EDMT (Eastern Daylight Motorhome Time)

          My favorite Science-Fiction author, the great Robert Heinlein, has a short story entitled, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”

          I am going to borrow from that title and state Time is a harsh mistress.

          Yesterday I returned from Vermont where I dropped Paula off in order for her to be with her sister Barbara for the next few weeks as she (Barb) is having a medical procedure and will need some assistance recuperating. We drove up on Tuesday morning and I returned yesterday morning. That means that I needed to sleep (?) up there.       Sleep is a rare commodity for me, and I really don’t care too much.

          My least favorite part of the day is when I go to bed.

          My most favorite part of the day is when I wake up.

          As you may see, this can be the source of an issue.

          I have no problem falling asleep, (much to Paula’s chagrin} and I believe that my record stands somewhere around seven seconds. (I am not exaggerating). My problem is staying asleep. Between aches and pains, Restless Leg Syndrome, and the fact that I really don’t want to be there, tends to deprive me of a restful night. When I feel that I am getting too uncomfortable and/or restless to the point where I would be disturbing Paula, I just pick up my pillow and retreat to the couch, sliding the pocket door (that divides the bedroom area from the rest of the motorhome) closed.

          Now I am the master of my own sleep-deprived destiny.

          Depending on what time this nightly ritual occurs, I do try and fall back asleep on that couch. I am no fool, I do know that (unfortunately) some sleep is physiologically important for our well-being. Fortunately, I believe that I am on the lower tier of this Sleep Need Level as the only negative that I’ve encountered so far is that it is usually a good thing to have Paula do the driving (either car or motorhome) in the afternoon.     Actually, I react to the ride in a car much the same way that a baby does, You know, “Take him out for a ride around the block to put him to sleep.”

          So, back to Vermont.

          I did not sleep well that night, in fact, it was one of my least sleepy nights I’ve ever had. I was up at 1:30 AM. I did go into the next room which has a couch and try to go back to sleep. This effort was, on a grand scale, very unsuccessful so, I was up and down all night either working on something on my computer, reading a news feed, watching the Hurricanes progress, laughing at funny dogs on Instagram, etc. As you can see, on one level I was happy….. I was awake! On the other level, I knew that I would pay for it sometime and I was worried that it would be while I was driving back down to New Jersey the next day.       There would be no Copilot Paula to bail me out.

          The trip down the NY Thruway was uneventful. I pulled in at the Ulster Service Center for the obvious reasons, bought a Coke to help out a bit, and made it back to Freightliner Memorial Hospital to visit and hopefully get Miss Motorhome discharged. I spent a few hours waiting there, inside the motorhome, and I did try and lay down for a bit but that did not work. Finally, we were discharged, and we made our way back to Yetter’s RV Resort and our reserved parking spot.

          Well, I made it until about 7:30 PM, which under the previous night’s circumstances I thought was pretty good. I called Paula, said I was zonked, and went to bed. I do not recall falling asleep. There is an excellent possibility that a new record was set but as there were no witnesses, the Guinness folks refused to even take my call.

          Now comes the Time part.

          The motorhome has several ways of drawing and /or producing electrical power. Generator, batteries, and several levels of amperage can be used to keep the juice flowing. There is a ‘Brain” of sorts that knows which one to choose from if any, or all, of these options are available. The issue is that these “Juices” flow at slightly different rates, and it is impossible to determine how it may affect anything on board.

          Except our digital clock that is stuck up in an alcove above the bed so that we can see it at any time. There are no “nightstands” on either side to hold a clock or anything, just a small shelf for water, glasses, tissues, etc.

          When I woke up this morning at 5:30 AM I was unbelievably ecstatic!

          7:30 PM to 5:30 AM….  10 Hours !!!!

          I haven’t slept that much in years, or decades, possibly never!

          As it was now way past my usual “get up” time, I threw the covers off, jumped out of bed and was busy planning everything that I need to get done today!

          I felt like the proverbial “Million Bucks”!

          Until I went out into the living room part of the motorhome and turned on all of the lights.

          I happened to glance up at the battery-powered clock that is on the wall there.

          Wait! That can’t be!

           It only took a nano-second for me to realize that for the last day the motorhome was on various power levels while at Freightliner Memorial.

          The correct clock read 1:30 AM.

          I don’t know which part upset me the most…

          The fact that I did not get a good night’s sleep or,

          The fact that I felt so good when I thought that I had!