Saturday, October 1, 2022 ~~ We are leaving Tres Rios on October 5 for Houston with a two day stop in Caldwell, Texas so we can visit the Texas Bucket List Store in College Station. I hosted my last corn hole tournament Thursday night with 28 players and 14 teams. That was a lot of people - the most I have ever had. It's a good thing that was all we had because I did not have a bracket sheet for 15 teams. But all in all we had a great time as always, and everyone enjoyed the evening. We even had some new players who were there for the first time.
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| Corn Hole Tournament |
We also attended our last Karaoke for the year. Joe will be out for about 7 weeks because he is having back surgery. We had lots of fun; Jim loves to sing and Cliff and Deborah drove up from Whitney and came to join us. And of course Jim and Cliff always get up and sing some songs together.
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| Cliff & Jim singing |
Tuesday, October 4, 2022. Had a small get together in advance of our departure from Tres Rios. Lots of good food and wonderful friends. We had two tables of fun -- one table for hand and foot, and one table for pegs and jokers.
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| Get together before our departure |
October 7, 2022. Josh cooked a brisket for Jim as a belated 70th birthday gift. He does a fabulous job on brisket. He cooks it on his grill for about 12 hours. He also bought a key lime pie and we sang Happy Birthday to Jim.
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| Happy Birthday to Jim |
When we got to their house we were inundated by their two dogs -- Lola and Autumn. They just want to lick and see us, barking and very excited to see us. Lucy is not too happy about seeing them as they will not leave her alone.
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| Lola, Autumn and Lucy with Jim |
October 8, 2022. Saturday we drove to Moody Gardens in Galveston to watch our grandson Jason compete in the Kuk Sool Won tournament. I thought he did a good job but he did not get any medals. Ellie did not get to compete this year as she broke her arm during soccer and has a cast on her arm.
Saturday evening we went to their house and sat with Ellie and Jason watching America's Funniest Videos while Josh & Karen watched football.
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| Jim, Ellie & Jason |
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| Jim & Ellie |
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| Gayle & Jason |
October 12, 2022. Spent most evenings with the family. Our grandson likes to dress up as Luigi. I accidently called him Mario, and he let me know the difference. He is also an avid Lego builder, and here is Jim and Jason discussing how to fix the truck issue he encountered.
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| Jim and Jason (Luigi) |
October 14, 2022. Friday night we all went out to dinner to celebrate Ellie's 12th birthday and Josh and Karen's anniversary (15 years), both of which are October 13. It was Ellie's choice to go to a Japanese restaurant because she likes to see them cook right in front of us. The chef was really cool and made a "12" out of the rice. He invited Ellie to stand with him to get a picture.
October 15, 2022. Time to leave Houston and start on our way east.
This is Deer Park, an oil refinery in east Houston, where our son works.
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| Deer Park Refinery |
Our first stop was A+ Motel & RV in Sulphur, Louisiana. It was a very nice resort, our first time staying there. The last place we stayed at (The Gates at McNeese) was a Passport America campground, but was such a dump that I did not want to stay there again. This place was much better.
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| A+ Motel & RV Park, Sulphur, LA |
October 16, 2022. Next stop was Cajun Palms in Breaux Bridge. No picture of our site here; the park is huge with just concrete pads and a bit of grass. Next door to the park is the Prehistoric Park, a children's amusement center, and when we arrived we heard lots of dinosaurs roaring. Monday morning Lucy and I walked down the golf cart trail that led to the park, and walked a long concrete path with lots of dinosaurs with explanations of them. I took pictures of all the dinosaurs and will make a blog of them and post a link.
October 17, 2022. Monday we arrived at Abita Springs RV Park in Abita Springs, Louisiana (an OCP Park) and since we had just
30amp in our profile, they would not let us stay in any other site except the
ones designated 30amp. They do not have many of those here and the three that
we had to pick from were all pretty bad. We ended up in site 4 which is along
the road next to the cabins. It is an extremely small site and we had to go so far
back into the greenway just to have the ability to put the awning out and not
hit our neighbor’s trailer. We actually have to walk right past his trailer
just to get to our area.
