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| Hwy 146 bridge over Tabbs Bay leaving Houston |
We met our next door neighbors when they arrived the same day we did. Bill saw our Trump sign and made the statement that "we are going to be friends." We have talked with Bill & Rhonda a few times; they are the same age we are. We sat at our site and talked a lot; and then the next time we sat at their site around the fire and talked. We went out to lunch together and had a very enjoyable visit. They are very interested in the fiasco going on with the election and we are all of like mind. I introduced them to a lot of my posts and websites that I look at.
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| Bill & Rhonda |
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| Peggy Lee |
We have a nice pull through site, gravel, in the sun. Lucy seems to like it here as she sits outside and looks around all the time. Monday we went to Tractor Supply for dog food, then out to lunch. We also took Lucy to the beach and let her run around. Boy did she ever love that. She ran and ran, and chased birds. She got pretty tuckered out and slept all night.
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| TLC Wolf River |
January 21st We left Wolf River and headed to Styx River in Alabama, another OCP park. Jim was worried that there was going to be rioting and stuff, but it’s been peaceful where we are. I hear there is rioting and the like going on in Oregon, but nothing where we are.
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| Styx River |
I got booted off of Facebook again. This was the 2nd time due to a violation of their community standards. They are cracking down on censorship. So I have opened up a page with MeWe.
The next day Lavon came over.
He surprised us as Jim was still in bed and I was just sitting listening to my
podcasts. After Jim got out of bed we went over to the Styx café and they had
breakfast. We sat and talked for a couple of hours, and then Lavon headed off
home. Glad he came by and we only see him every couple of years or so when we
travel east. We met Lavon when we were workamping at Amazon in 2013. He was working alone and as we all had the same night shift, we ate dinner together. He had a house close to the Styx Resort, so over the years as we traveled east we would stop and visit with him. He since sold his house and now lives full time in his motorhome, but still in the same area.
February 7 we arrived at the Orlando Thousand Trails and picked a quiet shady spot
in the D section. That’s the old section with lots of trees and palmetto shrub.
They have expanded the park and put in a lot of new sites where the large
evergreen tree field used to be and in doing so, took away part of the walking
trail. I don’t know why they did not leave part of the trail; always looking to
make a buck instead of keeping the park more like a preserve.
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| Orlando Thousand Trails |
Jim went out riding Sunday afternoon and got a “JIM” yell from friends who we met last time we were here – Jared & Laura. They were camped across from us and came over to talk a few times. I even walked their elderly dog a few times one day when they went to Disney World. We also met them briefly while at an Encore park in Pennsylvania in 2019, and now we see them again in Orlando. They are a young couple with 4 children, the youngest now being 4.
February 21. Arrived at Sertoma Youth Ranch. We had initially signed up for the TCT Rally but as it was cancelled, we still decided to come for the week along with Bill & Julie and some other friends. We got here before Bill & Julie and found a nice site down near the field. They came in later on Sunday; it was so nice seeing them again.
Monday Jim got up too early and was a zombie for most of the day. We just hung around the park for the morning and then went out to lunch. After lunch we stopped for ice cream. Bill kept saying he wanted ice cream all day. They now have three dogs – still have Blossom and Chamanoix but now Julie has a rescue from Puerto Rico who she named Ginger Lee. Lucy is having a hard time liking Ginger Lee, but out in the field or at their campsite she is fine. Ginger seems to really want to get to know Lucy and follows her around. We had a great campfire Tuesday night and sat around their site after dinner.
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| Ice Cream stop after lunch one afternoon |
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| River Vista |
Jacklyn has been staying at Sean's pending the closing on her house, so we have been going over there Sunday and Monday night so far for dinner. Sunday night they taught us a
new card game, which Jayden could also play. Monday night we taught them Vegas
and lost all three games to them. They wiped us out of our loose coins.
Jacklyn is buying a house in Apollo Beach. It has a big fenced in back yard, so the dogs and Jayden will have a place to play. Sean’s place has a yard, but it’s not big and the dogs really don’t have any place to go outside. Since Jacklyn is living with Sean right now until she can move into her house and Sean said his Dad wants to buy his place. He is coming down this weekend, so I hope we will get to meet him.
Found some water oozing up between the tiles in our bathroom and then I stepped close to the bathroom wall in the hall under where I keep my collagen and protein mix and the floor went down, which means there must be a water leak somewhere. That’s today project – pull my bench out and look for a water leak, then decide how to fix the floor.
Went and had lunch with Bill & KerryAnn Postle, friends from Tres Rios in Texas. KerryAnn's parents live in the Palmetto, Florida area so they moved from Texas to the area so she could be close to them. It was real nice seeing them again.
March 4. Yesterday we decided to try and figure out where the water leak is that rotted out the floor under the bathtub. I found cracks in the shower floor again and am still working on fixing those. We took out the shower faucet assembly and made a trip to Home Depot and three other places looking for a replacement.
The only place we found one was Drew’s but the one they had was made out of
plastic and very expensive, so we decided to take our back home and rebuild it.
Ours is high quality made of brass and good fittings. So Jim took it all apart
and I cleaned all the gunk off real good. Jim then reassembled it and we put it
back in, and so far no leaks. I did find that there was rot in the wall where
the stems go into the wall and put some wood hardener in it.
March 14. Made it to Bill & Julie’s house in Sebastian on March 6. We had dinner there Sunday night and then made a trip to the Kiki Bar Monday, but that did not pan out. It was very busy and we sat around the fire pit waiting for someone to wait on us; and we waited for around 45 minutes when we decided that was enough and we left to head to the Mexican restaurant.
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| Mars' Backyard |
March 16. We were expecting to see Bill & KerryAnn on Tuesday but that did not seem to pan out. Julie was planning a St. Patrick’s Day dinner for Bob & Sue’s family who is down here from Minnesota. Jim told her that we were trying to make plans with our friends so Jim left a message with Bill Postle, but he never returned our call. We then told Julie that we were going to come to dinner after Jim got a text message telling us that the party was starting.
I cooked us dinner Friday night because they had left Wednesday to go to WPB for a funeral on Thursday and would not be back until Friday. So I told them I would make dinner. Evans & Jaci with their two children were also coming back on Friday (19th). I baked the Cranberry Mandarin Orange bread that Peggy had made for us and a shrimp boil.
March 20, 2021. On Saturday we went to the Shrimp Fest at the Park with Sue & Julie. Bill
had to go to Orlando to pick up Julie’s nephew and her family, so he did not go
to the Fest with us.
I am getting ready to do the
bathtub. Bill gave me some good fiberglass cloth, so I cut my two pieces, then
drove to West Marine and bought some more hardener, pumps, and scrapers. I have
sandpaper to sand the bottom and Bill has a sander for me to use.
Jim said they are probably going back to Jim’s house again on Wednesday so I guess I will start on the tub myself.
Also bought new gutters for the trailer, but it looks like the old ones were altered to fit, so that’s going to have to be done to the new ones.
March 28, 2021. Finally finished the tub with the fiberglass and painting. The last few days I put two layers of fiberglass down, then sanded around the drain but sanded too much and took away the fiberglass from around the cracked part of the drain. So I put another layer of fiberglass down around the drain, put the drain fitting in the space on top of parchment paper to allow the fiberglass to form to the drain area.
The strip around the tub is blue tape so I just paint the tub and not get the paint all over. Then came two coats of paint with 24 hour drying time in between. Today I installed the drain pipe along with the p-trap and fittings. I pulled out some of the linoleum and rotted wood and have fan blowing under the tub to try and dry out the rotted wood. I want to pour a bunch of wood hardener in there and hope to stop the spread of rotting wood.
Jacklyn and Sean came Saturday with Jayden to spend the day and night. We all went out to lunch at Squid Lips, then they went swimming at the beach before we ordered dinner from Woodys. In the meantime, Sean came down to the trailer to “have a talk with us.” It was a good talk as he and Jacklyn are very serious with each other and he wants to eventually marry her. He came down to mention that and being old school, ask our permission for her hand. They both have been through a divorce and since he has Jayden he wanted to make sure that Jacklyn and Jayden get along, which they do fabulously. Jacklyn disciplines her as if she was her own daughter. she does. She does not tip toe and let Jayden get away with anything. But Jayden loves Jacklyn and is starting to call her momma.
They are planning a trip to
Georgia over Memorial Day so Sean can meet Uncle Jack and Erin, Jacklyn’s best
friend. Then I think they are going to Texas so Sean can meet Josh & Karen.
He wants to meet her family before he officially proposes. She knows it’s
coming as he has already bought her a ring ~~ so I guess he’s serious!
Jacklyn also applied for and got a new position with ADP. She went through a series of interviews for the job, which is a promotion and more money. It is a new position they just created and she is going to head it. She will be training new hires. It is still working out of the house with a little traveling.
March 31. Amy (Julie’s sister) and her male friend arrived late in the afternoon on Sunday, so we did not see much of her this week.
I finished up the tub, mainly the p-trap and fittings. We took everything out again and Jim looked at all of it and decided how it would go back together. I think it went back together well and it does not leak. The drain is actually a sink drain and from underneath there is a brass screw that pulls the drain down so the putty spreads to keep it from leaking. The piece with the blue tape had to be screwed down into the p-trap and glued in place to keep it from leaking.
We have been visiting with Jim Urban who is remodeling a house just down the road from Bill & Julie. We have gone over there, and he has come over to see us.
April 4, 2021. We went to church on Easter Sunday morning to St. Sebastian Catholic Church. It was a very nice service, much different than any other Catholic Church I had been to. We had been invited to Woody & Rachael's house for Easter dinner, so right after the service we left for NPB, which was over an 1-1/2 drive. We had a nice dinner and visit with their relatives and sat with Bill & Julie for a short time in the living room. Woody did a very nice job on his new house. He buys a house that needs work, fixes it up, lives in it for two years, then sells it for a profit. Rachael really likes the way this house was fixed up, so they don’t know if they will move again or not.
