Greenville, SC

Accumulation of all the activities are catching up. It's been nonstop and I was pretty tired this morning. It's not heavy activities by any stretch of imagination. I've been taking steady 6000 or so steps on average. Considering that fitbit registers 3000 steps when I do nothing, it's low activities for healthy people. For me that's maximum sustainable amount.

We checked into Greenville Hilton last night. It was about the same price as the Extended Stay, and since we were going to stay just one night I sprang for Hilton instead. And it was so nice to sleep in a real comforter, not a blanket, in a clean, highly rated 4 star hotel. Real nice goose down too. We would've stayed another night and rest only if there was kitchen. I only can take so many eating out.

Before then we took the Northern Georgia route

In this afternoon we hung out in the Greenville downtown at a leisurely pace for a few hours.

Then we drove an hour north to Asheville, our final leg before Raleigh where we'll rest for a while at my sister's house, and checked into an Extended Stay. It's now so familiar, it's as if we came back home.

Atlanta GA

I've been here before. We were on the tarmac for an hour or so on our way from LAX to CLT watching the airport lights through the window. That was some 40 years ago. Luckily we didn't have to lug our luggage -- it was a domestic stop-over. At LAX we struggled with them through LAX's long walk-way to catch the transfer after passing through customers. Mom must had a kitchen sink in it.

Now there are substantial Korean community along the Hyundai/KIA corridor from Montgomery to Atlanta. I was impressed that Atlanta has three gigantic Korean grocery stores. H-Mart is about the same size as E-Mart in Korea. There is none in SF. They probably can't afford the rent in SF. People used to go to Atlanta from Charlotte for Korean goods even 40 years ago, but apparently the size of the community exploded in the 90s and 2000s.

I decided to abort the plan to skirt the coastline of GA and SC on our way to Raleigh. We spent too much time in Flagstaff, thanks to the accident, and New Orleans. Going straight to Atlanta saves at least a few days. And we get to see the mountains instead of the ocean. I sure would've like to traced the pristine Georgia coast though. Some other time. It'll be like that yellow road that you didn't take.

Today we left Extended Stay in Atlanta Perimeter at 8:30. We got to the hote at 6PM.  After the long drive on 4/27 from New Orleans to Atlanta followed by a day of excursions to Duluth Korean community and Piedment park, I still was up and  running today. Just unthinkable even a few years ago. Will health be far behind? Lets' wait and see.

Todays route was Norther Georgia High Road. We had to stop at Blue Ridge Electric Coop to charge up a few miles. 20 to be exact. And good thing we did too. We arrived in Greenville with 9 miles to spare. We had to skip Ceasar's State Park becuse it was 8 miles off the course. We could've made it if we spent another hours at the Coop, but J1772 is way too slow, especially after gettin used to Tesla tsupercharger. But we did make to Devil's Fork state park and Table Rock. A taste of Blue Ridge things to come. I've been in the Blue Ridge a few times, but it's been so long ago that I no longer remember any.

Tomorrow, we'll move to Asheville after checking out Greenville downtown area. There, we'll explore a couple segments of Blue Ridge Park Way.

New Orleans, Day 3

It's actually day 4, but I'm calling it day 3 because we did nothing but recuperate on the day 1. Yesterday we went on a swamp tour looking for flora and fauna of Bayou. All we got was a bunch of 6-foot alligators. The guide's story about life in Bayou -- how small a community they were across Barataria preserve and how they while away barbecuing drinking and watching sports -- was more interesting.  They have to drive 10 miles out in order to date someone other than their cousins here. Sounds much like alligators confined in the swamp. Except that it's the mating season and alligators are not swimming 10 miles out to avoid their cousins.

It's now almost a month since we left San Francsisco and now I'm settling in to a familiar pattern of activities: one day up and one day down. The activity went up quite a bit on the first week, with packing and all. Then it dropped down to the pre-trip average of about 42,000 steps per week. The excitement factor doesn't last more than a week after all, it appears. Today, I'm fatigued and achy all over despite mostly sitting on a boat for 2 hours yesterday. It must be the wake of 10,000 steps I took 2 days ago in French Quarter.

