Among the Oranges

Sat Feb 7, 2015Generalarizonarksmith

Saturday mornings the Farm at Agritopia has a u-pick event where one can buy a seven-pound seven dollar bag or a five-pound five dollar bag, pick the fruit from the trees in the orchard, and fill it with whatever is in season. Currently oranges, lemons, and grapefruit are available to be picked right from the tree.

We arrived at 9 am and the place was pretty busy. I learned upon arrival that they also had breakfast available! Maybe next time….

Both Nina and Jaelene got five-pound five-dollar bags and it didn’t take very long to fill them. It was a beautiful, sunny, cool morning. Madeline really enjoyed being out among the oranges.

The farm is part of a larger “Agritopia” planned community that includes places for residents to have garden plots, plenty of outdoor venus and events, and cozy housing. The project is being built on a former large farm.

Yesterday was the day I was supposed to be able to pick up my repaired iPad. The glass was broken and needed to be replaced. I could either have the glass (which is called the “digitizer”) replaced at a store that does that kind of thing for $149 or I could go to the Apple Store and get a refurbished iPad for $249. I chose to have the glass replaced. However, it isn’t done. Sometime today, said the rather unhelpful guy who answered the phone. The implication was that by talking to him on the phone I was delaying the completion of the repair.

The problem is, my Macbook also has cracked glass. I didn’t want to turn them both in for repair at the same time and be completely without a computer. But, we’re leaving in a week and I don’t want to put our departure at risk of waiting for the Macbook to be completed. We also have an issue with the passenger side front tire on the motor home. It is significantly worn on the inside edge. It needs an alignment at minimum. This is the same tire that needed a new bushing, discovered when we had the flat tire in Peoria, Illinois.

I’m concerned that there may be more going on than just the need for an alignment. They did an alignment in Peoria, we had it checked again while we were in Connecticut where they said all was well. There needs to be a reason that it now has an alignment problem.

So, I’ll take it in someplace on Thursday and have it checked out. That way there’s a little room in case they have to wait for parts to come in. We’d really like to be on our way on Monday, February 16th!

Nina and Jaelene put together last night a kind of a schedule for the rest of the visit. We’ll be pretty busy next week! Meanwhile, a few more pictures:

I’ve no idea what kind of trees these are, except they probably aren’t citrus and most likely aren’t cherry trees. I’m guessing some kind of apple tree. The blossoms are pretty, though.

This is what fits into a five-pound five-dollar bag. Definitely could not get this much fruit for this price and at this freshness at the store.

A new donut shop opened up near Jaelene’s house and Friday was the first day of their grand opening. They’re looking for employees as well. So I suggested to Colten that he take me over there, I’d buy some donuts, and he could fill out an application. I bought a half-dozen very tasty donuts for $4.21.

Colten diligently filled out and turned in the application. Meanwhile, he does have an interview at an IHop nearby. Where would I rather work … IHop or a Donut Shop?

Arizona … and India’s Agra Fort

Fri Feb 6, 2015Generalagra, arizona, india, mumbairksmith

We’re now set up in the Mesa Spirit RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona (site K85). We arrived late Saturday afternoon after driving through Tucson, then leaving the Interstate to drive through Florence and into Mesa from the east side. We drove past the Tom Mix memorial on our way into Florence. Tom Mix was a very famous movie cowboy, starring in 219 films. He died in a car wreck traveling at over 80 mph and leaving the highway.

We drove past a very large Arizona prison complex as well as an Immigration Detention Center in Florence. That must be the town’s other claim to fame!

We’ve spent most of our time at Jaelene’s house in Chandler. Our big task was to paint her pantry and put sticky shelf paper down. That was a 2 1/2 day task, with a very nice looking result. Now we’ll do some playing. We want to go to the musical instrument museum, do a temple session in the Gilbert and Phoenix temples, and just visit. We’ll head north on Monday, February 16th, stopping for a couple of nights in St. George on our way back home to Pocatello.

While we were in Agra, India we visited the Taj Mahal as well as Agra Fort. The fort itself was very spectacular. Here’s a photo gallery from my visit to the fort!

Artisan Work on the Hindu Wife's Area — Artisan Work on the Hindu Wife’s Area

Gateway into the living quarters of the Emperor and his Wives

Water Works

Panorama of the White Palace

Birds Flying in the Courtyard — Birds Flying in the

Mumbai Newspaper Articles … And Texas Is Behind Us!

Fri Jan 30, 2015Generaldelhi, india, mumbairksmith

We’ve made it to Lordsburg, New Mexico, which is about 30 miles from the Arizona border. We should be able to get to Jaelene’s by late afternoon tomorrow (Saturday, January 31, 2015). Texas is a big state! We pretty much drove the whole Interstate 20 from Georgia to where it ended as it merged into I-10 just west of Pecos, Texas. Today was chilly, cloudy, windy, rainy day. It was a good day to just be in the motor home and driving. We’re now in a very wet KOA campground listening to the wind blow and the trains go by. There are a LOT of trains going by!

