Casting Spells

We traveled on the next day and set up camp in Ocala at the StageStop campground. Our first day there we went to Ikea and walked through the entire store. Its so large and we enjoy looking at everything. We had coffee there and with our IKEA shopper's card, it was free!

I have wanted to visit Universal Studios and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am such a big fan of the books. Fantasy and fiction, but what an imagination it took to turn out such a fabulous story.

So Wednesday was the day! We made one wrong turn, thanks to our Rand McNally GPS, but made it easily. The park opens at 9 and we were there by 9:20. I had thought we would have traffic jams and horrific crowds, but nothing like that materialized getting into the park. Later in the day, the spring break crowds were evident and it was hard to get into some shops.

We spent the day walking around. . . over five miles altogether! Wow. It was quite the workout. There are three things to remember about these parks. . . . rides, restaurants and shoppes. We didn't opt for any rides because all of them had disclaimers for people with heart problems or back problems. Haha. Course we knew that was the case and there were only a couple I would have liked to try, but I don't want to risk injuring my now "totally fixed" back. Terry was never one for carnival type rides, so he wasn't even interested. But it was fun to just take in the sets of the town of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. One of the first things we saw was the "Night Bus."It even had the talking head! We started at Diagon Alley. They are actually two parks in separate areas of Universal, so to see them both, you must purchase a "park to park" pass, which is almost a "double" park pass. Clever, eh? I know it was overpriced and a terrible expense, but I really wanted to go, so. . . . Parts of the area were dark, just like in the movie. It was really all pretty cool. There was a dragon. . . remember the dragon that guarded the vault at Gringotts? He was freed by Harry, Hermione, and Ron and sits atop the bank roof and spews fire out of his mouth periodically. You can hear it start to rumble and then it blows! Hah! There is quite a bit of heat from it, too. He is animated and moves as well.

We eventually got hungry and stepped into the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. Since it was an "English" establishment, we had English food. We had the Ploughman's Platter for two, which included salad, a Scotch egg, beet and apple salad, and bread and cheese. It was quite tasty. We had brought water with us. If you ever go, you are allowed a 20 oz. bottle of water to bring in. Do it, because water is the same price as other drinks and expensive.

The shops all had souvenirs of primarily the same stuff. You could buy wands, capes, etc., to outfit yourself as a bonafide Potter-ite. But that stuff was ALL expensive. A lot of kids were there on spring break and wearing their capes and carrying their wands. You could buy "interactive" wands which did some things when directed at specific displays. But they only worked there on those displays.

We later boarded the Hogwarts Locomotive for the journey over to Hogsmeade. You had to pass through a turnstyle and show your badge and your fingerprint. When we first entered the park, our ticket was scanned and then matched to our fingerprint, so whenever that was needed again, everything had to match. It would discourage anyone from stealing someone's ticket, because some options would not be available without the matching fingerprint.

While on the train, a landscape passed by the windows and shadows passed the door simulating real characters from the Harry Potter movies. It was as if you were on the Hogwarts train going to the castle. Once off the train, we walked out into Hogsmeade to more shops and restaurants. They were all similar in nature to the shops at Diagon Alley, but the architecture was a bit different. The Three Broomsticks was in this area. We did walk up to the "castle" which had a shop at the base of it. The castle itself incorporated a ride, so there wasn't really anything to see other than that. I'm sure the rides were pretty cool, but we weren't interested in them. We walked all around the different themed areas after we finished with Hogsmeade. There were areas named for various cartoon characters and most were geared for small children, but we did take in a snack of dippin' dots and stopped for tea once. After we made that complete circle, we were back in Hogsmeade and we boarded the train for the return trip to Diagon Alley.

Once off the train again, we exited Diagon Alley and walked the area around the other theme parks in this section. There were Transformers, Back to the Future, and Mardi Gras and several others based on movies. It was a lot of fun and we were pretty tired. We left the park around 5:30 p.m. so I think we got our walk in for the day.

Great day for the two of us! (I am having problems getting the pictures to this post, so check back again for updated pix!)

Till next time. . .

Dale

Searching, searching for a campsite!

When we left Gary and Jo's, little did we know we would have such a hard time finding a campsite, but since the weather has been so bad throughout the midwest and further up north, the snowbirds are still mostly hunkered down in Florida trying to keep warm. Can't say that I blame them, but we did want to find a place to camp.  We ended up driving longer and farther than we normally do, but we did finally end up at Alliance Hill RV Resort in Marianna, Florida, for the night.

This is really a nice little camp of just 14 spaces on a guy's farm, but it is obvious that they are planning on expanding it. The camp host who greeted us was a Brit, now a legal U.S. citizen and proud of it! He was really enjoyable to talk with and hard to get away from! You all know someone like that. I told Terry I would love to sit around a fire with him and listen to all his stories. He was a very interesting individual. It was late when we got in, however, and it was turning cold, so we got in and turned on the heat.

The area where this camp is located is south of I-10 and it is smack dab in the middle of where Hurricane Michael came through last year. Now I thought the devastation was so horrific on I-10, but even that paled to the country we drove through on the way to the camp. It was just like the landscape was wiped cleaned. Thousands of trees broken off. They are still cleaning up and rebuilding houses, roofs, etc., trying to get back to normal. Jack, the camp host said they lost 300 trees on the farm and are still working every day to get things cleaned up.

The campground has a small, but nice, rec hall, with a kitchenette, TV room, restrooms and showers. There is a pool out back. It sits high on a ridge, so if you are in the pool, you have quite the view in all directions. It was a really nice camp and we will have to visit again.

The  next evening we drove on to Ocala, Florida for a few days. Terry promised me a special treat, so I'm holding him to it.