Olde Town Inn

From French Quarter, you take Decatur toward French Market. Past the Hotel De La Monnaie, it won't look much French anymore. Follow Elysian Field around the curve and come to Rampart. Then take a right into a quaint residential street lined with clapboard houses and colorful Victorians. In the middle of it is the Olde Town Inn. Ask for room 201.

It is huge two-room suite with 10 feet ceiling. The south-facing french doors will lead you to the balcony looking down on the street lined with tall Oleander trees that you can see lying on the bed. In a balmy April evening with the doors open, you can smell the perfume as well. When it gets dark, the street light of the color of setting sun streams through the plantation louvre laying a maudlin shadow on the bed and then casting it on the opposite wall. Your silluette with fedora on you head and a cigarette in your mouth would complete a scene from a film noire.

We checked out of Extended Stay yesterday and came to this place. The $47 deal from peiceline.com was no longer available. This inn lacked the kitchen, but it was about the same price and it was a lot closer to French Quarter and downtown. And I'm sure glad we moved. It's so nice here I could stay here for a month, only if it had a kitchen.

We spent a few hours in French Quarter after checking out. Mostly around Jackson Square and Cafe Du Monde. Then we took the mule tour around the quarter. A perfect substitute for a CFS patient, yet I ended up 10,000 steps for the day. I slept like a baby and woke up with ache all over. I had to call Louisianna Tour and moved our swamp boat tour to the afternoon. I was gonna write in the morning instead, but I ended up spending most of the time in bed recuperating.

New Orleans, LA

I'm in no hurry. We'll take a day off and get some much needed rest. Even with a day in Lafayette doing nothing but charging the car, I was still pooped. Going to Acadiana RV park to refuel may have taken quite a bit out of me.

We went to Giles Nissan in the morning and then went to the library after leaving the car hooked up. Hour and a half later, and we ended up with only +10 miles after spending 17 miles going there and back. I was going to come back in the morning on the way to New Orleans and charge two more hours, but then went to Acadiana park in the afternoon to fill up.

We took the southern route to New Orleans from Lafayette. The plan was to follow the scenic route #76 from the Reader's Digest book. But the range anxiety took over after St Martinsville. I aborted driving to Oaks Manor in Franklin and then drove straight to Slidell supercharger. Extended Stay in Metarie was on the way, so I dropped luggage and wife and then arrive at the charger with 8 miles to spare.

Lafayette, LA

"Tai Soong?" Shaqanette says as soon as we walked in. "Fill in this and this and sign here, sweetheart".  Then a white woman, a wiry and petite version of Dame Edna, says "I'd appreciate if you return this when you are done" in a curled southern drawl  as we check out the kitchenware. A haggard looking couple outside complains to each other something about getting or not getting a room on the first floor. They all wear this frown on their faces even when they are friendly. It's the weary look you see on Appalachian hillbillies or Okies in faded pictures.

This is Louisiana, the land of Confederacy of Dunces. I forget the plot --it's been decades since I read it in the college -- but it was a tragicomedy about haggard life of a ragtag group of blacks and whites in Louisiana. I meant to re-read, but never had a chance to. Maybe I'll get a e-book version and read it while I'm here. Or, check it out in the library. I'm going there anyway this morning. It's right next to Giles Nissan with J1772 charger.

So we checked in yet another Extended Stay yesterday evening. I don't seem to be able to get away from it. I was gonna book the cheapest motel instead of Extended Stay for the night before continuing to New Orleans. I still got Extended Stay when I booked it on priceline.com. I'm damn glad I did though. We were going to camp out while charging the car but it showered and wife was too tired from the effect of the med she took the night before. And this morning I'm too tired to continue, so we decided to stay here one more night and recuperate.

Austin TX, Day 3

OK, I changed my mind about Austin. We hung out around the university and it was quite vibrant over there. UT is in line with Capitol and the whole area makes the center of the town. With the downtown next to it, live music scene near by, and Barton creek just south of the river, it is one lively place. I wouldn't mind living here. There are some old neighborhoods in the West Campus and Pease district and I can easily imagine myself in one of the tree-shaded houses there.

Tomorrow morning we'll set out for Louisiana. It's another 500 miles to New Orleans from here. It'll take us at least 9 hours so we'll set out early.