There is also a duck pond where you really need to watch out for the ducks because they will come after you if you get too close to them. They are crazy.
I don’t know if I went in and changed my profile to 50amp if
they would allow us to move into another spot. I could try it just to find out.
I looked at Styx campground map as that is the next OCP park we are staying at.
They actually have about 20 sites designated as 30amp, so I think I will keep
it. Maybe I’ll call Styx before we get there to see how many 30amp sites are
open and make a decision then as to whether I will change to 50amp.
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| Abita Springs RV Resort, Abita Springs, LA |
October 21, 2022. Decided to go to the Infinity Science Center at Exit 2 off I-10 in Mississippi. The last time we were in this area the Center was closed, so I wanted to make sure we made it there this time. It was OK; not as elaborate as I thought it would be, but still interesting.
October 29, 2022. Left Abita Springs on Thursday and headed to Wolf River RV Park in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This is a Coast to Coast park, so it did not cost us anything to stay here for the week. Got a nice corner spot on the road so we have no one next to us. It's nice not looking at another trailer. Way better than our site at Abita.
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| Wolf River RV Park, Pass Christian, MS |
There is a nice walking trail that goes down to the Wolf River. I do watch out for the alligator that the sign says is supposed to be in the bog that runs next to the campground. I have not seen any sign of it coming out of the bog.
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| Wolf River |
There is also a duck pond where you really need to watch out for the ducks because they will come after you if you get too close to them. They are crazy.
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| Angel Oak |
Friday the 28th we went to the Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi. It was pretty neat looking at all the boats, sailboats, and racing boats as well as Mississippi's shrimping industry. They also had an exhibit showing what happened to the city during Hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Camile (1969).
November 1, 2022. We decided to take Lucy to the beach. While there we met a guy flying a kite. We spent some time talking to him (and listening) as he told us about different levels of kiting and how much some kites cost. Revolution is a company in California that sells kites and tracks the levels of kiting. He's at level 4 and wants to get up to level 8.
November 4, 2022. Arrived at Styx River RV Resort in Robertsdale, Alabama (an OCP Park) on Thursday the 3rd. When we pulled in we were met with two friendly faces -- Bobby and Laurie Garrett are here for three weeks. We are here for two weeks. It was great seeing them and we joined them for a potluck dinner in the clubhouse with many other members.
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| Styx River RV Resort, Robertsdale, Alabama |
Friday morning Lucy and I walked down by the pond and then walked the trail along the River. Styx River is pretty low right now, but I really enjoy the trail.
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| Styx River |
November 11, 2022.
On Tuesday we drove down to Pensacola to take Lucy to a dog beach. It was
pretty small and the signs even said that dogs still had to be on a leash, but
the few people that were there had their dogs off leash, so we let Lucy off as
well. She ran and ran and wore herself out
in about 15 minutes, so we left. We also went out to lunch and a store where Jim bought
himself another kite.
Wednesday I had to drive to Foley to do my blood work.
Wednesday also was laundry day, so we did not do anything else on Wednesday.
Thursday we drove down to Orange Beach and went to the
Orange Beach Indian & Sea Museum, which is run by the City Hall. It was a one
room building, which used to be the old school house. There was a lot of
exhibits in there and the lady running it was very nice and talked a lot about
everything.
There are numerous things to do in this area, but nothing is close to Styx. Everything is over 20 miles away to get to them. For example, Bellingrath Gardens in Mobile. We were going to go, but in November there is a limited number of flowers they have on display, plus they charge $15 per person to get in, so we opted on not going there.
There is also the Gulf Quest Maritime Museum in Mobile, another 29 mile drive. The Alabama Gulf Shores Zoo is 30 miles away. Just to drive to the Pensacola Beach was over 30 miles one way. The drive to Orange Beach was a 33 mile drive one way.