After leaving there, we drove to Jupiter to visit with Garrett & Rene, who were at their neighbor’s house for Easter dinner. We arrived right at dinner, so we were able to grab more to eat. Then they had an Easter Egg hunt for all the kids. Jacob, their son, is seven now and still looks like Garrett. He has curly blond hair, which must have come from Rene or a recessed gene from Bill (Bill's sisters have blonde hair).
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| Jacob & Garrett Mars |
Jacklyn sent us a picture of her and Sean on Easter.
April 6. We left for Rose Bay in Port Orange, FL for four days. This is an Encore resort, so still free. It’s right where Jim Urban’s girlfriend, Nancy, lives so we will be seeing them today. It’s unfortunate that we are looking forward to leaving here.
Did not go to visit anything in the area. We did meet some of our neighbors and one of them Dan, helped Jim with the truck. Jim Urban looked underneath and said there was a leak on the differential. So Dan got down and looked as well. He said there was still a lot of oil in the differential, but we should get it looked at.
I broke the strap that we use to pull the awning down and found a small RV store down the road and bought a new one. Bay Rose is not that big of a park but I did find a pond that I was able to walk around half way, then I walked around the park for the rest of our walk.
April 10. Left Rose Bay and went to Walkabout in Woodbine, Georgia, near
St. Mary’s, Georgia. We’ve stayed here before in 2019 and they were fixing up
the park adding new sites. Now the sites are all done, but we still got a site
in the front row. They did finish the walking trail, which is also an ATV trail
for their family. I enjoyed walking the trail and was able to let Lucy loose as
well.
I wanted to get in touch with Jennifer Cody, a co-worker from our days at Shapiro, Fussell but did not have her phone number. So I called Marilyn, whom I have not talked to in quite a while. It was really nice talking to her again. I got Jennifer’s number from her, but it was her home number and when I called got no answer left a message. It was a few days later when I got a text from Jennifer telling me that they were in Texas visiting the grandkids while we were there at St. Marys.
April 14. Left Walkabout and headed to Sweetwater Lake Campground in St.
Matthews, South Carolina where Jake & Robyn are staying. They came over
after they got off of work, and we sat around our site before going to get take
out for dinner. They don’t like sitting by their site because the owners
brought in a bunch of oil workers and line workers and stuck them on either
side of them, making their site a whole lot smaller.
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| Sweetwater Lake |
The owner's wife at Sweetwater Lake rescues donkeys.
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| Us with Jake & Robyn |
The campground has a road that goes around Sweetwater Lake, which I had been walking on to take Lucy out. They have four dogs which are not very friendly so today I walked on the road to get to the field bypassing the house and dogs. Well, the owner was out on his ATV and told me I was not aloud to walk there anymore. Did I not see the sign that said “stop, etc.” and I told him I figured it was for vehicles, not pedestrians. He told me that he leases out the field for hunters, but then his kids ride their ATVs in the field in the evening, so I know he was lying since he was also riding his out there.
Robyn had to drive to Statesboro to take care of Jake’s father for a few days, so we will be gone by the time she gets back. Both of them left this evening to drive down there and Jake said he would be back on Monday and would see us then.
April 19, 2021. Jake came back to the campground Monday evening and spent it with us at our campsite. I went in to take a shower only to discover luke warm water coming out of the shower. I proceeded to put on my robe and go outside and ask Jim to look at the water heater, maybe flipping the by pass valve as that was our problem last time. Well, I ended up doing that, and then we checked the temperature of the water coming out of the tank itself, and it was not hot. Great. Then we tried putting on the propane to heat the water; it came on and stayed for a minute then went out. It did this over and over and we eventually just shut it off.
Jake went down to his trailer and turned on his water heater and I went down there to shower as it was hair washing night. Jim and Jake showed up at his trailer just as I was finishing up, so Jake stayed and I drove Jim and me back to our trailer. Jim took a luke warm shower that night.
Tuesday we called Dometic and talked with a technician about the water heater checking the voltage on the wires coming out of the control board. He eventually diagnosed our problem as a defective control board. We then proceeded to finish packing up and heading down to the black water dump before heading out
When we got to North Shore Landing in Greensboro, Georgia and after setting up and taking Lucy for her afternoon walk, I started looking for a control board. Found a few but did not order anything as I wanted to talk with the places first. But we decided to try turning on the propane to the water heater, and what do you know, it fired up and stayed on, heating the water up just fine. Go figure.
Next day I was looking and reading the information and some places talked about the reset switch on the back of the water heater. So on a fluke I decided to go out and play with it. It was right there on the side of the heater and I pushed it on and off a few times. Funny thing though, I would not stay off. It also had a bunch of gunk on the off side. I then went back inside and turned on the electric switch to the water heater. After a time I turned on the hot water and sure enough, the water was getting hot. It’s just weird.
April 22, 2021. We were planning on driving to visit with Kathie & Randy, and even though it was an hour drive, we were going to drive back to North Shore. However, Kathie kept asking if we were going to spend the night, and I got the idea that maybe we should take the trailer to their house and spend the night in their front yard. So we called Kathie and proposed that idea and she thought it was good. So we pulled up stakes at North Shore on Thursday morning and drove to their house. We pulled up into their front yard and leveled out the trailer, got set up with water and electric and then went in to visit.
We had a great time there and enjoyed our evening with them. Errick, Kathie's son, came home about 9pm and we sat up and talked with him a while before heading to the trailer for the night.
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| Us with Kathie & Randy |
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| Us with Harry Trott |
Then when we got to Fort Yargo we ended up pulling into the driveway of the Old entrance. It’s the address shown on Google, their website and even on the Reservation site. But it’s wrong. We got ourselves into a pickle as the gate was closed. Luckily there were some people doing yard maintenance and Jim talked one of them into opening the gate for us.
I mentioned this to the young man who checked us in and then sent an email the to General Manager, who did answer me saying that it is a problem and she has been working on it for quite a while now.
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| Ft. Yargo State Park |
Monday afternoon we went over to Jack & Tam’ra’s for the afternoon and dinner. We all went to the clubhouse to play a game of bocci ball. It was a lot of fun and quite easy to learn. We then took a walk around the clubhouse. After dinner Jack and I took another walk so I could walk Lucy again.
April 26, 2021. Tuesday morning we took the
Excursion to Greene Ford for them to check out the rear differential. It was
leaking and not really causing any issues, just that the fluid needed to be
changed. Jim said he could have done that but he does not need to be crawling
under the truck trying to empty the fluid, which only has a plug on the top and
he would have had to siphon the fluid out. Jack & Tam’ra came to pick us up
from Greene Ford and we went to the Gainesville Botanical Garden and then we
went out to lunch before heading back to Greene Ford.
We worked on getting a get
together at Fort Yargo, and were able to set one up for Thursday afternoon. Kathie
& Randy came up and Jack & Tam’ra drove down. Dustin was also planning
on coming but on his way the light for the power steering on this car came on
and he decided not to drive all the way out and take his car to the dealer.
Anyway, we had a real nice time; I cooked burgers and we had a couple of green salads. I also baked the Cranberry, Mandarin Orange bread, which was a hit. After lunch we took a short walk down to the Yurts and then along the lake.
The site we have here is a
tough one. It seems like no one has been in it in a while; it’s small and not
much room on our living side. The electric outlet looked burnt and had a piece
missing out of it, so I mentioned it to the people working on the site and they
had the manager come and look at it and she had the electrician come and
replace it for us.
I had to rake the dead leaves away just so Jim could walk out of the trailer and not have to duck under the awning as there is a huge tree right at the point where he would walk out. When I put the awning out I usually wait before putting the picnic table under it, but today I moved the table first. Unfortunately, it was in the way of the awning when I tried to put it out and the awning caught on part of the table and put a small rip in it. Ugh. I was able to tape it underneath with waterproof tape, but we still need to figure out a way to fix the outside. The awning is also ripping along the side near the door where I was putting the clips so hopefully whatever we get will fix that as well.
I think this site was the absolute worst we have ever had in our camping lives. I could not get the trailer leveled front to back. The front was sitting on the ground; the lowest it cold possibly be and we were still over a bubble out of balance. I was always feeling like I was falling back while walking down the hall.
May 2, 2021. On Sunday we went to the
North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. The last time
we were in the area we went to the Doll Museum and only glimpsed the
Transportation Museum. I am glad we were able to visit it during this visit.
Somehow I got back on Facebook. I had decided to try using my cell phone and opened up a new page using my cell number and just first and last name. Son of a gun, but they actually allowed me to open up an account. So I'm in there, but just posting normal stuff. Staying away from the politics since I have my Blog where I am posting everything I find. I was banned in January and it's been four months that I have not been on it. It's nice to be back on because I really did miss being in touch with all my family and friends.
May 4, 2021. By Tuesday I had had enough of the site we were in. I think it was the absolute worst site we have ever been in. After calling the office I was given a few sites to look at, but while looking at one of the sites on the list I found another one which had just been vacated that morning. So Tuesday we moved into site A41. Boy what a difference. It’s relatively flat; I had to put 5 yellow blocks under the one side, but it’s flat front to back, where as the other side would never be level. We have a lot more room here and do not have a trailer to stare at when sitting outside. We are out in the open now.
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| Lake Myers |
May 6, 2021. I discovered the Andy Griffith Museum, which is where he grew up and many of the stores in the show are at Mt. Airy, North Carolina. So of course we took a day trip and drove up there to see the museum and visit the city.
May 12, 2021. Wednesday while cleaning the trailer I heard a big BOOM. First I thought the shampoo/soap holder had fallen off the wall in the bathroom, but upon checking, it was still intact. Walked outside where Jim was and we both started looking around. Found a branch had fallen on the roof; it did not seem like a huge branch but it sure made a loud noise.