Austin TX, Day 2

I developed a small blister on my upper lip, from the long drive two days ago, no doubt. It's the first time in 8 years. The limit imposed by CFS post-exertional sickness is so low that I've been keeling over well before I could do enough to develop a blister.  Now that I can handle long drives, the stress of it must be suppressing my immune system enough to trigger the cold sore without producing enough inflammation to trigger the post-exertional sickness. That means that my CFS threshold has been lifted enough to tolerate the amount of stress that triggers cold sore. I should be happy that I'm getting cold sore.

This Extended Stay in Metro Austin is so nice I could stay here for much longer. They originally gave us a dingy room with just one window by the bed. I asked for one with more window, and they obliged with very nice Jr 1 BR with windows on two sides.

I'm not quite as impressed about Austin. It is a nice city for sure, verdant and cosmopolitan enough. But nothing particularly special. It could be any large university/capitol town in the eastern half of the US. It could well be Raleigh. Barton Springs Pool was stunning though. It's probably a couple of hundred meters long and presumably filled with spring water sipping from Colorado river or Barton creek. The temptation to jump in was so great, I think I'll make another trip tomorrow and dip in.

We went to the State Capitol afterward, took a few pictures, got hungry and went for a bite at C'ilantro. I'm not keen on "fusion" Asian food as they are mostly sell-outs by people with no culinary self esteem. (There is no fusion French or Italian).  But we went for this one since I saw it a few times on TV. And it was a fusion alright, no more, no less. It is a fast food off a truck, so being fusion is excusable, I suppose.

Our next stop? New Orleans. But first, I need to rest one more day. I'm still tired and I don't want risk a sickness.

Austin, TX

Grass is greener in Texas. Rocks and mountains gave way to prairie and farmland shortly after we crossed the state line. It is as flat as Kansas too. There was no hill in sight over the horizon. And it must've been raining in the breadbasket farmland. By the time we got to Childress, the humidity was palpable.

We left Albuquerque Extended Stay at 7AM. We got to Extended Stay Metro in Austin in 3AM local time. A total of 19 hours on the road. The Tesla navigation routed us through Childress and Cisco and it was 200 miles between those two through country roads meandering through millions of small Texas towns. I had to keep it at 55mph most of the time, despite the speed limit of 75 between towns, to make it with 10 miles left in the tank.

We drove and drove through the humid Texas night with bugs pelting the windshield and the high beam rhythmically flickering on and off as cars came and went from the opposite direction. A gas station was open at midnight in Stamford and I pulled in to clean the windshield. A few local young people came and went. It was as if I was transported back to North Carolina. We used to ride in the back country road in the middle of the night on weekends, with a six pack in the backseat. Only with self-driving electric car this time around instead of 68 Rambler or 76 Mustang.  And a wife in the passenger seat instead of looking for girls.

It would've been faster to stay on the interstates and go through Oklahoma city. It's 45 minutes longer on Google maps, but you can drive at full speed of 80 mph. And Tesla would've driven by itself. Not only the country back roads slower, Tesla had to slow down to make the distance between sparse superchargers. But this was yet another blessing in disguise: I got to see the Texas country side. This trip is about rediscovering America, and you can miss a lot by hopping city to city, from tourist site to another, on the interstate highways. And I got to time-travel for a bonus.

 Here is a rough route I took:

19 hours on the road is certainly a record for me, with or without CFS. I remember feeling semi-delirious driving 60 miles from SF to SJ in 2008. I could barely hold up my arm to hold the steering wheel back then. I felt similar while driving down to LA last Thanksgiving after stressing planning for the trip. But I recovered on the way down after a few hours.  This time I was dead tired from the ordeal, but no such malaise. So there is no doubt that I've made progress. I could declare victory right now if it weren't for the limit imposed by the post-exertional sickness. I'm still risking getting sick if I walk faster than 94 steps per minute. I'll challenge again and see if I made progress on that front as well, but not while I'm travelling. Maybe I'll try when I get to NYC, but not now. I can't risk getting sick while travelling.

