Why don't we drive/kayak to Thom's?
Good morning … this is me and we’re getting another late start on the day. We woke up earlier with fishyman (He’s HOME!!) and then we went back to bed after being online for a bit. Then we got up and took care of some correspondence and now here we are again. We did look over at MP.com, but posting at this time is still hard.I had done the long post and it’s still getting comments. I will have to organize those thoughts all over again. It’s just been less than a couple of days, but there are about 20 posts after that that now has to be considered. I don’t think I’m going to do this for every post we’re on, but this one seems like a challenge.
We also checked on the post in the back with the group for families with kids in Iwakuni, Japan. Someone responded there so I will get back today to it, but for now I just want a little free time to be thinking and writing. We did turn on CNN. It seems that it’s been off the last couple of days with nothing replacing it. With our feelings and emotions over Thom, we just needed a lot of peace and quiet. Even now we’re a little jittery, but I know we have to get back into things, especially because we’ll be back at work tomorrow and we’ll be with Rich’s Mom and step-father tonight.
The thing with them is that they seem to argue – so I hope that Rich will take Bud outside for a while, while I catch up with his Mom. Bud and her both need time apart, because they have to do almost everything together. I think Bud does go into town to fiddle with one thing or another and there are folks and neighbors he sees when he is out. Without the guys Rich’s Mom and us have a great time, because I haven’t heard all the stories they say she’s repeating. And, I don’t think it would bother me a bit if she did, because I’d just think of more questions or different ways of looking at the same situation. I find her charming!
There is one problem of course, and that is her smoking. Wow! They live in a small home and she picks up a new smoke in a chain smoking manner. She’s not always holding the cigarette though because she puts it down when she’s handling food, but then it’s usually sitting in a tray between us. I feel so bad now for Rich over all those years I smoked too. I had known all along it was a problem for him, but until I was ready to quit, I stayed a problem to him. So now I figure putting up with it a little is a good service I do in Memory of all he put up with. Usually, when we’d be together I wouldn’t smoke except just after we’d eat. Since then Illinois has become a non-smoking state so there is none after meals or within 15 feet of community buildings. I’m so glad I’m done with it and I wouldn’t want to go back even with someone smoking in front of me.
I still think about it, but my life’s come too far in the positive.
As already noted, Rich came home last night. I’d fallen asleep on the couch and he got in about 11 pm. We watched him slide back into place and we met up with him for sure after he got to the bedroom. Since we’d slept we were more up than not and had plenty of energy to massage him as he told some fishy stories. We did talk about Thom not calling, but I didn’t want to stay there because I knew that he was frustrated by it and I didn’t want to lose the good mood I’d found since then with his presence. Good Rich!
He had to leave his boat out front, because someone had taken up the space and then this morning he took it with him because he’d ordered a part for his sonar and he thought it had come in and they could take care of it. I’m thinking that it might be fixed in short order, because I know he’ll want to get the boat back to his Mom’s place.
In general, he had a very good time, though he never thinks he has caught enough fish. There was one of those stories too of the fish that got away. I guess he had it up to the boat, but had hooked it with a little treble hook and the fish shook it off. I felt bad for him, but I know the play for any fish caught or not caught is still better than not hooking any fish at all.
I worry a little because he said that his back hurt a bit from the position he’d been standing. I’m not sure if that’s because he has to work around the trolling motor or if it’s something else. I don’t recall him having back pains from fishing. Maybe its something just because he’s at the beginning of the season and he hasn’t strengthened the right muscles. Time will see. I’ll ask when he gets home to see if it’s gotten worse or better.
I expect him today within a couple of hours. Hmm, is it that soon already? Yeeks!
I might have to get my shower taken sooner than later, especially if he comes in early. I’m pretty sure he’ll want to get on his way. So with that … I’ll BRB
There! That’s better! I think my time is freed up now. Oh and about that morning Miller McLite thing going on … it only took a couple drinks to realize that we weren’t THAT Irish! Pswhoo!
As to now I’m feeling ok though my mind just did a little trick to slip back to Thom thoughts - might as well check that out while we’re here. We sent out a few notes this morning on Facebook about Thom arriving in Japan today. I can’t imagine the excitement he must be feeling. I hope he got a chance to sleep on the plane. I think his plan was to stay up the night before, but I don’t know if that happened.
If he left yesterday morning … let’s say the latest 11 am, then the trip would have take 12-15 hours I believe to Tokyo. So let’s say our time between 11 pm to 2 am. But, then there would be a transference of time.