And unfortunately, it also hit the bathroom shower dome and put a huge hole in it. Jim immediately got on the phone and talked with two mobile RV people. One was in the park and came and looked at it; put a cover over the dome and taped it down. However, he said they were booked and could not put a new one in. He gave me the dimensions and I started looking for one on Amazon. While in the process of searching, a second guy showed up to look at the damage. He looked at the dome, remeasured and helped me find a replacement on Amazon.
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| Busted bathroom skylight |
Then we started talking with him about the front window and he told us that he had actually replaced the front window on an Award. Jim was very interested in him doing that with our window, so the guy said he would try and find the Lexan (smoked) and let us know if he could do it.
May 6, 2021. Took a trip to Mt. Airey, North Carolina, to visit the Andy Griffith Museum. We also went into downtown Mt. Airey to visit Floyd’s Barber Shop and the Diner. Then we went down the street to Wally’s Service Station. I was hoping that the police cars that were used in the series would have been parked in front of it, but they were all out doing tours and riding up and down Main Street showing off.
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| Leslie & Gayle |
In the meantime, we got neighbors on our setup side and he came over to talk and visit. He and his wife were on a trip right after un-winterizing their trailer and was having an issue with getting hot water. I explained to him the two instances we had with our water heater, suggesting the first step is to determine if the hot water heater was working. Jim went over to help him, so the first thing to do is open the hot water heater on the outside of the trailer and open the valve to see if the water was indeed hot. If the water is hot, it most likely means the bypass valve is stuck. If the bypass valve is not working, it lets cold water into the hot water system, thus you get luke warm water coming out of the tap. Jim worked by bypass valve back and forth, which broke it loose, and now he had hot water.
We are always willing to help people when they need help. That’s what RVers do!!
Ron and Joann have an interesting Class B trailer; made in Canada and for it being so small, it has a lot of storage. I was really surprised at the amount it has and compared it to our friend’s Airstream, which has virtually no storage, and it’s larger than their Class B.
So the story as to how Leslie and I became friends is very interesting. She happens to have been a student of my long-time friend Karen. She and I lived across the street from each other in Maple Heights, Ohio for our whole lives. So I have known Karen from our very early childhood days. Karen went onto college, then eventually got her PhD in biology. She ended up in North Carolina as a tenured professor in biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I on the other hand, did not graduate from college but ended up in a corporate setting as a legal secretary for 27 years.
Anyway, Leslie would comment on Karen’s Facebook posts and I would end up liking Leslie’s comments, and would comment as well. Karen eventually unfriended both of us (me twice). I continued to post political things on FB and made a group in messenger with Leslie and two other women I know. I eventually got banned from FB in January. I tried to get back on, but it never worked. Not wanting to lose touch with Leslie as the only way we had been in touch was through FB messenger, I contacted one of the women whose phone number I had and asked her to have Leslie call me. She did and we had a wonderful conversation. I told her we were coming up her way and would love to meet her.
We had lunch here at the campground and sat around a campfire that just did not want to start as the wood was too fresh and wet. I think we eventually got the fire going good when it was time to head indoors for dinner.
I got a lovely card and bracelet from Sean and his daughter Jayden for Mother’s Day. Jayden drew the card and the bracelet is a small banded one with the inscription “Best Nonna Ever” on it. That was the sweetest and best Mother’s Day present. “Nonna” happens to be Grandmother in Italian (Sean is Italian). Since I am not officially her grandmother, she wanted to be able to call me something, so I suggested Nonna. I think it’s wonderful and I am blessed to have her as my unofficial granddaughter.
May 13, 2021. Sunday, Mother’s Day, just sat around. Got a call from Jacklyn in the morning.
After helping out Dave get his hot water heater working again, he went back to his house and got a truck full of wood and brought it to us. He was so thankful for our help that he wanted to pay us back, thus the wood. It was great though. Jim built a couple of fires and they were great because this wood was so seasoned it burned clean. We really enjoyed having the fires. Had Ron & Joann come and visit around the fire one night. And last night another couple that pulled in down the hill came up to talk and then the guy came back when we were sitting out around the fire.
Andy, the RV guy, came on Tuesday afternoon to replace the skylight, which arrived on Monday from Amazon. He got the old one off in no time, even though there was a bunch of Eternabond around it. He did a good job putting the inside back on and then the skylight itself. I bought “smoke” color but it sure seems lighter than smoke. The bathroom is so bright now, it’s crazy.
Wednesday we went to Labcorp to get Jim’s blood work and then just stayed at home; did laundry in between the rain. Glad we did not leave Wednesday as it rained off and on all day.
Thursday was our day to leave and it turned out to be warmer and sunny. Driving west on I-40 we hit the mountains; not big ones but the going up was really long and then having truckers all around was a bit unnerving for Jim. So instead of cooking tonight we went out to eat at Pin High Bar & Grill. It turned out to be in a country club and the food was good and fresh. The people were very friendly and came and talked to us while we sat there. It was great; we had a real good time.
May 16, 2021. Just before we were scheduled to leave Lake Myers, the Colonial Pipeline was hacked and the fuel was shut down from Texas all the way up the east coast to New York. We had ¾ of a tank coming back from Labcorp on Wednesday but topped off so we would have enough fuel to get to Waynesville.
While here the ransom was paid to the hackers but as of Sunday many of the gas stations here in Waynesville were still out of fuel. Jim is getting worried about what may go on in the country and wants to head back to Texas instead of traveling. I understand his concerns and I have them as well, so I guess that’s what I will do, albeit slowly.
We made it to Waynesville, North Carolina with no problems and set up at Pride RV Park.
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| Pride RV Park |
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| Jonathan Creek |
Andy is quite a remarkable person. He can talk for hours about the places he has been and things he has seen. He has bicycled all over the world and has a multitude of stories that can keep you enthralled for hours. He has a blog from his travels, but since he is not traveling anymore (settled down here in Maggie Valley), there are no current updates.
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| Andy & Jim |
However, throughout the evening she started having diarrhea and threw up and had Jim take her out numerous times before he came to bed at 3am. Then it was my turn and I got up with her and she still had some diarrhea and threw up a little.
Today Sunday I decided to stay home and let her rest. She did not eat her breakfast and has not drank much water. She has been sleeping most of the day; peed a bit but mostly is resting. She still has her energy so I'm just keeping an eye on her. I cannot figure out what she got into or if it was just her nerves acting up.
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| Breckinridge Lake |
Jim had a teleconference with his Doctor on Tuesday and his last blood work showed his PSA going up 10 points within the past year. So the doctor is putting him on an antibiotic to see if he might have prostititus, hoping that clears it up. If not, he will have to get a biopsy to see if there is any cancer showing up. In three weeks he will have to get another blood test.
May 21, 2021. Jim started on his antibiotics for the prostate, and it made him feel crummy. Some of the many side effects are diarrhea, dizziness, stomach upset, nausea/vomiting. So we did not end up going to any museums. We did drive into town to go to Verizon and then French’s again as the belt he bought was too big and he wanted to see if they had a smaller one. They have some really nice belts on sale from $70 to $15 so the popular sizes go fast.
My Kindle started acting up. Every time I tried turning the page, they went backwards instead of forward, then all the way to the beginning and would not go forward. I tried going on the internet to see if that would help but I could not get on the campground’s internet because the keyboard was going nuts. Every time I hit the “y” I got a “Q” or “A”. It automatically defaults to my Jetpack and since I cannot get any WiFi on the Jetpack, that is useless. Jim just said to wait until we get to a place that has decent internet service to see if my Kindle straightens out. If it doesn’t, I guess it’s time to buy a new one. I bought this one when we first went to work for Amazon in 2012.
May 27, 2021. On Monday the 24th
the park had a group come in to entertain us for an hour – The Rough &
Tumble. They are a young couple who sing and tell stories. They also play
guitar, harmonica, accordion, and ukulele.
They were very good, and I thought they would be a good act for a TCT
rally.
On Wednesday we left Breckinridge and made our way through the back roads of Tennessee to Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails in Park City, Kentucky. We now at least have some decent internet; only two bars on my phone but at least it is not buffering. Television on the other hand, does not seem too good. Last time we were here I put in my RV description that OTA television was good, but I don’t remember what stations we got. But we do have internet television so we just have to hook up to the tablet for internet.
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| Diamond Caverns Thousand Trails |
Well, since that was happening we decided to stay around the trailer
and not go out. I kept asking them when we could expect the electrician and
were told he was coming. It was not until about 5:30 pm when he finally showed
up. Jim walked over to talk with him and when he took out the breaker it was
hot, and that was with minimal load on it.
We are now able to run our A/C and other electric appliances with no
worry about the breaker tripping. We were told that the middle portion of the
park is very old, that it used to be an old KOA from the 1950s, and that maybe
the electrical has not been changed since then. I noticed they paved the road
in here, but did nothing with the old and decrepit electrical breakers.
One guy told us that they were not allowed to mess with the electrical
because at one resort the wiring was put in wrong and it caught a trailer on
fire. Well, that is one reason I always check the voltage and polarity before
we even plug in. We did encounter reverse polarity at one campground; told them
about it, and they did nothing about it.
I am enjoying my walks with Lucy on the trail into Mammoth Cave NP.
It’s level, gravel and easy to walk. Very quiet and enjoyable to be out in the
woods with no one around. This morning we walked 2.13 miles.
May 29, 2021. Today we went to the Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum in Cave City. That was a pretty cool place. It has over 20
displays of bugs, moths and butterflies from around the world. From there we
went into the animal area. The animals the owner collected came from the 1960s
and some of the displays looked ol n of each animal.
June 1, 2021. Memorial Day we went to Walmart
for our weekly grocery shopping. We were going to get an oil change and tire
rotation, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. It was so backed up we
decided to go back the next day. So Tuesday we went back and were first in line
for an oil change. It seemed like it took forever so Jim asked what was going
on. Seems that the last place we had an oil change, which was in Abita Springs
and the little garage in town, they stripped the oil plug and torqued the oil
filter on too hard. The Walmart guy had to put in a new plug and eventually got
the filter off.