The last day we were in Mumbai I took some pictures of some articles in the newspaper that I thought were very interesting. So, the photo gallery below are these articles with a bit of commentary.

President Obama Planned Visit to Taj Mahal

Don't Drink the Water! — Don’t Drink the Water!

Heading West … Next Stopping Place: Arizona

Tue Jan 27, 2015Generalrksmith

This morning we packed up the motor home, said our goodbyes to Marsha and Billy, and drove away from Belle Rive Drive in Ninety Six, South Carolina. Right now we’re driving south on I-85 about an hour north of Atlanta. With any luck we’ll make it to a KOA campground in Meridian, Mississippi later this afternoon where we’ll spend the night.

I think we’ve both turned the corner on jet lag. We both slept well last night and pretty much through the entire night. We did some shopping yesterday to stock up for the drive west. We’re both happy to be on the way west. Not necessarily looking forward to the long drive across Texas, but I’ve decided that’s some kind of psychological thing. We also don’t look forward to the long drives across Nevada or Wyoming or Kansas! Where are the flying cars?

I’ve been thinking about the flights from Atlanta to Mumbai and back. I’ve decided that the airlines have figured out how to profit from misery. Their standard price is for the most miserable experience possible: crammed into seats that are too narrow and too close together, stuck between people that you have to climb over to get to the toilet. We’re given food that is barely edible and in portions so small that it’s almost not worth the time and effort. There is no way to get comfortable for any length of time.

However, for a price, you can reduce (but never eliminate) the misery! For an extra $120 I can get two inches more legroom. For another fee I can get a special meal. Double (or more) the price and I can move into Business Class and significantly reduce the misery. Another double and First Class is available. It’s just a question of how much misery I can endure and how much I’m willing to pay to reduce the misery.

So, I did some checking on going by sea from New York to London. It’s a six-day trip for about the same cost as an economy airline ticket. The lowest fare is for an indoor room below decks. But that room is a very nice room! Full sized bed, nice bathroom, and access to every amenity on board. Further, meals are included and the food is excellent.

It turns out that I could have gone by boat from New York to London and then from London to Goa, India. An inside stateroom for the entire trip was less than the price for Business Class on Delta. So, if I’m willing to be absolutely miserable for 24 hours, I can be in India in 24 hours. For about the same price, I can completely avoid the miserable experience as well as completely avoid the jet lag, It would take fifteen days, though. But, I’m retired. Fifteen days there on a cruise ship sounds like a great adventure! I think if I ever go back to India again, I’ll seriously consider doing it on a ship and leave misery behind.

Meanwhile, we’re driving westward in our shoebox on wheels. A somewhat broken shoebox. I apparently didn’t get it completely winterized before we left for India as there’s a broken water line somewhere around the water heater (which means it’s pretty unaccessible). I’ll look to see what I can do about it, but I expect it’ll stay that way until we get to Arizona and I can have a repair shop fix it.

Life is good!

Taj Mahal

Sun Jan 25, 2015Generalagra, india, taj mahalrksmith

We flew on Indigo Airlines from Mumbai to Delhi on Monday, January 19, 2015 (more about the Delhi portion of the trip in a later blog entry), and took the express train from Delhi to Agra early Tuesday morning. The train was scheduled to leave at 6am and actually got underway about 6:10am. By the time we got to Agra the train was a half-hour behind schedule. We were booked on a return train to leave Agra at 9 pm, but by the time we got to Agra at 8:30 am, the forecast was that the 9pm train would be at least one and a half hours behind schedule. That would make for a very long day….

Our guide and the driver met us at the train station and off we went. The first stop was the Agra Fort … which will be in a future blog post. Then we went to the Taj Mahal.

It’s only been in the last twenty years or so that India has taken the care and preservation of the Taj Mahal seriously. It had already been plundered a couple of times, most recently by the British. Today the grounds are beautiful and immaculate. The building has been thoroughly cleaned. The cleaning process involves a special kind of clay that is sprayed on the building and then washed off with water after it dries out, according to our guide. No other chemicals are used. The marble used in the building is Makrana Marble, which is a very hard, non-porous material actually harder than most metals. It also has a translucent quality to it which means that the marble takes on the color of the light shining on it. During the time we were there, the building changed from a kind of a white ivory to a much more of a cream-colored hue as the clouds departed and the sun emerged.

Vehicles with internal combustion engines are now prohibited within about a mile around the monument’s grounds. We drove to a transfer station, left our driver and car, and boarded an electric bus to go the rest of the way.

The grounds are massive. The building is on the banks of the Yamuna River (the second most revered river in India after the Ganges) and includes a garden on the other side of the river.

The whole experience was amazing and delightful. The Taj Mahal was better in every way than I had even hoped it would be. Our visit there was definitely the sightseeing highlight of the trip.

