Life's a Beach

I know I've mentioned that I spent part of my childhood in western Washington. The truth is that the majority of my youth (at least the bit I remember) was in eastern North Carolina--a booming metropolis called Plymouth. Can a town of about 4,500 people be considered a metropolis? There are several stoplights. I remember when we got our McDonalds!! When we drove through there last week, we stopped at a Wendys!! Beat that, Burlington, Wyoming, population 288!!!!

We decided to spend a few days on the North Carolina outer banks in mid-March, and Plymouth is right on the way to the beaches. So, we got to stop and look at my old house. The owners were probably thinking we were casing the place for a burglary. Do you ever get pissed off when you go back to an old house and the current owners have changed it beyond all recognition? My house wasn't quite that bad. The large magnolia tree I used to climb was still in the front yard. Yet, the pine trees we planted were gone, the apple trees were missing and the owners inexplicably built some sort of guest house on the property. They also had a stupid sign at the entrance to our long driveway proclaiming it to be "Lee's Lane," or something like that. Maybe 'Bob's' Lane? Doesn't matter. There shouldn't be a sign there! They need to change everything back to the way it was!! I was about to go pound on their front door and demand a tour of the property and an explanation for the way they crapped up my house, but Betsy convinced me that they were probably pulling out a shotgun as we sat in the driveway. Ah well; one more facet of my childhood shattered by reality.

I had a Real Food Blend en route to the beach

Our destination for this trip, Ocracoke island, was virtually unchanged from my last visit. The ferry boat we took to the island looked old enough to be the same one I rode as a kid. Running around that boat, smelling the salt in the air, listening to the cries of seagulls while watching them effortlessly glide overhead. That used to be one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. It was still pretty cool, especially since I took the opportunity to try out Real Food Blend's new powder blend. I talk about that in another post.

Shortly before Betsy pushed me overboard

The small town on Ocracoke Island still has the same isolated, fishing village vibe that it had when I was a boy. The town surrounds a sheltered bay on the sound side of the island. Many of the names of the touristy shops and restaurants have changed since my last visit (fall of 2003, before a hurricane swept over the island and destroyed my grandparents home up the coast in Edenton, NC), but the town essentially remains the same. My favorite lighthouse is still there:

In operation since 1823

It is a rather short and squat lighthouse compared to the more famous Cape Hatteras lighthouse up the coast, but I still prefer this one. It feels more thick and solid to me and the pure white color looks lovely rising over the gnarled trees and town below.

Wish I could say I took this, but I pulled it off the web

Practically every store and restaurant on the island has the name "Edward" or "Teach" somewhere in it. Ok, not everything, but you see the name a lot. Even the Mexican food truck is called Eduardo's. This is because Edward Teach was the real name of Blackbeard the pirate and one of his favorite places to hang out was Ocracoke island. It's also the place where he met his untimely end during a ferocious battle in 1718.

He liked to light his beard on fire during battle because why not?

So Blackbeard and I have something in common (we both like Ocracoke; other than that I'd say we're complete opposites). I'd imagine he liked to visit the island at the same time we went--late Spring, early summer before the heat, bugs, and tourists become unbearable (FYI, the tourists during the eighteenth century were a menace). The restaurants were all just opening up and getting ready for the season the week we went. The first restaurant we visited was one of the fancier places on the island, Dajio's.

Dajio's is a nice restaurant with prices a bit more expensive than other places in town. I left my blender back at the house we rented, so I passed the time waiting for Betsy and Grace by drinking alcohol.

Some wine at Dajio's

I got some clam chowder to bring back home because I love clam chowder. They gave me a good size portion and it blended up perfectly that night.

The next day was beach day! Couldn't have asked for better weather. We brought our dog for the week. This was Aspen's first time seeing the ocean. He seemed pretty underwhelmed by the experience, but I guess he doesn't get excited for much. Compare this to our dog, Lilly, who we used to take to the beach when we lived in California. She would go crazy, running up and down the bluffs and attacking every wave that dared crash on the shore.

