A little "twist"er on things. . .

We left the RGV on Monday. Made it to Houston and on Wednesday put my 92-year old Mom on a plane nonstop to Indy. First time she had ever flown by herself, but she had always insisted this was what she wanted instead of having a "babysitter." I put her in a wheelchair right away and got a gate pass so I could go with her to the gate. Southwest Airlines was wonderful with her and I left her in good hands. We decided to exit Houston once her plane was off because bad storms were headed our way. Actually by the time we were pulling out of camp, my sister had already intercepted her at the Indy airport and all was well. We drove to Kinder, Louisiana, to try and escape the storm chasing us there.

Along the way my sister reported that 15 minutes after leaving my Mom at her house to "take a nap" she had fallen and they were awaiting the ambulance. Turns out she cracked her pelvis in 3 places, but thank God, who was watching, there were no broken hips. She will soon be transferred to a nursing home for rest and rehab. I know my Mom will try. Surgery was not called for because neither hip was broken and this is the standard treatment. I'm sure she will always use a walker from now on but we all thought she should have been anyway and she refused. I asked Mom if she wanted me to come to her and she said, "Heavens no. There is nothing you can do here. I'm being cared for." So we will move on and in two weeks will be back to check in on Mom once we arrive for doctor appointments as we planned. I only get to see my grandkids twice a year for one week as it is and Mom knows how important that time is.

In the meantime, we were at Coushatta Indian casino and Red Shoes campground at Kinder, Louisiana, to dodge that storm rolling through Houston and had a tornado hit our campground at about 5:15 am yesterday morning. It flipped a 30' trailer over about 100 feet from us and then passed on to the perimeter fence where it took out about 600 feet of board fence. Then it crossed a small field almost directly hitting a house, tearing the roof and twisting and downing trees around it but leaving the main house intact. Before crossing highway 165 it hit a new motel and left the metal roof in pieces strewn across the lawn and highway. Next time I vote for staying put.

Power was out in the camp till noon when we left. We heard the occupants of the trailer were okay. EMTS and workers arrived very quickly and pulled the residents out the top which was actually the side escape window since is was laying on its side. I think it would have continued to roll but it had rolled into a picnic table which seemed to hold it.

Living in the midwest all my life, I've seen enough tornadoes for a lifetime and don't need anymore. This one was so quick, almost just a microburst of wind, but the telltale twisting of the trees was there.

We are now in Zachary, Louisiana, visiting Terry's cousin and wife. We had a fish fry last night which is second to none at Gary's since his hobby for 30 years has been as captain of a fishing service off Grand Isle. Hmmmm hmmmmm good.

Take care, and stay safe out there.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Leaving the RGV behind

We left the valley last Saturday, March 12, around 9:10. A lot of people came over to say goodbye, chat a bit. We made some new friends the last few months when some renters moved in across the street. Les and Aggie were a lot of fun . . . even if they are Canadian. LOL And some other Canadian friends of theirs came later. Sandy and Danny were back for year two. Danny is the rocker I have posted pictures of. We hated to leave these new friends, but they will all be back next year.

The plan was to drive to Wharton and stay at one of the parks there; but as we drove on, the parks did not look too appealing and the ones we would consider were already full. We ended up driving all the way to Houston and staying in Advanced RV Park in Pearland, the same park we stayed at last fall when we were through the area. The rodeo was going on at the time, so we decided not to go anywhere while we were there for overnight. The traffic was pretty bad as the evening wore on.

The next day we got on the road about the same time and traveled to Kinder, Louisiana, to the Coushatta Casino RV Park. It's one of the nicer parks you will find at casinos and we parked next to the dog park, so it was convenient with the dogs. We met and talked with another camper who is talking about going fulltime and was picking our brains for details. A lot of people talk about it, but I'm not sure how many act on it. You really have to not care much about "stuff." If you are in love with your "stuff" you won't be a happy fulltimer.