Till next time. . .

Dale

And a fun time was had by all . . .

We visited at Cousin Gary and Jo's on Wednesday. His sister Shirley and her daughter Vikki were visiting from Mississippi, so we had a little mini-family reunion! It was good to see them.

Thursday, we girlies all left in the late morning and went shopping. We went to craft stores and I got some more yarn. . . hmmmmm imagine that! We ate out at Cowboy Chicken which was good. At least what I got I really liked. I had been wanting to try this restaurant as they have one in Mission, Texas, that we had never tried.

Today Shirley and Vikki left to go back to Mississippi and Gary and Jo drove over to our camp and picked us up. We ran a couple errands and then ended up at a restaurant called Middendorf's in Akers, Louisiana. It is between Lake Maurepas and Lake Ponchartrain. It is famous for its "thin fried catfish." It was thin and it was very good. Another case of too much food. We got the "small" plates and once again brought half of it home to eat another day. But since we are embarking on traveling for a few days, it will give us "road food" as we like to call it. After our meal, we walked out to the deck and the pier that juts out into the water.

On our way back, we went through Ponchatoula which is known as the strawberry capital of the world. I don't think they are the only place that makes that claim, but they did have fresh strawberries for sale on every street corner. So we made the guys stop and we walked to one vender and bought a flat of the biggest berries I have every seen. Jo and I split them and I did get mine all cleaned tonight and we had some fruit for a snack. Yum yum.

We eventually ended up back in Amite where they were having the 2019 Oyster Festival. Jo was excited to go since they had never been and, of course, neither had we. So we walked around a bit. It wasn't very large, but there were some food venues. Jo wanted me to try to things, so I tried the shrimp and grits. The grits were actually pretty good, but I didn't care for how the shrimp was prepared. She said different people do them different ways and I might want to try them somewhere else. She also had me try charbroiled oysters. Oh my. . . now those I really liked. And Jo seemed to think those weren't the best she has had, but they were very good.

There were two music stages and there was a young man playing when we arrived. He actually was very good. A single guitar, but very talented and didn't seem to be very old. It was an enjoyable end to a wonderful day and we enjoyed spending it with Gary and Jo.

We returned to camp and said our goodbyes. It's been a fun few days, but we will return.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Love Louisiana!

We arrived in Louisiana after leaving the valley and spent our first night here in Breaux Bridge at Cajun Palms. This was actually our second time to visit this camp. It is a very nice camp and we enjoyed a seafood dinner at Crawfishtown, U.S.A. near our campground. I can't believe how much food they gave us. We should have gotten one meal and split it. We got the seafood platter and it came with a stuffed crab, a stuffed shrimp, oysters, a catfish filet, shrimp, french fries, coleslaw and hush puppies. We brought over half our meal home and then put them all in the freezer because we knew we wouldn't be eating any of it any time soon.

We left there on Wednesday morning and planned a relatively short day of driving to Amite, Louisiana. We wanted to visit cousin Gary and Jo and we normally stay in his yard, but they have had so much rain that Gary worries we may get our rig stuck in the yard and that would be no fun, so we stayed at a camp we have stayed at before when we visited them. It is 39 miles away and takes 55 minutes to travel, but it is a nice, clean camp and much larger lots and cheaper, albeit farther away, than the KOA over at Denham Springs. So we signed up for three nights.

We had the worst traffic we have every had coming out of Houston and across I-10 in Louisiana. There were times all the east-bound traffic stopped and there appeared to be no rhyme or reason why. No road construction, no wrecks, etc. There were even two times when road signs posted that the right lane was closing ahead, so we all dutifully got over into the left lane. The lane closure never materialized. Me thinks someone is playing head games with us! LOL When we got to Baton Rouge, the traffic stopped about five miles from the bridge. Then it was stop/go/creep all the way up to and over the bridge. I really didn't want to cross it. . . I don't like traffic stopped on bridges. I like it moving, but we stopped right at the apex. Fortunately it was a quick stop and then we proceeded on and made it over the bridge. Hope the traffic on eastbound tomorrow will be better. Should be since we have Houston, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans traffic out of the way. Another reason we decided to stay here is because we are about an hour east of Baton Rouge, so it will be a quicker and easier getaway.

Till next time. . .

Dale

T minus 3 days and counting. . .

That's right. . . we are getting things ready and going to be leaving the valley for the year on Monday. You might know. . . after a pitifully cold and wet winter, it is starting to warm up. We still don't see the sun too much though. I don't know if it's all the pollution spilling over from Mexico or what. But it sure has been a gray winter.

Yesterday we went to recycling for the last time. Got that stuff all emptied out of the shed. We got home and went for our walk. Two miles every day, but we sometimes walk the mall. We have walked the mall over one-third of our time here this winter. Some days we wait till it warms up in the afternoon, but neither of us likes waiting till so late.

After we got back from our walk, I swept out the car and cleaned the backend out. Terry loads the back with the motorhome spare tire, boots, hoses, grill, etc. So I wanted to sweep it out before he put all that stuff in. I swept out the seats too and put the dog sling back in. The sling was great for Duchess because it kept the seats clean and was protection for her to keep her from falling down into the footwells. It works now to keep things organized and the back seat clean.

This morning we went for our walk early and then came back and waited for propane to top off the motorhome tanks. Then we defrosted the motorhome freezers and brought everything from the refrigerator/freezer in the Texas room to the motorhome fridge. We have everything in it, so we won't have to eat ourselves silly getting rid of stuff.

I have started laundry for the day and I'm going to work over in the Texas room getting things cleaned and covered for the summer. It really can be a big job to do all of this, but we work at it over a two week period, so it really goes quite fast.