You'll notice in the picture below that Aspen doesn't have a leash. We figured it's a small island; there's no place he could go where we wouldn't eventually find him, right? This proved to be the case, though we lost him twice and it gave us a scare both times. The first time, I was walking down the beach looking in vain for sand dollars. The dog was slowly following me one minute and the next time I look back, he's gone. We start frantically looking everywhere. Did he find a shady spot by the dunes? Did he wander back among the dunes toward the highway? How do you loose an enormous white dog?? Turns out, Aspen once again proved he was smarter than us. I guess he got bored with the beach because we found him laying down by the car waiting to leave.

The second time we lost the dog was while we were out eating. We left Aspen in the house's screened-in-porch with a big bowl of water and dish of food, forgetting to latch the door that led outside. When we got back home, the door was open and no dog in sight. Betsy takes off down the street and asks everyone she meets if they've seen him. He has a collar with our cell number on it, but our phones have no service on the island so we're imaging people trying to reach us to say he's been hit by a car or terrorizing the neighborhood. Eventually, Betsy hears the distant sound of screaming kids at play, walks down to the island's only school and finds Aspen sitting serenely under a shady tree with kids all around him. All we had to remember is that our dog loves children and we would've found him right away.

Turns out they are really serious about keeping your dogs on a leash there and I guess the fine is pretty steep. We got away with it because we were there before the summer season kicked in. Of course now some Ocracoke official is reading this blog and has decided to mail me a ticket because I'm an idiot and just admitted to breaking the law online. If that's the case, please contact Katie Phillips ("Hey Brian, watcha doin") in Lawrenceville, GA, and she'll handle our debt.

One of the sand dunes is actually a large dog

My entire mission this trip was to find a perfect sand dollar on the beach. Grace and I walked up and down that beautiful, empty stretch of sand, but were unable to get more than pieces of sand dollars. The next day, we tried a different section of the island and I finally found a small, sad looking sand dollar. It looked pretty ragged, but it was in one piece so we set it aside and swore to keep looking for a better specimen.

I decided there must be an army of beachcombers who stalked the shores at sunrise and took all the prize sand dollars and conch shells before the rest of us got up. I convinced Grace to get up with me in the dark the next day so we could get a jump on all the professional shell collectors. For some reason, Betsy opted to stay in bed.

So, here's the best thing that happened on that early morning venture:

Beautiful sunrise, but no beachcombers or shells in sight

Otherwise, no luck on Operation Sand Dollar. It will have to wait for another Ocracoke trip. Another thing Betsy and I wanted to do on this trip is renew our wedding vows. We renew them every year on our anniversary. It's in February, but we decided to wait until March this year because we wanted to get married on the beach.

Aspen sure does lie around a lot doesn't he?

Grace once again officiated the ceremony and did a fantastic job.

You're probably impressed she can fit in that dress, but it's completely unzipped in the back

Another place that was open before the busy tourist season was the Ocracoke Bar and Grill. They had great ambiance, with seating outside on their deck and a surfing competition on the TV. They also had tasty cocktails, apparently. Betsy wouldn't be able to put up with me without cocktails.

"There isn't enough alcohol in the world."

They kindly let me set up my Vitamix in the dining area, so I mixed up one of their Barbeque Burgers while Betsy inebriated herself.

The barbecue burger was excellent

It was a great place to eat. The staff was extremely friendly and the food looked and smelled delicious.

Nothing beats having a burger in my stomach

We also ate at another great restaurant called Gaffer's Sports Pub. Again, we encountered fantastic waitstaff who were completely understanding of my need to blend my meal. One of the problems with waiting several weeks to write a blog post is that I sometimes forget exactly what I eat, unless I take the time to write it down. So, I have to confess that I can't remember what I had at Gaffer's, but I think it was their stuffed flounder with a side of asparagus.

