And the results are in!

And yes we do not miss the Select Comfort air mattress!  Our night on the new innerspring mattress was a resounding success.  Now remember that we sleep on an innerspring mattress at our home back in KC, which skews the results rather dramatically.

So with our bias for the selection clearly stated, lets decide why we think the innerspring is a clear winner.

With the air mattress, our weight causes the air to expand in the containment cell and fill the remaining area to the same pressure no matter what quantity of air we put in.  That causes the mattress to be the same pressure no matter where we set the comfort meter.  The only thing that changes is how high the center of the mattress rises.  Under our heaviest part, our bottom.  So a higher number translates to a higher and straighter back line.

But that isn't what was causing our distress.  For me anyway, the rubber ball sensation of the taught mattress under my torso was cutting off blood flow to the area where I was laying on the hard spot.  The spring mattress has the function of a uniform firmness under my body, and the weight of my behind doesn't cause the springs to become taught and increase the hardness in one area.

That is my way of saying that the mattress does not cause my backside to go to sleep from lack of blood flow.  I did not roll around from side to side all night because I needed to give an area a break from being in contact with the mattress.

The pillow top seems to be a cross between memory foam and regular foam with some conventional padding as well.  So on the first night, I didn't really miss the memory topper too much either.  Remember I put it under the new mattress thinking that we would test the product on its own merits first.

The one drawback for this new setup, is the fact that the mattress is 14 inches thick.  The bed box is almost twice as high as a normal foundation in your home, so the bed is quite high.  Almost requiring Loyce to hop up on it, rather than sitting down on the bed.  But she didn't complain once about the new bed today.  Not once!

In other happenings around here, I went out on a long motorscooter ride this afternoon, traveling up the Apache Trail highway towards Tortilla Flat.  This is a mountain road that has many switchbacks and climbs up rather smartly.  This is the most aggressive road I have ever ridden on.

I was surprised that I was calm and collected for this ride, even giving the hand outward wave to the other cycles as we passed.  Not in the middle of the switchbacks where some concentration is required, but almost everywhere else, I was enjoying myself.

I did not go all the way to the town of Tortilla Flat, but stopped at the overlook of Canyon Lake.  That was about 3 miles short of the town.  The sun was rapidly setting into the afternoon Western sky, and I felt that I had better head back down.

The mountain road is not the smoothest where the blacktop has been washboarded by the tires constantly braking as they go down hill and around the curves, and that was giving my repaired front muscle group heck. It will take a bunch longer for my stomach to become strong enough to take this rhythmic jostling.  So I am not fond of roads in bad repair quite yet.

But I had a gorgeous afternoon ride up in the Superstition Mountains, and weather permitting, I am ready to go do it again in the near future!  This afternoon, I saw 85 on the dash of the Scooter.  Of course the official temperature didn't get that high, but in ground effect over the asphalt, that was my official experience.  Not bad, on a day that saw the Metrodome in Minnesota collapse from high wind and too much snow.  17 inches I think!

Here's hoping that is was better than Minnesota's weather where you are!

Retired Rod

And to answer where is Froggy now, he is on our hearth next to the fireplace in our living room.   Froggy lived a bunch of the summer out on our front porch with a big flower in his open planter backside.  But when we leave, and when there is some possibility that vandals could come and damage him, Loyce brings him inside!