After the oil change, they moved the car into the other bay to do the
tire rotation. When we got home I checked the air pressure as I like to have
more in the rear tires than the front. I looked at the tires and was wondering
why there was no cover on the rear tires. We figured out that they kept the
hubcaps on the respective tire instead of switching them so that the front
hubcap was open since they have the four wheel drive hub.
June 3, 2021. Wednesday we headed out from
Diamond Caverns. It was a rainy day and I knew it was going to rain so I put
most of the stuff away on Tuesday along with doing laundry. We are making two
stops before our final destination in Owensville, Missouri.
First stop was Tween the Lakes campground in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.
That was a weird campground; on hills with the concrete pad just wide enough
for the rig and a small step out of the trailer before heading down a hill. I
put the awning out to dry because it did rain that night but dried out enough
by the time we left on Thursday. One nice thing about this campground is that
there was a multi-use trail at the end of the campground where Lucy and I were
able to walk. It was a nice paved trail and in the morning we walked all the
way to the Tennessee River, which was over 1.5 miles one way.
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| Tennessee River |
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| Perry County Lake |
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| Lost Valley Lake |
Took a few walks in the woods with Lucy and ended up with ticks. I
recall when we were in Branson the ticks were real bad; and since this is now
tick season, I have decided to stay out of the woods and just walk on the
concrete sidewalk by the lake. I still feel like things are crawling all over
me and am constantly checking myself.
Took Lucy to the vet Monday morning to get her rabies shot and annual
9-way. I read her previous rabies paperwork wrong and thought she was due in
2021 for her rabies shot, but it was actually 2022. But I went ahead and got
her another rabies shot along with the 9-way. Heck, I drove over ½ hour to get
to the vets, and it was inexpensive to get the shots. Lucy weighed in a 31 pounds
and in good health.
Then the stupid GPS (Sheila) had me turn a different way to get back to the campground and I ended up on back roads that were all dirt. I think she was trying to get me to the old entrance. Took over a half hour of driving in a round about direction before I made it back to the correct entrance to the campground. Using the phone GPS was useless as most of the area around here there is no service.
Also got bit by a tick, which are coming out because it's spring and now is the time they start appearing. I got one of the pinhead ticks imbedded in my stomach area, and could not get it out. Jim picked at it for a while and then we left it for a few days, before I started picking at it again. I finally got the whole thing out, but it left a nasty sore. It's been a couple of days and it's still sore. I keep cleaning it with alcohol and then putting neosporin on it with a bandaid. Jim said he was worried about lyme disease but this does not have the bullseye ring around the outside of this sore.
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| Tick bite |
Jim finished his antibiotics to see if that would bring his prostate
numbers down, and either Tuesday or Wednesday we will head to Labcorp to get his
blood work.
June 10, 2021. Drove over 70 miles one way to
get to Wentzville, MO to Labcorp. Since
we were in a large down, we went to the UPS store so I could send a return back
to Amazon. Also, the showerhead shut off valve broke on me so we stopped at
Lowes to buy a new one. I think Jim fixed the old one, but for $6 we just
bought a new one.
Our crazy GPS took us on back roads from the campground to I-70. That
was quite nerve racking – these roads curve all over the place and you cannot
drive very fast. One left turn I had to make was going up a hill with a truck
behind me over a blind hill. I slowed down a little bit but then just gunned it
and turned.
After our errands we went to Applebees for lunch before driving 1-1/2
hours back to the campground.
June 10, 2021. As we were leaving Lost Valley
we headed west on Hwy ZZ to Hwy 50. When we were heading into Jefferson City, Missouri Jim went to pass and the truck and trailer swayed. Very odd as it never does
anything like that. I asked about it, and he did not know why we swayed like
that. Our trailer tows with no problems. When we arrived in Jefferson City he decided
he wanted to stop and pee, so we pulled into a small shopping center with a
Subway (his favorite). After we parked he walked out to go into the trailer and
discovered the rear tire on the curb side was flat. That must have been why we
swayed.
He then straightened out the trailer and went to Subway to get a sub
while I called our roadside assistance, which we have through Escapees. It took
a little bit, but the woman at the roadside place found a company in Jefferson
City who had a mobile service. In the meantime I looked at the tire and discovered
a tear on the inner side. Pomps made it out to us about 4pm and we were sure
glad to see him. It was in the 90s all afternoon and the sun beat down on us;
it was boiling.
He tried putting the trailer up with a jack, but did not see that it
would work well, so I said I had a way to get one tire off the ground, which I
have done in the past when we had to get higher than the Anderson levelers
would get us. So I took Jim up on the Andersons and then put 6 yellow blocks in
front so he could roll up on those. Gets the other tire off the ground very
good.
We ended up getting two tires. The other one had a small bump on it,
but it was equal on both sides. The guy said if it was him, he would change it.
And it just so happened that he brought two tires with him. So he put two new
tires on and then changed out the spare tire with the good tire.
We left there about 5:30 and got to our nightly stop at Bluebird RV
Park in Cole Camp, Missouri. Small park; gravel but FHU. Owner was very nice
and actually was a very nice site.
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| Bluebird RV Park |
We left Cole Camp and got to Linn Valley in Linn Valley, Kansas in the afternoon. Drove around the camping area for a bit trying to find a fairly level site. Most of them are not completely level, but we eventually found one in the 50amp section. We will be here 6 nights so wanted to get a good one.
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| Linn Valley RV Park |
After I put out everything, and took Lucy for a walk, we checked on the weather again. There was a severe storm heading through Kansas City and did not think it would come down to us, but it looked like it was going to hit us anyway. The wind started really blowing straight at the side and the awning was jumping. I yelled to Jim to come out and help me take the awning down a little and he decided we should just roll it up to be safe. The flag had flown off the table and the two tables blew over. So I put everything up, laid the tables and chairs down and put the other stuff under the trailer so it would not get wet if it rains. We are the blue dot.
June 13, 2021. The rain storm that we thought
would come upon us never came. We did get the wind front but no rain. The whole
storm just skirted right below us.
I decided to update our location on RVillage, which I often forget to
do, and then I look for other members in the park. There were three of us at
this park; I look at their information but never do anything about it. I am
also set up to receive emails from RVillage members. This time I got an email
from one of the members – “We are right next door.” I had talked briefly to
them when we were pulling in and setting up because Jim always yells at me
about different things when we set up. This time it was because I did not check
to make sure we had water before starting to unhook the trailer.
Anyway, the man came out later after we were set up and introduced
himself. Seems we are all very like minded and he likes our Trump sign that I
put out. When Jim went out later they
talked quite a bit, and then Jim invited them over yesterday afternoon to talk,
which they did. It was wonderful getting to know them; very interesting couple
who could not wait to get out of California and way from Newsome. They sold
everything and established residence in Texas. He said that Newsome has a bill
to make people who move out of California still pay state taxes for 10 years
after they move. I don’t know how that could even be legal. Their names are Guy
and Karen Dana and they travel in a Tiffin Phaeton.
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| Guy and Karen |
They joined Ocean Canyon Properties at Tres Rios, and met a few of the people working there when they joined. What a small world. Told them we hope to see them back at Tres Rios at some point in the future.
We also went to see St. Philippine Duchesne Memorial Park & Shrine which memorializes the lives and work of early Kansas settlers and is the original site of the Potawatomi Indians and Missionary community at Sugar Creek Mission.
June 20, 2021. Spent some hot days in Linn
Valley not doing much. Did our normal shopping and also went out to visit the
St. Philippine Duchesne Memorial Park where the nuns helped the Indians who
ended up there from the Trail of Death that was forced on them walking from
Indiana to Kansas.
From Linn Valley we headed south to Eagles Landing in Grove, Oklahoma. We stayed at Eagles Landing for a week and visited a few places in the area. Heading back to Texas because of Jim’s PSA test; with stops in Houston over the 4th as Jacklyn and Sean are flying in. Since it’s Father’s Day Jim told Josh we were coming down. While at Eagles Landing, we drove to Vinita to visit the Eastern Trails Museum, which tells about the history of their little town.
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| Eagles Landing |
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| Grand Lake |
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| Hwy 69 |
For some reason our GPS took us off of Hwy 69 and headed us farther east down Hwy 64, then took us west on a rinky dink road for 8 miles. I have no idea why since I have it set on “fastest” route and that was surely not the fastest route.
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| Terra Starr |
We finally arrived and got a pull through FHU site. Unfortunately, when we were leaving the last place Jim discovered that the 50amp dog plug was fused to the EMS plug. We hooked into the 50amp plug here at Terra Starr but I have no idea what we are going to do at the other places we go to.
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| Lake Eufaula |
June 22,2021. The road we had to take from Terra Starr was Hwy 69 south which started off with road construction and Jim started his ranting again about how bad the road was and that his nerves were going to be frazzled. He blames me for the routes we were taking even though this time I looked at three different places to figure the route and Waze and our GPS took us on the same route. He gets pretty when things don’t go totally smooth, and then gets mad and me for everything.
The road did not stay under construction for very long and then smoothed out but every now and then we went through rough spots. It seems so many roads in Oklahoma are horrible, even their turnpike is not smooth. Jim was happy to get into Texas and for some reason feels safer here than anywhere else.
One section of Oklahoma we drove through had a huge field of total
yellow. Don’t know what type of vegetation is being grown, but it was a bright
yellow.
We arrived in Sulphur Springs, Texas to Shady Lake RV Park. Our site here is very nice, compared to the other over night sites, which are so close together that there is a patch of grass about four feet wide, not enough to put out an awning or chairs. The site they have us was No. 1, which faces the Lake and has a dock right out of our door. Even though we will be here only two days, I put out the carpet and awning.
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| Shady Lake |
Jim immediately started talking with the manager, Tony, and they seemed to hit it off. That's Tony standing on the dock talking to Jim. He's a former Marine and has been the manager here for quite a few years. The interesting story behind this picture of Tony is that as a Marine he was visiting the White House when Reagan was President.
