Jim Hansen's Lecture in UC Berkeley

I had a great opportunity to attend a lecture by Jim Hansen, Director of NASA Goddard institute of space sciences. He was the one who alerted the public in 1988 about global warming.

The lecture was on ‘Threats to planet: Implications for Inter-generational justice and energy policies’. Jim Hansen did lack the energy and inspiration, when compared of Al Gore, but did get the message across. I say this because Jim Hansen’s is the first lecture I attended after Al gore’s in OCT. I still have some inspiration going on in me from that speech! Anyways, I have not seen or know another environmentalist who is such a strong advocator of Coal moratorium.

Here is the link to the Jim Hansen’s page and this presentation is similar to one he gave us.

Mustard Oil ban in India – An understanding for a common man

I have been influenced lately by Dr Vandhana Shiva’s Anti-globalization rhetoric. I came across ‘Mustard Oil ban in India’, while reading her ‘Stolen Harvest: Hijacking of the global food supply’ book. As the book just mentioned the incident without going into much detail, I ventured to do a little digging of my own.

India banned the sale of mustard oil in 1998 after deaths due to dropsy [contamination in the oil from argemone]. About 50+ people died and more than 2000 fell ill in Delhi. Read the clip here from down to earth, one of India’s leading environmental magazines.
India banned both loose and packed mustard oil and a month later raised the ban on PACKED mustard oil.

What was the impact of the ban, or a better question would be “Who won and who lost? “

Winners:

US agribusiness Corporation Monsanto who made money on the free GE Soybean imports

Entry of ITC into the mustard business in India

Losers:

Small mustard farmers

The domestic mustard oil industry

Indian Mustard oil consumers

The timing of the contamination has sparked of a conspiracy theory involving the multinationals. Click here for ‘The mustard oil conspiracy ‘by Vandana Shiva in the ecologist magazine. A must read to understand the incident full circle. The article did make me feel [and actually is the case] that the rich & powerful economies do treat developing economies as sink to the products [i.e GE soybeans] that nobody wants!

Finally, a piece if trivia, who do you think could possibly own the patent for mustard?
Hmmm…the answer is ‘Calgene’! Ooh..Not who you had in mind!
Yes, Calgene, owned by Mansanto, owns the patent for mustard. Unbelievable…believe it!

Also read this article from India Together on India’s edible oil imports and the WTO.

Part II - Hot Flat & Crowded -Thomas Freidman

Part II (The parts are not based on the parts in the book but roughly based on my reading and review of the book)

I was unaware of the fact that things might be a lot worse and scarier than portrayed in the media or in the IPCC report. In the book Friedman says ‘ The scientists are punished for overstating and not punished for understating…..To make climate models scientists take little pieces of information of what we know happened in the past, check how it corresponds to how it actually happened and then try to project into the future from the earlier trend lines’

Bill Collins a senior scientists in the Earth Sciences division of the Lawrence berkely National Laboratory says ‘Nobody captured in their energy models the acceleration of emissions from china in the last five years. That is what is so scary. A lot of IPCC math was developed when emissions from China were going down in the 1990s and the Soviet Union was collapsing. What is happening now is worse than the worse case projections that went into the IPCC model’

IPCC builds a summary for policy makers, which is what we are all familiar with. The book talks about how the policy document is reviewed line by line by government representatives and they get to veto anything they don’t like. Click here for more information on how this is done. There is criticism that the summary doesn’t represent exact science and perhaps downplays the impact of global warming! What crazy weird world do we live in? The mankind itself is in danger and we lowball it! The policy makers should perhaps be tried for crimes against humanity. These people are no different than the perpetrators of genocide. If we cannot trust these reports to be accurate, what else can we not trust? I guess we know the answer to that question!

