A Homer's Travels Look Back At 2016

2016 ... What a crappy year.  After a long battle with heart disease, the Father-in-Law passed away.  A very close friend was diagnosed with cancer and passed away a couple months later.  Too many famous people died.  I had minor medical issues most of the summer and the Wife hurt her shoulder.  Oh yeah, the election sucked too.  I have never wanted a year to end so soon.

Not that everything was bad, mind you.  I got my Scuba certification (yes ... I consider this a positive even though I didn't like the experience so much) and our Cuba and South America trips were incredible.   Oh, and the Cubs won the World Series - the Father-in-Law would have loved that. 

Let's look back at 2016, shall we:

• January:  The new year started in an uninspiring way.  I postponed my book reading and dove into the pile of magazines teetering on the edge of my nightstand.  I ended my six month obsession with The Game.  I re-immersed myself into the forces of Duh ... err I mean politics.
  
  
• February:  I spent time catching up on new shows uses various types of media outlets.  One of the Wife's nieces joined me for Trek up the Tower - I came up two seconds short.  Our showing at the Wife's school's trivia contest was ... bad.  Very bad.  Terrible even.  Not sure there will be a fourth time for us.
  
  
• March:  I dived into scuba by taking an introductory class followed with enrollment into a scuba certification class.  During the Wife's spring break we spent three wonderful days in Cuba.  My Google doppelganger passed away this month.
  
  
• April:  The sun came out and my mood lifted a bit as I went out for my first bike ride of the year.  A windy April would keep me off the bike trails for most of the rest of the month.  I finished my class/pool portion of my scuba certification classes and discovered I wasn't that fond of scuba (this will surely change once I get to dive in the real world someday).  I enjoyed going out to a local tapas bar with the Wife.  The anticipation for our South America trip began to build in earnest for me.  I enjoyed an Amy Schumer comedy routine.
  
  
• May:  I asked people to give me a name for the Appalachian Trail (AT) and received a few suggestions.  I celebrated my five year Caminoversary.  The Wife and I went to Minneapolis to celebrate both the GodSon's graduation and family.  I saw my picture during one of my walks.  I mourned a Little Free Library.  The month ended with my Mom's Birthday and Memorial Day celebrations.
  
  
• June:  The Father-in-Law, after fighting heart disease, passed away.  After receiving suggestions for an Appalachian Trail name I put up a poll to pick the most popular one.  The rest of the month we spent traveling with Snuggle Bear around South America (which I documented in July).
  
  
• July:  Was a slow month.  I was suffering from some intestinal leftovers from our South American trip and my final scuba certification was postponed.  It was too hot to do much of anything though I did try to train for my AT hike ... but didn't really do much training at all.  At the end of the month we returned Snuggle Bear to his bestest friend.
  
  
• August:  The presidential election became real with a rare Homer's Travels political post.  I announced the winner of the Appalachian Trail name poll.  The winner is Shuffle Monkey.  Not sure if I will actually use that name.  A tornado (actually it was a waterspout over a lake) made a close visit.  After a couple of postponements I finally completed my scuba certification dive making me a Certified Open Water Diver.  Doubts abounded concerning my Appalachian Trail hike and my preparedness or lack thereof.  I received my Appalachian Trail passport which reminds me of my Camino passport.  Homer's travels celebrated its ten year anniversary.
  
  
• September:  I suffered the wrath of Rapa Nui but finally got it fixed.  I used a newer AT Guide to update my Appalachian Trail hiking plan.  We commemorated the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11.  I tested my new tent and backpack on my tenth camping trip.
  
  
• October:  This month was dominated by sad news about my Camino Angel G_v which prompted me to fly to Montreal to visit her.  Unwanted changes from Google meant saying goodbye to my travel magnet slideshow.  The Wife and I took advantage of early voting - sadly the political campaigns did not end after we voted.  I compared my two tents and looked at my new backpack.  I commemorated the three year anniversary of the end of my second Camino.  I went camping in Preparation Canyon and enjoyed both the sunset and the sunrise.  I posted a few of my fall photographs this month as well.
  
  
• November:  Unable to clear G_v from my head, I decided to distract myself by starting a post-a-day challenge.  This meant lots of picture posts.  We celebrated the birthday/anniversary of the Wife's brother and Sister-in-Law.  This involved lots of cupcakes.  The election ... happened.  The results were met with chagrin.  I tried to distract myself from the elections results (and other things) by going camping.  In a moment of distraction I had a close shave.  Another supermoon occurred this month (they seem to be happening more often).  We began planning for our next adventure in 2018.  I decorated the house for Christmas ... a bit early this year.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at the Wife's niece's home.  I took a walk through melancholy spaces on black Friday.  I decorated the outside of our house for Christmas followed by picking up all the decorations that were blown out of the tree.  The month ended on a very sad note when we lost G_v to cancer.
  