Albuquerque, NM

You can get there from here. But you need to go up and through Albuquerque. It would've been much faster to go from Phoenix to Austin through El Paso. But there is a gap of 500 miles in superchargers in that route -- there is none between Tucson and El Paso. The only way is to refill at a Chademo station in Tucson and then sleep over at the RV park in Deming while charging. You can then get to Van Horn supercharger past El Paso the next day. The problem is Deming is 220 miles away from Tucson and 1000 feet in elevation gain. And Van Horn is another 220 miles from there. You could safely make the trip in 100 kwh version, but not with 60 kwh one.

We left Tempe's Extended Stay shortly after 9AM. We made total of 3 stops in Corde Lakes, Holbrook and Gallup and got to Albuquerque shortly after 6PM. A total of 9 hours and I was tired, but it wasn't that bad. That it was mostly interstate freeways and Tesla drove itself on them may have something to do with it. I sat back, relaxed and put my hand on the steering wheel every a few minutes. It probably wasn't as relaxing as being a passengers though. You can't completely let go; you still have to watch the road just in case. Maybe I'll drive the next time and compare the fatigue.

Yesterday we drove through South Mountain park in the morning. The Google navigation tried to drive us over the summit to get to Hertz where we were supposed to return the car. After the summit, we realized it was going to take a lot longer to get to Marriot where Hertz was located. We turned around and made to the counter just in time. We returned the car, took Lyft to Tesla and picked up the loaner for the day. After some rest at the hotel, we explored Papago park. By then, I was burning with fatigue we had to cut short and return to hotel.

I was hoping that my Eczema that I got after dipping into hot springs in Tecoma would improve in hot Tempe. It didn't. Now I can't even wear the top because the clothes irritates the skin. I first started developing atopy in cold weather in Korea. And I get that regularly when the temperature dips below 40F. Now I'll have to add hot springs to the triggers. Asthma and atopy, I apparently had all predisposing conditions for CFS.

Now it's been exactly two weeks since we left. It feels like it has been an eternity. Being on the road will do that to you. Does anybody miss me in the Bay Area? Does anybody know that I'm gone? Since I got CFS I've lost all contacts and I've been pretty isolated. It wasn't much better before, come to think of it; it only has gotten from bad to worse. That's one reason I think I should move to a smaller community at least till I recover and get back into circulation.

Tempe, AZ

Extended Stay of America in West Mesa feels like a palace after 5 days in George's converted garage. It has a bathroom sink too! George and Julia were swell, but I can't say the same thing about their inconvenient converted garage. And I keep getting Extended Stay when I book the express deal on priceline.com. How lucky is that? At $40 a night, it is saving us tons of money on this trip. And we get to eat our own food, not burgers.

I returned the Versa from Budget and rented a one way from Hertz at the Flagstaff airport. The compact I reserved wasn't available, so they gave me Sonata. Frankly, I preferred Versa. It was such a comfortable car with lots of utility.  The passenger liked the "full size" though. Two and a half hours later, we were at Tesla store in Tempe. It's a surprisingly big 3-in-1 store. The wheels for my car have not arrived yet, so it's still seating in the corner. Joules, the Tesla Service Adviser at the store, thinks they'll arrive tomorrow morning and the car should be ready by the afternoon. That means we'll have to stay here for one more night -- I'm not going to set out on 9 hour journey to Albuquerque in the afternoon. No matter, we get to explore Phoenix area a little.

It turned out that I could've come to Tempe with the car on the tow truck and Tesla would've given me a loaner. I forgot all about it and rented a car at my expense in Flagstaff. It probably had to do with fatigue after 12 hours drive and not wanting to be on the road for another 2 hours. Anyway, live and learn, I guess.

Other than for the financial hit -- the total bill including the car rental came out to be about $2600 and the insurance will cover $1500 -- the accident was a blessing in disguise. We got to explore Flagstaff area, Sedona in particular, more than we planned. We blew past it at night after Red Rock state park on the way coming up. We went back yesterday during the day time, and we found that we missed a lot. Not just Sedona itself, but Slide Rock state park and Oak Creek.