John Holdren who has spent much of his life studying the aspects of climate change Issue, has what he wryly calls “Holdren’s first principal “when it comes to climate change. It goes like this ‘The more aspects of the problem you know something about, the more pessimistic you are. Someone who studies atmospheric science is pessimistic. Some one who knows atmospheric science and oceans is more pessimistic and someone who knows atmospheric science, oceans and ice is even more pessimistic and someone who knows about atmospheric science, oceans , ice and biology is still more pessimistic and someone who knows about all those things , as well as engineering , economics , and politics is the most pessimistic of all – because then you know how long it takes to change all the systems that are driving the problem


Climate change discussion is not complete with out discussing the climate change deniers.
“If ninety eight doctors say my son is ill and needs medication and two say ‘No, he doesn’t need any medication. He’s fine’, I will go with the ninety-eight. It’s common sense - same with global warming we go with the majority, the large majority” says California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

Friedman says “I’m convinced that Climate change is real. But we not only need people to accept that it’s real, but also to accept just how real it could be…”

The book also talks about Dr Heidi Cullen, a Climatologist for the weather channel who says ‘Local meteorologist should give climate change science some mention in there daily weather reports’. Dr Cullen’s blog ‘Junk Controversy Not Junk Science’ did create a controversy. I have always wondered why the meteorologist don’t talk about this when it is so relevant and also has AMS (American Meteorological Society) seal. You know one would think meteorologist would know better, it turns out, they don’t.

To be continued in Part III

Part 1: Hot Flat & Crowded - Thomas Friedman

Part 1: Hot Flat & Crowded - Thomas Friedman
(The parts are not based on the parts in the book but roughly based on my reading and review of the book)

It is a comprehensive book that covers aspects of climate change and the connections to US oil consumption, Terrorism, China, and India and back to the US. I had bits and pieces of information from the media. This book kind of connected the dots for me. A must read as an environment literacy for a common man.

He starts with where we are now, explains what he means by Hot, Flat and Crowded.
Hot – Not a brain teaser – global warming
Flat – Rise of the middle class. The rise of American carbon copies all over the world
Crowded - The growth of the world population

He dedicates an entire chapter on American lifestyles and how it is changing the world. The discussion on how America’s oil consumption feeds the terrorists and creating petro-dollars/dictatorship is fascinating. The graph on Freedom Vs crude oil prices is a new piece of information that caught my eye. A phenomenon diagnosed as ‘resource curse’ or the ‘Dutch disease’


Few Excerpts from the book with my comments embedded:

I was still living in the post 9/11 world until this book came along. ‘I don’t think we’re post anything anymore – I think we’re pre-something totally new “, said David Rothkopf, the energy consultant, in the book and I agree. I think we are pre to a staggering disaster the mankind has every encountered. I think we are pre to finding a way out of the monumental environmental challenge that lies ahead of us

Friedman talks about what happens if everybody lives like the materialistic, consumption based American lifestyle (calling them ‘carbon copies’ in the book). What happens if the current 1 billion population living the American lifestyle increase to 2 billion or 3 billion? Simple answer – the planet will get hot !

In a world that is hot – a world that is more and more affected by global warming – guess who among us is going to suffer the most? It will be the people who caused it the least – the poorest people in the world, who have no electricity, no cars and no power plants and virtually no factories to emit CO2 into the atmosphere. The developing and the underdeveloped will be hardest hit

An Egyptian Cabinet minister remarked ‘It is like the developed world ate all the hors d’oeuvres, all the entrees and all the desserts and then invited the developing world for a little coffee” and asked us to split the whole bill. With US being 5% of the world’s population emits 25% of world’s green house gas emissions. When the time comes (it is already here) all will have to spilt the bill and this will muddy the international waters further more.

‘We Americans are in no position to lecture anyone’ says Friedman ‘ But we are in a position to know better…..if we Americans do not redefine what an American middle class lifestyle is , we will need to colonize three more planets. Because we are going to make this planet so hot and strip it so bare of resources that, nobody including us will be able to live like Americans one day‘ America is on the driver’s seat of the environmental pollution bus. Will it be in the driver’s seat of the environmental solution bus? So far it doesn’t seem like it.


To be continued in Part II

Yeh, I’m a marathon runner!

Sorry about the late posting! I didn’t realize that some of you were eagerly waiting for this

Here’s the race results and you can check out some pictures here

Yes, I took 7 hours 3 minutes & 60 seconds to complete the race!

Yeh, I’m a marathon runner!

Initially I was worried about not being able to complete the race, as I needed to get to 18 ¾ mile marker by noon. It was a bit hard to do so as all the hills were in the first part of the race. If I didn’t get there by noon, I would not be allowed to complete the race. Also, I had to at least, keep 15-16 min/mile pace so as to complete the race.