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| Salmon Lake RV Park |
June 30, 2021. From Salmon Lake, on Sunday we drove south to Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, where we are staying until Thursday. We met the lady across from us when Jim offered to help her back up and hook up. She is traveling alone and welcomed the help. She came over and talked a bit, then introduced us to another couple walking by. They stayed and talked for a while.
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| Lake Conroe Thousand Trails |
One day we drove to Huntsville to visit the Sam Houston Museum, which
is around the university. Very interesting houses of his, gardens, cook house,
etc. From there we went to the statute, which we have seen on our way north and
south on I-45. There is a visitor center off Hwy 75 and a short walk to the
statute. I also did a blog on our trip to the museum and statute, which you can read about here. There was also a museum which told the history of the Texas Suffrage Movement.
The next day we drove to The Preserve in Cleveland, Texas. It is something I saw when searching for places to buy land to retire. It’s a huge place and has been around since the 80s. They have gone through 4 owners and this one is the 4th. We were given a tour by the sales person in their Jeep. They have a lot of vacant lots that need to be cleared and some that have already been cleared. The streets however are not paved and still dirt and rutty. It looks good on the website, but not what we are looking for.
From there we drove to Texas Campgrounds Club in Conroe, which we
learned about from a couple we met at Mammoth Cave Thousand Trails. We lucked
out going in as there is a gate and someone went in first, and we drove in
right after. This is a weird place as well – the street was gravel and narrow,
one car at a time. We drove in looking at the places; some houses, lots of RVs
and very hard to figure out where to go. The roads did not show up on the GPS
as we drove around, then started going down one road and saw a sign that said
no heavy trucks or RVs over the bridge (1 ton). As we are 4 tons, we turned
around and went back out the way we went in. So here is another place to cross
off of my list. Luckily on the way out, people were coming in and let us out
before they came in.
Back at TT, a couple pulled in behind us and of course Jim had to go
over and talk with them. More patriots and people we got along with. The lady,
Karen, paints rocks, which I discovered through a young girl who showed me her
rock, and since I told her how wonderful it was, she took me over to Karen to
talk with her. And that’s when I discovered they were right behind us and Jim
had already been talking to them. So of course I talked with her for a while,
and just wish we did not have to leave because I would have enjoyed talking
with them more.
We have to leave the Thousand Trails on July 1 because I could not get a reservation any longer than that.
July 1, 2021. Talked with Jimmy & Karen again this morning before and during hooking up. We did not get out of TT until noon and drove down I-45 into Houston, getting on Beltway 8 east to bypass going through Houston.
After setting up at Jetstream RV Park at Nasa, Webster Texas, Jim took his trike off of the back and went for a ride. It’s been five or six months since he was able to ride his trike because so many of the parks we went to had horrible roads. While riding this evening he encountered a little girl so he stopped to talk with her, and then her mother came out and said she was trying to teach her daughter not to talk to strangers and Jim should not have stopped to talk to her daughter. Jim said, well if you are trying to teach her not to talk to strangers, then why is she out here by herself? They had words back and forth, but it still upset Jim that she would accuse him of something untoward. He is going to the office in the morning and let them know of the issue before this woman could go and file a complaint, which is what he is worried about.
One other thing that we will have to deal with is the awning lever, which did not want to lock in the down position when I put the awning out. I played with it and it finally clicked to stay down. I am hoping we will not have any trouble getting it back up when we leave on Tuesday.
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| Jetstream RV Park |
I finally was able to get an appointment with the urologist, which is not until August. I was hoping to get one this month, but no luck there.
In the evening we went into the clubhouse so Jim could wash all of his C-Pap equipment, and then met a guy coming in to shoot pool. So I took his stuff back to the trailer, got his pool cue and took it back to him so he could shoot pool for a bit.
Jason, Jayden and Juliella piling on top of Jacklyn.
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| Decorating Cookies |
July 5, 2021. Jacklyn, Sean and Jayden arrived Friday morning. At first Josh had said he was going to cook his brisket on Saturday but then decided to do it on Friday, so Jim and I went over there for dinner Friday night. On Saturday we stayed home and they went to Galveston for the day. On Sunday they went to the neighbor pool and we ended up going there in the afternoon. Monday we went to do our shopping while they went to the park.
After they were done at the park, they all came over so Sean could change the on/off switch on the hot water heater. The old one was pretty corroded and no wonder it stopped working. So now we have a new switch and I can use the electric to heat the water.
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| Fried switch |
We went over to Josh & Karen’s after that for a couple of hours; finally got a family picture which I have wanted to do for a long time. I am really happy to have it. They left about 5pm to go to the airport, with Karen driving them and we stayed for a little while talking with Josh. We did not stay long as they have a lot to do this evening to get ready for the week.
I'm glad Jacklyn suggested getting a group picture. It has been many years since I have able to get a picture of our family, so I especially cherish them. Left to right: Josh, Karen, me, Jim, Sean, and Jacklyn; children: Jayden, Ellie & Jason.
Got to Tres Rios on Wednesday and while trying to put the chocks in the tires, it would not go in the old tires, the Goodyear Endurance that are still on the street side of the trailer.
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| Tres Rios RV Park |
When we got here all of our friends were real happy to see us again. Rhonda came out of the clubhouse to wave and when we went in to say HI, got hugs from everyone.
While walking around the park I met a few new people and stopped and talked with them. I invited a couple of women to come play cards and mentioned the men play pool.
July 12, 2021. Enjoying our time at Tres Rios playing cards, pool, and Jim finally gets to ride his trike again. We have a nice spot (No. 80) with lots of grass and close to the clubhouse.
Lucy and I are also enjoying our walks on the River Trail again. It's so cool and peaceful at 6:30am on our walks every morning.
The Paluxy River is up pretty high. The next two pictures are of the Brazos and Paluxey flowing into it.
Today we drive to Granbury for our weekly shopping and will test the Excursion to see if the front shakes. If there is no shaking, then the vibration we felt on our way up from Houston is due to the two Goodyear Endurance tires on the trailer.
One evening while watching TV, Jim saw a recall on the Philips C-Pap machine he uses. I looked it up and yes, indeed his machine was recalled. The recall was due to the foam used to insulate deteriorating. One of the questions asked was, do you use an ozone cleaner to clean your machine. Since we do not, I wonder if the cleaners advertised on TV are the cause of the foam deterioration. I put in a notice to Philips on Jim’s machine, so who knows when we will hear from them for a replacement. In the meantime, he is continuing to use it.
July 14, 2021. Discovered an issue with our two remaining Goodyear Endurance tires when we got here to Tres Rios - the chocks would not fit between the tires. We called Goodyear and filed a claim and today took the two Goodyear off along with the spare and took them to a Goodyear store to have new ones put on. Trailer slipped a bit while on jacks, but it all turned out OK. One of the stabilizers got bent when the trailer shifted, and I think we may have to replace it as I am having a hard time getting it up and down. Doug put LPS on it and tried to straighten it out, but I don’t think that is going to work.
New friends came by to see what we were going and offered to take Lucy for a golf cart ride, and then offered to dog sit her while we took the tires up to the store. I heard she kept looking over at the trailer waiting for us to return. She was sure happy to see us when we got back.
The manager at Granbury Tire & Service who handles Goodyear tires and people with tire issues, confirmed that the three tires we brought him were indeed separating. He got us a 50% rebate from Goodyear on the three tires we bought, but Goodyear said no to the 4th tire as we did not have possession of it. Tomorrow the other two get done. Many thanks to Doug Keller for his help today!! Don't know how we would manage without him. He saved the day again like he did when he helped us with the trailer brakes.
When we got home and
finished the work, Jim decided to call Goodyear and see if we could get a
rebate on the 4th tire. He explained the situation and the woman he
talked to said OK, she would authorize a 50% rebate on the 4th tire.
So I made a pdf of the three receipts and emailed them to her so she could see
what we did. Now we will take one of the Freestar and put it as a spare, but
according to Goodyear, we will have to let Granbury Tire dispose of the extra
tire. Oh well.
July 15, 2021. Every Thursday night Joe & Gloria hold a Karaoka night. I have not gotten up to sing but Jim has got up and sang a few times.
Tuesday I had a dentist appointment to get the tooth that cracked back in March sitting at Jim Urban’s place when I was eating a sub. I also had a cavity which I got filled with composite. Then we discussed the cracked tooth and I was advised to get a crown put on it. So I sat in the chair from around 10:15 to 1:30 getting everything fixed. Will have to go back in three weeks to have the permanent crown put on. I looked up on the Humana website for a dentist that takes Humana, and that is how I found Glen Rose Family Dental in Glen Rose. They are all very nice and they did a wonderful job. Humana will pick up the cost of the x-rays, and also paid for half of everything else.
Orin Shugart is one of the security personnel here; he carries dog treats with him as he drives around the park, and of course Lucy has to get her share of treats.
July 26, 2021. Not much has happened this past week. Just the same old – up every morning, walking Lucy, playing cards every day, shopping, etc. Baked a Cranberry Mandarin Orange dessert bread for Jim’s birthday and shared it with our friends. Discovered that another friend here at Tres Rios – Mike – has the same birthday as Jim.
Lucy has been enjoying her walks around the park, and during our late afternoon walk by the time we get around to the Squaw Creek, she is ready for a dip and water.
I really liked this end site they put us in. It's got a nice big yard and it's private even though it's on the end. I'm going to have to request this site next time we go to Jetstream.
August 2, 2021. They came over to the pool again Sunday afternoon for a bit of a swim and then we went back to their house for dinner. Monday they all went back to work and we did our normal shopping. Monday night we bought Chinese for dinner and went over there to eat. Back home early as it was a work night for all of them. Jason and Grandpa in the back yard shooting Jason's B-B gun.
