Same ol' same ol'

Well, we weren't back in Indiana two minutes before the weather turned nasty. Had really nasty storms while we were hiding out in Remington, Indiana, at the Caboose Campground. I guess maybe it's a sign we aren't supposed to be here. . . ?? But we are here and in Goshen as of last Monday. We spent the week getting ready for the rally we host here. . . the RV Capital IV Rally to be exact. We hold it at the Elkhart Campground and we had about 25 rigs here. It was very nice, the weather held for us (no snow, thanks to our weather chairman who has redeemed himself since last year's snow fiasco during the rally). I gave the rig a good cleaning before we went over, plus I cleaned most of the house. . . what I had time for anyway. We went over Thursday morning and there were already some rigs there. We had taken a truck load of firewood over earlier in the week to save our spot. We had a steady stream of people coming in Thursday and Friday. It was great to see everyone again and we even met some new people. I was glad when one of the newbies told me that it was everything I had told her it would be. She was afraid she wouldn't feel comfortable meeting so many new people, but that's whats nice about RV'ers. They are just a friendly lot. Besides, she had a Corgi and I told her we all wanted to see her doggie.

We brought Phaeton Place back over to the house along with the car and truck and left early afternoon to go to the woods south of Warsaw where Mom and Dad had arrived the night before. They are camped down at my sister's woods. We visited with them and checked on the new house my sister and husband are building. It will be absolutely beautiful.

We are back to Goshen now and have mowed the yard again. We are trying to keep it mowed when we are here and then having it mowed while we are gone. We are leaving in the morning for central Indiana. Terry has doctor appointments and I have a dentist appointment, a hair appointment, etc. Daughter Jocelyn is flying in on Thursday to Indianapolis so we are picking her up there and bringing her up here to see family, etc.

This next week should prove uneventful. We are going to be here for a few weeks. Son Brandon is flying in the middle of May to Indy, so we will be seeing him then as well. In June we will be returning to Memphis to the acupuncturist and then on to Mississippi for the family reunion and Red Bay, Alabama, for some more coach work.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back Home Again in Indiana!

We have arrived. Actually, we arrived yesterday. More later, but there is work to be done and I will get in trouble if I am caught on the computer. Just wanted everybody reading the blog to know we are here. RV Capital IV Rally is this coming weekend, so there is lots to do.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Beale Street

Today we decided to talk a tour of Beale Street in downtown Memphis. During the day, Beale Steet is quiet calm, as it is a real hot spot at night. Lots of bars, restaurants and little shops, not unlike some you would find in New Orleans, except it was a little cleaner and just about 3 blocks long. It was actually a nice time to visit the shops as it was uncrowded and not busy. I bought a metal art flamingo to put in front of the motorhome. I will take a picture and get it on line.

Afterwards, we went in search of campgrounds on the southwest side, which happens to be the area where Graceland is located. We drove by Graceland several times. The lines were very long to get in. I would imagine it would be like that all the time. While I am a fan of Elvis' music, I really don't have any desire to visit Graceland and be one of hundreds on the grounds at any one time.

We didn't find any campgrounds suitable in the area. We wanted one southwest so when we come back in June for more acupuncture appointments, we would find a better place to stay. Tunica is looking better, actually. It would be more comfortable, just further away, but that may be what we do.

The acupuncture appointments are going well. My sciatica pain is almost gone. I'm not sure how many treatments I really need, but tomorrow will be my last one for awhile, as we have to get to northern Indiana for the RV Capital IV Rally. Acupuncture does not hurt. I am amazed that it works the way it does. I have been reading up on it and it is an amazing art. Terry's cousin and her husband who use acupuncture for back pain get relief for about a year, then go back in for another treatment. I would be extremely happy if that works for me. I had an epidural which lasted about 9 months. I am too young to keep pumping that much cortisone in my body every year.

We are leaving tomorrow around noon and will plan on driving a couple long days if we can to make it up to Goshen. Our rally there starts on Friday, but many of us are planning on being there a few days early to get everything in place and ready to go.

We have talked with another couple here in the park who also own a Phaeton. Dave and Dianne live on Pickwick Lake and have invited us to get in touch with them sometime when we are in the area. We may just do that, as we plan to visit family in northern Mississippi every year.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Needles and Pins

Well, yesterday morning was my first acupuncture session. I wasn't scared or anything. I had read a lot and knew exactly what to expect. Dr. Barry Song is a Korean practitioner using a very ancient method of acupuncture. He asked a lot of questions and I asked him if he thought he could help me. He said, "Oh, yes." I think he must have placed about 12 needles in my back and I really could not feel them, except for the last one, which just twinged a little. He said that was why he had placed that one last and it went to the nerve that is causing me all the problems. He put a heat lamp over my back then and that felt so good. The needles were left in place about 30 minutes. There is no pain with the needles. I didn't feel much different yesterday, but it is not uncommon not to feel better after the first treatment. In fact, from my reading, if you don't notice a lot of relief to begin with, it is a good sign that you will get much more relief later. I slept much better last night and I didn't have a lot of difficulty getting out of bed and walking this morning. I am still achey, but not as much as yesterday. So I am optimistic that I will get some relief. I go again tomorrow and Saturday.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Elvis has left the building. . . well Memphis.