Whatever it was, it was delicious

Betsy really wanted to try horseback riding on the beach so we went for a fairly short, hour long ride. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed it, though I must admit that having someone walking beside the horse leading it the whole time was kinda lame (they did that for me because they were afraid I'd fall). After our ride, we met one of the owners of a local Bed & Breakfast, Pam's Pelican. He mentioned that he was a crop-duster pilot and he often flew his plane from the airfield up the road. He said he'd give us a FREE ride the next morning if we were up for it!!! I suspected he was just being nice because he'd already had several beers and he drawled, "I love you guys, man!!" before we left them. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking? We drove down to his B&B the next morning to see if he remembered us and he was all set to go! I brought him a case of beer--a currency that likely hasn't changed since the days of Blackbeard--and he promised not to drink until we landed. We drove he and his dog, Molly, down to the airstrip, hardly believing our good fortune. 

Too bad Aspen couldn't fit in there. He'd probably just lay down and sleep though.

Molly dutifully climbed into the cockpit of his prop plane, then the rest of us piled in, and we were up in the air in no time. It was INCREDIBLE!! Unlimited visibility. We circled the town and cruised down the coast, soaring along an unpopulated island to the south.

Taken shortly before Betsy pushed me out

The coolest part was, he let me do most of the flying!!

Finally got to practice the Immelman maneuver I learned at the Academy

Grace was pretty freaked out that daddy was flying the plane, but it was too noisy in there to hear her screams for help so who cares?

Molly photobomb

My one regret is that I didn't tubefeed during the flight. Sure I've eaten meals on airplanes, but is there anyone who's tubefed while they were flying the plane?? A real missed opportunity. If there are any pilots in the Knoxville area who want to let me fly their expensive plane while tubefeeding, please contact me. I promise to not spill too much of my blend in the cockpit.

We also had dinner at a place called Jason's Restaurant. One of the foods I miss from when I could eat by mouth is crab cakes. They combine two of my favorite foods: crab and cake. Every time I'm anywhere close to the ocean, I take the opportunity to order crab cakes at least once. I got my chance at Jason's Restaurant.

Mmmmmmm...crab cakes...

I guess it's a popular place because even though it was before the tourist season, Jason's was really crowded. Even though they were extremely busy, the staff at Jason's were awesome. Jason, himself, came out to visit and make sure they'd gotten my order right. I took the opportunity to get a fan photo with him:

They also serve some good sushi...hence the t-shirt

We tried taking a much longer ferry ride on the way home. Our ferry to the island, from Hatteras to Ocracoke, was about an hour. The ferry to the mainland--across the Pamlico Sound to the town of Swan Quarter--is two and a half hours. The boat is much bigger, with a larger dining area. Unfortunately, it was cold and overcast with a strong breeze so it wasn't a great time for standing outside looking at the scenery. 

We passed through Plymouth on the way home and stopped at the Wendy's outside town for lunch. I had a blended meal I'd prepared the night before by blending a Real Food Blend with an avocado.

The horrible stench of the papermill in Plymouth really brought back fond memories

For dinner on the drive home, we stopped at an Outback steakhouse in Greensboro, NC. The manager, Mike, was so amazing; that guy definitely deserves a raise!! He was very understanding of my feeding tube, made doubly sure his waitstaff and chefs understood how I wanted my meal blended, PLUS he gave us a bunch of money off our bill. I guess he felt bad for me because of the way I eat, and I am not above playing the sympathy card if somebody offers to buy my dinner. I have no shame.

Thanks for being so supportive of my tubefeeding, Mike!!!

I had tilapia stuffed with crab. I think I satisfied my crab cravings on this trip, but I can already feel them start to come back. I might be as crazy about crab as Betsy is....nah, nobody's that crazy.

Only 5 more hours of driving left! Yippee!

I'm a guinea pig

I have two exciting things to share about Real Food Blends!! I swear they don't pay me to talk about them; I just really like their product. However, they DO let me try out some of their new meals before they start selling them to the general public. Or another way of looking at it is, they experiment on me to see if their latest inventions cause my stomach to explode, or perhaps cause a mutant alien life form to incubate in my belly (this only happened that one time).

Their latest concoction was a powdered breakfast blend, so I took the opportunity to have it on a ferry on the way to the North Carolina Outer Banks.