Hmm, it looks like 12 pm our time now is Thom’s time for tomorrow morning at 2 am. So basically, we’ll add 12 hours and then 2 more to get the 14 hour time difference. I’m glad I’m adding and not subtracting. It’s not my strongest suit.
So using the new math if he got there at our time 11 pm … that means it would have been there time today at 1 pm, right? Then he might have had like 4 hours to get to Hiroshima … so about 6 pm their time, and then a couple hours more to get to Iwakuni. So maybe he got “home” at about 8 pm there time, which would then be 6 am our time? I think this is right. It’s going to take me some time to practice.
Wow … I hope he got some sleep. Tight schedules … he would have been in our time moving through their time at least until he gets readjusted so that means during our wee hours he was moving past those last transits. I think there was supposed to be a plane to Hiroshima and a bus to Iwakuni. I can’t imagine his first thoughts on getting there and realizing that the majority of people looked different. I know he’s had a long time appreciation for people who are Asian so he should adjust fine. I know he wants t learn Japanese.
I found on our computer this morning that Alexis had IM’d last night, and although it seemed as if she was on the computer an hour this morning chances are that she left it on when she went to work. I’m not sure what message she is going to give me, but I was grateful that SOME one was contacting me! She didn’t respond to the text back so I might try again later this evening. I’m hoping that everything is fine and it had been a good send-off.
Hmm, one more schedule I should memorize. Our time 5 pm to 9 pm is their time the next day 7 am to 11 am hmm. That’s really about it. We’ll have to get used to the best times are between our 5-9 pm and his 7-11 am. We sleep 10 pm to 6 am their times noon to 8 pm and they sleep 10 pm to 6 am during our 8 am to 5 pm. So our working hours are their sleeping hours and our sleeping hours are their afternoon/evening. One more exception is the hour before they go to bed at 9 pm would be our 7 am. So that might be a good time too.
Hmm, now girls … let’s try one more time … we got to memorize this, k? This means to figure their time to ours we subtract and to go our time to theirs we add is that right? Ok … this isn’t rocket science now! Hmm, doesn’t seem to hard the addition subtraction … we should appoint younger parts to be doing the math … be good for them to have another responsible duty, hmm?
Ok, about time to move on. AHA! A quick text from Alexis. She says that we can talk tonight, but I asked her ONE question. I wanted to know when he left and when he would get to destination. It helps in imagining over his location that we’re working at least on the same day!
Hmm, I got Google Earth on this computer. That’s handy!
Driving directions to Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
9,323 mi – about 36 days 1 hour
All the funny squares were Japanese characters that the program isn't picking up.
Brookfield, IL
1. Head northwest on Grand Blvd toward Sunnyside Ave 0.5 mi
2. At Broadway Ave/Washington Ave, take the 3rd exit onto Maple Ave 1.3 mi
3. Continue on S 17th Ave 1.8 mi
4. Turn left at Harrison St 0.1 mi
5. Take the ramp on the left onto I-290 W 11.4 mi
6. Take the exit toward Rockford 0.9 mi
7. Merge onto I-290 W 5.6 mi
8. Take the IL-53/Algonquin Rd/IL-62/I-90/TOLLWAY exit 0.5 mi
9. Keep left at the fork to continue toward I-90 W 0.4 mi
10. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for Rockford/I-90/TOLLWAY 0.5 mi
11. Keep left at the fork to continue toward I-90 W and merge onto I-90 W