Here’s a small gallery of pictures from our visit to the Taj Mahal:

Main Gate from the Entry into the Grounds

Main Gate Through the Mist of the Fountains

The Taj Mahal and Both Side Buildings

Taking a Rest and Watching the Color Change

Practicing for President Obama's Visit — Practicing for President Obama’s Visit

A Long Trip Home, But We Made It!

Sun Jan 25, 2015Generalindiarksmith

The routing was from Mumbai to London Heathrow, change planes, then from London Heathrow to Atlanta, Georgia. Each leg was scheduled to be about nine and a half hours long. The flight from Mumbai was scheduled to leave at 2:35 am. That meant arriving at the airport not later than midnight. It turned out to be the right amount of time. By the time we cleared both sets of security, checked our luggage, went through immigration, and walked to the gate we had about ten minutes before boarding. Flights from Mumbai are always delayed, apparently; we were fortunate that the delay was only about twenty minutes.

All of the formalities were completely uneventful. The only issue that came up was our chosen seats. I had booked us into exit row seats, which on this Airbus A-330 airplane were seats 50H and 50K. Two seats next to each other on the right side of the airplane. However, it turns out that Indian regulations prohibit anyone over the age of 50 sitting in an emergency row. We were relocated to 55A and 55C (there was no 55B). Those seats, while they had the extra leg room I had paid for, were still very cramped. In the end the flight took just over 10 hours from takeoff to landing in London. According to the flight attendant, the airplane was completely full.

The flight itself was mostly uneventful, except for my nasal CPAP machine. Without that machine, I can’t sleep. I had called Delta about the machine and they assured me that there was not problem using the machine and that they would inform Virgin Atlantic. Well, they didn’t inform Virgin Atlantic. The flight attendants were quite upset when I put the mask on and drifted off to sleep. It took over an hour for them to inspect the machine, verify with someone(s) that it was OK, that the battery wasn’t dangerous, etc., etc. Eventually I did get a couple of hours of rather restless sleep, with the machine.

When we got to London, I was met at the door of the airplane by a Virgin Atlantic person who had me wait to go with her to the checkin place so they could note my CPAP machine in the records so I could use it on the next flight.

I had booked the same seats on the flight from London to Atlanta. This time our age didn’t matter. However, my seat (50H) had an issue: the entertainment unit was broken. In the end, Nina sat in an aisle seat in the center section and I sat in the window seat. This flight had 191 passengers and 14 crew members. It took right at 10 hours. There wasn’t any sleep on the flight, try as I might. We were quite exhausted when we got to Atlanta!

I had booked a room at the Comfort Suites hotel at the airport. That worked out just OK. The facility turned out to be under new ownership and had been converted into a Comfort Suites. It was an old facility, very worn. The TV didn’t work. The remote was missing. Light bulbs were missing. But the bed was nice and we both slept (after ordering in Chinese food) about nine hours.

On Saturday morning we picked up the rental car and drove back to Ninety Six, South Carolina where Nina’s sister lives and where our motor home was waiting for us. We were back in the US, back to our “home”, and it’s almost like the trip never happened.

Except, it did. We had a great time. I’ve got great memories (and a couple hundred photographs to back them up). Over the next few days I’ll write about some of our experiences, starting with the Taj Mahal.

Life is great!

Leaving India

Thu Jan 22, 2015Generalrksmith

We’re busy packing suitcases and gathering stuff and trying to find stuff… In other words, it’s a bit of a zoo around here at the moment. We have to be at the airport about midnight tonight (January 22nd … about 11:30 am on Thursday, January 22nd Salt Lake time). Our flight is scheduled to leave at 3:25 am. I’m sure I’ll be more than a little sleepy when we actually get on the Virgin Atlantic flight from Mumbai to London Heathrow. We’ll have a short layover there before leaving for Atlanta, Georgia where we’re scheduled to land at 2:10 pm on Friday, January 23rd. I’ve reserved a hotel room at the airport where we’ll probably crash, and wake up about 2am wondering why we can’t sleep.

This has been an amazing trip. We’ve just scratched the surface of what it’s like to be in India. We’ve been (literally) run over while walking down the narrow shopping streets, cringed as our driver navigated through traffic (and being absolutely sure that we’ll die in the process), marveled at the traffic and traffic noise, and been pleasantly surprised at the friendliness and helpfulness of the Indian people. We’ve experienced smells that range from “wow” to “oh dear” and experienced close-up the lack of personal space while being out and about. We’ve seen Hindu and Jain temples, Muslim mosques, Catholic churches, a Zoroastrian Thread Ceremony celebration, and most delightfully, visited the Taj Mahal. It’s actually been rather overwhelming. Our daughter has gone above and beyond cramming as much as possible into our short time here.

And, suddenly, it’s time to leave. Just like that, the two weeks are over and we’re leaving. We’ll most likely never be back. But I don’t think we’ve left anything undone that we needed to do, nothing unseen that we needed to see, and nothing unheard that we wanted to hear. I’ve got several hundred pictures to sort through and post in future blog entries. It’ll be fun to relive some of these memories.

But, I’m also looking forward to some good old American fast food….