A little bit at a time. . .

Since my surgery was such a "major" event, we haven't tried to do anything very strenuous. I just cannot do anything like that yet, but I am happy to say that I am able to do some driving. As many of you know, I have been the primarily motorhome driver for several years. But Terry has stepped up to the plate and taken over some of that duty. As usual, he does a great job. He didn't give it up because he couldn't handle it. . . he just was nervous about his heart condition and driving such a large behemoth. I continue to improve and I am back driving now. Still two drivers in the family!

We camped over Memorial Day weekend at Remington, Indiana, at the Caboose RV Park. We stayed there because we needed to be close to both Indy and Lafayette, and everything parks closer to Indy were booked up for the Indy 500.

We were able to attend our great-nephew Nate's graduation party which was really nice. It was held in a building at a park in Lafayette. It was a great venue, indoors with a kitchen and restrooms. It doesn't get much better than that! Nita and Jim were there and had brought Mom with them, so we got to see her. We opted not to go to graduation proper because it would have required my sitting on bleacher seats which would still not be comfortable for me and nearly impossible for any period of time. But congratulations to Nate. We love you and are very proud of you. Good luck at Purdue next year!


We did a little sightseeing around the area, since we haven't been here for years. Remington has an interesting water tower which is brick and wood. It is quite unusual.

We also drove up to Rensselaer, Indiana, to look around. There is a small liberal arts college, St. Joseph's, which is closing its doors this year. It's a beautiful campus and it's a shame it will close. Maybe another school will buy their buildings and continue higher education at this location. While we were there, we saw an historical marker about an "Indian normal school." These were schools founded for the purpose of assimilating native American children into white society. One of the buildings there on the campus was built as a school/dormitory for Indian children. That building is currently used as a dormitory for the college. I did some research on this particular school and found that it was one of two Indian schools in Indiana. The other was at White's Institute which is near Wabash.

We will leave here after Memorial Day and start heading south for our family reunion in Mississippi! I am driving again and all is well!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there and particularly to my almost 92-year-old mom.

Having left our roost at the Indy KOA for good on Saturday, we traveled with Terry at the wheel to the fairgrounds in Warsaw so we could visit Mom on Sunday.

As we have done for the past several years, Jim, Nita, Terry and I and some of Nita's other family, took Mom to eat at the Honeywell Center in Warsaw. It was a good dinner and we enjoyed all the visiting we got to do.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Well here I am again. . .

It's been several weeks since I have blogged. Fortunately, Terry has taken up the pen and done the duty for me. Much like he has done everything else for the past couple months.

My back surgery was March 24. I don't know what I was expecting, but suffice to say, I got more than I wanted! Pain that is. I had multiple, I think maybe four rods placed, along with what looks like six screws and two cages. The doctor's comment was, "She's not gonna feel like doing much of anything for the first month." Truer words were never spoken. But pretty much one month after surgery I was doing well and much of the pain had subsided. Pain pills are a godsend I must say.

We started walking the week after my surgery. At first I would do 3/4 to 1 mile. We walked the Washington Square Mall. That's is very close to where we are camped and they open for mall walkers at 9 a.m. We've also walked Castleton and Greenwood Park Malls. The last two are still pretty decent malls. Washington Square is dying and it truly is a tragedy that yet another of the icons of years gone by are fading away. I suspect within a few years that mall will be gone. We are now walking two miles in the malls in the morning and in the afternoons we walk Duchess usually on two half-mile walks around the campground.

As the weeks rolled on, the pain diminished and at about five weeks the surgery pain was pretty much gone. This is the last pain to leave. . . it's the one at the base of your spine. I kid you not, every time I would move, change positions, or get up out of bed or a chair, it felt like someone took a butcher knife and stabbed me in the back. That's as close as I can come to describing the pain. And this pain was there even with pain pills. I can honestly say I was starting to get a little depressed, so we planned a few little outings to keep things interesting.

Riding in the car is a challenge. Short hops are fine; but we have made two trips up north to see family and after two hours, things start aching. I still am taking the occasional pain pill for moments like that. My legs get "restless" and my butt starts to hurt. I did buy some gel cushions for in the car and those are helping. I also wear my back brace in the car and that helps. I'm guessing it helps to stabilize my back.