We arrived in Memphis this afternoon. I have an appointment with an acupuncturist tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes. If you've been reading my blog, you may want to go back and see the pictures I have added. I have a much better connection tonight than I have had previously, so I was able to upload some.

We are in the RV park for the Agricenter in Memphis. It is on the east side. We had thought we might go down to Tunica to stay while I was seeing the specialist, but we decided that was about 30 miles away. We are only about 9 miles away here, so this will be much closer. The park here isn't very well appointed. . . the sites are not really kept up and they have us squeezed in between two units and we don't have much room, but it will be fine while we are here. There just isn't much on the outskirts of Memphis in the way of RV parks.

Till next time. . .

Dale

The Calm after the Storm

We are still in Red Bay, Alabama, at the Allegro Campground.
Last night was pretty scary. Lots of storms going through all around and over us. Tornado sightings, but fortunately, most were aloft. Sirens blaring their warning blasts are quite disconcerting when you are sitting in a motorhome. The designated shelter is not large enough to hold everyone from the campground and they would not allow pets, so we were all in our motorhomes. It is questionable whether the building is a safe haven anyway. I'd rather be underground when a storm comes through.

But we were spared and feel thankful that everyone here is still intact today. It quit raining sometime during the night and the ground is starting to dry out. People are out milling around. We can see some blue sky above with some white puffy clouds along with some darker rain-type clouds. You can guess that science wasn't my thing by my cloud descriptions. :-)

The dogs made it though just fine. Neal was a little nervous. Terry put him on the couch with him at one point and that seemed to satisfy him. We pulled in our slides when the storm started, but wind was not a big factor. We were worried about hail, but we didn't have any here. I hope we are always able to avoid storms, but I suppose that is not too realistic. There was no where to go to drive out of this one. It covered too large a swath.

We are getting ready to go visit some relatives. I am waiting for the pill I took to start working. My sciatica is making life miserable for me. I am going to have to try something for it. I am interesting in looking into accupuncture, so if anyone reading knows of a good practioner, please let me know.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Tiffin Service

We got a knock on the door at 11 a.m. this morning telling us to move our coach to Bay 8 as soon as possible. This is an Express Bay and generally limited to 3 hours. But since we got it there shortly after 11, they worked on it until closing at 3 p.m. We now have a new windshield, new blinds, a new control box for the electonic levelers (they weren't working quite right), and a couple other things I cannot recall. Terry asked the guy for a couple parts for things he could fix himself, and they gave them to him. And Monday before we got here, we had the bathtub crack fixed along with the front generator hatch panel which needed beefed up a bit. So it has been a productive trip even though they worked us in without an appointment.

We still have more to do, but will wait on that stuff until we come back in June for the Pace reunion, held just 30 miles from here. We are keeping our service number so we should be first on the list when we return.

We are staying through the weekend and plan on visiting some relatives tomorrow. Right now the county we are in is under a tornado watch. They have a community room in which we can meet for shelter from the storm but they told us we cannot take our pets. I don't know anyone who will plan to go if they have to leave their pets behind. We actually were supposed to get storms starting last night, but so far all we have had are some clouds and lots of wind. Nothing devastating yet, but will keep tuned to the weather channel.


Till next time. . .

Dale

Allegro Campground, Red Bay, AL

We only had to dry camp one day in Red Bay before a campsite became available. So now the waiting game begins. But a fellow came around today and said if we had something that could be fixed in the Express Bay, they could go ahead with it. So we went and talked with the service manager and they are taking the coach in tomorrow morning and replacing the windshield and my blinds that are broken. Then we will begin our trek north. We will be back here in June to get the other things on our list fixed. But we are getting to keep our service number we currently have which means we will be at the top of the list come June. We are learning their system and so we will be able to play the game from now on.


Before we leave the area, however, we are planning on stopping in to see Terry's cousin Lynn and her family and Aunt Teen. Aunt Teen's husband, Clyde just died a month or so ago and we want to go see them.

We are expecting some storms here tonight and tomorrow. Had thought perhaps we should leave, but probably wouldn't be able to drive out of it, so may as well stay put.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Boondocking, day 2

We arrived in Iuka, Mississippi, on Monday afternoon. We drove to Waterway Plastics, which is a Tiffin owned fiberglas company which made our tub/shower enclosure. It has a crack and it's been getting worse. In addition, the front panel on our generator was quite thin and Terry wanted it beefed up. They pulled us in to a slot on their loading dock and they began work immediately on the panel.
The gal who would fix the shower came in to look at it. It was close to closing time and she said she would be there at 7 a.m. Tuesday. We spent an uneventful night boondocking right there until 4:30 a.m. when a semi arrived to deliver steel. We weren't in his way and he eventually shut off his engine as he had to wait for the workers to arrive to offload.