Cousin Gary called while we were there and said that his yard was quite saturated from all the rain they had over the past few days and suggested it might be hard to get our motorhome in/out of his yard. Not wanting to tear up his yard or our rig, we had already decided on seeing if they would meet us at a campground and spend a couple nights with us. So we met up at Lakeside RV Resort in Livingston, Louisiana. We arrived after they did, but just as they were getting parked, so it worked out pretty good. We parked right next to each other. The park was having a spaghetti dinner that night, so we signed up for it. We went over to the hall about 5 and got in line for dinner. We were all seated at tables facing each other and after dinner we were asked to introduce ourselves and tell a little about us. There were several who have just started out fulltiming. So many of them, however, go fulltime and then just live in the same RV park 100% of the time. To me that is not what fulltiming is all about. If weather is too hot or too cold, you can spend a lot in fuel or electricity trying to stay comfortable. The fulltime lifestyle is really about moving along and seeing this great country.

We spent the next day with Gary and Jo. We first hit Camping World in Hammond where we found few bargains but did get some stuff. We headed over to Mandeville next because Terry liked the name. What can I say? That's what happens sometimes. It appears the old part of town may be gone due to Hurricane Katrina, but we did find a little cafe for lunch that had really good food. Later we drove to Lake Pontchartrain, which we could access from the town. We walked out onto a fishing pier with the causeway bridge in the background and took some pictures. The bridge is 27 miles long. We didn't drive on it, but perhaps someday we will. What an engineering marvel! We have actually seen it from the air flying to Brandon's before.

Once we got back to camp, Gary cooked fish on the grill for supper. It was really good. We enjoyed our time with them and glad that they could take time to come camp with us.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time Stands Still . . .

Last week we left cousin Gary's and traveled to Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisiana. We had been there years ago and we weren't disappointed. It's a beautiful campground and very well laid out. The sites are all 75 feet long, so you can pull in and take your time unhooking later if you like. It is full hookup with 50 amp and is a Passport America Park. We camped here for $11.23 a night. WOW!!!! We stayed two nights and went to the casino. The first night we didn't score anything, but we made up for it the next day. We aren't serious gamblers, but it is fun to play a bit.

When we left Paragon, we drove down to I-10 by way of Coushotta and the Red Shoes Indian Casino. We had lunch in the parking lot and spent about an hour playing the slots. Not as lucky here, so didn't stay long.

We drove on to Beaumont, Texas, and spent the night there. On Monday morning, we drove on in to Houston and are in the South Main Street RV Park. We went to the medical center and dropped off some documents of Terry's to the doctor we hope will change out his ICD. The battery is nearing the end of its life and it has been signaling every day now. We could go back to Indianapolis, but who wants to do that in this cold and blustery weather. We hoped to be able to find a doctor here who would change it out. Terry called and talked with his office last week and they said they could see him this week and change it out the next day. Apparently she hadn't done her homework because when we went to the office to get the paperwork done, they didn't know about any appointment. Isn't that the way it always works? So he has an appointment for tomorrow at 2 p.m. We are hoping that the doctor will change it out yet this week, but we will just have to wait and see. If he can't do it this week, we are shooting for sometime after Thanksgiving. We are ready to get down to the valley.

The weather here was nice when we got to Houston, but has been nasty since then. It got cold, but I'm sure everyone reading this knows that as it got cold over most of the country. . .EXCEPT for Florida where Brandon is. I saw on Facebook the other day where they declared it "HATE FLORIDA" day. LOL Once it got cold here, then it started to rain. So that has been nothing short of miserable if you have to be out in it.

A big plus being here in Houston right now though is that my cousin Pat is visiting her brother Jim so I get to see her. I first saw her last spring when she was visiting Jim. It had been about 40 years since we had seen each other. They lived in another state growing up, so we only got to see each other every summer, but she was always my closest cousin. We are the same age and always enjoyed each other. Still do. She has been helping me with some of my "yarn" projects as she is quite the accomplished knitter. Her Mom, my Aunt Ginny, was a great knitter as well and passed that on to her children. Pat and Jim are flying back to Oregon for the holidays, but we may get to see them again before we leave.

Till next time. . .

Dale