It's now seven weeks post surgery and I still have the same restrictions. Basically I can't do anything. I am up though and I have driven some, if I haven't taken a pain pill. Picking things up off the floor is difficult because I can't bend. I help with dishes, but I not supposed to do things with repetitive motions. I don't do things every day, but occasionally I help set the table, etc. It feels good to be a team again and I don't overdo it. Terry keeps a watchful eye and will remind me. He's getting me back for all the times I "remind" him about stuff he's not supposed to do. LOL

Saturday we will be leaving Indy KOA and heading north. We are spending a couple nights in Warsaw as we are all taking Mom out for Mother's Day. Then we will spend a few days at the house. We hope to work on it some this summer and start cleaning it out in preparation for selling it. We use it so infrequently that it doesn't pay to keep it. We will never live there permanently because Terry can't stand the cold weather in the winter, so we need to work at getting it sold.

We are toying with the idea of heading to Mississippi for the family reunion. We are going to try to do it, but whether we succeed will be determined by my being able to withstand the travel. I'm hoping the motorhome with its air suspension will be better than riding in the car.

So that's where we stand now. Things are going very well with my back. My limp is slowing fading and my bursitis is also healing. The two conditions were related to my back problems and are starting to correct themselves as the back heals. Whoo hoo!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Rain Rain Go Away. . . . . . . . .

Terry here again!

We moved to higher ground today.

Two days of heavy rain looked like this at 8 a.m. this morning. 

We closed up the RV, went to Walmart and bought taller boots to tear down camp. In twelve years of living in the RV we've never needed more than low cut water shoes, not today. We are now about ten feet higher in the KOA, if we flood out now so will I-70 about ¼ mile away. Three to four more days of rain in the forecast for the coming week and it's raining hard now.

This week after our “normal spring doctor's appointments,” we took a ride in search of an Amish food store for dried onions, cheese and meat. We had remembered a store close to Milroy, Indiana, about 30 miles from our campground. It still exists! Stocked up on what we went for and headed back to Phaeton Place. On the way I saw a sign for Moscow, Indiana, and thought I remembered a covered bridge being located there. I was right!!! However it was lifted off it's piers by a tornado in 2008 and rebuilt with recycled parts in 2010. This is the Moscow Covered Bridge of today.

 

Till next time. . . 

We're here for the long haul!

Made a trip to Goshen Easter weekend to visit with family and friends. Found that riding 110 miles was hard on Dale's back even with several stops to stretch. We came back Tuesday for Dale's first surgery followup on Wednesday. I'm glad to say all is well per her surgeon...next follow up is in late June. We are still doing the daily walking as physical therapy at present most days are about 2.5 miles with 1.5 miles being early morning at a local mall.

This morning we dropped Duchess off at DeTails in McCordsville, Indiana, for a spa treatment. Next stop was U-Haul in northeast Indianapolis to have a Class #3 trailer hitch installed on the Flex. It was all done in less than 45 minutes and looks to be a very nice job. I opted to do the wiring myself since the Flex is already wired for towing by the motorhome and I didn't want any of that harness messed with.

We were doing a walk at Hamilton Commons shopping area when the groomers called advising Duchess was ready to pickup. We had almost finished our 1.5 miles and were about 6 miles away, so back we went. Duchess looks great, nice to find a groomer who knows a “Scottie cut” is different than a “Schnauzer cut."

The next two weeks are taken up with doctor's appointments, blood tests, our broker and hair care for Dale. Will the fun never end. Yes it will! On the 13^th of May we're outta here, since our 2 month stay will be over, then up to northern Indiana for a while.

Till next time. . . 

Still here.... yes it's me, Terry again!

Here in Mt. Comfort Indiana for another 5 weeks, at the KOA. We've decided to hang out here since there is more to do here than in area's farther to the east. Dale can get daily walks in at various malls close by without a 20 mile drive to Muncie or Richmond, if we moved over to New Castle. She is doing very well with her recovery, and walking over 2 miles per day now. I am, on the other hand, getting a real workout doing the household stuff since she isn't allowed to do any, bending, twisting or lifting for another 3 months plus. But she's taken care of me for years without a complaint, so I'm glad to help her now.

I did take her out for lunch this past Saturday at Texas Roadhouse on Shadeland Ave on the east side of Indianapolis after our walk at the Greenwood Park Mall and stops at Camping World and Old Time Pottery.. She got a steak and as usual they did a great job for a chain steakhouse. My ½ pound cheeseburger and cup of chilli were excellent also, we each brought back about ½ of our meal back to the motorhome and ate those for supper.

Sunday we went and did two miles at Castleton Square Mall on the north east side of Indianapolis, and then hit a new grocery in Carmel called “Market District” for some needed supplies. It was an upscale grocery very similar to a “Wegman's” found in the North East. Found out it is an offering by “Giant Eagle” another NE grocery chain. It also reminded us of the “Central Market” stores owned by “H.E.B.” in Texas. Basically it fit the old adage, “If you don't see it, you don't need it”. Market District had a larger variety of meat and seafood than we've seen in this part of the country with many prepared meals to go.