  
• December:  I decided to continue the post-a-day challenge into December while trying to Love Life.  The laser Christmas decorations made cool patterns during our first snow.  I saw an unwelcome sign of our times.  I purchased six pairs of shoes in preparation for my AT adventure.  Some socks came soon after.  Christmas started with the first bloom of the Christmas cactus.  I had a nice walk on a newish trail before I came down with a cold.  I managed to do a tiny bit of AT training.  G_v was remembered at her memorial.  I joined one of the Wife's nieces on a Star Wars adventure.  Christmas was nice to me.  I ended the month with several photograph posts when words didn't come so easily.
  
  
• Walking was a bit disappointing this year.  I meant to walk a lot more than I did.  I ended up walking thirty-eight times for a total of 484.5 miles (779.7 km).  This wasn't totally bad as it was more than the previous two years but I thought the AT would motivate me to push farther ... and it didn't.
  
  
• Biking, like walking, was a bit of a disappointment for me this year.  Like my walking, I'd hoped to get a lot of riding in as part of my AT training but I only managed 220.3 miles (354.5 km) with another 526.6 miles (847.4 km) on the trainer in the basement. These are the lowest numbers since 2013 and are pretty pathetic ... and no one's fault but my own.
  
  
• I set a goal to read thirteen books this year and, like 2015, came up one book short.  I had a tough time getting interested in reading this year.  I didn't read any bad books.  Over three quarters of the books I read I gave at least four stars on Goodreads.  I think external factors just sapped my interest in reading.  The book I enjoyed the most this year was "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail" which I gave five stars.
  
  
• We went to two concerts this year.  The first was Mumford & Sons which was pretty good.  The second was Journey and the Doobie Brothers which I considered to be so-so.
  
  
• I posted 143 times this year.  This was more than last year and the highest since 2011.  It was high because I tried, successfully, to post every day in November and December.  Many of these posts were posts of pictures and not very wordy so quantity does not always equal quality.  Then again, nothing wrong with doing a photoblog.  Next year my posts should drop off sharply when I'm on the AT.
  

Last year I really didn't have many expectations for 2016.  I expected it to be dominated by AT training which was not nearly the case.  The whole political mess was not on my radar and I never saw the sadness and heartache that were to come.

I'm not sure what 2017 will bring for me.  It will surely be dominated by my Appalachian Trail adventure that will occupy five to six months of the year.  That I am looking forward to.  It's the stuff happening off the trail that has me a tad concerned.  The nation may be aboil this coming year.  Being out on the trail with limited contact with the outside world may be a blessing but I will always be worried about the Wife holding the fort back home.

I've always ended my Look Back posts with the same sign off.  I will do it again despite not being so hopeful this time around. 

Here's to a Happy and Prosperous New Year for all.

May all your dreams come true in 2017.

Certified Open Water Diver

After two postponements, I finally completed my open water scuba diver certification this weekend.  I did two dives at a quarry in Atlantic, Iowa yesterday and two more today satisfying the minimum requirements for open water diving certification.

My Open Water Diver card.

The postponements ended up being good as the water temperature was comfortable at 79ºF (26ºC).  The dives went relatively smoothly and the skills tested were relatively simple.

The quarry is full of fish which are surprisingly tame.  Mostly bluegill.  There is a thermocline at around twenty feet where the temperature drops five to ten degrees.  You can actually see the two layers of differing temperature water.  The layers don't mix (similar to how the Rio Negro and the Amazon rivers didn't mix) so you can see if one layer is clearer than the other.  I ended up diving down to around 30 feet (9 meters) where is was surprisingly colder.

The four short dives (each about 30 minutes long) were tiring.  I returned home yesterday and today totally exhausted.  I also pulled a muscle putting my tank on for the first dive.  I can feel my right arm stiffening up and it will be sore for a while.

Will I use the classes?  Who knows.  I'm giving myself a ten percent chance of ever scuba diving again.  Ten percent ain't nothing so who knows what adventures this will open up.

I'm glad my certification is finally done.  It feels like it became a psychological barrier that stopped me from starting other projects.  It really shouldn't have stopped me from doing anything but ... it did.  Now that it's done I feel a bit freer.

