Category: Travel

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Roadtrip Reflection

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Starting off in Portland, Maine. Day 1 of the road trip.

We have really evolved in the way we road trip. We have our two small carry-on sized suitcases packed with most of what we’ll actually need on the trip. This way, when we pull into a hotel at night, we can swing open one car door grab all the bags that we need without unpacking half the car. We were also lucky enough to have an extra case of wine from our wedding with us. Bonus! As the end of each driving day approached, we’d check our Best Western app, make a reservation, grab our two road trip bags, uncork a bottle of wine, and relax.

Lincoln’s Tomb in Springfield, IL. Worth a stop if you happen to be swinging through SW Illinois.

Improving our organization on road trips is one example of the logistical improvements we’ve made past 5 years of road tripping, but we’ve changed our whole approach by allowing more time to travel.

When we left Maine last Wednesday, we really didn’t know where we were going between Maine and Colorado (the sunshine state). All we knew was we had 10 days to get to work. We did pretty well chipping away small amounts of mileage each day and were lucky enough to stumble into a bonus weekend with friends in Chicago. I think previously we would have planned each stop ahead of time to decrease stress of the trip, but have actually found less stress through not planning. By having a vague idea of what our trip looks like, but nothing set in stone, we are able to better roll with the punches of hitting traffic, finding an area of hotels too expensive or sold out, or just feeling tired and not wanting to drive any further for the evening.

As we come out of the plains of Eastern Colorado, we start to see the Rockies.

As we got towards the final few states of the trip, we were arriving just a day or two later than if we had rushed the trip, but felt more relaxed, better fed, and generally just more energized. Of course some of the miles through the flatter states got long and urged us to keep pushing on, but it was a nice trip.

Visits to friends and wineries kept us relaxed, sane, and safe. Now we’ve gotten settled quickly in Aspen, have one ski day under our belts already, and are looking forward to starting work next week.

Thanks for reading!

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Patients! They’re everywhere, AHHHHH!

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The first story that has to be told from my recent trip to Tulum, Mexico is about the nice lady (a.k.a. crazy wacko) I sat next to on the plane.

As therapists, you see people who could use your services everywhere: the kid walking down the street using his crutch on the wrong side, the old man whose family is struggling to get him into the car, or just Aunt Ida chatting away at Thanksgiving dinner about her bunions. Aunt Ida aside, I try not to let my desire to get involved in these people’s lives take over. Aside from all the practical reasons not to get involved, there’s an ethical line that gets crossed when an off-duty healthworker starts injecting his/her opinions into a person’s private life.

Be careful, patients are everywhere and they want your PT brain.

While I frequently have to restrain getting involved, this past week’s experience was different… I wanted to run away. As I settled in for the 4-hour flight into Cancun, the lady next to me started telling me how she would be getting up frequently because of her debilitating back pain. I immediately recoiled into defense mode. How could I keep her from finding out I’m a PT? How would I read JOSPT without giving away my secret identity? I am not treating this  lady for the next 4 hours, this is my VACATION!!! ….and this patient was clearly CRAZY! Keep it to yourself, lady!

What went on for the next 4 hours was a delicate dance: She would ask me to get her carry-on down from the over-head. I would stash my PT magazines behind safety manuals in the seatback pocket. She would pace in the isles. Other passengers would uneasily wonder why. She would intermittently display her gabapentin bottle on the tray table. I would try to disguise JOSPT while reading by sliding as far to the opposite side of the seat as possible. She would talk on-and-on about her back pain, and I would nod politely.

When it came close to time to land, I thought I had made it through without revealing my secret, but there was one more test. My single serving friend had one more piece of information to make my blood boil. She was looking forward to her quick trip through customs and baggage claim. “You know, if you ask for a wheelchair, the airlines have to give you one.”

So, back in the terminal, as I stood in the hour-long customs line, I looked to the side and saw her cruising by in the wheel chair. She had won again, the crazy bird gets the worm.

Be careful on your travels this Thanksgiving weekend, patients are everywhere. Don’t trust Aunt Ida, I think she’s hiding something.