I just got done picking up the "bling" in the yard. Our site numbers and name placards. Put all that away. Getting ready to cover the windows in the Texas Room. Putting bubble wrap in the windows has really helped to eliminate damage from the sun during the hot summer when we aren't here.

Got all that done, ate lunch, and did the dishes. Now to go out and finish the laundry, then I will dust and sweep the Texas Room and start dragging stuff into it.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Wastin' away in Margaritaville. . .

Well it seems like that. Here we sit in "warm" south Texas where it was 37* yesterday and promises to be about the same today. Years ago, Mom always said they had two weeks of winter around Christmas time, but that was it. Winter has lasted here this year. . . well. . . ALL WINTER. Is that so bad? Well, yeah. We want to be warm. I suppose there have been other bad winters here,  the last 3 out of 5 winters have been bad, but this year it has lasted ALL WINTER. Yuck. We have had very few nice warm days. We finally washed the motorhome two weeks ago. . . first day nice enough for Terry to get out and play with the water. He's washed the car twice. Will it never end? I know people have it much worse further north, but for those of us who travel 2,000 south to avoid cold weather, it's still the pits! My arthritis has kicked up big time and it has made me miserable.

So, we are about to blow this popsicle stand. Actually it is time for us to leave anyway, so we are heading out next Monday and going to Florida to see Brandon. We plan a stop at cousin Gary's in Zachary, Louisiana, first to touch base with Terry's family, then heading over to the Sunshine State to see Brandon, Megan, and Brynlee and their new dog, Lily. Can't wait to see them all.

We haven't done a lot this winter because it's been too cold for Terry to get out most days, but we still have managed to get to a couple rock 'n roll jams. We enjoy the music. Last weekend our friend, Danny and his new band, Poison Ivey, played over at Sleepy. It was three hours of great, great music. . . rock, ballads, Tom Petty, Beatles, Doors, Bob Segar, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc. They are really great musicians and did a wonderful job entertaining us all. They are just recently formed, so we are hoping for many more play dates next year.

We also accomplished a first for us this year. We haven't been to Mexico in probably ten years, safety being the obvious issue. There have been many incidences in the border towns in the last few years and we decided not to get caught up in it. But, for lack of anything else to do, we decided to head down to Progreso to maybe get some medications, etc. We left early one morning and, of course, it was overcast and misting on us, but we went anyway. Figured it wasn't raining hard and maybe there wouldn't be big crowds. We got there about 8:30 in the morning and walked across with no line at all. Everything is just as we remembered it, and if possible, it was even dirtier. The sidewalks are all taken up with vendors outside the regular stores and it is tight to maneuver your way through from one store to the next. That is more congested than we remembered it. We ducked in a few stores to buy souvenirs for the grandkids and then walked on to find the pharmacy that we always liked to do business with. It is a couple blocks down, so once we found it, we crossed the street at the corner and walked back up. We got some medications that we like to have in stock and then headed back to the bridge. It was only 10:30 in the morning, having accomplished what we went there for, and there was no line at the bridge. We showed our passports and walked back across the border to our car. It was a good time and is still an interesting event.

After leaving that area, we drove on east and headed to South Padre Island. We wanted to go to Louie's Backyard and take in their seafood and prime rib buffet. It didn't start until 4 p.m. so we had to find something to do. We drove out to the convention center as they were having Market Days, which is like a big Flea Market, but with new products. We spent a couple hours there looking around, but didn't buy anything. It was fun though. Afterwards, we drove as far north as we could drive. The road even then was getting covered with sand as the winds whipped around. It was still misting and foggy and on the bridge coming over, we couldn't see the water. Couldn't see the tops of the hotels either, but as the day wore on, vision did improve.

Eventually we made it to Louie's and we weren't disappointed. The buffet was wonderful and delicious and we both enjoyed it. After stuffing ourselves, we headed back to Mission and got back around 7 p.m. It had been a long day, but we enjoyed it and it was something different from what we usually do.

In other news, I did sell Mom's place. Took a month to get everything signed, sealed, and delivered, but it is done finally. The couple who bought it are from Illinois and they are not yet retired, so planned to spend one week here, three weeks working, etc., during the winter months. But they just this week bought another place over in Hidden right across the street from their friends. It is a bigger place, with a casita and garage. Extra living space for visitors who come down, etc. It is a larger lot and a newer park model. They bought it really cheap and I cannot blame them at all for buying it. I would have too if i had wanted to be down here with my friends. So now they have put Mom's place back up for sale. More people have been looking lately and the word is they won't have any trouble selling it. It would be nice to have someone in the place. When I look at it empty, it reminds me of Mom and Dad not being here. When people are there, it's a different mindset. So hopefully they will be able to sell it soon.

I have gotten a lot of projects done this winter. I have been doing a lot of crocheting, trying to learn more and become more skilled. I've done several blankets. I also did a shrug, a kind of modified sweater, but I didn't like it once it was completed so I just took it apart and made a throw out of it. Looks great for that. I also crocheted myself a hat and a scarf which I have actually used. LOL  I also made Jocelyn a new cape. Her first I made is about 25 years old and becoming threadbare, so I bought new fabric last year and got it made while we were down here. I also got a lot of mending done, which I hate to do, but actually finished! We've both done a lot of reading.

We miss our Duchess, for sure. I don't miss the getting out when it's so cold to take her to the dog park, but I miss the time we spent with her. She was miserable the last part of her life. Being blind and deaf would be difficult for any being and she was not happy. When she last got sick, she couldn't even stand up, so she is now in a better place. But we still love her dearly, as we do all our departed pets.