Today we drove 24 miles east to Uncle Sandy's Macaw Bird Park in north Pensacola. It was pretty cool. It was started by Sandy Kirkconnell who was from Honduras. He started off with two Macaws and soon had people bringing him more and more -- owners died, moved, etc. These birds live 20, 30 and even 50 years, sometimes longer than the owners. Now the facility is a rescue sanctuary for many birds.
Looking forward to leaving Alabama as it’s just too expensive to stay here. Plus just to get anywhere is a long drive. Nothing is close to Styx River.
November 15, 2022. Met some other fellow OCP members while here at Styx ~~ when we first arrived Bobby & Laurie were here already, and then a few days later we met Mike & Dixie. They were at Tres Rios a few times, which is where we first met them. It's always great meeting up with fellow OCP members that we know.
Dreary day today after a rain storm came through last night. One thing I noticed about Styx -- the water does not pool in any of the sites. The sites are level, but the whole park has a downhill slope to it, all heading towards the river.
November 20, 2022. Stopped at Suwanee River Rendezvous RV Park in Mayo, Florida on our way east. If you think about staying here it's a Passport America park at 50% off normal rates. We stay here each time we travel to Florida. Right on the Suwanee River, they host kayaking. They have lots of RV sites and are building more.
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| Suwanee River Rendezvous RV Park, Mayo, Florida |
They also have pigeon races every Saturday. They guy who owns the park started raising pigeons in 2012, and then he started the Pigeon Races. So we got there in time for me to buy a pigeon, which is then loaded into the wagon along with the other racing pigeons, driven about 2 miles up the road and then let loose. They then fly back to the park and the first one to go into the pen at the finish line is the winner. They have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners; but I did not win anything.
November 30, 2022. We arrived at Jacklyn & Sean's on November 22, just two days before Thanksgiving. We had a great meal with turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, onion dill bread and veggies. After dinner some of their friends and family came over and we had a birthday cake for three of us that have birthdays at the end of November.
Friday the 25th we drove to Kissimmee to see ICE -- How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That was really neat seeing all the ice sculptures. It was a freezing 9 degrees in there so we were bundled up. It was amazing to see some people in there with shorts on; clogs and not dressed for the cold.
They had to drive Jayden back to her mom's house Friday afternoon after our Kissimmee adventure but first we had a stop at Bruster's Ice Cream -- my absolute favorite ice cream. Sure wish we had one in Texas! The one flavor that I get all the time is Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. Boy is that good.
We are currently sitting in their side yard hooked up to 30amp service that Sean put in for us and a hose running from the gray water to a sewer fitting Sean put in for an outside shower. There is not much room for us to fit in but at least the door opens right onto the gravel area in front and there is a door right there leading into the laundry room and the rest of the house.
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| Jacklyn & Sean's Side Yard |
Our 38 gallon black water tank is almost full and we are pushing it this week as we are now using a bidet and that is adding extra water to the tank. I never worried about filling it in a week before the bidet, but now ... we shall see. We are leaving Thursday December 1 for the RV park and it will get emptied and cleaned at that time.
For my birthday on November 29, we bought a portable fire pit; not a large one but a stainless steel pit that folds flat for ease of transporting it. It's made by Winnerwell. Have not used it yet; but I'm sure we will.
We taught Jacklyn & Sean how to play Vegas, one of our favorite card games at Tres Rios. Last year when we played them they beat us three out of four games; but this time we came back and beat them three out of four games. We were glad to recoup some of our money! I also bought 10 decks of cards to teach them how to play hand & foot, and a domino set to play Mexican Train with them.
I have been keeping up my morning walks by walking .66 miles down to their local dog park. I usually don't like taking Lucy to dog parks, but this one is huge and there are the regulars that go there with their dogs. They have a watering station and a sun shade over an area with benches for us to sit while the dogs have the run of the park. Lucy is not crazy about all the big dogs there but she is doing OK. I don't go into the small dog area as there is no one in there and I am enjoying talking to the locals.
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| Apollo Beach Dog Park |
Tonight's dinner is split pea soup from the Honey Baked Ham that we had at Thanksgiving.
