari
Hereβs what happens: A incision is made about 8-inch long on the very top of your leg and then opened up to reveal the knee. Next, some of the elements of the knee that are in the way are removed to expose the bottom of the upper leg and the top of the lower leg. They use a high-tech machine to figure out how to cut these bones to accept the metal components. The cuts are then made. The metal replacement parts are then cemented onto the bones. The top part is rounded. The bottom part is flat with a stem that goes down into the knee. Between the two a plastic spacer is added. The knee is then sewn back up.
Artificial knee from Wikipedia
And just like that, you have a new knee. And oh by the way it hurts like a son of a bitch. The most painful procedure that Iβve done so far. But the results are good, after a month I can walk pretty well but the range of motion, especially trying to bend my knee, is still rather limited.
Rockledge Regional Hospital
5 Weeks
5 weeks
I had the bandage removed about a week ago. The knee is healing up fine. You can almost see my kneecap again. I can walk a mile now without stopping. it still takes a couple of strides before I can get my gait right. I can bend the knee about 90Β° now. A bit disappointed that Iβll not ever be able to get all the range back. Most patients can achieve 0β110 degrees according to Wikipedia. Normal range is 135Β°. The knee will extend to nearly a straight position. Still doing physical therapy for one hour twice a week including every day at home a couple of times during the day. Pain is pretty minimal now.
6 Weeks – COVID Time!
Yes – as an added bonus to my recovery I finally caught COVID π¦ – likely from Physical Therapy. Symptoms included low fever (100.5F max), upper and lower respiratory gunk with coughing and sneezing, fatigue & muscle pain (I guess – hard to tell with everything else). I recovered mostly in 24 hours other than the congestion.
The good news is the knee is doing really well now. I can now generally walk without having to ramp up my gait. The back is much, much less sore. I can almost see my left kneecap again. Yippie!
8 Weeks
I added the latest x-ray at the top of the post. I can currently bend my knee 104 degrees – Dr says I should get 110 – 115 (120 is considered normal gait). Very little pain walking now – I can do 1 1/2 miles with no problem.
I remember as a young boy being enthralled with all things space. I found copies of old Buck Rodgers and Flash Gordon comics where they would take off and land in their spaceships. It seemed to make sense you would want to do that π.
I shot this video of the most recent Falcon 9 lunch this morning. The first time I can remember seeing an uninterrupted feed of the stage 1 landing.
This video was shot several days later showing a booster landing at the Cape.