This year we have been sprucing up the park a bit. New windows replaced the old, leaking ones and the entire outside was repainted. The paint had faded so badly and had turned a pinkish color, so the new paint really looks great. Some of our very talented residents repainted the Restful Valley Ranch sign and did an outstanding job. And in the valley, they have started placing "Butterfly" statues to signify the "Butterfly Capital of the World." There are a lot of butterflies down here and this is pretty cool. 

Till next time. . .

Dale

Duchess Diane of Dundee, 4/12/2006-1/15/2019

 

Duchess Diane of Dundee, affectionately known as Duchess or "Duckie" passed away on Tuesday, January 15, 2018, in Weslaco, Texas, at Border Animal Hospital. She died in the loving arms of her human.

Duchess was born on Killdeer Farm in Tanner, West Virginia, and lived on the farm until she came to live with Terry and I along with her sister, Miss Butterscotch of Killdeer, aka Butterscotch. Her parents were Mister Dickens II of Killdeer and her mother was Chantilly's Midnight Lace. All three preceded her in death.

Duchess had enjoyed good health until her sister Butterscotch died and then shortly after she developed diabetes. It took some time to get this disease under control and as a result, she developed cataracts and became blind. Late last year, she also seemed to become deaf.

Last week Duchess became quite ill and refused to eat. Attempts were made to remedy this but eventually she refused all food and became very week. She seemed to have no joy left after the blindness and deafness, so we decided to help end her pain.

She is sadly missed by Terry and I and life will not be the same.

R.I.P. sweet girlie. We love you. Our hearts are broken.

It was decided to donate all her beds, toys, dishes, food, medical supplies, etc., to a no-kill animal shelter in Edinburg, Texas. We are assured that new adoptees will get to choose toys that once belonged to our girlies.

Rest assured that she and Butterscotch are running free at the Rainbow Bridge and will be ready to greet us when we get there.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Winter musings!

We come to south Texas in the winter for warm weather. We are still looking for that today as the temperature dips to 44 for the morning low. It's been like that off and on since we got here. Only a couple days have been warm enough to wear shorts. Still haven't washed the motorhome as it requires it to be warm for Terry to help with that task.

We came to this park twelve years ago and established our place right behind my mom and dad, so we could "watch" them and be here for them. Daddy is gone now and Mom (93) decided last year not to come anymore. She wasn't able to sell her place last year, so that has been our job this year. Other places are selling, but for some reason we couldn't get any takers on Mom's. Then one day some people came and went through, looking for friends of theirs a place to spend the winter. The friends called, but immediately decided it was too small. Then a couple days ago they called back and made an offer which I accepted and are sending earnest money. They are coming the second week in January to sign papers. Nervous I am because they haven't seen it. It is a nice place, though, and clean, but one never knows exactly what they are expecting. So I continue to show it and will take backup offers in the event the first one falls through. Wish me luck.

Terry is doing well and getting his strength back. We are walking 2.2 miles every day. Many times we drive to the mall to walk. It is a beautiful mall and is 1.2 miles around the inside to walk. . . really large. Today will be another mall walking day as Terry can't walk outside in such cold temps. Then we have a rock n roll jam to go to later.

Duchess is doing well and is walking to the dog park again. For a long time I had to take her in the golf cart as she just stops and won't go anymore. But lately she hasn't wanted to spend as much time in the park. It's just an empty lot and a neighbor says coyotes have been coming through some, so perhaps that's why she doesn't want to go there. She does spend a lot of time with her nose up sniffing the air.

We will go to Christmas dinner at the hall on Tuesday. It's always a great meal and fun times. We've been asked to join our neighbor at their table. Great people.

Merry Christmas everyone and God bless.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back to traveling!

A week or so ago, we closed up the house and took off in Phaeton Place for the Warsaw fairgrounds. We stayed there for a couple nights and visited with Mom and sister Nita and husband. We enjoyed a great visit. Mom is in great shape for 93 years old with no real complaints.  She is living in her own house, a park model in Nita's woods, and is as independent as she wants to be. Nita visits every day and sees to it that she has what she needs. All the same things we did for her when we would be with her in Texas for the winter. But Mom has decided she will not return to Texas anymore. Our job is to sell her place when we get there and we hope to get that done pronto.

After leaving Warsaw, we went to New Castle and set up camp at Summit Lake State Park, near our former home in Mooreland. We stay there and do the rounds of our doctors which we kept when we went fulltime and travel all over. You gotta' be somewhere for doctor's appointments, so we stick with our old providers.

We managed to have some fun at the same time by visiting with a colleague of mine. They have a Scottish Terrier, Baxter, and he and Duchess got to visit. Didn't really do much together. . . they are like two ships that pass in the night. But it was a change of scenery for Duchess and she does enjoy their back yard!

Our yearly doctor appointments went well. Terry's doctor reinforced our thinking on his medical problems, particularly his heart issues. He confirmed that Terry can build his heart back up from where it is now and perhaps get back into the same physical condition he was in prior to getting sick last winter. That illness really dragged him down and reduced his heart function, but he is already doing better. It will just take time and we are working on getting his stamina back. Walking daily has already improved that, so we are hoping to continue.

We then saw his cardiologist in Indy. He made a couple med changes which we hoped he would. One med he takes is a rhythm drug and the doctor had scaled back on it. Other doctors have tried that, but it seems they all want to give it a go. But it doesn't work for Terry. So they are increasing that again. At least we know from the tests they did this summer that the med, previously suspected of causing lung problems, has not in fact done anything to his lungs, so they were okay with increasing it again.

