The Van With A Name

 I hadn’t planned to be home for yet  another winter, but I have been.

The big reason for enjoying another winter is  the cartilage in my left hip was worn out,  and it was pretty darn  painful having a hip that was bone on bone with arthritis. It was also difficult to move, or do anything that involved moving, walking, sitting, breathing…

Fortunately when I got home I met a guy that knew how to remove part of your skeleton and replace it with a chunk of metal. At first I was skeptical , and was hopeful that I could get another injection in the failed joint, borrowing some time, and enabling me to be in North Platt Nebraska to witness the thousands of sand hill Cranes  that gather there each spring.

Sandhill In Flight

The guy said nothing doing. Another injection will raise the risk of infection,  he said , and besides I got Porsche, Cessna, and  a Fleming  payments to make. Injections don’t even by the gas I use.

Fleming 55

Fleming not only makes excellent Yachts, he makes some excellent videos of his travels 

He gave me the number of his surgery scheduler and said he would be ready when I was.

I went home to consider my options. Being in pain for months and going to see the Cranes. Or having the guy remove my skeleton and replace it with a chunk of metal.

Having the chunk of metal installed won out.

I called the scheduler . He actually answered his phone. When does that ever happen in a medical office?

The big day was set, the knives and saws were sharpened. My skeleton was removed and the chunk of metal installed, and so far the chunk of metal is working better than the old worn out hip.

The Hip With No Name

And is pain free, well except for healing.

During  this downtime I kept checking on the Alaska DMV website to see if the personal plate ordering section was back up and running. The site wasn’t in January when I checked but in early February, the site was not only working but my plate from my trike was available, and so from this day forth the Van With No Name shall be known to all as.

The Original Ice Gal Motorbike Plate

Since I was leaving to go visit Ice Gal I thought that for sure that the plate would be ready by the end of March. But apparently the nice woman on the phone from the DMS said that wasn’t a sufficient amount of time, as Alaska plates are only made from the left over metal from broken ships, and the big hold up is the guy that makes the actual plates hasn’t been arrested yet.

Undeterred and without the plate my traveling compadre and I ventured out to the airport for our ride on a Boeing, to Portland to pick up Ice Gal and see something besides snow.

Now traveling with a pal who has had her knees replaced I knew at the TSA Theater I would be in for a special scan and pat-down.

I didn’t know I would have to stand in the giant machine with a wand like the laser wash, and then be patted down. But I was.

It all went smoothly until the woman patting me down discovered there might be something left in my pocket, and there was as I had forgotten to remove a tube of ChapStick. I thought that the grumpy guy with my patter was going to alert to security level defcon 4, effectively shutting down all air travel on the west coast, but he was reassured when I showed him there was only ChapStick in my tube of ChapStick.