Thank you to the Mother-in-Law.  Your Christmas/Birthday money paid for most of the classes and certification.  It is appreciated.

Almost Finished ... Unexpected Results

Scuba has been on my list of things to do for several years.  On Monday I finished the class/pool portion of my scuba certification classes (called Open Water Diver certification).  To complete my certification I have to perform four dives within a year of completing the class work.

DiVentures holds certification dives in a flooded quarry near Atlantic, IA.  It takes a weekend to do the four dives.  I hope to fit it in before our South America trip but it may be better to wait until I get back ... the water will be substantially warmer in July or August.

"So ... now that you've completed the first part of the training, what do you think?"  My instructor asked me this after the last session.  I had to pause before I answered.  Frankly, I'm not sure how I really feel.  I thought that I would get more excited as I took the classes but that is not what happened.  Obviously scuba diving at the bottom of a fourteen foot pool doesn't come close to the diving in the real world.  The skills we learned were relatively easy.  Things like clearing your mask underwater, recovering a lost regulator, and sharing air if you have the misfortune of running out of air.  As I progressed through the five class sessions I couldn't help feeling like scuba was not for me.

The thing about scuba are the potential risks involved.  It is a fairly safe activity but, when something does go wrong, you can have serious consequences ... drowning being one of them.  You mitigate these risks by knowing your equipment intimately and always diving with a buddy.

To know your equipment means you must buy your own equipment.  You can never fully understand rented equipment.  Scuba ... it isn't a cheap activity.  You also have to travel to fully experience scuba.  I can not see myself spending money just to fly somewhere to scuba dive.  I don't have resources to support that even if I wanted to.

I hike alone.  I camp alone.  I bike alone.  You can't scuba alone.  For me, this is a limiting factor.

There is one more thing.  When I was a little kid at the Lake of the Ozarks I loved to swim.  When I was in the water I was in my element.  After we moved to Guatemala I swam less and less.  Some of this was a lack of opportunity but a lot of it was me.  I just didn't want to swim as much as I used to.  I swam some when I was in college but after I graduated and entered the real world swimming just didn't have the hold it once had.  Case in point, the In-Laws have a lake house on a small lake in Iowa.  In the almost nineteen years of our marriage we have visited the lake many times and I have never gotten into the lake.  I'd hoped that the scuba class would rekindle the feelings I once had when I was younger.  It did not.

So, Have I wasted the money and time to do the classes?  No, I still don't think I have.  You never know if your are going to like something until you try it.  I will complete the certification later this summer (yes ... I am fighting the urge just to blow it off) because there will be chances to use the skills someday and the certification is for life.  Maybe a return trip to Zanzibar or an excursion to the Great Barrier Reef.  A trip to Belize or the Mediterranean.  One never knows what lies around the next corner but at least I will be ready if the opportunity arrises.

Solar Powers ... Activate!

I think it's been mentioned a few times but I will say it again.  I am solar powered.  Today was a gorgeous day with temperatures in the 80's (>26°C), clear skies, and a stiff wind blowing.  I could feel my mood going up most of the day.  This a is a good thing as my mood has been a tad gloomy for the past month or so.

The sun started making it's appearance on Saturday.  I mowed the lawn for the first time this year and did some tree trimming I'd been thinking about for some six months.  I wasn't outtside very long but it felt refreshing.

I took advantage of the even better Sunday weather and took my bike off the stand and went for my first ride in the real world since the end of RAGBRAI.  Back then I said the bike would never come out of the basement.  I guess I spoke too soon and a bit too rashly.  I still am not a fan of bike riding but it has been good for my health and I hope to start riding again.  The wind kept my first ride of the year short (10.8 miles, 17.4 km) but it felt good.  My plan now is to work my way up to sixty or sixty-five miles over the next six months.  Hopefully I will ride two to three times a week to help build up my stamina.  We'll see how this plan does.

Speaking of exercise, my second scuba class went pretty well.  In my last post I said that I swallowed half the pool water due mostly to snorkel issues.  On Wednesday I adjusted where the snorkel was attached (it attaches to the left side of the mask strap - I moved it farther forward on the strap).  The new position allowed the mouthpiece to sit better in my mouth preventing the little stream of pool water that dribbled into my mouth during my first class.  We continued doing basic drills in the pool.  Things like clearing water from your mask and recovering your regulator after it comes out of your mouth.  So far everything has been pretty simple.  My main issue is, when the regulator is out of your mouth, you should keep blowing bubbles to help balance the pressure in your lungs.  I keep forgetting.  Despite this, the instructor said I was doing pretty good.  Yay for me.