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Transitions

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Snow fell last week all across New England, and the throngs of facebook updaters shouted the end of the world in full CAPSLOCK. Not me. Not I. Not us. I ran outside at 1 in the morning in suburban Boston wearing my full Beetlejuice Halloween garb and started pelting my friends in their heads with snowballs.

It’s go time. Time to move again. Time to pack up and get myself to a ski town. Snow is falling and time’s-a-wastin’.

I love/despise moving all at the same time (Is that lespise? Sounds French). Road tripping half way across the country and catching some sights along the way is spectacular. Weeding out the old clothes for the thrift-store pile and trying to jam everything in the back of my Accord is not spectacular. Do we move every several months because we get excited about our next destination or is it because we get tired of where we are? I don’t know, but I know I like it. We are getting better at moving. I now own a home brew set-up in Maine and I have one in a storage area in Colorado. Not having to lug all that along really lightens the load.

Next week Kate and I move back to Aspen where we’ve spent three of the last four winters. It’s kind of like going home now, and I’m fired up. We also get to take some pretty cool trips along the way. We’ll shoot to Mexico for a week, fly on over to Florida for Thanksgiving, and then return to Maine for the long drive. Looks like we’ll have a few extra days to make the drive, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to try out our new L.L. Bean ultra-light tent in a National Park somewhere. Bottom line: I should have some fun stuff to write about soon.

Just wanted to offer a preview of coming attractions, express my excitement for the coming ski season, and share my discontent for living out of a sedan. I think I’ve accomplished these goals, so I’ll sign off now and get back to packing.

Next time I write, I should be on the open road. Hey! Put down that chalupa and drive safe.

James

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Let’s Break Some Stuff

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Last week I went to Pumpkinfest up the street from where I living. I went with my wife, her young niece, and her mother. I expected a quaint family-fun-filled afternoon with little to keep me entertained. What I encountered was a high-fueled world of motorized legumes and high speed orange destruction that left me begging a 3-year-old to let me watch just one more pumpkin get fired through the side of a demolished pick-up.

I’ll keep it brief and let the pictures and captions do the story telling, but a little history first. Pumpkinfest (and Regatta) started within the decade and has grown steadily year-by-year. The pictures are from the second Sunday of the 10 day festival. While Sunday is the climax of the event, it does not include the “Pumpkin Parade” where dozens of 300+ lbs pumpkins are carted through town before the big events, and it most certainly does not include the last day’s “Pumpkin Drop” where giant pumpkins are smashed by dropping them from a height onto a car. Sounds cool,I would have liked to have seen it… but someone has to work in this town.

Enjoy the pictures.

-James

P.S. Click on the thumbnails to see the full pictures.

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I Am Spent.

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It’s been a crazy few weeks. Wedding, after wedding, after bachelor party, after wedding… I should be clear, I’ve had a freakin’ blast.

Did they know we were coming? - Oceanview Inn, Gloucester, MA

Each weekend has been so much fun. Friends that I sometimes see once in a year, I’ve seen 5 times this summer.  It has been so cool going to weddings on boats, to weddings at summer camps, and to parties in foreign countries, but come on. I’m tired.

I’m headed into the first weekend I’ll actually spend at the apartment I’ve been living in for 6 weeks. I am so excited for all the sleeping in I’ll do and the French Toast on the horizon. There’s an autumn festival up the street and a couple craft beer festivals going on around the state if we get restless around the studio apartment.

Anyways, Hobohealth has suffered from my social indulgence. Spammers, or more accurately spam bots (computer programs that register for websites and create general electronic-anarchy), have over-run the discussion boards and this blog has gone untended for far too long.

I’ve started working on a new forum for discussion, hopefully it’ll be up in the next couple weeks. While Hobohealth has headed in the direction of a blog, I’ve always thought the strength of it was natural, uninfluenced discussion between travelers and wanna-be-travelers. So, hang with us while we fix up our discussion board and continue to slowly, but steadily grow.