Monday was another day of mall walking and hanging at the RV park. We went to New Palestine, Indiana, and met up Dale's cousin Nancy and her husband Roy for lunch at a local pub. The food at “The Around the Corner Pub” was very good as was our catching up on each other's kids and grandkids.

Editor's Note: A big thanks to Terry for helping with the blog. Not yet into doing much reading or writing, so I am glad he is able to help.

Till next time. . .

Still moving on. . .

Terry here.

It's been 12 days since Dale's back surgery and all is going well. The pain in the area of the incision is less each day, but still requires medication. She hasn't had the nagging sciatica pain down each leg and doesn't have the hip pain she has had in the past, which is a definite plus. Most mornings she's up by 6:00, which is early for her, but it's time for her meds which is fine. We've been driving about 8 miles every morning to a local mall so she can walk on a smooth surface rather than the gravel of the RV park. She has gotten to 1.2 miles for the morning walk and another .6 miles during our “big” walk with Duchess when the weather permits. On these walks she is using her “hiking poles” to steady her on the gravel in case she trips, which could twist her back.

We bought two sets of the poles years ago, have lugged the around in the motorhome seldom used. They sure have come in handy during her recovery. There is no physical therapy for her surgery, other than walking and that is “walk as much as you like and more.” The doctor's office has checked on her several times since her release from the hospital and have complimented her on her walking efforts. The later part of April brings her 1^st in office followup visit and our spring doctor's appointments.

We have decided to extend our stay here at the KOA Indy East another month since no other rv parks anywhere close has access to walking areas close by. So we will be here until May 13^th and at that time we will head to northern Indiana.

Till next time. . . 

Healin' time!

We be healin'!...Terry here.

Dale had her surgery last Friday morning, the Doctor was very happy with the results and found nothing outside his expectations. He felt both places in her spine were relieved of pressure during the surgery.

The doctor released her late Sunday afternoon after her incision drain was removed and she was able to walk the hall and climb a set of stairs.

We arrived back at the campground about 7:30 with a couple Wendy's cheeseburgers and a large order of fries to split for supper. She has been in some pain and has eaten little without feeling nauseous. The pain pills knock out the pain and her at the same time. So yesterday was spent watching her dose in and out between pills. Today she called and got some nausea meds called in. After adding those she has felt much better and was able to walk twice as far outside as she did yesterday after dinner.

I dressed her incision as directed yesterday and it appears to be between 4 & 5 inches long, but looks rather good considering it's only been 3 days. We've been hanging out in the motorhome for the most part, only going out for perscriptions and groceries.

I picked up Duchess from the kennel yesterday afternoon about 4. The kennel owner said she did great and ate all he foods and gave no problems on her insulin injections. She acted happy to be back in the RV.

Until next time

Terry

Surgery time!

Good Morning all...Terry here

We have left The Rio Grande Valley as of the 12^th of March. Dale's 91 year old mother, Alice, traveled north with us at a considerably slower pace than her past trips since we made the trip in 6 days as opposed to the 3 days that she & Dale's Dad would cover the 1500 miles from northern Indiana.

This is about a month early for us to be in Indiana, since we came straight to Indianapolis to prepare for Dale's lower back surgery which is scheduled for Friday, March 24th. We opted for the early arrival rather than visiting Jocelyn's and Brandon's families in Florida and Virginia, due to a required 6 month post op follow up that would have kept us in Indiana until late October or November.

We traveled a more easterly route to Indiana due to cold weather along a more direct route north. We cut up across Louisiana to Natchez, Mississippi, and the start of the Natchez Trace Parkway. This 420+ mile long two lane road to Nashville, Tennessee, is one of Dale's favorite drives at a leisurely 50 miles an an hour. No commercial traffic is allowed and it is uninterrupted by any stop signs along the complete route. Two short segments were missed, one around Kosciusko, Mississippi, for a fuel stop and the other was near Hohenwald, Tennessee, for a parkway bridge rebuild. All of our en-route stops were one night only except, for a stop in Brandon, Mississippi, which was two nights so we could visit with my 1^st cousin Lanny and his wife Trish.

Lanny is a PHD veterinarian on staff at Mississippi State and is Executive Director of three state diagnostic centers. After a nice dinner at Georgia Blue, Lanny and Trish took us on a tour of the main center a few miles away, one of three locations that Lanny's involved in. The center is where research is done in finding the causes of animal illnesses and possible impacts on the in state livestock industry,  be it cattle, poultry, fish or any other species. Lanny has been involved with this facility for the past 16+ years since it was proposed to the state, getting the required funding and construction. He has done a great job and has much to be proud of in this 10 year old center.