The low point of the last week was Friday.  It was overcast, dreary, and a little drizzly.  I'd planned to go for a walk.  I'd even mapped out my route.  When Friday morning came I just couldn't get myself out of the house.  I dusted and vacuumed the house instead.

So the last week was a bit mixed when it comes to exercise and mood but there was more good than bad so I'm optimistic.  Spring feels early this year ... not a moment too soon if you ask me.  The great weather is not forecast to last into the week but this solar charge should last me for a few days at least.

65% Water ...5% Chlorine

Our bodies are 60% water and after my first scuba class, and the amount of pool water I swallowed, I expect that I'm pushing 65% water and 5% chlorine.  What caused me to swallow the water, strangely enough, was not scuba.  It was the much simpler act of snorkeling.

The class (there are four students) started with classroom work learning the basics, putting our scuba equipment together, and learning how to check that the equipment is working properly.

The second half of the class was in the pool.  First we proved how out of shape we were by swimming ten lengths of the pool and treading water for ten minutes.

Next we put on fins, mask, and snorkels and went through the basics.  My issue was exhaling and sinking too far, allowing my snorkel to fill with water right when I had no air to purge it with.  This resulting in me sputtering and coughing until I figured it out.  Even after I figured it out I still had problems.  While swimming around the pool breathing through the snorkel water seemed to be leaking in.  This lead me to breath in and/or swallow copious amounts of chlorinated pool water.  I will have to experiment a bit with snorkel placement next class to see if I can locate the problem.

Once we stopped snorkelling and put on our tanks everything was fine.  I have no problem clearing my mask and regulator of water and have no issues at all.  Figures I would have problems with the simplest skill and no problem with the more complex.

By the time the class was over we were all pretty exhausted.  It really takes a lot of energy moving around water.  Add to that I was bloaty from all the water I swallowed and all my coughs and burps smelled like chlorine and It was just peachy.

I got home, rinsed off in the shower and crawled into bed where I proceeded to not fall asleep.  When I finally fell asleep after 1:00am I dreamt most of the night that I was awake and couldn't fall asleep.  It took massive doses of caffeine for me to get through my chores today.

Hopefully tomorrow's class will be more scuba and less snorkel ... at least until I can get the hang of it.

Taking The Plunge

Today I took a "Try Scuba" class at DiVentures.  The class was a two hour introductory class that walked you through the equipment, basic procedures like putting all the equipment (tank, buoyancy vest, weights, regulator) together, and basic procedures like getting water out of your regulator and facemask.

After twenty or thirty minutes of explanation and demonstration we suited up and got in the pool.  We started out in the shallow end and practiced the basic procedures and got use to breathing through a regulator.  After we all passed our exercises (there were four of us in the group) we moved into the deeper end and basically had almost thirty minutes to swim around the pool.

I have to admit I was a bit worried (me worried ... who would have thought).  I was waiting to have some negative reaction like claustrophobia.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't like it or that I would be unacceptably uncomfortable.  A few minutes in the pool dispelled most of my worries.

Breathing through the regulator was strange but not uncomfortable.  If anything I may have been breathing a little too much - something that is expected for first time scuba divers.  I'd been a bit worried about pain in the ears, something I'd experienced at the bottom of pools, but a quick pinch of the nose and a gentle blow equalized the pressures and the pain was gone.

The swim around the pool was not the most exciting thing as you can expect but I did a few flips - both forward and backward - and played with the bubbles a bit while I passed the time and got used to the feeling of being underwater for so long.

After the class I went to the front desk and signed up for the Scuba certification classes.  I was a bit loopy as I filled out the paperwork.  I guess the swimming took more out of me than I expected it would.  The paperwork got filled out, with several scratched out errors (I couldn't seem to get my dates right), and I headed home where I discovered that I was totally exhausted.  I think I will sleep well tonight.

My classes start at the end of March.  Five classes over three weeks - four hours each.  Some of that time is classroom stuff, some is in the pool.  Mostly emergency procedures I believe.  After the classes I need to take four certification dives which I expect to get done in May before our South American trip.  Not looking forward to the certification dives which are in a lake near Atlantic, Iowa.  The water is going to be cold.  The four dives can be done in one weekend so I can get it over with fairly quick and painlessly.

I hope to have a chance to use what I learn in the Galapagos.  Not sure I will be able to scuba but snorkelling is offered by our tour and I will be all over that.  Who knows, future vacations may very well include a little scuba on the side.  Can't wait!