So we are back on the road and heading toward Virginia to see the kids. . . at least the first round! We will get into Charlottesville on Sunday and visit with Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan, Aenea and Pepper for a week! Whoo hoo! Can't wait to see them. It's been a long summer without my grandkids fix.

We are currently camped at Camp Creek, West Virginia, which is a neat little state park we found a couple years ago. We even have a full hookup site and it's paved. There are streams and waterfalls all around us and it's quite loud when we step outside. I was concerned about the level rising as these streams are raging pretty good right now what with all the rain they have had here. But they assure us the worst is over. The picture on the left and the picture on the right are the same MashFork falls, two years ago and yesterday.


We will go make a supply run today before leaving tomorrow. And do a little hiking.

Till next time. . .

Dale

You may notice a large void. . .

Suffice to say, it's been the worst of times. Terry's health continued to be at the forefront of our thoughts all summer long and getting him back into better and healthier condition was goal number one.

He did start walking again. A physical therapist gave him some exercises, but most importantly told him what he could safely do with his heart condition. He started out walking 10 minutes 3 times a day. He now is up to 35 minutes once a day and walking about 1.5 miles. His sleep problems are ever present, but he spends most of the night in bed and not in a chair, so that is definitely an improvement.

We did get to touch base with some friends this summer and managed to get in his high school reunion and then mine. Those were great times with old friends. These were both our 50th reunions, so a lot of people made extra effort to be there. Mine was a three-day event, starting with a meet and greet kind of thing on Friday night. Then on Saturday, there was a golf outing, a tour of the high school and downtown Goshen. Saturday night was our big event, a dinner, a silent auction to raise money for our scholarship fund, and dancing and mingling. Really enjoyed seeing everyone again. Sunday we had a ride on the "LilyPad" which is a tour boat that goes around Lake Wawasee. It's been years since we have been on that lake and it was a lot of fun. It was a hot day and most of the day we were on the top deck in the breeze, but later when we turned into the sun, we went downstairs into the air conditioning.

Our big plan for the summer was to get the house emptied and sold. Had Terry been well, we would have probably got that done, but as it was. . . it didn't happen. But as he got to feeling better, he did start working with me.

We took two pickup loads of stuff to Goodwill and a half load to electronic recycling. I boxed up most everything that was in closets, cupboards and dressers. Everything is labeled and ready to be packed into the trailer or put out next summer for a garage sale. All the furniture will be sold and there is some nice stuff, but we don't want to continue to pay for storage for it after we sell the house. Most of the stuff belonged to Terry's parents and was not our stuff. Once we get it all emptied, then the house will be sold. Anxious to get that done and behind us. Eventually we think we will have a house in Florida near Brandon. We have to be somewhere warm year round for Terry and it makes sense to be close to one of your kids.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Getting some help!

We left Elkhart Campground on Tuesday this week and drove to Summit Lake State Park, near our old home in Mooreland. They have installed 50 amp and have water on every site with a dump station, so when we need to be in the area, that is a good choice for us. We reserve the one pull-through right next to the bathhouse and use the campground showers.

I had my dermatology appointment and got my cortizone shot for my psoriasis. It's the only thing that works, so three shots a year is what I get without any side effects popping up. After that appointment we returned to the motorhome, ate lunch, and headed toward Indianapolis by checkout time at 2 p.m.

We arrived in Indy at the Indy KOA which is actually at Mt. Comfort Road, and I guess technically in Greenfield. We had registered for two nights. Terry was scheduled into the Advanced Heart Failure Lab on Thursday. Starting at 9 a.m. we had a different appointment/doctor/medical person every hour till 4 o'clock.

Terry has had heart failure that we watch and treat for nine years. People live with heart failure. At the very worst, however, heart failure patients may elect a transplant. The problem for us was that all the people we saw thought we were there for consultations for a heart transplant. Nooooooo....... we didn't get that memo and didn't sign up for that. Heart failure can be treated and the very first doctor we saw, a transplant specialist, said Terry wasn't sick enough to even think about a transplant. He was confused as to why Terry's cardiologist wanted him seen in the clinic. But most HF clinics treat heart failure. Perhaps he doesn't want to there. . . I don't know. But he did request a couple tests and said that perhaps the new HF drug, Entresto, would be a good fit for Terry. The second doctor we saw was a lung transplant specialist who was also mystified at our appearance in the clinic. He reiterated what the first doctor said. He ordered a test as well. Those three tests are all scheduled next week. The next guy was a dietitian and he said he was going to try and get the rest of our appointments cancelled because we did not need to see those people since we were not there for a transplant and that's what they would all talk about. But the gal who had scheduled everything declined his recommendation saying that if we ever needed this, it would already be done. Course, that may be years down the road or perhaps NEVER. A few more years and Terry will probably be past the "age" for such a procedure and he really doesn't want to consider it. He just wants to get to feeling better.

So we went to all the appointments and the next to last one was a social worker which was a total waste of time. She put Terry to sleep with her drivel and she arrived late and kept us 90 minutes, making us miss our last appointment.

The last one was the one we really wanted because it was a physical therapy assessment. We went down to the office and we were able to get rescheduled for today. So we went in this morning. The PT was super and she assessed Terry for doing some PT. He hasn't been able to breathe well enough to walk, but she wants him to walk 10 minutes 3 times a day. We've already done 2 rounds today and he's done well.