And now I've tube-fed on a boat. My life is complete

They've made a breakfast blend with egg, sweet potato, avocado, and apple, only this time the meal is in powdered form. I loved this meal for a lot of reasons. For one thing, it's 540 calories per blend, which is much more of an adult-size portion for me. Also, I can see it coming in very handy while traveling, particularly on flights or when I'm hiking. Plus, they are less expensive than RFB's three other meals. And what's not to love about the ingredients?? Avocados, sweet potatoes, eggs, and apples are all foods I put in my blends constantly.

Once again, no crazy ingredients; exactly what the title says

Preparing the blend was easy. We added the powder to a blender bottle with 16 ounces of water, shook vigorously for a while, and it was ready to go. In hindsight, I think I'll bring along one of the metal oscillators that came with the blender bottles because there were still a couple clumps that were harder to push through my tube. Otherwise it went in really smoothly and filled me up that morning. I can't wait until these meals are back in stock so I can buy them by the case (*hint* Christmas/birthday gift idea *hint*)!!

Just a man and his blender bottle

The second piece of Real Food Blend news concerns my insurance. I hesitate to come out and say this because my insurance might change their minds at the last minute, but it's looking "More Probable Than Not" (#deflategate reference) that my insurance will pay for me to get Real Food Blends!!!!!! I've been calling and calling, but haven't had any luck with the DMEs (Durable Medical Equipment--the companies that provide medical supplies, including equipment for tube feeders) in the Knoxville area. Knoxville is a "Competitive Bidding Area," according to Medicare, which I would think opens us up to an unlimited number of DMEs to provide our enteral feeding equipment. Instead, this means that there is a relatively short list of 13 DMEs for me to choose from. The list does not include the DME that everyone else in Tennessee can use to get their Real Food Blends (Reeves-Sain Infusion).

Since I started trying to get my insurance to pay for Real Food Blends last year, the DMEs have all refused to recognize RFB as an approved enteral formula. They only approve the crappy formula that makes me nauseous, like Ensure, TwoCal, and Jevity. For the third time in the past year, I called Adult Pediatric Specialists to ask if they would give me Real Food Blends. Adult Pediatric Specialists is the company that one of my approved DMEs, Lincare, uses for feeding tube supplies. I know this is confusing, but this is the simplified version. Long story short - Adult Pediatric Specialists said they can supply Real Food Blends through Medicare!!!!!

They've talked to my doctor and gotten all my information. It looks like I should start getting the meals by the end of the month, but I won't really start celebrating until I get that first package in the mail. I can still foresee getting a phone call from some DME bureaucrat saying, "Sorry Mr. Liebenow, but it turns out anyone with more than 7 letters in their last name isn't covered for enteral nutrition. Please change your name to 'Doofus' immediately." As soon as I get my very first, insurance-provided, RFB, I'll post a picture on here.

Another Week in Colorado

Thanks to Team Racing for Veterans, we were able to afford another trip to Snowmass, Colorado, for the Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. This year, they had a record number of veterans (about 350) from across the country for the event with disabilities ranging from PTSD, to missing limbs, to Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs), to blindness. Plus they had me--a partially paralyzed guy with a feeding tube. I'm still the only tubie there. Once again, we had an amazing experience! And once again, you will be subjected to several pictures of me eating.

The day we arrived, we ate at the same place we went to last year, The Stew Pot. There's nothing like a warm bowl of Belgian beef stew after hitting the slopes in Colorado. The staff, as always, was very understanding about me needing my food blended and had no problem taking the Vitamix into the kitchen. Unfortunately, the stew was hot and blending it on high for a couple minutes made it hotter still. It was absolutely scalding to my tender tummy. We normally stir ice into the blend when it comes out of kitchens on the hot side. In this case, it needed a lot of ice. By the time I got it down to a tolerable temperature, Grace was done with her stew (she said it was delicious) and ready to leave. I really like this place, but I think next time I'll just get mine to go and blend it back in the hotel room after it's cooled down.

"Das ist heiß!!!" (See, Frau Mitchell? I still remember some German!)

The next morning, we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, The Snowmass Kitchen, and ran into Jeff Haugh. Jeff has Multiple Sclerosis, a TBI, and is one of the founders of Team R4V--also he played for the Academy football team when they were ranked #10 in the country. He is just one of the many inspiring veterans at this event.