We checked into the KOA Indianapolis East mid afternoon this past Saturday, with plans to be here at least a month, maybe two as she recovers. Dale had pre-op appointments and an MRI on Monday and everything is a go, barring an illness, on her part. Yesterday Dale's sister Nita visited with us and picked up Alice for the final leg of her trip to her home in Claypool, close to Warsaw in northern Indiana. Also yesterday we took Duchess to visit a vet referred kennel close by, had a tour and a meet and greet for Duchess with the staff. This boarding facility is by far the nicest we've seen in all the years we've had dogs. Duchess will be boarded there from Thursday night until Monday or Tuesday after Dale is released from the hospital.

Yesterday I purchased a 30 pound propane tank to supplement our on board propane tank, since we were expecting some cold weather during our stay and moving the RV to buy propane wasn't in my game plan. I had added a “tap” to the high pressure section of the propane line over the winter. Thirty pounds of propane will power our two furnaces for up to 20 hours of continuous use; at present it's 28 degrees and our roof mounted heat pumps stop producing heat in the high 30's.

Until next time.....

Terry

Our stay is coming to an end...

Terry here!

Our winter in south Texas is coming to an end. We leave Sunday for Indiana, with Dale's mom traveling with us. I haven't determined our route yet as we are keeping an eye on the weather north of us. If our regular route looks iffy, we'll head east along the gulf before heading north. Our destination is the Indianapolis East KOA, west of Greenfield IN. Dale has pre-surgery appointments on March 20^th before back surgery on the 24^th @ St. Vincent's Hospital on the north side of Indy. We plan to be at the KOA for at least month or possibly two, post-surgery.

This winter season has been great, we've spent much the time with Dale's mom, Alice, having her over for meals, attending street dinners, taking in the sun and shopping. The weather has been great most of the time with temps from the mid 70's to a high a couple of weeks ago of 96. We have had little rain, with most days starting cloudy and breaking into bright sun by 10AM, great for our morning 2.5 mile walks.

February saw a two week visit by good friends Jim & Luanne Cripe of Syracuse IN, Luanne was matron of honor in our wedding 45+ years ago. We try to get together several times each summer. Luanne retired from nursing in January, with Jim retiring from the parks department in July so they were getting their feet wet in the world of “slow motion” after the working life.

We saw full timing friends Dave and Sandy Gibson twice over the season. They were in the area for doctors appointments on concerns of Sandy's continued back problems. Nice to see them again after a few years.

We've started putting stuff away and getting ready to close up the two properties, since the weather forecast was rain Tuesday through Saturday. So far very little has fallen Tuesday and today, which is fine, won't be any rushing to get it all done.

Until next time?

Finally got around to it!

Terry threatened that if I didn't blog something soon, he was going to highjack the blog and post something. I told him to go ahead, but here I am.

Luanne, my friend from high school and her husband Jim are arriving here Tuesday night, so I have been busy getting things ready for their visit. They will stay in the Texas room, so that is very comfortable. It's actually an efficiency apartment, so they will have everything they need there. I've been trying to think of things to do while they are here. They were here a few years ago and we did some sightseeing, but there are many more things we can do. We are anxious to see them.

It's a good thing they didn't come the last two weeks because we were sick. We got the "Texas Crud" which is a bad cold that lingers for going on two weeks. Terry got it first, then when he was going strong, I started in with it. But we are both better now and fortunately for us, the coughing has not lingered. With some people, they continue to cough for weeks, so I am glad we are not doing that.

Duchess is doing okay. I am reading all I can about canine diabetes and I'm finding that most vets just encourage you to inject twice a day with checks periodically at the vets. The forums I am on do not subscribe to that theory and encourage home testing of your dog. The reason being is that food, exercise and insulin all conspire to regulate blood sugar and too much or not enough of any one of those items can cause highs and lows in blood sugar. Lows in dogs are particularly dangerous because the dog cannot tell us they are getting dizzy or crashing. If they are asleep, they can easily slip into a coma, so home testing is important. In fact, most of the people on the forums seek out a vet for the initial diagnosis, and that is the last time the vet actually treats the disease. They do all their own testing and adjust doses depending on what is going on with the dog. They even do their own glucose curves which tell what is happening during the day starting with a fasting blood sugar.