I started of good and was going with 14min/mile pace and every mile I kept loosing few seconds. I got to the marker way before noon and after that it was just about completing the race. As far as I was concerned that 18 ¾ marker was my victory. Because I knew once I crossed that marker, I would finish the race even if there was, you know, a tsunami!

No matter how hard you train, the last few miles are the hardest. You give it all at this point! All I had to do was just put one foot in front of the other. The last four miles is on the great highway where the cold breeze from the ocean, hits right on your face. At that point, you hardly have any energy left; you are not running ( I mean trotting) fast enough to keep your body warm, as every muscle in your body hurts and you are burning whatever energy is left to keep yourself warm. It all adds up and makes you want to give up and that’s why at that point the coaches come looking for us and run with us to the finish line. If not for my coach Tim and another coach [whose name escapes my mind right now] ran the last few Kilometers with me, it would have been one loooooong run

As they announced my arrival at the finish line, it kinda felt weird. It was weird, because it felt like it was a dream. It was like, wait, did I juuust…complete a marathon…no way! I didn’t cry, but I could feel the warm water come down my cheeks. Guess this is what happens when a dream comes true-you think it’s a dream. While I was trying to get a grip on reality, I was handed the Tiffany co. neck lace and someone cut off the timing chip of my shoes, some one handed me a Nike T-shirt and then one the TNT volunteer ushered me to the LLS tent where some one checked in for me and I grabbed a sandwich and sat with the coaches for a little chat about how the race went for me. They were full of praise, of course. They told me not to underestimate what happened today, it is no ordinary accomplishment; it was a colossal achievement and deserved to be celebrated. I had set for myself an extremely tough goal and I had achieved!

I picked up my stuff and boarded the shuttle to AT & T Park. The girl sitting next to me in the bus asked how it all went for me and I proudly showed her the necklace. She then told me that, she couldn’t complete the race and was feeling very sad about it. That’s when I realized that I could have been her…… but I wasn’t, I was victorious!
Believe it or not, the victory has blocked the pain of my mind. I still couldn’t walk, I could drive well, I couldn’t climb stairs, but that didn’t matter to me. When I actually apologized for taking a long time (it seemed like eternity to me) to climb the bus, the lady behind me said ‘Don’t worry honey, we are all on the same boat’

On my drive back home, I slowly went thru the race in my mind and I kept saying to myself I’m going to do it again. That feeling of accomplishment, the euphoria, I tell you, is worth all the pain! I wish Nikki was there to cheer for me and share that historic moment with me that day.

So, next step is to first get some rest and second, to work on improving my marathon pace from 16 Min/mile to 15 min/mile so I can finish the race with in 6 ½ hours. Wish me luck!

Nike women’s marathon: Run like a girl!

As an athlete, when you least expect it, you may find yourself standing on the threshold of an accomplishment so monumental that it strikes fear into your soul. You must stand ready, at any moment, to face the unknown. You must be ready to walk [or run] boldly through the wall of uncertainty.

I arrived at windmill in golden gate park at 6:30 AM on Sept 20. I was nervous, worried, scared and was unable to sleep the previous night. I was looking forward to that day all week. This was the Nike race preview! The target for full marathoners was to run 20 miles on the race course including that big hill we were training for all week. I knew I had to finish the 20 miles. It was my big confidence booster. My coach kept telling us “Train like your race, race like you train’ I kept saying to myself ‘This is the last big run before the race and I needed to ace it , period’

The five months of training was going to pay off now and it did! I ran, ran like a girl, for 20 miles, injured. I hurt my right knee while going downhill at mile 7 and then at 10 my right leg was out of order. I limped the next 10 miles exerting pressure on the left leg and ended with shin splint on my left leg. There was not a single muscle in my body that was not sore. I had a complete brain drain, total loss of motor skills & lack of coordination. The bagel in my hand would fall off before it got to my mouth.

I have endured the 18 weeks of intense training with Leukemia & Lymphoma’s Team In Training. I have constantly challenged my body & my mind. I have started to yearn for pain. I feel the emptiness when there is no pain. Seven years ago, I read on a billboard in New York, ‘Pain is weakness leaving your body’. And only now, have I come to know what it means.

I would return from training, in pain, unable to walk or make an intelligent conversation. Seeing my state of affairs, my hubby would go ‘Why put yourself through this?’ I asked myself the same question. Why? Why run 26.2 miles?

