Mental Health #11 - A New Beginning

That's so funny, when we drove through Winslow we both started singing that song! We didn't see that park, though.

We ended up not doing all of Route 66, my husband had way overestimated his ability to drive for long hours the way he could when he was younger (news flash: there's a big difference between ages 25 and 55!) and then he got the flu so that slowed us down too and we realized that three weeks was just not enough to drive through British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California plus do all of Route 66 and then drive all the way back up. So we basically did a tour of the western states and hit five that neither of us had ever been to before: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. We had a great time and did hit a few notable Route 66 spots along the way, plus the Grand Canyon.

April was a perfect time to visit the desert states, since everything was blooming it was absolutely beautiful.

We are going to try it again in a couple of years, but we decided that next time we'll fly to Seattle and rent an RV for the trip...normally I don't mind staying at hotels but staying in a different hotel almost every night for three weeks got really old really fast!
 
cynthiag said:
We ended up not doing all of Route 66, my husband had way overestimated his ability to drive for long hours the way he could when he was younger (news flash: there's a big difference between ages 25 and 55!)
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We live and learn.

I used to love road trips.

Like many other things in the 21st century, road trips have been ruined, too.

I tell my wife all the time, I won't even try to do what I did easily 25, 30 years ago.

Realistically, the trip you planned would have taken us 90 days.

This summer we're planning to take Amtrak to Chicago, rest a couple of days, rent a car to drive to Mackinac Island, where we'll spend a couple weeks, drive back down to Chicago, and eventually take Amtrak back to Texas.

We're expecting it'll take 4-6 weeks.

Regardless, I bet you enjoyed the heck out it anyway.

That's the real reward, enjoying what you can, when you can.
 
Yes, we loved every minute of it, even though it wasn't the trip we'd originally planned.

I like sitting in a car all day watching the world go by outside the window, but I don't drive so my husband has to do all the driving. He's been a professional truck driver for 30+ years and loves to drive but it didn't occur to him before we left that fatigue sets in sooner than it used to, and also his night vision isn't what it once was so he didn't want to drive after it got dark. So that limited the number of hours we spent on the road every day.

Virtually EVERYWHERE we went had road construction/repair projects going on, so we ran into a lot of delays, single-lane traffic with flaggers, and detours, all of which slowed us down. One whole section of the Pacific Coast Highway is closed right now, a bridge at Big Sur is out but they don't tell you at the beginning that the road is closed to through traffic. So we drove for an hour before finding out that we couldn't go all the way through and had to turn around and go all the way back. At least the scenery is beautiful, there are worse stretches of highway to have to drive through twice!

So, lesson learned, three weeks would be fine for Route 66 if we weren't driving all the way down and back to begin with. That's what happens when two people who live on an island and CAN'T drive very far at home (20 miles of road each north & south of town, and that's it) plan a trip like this! ! Three weeks would be perfect if we flew to one end of the route, rented a car or RV, then flew back from the other end of the route. We are already excited about the thought of trying it again!
 
One week vacation. Came back to a dead computer. One full week to get computer almost back to normal. Lost all my email addresses and all emails that I had saved. 500 + vehicles damaged in hail storm. It's been fun! Not.
 
I didn't know such a thing was possible but my brother, who's been out of work for 15 months, got approved by Wells Fargo to only pay $25 per mo on his house payment for 3 months. After 3 months they will reevaluate. He's unable to work right now due to several medical conditions, but doesn't qualify for disability because he could eventually(after a few more surgeries) be able to go back to work. He's been doing everything possible to not lose his house and family has been helping him. I just didn't know how much longer we'd be able to help him so this is a huge burden lifted from all of us.
 
txls said:
my brother, who's been out of work for 15 months, got approved by Wells Fargo to only pay $25 per mo on his house payment for 3 months. After 3 months they will reevaluate.
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It's called "forbearance":

Forbearance Plan – Mortgage Customer Service – Wells Fargo

The advantages may be illusory. After three months the amounts not paid will be added to his principle, thus resulting in an upward adjustment of his payments (they don't say that but it'll happen).

txls said:
He's unable to work right now due to several medical conditions, but doesn't qualify for disability because he could eventually(after a few more surgeries) be able to go back to work.
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Did he apply?

If he's been disabled for 15 months he might have qualified for SSDI.
 
Yes he understands that the amounts not paid will be added to his principal, that's okay, he needs the relief now. He hasn't been disabled the entire 15 months. At first he had a stroke, then later had the hip and back issues. Well he probably had the issues all along and just worked through it.
 
txls said:
Yes he understands that the amounts not paid will be added to his principal, that's okay, he needs the relief now. He hasn't been disabled the entire 15 months. At first he had a stroke, then later had the hip and back issues. Well he probably had the issues all along and just worked through it.
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And yes he did apply and was turned down.
 
txls said:
And yes he did apply and was turned down.
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He should reapply.

I'm told 85-90% of first time applicants are shooed away.

The 2nd time applicants get approved at about a 66-75% rate.

The 3rd try usually gets upwards of 85-90%.

You must also demonstrate by written word why you can't hold down full time employment, even in another occupation.

ALJ look for "can't focus mentally ", "headaches", "can't see", can't sit", "can't sleep", etc... all because of the pain.
 
Yes he intends to reapply, thank you. He pretty much has had a full-time "job" filling out applications and talking to people in between Dr visits and rehab appointments. He has been full of praise for how helpful everyone at the VA has been.
 
txls said:
Yes he intends to reapply, thank you. He pretty much has had a full-time "job" filling out applications and talking to people in between Dr visits and rehab appointments. He has been full of praise for how helpful everyone at the VA has been.
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He stands to eventually receive money from two separate funding sources, SS and VA.

If one were to receive $1,500 from SS, one generally receives about the same amount from the VA for 100% service connected disability.

These days the VA tends to be somewhat liberal, bad press and all.
 
txls said:
There must have been some kind of party in my neighborhood last night. There was a drunk on my front porch as 7:45 this morning.
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Wow, that's an interesting way to start the day.

The last "surprise guest" we had on our porch was when we woke up to a deer on the back deck licking up spilled birdseed from our bird feeders. I must say I'd rather have a deer than a drunk, however!
 
Is there any point in debating with (usually young, male, blue collar) employees who won't enroll in health insurance because "I'll just go to a public hospital, they have to take you for free." ? Asking them to consider being productive members of society and not part of the problem doesn't sink in... and I'm not supposed to punch them in the face.
 
We had a young man who said he didn't need cancer insurance because he was too young to get cancer. Dumbest thing I've ever heard.
 

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