December 25, 2022. Christmas Day. Jim and I spent the morning with each other and had already
bought our Christmas present – the Starlink satellite system. This afternoon I
am baking spinach lasagna and we will head over to Jacklyn and Sean’s to visit
with them and Jayden. Sean’s brother and family are coming over this afternoon
as well.
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| Jayden's Christmas Tree |
One evening after dinner Jacklyn got out the gingerbread house package and we each got one house to put together. Here are our finished houses:
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| Our gingerbread houses |
After church we had some beef stew and then went over to the
rental house which is owned by Sean’s friend Jim who was staying in it for the
week. They were having a Christmas Eve party and had a few friends and family
over.
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| Sean, Jacklyn & Jayden |
We moved to River Vista RV Park on December 1 for the whole month. We are about 7 miles from Jacklyn's house and just takes us 15 minutes to drive up there.
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| River Vista, Ruskin, Florida |
The main reason we are here is for Jacklyn and Sean's wedding. Wedding day Sunday the 18th was a great day. I am not going to put much information here as I did a blog about the wedding, which can be found here. Our month here is coming to an end soon. On January 1 we will be moving to Bee's RV Resort in Clermont.
December 19, 2022. Josh and family along with Jim's brother Jack and his wife rented a house from a friend of Sean's. Monday night we all got together over there and had a White Elephant gift exchange. My brother stayed an extra day before heading back to Ohio and joined us for the get together.
Two of our grandchildren are in front: Jayden and Jason; second row: Jacklyn, Ellie, Gayle & Bill; third row: Karen, Sean and Jim; then Jack and Tam'ra with Josh standing on his tiptoes in the back.
Every morning Lucy and I take a walk up the road leading out of the park and then back. One morning we walked along the water and I was able to get a picture of the sunrise over the water.
December 27, 2022.
Christmas Day I baked veggie spinach lasagna and we went over to Jacklyn’s
house later in the afternoon. Sean’s brother and family were also there for
dinner and gifts.
Our air conditioner started making an awful loud noise just
before I was going to start making the lasagna. I went up on the roof and took
the cover off to see if the fan was not moving. But I did not see anything
wrong. The fan spun without any hinderance. Jim turned the a/c back on and it
made a little bit of noise and it seemed to come from the motor housing. It
almost sounded like bearings cranking. I just put my hands on it to hold it
still and still did not see anything going on. The stem from the fan to the
motor was still greased and moving OK. So I put the cover back on.
It is now three days later and the A/C is working fine – no
noise or anything. Very curious.
However, starting about Tuesday week before Christmas my gut
started acting funny. I had to head to the club house women’s room as I was
finishing my walk with Lucy. Had to go very bad every morning for about 4 days.
I felt OK until the day after Christmas; Monday my gut started acting up again,
and had to go to the clubhouse bathroom. Then after breakfast I really started
feeling crummy. We still went to Walmart for our weekly shopping, but I did not
eat the rest of the day, except for a piece of my Cranberry bread, which I should
not have eaten. Just was not hungry at all. Then I got a low fever – 99.4. I
also had not been sleeping very well and even stayed awake one night. But last
night I went to bed at 9pm and did get a good night’s sleep.
Tuesday morning my fever seemed to have gone but my gut is still not feeling good. I had to go to the clubhouse bathroom again. I did eat breakfast but not sure if I’ll eat later. See how I feel.
Now Jim is talking about not feeling good. He said his whole
body aches. Hope he gets to feeling better. And I hope we get over this malaise by the weekend as we are
scheduled to move on January 1 – six days from today.
December 31, 2022.
Thursday I had a hair appointment with Danielle, the lady who did our hair for
the wedding. I had wanted it trimmed, and mostly evened out. I like the way
Karen’s hair is cut, and she cut it like hers. I went to pay for it and was
told there was a gift card on file for me – Jacklyn had called in and paid for
my haircut for me. How sweet! After my cut, I went over to her house to show
her my haircut.