I run to celebrate the most precious thing I have, my son.
I run so I walk the talk, before I do the talk to my son.
I run so I can be a role model to my son.
I run to get a sense of accomplishment
I run to challenge myself to do something that I thought I was incapable off.
I run towards freedom
I run to get away from the life’s rat race
I run to be who I am.
I run to let out the stress and to be me again.
I run to keep my mind & body healthy, a priceless gift to my family & to the community

When I run I hear my son in my head cheering me on and saying he’s proud of me! There is my inspiration! Now, I dare to dream running with him and I can’t wait for him to grow up!

Nike women’s marathon is this weekend. I have been worry about it all week and am a wreck at this point. The big question in my head is, ‘Can I do 26.2 miles?’ I’m getting cold feet. I have been making frantic calls to my coach asking the same. I don’t remember the last time I was so nervous. Well, you know what; I have no other option than be victorious.

My race strategy is simple. Go slow, walk downhill and just FINISH the race. Wish me luck!

If you've never run a race, it's NOT impossible. If I can do it, anyone can. If you want to run and save lives while running, I would encourage you to join Leukemia & Lymphoma society’s ‘Team In Training’. Help find a cure. What better cause than to find a cure for leukemia! Yes, run every mile to save lives!

Run like a girl! Run every mile to save lives!
Go Team!

..More after the race

RV Camping

We have always wanted to go on a RV trip. The want became a reality on the weekend of Apr 12th, 2008. We rented a 32 Feet, 8 Person RV and headed down south on Route 1, to camp in San Simeon State Park.

The main trigger for the trip, so early in the summer was because Sanju and Vaishalli were visiting the bay area with their 18 month old daughter Tanvi and Giri & Fiona were heading back to India first week of May. We all wanted to camp but then with two young children 11 & 18months, with the weather as low as 0 F at night, we took a break from our routine Tent camping and decided on RV camping. Unfortunately Sanju and Family couldn’t make it, as Tanvi was hit by the roseola virus

After a week’s planning and with one family out, the rest of us i.e. Vidya, Venkat, Fiona, Neetu, Giri, Ram & Us, started on Saturday Apr 12 at 7 A.M. Nikki was very excited to see all the activity so early in the morning

The Dosa Accident:
The RV was loaded with all the supplies we needed for two days (and more). We used up all the storage space and the fridge was completely packed, with all sorts of food. As soon as we pulled out of our driveway on to the main street, we heard a loud noise and then saw the Dosa batter strew all across the kitchen. The dosa batter was thrown out of the unlocked fridge when the RV turned. We were shocked! What a mess! Many other things came out of the Fridge too and the door was hanging open telling us that there will be more to come. Giri and Fiona quickly forced the fridge door close, locked it, and clean up the batter-mess on the floor, while the RV was moving, with the balancing act, trying to get a firm footing. We quickly checked all the cabinets to make sure they were fastened, so they were no flying objects. We all laughed at what happened and then we all moaned about the lost Dosa batter. No yummy dosas for breakfast on the RV!

Early Morning Stop at the Liquor Store:
Ram and Neetu, who were in charge of breakfast that day decided to chop some onions and veggies, on the road. That’s when I realized, I had forgotten to pack a knife. We needed a knife, period. Venu, under venkat’s guidance, took an exit hoping to find a convenience store. Our first stop was at seven-eleven, whose good neighbor was the Liquor Store.
While venkat went out to Seven Eleven, we girls decided head to Liquor Store -- to find a knife, of course. The person at the counter was this desi dude; he was ringing up a few drunkards…ooops..customers in the line, while on the phone. Everyone in the liquor store were pleasantly stunned when they saw four Asian girls charging into the liquor store so early in the morning. We made no efforts to hide the fact that we were looking for a knife. All of a sudden, we hear Fiona’s voice addressed to the desi dude at the counter who was already multitasking ( i.e on the phone and ringing up the inebriated customers) asking if they carried a knife. Her voice was kinda shrill and high pitched and it resounded in the small liquor store. I don’t know about others, but it was very unexpected and quiet shocking for me. It felt to me, like Fiona was holding the entire store hostage while pointing the gun at the desi dude. Desi dude’s both cell phone and the jaws dropped (or may be I thought it did), he immediately answered ‘No’ and his shocked expressed quickly turned into ‘Get the hell out of my store’ expression. We waltzed out of the store and declared to everyone that the store didn’t have knife. Venkat didn’t find one either.
Then someone reminded us of the GPS. We headed to the nearest Safeway which was about a mile. We girls warned the men not to use the god given brains to get to Safeway, but to rely solely on the GPS