I do think home testing is what I am aiming for, because many of these people have been able to slow or halt the advancement of blindness in their animals which tends to have a rapid onset after the initial diagnosis. We do know that Duchess is developing cataracts, so she will still have regular vet visits, but I am hoping to do a reasonable job of keeping her blood sugar under control. We are still working at getting her regulated. I do have the pet testing kit now and have tried it a couple times. She tolerates it well and it is a little easier than I thought it would be. She is a sweetie. I want to do what I can to help manager her disease and keep her healthy. I made her a Scottie bag to carry all her supplies. She has her test kit, small and large sharps containers, extra test strings and lancets, a cold pack insulin container, and her medical folder with all her information. Here is a picture of the bag. Hers is on the left, while my bigger bag is on the left.

A few weeks ago two of my nieces, Michelle and Staci, drove down here from Indiana to see Mom. They were here for about five days. It was a whirlwind while they were here. Their days were filled with shopping and playing cards and they even twisted my arm into playing cards with them a couple evenings. It was fun and I think they enjoyed their time here. It was cloudy some days, but they did have some sunny warm days as well. It certainly was warmer than Indiana at the time.

Our street dinners have started. The residents of each street sponsor and prepare a dinner as a fund raiser. This helps us to keep our assessments low. Ours was two weeks ago, just prior to our getting sick. We prepare a pork loin dinner which is very good. Today Mom and I went to the roast beef dinner. It was very tasty and we both brought part of it home. The hall was really hot tonight and I wondered if the air conditioning was even working. It normally keeps us cold and today it was very warm. The place was packed as well. They normally limit the tickets to the capacity of the hall, but with people going from 4 to 6, it can handle many more. They actually had to set up more tables tonight. I think their dinner was a great success. Terry doesn't go to the dinners because he cannot have salt. But he's gracious about not minding if I go with Mom, so he fixed something here at home.

Our park seems to be fuller this year than it has been for several years. There has been some turnover, with some older members passing away. It seems younger people are coming in looking for cheaper living in the winter and it is fairly inexpensive to live here. And it's a nice, safe community as well.

I have been taking Spanish lessons since the beginning of January. A lady in the community visits several of the parks and teaches us conversational Spanish. She is very dedicated. She surely has been trained as a teacher, because her techniques are very good. She is very encouraging. We laugh and have fun. She enjoys teaching and it shows and we all enjoy learning from her. Half of the class is made up of French Canadians. They already speak French and English and are learning Spanish. They learn very quickly too. They seem very dedicated. I really must practice for next week. It's a review week and I want to be sure I can put into practice some of what I've learned.

That brings you up-to-date with what we've been doing. We are beginning to plan our exit from the valley. I plan to have back surgery when we get to Indiana, so we may be leaving earlier than usual.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Message for Commenter

This note is for Gary, who asked the question about towing our Sport Trac. I replied to your comment, but you made it back in a post I had made in November. It was entitled "Family Time." So you will have to look for it there. I'm posting this note in the event you didn't remember where you posted it. I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you. Once you let me know you have found it, I will take this message down.

I have moderated comments, which is why you didn't see it posted right away. I'm assuming that's why you tried to post multiple times. That's okay. . . but that's why it didn't show up.

Dale

Sweet, sweet Duchess!

 

Our wee Scottie lass, Duchess, has not been herself lately. This has been going on about ten days before I called the vet. She started drinking at least a gallon of water a day (or wanted to) and that is not good for such a small dog. There are several health issues that can cause that and none of them are good.

We took her to the vet this week. I had taken in a urine sample and turns out our little gal is diabetic. Her blood sugar was 346, supposed to be same as humans, 80-120. And she spilled over 1000 units in her pee. So there is no doubt that she is diabetic. That's the cause of her excessive thirst. So he put her on 3 units of insulin to begin with. We have to give her a shot morning and evening. We take her back on Monday for a fasting blood sugar and he will decided if we need more testing. It sometimes takes a bit to get them regulated, but once we get the right dose, it will pretty much stay the same.

So while it wasn't the best news, it was not a death sentence. This is something that can be managed. I just hope we can get it under control quickly so she can get to feeling better. She already is back to drinking normally, so that's a start!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Merry Christmas!

We had Mom over after we had unwrapped our presents and we all had breakfast. I had made an egg casserole the night before, so I just had to pop it into the microwave. It was really good.

We exchanged gifts with Mom. I got her a lightweight step ladder she can use to access her cupboards. She is always dragging a chair over and I don't want her falling, so I got her a ladder like mine.

Our dinner at the hall was delayed till 1:30 because of it being Sunday. So after church, all the tables and chairs had to be set up and the people working on the food preparation had to have time to get ready for the big crowd.

