Florida - USHPA BOD meeting and a visit with Rob

13 - 22 October 2014

Hilton poolside bar, Melbourne, FL

Jamie Shelden, tired of traveling long distances from her Melbourne Beach, FL, home for board meetings (the last fall BOD had been in Seattle/Renton), convinced everyone to hold the next one on the beach in Melbourne. That worked okay for C.J. and me because we could combine it with a visit to C.J.'s brother, Rob, an hour or two north of Melbourne. We lucked out with excellent weather at the meeting and at Rob's where we got some home repair projects at least started.

13 Oct, Mon, Col. Day - Our flight wasn't until 2315 so we had most of the day to finish packing and do stuff around home. We parked at Sandstone Inn again and got shuttled over to SeaTac in plenty of time. When we checked in, C.J. had "TSA Pre-check" on her boarding pass and I did not. So, she got to go right through a very short line while my line had a very long, maze-like path before reaching the scanners. I didn't check the time but C.J. estimated an extra 45 min for me. Apparently she had followed a link in the Delta site to register for the pre-check. I had learned my lesson and, once in Florida, I registered for pre-check as well.

14 Oct, Tues - This was a real red-eye flight and we slept as much as we could on the way to our 3-hr layover in Cincinnat. We bought bagels at Bruegger's for breakfast/lunch. Our flight was delayed an additional three hours when the First Officer got ill and they had to call in one from his home in Columbus.Our Brazilian plane was the same type that we flew from Kathmandu to Pokhara, three seats across. It was a short flight and we had some good views as we approached Jacksonville. We had checked the bags we usually use as carry-ons so C.J. went to get them while I waited (and waited) at the Alamo rental car counter. Eventually we got the keys to a Hyundai Elantra and headed down I-95 to Palm Coast. The GPS wasn't working very well and I found out later that it had data only for the NW states and when I tried to download all 49 states, I got a message that there was too much data to fit in the GPS and that I would need a new SD card. As a stopgap, I downloaded the SE states and that got the GPS working normally. Rob took us out to the Fisherman's Net down in Flagler Beach and C.J. and I shared an excellent soup, salad and Chilean sea bass.

15 Oct, Wed - Rob and I drove the short distance to Publix and got some milk and pecan coffeecake ring along with some other stuff. We also stopped in at Pack Rat to see what we needed to do to ship the old, carved trunk that C.J. wanted. Rob's friend there told us that it was going to be expensive and none of her boxes would fit so we'd have to build a shipping box, maybe out of a Sears discarded refrigerator box. After breakfast we got to work on some house projects like taking down the old TV antenna and Dish. Rob had had some ant infestations and had done a lot of rebuilding to replace wood that had been chewed up by the ants. He wanted to look at another place where ants had been seen along the eaves on the south side of the house. After ripping off some ant-eaten fascia board we found a small corner of the roof sheathing had  been damaged by ants, too. He sprayed the area with antkiller and we left it to dry out. Later we went out to a recently opened Italian restaurant, Napoli Pizza, near Pack Rat and had portabello ravioli and lasagna - too much to eat and enough left over for another meal. They had Bass Ale in bottles and it was as good as I remember the draft version being.

16 Oct, Thu - We headed for Melbourne in time to get to the afternoon Directors (and Committee heads) training session. We noted prices in the low $3.20s for gas around Titusville but didn't need any as the Elantra was getting good gas mileage (in the high 40s). We stopped to see if we could check into our room at Days Inn on West Haven but it wasn't ready yet. For lunch we stopped in Melbourne (rather than wait until we were across the causeway in Melbourne Beach) at Firehouse Subs and shared one with a bunch of good meat and veggies. I got a "medium" soft drink - but it should have been labeled "huge". We took our meal with us and ate on the way - it was about eight miles to the Hilton Oceanfront. Instead of ground floor meeting rooms, we were on the top floor (7) with a view of the ocean and beach, or the bay/lagoon/Indian River to the west. Most of the meeting was in the form of a conference call with the Association lawyer, Tim Herr, and the lawyer for the Canadian association HPAC. They discussed the liabilities we face re: site safety, tandem flights, and training. One problem that I had not been aware of was that very few states accept our waiver for minors. Even the parents can not sign away their right to sue. After the meeting we had an "icebreaker" at Sand on the Beach, a beach bar and eating place several miles to the south. Nick bought drinks for us and Dennis Pagen, and there were some snacks available. Since there was not quite enough to make a real meal, when we got back to Days Inn and checked in, we microwaved the left over ravioli and lasagna for a late dinner.