Partial toll road
Entering Wisconsin 210 mi
12. Continue on I-94 W (signs for Eau Claire/I-94/St Paul)
Entering Minnesota 156 mi
13. Take the I-494 exit 0.3 mi
14. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for I-694 and merge onto I-694 W 30.2 mi
15. Continue on I-94 W (signs for St Cloud/I-94)
Passing through North Dakota
Entering Montana 818 mi
16. Merge onto I-90 W
Passing through Idaho
Entering Washington 815 mi
17. Take the exit onto I-405 N toward Everett/Bellevue 3.6 mi
18. Take the exit onto WA-520 W 6.0 mi
19. Take the Montlake Blvd exit 0.5 mi
20. Merge onto Montlake Blvd E/WA-513 0.3 mi
21. Turn left at NE Pacific St 0.7 mi
22. Continue on NE Northlake Way 0.2 mi
23. Turn left to stay on NE Northlake Way 1.0 mi
24. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering Hawaii 2,756 mi
25. Slight right at Turtle Bay Hilton 0.1 mi
26. Turn left at Kuilima Dr 0.5 mi
27. Turn right at HI-83 10.5 mi
28. Continue on Joseph P Leong Hwy 1.9 mi
29. Slight right at HI-99/N Kamehameha Hwy
Continue to follow N Kamehameha Hwy 8.6 mi
30. Merge onto I-H2 S via the ramp to Honolulu 8.2 mi
31. Merge onto I-H1 E 4.5 mi
32. Take exit 13B to merge onto HI-78 E/I-H201 E 4.7 mi
33. Merge onto I-H1 E 3.8 mi
34. Take exit 23 for Punahou St 0.2 mi
35. Turn right at Punahou St 0.1 mi
36. Turn right at S Beretania St 0.1 mi
37. Turn left at Kalakaua Ave 1.9 mi
38. Kayak across the Pacific Ocean
Entering Japan 3,879 mi
39. Continue straight 0.3 mi
40. Turn right 184 ft
41. Turn left toward 県道263号線 0.2 mi
42. Turn left toward 県道263号線 0.2 mi
43. Turn right at 県道263号線 0.3 mi
44. Slight left to stay on 県道263号線 197 ft
45. Turn left to stay on 県道263号線 0.3 mi
46. Turn right at 国道125号線 0.4 mi
47. Turn left at 国道354号線 0.4 mi
48. Slight left to stay on 国道354号線 2.0 mi
49. Turn right to stay on 国道354号線 1.0 mi
50. Take the ramp to 常磐自動車道
Toll road 0.3 mi
51. Keep left at the fork, follow signs for 東京 and merge onto 常磐自動車道
Toll road 23.8 mi
52. Take exit 三郷ＪＣＴ toward 首都高・銀座・湾岸線
Toll road 0.7 mi
53. Merge onto 首都高速6号三郷線
Toll road 5.7 mi
54. Take exit 小菅ＪＣＴ toward 湾岸線・銀座
Toll road 0.4 mi
55. Merge onto 首都高速中央環状線
Toll road 0.4 mi
56. Take exit 堀切ＪＣＴ on the right toward 銀座・箱崎
Toll road 0.3 mi
57. Merge onto 首都高速6号向島線
Toll road 5.4 mi
58. Take exit 江戸橋ＪＣＴ toward 新宿・北池袋
Toll road 0.4 mi
59. Merge onto 首都高速都心環状線
Toll road 3.8 mi
60. Take exit 谷町ＪＣＴ on the right toward 東名・渋谷
Toll road 0.3 mi
61. Merge onto 首都高速3号渋谷線
Toll road 6.9 mi
62. Continue on 東名高速道路
Toll road 189 mi
63. Take exit 豊田ＪＣＴ toward 東海環状・伊勢湾岸道・豊田東出口・土岐ＪＣＴ・四日市・新名神
Toll road 0.3 mi
64. Keep right at the fork, follow signs for 伊勢湾岸道・四日市・新名神 and merge onto 伊勢湾岸自動車道
Toll road 19.8 mi
65. Take the ramp onto 伊勢湾岸自動車道
Toll road 12.1 mi
66. Take exit 四日市ＪＣＴ toward 東名阪道・大阪・伊勢道
Toll road 0.6 mi
67. Merge onto 東名阪自動車道
Toll road 13.8 mi
68. Take exit 亀山ＪＣＴ toward 新名神・京都・大阪
Toll road 0.6 mi
69. Merge onto 新名神高速道路
Toll road 30.9 mi
70. Take exit 草津ＪＣＴ toward 草津ＰＡ・名神・京滋・京都・大阪
Toll road 0.2 mi
71. Take exit 草津ＰＡ on the right toward 名神
Toll road 0.5 mi
72. Merge onto 名神高速道路
Toll road 30.1 mi
73. Take exit 吹田ＪＣＴ toward 中国道・山陽道・宝塚・岡山
Toll road 1.1 mi
74. Merge onto 中国自動車道
Toll road 18.8 mi
75. Take exit 神戸ＪＣＴ toward 山陽道・岡山・徳島
Toll road 0.9 mi
76. Merge onto 山陽自動車道
Toll road 192 mi
77. Take exit 廿日市ＪＣＴ toward 山陽道・岩国・北九州
Toll road 0.7 mi
78. Merge onto 広島岩国道路
Toll road 7.4 mi
79. Take the ramp to 国道2号線
Toll road 0.7 mi
80. Turn left at 国道2号線 (signs for 岩国・大竹) 5.2 mi
81. Turn left at 国道188号線
Go through 1 traffic circle 0.6 mi
82. Turn right 0.2 mi
83. Turn left 138 ft
Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Japan
posted by Ann Marie @ 3/17/2009 01:08:00 PM
Comments: 0