We did enjoy our dinner and visited with some friends before coming back home. None of us did much else the rest of the day!

We hope your Christmas involved family and fellowship with your loved ones.

Till next time. . .

Dale

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Mom and took the golf cart one warm evening and checked out the Christmas decorations in several parks. We went to Sleepy Valley, Dream Valley, Pleasant Valley and our park Restful Valley.

Till next time. . . 

Dale

Life in the slow lane. . .

Winters in south Texas are just that. . . life in the slow lane. While there are many things to do to keep you busy, you can do them when you want and at your own speed. Kind of like my blog. . . . LOL Bet you didn't see that one coming!

We cleaned when we got here and spent time visiting with friends we hadn't seen in a year. We decided to sign up for Thanksgiving dinner at the hall. That way we could have a great meal, see everyone who is back and wouldn't have a big mess to clean up. The dinner was excellent and we enjoyed spending the day with friends.

We have had really nice weather up to Thanksgiving and the week after. Then we had a cold spell and it got wet as well. We actually had some thunder which is unusual down here. The weather just jumps back and forth between cool/cold and warm/hot.

 Shortly after Thanksgiving, mom and I got our Christmas trees up. I have a new white one because the white one I had before turned all
brown. Yuck. It must be from the heat. I could have kept it and put it outside. Lit up at night you wouldn't be able to see the brown on it. But I like my new one. It's prelit which makes it really easy. I just had to put it together. It has three parts that fit into one another and then I put the ornaments on it. Easy peasy. I did put most of my other decorations up. I like manger scenes, so I found a place for all of those.  Mom's little tree goes in the corner and still looks very nice and festive.

I managed to get some sewing done before Christmas. A couple years ago I made bags for everybody except myself. I really struggled to find the fabric I wanted, but when I saw the black/white Scottie fabric, I knew I had found it. I had all the pieces cut out, so I finally was able to put it together. It turned out well and now I have my own. I have fabric cut for 3 or 4 more, so I hope to get those done while we are here this winter.

I also made a new wreath. It really is a "fall" themed wreath. I added a bit of tinsel which made it more Christmasy, but I intended it to be more for Thanksgiving. But since I have no more storage space, it will probably remain on the wall year round. LOL

Mom and I hope to take the golf cart and look at Christmas decorations at some of the parks around. Pictures will follow!

Till next time. . .

Dale 

Moving right along

Once we left the Intracoastal Park, we drove on to Houston and stopped at Advanced RV Park in Pearland. We arrived on Tuesday and went to visit my cousin Jim.

Jim continues to recover from a cardiac event from a few years ago. He has started Scuba diving again and is looking forward to a trip to Cozumel in March to dive in open water. Good luck Jim. Hope that all goes well for you.

On Wednesday, we had a doctor's appointment for Terry with a new cardiologist in Houston. In the past four years, all his doctors/specialists have either retired or resigned, going into other lines of work. A really sad thing to have happen as a result of changes in the health care system. So he has all new doctors. None have known him  before and we struggle to make sure they know what is going on with Terry. But he had a good report and we are good for another six months.

Wednesday evening we headed out to Hobby Airport to wait on Mom's plane. Her plane was almost a half hour early in arriving, so we wanted to make sure we allowed enough time. I was able to get an NPE (non-passenger escort) pass, go through security and meet Mom at the gate. My niece Kellie flew down with her and saw to it that she had good help. Mom was surprised to see me there, and we all got a ride on a cart by one of the airport stewards and we got to baggage where Terry was waiting. Kellie had left us earlier because she had another flight to Las Vegas to catch.

We got Mom's luggage and walked to the car which wasn't far away and off we went. I had made some homemade soup that was waiting for us when we got back and we had a late supper, then off to bed.

The next morning we got up early and drove 300 miles to Edinburg, Texas. It's only 40 more miles to the park, but that would have meant setting up in the dark and I did not want to do that. So we spent the night and Friday we drove on in.

We got to the park in Mission at about 10 a.m. on Friday and worked the rest of the day to get things opened up and all systems running. We got Mom's water and electric and gas all turned on and she was happy to piddle around in her trailer. We carried over her luggage and the few things we had brought with us and she spent time getting things in order.

Saturday morning we left around 8 a.m. and went to Walmart to shop for groceries. Mom wanted to get stocked up on things so she wouldn't have to go for a while. We got a few staples as well.