The biggest problem has been his sleeping. He cannot sleep at night. He is up and down until he just gives up and stays up, sometimes not getting more than 2-3 hours of sleep a night or none at all. Then he sleeps off/on all day. Skipping sleep during the day does not necessarily mean he sleeps at night. He may still be up all night, so I have been insisting that he sleep when he can. His heart needs rest and when he doesn't get it, he looks terrible. He has been so much on edge with this doctor stuff this summer and his overall health, that these things have obviously contributed greatly to his condition. Last night after seeing all these doctors, he went to bed at 7 p.m. He got up once and slept till 7 a.m this morning. Today has been a great day. He looks and feels great and he is acting like himself. I hope he continues to sleep now that he has some answers and is getting some help to get back on track.

So, we have decided to spend the weekend here in Indy because his tests are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. We plan to leave here Wednesday and visit with Mom in Claypool before heading back to Elkhart Campground on Thursday.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Where have I been?

That's probably what all my regular readers are wondering. It's been a long few weeks and while some things have gone well, other things have not.

We have been here in Elkhart Campground for a month and just signed up for another. Our plan this summer is to get the last duplex cleaned out and sold. Would like to get that done this year, but it's not looking good. Next year for sure.

Shortly after we arrived, Jocelyn, Tom, Ronan, Aenea, and Pepper the Poodle got here. We knew they were coming and I was planning on getting everything ready over at the house. But we walked in there and found mouse droppings all over the kitchen. What a mess. So I sent Terry out for more and better mouse traps and I set to cleaning and bleaching the kitchen. I spent the entire day on it and got little else done. But at the end of the day the kitchen was clean and new traps were set for those dastardly mice. I've caught three.

Jocelyn called and asked if they could come in that night and we said yes. Although I hadn't cleaned the rest of the house, I had cleaned in the fall before we left, and the house does not get dirty during the winter months. I did manage to clean the bathrooms and we were ready for them.

We enjoyed seeing them. They had been to Niagara Falls and into Canada, camping with the dog even! And in a tent! Tom had some shows with his band, including one in Toronto. Go Tom! I hope to hear them sometime. I have heard his one band, The Hollow Machine, but I have yet to hear Spider Lilies.

We were able to see the kids every day while they were here and they visited Mom a couple times. She enjoyed seeing them and the grandkids always enjoy their great-grandma. She is the only one they have left. I managed to take Ronan for a ride in the Miata. He loves it and always wants me to take him out.

We really enjoyed their visit. We don't get to see them often and it really helps us get our kids/grandkids fix when they visit us. We try to see them twice a year and we look forward to that.

We managed to go to Terry's 50th high school reunion. Wow! They had a really good turnout and we got to see quite a few people we hadn't seen for years. Well, that Terry hadn't seen in years. A few people I knew or had met at previous reunions. We attended a meet and greet on Friday night at a bar in downtown Elkhart. The food was good and we enjoyed seeing some of his classmates there. Then Saturday night was at the country club with a dinner buffet and some games. Our table won at trivia. We earned play money for that and then we bid on door prizes people had donated. We "bought" two thermos bottles that are really nice. And since we were using our "play money" they really didn't cost us anything. It was a great time and we enjoyed ourselves.

We enjoyed an evening of cards with our friends, Luanne and Jim. We girls won! The next night we had a campfire here in the park with other friends. They are from the Elkhart area, but live in Arizona in the winter and return here in the summer to visit their kids.

Terry's been really sluggish for some time and so we paid a visit to his doctor in Indianapolis a few weeks ago. They did a few tests and changed some meds which seem to have helped. But we are going back next week for some more testing. He's had heart trouble for 20 years and it may be time to change some more of his meds. There are a lot of new meds for various heart problems and we are hoping we find something that works better.

The last few days we have had some really heavy rains. That's okay, because we were needing rain desperately. I hope it was in time to help the crops. We had a couple inches yesterday and it rained more today and supposed to tomorrow as well.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Reunion Time!

We moved over to Piney Grove on Wednesday so we would be there for the reunion. Piney Grove is a Corps of Engineers park and a decent place to stay. We are in among the trees, however, so Terry has to fuss with his portable satellite dish in order to get TV reception. But he usually gets what he wants!

We went into town and visited with family members at the Buck Creek Flea Market. That is where Paul, Rusty, and Shirley are during the day. I always like to look around because I usually manage to find something I like. They were all there as were Gary and Jo, so we got to see them all.

We visited for awhile and then Terry, Gary, Jo and I all left on a mission to find an Amish vegetable market up north of Corinth in Tennessee. We did give it the ol' college try, but we never managed to find it, although we drove all over the area. As it was, when we got back and talked with the fellow who had told Terry about it, we found out we were very close and just turned the wrong way on one road. Geesh! I guess that will mean another road trip next time we are there. . . that will be next year. LOL

On Saturday, we met at Ramey's Restaurant in Marietta for the Pace/Stevens reunion. We had 18 there, I think. We had a great time and really enjoyed ourselves. The only person left in our parents' generation (the ones who started the reunion) is Uncle Bob. He, unfortunately, suffers from Alzheimer's and no longer comes to the family gatherings. That is a difficult situation for his children as it is for any family dealing with a loved one with that disease. But he is happy where he is at and that is a good thing. We always enjoy the reunion and hope every year that more of the family members will come.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing at the camp and getting ready to break camp on Monday. When we left there, we returned to Red Bay to get our paint work done on two of our bay doors. They got that done on Tuesday and we spent that night in Red Bay, then headed out. It was supposed to rain the day we left and it did. We drove the Natchez Trace and it poured down on us the entire time. I love driving the Trace and it was okay in the rain. There wasn't much traffic and we easily made it to north of Nashville for the night. We stayed at Dad's Bluegrass Camp.