I'm wearing my Team R4V shirt. What color would you say that is? Yellow?

Since the first year we came to this event, the Snowmass kitchen has been very accommodating to my feeding tube. This time was no different. I went to the breakfast buffet, put the food I wanted into the pitcher, then gave the blender to the staff. The entire community of Snowmass is extremely supportive of all the vets throughout the week.

The other main meal that first day was called "A Taste of Snowmass." Several restaurants from the village set up tables outside for the veterans to come and taste their dishes. We got out there early and I lined right up for the best dish: filet mignon kebobs, mashed potatoes, broccoli, and a flourless chocolate tort for desert. Then I brought the whole thing up to our room so I could blend it up.

Duke/Gonzaga game. Why am I always so bad at filling out brackets?

I blended up the meal really good, brought it over to the chair in our room, started to push in the first syringe-full and...uh-oh.

I got it on the walls too, but couldn't fit the entire blend splatter in the picture

I didn't have any oil or butter to lubricate my plunger so I ended up pushing down on it really hard and as a result I got some chocolate-steak-broccoli on my pants. The Snowmass Kitchen came to my rescue though! They gave me a small cup of olive oil that I used whenever I ate in the room the rest of the week.

And now I'm using a blue towel

On Monday morning, I was scheduled to go snow shoeing. So we ate at the breakfast buffet that our hotel (the Westin) provided for the veterans all week.

She looks absolutely thrilled, doesn't she?

The staff at the Westin has gotten to know me over the last three years. I just take my pitcher through the buffet line, then blend up the meal at any wall outlet along the side of the large conference room where we eat our meals. When I'm done eating, I give the pitcher to someone on the waitstaff and they wash it out for me while I wash out my syringe and plunger in the bathroom.

Traveling and eating on the road has gotten pretty routine--at least in this country. I'd imagine if/when I try eating out in another country it'll be a bit more stressful.

Anyway, snow shoeing was excellent. A really good workout on a beautiful day.

How I miss the aspen trees in Colorado

There was a fast group snow shoeing up the ski slope and a slow group. I chose the slow group because I wasn't sure about my limits and I didn't want to slow down the fast group. As it turns out, I'm in better shape than I thought so I think I'll try going at a quicker pace when I do it in the future. I really liked snow shoeing. I was much more unsteady and prone to falling when I cross country skied last year, but show shoeing is something I can really do independently. If I lived near anyplace that had a steady amount of snow, I think I'd go more often.

It got so hot that day I could've done it in shorts

After our exercise, we were served lunch on the mountain by the local Elk's Lodge. Since there wasn't an outlet to plug up the Vitamix, I had to get my meal (turkey, mashed potatoes, and a Cesar salad) to go and eat it back in our room.

Betsy was kind enough to clean out my dishes in the bathroom

For dinner on Monday, all the veterans were given meal vouchers for the local restaurants. We chose to eat at another of our favorite places, Slice Italian Bistro. All their pizzas are available gluten free. Plus, they offer a selection of gluten free beer!

At this altitude, I only needed to smell it before I got a headache

We had dinner with our friends Mike and Courtney. Mike is a blind veteran who lives in Arizona. He always brings his (now 13 year-old) daughter, Courtney, to Snowmass for the Winter Sports Clinic and Grace absolutely can't wait to see her every year. Seriously, that's all she talked about on the flight to Denver.

For my pizza, I got the 'Greek Peak,' which has sundried tomatoes, olives, chicken, artichokes, and spinach.

Thanks, Courtney, for being so patient with Grace!!!

Tuesday was snowboarding day! Our breakfast buffet included an omelet bar, so I got an omelet with everything on it for the Vitamix.

Caught the omelet bar dude mid-flip

Once again, we set up the Vitamix on the periphery of the conference center where all the veterans ate.

The spinach in my omelet gave a the blend a slight greenish shade

When I started this blog, pictures of tubies eating in public were pretty rare, but now I've taken so many, I feel like I should start hiding secret messages in them just to make them interesting so you're not just staring at my ugly mug every time. Not on this trip though. Just more pictures of me tubefeeding in public.