Other than Eric Gosselin, perpetual Traveler of the Month, there are few people I would drive with to Montreal for a 3-day bachelor party.

As we move forward, think of what you want to ask other travelers on our new forum, think of your best experiences as a traveler you’d like to share, be our Traveler of the Month, or even consider being a guest writer on this blog. Also, if you like to have input, the blog comments are up and running for your pleasure.

Well, gang, happy autumn. “They” say our foliage here will peak in 2-3 weeks. I’ll try to share some photos at that time and keep you entertained with witticisms until that point.

 

James

 

Boothbay Harbor, Maine

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Local Fare

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Yup, this is why I choose to travel over picking a steady home with 2 labrador retrievers, a fenced in back yard, and 1.5 little rug rats. I’ve traded a steady job for 2 storage areas full of my stuff in 2 states that I don’t currently live or work in and a 300 sq ft apartment without a dresser.

Why? Permanent vacation and enjoying everything a new place has to offer.

While writing this blog I drank a Lobster Ale by Belfast Bay Brewing Co of Belfast, ME. It was delicious. Incidentally, I drank it out of a "Surf's Up - Hawaii" koozie, a nick knack from last summer's assignment.

I’m going to put myself through a 30 second drill. In the next thirty seconds I will type as many things as I can think of that I enjoy in each place I move to that are unique to each location: READY. SET. Let’s GO!

-Food
-Drink
-Runs
-Micro-brews
-Hikes
-Accents
-Customs
-History
-Scenic Views
-Nick Knacks

OK, so I started to run out of time when I came up with scenic views. That may be stretching it, but each part of the country does has it’s own look about it that is uniquely beautiful. After “scenic views” I looked out my window and saw a souvenir store full of nick knacks, I apologize. I would like to also acknowledge “micro-brews” is a subcategory of “drinks.” This does not bother me, and I stand by what I wrote on a 30 second clock.

In all seriousness, I love the variety. Talking with the locals, enjoying the local specialties, and absorbing a little bit of each location into who I am. This is what I think it’s all about.

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Off Topic Travel

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A quick update on my current life: The new assignment has been started, a 500 sq. ft. apartment has been found, and I’m absolutely loving the views of Boothbay Harbor, Maine.

I started writing this blog entry in Augusta, Maine on generator power in the wake of Irene. I was surrounded by candles watching the movie “2012,” where (spoiler alert) the world ends… somehow fitting. I’ve moved on from that, out to the coast, where unlike landlocked Vermont, little effects were felt. But, Maine and the beautiful resort/retirement town of Boothbay Harbor are far away from what I’d like to write about tonight.

3 weeks ago, I honeymooned in the Dominican Republic. Punta Cana was a town I knew little about before booking our trip. What we found there was nice, comfortable resorts plopped on the far East tip of a 3rd world country. Tourism, the Dominican Republic’s top grossing industry, is well respected by the locals and frequently offers the best and highest paying jobs. Compared to U.S. standards, pay is quite low and hours are very long, but the added benefit of decent housing and health insurance draws a large pool of applicants.

We enjoyed our time in Punta Cana, but had a wider variety of experiences  during our time outside the resort gates and city limits. I’ve placed a few pictures here that I think will tell a better story than I could write. Click on the thumbnails for fullsize images. Enjoy, I know we did.

Flexibility

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...but no travel PT jobs

Well, the honeymoon’s over.

No, really, we just got back from our honeymoon to my mother-in-law’s house with few immediate options for a new job. This is a first in my 5 years of traveling. I have never passed my start date without some sort of job lined up. But, I guess it’s all I can expect without having seriously put some attention towards finding an assignment until sometime last week. This time does seem different than others, though. There’s no immediate attractive job options on the horizon in the great state of Maine. One option to start 3 weeks from now has arisen, but I’d rather be working today.

So what do you do when the jobs you’re looking for are dried up? Well, we’re scrambling to get our Massachusetts’ licenses. For some reason the 20 short miles of New Hampshire between Maine and Massachusetts is blocking all the decent jobs from coming North. So, the current deal is that we are waitingfor our job updates and hoping to see our Massachusetts’ licenses materialize. Then, we can grab a couple jobs down there if nothing pops up here in the meantime.