The next day we drove on up to Edinburg, Indiana, and stayed at the Johnson County Park. It is located in what used to be a part of Camp Atterbury. Our first campsite had power problems and we were moved to a site we had used a year or so ago. That worked fine. We shopped a bit at the factory shops down the road. And while we were in the area, we stopped and got carryout at Nick's Diner. There we had their famous tenderloin sandwich. I was not impressed. Terry may have like it better, but I didn't care for it.

We left there and drove to Warsaw and stayed at the fairgrounds for a couple nights and visited with Mom and my sister and husband. Then we headed on up to Elkhart to the campground where we plan to spend the summer.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Back home in Red Bay!

I say back home, because Red Bay is where Phaeton Place was born. She has her roots here. We came back this time because we have to get two bay doors replaced. We actually are scheduled on Monday, June 11, but we had a couple other things we hoped to get fixed while we were in the area. Terry's family reunion is June 9, so we got done in Searcy in time to get over here.

We stopped into the body shop and they have our doors. They are going to check their schedule to see when they can do it, maybe this week or early next week.

We also stopped at the camp office to sign up for a service appointment. After July 7, Tiffin will no longer work on motorhomes past ten years old, so we won't be able to get factory service. But there are so many outfits here, former Tiffin employees who have gone out on their own, that this is still the best place to come to get work done. Tiffin even supplies you with a little catalog of all the places that do work and even a map with their locations. We had two items that needed attention, the door awning and a slide roller. We were told that the scheduler would come around today to see us.

So we went to bed last night knowing we would be talking to someone today. I got up early and was having my first cup of coffee when the phone rang at 6 a.m. The lady spoke in a heavily southern accented voice and I had trouble understanding her. But she asked if we could be in Bay 10 at 7 a.m. What???????? Yes, I said. We will be there. I ran and woke Terry up and told him. He asked, "Can we make it?" I said, "We're gonna try." We left at 6:45 and were sitting waiting in front of Bay 10 a few minutes later. In fact, our paperwork had not yet reached our bay. Once we were in, we told them our two problems and we unloaded the cabinets they would have to have access through. Since we had rushed around, we hadn't had breakfast, so I ran out and got us breakfast. I got back about 8:15 and they were DONE! DONE! Unbelievable! The awning was not broken. Water had built up in the endcap and the tech removed it and then drilled a little hole to keep water draining from now on. He lubricated it a bit and it is good to go. The slide roller was a bigger job, but they know how to repair this stuff. They had to actually jack up the slide from the outside. Didn't take much time to get it in place. They thought they might have to fix our broken one if they didn't have one in stock. But they did have one and told us to keep the old one and have it repaired/welded so we would have a backup.
We were back on our site here at the camp at 8:30. Man, what a fast, busy 2 1/2 hours that was. I can't believe we just dropped in hoping to maybe at least get someone to look at in and it's fixed! I just can't say enough for Tiffin. They do it right.

We are here in the camp for another 5 nights or so, then we move to Piney Grove Corps Park in Mississippi, to be close to the reunion. Once we leave there, we will be back here in Red Bay, unless our work is finished between now and next Wednesday. So we are happy campers once again!

Till next time. . .

Dale

Searcy, Arkansas

For years as members of FMCA, we were aware that the president of FMCA (now ex-president) had established a company based in Searcy, Arkansas, that would rebuild your RV windows that were fogged up or had moisture in between the panes of the double-paned glass. While our Phaeton was still under warranty, we had several windows replaced. The driver's window I think was done three times. Tiffin would simply replace rather than fix the windows. Now that the coach is not under warranty, I did not want to take it to Tiffin and have them replace the windows with other "like" windows that would fail in a short time. So we decided to head to Searcy and have our bad windows fixed.

On the way, we stopped in Gretna, Florida. When we pulled in, I noticed the coach two down from us as being familiar. Our friends, Rod and Marsha, who were the hosts at the Tiffin Campground for years, were camped there! So we visited a while. They had left Florida that morning, same as us. They mentioned they were headed to Red Bay in June and we were too! So it seems we will meet again.

The next morning we broke camp and drove on. We stopped at a Corps of Engineers Park along the Tombigbee River. It was a beautiful camp and we were right on the river. We saw a barge going through soon after we stopped. That was the only one we saw, but I'm sure there are more moving up and down that river. They also access the Tenn-Tom Waterway, which connects the Tennessee and the Tombigbee to the Gulf of Mexico. We were able to sit out for awhile, but once again, RAIN! It seems there is no end in sight. We we were safe and snug in our campground.

We finally got into Searcy on Friday afternoon and set up camp at Whitney Lane RV Park. It is owned by a very kind older gentleman who had just lost his wife three weeks ago. He put us on his best site. It was a full pad with 50 amp and full hookups. It was the last site on the row and we stepped out with a view of a grassy yard running back to a woods. We had gotten in late afternoon and it was hot, so we plugged in. After waiting a bit, our power still had not kicked in. Julian, the owner, had pointed out that the other hookup was bad because a plug had overheated and he hadn't yet replaced it. So Terry tried a couple things and nothing worked. We had to call Julian back. He came back and prepared to open up the box and fix the problem. He had built the park and knew how to do all of this, but this stuff is right up Terry's alley, so he helped him. The box was full of mud dauber nests, long since vacated, and the breaker was bad. But they got that all fixed up and decided to fix the second box which had some bad wire due to the overheated plug at one time. So the two guys worked till they had that done and Julian spent another hour just talking. He is such a sweet man and he no doubt is lonely having just lost his spouse. I think Terry earned his angel wings talking with him. He does have family around. His sister across the street, a daughter next door and another relative next to her. So I'm sure they all check on him.