Selfies of me tubefeeding are now called 'Telfies.' This is not a telfie because Betsy took it. Just FYI.

Snowboarding was fantastic--even better than last year. For the first time, I got to go with Betsy and Grace all morning! I'll talk more about it in a separate post. The lunch the clinic provides to the veterans is usually pretty sparse, at least for gluten-free eaters. So, I brought plenty of Real Food Blends to supplement what they gave me. For Tuesday's lunch, I added a Real Food Blend to mashed potatoes, baked beans, and coleslaw. I also threw in a Lara Bar that I brought from Tennessee.

Kinda looks like she's in pain here

The veterans were split up into teams at the beginning of the week (Go Team Headwall!!!) and we had team leaders who helped make sure we all got where we needed to be and looked after us for the rest of the week. Our team leaders were an amazing group of volunteers coming from all over the country, but mostly from Colorado. One of them, Jake, has a 3-year rivalry with Grace in which they both try to scare each other all week. On Friday, she caught him unawares with a snowball and he repaid her by holding her upside-down in a snowbank.

Another team leader, Jessica, is a recent college graduate from Grand Junction, Colorado. She has always been so helpful to us, especially at mealtimes--making sure Grace gets her food while Betsy and I get my blender ready

Thanks for all your help, Jessica!!!!

For Tuesday's dinner, I had pork loin, roasted potatoes, a vegetable medley, and a spinach salad in the blender. They feed us pretty good there!

Maybe next time they could give us wine at meals. *Hint Hint*

Wednesday, I was scheduled to visit Glenwood hot springs all day. Before I left, I had breakfast with a fellow veteran from Tennessee, Mark Brogan. I've talked about Mark before on here. He is an Army veteran who has a Traumatic Brain Injury because of a suicide bomb attack in Iraq. Mark was the one who initially got me into the horseback riding I do every Friday, and he encouraged me to sign up for the Winter Sports Clinic three years ago. Mark and his wife, Sunny, are a very inspiring couple and I am extremely honored to know them.

Once again, I had the breakfast buffet in my blender: scrambled eggs, bacon, mixed fruit, and potatoes.

Grace photobomb!

So we went to some hot springs. On the way there, we stopped at the Elk's Lodge in Glenwood, where they served us an absolutely delicious meal for lunch. I blended up elk (apparently calling it an 'Elk's Lodge' is a trick to lure in unsuspecting elk), antelope, pheasant, trout, mashed potatoes, and green beans in the Vitamix!

Some animals were harmed in the making of this photo

The hot springs were a disappointment to me. I was picturing secluded pools of steaming water, surrounded by towering Rocky Mountain cliffs, with the only sound coming from the wind and the gentle clacking of frolicking mountain goats. Instead, I got a huge swimming pool:

Some dreams were shattered in the making of this picture

The bottom of the pool looked dirty. I'm sure the water was clean; probably cleaner than what I would get in a swimming pool. But it didn't look clean and add to that a whole lot of little kids running around doing who-knows-what in the pools and I didn't feel very comfortable getting in there with my feeding tube. I did it anyway, though (didn't get any infections-yea!). It felt nice, but I could've gotten the same thing from the hotel's hot tube, minus the screaming kids. Add to this that I had to ride on a bus for an hour to get there and Betsy and Grace couldn't come because Betsy wasn't feeling well and they didn't want to be liable in case anything happened to Grace on the bus. So, this was definitely my least favorite activity over the past three years.

Wednesday's dinner was back at the Westin hotel. I had a cobb salad, meatballs, and a vegetable medley in the Vitamix. Thursday was another snowboarding day AND another omelet bar in the morning!!!

The only thing better than an omelet bar is a regular bar

Betsy and Grace skied with me while I snowboarded again! Before we left, they got outfitted in their Team R4V shirts. Thanks again, Team R4V!!!!

There's no danger of losing them in those shirts

I signed up to snowboard all day on Thursday. The morning was rough because it was pretty icy, I fell down a few times and I got discouraged. I decided to try again in the afternoon on a part of the mountain that, hopefully, would be a bit more soft and wide for my gentle snowboard turns. Before that though, I had a fast lunch consisting of a taco salad and a luna bar:

Refueling before re-hitting the slopes

Thursday afternoon went much better for me and I got my confidence back up in both my balance, and using the outrigger while snowboarding! I'll share some photos and a video in another post.