I guess it’s not all that bad, having to be a little flexible this month is quite a fair trade for the many years of easy and fun traveling I’ve done. I need to get going, my margarita needs a refill and there’s some lobsters that need cooking. Ah, the way life should be and I’m sure there’s a couple jobs on the horizon.

Forest Gump and a New Clinical Prediction Tool

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Firts, let me first start with 2 (two) apologies:

1. I apologize for writing so sporadically. I’m getting married next month and promise to be more consistent in August.

We passed this couple while hiking on the N Shore of Kaua’i. She was wearing the same shirt as me from Jack Quinn’s Running Club who we used to run with in Colorado Springs.

2. Sorry the comments don’t work on the blog. In addition, if you click around, you’ll find the entire blog portion of this site acts funky. If you wondering why I haven’t fixed this already, please see apology number 1 (one).

On we go:

I do like running in different places. I especially like finding a body of water on vacation (lake, ocean, river, irrigation ditch) and running along side it. While running on assignment, I learn my way around the neighborhoods I live in and see interesting things along the way. On a recent wrong turn that took me 6 miles out of my way, I realized how quickly I could get into vast farmlands and have beautiful valley views (it didn’t seem so close on the way home). I also got an up close look at a roadkilled-porcupine. The porcupine was pretty interesting, but more than I had bargained for.

The last time I went running a small happening that I think most runners can identify with inspired the creation of a new predictive rule for the field of psychology. So, the moment you have all anticipate, my first independently developed objective measurement tool:

The Spencer Societal Startle Test (SSST)

The subject should be sent out for a casual walk on a public street. The investigator should dress as a recreational jogger and begin running from a distance behind the subject. As the investigator approaches the subject from the rear, a cough and foot shuffle should be performed at a distance of 20 ft to alert the subject of an approaching person. The investigator should continue to run alongside and past the subject.

Scoring: Score 1 (one) if the subject yells out audibly in surprise. Score 0 (null) if there is no audible reaction. A score of 1 indicates the subject will likely benefit from professional psycological intervention.

Clinicians interested in studying the SSST should note that it should be expected that the test will have strong specificity, but fairly poor sensitivity. Meaning, a high percentage of subjects who test positive under the SSST will benefit from psychological counseling, however, a negative score may not truley indicate that a subject would not benefit from psychological counseling.

Enjoy the open road…. some day I’ll write about this whole barefoot/forefoot running thing, it’s really been driving me nuts.

James

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James R Spencer, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

Current location: Skowhegan, ME

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ROADTRIP!

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Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Ahhhhhh, the open road.

I’m just getting settled at my new assignment in Newport, Maine. We drove in from Aspen from Tuesday to Saturday where I had a full refresher course of the fine art of turning a 2,000+ mile drive into something enjoyable.

One thing I remembered to enjoy was those unexpected “life experiences”: As we approached our hotel outside of Chicago that we found on the AAA iPhone app, we found it several miles down a dark access road paralleling, but not accessing, the main interstate. As we got closer, we found it sandwiched between two, ahem, Gentlemen’s clubs. The following drama of finding our way safely back to the highway, finding a new hotel at 11 PM, and eventually settling in to our far more comfortable (and far less grimy) hotel was an adventure that while not enjoyable at the time is a unique experience that does not happen during most peoples’ commute.

That next morning, we were able to stop close to our hotel to check out Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. This is the spontaneous touristing that falls in your lap. Our visit 45 minutes off the highway drive to the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown New York the next day is the other kind of touristing. While I’m talking about it, Cooperstown is definitely a pilgrimage worth taking for any baseball fan. I wish I had a few more hours there, a really cool place (except for all the Yankees fans 🙂 Aha! Go SOX!).

Road trips. I love ’em. In an occupation where the destination is definitely what it’s all about, this was a journey worth enjoying.

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James R Spencer, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS

Current Location: Newport, ME