Just missed:
We spotted Safeway, to our right, while waiting for green light at the traffic signal. A split second after we passed the traffic light, we heard a loud noise from the back of the RV. It felt like somebody hit the RV from behind. Venu pulled over to the curb. A car hit an SUV from the side, right behind our RV. We felt the impact in the RV. It could have easily been us. It was so close. We made sure there was no damage to the RV from the flying metal pieces. After ensuring all was okay, we boarded the RV, with our hearts still beating fast, relived, that we were not involved. The trip would have been such a fiasco, if we were hit instead of the SUV

We bought the knife from Safeway and were on our way

The Tea making:
Once back in the RV all safe, we realized that early morning caffeine was not in yet. Why go to Starbucks, when we could make coffee in our very own RV kitchen. Common sense told us, we shouldn’t be making Tea while RV is in Motion. Well, we let the caffeine sense override our common sense and decided to make Tea.
Let me summarize some (not all) of the challenges to making tea in a moving RV

1. Getting things out of the fridge or the cabinets is the hardest thing. You always run the risk of flying objects (--remember the dosa batter accident)
2. One didn’t have steady footing and upon that, try holding a pot full of tea on the stove.
3. Once the tea starts boiling, you run the risk of spilling hot liquid on either yourself or the fellow RVers.
4. Again , while drinking the hot tea, you run the risk of spilling hot liquid on either yourself or the fellow RVers.

Vidya volunteered. She was very determined to win the Tea making challenge. She successfully made awesome chai! Bravo Vidya! We all sat back in the dining area and enjoyed the tea.
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Ram chopped all the veggies for Upma on the highway. We pulled over to a dead end road for breakfast. Ram & Neeti made us yummy Upma. After hogging like pigs, we continued our trip. Rt 1 is the most beautiful highway, cutting through the hills, running alongside the pacific. All of us sat in dining area enjoying the scenery, chatting, drinking our tea or beer. Yes, Giri and company started working on beer immediately after breakfast

Nikki was having fun in the Car seat. His routine was off; he didn’t have enough sleep, no freedom of movement. Yet, he didn’t complain or whine. He just went with the flow.
Actually, I didn’t hear him cry the whole trip.

Water or Beer:
Vidya started using the empty beer bottles to hold drinking water as I had shopped for water cartons instead of bottles. Water or beer, it all looked the same in the beer bottle. Many of us accidentally drank water thinking it was beer. Once in the mouth, water or beer we gulped it down anyway. But not Giri. Giri , like the most of us, accidentally drank water instead of beer. He went around the RV, with the water in his mouth , saying ‘aghhhhhhhh………’ , like he had…hmm….phenoyle perhaps, before he spit it out in the kitchen sink. He won’t give up beer for water ..ever.

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After several stops at vista points, we pulled over for lunch. Fiona quickly whipped up delicious Vangibath. I’m not a big fan of Vangibath, but this was yummy! And again we hogged like pigs.

In the RV with your family & Friends, facing the extraordinarily beautiful clear blue waters of the pacific, with the beer slowly kicking in, eating the delicious Vangibath …hmmm…joie de vivre!

We stopped at Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seals. I put Nikki on the back carrier and headed out in the scorching heat to see the seals

Elephant seals Piedras Blancas :
Piedras Blancas is popular for elephant seals. From Nov to April, elephant seals come to Piedras Blancas (and to a few other beaches like Año Nuevo) to breed. The males can weight up to 11,000 pounds and the females can weigh up to 2000 pounds. I won’t say watching the big, filthy elephant seals vegging on the shore is a pretty sight but definitely is worth it.
Elephant seals were hunted to extinction for blubber (fat) oil. This oil is second only to sperm oil. What is this oil used for anyways? Well, blubber oil has many uses. It can used to illuminate lamps , wax and also as food.
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After driving on Rt 1 at snail’s pace, we arrived at San Simeon State park in the evening. As the Campground office was closed, we had to look for an unoccupied campground ourselves. There were plenty empty spots and we camped at the one which had ample shade. Campsite was also close to the rest rooms. But not so close to infringe on our privacy. We got our lawn chairs out and sat in the open air while Venu and Ram went out to get some wood.