August 3, 2021. On our way out of Houston just after we got on 290 heading west, someone pulled next to us honking their horn and when I looked at him he pointed back toward our trailer, indicating something was wrong. So I immediately said to Jim that something was wrong and to get off right away. We got off at the next exist and pulled into an Emergency Clinic, which parking lot was virtually empty so I thought it was out of business. But it turned out that it was not out of business. Anyway, we got out of the truck to look around that discovered a tire on the trailer had shredded. Same tire and axle as the one in Jefferson City, MO.
I called Roadside Assistance and the only thing that guy could do was put our spare tire on. Luckily we had a good spare and not the 20 year old Carlisle that was on the trailer when we bought it. That got us back to Tres Rios and now we have to decided what to do with the tire. I posted pictures of it on the Award FB page and some of people determined that it was a road size hazard, that something punctured the tire which caused it to deflate and shred apart. It’s really crazy that this happened as this tire was only 2 weeks old.
August 4, 2021. So we got back to Tres Wednesday afternoon to another bizarre situation – they put everyone back in masks and closed the clubhouse and Texas Hall, all because some employees at Abita came down with Covid. They even put up a sign to wear a mask in the laundry room. What idiots.
August 6, 2021. Jim had his appointment this morning with the urologist. We ended up waiting for over an hour before the doctor got in to see us. Talked with him a bit and he did an exam on Jim (I stepped out). Said he saw blood in his urine, and his prostate was not too badly enlarged. Did not seem all that concerned, but then he does not know us, never seen him before and he was just nonchalant about it all. Said he will schedule a CT scan and then a biopsy date. The place that does the CT will call us and we set the biopsy for September 14.
We played cards the last couple of days in the pavilion with fans to keep us cool. Did not work very well in 90+ heat, but we played anyway. Anita came tonight to invite us over tomorrow night for cards, so we will do that instead of in the pavilion.
And me, not accepting the shutdown, I decided to send a FB message to OCP protesting the closures. They sent back a long thing about wanting to protect their employees and guests. So I sent back another note saying that we did not need OCP taking care of us, that we were old enough to take care of ourselves, etc. etc. It being Friday, I don’t think I will hear back until Monday. They all think it’s Rene doing this, and we certainly do not need her playing dictator and treating us like children needing to be taken care of. Abbott declared no more shutdowns or mask mandates in Texas, but since someone at Abita comes down with it, they shut every park down. Nonsensical.
August 10, 2021. Many of us are quite pissed off and annoyed at OCP for shutting down the buildings because they “want to keep us safe.” I got some of the other people to send notes to them to complain, but I’m not sure they will pay any attention to us. Today we played cards in the pool area. There is a nice shaded place with a big table and chairs. We brought fans but by 4pm it was 99 outside. So Donna mentioned the laundry room. Why didn’t we think of that sooner?? It’s big, has a huge table and it’s air conditioned. So, that will be out new get together place for cards.
Talked to the office manager at the urology place and even though she could not tell me specifically whether Buchanan had been vaccinated, she did say that many of the people in the office had been. So, my contention is that Buchanan probably did and since Jim came in contact with him, that is why he felt sick the next day after his appointment. I’m not going to have to ask Barnes if he was vaccinated and if he was, we do a telehealth visit so we don’t have to see him face to face.
Went back to the dentist this morning to get my permanent crown put on the tooth that I chipped back in March. I’m glad I got that done, because now I have all my teeth back.
August 17, 2021. During my walk this morning I was able to get a great picture of the sunrise. I have not been able to get out at the right time but today was exceptional.
Today Doug, Dale and Wes came over and we changed the roll up mechanism inside the roller of the awning. The up/down lever stopped working so I bought a brand new spring. Doug had already done one, so he knew what to do. It took them about an hour to get it done and now we have a new end, and it works great. I gave the old one to Wes as his roller is not working at all. There is a U clip inside that hooks to the roller pin that looks like it broke on the ends. I don’t know if he will be able to fix it, but he can give it a try.
August 20, 2021. I called the Imaging Center yesterday to find out why they have not called to schedule Jim’s CT exam. So while doing laundry Thursday morning they called me back to tell me that they see the order in their computer but the doctor did not “push” it through so they could not act on it. They told me to call the doctor in the morning and let them know; so on Friday morning I finally was able to get through to the USMD to let them know. Hopefully they did something; I will call the imaging center back next week to find out.
August 22, 2021. We have been playing cards at the local restaurants because OCP still has our clubhouse closed. I have been sending them comments through FB messenger, but I don’t what good it will do. They are being totally unfair to their senior members shutting us out of a place where we can go to get out of the heat and not be stuck in our trailers all day. They have a September schedule that is geared toward young members – horseshoes and axe throwing. They are totally out of their minds.
On Friday we were at The Big Cup playing cards when Jacklyn & Sean called me to let us know that Sean finally proposed to Jacklyn and gave her the ring he had bought back in March. It’s a beautiful peacock/mountain sapphire – blue with two diamonds on each side. They have picked March 18, 2023 for the wedding. They want a year to plan and work on the house as well. They have not picked a venue yet either. So it looks like we will be heading to Florida in another year.
As for 2022, I think we will travel west and northwest. I will start planning that vacation after Christmas.
August 27, 2021. Headed out of Tres Rios on the 25th for our week out. We are at Sun Country in Whitney instead of the Thousand Trails. I picked this one so Jim could ride his trike, but it’s been so hot, he has not ridden it at all.
Today we went to Hillsborough for lunch and then went to the Roadside America Museum. It was pretty cool; we got a personal tour. He has a lot of statutes of characters from different restaurants and cartoons.
Finally was able to make Jim an appointment for his CT scan before his biopsy on his prostate. Sometimes one just cannot wait for the centers or doctors to call to set things up. Come to find out that Buchanan’s office never sent the order to Lake Granbury Imaging. Good thing I took the initiative to get things done. Also made Jim an appointment with Barnes and Bhatti. Both will be via telehealth due to the fact that they both got vaxxed, and with Jim reacting to vaxxed people, we chose that route.
September 2, 2021. The weather has been so hot these past few weeks that we really cannot do anything outside. Just going out for a little while during the day is crazy, with it being in the high 90s. We did not do any of the activities at Whitney, cards or pool.
But now we are back at Tres Rios and the clubhouse is still closed. OCP is being tyrannical not opening it up. So we have been meeting in Doug’s trailer to play Mexican Train and cards.
Been walking with Lucy early in the morning when it’s fairly cool; very nice mornings walking down by the river. In the evenings it’s a short walk around 5 and then another longer walk at 8 right before the sun goes down.
The park is supposed to be packed this weekend. We got in site 81 this time, which is down in the 2nd row. So far the 1st row is empty but I am sure it will fill up tomorrow.
September 5, 2021. Since Tres Rios clubhouse is still locked tight I wanted to make another comment to OCP, only to find out that they blocked me from commenting to them, both on their FB messenger page, on the regular FB page, and on the website. When I looked at my FB page for OCP I only get a “share” but when I looked at Doug’s he still had a like, comment and share. OCP is getting tyrannical. They don’t want to hear anything negative. They just want us to be sheep and follow along with what they want.
So I went on my personal FB page and put a note there and highlighted OCP so maybe they will see it. Don’t know how that works, but now everyone knows what tyrants they are. I messaged our friends here at TR to copy my note and send it to OCP under their name, but I don’t know if any of them will. Probably not. They all like to complain, but don’t send that complaint to OCP.
September 10, 2021. Jim had his CT scans this morning at Baylor Imaging Center. The first one was for his prostate exam, only he said they were just checking his kidneys because he had blood in his urine when we went to the doctors. The Tech said his kidneys looked fine though. I guess we will learn the results on Tuesday when he goes for his biopsy. The second CT scan was for Dr. Bhatti, his pulmonologist. Bhatti wanted a scan during the summer, but we finally were able to get both done at the same time.
Jim thinks a lot of the staff in there are vaxxed – he had a lot of them doing all sorts of things, so I guess we will see if he gets sick in the next few days.
September 14, 2021. Jim had his biopsy this
morning. I was able to sit in there with him; did not watch but was able to see
a little bit. They must have put a long tube up his anus and then used a long,
long needle (looked to be about 1 foot long) to stick up the tube to take the
samples. Doctor did say that his prostate is enlarged, and ended up taking 14
samples. We have an appointment with the doctor a week from today to go over
the results.
Today Jim has a sore butt, inside – a dull ache. He was bleeding a lot but that seems to have gone away. The local the doctor gave him must have worn off because now he is feeling miserable. Hope that does not last long.
September 16, 2021. Jim still has some blood in his urine every time he pees, but I imagine that will go away soon enough.
Did a letter to OCP regarding them opening up our buildings again. They have been closed over a month and we are getting really tired of it. I have been getting signatures on it but still have more to get.
September 19, 2021. Jacklyn called the other day to talk with Jim about 30amp hookups at their house. She then let us know that they changed the date of their wedding to December 18, 2022. Their reasoning for changing the date is that the weekend in March is not their weekend to have Jayden and they would have to ask her Mom for permission and they did not want to do that. So I guess they looked at different months that have the 18th on the weekend, and found December 2022. That puts a crimp in our travel plans because now we are going to have to book it out of Texas right after Thanksgiving to get to Florida a week before the wedding.
OCP decided to open up our buildings on September 17, 2021. Was told that they were getting a lot of complaints from all the parks, not just ours like they tried to tell us. We were happy to finally get back in our club house. On Sunday the 19th Laurie & Dave had a football party in the clubhouse; lots of food and people. We also played cards in the afternoon.
Started my exercising again. I decided to stop making my chocolate chip cookies – was eating too many of them and getting too much sugar in my diet. So I decided to stop eating sugary foods; that includes my Werther’s hard candies, though I found out they have soy in them, so I’m not eating them anymore.
September 22, 2021. Today we are celebrating 42 years being married even though Jim likes to say it’s 45 since he gave me a ring much earlier.
Had an appointment with Buchanan yesterday to get the results of his prostate biopsy. IT CAME BACK ALL NEGATIVE – NO CANCER! Also, one of his testicles is enlarged, which must be just an infection from the biopsy. They took 14 samples out of his prostate and some of them were pretty big; and the blood coming out of his urine is finally slowing down. Got him some antibiotics to take for a week.