The biggest challenge for Terry was the golf cart. A battery post had literally been dissolved on one battery. He had never seen that happen nor had anyone else. For 8 years he has gotten it ready to store and nothing like that has ever happened. So he thought it might require all new batteries, because replacing just one will lead to the others failing. But the batteries seemed to be fairly good. Terry got on the internet and found a YouTube video which showed how to "fix" the missing battery post. I took him out yesterday to get what he needed. He came home, performed the fix, and she ran! Best part was that it cost $4 vs $500 for all new batteries! Whoo hoo! O Happy Day! So we put it on charge all day and night and it's fully charged this morning! Hope it all holds. Mom has her wheels back and I am grateful for that.

We continue to whittle down our list of stuff that needs to be done. The Texas Room is in good shape and we are busy getting stuff out for the Thanksgiving season.

All is well here! Mom is happy in her trailer and we are doing well. Duchess has had many walks already. She is always willing to go. She remembers familiar things around here and she is certainly happy that Mom's trailer is occupied again!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Barge Watch!

It rained most of the night and into the morning. We were spending two nights here, so we relaxed and didn't do much except watch the barge traffic.

We are here at a county park at the Ellender Bridge on the Intracoastal Waterway. It is fun to watch the boats go by. We have a lot of barges traveling through this canal, both east bound and west bound. Occasionally you see one sitting back along the side waiting its turn to get through the bridge. In addition to the barges, we have seen shrimp boats and yachts as well as small fishing boats. There are two boat launch ramps in this park for anyone who wants to offload their boat.

The waterway is 1050 miles long and runs from Carrabelle, Florida, to Brownsville, Texas. It is an impressive structure and uses some natural waterways in the course of those miles. The canal is 12 feet deep.

This afternoon we left and went into Lake Charles to the Golden Nugget casino. I'm happy to report I did well. I won enough to cover Terry's losses and my losses from a couple days ago. Whoo hoo! And once I did that, I quit. We had played for about an hour and a half, which was quite fun.

Tomorrow we are headed to Houston where we will stay at Advanced RV Park. And on Wednesday we will be picking up Mom at the airport in the evening.

Till the next time. . .

Dale

Cajun Riviera!

We left the camp near Amite, Louisiana, in the morning and planned a stop at a rest area along I-10, but it was gone. So many rest areas have been taken out and GPS's and maps don't have the information yet. So we continued on.

We had a couple spots to stop for the night near Lake Charles, but first we had to cross that high bridge at Lake Charles! The first camp was a motel/RV park which gets really good reviews and we did go by it. It looked like a very nice park and we thought if the other spot didn't pan out, we would come back to that one. We got on down near Sulpur, Louisiana, and crossed over the lift bridge that spans camp the Intracoastal Waterway. We could see the camp on the far side of the canal, but we had to drive on around the curve to come back into it. It is a very nice county park with water and 50A electric for $12 a night. Whoo hoo! Terry's kind of park. There is a bathhouse, but it's not as nice as ours! We are parked right on the canal with steps that lead down to the water.

We can see all kinds of barges, boats, yachts, fishing boats, etc., going under the bridge. It only has to lift the deck when something extra high goes through, so most of the time, it stays down. It's pretty cool.

Yesterday afternoon Terry wanted to go down to Cameron, Louisiana, because he read really good reviews about a restaurant there. I looked up the venue and found it was basically a burger joint and all the fish/seafood was fried, which I don't care for. But we decided to go have a look. What a ride!

It was a bit reminiscent of the drive down to Cousin Gary's place at Leeville, except it was even more desolate and less populated. Water on both sides and marshy grasses. Most of the way was a nice two-lane highway with pull offs and parking areas for you to fish the bayous and canals. And there were a lot of people fishing. There were warning signs for alligators. . . no thank you! We passed through Hackberry, which was the last "town" we really saw that had a grocery/post office, before we got to Cameron.

We first came to Holly Beach, which is known as "The Cajun Riviera." We have heard of this before and were always curious about it. It is one fine beach. You can drive and camp on the beach. There are no high rises, but there are houses on stilts and lots of RV's. One person had rentals at one time and they got blown away by one hurricane, then another finished them off. So now he has some FEMA trailers in there and rents them out to tourists. He said he can't get insurance on any structures there anymore, so he went cheaper. All the roads are still there from before the hurricanes. From my research, the first hurricane to hit the populated beach was Hurricane Audrey in 1957. Next was Hurricane Rita in 2005, and then Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. Still there are about 300 people who live on this stretch of the Cajun Riviera. It really is an unspoiled bit of paradise where one could sit on the beach enjoying the sand and the winds off the Gulf. There appear to be many RV's on lots, some are rentals, but some may be owner occupied.