Dinner on Thursday was meatloaf, a spinach salad, and mashed potatoes:

Refueling before we hit the dance floor for the 6 Million Dollar Band

On most evenings, they have a dance for the veterans with a live band providing the entertainment. Wednesday night's act was the 101st Airborne Division band. Thursday, we were treated to a group called the 6 Million Dollar Band. They are an 80s cover band based out of Denver and they played pretty much every hit from the decade. Grace said they played "6 million songs." She couldn't get enough of it, and was out on the dance floor until way past her bedtime (10 PM!).

So, it was a weary group that went to breakfast on the last full day of the Clinic. I did the usual breakfast bar and added a Carnation Instant Breakfast to the blend for some extra calories:

Ready for Race Day!

Friday was race day, when every veteran gets timed going through a slalom course. I didn't think much of their slalom course. The flags were more geared toward skiers and I ended up falling a couple times and it took me forever to finish. But my trainer, Michelle, was kind enough to take me back up the mountain for one last run on a course I'd done really well on Thursday. So, I ended my week of snowboarding on a high note!

After that, we were treated to another Taste of Snowmass in the Village. I got beef stew and added in a Real Food Blend and another Lara Bar back in our room.

No tube explosions this time

It was the end of another great week in Snowmass. I'm always sorry to see it end, knowing that I'll have to wait another year for the next one--if we even go to the next one. We can't count on Team R4V to cover our costs every year and flying the three of us to Colorado for this event is outside our price range. So, I'll be on the hunt for sponsors to get me to the next Sports Clinic!

Friday evening before bed, we shared wine and desserts with Mike and Courtney while promising that we would stay in touch and hopefully see each other between now and next spring.

I drink my wine out of plastic cups because I'm classy

And now it's time for a little break from traveling (but not blogging) before possible trips to Minnesota, Germany, and Washington over the summer!

We got interviewed!

Jeff Haugh, one of the founders of Team R4V, the organization that sponsored our trip to Snowmass this year, was interviewed on a new podcast called "Beer 30" (sounds like my kind of podcast) earlier this year. Here's a link: http://beer30.podomatic.com/entry/2015-01-16T14_38_37-08_00. If you have 37 minutes to spare, you should check it out; Jeff's story is really interesting/inspiring. Pay no attention to the picture depicting someone with Muscular Dystrophy. Jeff has Multiple Sclerosis, so I think they confused the two. Despite this faux pas, it's a great interview!

While we were at the Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass, CO, last week, we reconnected with Jeff and he introduced me to Joel Hunt, one of the guys who does "Beer 30." Joel is a paralympian alpine skier and purple heart recipient. I'm sure he has a fascinating story himself, but I selfishly only talked about my own story with Joel because he decided to put Betsy and I on his podcast too!

I've been interviewed for newspaper articles and for radio segments, but this was my first podcast. Feel free to have a listen if you like: http://beer30.podomatic.com/entry/2015-04-01T18_31_28-07_00. I must admit that I cringed listening to it. For one thing, it's a little hard to understand me. For another, my voice sounds pretty weak. You know how when you listen to a recording of yourself and think, "THAT'S how I sound??? I never imagined my voice sounded like that!!"? Well, hearing myself on that podcast is that times 1,000. I'm higher pitched and have trouble enunciating my words with occasional drool thrown in. So while inwardly, I believe I sound suave and sophisticated when I speak, the reality is that my voice resembles Beaker's.

"Meep, Meep, tubie, Meep, Meep!"

Or sort of like the Office Space stapler guy?

"Excuse me. I believe you have my stapler."

But anyway, feel free to listen to the interview if you have 30 minutes to spare after you've listened to Jeff's interview. I think Betsy's voice makes up for my 'meeping.' We threw in some good plugs for Team R4V, but I regret that I wasn't able to segue the conversation into talking about Real Food Blends!!