We
are also trying to get new tires for the trailer and have been dealing with
Granbury Tire. Yesterday Cooper said they had gotten the tires in stock as a
replacement for the Goodyear Endurance and we were ready to head to them to get
the new tires. But this morning Jim called and talked to Cory who now said they
do not have the tires in stock. So we are not going up there to get the new
tires. Don’t know where the screw up is, but someone does not have the correct
information.
Messages got screwed up because I called Granbury Tire and talked to Cooper, who said that YES they do have the tires. In fact, he was looking at them while we were talking. The story is that Cory was not up on the status of the tires as he did give the task to Cooper. So we drove up to Granbury Tire on our way out of Tres Rios for our week out. We now have four Carlisle tires on the trailer. As they were taking the Goodyear Endurance tires off of the trailer, we noticed bubbles on each of the tires.
September 28, 2021. Not much going on at Whitney so far. Jim has been taking it easy since the biopsy as he is still peeing blood. He does not want to strain himself and mess anything up. Today we had a Zoom conference with Nick and Sharon Guigard, an attorney who handles trusts, estates and wills. We went over our wills and other documents and found out that some of our documents need to be redone according to Texas law. So we commissioned her to do the documents and have an appointment next month to sign them.
October 2, 2021. Came back to Tres Rios on Wednesday and got back into our old site 81. We did want to get into the end site and be on the end, but the park put cones and a big piece of lumber so no one can go in the “wrong” way.
I had an issue with the awning lever trying to get the awning up when we left on Wednesday and today Jim tried to get the awning down but something was stuck. So while he was playing pool, I was done playing cards and attempted to get the awning down. The new lever Doug put in seems to be stuck and not moving either way. I was banging on it with a hammer trying to get it to move, and Mike came over to see what I was hitting. With his help, we got the awning down but I think there is something wrong with the lever as I could not get it to move.
I talked to Doug about it and we will look at it next week when it’s sunny and not raining.
Jim finished his antibiotics (Doxycycline Hyc 100mg) on Friday morning and then his left testicle began swelling up again. By evening he was in extreme pain and could barely sit or move around. He took some of his mother’s old pills, but I’m not sure they did anything and I told him to take Ibuprofen. He had a cold pack on his balls which helped with the swelling. He finally consented to Ibuprofen at 3:30 am Saturday morning. Taking them seemed to help with the pain and swelling.
Today he did not do anything except lay around; took more Ibuprofen and ate a little. He did not go to shoot pool, but just stayed in. He is still in pain when he gets up to pee, and feels the best when he just stays still. I will have to call the doctor’s office Monday morning to see about getting another round of antibiotics for him.
October 4, 2021. Spent the day at the ER after calling Buchanan’s office only to find out he was out of the office for the week; his office told us to go to the ER. There they put fluids into Jim, did an ultrasound on his testicles; gave him antibiotics and pain killers, none of which worked. He was laying on the table and fairly comfortable until it came time for him to get off the table, as he scooted down to the end he ended up in extreme pain as he drug his enflamed testicles down the bed. He was hurting so bad he was shaking as we walked out. The nurse gave him another pain pill, but it did not do anything for the pain.
The first infection must have stemmed from the biopsy, and did not quite go away when he finished the first set of antibiotics. The second antibiotic is Levofloxacin at 750mg once a day. Plus he has Acetaminophen/Cod #4 (300/30mg) for pain. He is also taking his old Hydrocod/Acetam (10/325mg) from his hand surgery which he did not take.
The nurse we had was quite interesting. She is from California; just sold their house and bought an RV and will be living in it full time. She does not agree with the vaccine, is a Trump supporter, and confirmed that the vaccine does indeed cause dangerous side effects.
October 6, 2021. Jim did not take any anti-inflammatory meds yesterday so yesterday evening he was still in pain. I made him take 800mg Ibuprofen with 1 of his codine pills at 6pm and then again at midnight. By this morning the pain had subsided and he is much more comfortable. Noon he will get 2 pills of the Aceta/codine, and then at 6 I think the ibuprofen mixture.
October 6, 2021. Doug came over this morning to look at the awning since he helped us install the end piece last time. He took out the rivits and checked the inside and it all looked OK. We then put it back together and discovered that the end cap was a little crooked. He looked at the rivets and they were off a bit, so he took a board and hammered it and straightened it out. After he did that the lever worked fine. We rolled it up and down a few times and it all checked out.
I have been giving Jim the antibiotic every morning at 7am; and Jim has been taking the Ibuprofen 800mg with an Codine tab and 2 tabs of the Aceta/codine every 6 hours. Last night he put an ice pack on for about a half hour. The skin around his penis is still swollen.
This morning his testicles seem to be going down, and the pain is virtually gone. Will keep on this regimen for another 4 days when his antibiotic will be done, and keep on with the other stuff.
October 12, 2021. Even though we have been going through this regimen, come Monday when he took his last antibiotic, his testicles have not changed much. The pain is pretty much gone, but the swelling has not gone down. I had to call the doctor’s office twice before I was able to speak to anyone. They would not refill the antibiotic and instead said he has to come in to see Dr. Buchanan Tuesday afternoon. This has been ongoing for three weeks so far and nothing has changed.
October 16, 2021. So Buchanan gave Jim around round of the same antibiotic only in a lesser dose. On Friday I called both Buchanan and Dr. Barnes office; Dr. Barnes office said Jim was taking the best dosage of antibiotics and Dr. Buchanan’s office prescribed a different, stronger antibiotic. I went to a health food store to get a homeopathic medicine but they did not carry it. But I did get him some probiotics to counteract the amount of antibiotics he is taking. Terri gave me some Correct X, an essential oil which I have been rubbing on Jim. He seems to be getting better, but it’s going to take some time.
October 26, 2021. Just been hanging around the trailer and not doing anything. Jim is still fighting that darn infection; still hard and slowly going away. He has today, Wednesday and Thursday still with antibiotics. We have an appointment early Friday with Buchanan, so we’ll see what course we head to next.
Been working on our new wills and other documents. She did some new ones and we will be heading up there next month to sign them. She did not do a codicil re: our OCP and TT memberships, even though I said they needed to be in there. Not sure if just doing a “letter” for TT would suffice to allow it to be passed on to our kids.
Saturday Erin came down to go wedding gown shopping with Jacklyn. When she was trying on gowns, they Face Timed with me so I was able to watch Jacklyn try on different gowns. She did finally pick one out, which is very beautiful. She will be walking down the aisle in a white wedding gown, something that did not happen with Joe. Jim will finally be able to walk her down the aisle. I have been looking at dresses as well, and found a wonderful website from the UK that has a multitude of dresses at reasonable prices. I think Jacklyn will use it to get Ellie & Jayden their dresses as well. Their dresses are half the cost of the other website she was looking at.
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| Mother of the Bride Dress |
November 2, 2021. Bought a steamer and other bed bug sprays. Last week we steamed many parts of the trailer trying to get rid of the bed bugs. It takes a lot of time to steam as we have a small steamer and it takes time to heat up over and over. Then I sprayed with the residual spray, even behind the couch and inside the rear compartment. We steamed a few days in a row and now will wait a week or so and do it all again.
On Friday October 30 Jim had another appointment with Dr. Buchanan. He seems to think Jim’s infection is going away. It just takes time. He did prescribe another round of antibiotics; this time the Levofloxacin for seven days.
Today we had lunch with Karen Scott, the nurse who took care of Jim when he went to the ER that Monday when he was hurting so bad. Her husband Shane and daughter Brianna finally arrived from California, and since she had today off, she wanted to have lunch. We had a great time at Big Cup and good food as well. We then took them through Glen Rose down here to Tres Rios and showed them around; through the clubhouse and then the Lodge where a group was playing Mexican Train. Then we walked down to the Brazos and then along the trail of Squaw Creek. At the top we met Teri Rice and then Rod & Susan. Had a nice talk with all of them until Tony came up and was talking with Shane. We did not pay attention but all of a sudden Shane started yelling at Tony and said that Tony said “FU” to him, which Shane yelled back. Well, that incident broke up our talking with Rod & Susan and we walked back to the trailer, where they immediately left before Shane went and broke Tony’s neck.
November 6, 2021. Jim is almost done with his last round of antibiotics. I think he still has some infection but it slowly going down. I think this time his body will have to heal on its own. He has been taking a ton of antibiotics and that is not good for a body. Even though I have been giving him probiotics to counteract the antibiotics, he is still taking a lot.
But now he is having trouble behind his right shoulder blade. He is in a lot of pain whenever he goes forward with his right arm, tries to pick things up, shoot pool, etc. So now he is putting a cold pack on it, then the bed buddy warmth. He said that helps, but he also needs to take ibuprofen for inflammation. Don’t know when it started, but it seems to have started from shooting pool.
November 13, 2021. Mark Storm headed a “retire the flag ceremony” at Tres Rios. It was a very formal affair with four members of the local American Legion coming to participate. He spoke about the methods of retiring American flags, and Jim and I helped participate in the ceremony. We had a large one from the park which was stretched out and the stars were cut out and then each stripe cut and taken to the fire. There were a few other folded flags that were then put in the fire.
November 17, 2021. Jim had his annual doctor appointment with Dr. Barnes on Nov. 9. He went over his vitals, and we talked about Jim’s infection, which does not seem to be healing very well. Barnes gave Jim another round of antibiotics, this time 15 days of Levofloxacin. I also got him some homeopathic pills to help his infection. He did stop drinking very much for the last few weeks, but since his shoulder is hurting, he has started up again.
We are leaving Tres Rios today to head to Whitney. We will come back on Saturday for TR’s annual turkey day luncheon. On November 23, Jim has another doctor appointment with Dr. Barnes, only this time it will be in person so Barnes can check Jim’s infection. After that, we head back to Whitney, pack up and head to Brazos RV park on our way to Houston.