Stephanie came at 7 a.m. and began the process of fixing the tub. The longest part was waiting for the stuff to cure. It wasn't a bad crack. . . did not go through all the layers, and now you cannot even tell where the crack was. She did an excellent job.

At noon we were on our way down here to Red Bay for what we thought was our appointment. Seems they don't have appointments. . . it's first come, first served and this is their busiest time with snowbirds coming back north. The service manager promised he would try and get us in to get the windshield and awning fixed. We will probably be back here in June after the Pace reunion to have some of the other stuff fixed. He said there would be little waiting at that point.

We are in their dry camping area awaiting a campsite which should be today. We have met a lot of other people . . . all Tiffin owners and we are a happy lot!

We are getting ready to ride the bikes into Red Bay and pick up our mail.

Till next time. . .

Dale

L(ower) A(labama) Rally, Dothin, Alabama

The LA Rally at the Peanut Festival grounds is history. We arrived Thursday. There ended up being more people attending than I thought were going to be. Mark and Patsie Beagle were our hosts and they did a great job. Had name tags for everyone and a bag of goodies. Dothan now has a Camping World, so we naturally had to make a run in there. Friday we did some sightseeing around Dothan. We have been through there many times, but never go to downtown. They have several murals painted on old buildings and they are truly beautiful. Each told a story from Dothan's past. I didn't have my camera with me so I didn't get any pictures. Sorry. The group also set up an agility course for the dogs, so Bailey got to try it out. He was unimpressed. :-)


Friday evening we sat around the campfire until Terry got chilly. We were about the only full timers. I think there was one other couple, but they are currently grounded a bit due to health. Saturday afternoon there was a gaudiest hat contest. Terry had helped me decorate my lampshade. . . and while I thought we made a good effort, we didn't even get honorable mention.
Saturday evening we had our potluck which was very good. People bring different things to potlucks, depending upon where they are from so every potluck is different.

You know from reading my earlier posts that our dog, Neal, started having seizures Saturday just before our dinner, so I stayed close to the house after that. We didn't sit at the campfire because we felt he needed watching. Saturday morning coffee and donuts were furnished, so a good visit was had before we left.

Thanks to "twostepr" and wife for making it a great weekend!

Till next time. . .

Dale

My dog, Neal, part 2

Well, Neal had another and his last seizure (for now) at 7 a.m. Fell right into his food dish. When he was able to eat, it took forever. He wanted his food right then, and since his meds are in the food, I wanted him to eat it. He couldn't stand up, he dumped his water bowl and scattered food all over. I ended up picking most of it up and hand feeding him today. We've seen enough of them to note a pattern and that's why I say he is done for now. They are really nasty, but he seems to recover quicker. He is considerably weaker afterwards however. I had been giving him ice cream afterwards, but it's hard to keep it in our freezer. The ice cream helps to boost the blood sugar. The seizures are the equivalent energy-wise of running a marathon. A neighbor suggested honey since it is natural and said that is what her daughter gives her dog. So I tried that. Course Neal loved it and I had to clean his face, my hands, etc., when he was done. And that was just a teaspoon!

We are in for the night, stopping just south of Birmingham. Had wanted to get further, but decided to get some much needed rest and start out fresh tomorrow.

Thanks for all your kind words everyone, but I'm nobody special. I just love my dogs, same as you. :-)

Till next time. . .

Dale

My dog, Neal

Those of you who follow my blog know I travel with two Scottish Terriers. Bailey is black and Neal is my wheaten Scottie. Neal is handicapped with a condition known as cerebellar abiotrophy which presents itself a lot like Parkinson's. There is no pain associated with it, just gradual loss of voluntary muscle movement.

Neal also has the misfortune of being an epi-dog, one with seizures. It is 4 a.m. and I have been up since 1:45. He is clustering, having the first one at 5:00 p.m. as we were getting ready to go to the potluck. Then another at 10 p.m. and then this one at 2 a.m. This time, he manifested the post-ictal phases very prominently. . . lots of pacing, needing to go out, thirsty, etc. He has added a new one, and that is barking. Not exactly what I want to hear at 3 a.m. I have taken him out twice. He also seems to have the munchies and I think that is why he is barking. He wants fed. But that is not going to happen. I gave him a treat, and now. . . some 2 hours after it all started. . . he has finally laid down his weary head. . . and I for some reason seem wide awake.

With tomorrow a travel day, I know I will be wiped out. I made Terry stay in bed and told him he would be driving tomorrow. . . er. . . today. Oh yes, and on top of this, we had to turn our clocks up one hour, which actually gives me one less hour of sleep. But our travel days are no more than 200 miles and that is all that is planned for tomorrow, so I can make it through that.

Here's hoping Neal is done with the seizures for now. It's been over a month since his last and we had boosted his meds. Just no accounting for these blasted seizures, though.

Till next time. . .

Dale