Slide Rock state park

Oak Creek Canyon

Sedona Town

Sedona was similar to Yosemite: it lets you look up the cliffs from within the canyon, unlike Grand Canyon where you look down from above. And yet it is different from Yosemite, not just in that rocks are red rather than granite grey, but also in that it is more commercially built. Not in a bad way though. It was a small tourist town. Quite pleasant, in fact. I wouldn't have minded renting a house there and staying for a month. I was planning on it in fact, if the car repair took long. But the car is done and so we are moving on for now.

Oh, and I'm still doing well health-wise. No post-exertional sickness despite taking 8000 steps yesterday. That after 9000 steps in Grand Canyon 3 days ago. Dialing down activity every other day seems to work well so far. Cross my fingers.

Flagstaff, Still

Tesla service center in Tempe called and said that the car will be ready by Thursday. Geico is not coming through, however. They want to inspect the vehicle before the repair, and Thursday is the earliest time that they can. That means the car won't be ready till Friday at the earliest. They are making fuss about making a claim only  a week after the coverage was added, and want to make sure that the damage is not a pre-existing one. No matter, I'm not in any hurry. I can pretend that we moved to Flagstaff. If the repair takes long, I was going to rent a house in Sedona for a month anyway.

I'm glad I set out on this journey despite the risk. I've been stuck in the left coast so long, I forgot what the rest of the country looked like. People are nicer in the country than in the city. The crew at Big O Tire were regular Joes from the next door. six of them looked into my car. It probably have something to do with Tesla. Kevin didn't charge me since they couldn't do anything on it. After my car was towed away, Julia gave me a ride to the airport to pick up a rental. She's a Russian who doesn't speak English, but we managed a few exchanges.

Now I'm more seriously thinking about moving to the country. San Francisco is swell, but it's terribly expensive and I'm not taking advantage of it, thanks to my CFS. And I can build relationships better in the country. City can be a lonely place if you are a CFS patient.

Meanwhile, I'm holding up surprisingly well. I did quite a bit of walking, 9000 steps total for the day, in Grand Canyon on Sunday. I went down to the vista point on Desert View. It went down quite steep at the end so I gave up. Coming back up was enough to get my heart rate to 120. I was  pretty tired yesterday after 8 hour trip, but I feel mostly recovered this morning after 2 days. It's as if I'm just extremely out of shape. Which is probably true, if it weren't for the limit imposed by the post-exertional sickness.

Flagstaff, AZ

12 hours of driving, and I'm not sick, again. Am I making progress with CFS? Maybe it's the day of rest I had at Extended Stay of America in Las Vegas. Now I'm sticking better to my original rule of resting every other day. I did rest again today in this converted garage that we rented from AirBnb for 2 nights. But it's most likely that driving is not as fatal as walking. Sitting up for a long time makes me deadly tired, but apparently it does not create inflammation the next day like walking does. As long as I don't drive multiple days, that is. Then the accumulation ends up with inflammation.

We checked out at 8:30 and then we drove and drove. It would've been faster if we took the Interstate directly to Flagstaff, but we followed the drive #48 from the Reader's Digest Scenic Drives. It is the  Red Rock Country through Sedona. That meant that we go down to Wickenbug near Phoenix and then drive back up hill gaining almost 5000 feet. Tesla made just fine with the full charge from Wickenburg. Except for hitting a gigantic pothole at night near Flagstaff on the way up from Sedona. The right side of the car just exploded. I thought I hit a rock, but it probably was a pothole.  I found that both front and rear right wheels got damaged when I took it to Big O Tire for an alignment. Apparently there are lots of those in Arizona. The Big O mechanic knew. The car is now towed to Tesla service center in Tempe 150 miles way. I had to pay $690 ouf of pocket for it for now. Geico had  an issue of processing the claim one week after I started the collision coverage. They'll get back to me on Monday.

After I took this shot, the camera battery died. How lucky can I get?

Sedona was beyond what I imagined. It is a wide open space with huge red rocks and granites all around it. No wonder it is such a tourist town. The $15 I invested in the scenic drive book did pay off handsomely. The wife wants to go back again.

By the time we left Sedona, it was getting too close to sunset. We skept other points of interest and drove straight to the Red Rock state park. This route was about the red rock after all. And we got there in just nick of time. It was an overcast afternoon and the sun peeked under the cloud as it set, casting a beautiful light on the red rocks.