The beach was just half a mile from the campsite. Right around sunset we went out to the beach. We strolled along the shore, watched the sun go down. It was a wonderful feeling. Cool ocean breeze made us feel fresh. We headed back to the camp with new a zest to enjoy the rest of the evening.

As the camp pit was not set properly for BBQ we decided to cook in the RV instead. All of us huddled over the Camp Fire chatting and singing the night away.

Giri is well know for his imitation songs (False lyrics sung in the original song tune) Here is one of those the false lyrics for the song Chalte Chalte . The humor is just not in the lyrics alone but also in singing.
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Going Going…You remember the song of mine..
Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me…

Crying Laughing …just like that…YOU
Keep mur mur murring…
Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me…

In the middle middle of the road..
We both get lost away…and this world seems to be…
Jeevan ke yeah dagar..
I willllllllll come back…You keep call call calling….

Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me
--

Giri is a wonderful entertainer. Bottom line ‘The party is not a party without Giri.’

It was during one of those weekend meets that we all tried to answer the following question

‘If you had a chance to be someone, for a day, who would you be and why?

Not surprisingly, Giri said he would be clown. And I would bet anything, that he would be a fine one too. I see that when he’s around, we all laugh more than usual.

For the same question Venu said he wanted to be Mother Theresa’s mom. It became a controversy. Let me not get into that now
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It’s true that babies get up in the wee hours. And when Nikki gets up early in the morning, usually Fiona cares for him. After confirming Fiona’s willingness to baby-sit, I hit the bed hoping to get up early so as I intended to stroll on the beach with Nikki. The rest of them played poker until the wee hours.

The next day:
The next day Nikki, Fiona, Neetu and I were up early and set out to stroll on the beach. Nikki was on the back carrier. Weather was cool with beautiful low tide waves. We met many beach combers looking for moonstones, one of whom gave Nikki a moonstone. Fiona also got a quick tutorial on ‘How to find a moonstone?’ from one of the combers and found some herself. We trekked for about 3 miles and took some pictures.

The boys made some eggs and toast. Cleaned up the site and the RV. We also emptied the sewage and filled up some water for our trip back. This time we took Highway 101 instead of route 1. The plan was to tour Hearst castle before heading home. Unfortunately we were unable to procure 8 tickets. While Neetu, Ram, Giri & Fiona went to see the IMAX, the rest of us headed to the RV. Vidya made us yummy masala bath while we dawdled time.

The journey back seemed long. Some of us napped, and then played poker and then the word games.

We reached Dublin at around 7 PM. As quickly gave Nikki a shower while the rest of them unloaded the RV and clean it up. After eating Kuttu Paratha (courtesy of Venkat & Vidya) everyone said adios.
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Nikki was wonderful camper. No Fuss. No high maintenance. I really don’t remember him doing anything, really. The camp night, I didn’t realize how tired he was. He just slept like that in Vidya’s arms. I finally made some milk ,woke him up and fed him. He drank the milk and went back to sleep. So cool!

Looking back, it was one hassle free trip. I had anticipated some fussiness, irritation & Clinginess from Nikki. I was mentally preparing my self all week. What do I do when he throws a fit? What if he doesn’t sleep? What if he doesn’t eat? I got so worked up. Then I took a deep breath and said to myself, he’ll eat when he wants, he’ll sleep when he wants. That’s exactly what he did. He just went with the flow. He would just sit in the car seat and watch us. He would talk when he was spoken to, he would laugh when we all laughed, he would shriek when Fiona shrieked… and so forth.

He was comfortable. He was home. He showed all signs of being a bon vivant!

The whole trip it didn’t even feel like we had a baby on-board. Nikki has given us hope and courage that we can do many more trips as such.

I also saw that he enjoyed nature. When we were strolling along the beach, he would constantly talk gibberish. He would shriek with excitement. Fiona and Nikki quiet frequently look turns shrieking. As matter of fact, it was Fiona who taught him to shriek. And he did that all thru the trip and after.

Venu did an awesome job of maneuvering/driving the RV. Thanks Venu for driving the RV and bring back us home safe. Thanks guys for all the good food and good company. It was a wonderful trip!