We decided to continue on to Cameron, even though we discovered we had to cross over an inlet by ferry! We couldn't remember the last time we were on a ferry! Perhaps the Yukon Territory? But we made it across, watching the dolphins play in the water. One was pushing straight up in the water, then he eventually made two leaps/flips completely out of the water! How cool. He was too quick for me to get pictures, but it was a thrill. We continued on to Cameron and found the "restaurant" Terry had wanted to eat at. We passed. . . I didn't want fried food and there were more restaurants on our GPS. . . . Yeah, we fell for that one. We continued the "14" miles which turned more into 35. The Harborside Seafood Restaurant was supposed to be in a small community on "Big Lake" but when we got there, we found only houses and no restaur

ant. Bummer. We were really hungry by now. We had decided to drive on up the east side of Calcasieu Lake (we are camped on the west side). . . how far could that be? Plenty far we found out. It was a LOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG drive and it got dark on us. It was even more desolate than the east side, but we still enjoyed the adventure. Once we got into civilization, we found a Taco Bell and ate a couple tacos before gassing up and making our way back to our camp. It was a FOUR HOUR ADVENTURE, kind of like what the "Minnow" took that fateful day. Ours had a much better ending, and Duchess was waiting on her supper when we got back. She opted to eat first, then go out. . . LOL.

Today we have our window shades pulled back so we can see the activity heading under the bridge. It's raining, as it did for the entire night, but it is supposed to stop later this morning, so it should be an enjoyable day. May head up to a casino later.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Family time!

We moved on from Buccaneer State Park in Waveland, Mississippi, to the Natalbany Campground in Amite, Louisiana. We are here to visit cousin Gary and wife Jo. Normally we stay at their house, parking in the back yard. That wasn't possible this trip because three months ago, about August 20, this entire area in Louisiana was hit with over 30 inches of rain in a very short period. It was an "unnamed" tropical storm and it wreaked havoc on the entire lower part of the state. Gary and Jo woke up to three feet of water in their yard. Jo's office where she works on advertising specialties was full of river water. The house is built up off the ground on pylons three feet tall, so they were fortunate that they had no water in their house. The water lasted 36 hours and then receded. In addition to Jo's shop being inundated, their outbuildings and barns had nearly three feet of water in them and much of the equipment and tools stored there are probably ruined. Their Prevost bus in the backyard had water in the storage bays, but none in the coach itself, but the generator was flooded and it does not work. They worked tirelessly to get Jo's shop cleaned up and three weeks later she was able to get back in and work.

Today we toured some of the hardest hit areas around Denham Springs which Gary said left 55,000 residents with significant flood damage or homes totally destroyed by the water. Driving down through the streets of town, we saw piles of debris piled up on the sides of the road. In some subdivisions, only one lane was passable due to the debris. Gary said these were not the first loads set out by the road. People would haul ruined goods out, then when they started working on their homes, they would put out ruined dry wall and insulation, etc. So many of the debris piles were the 3rd and 4th piles of debris set out for the trash company to pick up. It was heartbreaking to see this. The Wal-Mart there was flooded and is still not open. . . three months later. Many businesses were closed and not likely to re-open. So much debris.

We visited a friend of Jo's and her husband. Gary and Jo's travel trailer sits in the back yard of their once flooded home where they have been living. When they first had to leave, they went to a shelter. They were moved to three different shelters. When Gary and Jo learned of this they took their trailer over and set it up for them. All their possession they were able to keep are on their covered patio. They were one of the lucky ones. They had flood insurance and insurance on contents, but it still hasn't been easy. They still have not gotten a settlement but are expecting one. While we were there, the gentlemen thanked Gary and Jo for their help and generosity in loaning them their trailer. He said one man told him he and his son had to move in with his sister and brother-in-law who is charging them $900 a month to live with them. And all he provides them for food is hot dogs and bologne while his family sits at the same table and eats steak in front of them. Gary told him they can keep the trailer as long as they need it, even if it's a year. This couple was very grateful for the kindness shown them.

Gary and Jo had barely cleaned up their place from the flood when they were in a terrible auto accident on I-12. I reported about this in an earlier blog Winding down, , ,, so I won't repeat it here. But they are recovering. Gary is able to drive, although his arm is still in a cast. Jo is still in a wheelchair because a broken bone in her leg needs to heal before it can bear weight. They seem to be doing well and are able to get around. Jo also has a motorized cart with which she can go out in the yard.

It was great to see them considering all their recent trials. We are glad they are recovering well and looking forward to the days ahead.

Till next time. . .

Dale