On Tuesday after Memorial Day, we were up early and over at the FogDr. garage at 8 a.m. They were ready for us and backed us right in and up to the building. The have full hookups as well, but we just plugged into electric so we would have air. They came out and asked us which windows needed work, so we walked around as they labeled them, nine total. Then they took out the four in the bath and bedroom. They had told us it would take two days so we were prepared to stay the night there. But they had those four done by noon and pulled the others in the front and said they would try to have them all done. And they did! Very professional people to work with. They worked fast, but not too fast that you questioned their work. They had a definite system for removing all the windows and worked steadily till the job was done.

Once they were finished, we went to get some supper and once back in the motorhome, we started hanging valences. Terry had made all our wood valences and they are beautiful, but it was a lot of work removing them with the blinds in them. And a couple of them are really heavy. We had done all that before we got there, so all they had to do was do the windows. So now we had it all to put back. And we had several cabinets we had to empty and leave empty till they were done, so in addition to having wood valences all over the place and in the car, we had boxes of household goods sitting under the table. It was a mess. But by the time we were ready for bed, it was all done. Our new windows look great. We can actually see out of them for the first time in years!

We spent the night in their parking lot and slept in. Wednesday, yesterday, we got up and left their place at 9 a.m. It was a great stop and after leaving $$$$ in Searcy, we went on down the highway.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Marking time. . .

The guys who did our new mask on the front didn't want us driving off into the sunset just yet. Especially with the monsoon style rain we've been experiencing. So we signed up for another three days here at Tampa East RV Resort and will be leaving on Saturday morning.

While we were in Tampa we had almost torrential rains the entire time. We really didn't get out and do much because we didn't want to run in and out of the rain. We did go to Ikea one day and shopped. Bought a couple things, but not much. We did have lunch there. I had the salmon lunch and it was very good. When we left, we took a drive through Ybor City, the old cigar district. I guess that's what you call it. We had been through there years ago, but we may have missed the shoppes area because I didn't remember it. A lot of little restaurants and bistros now. All the kind of places we can't go because of diet restrictions.



Saturday we left Tampa East and drove 50 some miles up to Bushnell. We had reservations at Blueberry Hill for three nights. It's a very nice camp. They have a lot of activities for campers, but their season is over, so not much is going on. It would be a great camp if you weren't packed in so tight. It is a fairly new camp, but the spaces are just a bit short for us and not much space between campers. They have a "moat" that surrounds the camp and warning signs telling of alligators. They weren't telling lies, either, because we took pictures of two. One was a baby, the other was about 4-5 feet long and capable of taking small pets. Good advice to stay away!

We went to the Webster flea market on Monday while we were there. Big disappointment. Course, the season is over. But the real reason it was so dead was no doubt the amount of rain they've had.

We enjoyed our time in Florida. We got to see the kids and granddaughter and had some work done on the motorhome. But it's time to roll. We hit the road tomorrow.

Till next time. . .

Dale

Time to roll . . .

Our time with the kids came to an end, but not before we spent a glorious day Saturday with the kids. We started out by planning on an air boat tour, but the weather did not cooperate and we eventually scrapped the idea. We wanted a 30 minute ride, not knowing how Brynlee would handle it, but no one was doing those on Saturday.

So after driving to the various venues and threatening skies, we decided to head to the restaurant, Grills Riverside, where we enjoyed a dinner inside, but at the window, so we could see the Indian River. We actually spotted a dolphin swimming close to shore.

After dinner, we returned to the camp to let Duchess out and feed her, then we headed back over to the kids' again and spent the evening with them. It was a great time and we hated to go. I always hate to leave kids and grandkids, but we have other places to go. Terry had made an appointment to get the front mask removed from the motorhome and a new one applied.

We left Sunday morning to go to Tampa, actually Dover, just east of Tampa. We arrived in the afternoon and it was clear the entire way, but soon started to rain. It really poured the rest of the day and all night. They had told us they wouldn't be able to do the mask if it rained. As it turned out, their other appointment didn't show and they were able to put us inside the building and do it. So Monday morning we were over at Florida Applied Films, just about 2 miles from the camp and they took about 2 hours to remove the paint protection film that was on it. The problem with these films is that rocks pierce them and then mold forms underneath. I actually thought we would have to repaint the entire front cap, but as it turned out the paint underneath was good and not damaged. So after it was removed, we returned to camp. We needed some touch up paint and we were told to go to Lazy Days and get it mixed for us. We went on over and it didn't take long to get our order in. We removed the refrigerator hatch door which contained the three colors we needed and the paint shop was able to mix up some paint for us. They called when it was ready a few hours later and we picked it up.

The new mask was ordered and we made another appointment for Wednesday (today) morning to have it applied. It had continued to rain and pour every day we have been here, but today was sunny with a few clouds here and there. We took the coach back into the building at the shop and they started work immediately. By the time the mask was delivered, they were ready for it and got it installed. It looks great. There was a Phaeton logo on the the front which had to be removed in the process and we weren't going to put any back on. But the logo has been there for over 12 years and there was a shadow where the logo had been. So the guy offered to do a decal, which we approved. It is the same style looks very nice. We are very pleased, especially since we didn't have to repaint the front end.

While we were waiting on things, we drove up to Zephyrhills and looked around at some RV sites. But we didn't find anything Terry wanted to go back to see, so no news there. We did have breakfast Tuesday with some great friends, Bill and Helen. We met them when we started fulltiming. They live in the Villages now and we rarely see them anymore, so this was a special time.


My friend, Josie, is still in the park in Texas and took even more pictures of our cactus. They continue to bloom more and more and are really beautiful.



We are here for a few more days because the mask needs to "cure" before driving off, especially if we have a lot of rain. So I see a casino in my future as well an IKEA! Whoo hoo!





Till next time. . .

Dale