Tomorrow, we go to Grand Canyon. If I can get a car, that is. I did reserve a rental, but I have no way of getting to the rental location. Maybe George, the propriertor of this converted garage will take me there if Avis doesn't pick me up. Otherwise I'll have to take a cab. Oh, and we'll now have to stay in this garage indefinitely, at least I hear from Tesla as to how long it's going to take them to make my car whole and road-worthy again.

Ridgecrest, CA

I'd like to stay here for one more day to rest and write if it weren't for the filthy motel. The bedding doesn't look clean and the bathroom sink is over a soggy carpet. America's Best Value it isn't. I chose it only because the free breakfast and higher rating, but this ain't no effing 2 star hotel. I'll check out Motel 6 and see if it's any better. It at least has a pool that I can lounge around. If that doesn't work either, we'll move on to the Death Valley and Tecopa Springs.

So, I survived the 400 mile, 8 hour drive. Tiring, but not bad at all. We did make four stops -- Gilroy, Harris Ranch, Bakersfield and Inyorken -- to charge the car. We could've done with three, but there was no point. I had to rest anyway and it's faster that way -- charging is slower if you fill up. Each stop took about 30 minutes, enough time for bathroom break and then to lay down and rest. Yeah, I already told you, Tesla is a perfect car for CFS patients.

Resting in Gilroy while charging the car

The Autopilot came through just in time too. Tesla updated the car software on March 29, just 2 days before the trip, with Autopilot fully functioning. And it was a lifesaver. I have no idea how I survived driving without it previously. (Well, OK, I didn't drive for years till the last Thanksgiving). Letting go of your arms and legs and resting does make a big difference in fatigue. An SUV full of family pulled up next to us at one point and everybody was gawking. They must've been impressed that I was eating banana and drinking water while driving.

Way into Sequoia Nation Forrest

Kern River swelled up after so much snow in the winter 

We took CA 178 through Sequoia National Forrest wilderness following Kern River to Inyorken from Bakersfield. The winding mountain pass took a toll on the mileage. It plummeted to 2 miles/kwh on the way up when the normal should be 3.5. Once we got down to the desert portion it got stretched out to 6 miles/kwh. I was worried about 190 mile loop through the Death Valley, but now I'm confident that we'll make it with plenty to spare, as long as I don't drive too fast.

Slower driving on flat land yielded projected range of over 400 miles

Moved Out

Moving is a stressful event under the best circumstances. For CFS patient, it is a million times worse. When I moved to the City in August 2008, I was new to CFS. I didn't know any better then. Then again in 2010. I felt like the Donny party at the base of the Sierra mountain desperately trying to climb out of the hole they were in, only to get stuck in the snow.

It got gradually better. It was still stressful the next time when I moved out of the City in 2012, but I don't remember feeling as desperate as before. I must've gotten better at managing the move for sure. And I got rid of a lot of stuff -- I was a minimalist -- by then. But my condition also improved and became more tolerant of exertion. I still wasn't able to walk any better, but I was getting better with muscular exertion in short spurts.

I started packing a week before moving this time. I didn't have much to pack to tell the truth; most of the stuff was the wife's. But yesterday I had to load up the car with the stuff that we need for the next 3 months. And I had to do some clean up. I somehow managed without killing myself. And today I recovered, mostly. A little sore and very tired, but I'm not sick. I think I'll be OK tomorrow to drive 300 miles to Ridgecrest. Tesla was updated with a new software yesterday and now it can drive by itself on the freeways. And I'll have to stop every hour or two to recharge the car, so I should be able to lay down and rest too.

The plan was to drive down to Ridgecrest yesterday afternoon. But the wife had a gig as a model that paid $600 for a couple hours of work. She wasn't the one to give up on that. That's why I had to take care of moving by myself, and it was a mighty fine decision to stay in the Bay area instead of driving down south. Then this morning, I decided to rest yet another day. Another fine decision. I am going to force myself to rest at least every 2 days. I don't want to recur the 6 weeks of struggle like the last time, after all.

Tonight, I'll charge up the car on the way back from dinner. Then we'll set out the 300 mile journey south tomorrow morning.