Found out that our favorite park in Houston, Jetstream, was bought out and they no longer offer Passport America. So now our weekly rate has doubled from $164 to $325 per week. I did make a reservation at Green Caye to save money, but Josh said he did not want us staying 11 miles away, and would help us with the cost of staying at Jetstream.
November 21, 2021. Thursday evening we went down to the Golf Course Community Building and enjoyed an evening of corn hole with Dale & Kim and other Whitney residents. Was not going to go down at first, but then Dale talked us into it. Glad we did – had a good time.
Saturday we drove back to Tres Rios for the annual Thanksgiving Dinner. We had a great turn out; Teri said about 150 came to eat. Lots of good food and friendship. Afterwards we played cards; took Lucy for a walk with Mark & Ruthann, then drove back to Whitney.
Tried a different way – down 144 to Meridian then east on 22 to Whitney. That was a lot longer than normal, so I think we will stick to 56 out of Whitney Tuesday morning when we head to Granbury for Jim’s doctor’s appointment.
Watched Sean & Jacklyn get baptized this morning at their church. It was very nice; they did the baptism first after singing some songs, and I was able to pull it up on the computer and video it.
November 23, 2021. Got up early in order to drive from Whitney to Granbury so Jim could see Dr. Barnes. We both thought that he was going to examine Jim’s scrotum to see the extent of the infection. He had Jim get a sonogram of his abdomen and get blood work, but he only mentioned it when we brought it up. Our appointment got interrupted twice when he got a phone call; and then he focused on Jim needing another colonoscopy. By the time we got back to Whitney it was 11:30. So basically it was a wasted 4 hours and $30 in gas for something that could have been done over the phone.
He also mentioned that the infection could be chronic and never go away. Brother. So he said to finish this round of antibiotics and wait a few days to see how the infection goes and then get it filled again. We have one more refill of 15 days.
November 25, 2021. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Josh & Karen and their friends the Dunlaps. Josh brined the turkey for 20 hours in a fruit herb brine then smoked it in his Orian. It was really delicious – very tender and moist. Ellie and I made pumpkin pies with one of them having a cream cheese mixture swirled around in it. There was so much food and it was all delicious – we were all pretty stuffed. Good thing we ate early in the day; by bedtime some of it was digested.
Jim rubbed his right eye and said now it seems like a film has developed across his iris. It really bothers him and he does not think he could drive like that. So luckily Josh’s eye doctor is open today and I made Jim an appointment for this afternoon. Hopefully it’s not too serious and the doctor can do something.
We also need to get an oil change on the truck and return some underwear Josh bought Jim to help with his infection. Both Walmart and Duluth are very close together, and I think we will go tomorrow to get that done. Jim wanted to go today, but it being Black Friday and there was no answer at Walmart tire center, they are probably very busy today.
November 30, 2021. Friday afternoon we went to see Josh’s eye doctor, who looked at Jim’s eye very closely after putting in drops to dilate his iris, and ended up diagnosing him with a detached retina. Of all the luck. He did have a large floater in the right eye, but we never had any idea that a floater could have caused the retina to detach. Saturday morning we had another appointment with a retina specialist in Houston. Josh drove us down there since he knows the area and we do not.
He ended up waiting for us since Jim just went there for another examination and consultation. They took a bunch of pictures and talked with us about surgery. If we stayed in Houston to do the surgery, we would have to pay to stay at Jetstream, and we would virtually be on our own. So we opted to drive back to Glen Rose to have the surgery done in Fort Worth. The soonest surgery would have been done in Houston would have been Thursday (Dec. 2). Jim does have an appointment Thursday morning with another retina specialist, and at that time we will find out when surgery will take place.
Sunday night Josh took us out
to dinner at a great Cajun restaurant. Karen and I had stuffed jumbo shrimp
with crab stuffing, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was delicious. What
surprised me was Ellie; she actually likes to eat sushi, and for dinner that
night ordered Parmesan oysters. She ate all but one, which she gave to Grandpa.
Jason continues to be a problem when it comes to eating. He will not touch meat or eat what is served for dinner. He gets a protein shake, yogurt, veggies, cheese. He claims he does not like meat at all. Josh & Karen battle with him every day trying to get him to eat. He has even lost weight since July because he refuses to eat.
Today we left Jetstream and drove to Brazos RV Park in Caldwell. Jim was very reluctant to let me drive, so he drove us here even though he cannot see out of his right eye. He did very well, stayed in his lane and did a good job.
December 4, 2021. Got back to Tres Rios on December 1 and Jim had an appointment with another retina specialist on Thursday morning in Fort Worth. They took a few more pictures and set the surgery for Monday afternoon.
Unfortunately, Jim came down with the cold I got while in Houston. He has a sore throat and plugged up nose and is just chilling on the couch. We have a member generated potluck tonight at the Lodge. Paul brought his Karaoke machine and there were a few people that sang. Dale brought his corn hole game and we all had a good time playing corn hole and singing.
I had taken by wedding ring
to Dave’s Jewelers on Hwy 377 in Granbury before Thanksgiving. I have not been
wearing it for a few years since Dave cut it off my finger in 2017 after it swelled up
so bad after the dogs sprained it when a little yipper ran out at us (that was May 2016). It's been a few years since I have not been wearing my ring, and I felt it was time to get it fixed and wear it again. He did a
great job fixing it up; reinforcing the prongs holding the diamonds and made it
a little bigger to get over my knuckle with a spacer underneath to make it fit
my finger.
December 6, 2021. Jim’s cold seems to have gone away for the most part. Hopefully he will feel good by the time he gets up and we drive to the surgery center. Surgery is scheduled for this afternoon; pre-op at noon and then the surgery after that and then recovery.
Left a little before 11am and made it to the Arlington Texas Surgery Center before noon. Jim was taken into pre-op; it was about 1:30pm when he went into surgery. The surgery took about 45 minutes with post-op about 45 minutes. Dr. Williams was very pleased with the surgery. Back at home Jim tried putting his head down on the dining room table, but said it was not comfortable. So he is laying on his left side with his head in a downward position. He said that is the most comfortable so far. He tried laying on the bed but that did not work either. He has a follow up with the doctor Tuesday afternoon.
December 12, 2021. We are continuing with the eye
drops. He can still see the bubble in his eye and his eyesight is not getting
any better. He does try to play pool and played cards one day, but still tries
to keep his head down.
I
made reservations for Tres Rios from December 29 to January 12, because I want
to head to Houston to visit with the family for a week. I did promise Jason
that we would come back to visit. From there we will go to the Thousand Trails
in Medina Lake for three weeks so we can visit different RV parks around the
area that sell or lease lots.
December 15, 2021. Yesterday’s eye doctor appointment
was good. The doctor is pleased with the recovery. Bubble is down 20%, with 80%
to go. That will take between 3-4 weeks, putting us near the middle of January.
I am still hoping that they will let us buy another week out as Jim still
cannot see out of his right eye.
December 21, 2021. Went to Nick’s Christmas party Friday night at
a country club in Fort Worth. We had a lot of fun. The theme was casino night
where they gave away $2500 in fake money which we turned in for chips. Then we
were able to “fake” gamble for more chips. I sat at the Craps table and learned
that. When there were a lot of people standing around the table, we would put
our chips down and even though someone else would roll, it would affect the
whole table so you would either win more chips or lose. It was a lot of fun
actually. At the end of the gambling session, we turned in our chips for
tickets which we put into jars in front of various gifts that were given away.
Neither of us won any of them, but it was fun anyway.
Saturday
December the 18th we had another potluck. Lots of people showed up
and there was a lot of good food. This time I roasted butternut squash with
brussels sprouts, dried cranberries and pecans. It was hit actually; I got
people saying they really liked it. Kristen, our new manager, headed the karaoke
evening. She has a great voice and sang a few songs, along with a few others.
We
are trying to buy another week out since Jim’s eye is still not functioning
properly. Since Josh and Karen are flying to Phoenix for Christmas, we do not
have to worry about going to Houston this week. If all goes good, we will head
down there in the middle of January and stay for Josh’s birthday.
December 27, 2021. Been quiet for us here at Tres Rios.
We did not do anything on Christmas day. The weather is in the 80s so we are
sitting outside enjoying the nice weather. I have not been feeling very well
lately. My stomach is funny, but I keep eating anyway. My back is hurting and I
just overall feel crummy.
Josh
& Karen and family flew to Phoenix on Christmas Eve and then drove to
Flagstaff on Christmas Day so they could all go skiing. Karen’s Dad is with
them, and her sister and family are supposed to be flying out too. It’s nice
that she is able to spend time with her family. Jim and I would not have been
able to spend the holiday with them anyway since Jim’s retina surgery.
This
whole world is going crazy. Biden is sending our country down the toilet with
his vaccine mandates and so many things going up in price. They are doing their
best to destroy our economy and way of life.
At
least none of my family will be forced to take the vaccine. There are just too
many adverse effects from it and I worry that they might take the vax. Jim
talked with Jim Urban the other day and he is going to get a booster. Nothing
we say will change his mind. I just pray everyone we know who gets it stays
healthy.
December 29, 2021. Jim had another eye appointment
yesterday. Doctor Williams said everything looked good. The bubble is down 50%
and he figures another 3 weeks before it’s gone. It’s been three weeks since
the operation, so hopefully by January 19 Jim can drive. He has another eye
appointment on January 18 for hopefully his last checkup.
We
both still have been under the weather. Cannot quite put my finger on what is
going on, I just know that I am not feeling 100%. I don’t have a fever but get
a headache occasionally and my stomach feels funky. Oxygen is OK so I don’t
believe we have “covid.” But maybe we have a version of the flu; no throwing up
or anything. Jim does not feel totally up to par either; he has a lot of mucus
coughed up from his lungs.
Tres
Rios is having a New Years Eve party. I am making a dish to take, but don’t
know if we will make it all the way to the new year. Depends on how we feel.
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