ROD AND LOIS ARE OLD FRIENDS WHO HAVE appeared in these musings before. They split the year between their beach house in NJ and their place in Rockledge FL. We missed them on the Atlantic coast of Florida in November but had a chance to visit with them for a few days in January. Now that we’ve made plans to leave the US again, at least semi-permanently, we wanted to see them again. It's only 150 miles across the state and as the Stones sang in the 60s, 🎵This could be the last time🎵
Rod is the most dedicated husband I know, probably one of the most caring, too. Lois has been wheelchair-bound for decades and Rod has done everything to give her as normal a life as possible. Lois, for her part, hardly lets her disability slow her down. She cooks and cleans as behooves a good wife — only kidding! :) — and speeds around in her motorized chair.
Lois goes to a special gym in Orlando once or twice a week where she can exercise. At home, she rides a hand bike 7 to 13 miles at a stretch. Slowly but steadily. Rod has searched out some interesting routes on paved trails around the golf course communities. Riding a regular bike, the route seems flat but Lois feels every foot of elevation. The curving trails never give you the “Oh, crap” feeling of seeing a mile or two straight away and before you know it, it’s been ten miles and you are back home in time for lunch.
No Clarence Clemons, Squid Lips
Rod and Lois like the Space Coast partly for the proximity to many music venues. Seems there is always something going on around Disney World and they have Florida resident passes. It just happens that their friend Denny, who is remodeling their bathroom, plays sax in a group that is jamming at Squid Lips, a restaurant on the water in Melbourne. Denny is no Clarence Clemons but he held his own and we had a nice dinner with some good, if loud, blues music and as always, lots of laughs.
We have hopes of meeting again at Amanda’s wedding, the good lord willing and the creek don’t rise. But one never knows, does one?
So now we are eating up our leftovers and cleaning out the fridge before our birding trip to Ecuador. We will store the RV here at Happy Traveler RV Resort, drive to Fort Lauderdale and fly to Guayaquil for 3 weeks. I will post stories as I get a chance but you may have to wait until we return for more vagabonds3.