Sundaes at the Ice Cream Depot

17 Oct, Fri - Breakfast at Days Inn included a big slow-cooked crock of real oatmeal. There were even raisins and apples for garnish. Plus all the usual cereals and sweet rolls. We headed over to the Hilton early enough that we could catch part of the Chapter Support meeting and get set up for my Awards committee. Ryan did not attend (conflict of interest, he said), both Jug and Rob were absent from the BOD, so C.J., Beth, and Voighter were the only long-time members present. In addition Larry Dennis, Paul Murdoch  and Bruce Weaver (KHK) were there. Nick was also in the room working on some stuff on his computer. He came up with a few good ideas about the NAA Safety Award. Full results are available on the USHPA website. When lunch time came around we weren't hungry (Hilton had supplied us with some delicious cinnamon rolls and danish.) so we went for a walk along the beach - beautiful weather, sunny but not too hot. In the afternoon we attended the Membership and Communication committee meeting  and later the Site Development and Retention comm mtg (Paul Murdoch). By this time we were a little hungry so we went down to the tiki bar next to the pool and found it was happy hour and got a wrap and a burger with our drinks - both very good - and visited with some of the other directors. Later, after all the meetings were wrapped up, we got together with Mark and tried to figure out where a good ice cream place might be. We finally picked one back across the bay not too far from where both of us were staying. The Ice Cream Depot was an old-timey kind of ice cream place with huge sundaes and banana splits. We should have split one, indeed.

18 Oct, Sat - Same breakfast, but this time there was a crowd of people. Fortunately the staff was really good and they had provided more tables and chairs and they kept the buffet supplied. Most of the General Session consisted of committee reports, Exec comm. reports (budget, finance, membership, etc.) and the election. At midday we joined many of the BOD at the tiki bar again and had another good lunch - but this time we shared a meal. We were surprised that Rich was going to stay on another year as president. The next fall meeting was scheduled for the Francisco Grande Resort in Arizona per Jamie's suggestion. By 1700 we were ready to head back to Robs. We thought we might get something to eat along the way but we had been eating so well that it wasn't necessary. We drove along Route 1 instead of taking the I-95. That was a little slower but we got to see more scenery and small towns. We filled up the tank near Titusville for even less than the price had been two days ago (low $3.20s).

Rob painting the replacement board

19 Oct, Sun - Not sure about what order we did stuff in during the next three days so this is not a "history". Rob and I took the Elantra with its rear seats folded down to Home Depot in Palm Coast to get some 1x4 cedar to replace the fascia board. Rob painted it and the same day we nailed it back up. Rob made a nice stir fry with sausages (kielbasa), cabbage and red potatoes. He had bought some Becks Sapphire (something) beer and used it to make a Black and Tan with some Guiness he had around. We may also have gone up into the attic and thrown out a bunch of old, empty boxes. We brought down two sets of golf clubs in preparation for putting them up for sale on Craigslist. Rob also found a single-shot 12 ga. shotgun that he thought had been lost (but apparently it wasn't the 10 ga. goose gun he was expecting).

20 Oct, Mon - Rob went over to buy a lottery ticket or something at Pack Rat and came back with a big, double-layered cardboard box. If we cut it down, it would hold the trunk, especially if we removed the feet and padded the ends. So we did that and fit it into the back seat of Rob's Toyota Avalon. We took it over to Pack Rat where Rob's friend weighed it (90 lb) and measured the taped-up package and calculated a cost of around $168 which was less than we had expected. Later we pulled out the old microwave from above the range. The door needs replacement but GE doesn't stock the part anymore. Rob has a fix in mind for it. Dinner was again at Napoli Pizza but this time I had a Stromboli which looked like a long roll stuffed with sausage, onion, pepper - kind of like the calzone that Rob had.

21 Oct, Tues - C.J. got the photos taken for the golf clubs. She checked each club on the Internet for

its average price and then published an ad for each set on Craigslist. We probably did some other stuff but early in the afternoon we headed over to Flagler Beach. The water at Melbourne had been pretty warm so we thought we might go play in the waves. But the air was chilly so after a long lunch at Fuego del Mar, on the second floor open-air bar (good chimichanga entree to share), we went for a walk on the beach to the south. Lots of big jellyfish had washed up on the shore. Back at Rob's we didn't need any dinner.

22 Oct, Wed - Rob had bought a length of 1/4 in. threaded rod to replace the soft metal rod that was used as an axle on my cheapo suitcase from Vietnam. We cut it to length and used nylock nuts to attach the wheels. It looked good. We even stuffed a piece of wood under the axle to provide more support. C.J. and I got packed up and left around 1100. It had been a good visit. Just south of Jacksonville center we stopped to get gas (by now there were prices under $3/gal) so that the tank was full when we returned the car. No problems with rental return or signing in or baggage drop. And this time I had filled out the necessary forms and had received my boarding pass already stamped with the TSA pre-check sign so I could breeze right through with C.J. When signing in we were asked if we'd like to put in a bid in case the airline needed volunteers to give up their seats. We bid $400 each but no volunteers were needed on the flight to Atlanta. The same thing happened in Atlanta for the Seattle flight but this time they offered $400 up front for eight volunteers. We signed up, but again they did not need any volunteers. Bummer - we were already counting what we were going to do with the extra Delta credit. We had a late lunch/early dinner at Fresh2Order in Atlanta. By 2000 we were in Seattle and we caught a shuttle right away to the Sandstone and were soon on our way home. Sadly the new threaded-rod axle for the suitcase didn't work any better than the old axle and was bent again. Still, we're surprised that the cheap construction has lasted as long as it has.