Saturday we went over to their house
in the afternoon for lunch. We got some firewood from Sean to take with us and left all of our
cardboard. It was a nice afternoon; had steak, sweet potatoes, green beans and
cheesecake for dessert. I also trimmed Jayden’s bangs and hair. Both were
uneven because her mother tried to cut her hair. She hates hair in her eyes and
it too a while for her to settle down and let me trim the bangs. The back of
her hair was easy, and it took no time at all to even it up.
We left around 6 as they were getting ready to go to Yanek
and Malinda’s house for New Year’s Eve. I did not want to go and stay out late,
so we went back to the trailer.
There were people setting off fireworks all evening until
just after midnight. I got some sleep before then, and more after the fireworks
stopped.
January 1, 2023.
Another year, and what will it bring? I said a prayer on my walk this morning
for our country and how much we need to get Biden and his cronies out of office
and get our country back in the hands of the people.
Today was our day to leave River Vista and head to
another campground. We packed up and headed for Bee’s RV Resort in Clermont.
Took two hours to get here, but we got a nice paved site. We will be here for
two weeks before heading to a campground in Brooksville.
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| Bee's RV Resort, Clermont, Florida |
I was wondering how the Starlink would link to the satellite
and the router. I set it on the ground facing north; opened up the app on my
phone and it searched for the satellite and moved itself to its location. My
computer hooked up with no problem and Jim had no problem with Roku hooking
back up to the router. So far, easy peasey and no problems.
January 6, 2023.
Still sitting at the trailer and not going anywhere. Jim’s back is still
healing from his fall out of his chair last month. Walking makes his back hurt,
and if we do anything, he will have to walk. Plus, most of the things in this
area are in Orlando, which is a city we don’t want to go to.
Had our first fire of the new year. Sean had given us a bunch of fire wood before we left, and it got cool enough to have a fire.
January 12, 2023.
Jacklyn had sent us a $50 gift card to some restaurants, Red Lobster being one
of them. So last night we decided to head to Red Lobster for our dinner. There
are not too many Red Lobsters around, so we had to be at a place where there
was one close enough to us. Even though they were out of some draft beers and
lettuce, so we could not get a salad, the dinners we ordered were very good.
Jim got a dish of lobster, scallops and two types of shrimp dishes along with
mashed potatoes and rice. I got stuffed flounder with a lobster topping with
mashed potatoes and broccoli.
Sunday we head down to Brooksville, Florida and then to
Jacklyn’s house. I tried to get back in to Bee’s for the week after her house,
but C2C shows there are no vacancies. So I’m hoping we can get into EG Simmons
for 5 days before heading to Orlando Thousand Trails.
I tried calling this campground called Feathered Camp in
Washington, Georgia because we needed a place to stay in the middle of March. I
called them three times and left messages, but they never got back to me. I
don’t understand why people do not call back. I know they listen to their voice
messages because I called in December and their VM was full, and now it’s not.
But after three messages I am giving up. I was able to make a reservation at
Carolina Landing TT in Fair Play, South Carolina, so at least we do have a place to stay.
January 19, 2023.
On Sunday the 15th we left Bee’s and headed to Clover Leaf RV Resort
in Brooksville. We have a nice big shaded spot, but it’s a little too shaded. I
am having the hardest time finding a spot in the northern sky for the Starlink
to find the satellites. There are many obstructions, which I guess are the tree
tops. The TV is working OK, but my computer does not want to stay connected. I
get on one site and it works for a while, then if I try to get on another one,
it get nowhere. I even tried to hook up to my phone’s hotspot and is not
working either. There is a cell tower not too far from here and I have good 5G
service, but the hotspot is just not working.
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| Clover Leaf RV Resort, Brooksville, Florida |
We went to a nature garden yesterday in Spring Hill. It was
nice walking around the grounds but there was not very much in bloom. Winter is
not a good time to go to botanical gardens. At least it was free.
January 24, 2023. Today we left Clover Leaf and went to visit with Jacklyn
& Sean for the week. I could not get any other reservations, so it was nice
we were able to stay with them. I did some work for Jacklyn – I actually made
her curtains for her. Then we did some other sewing – she made a pillow for
Jayden. Jacklyn actually sewed an invisible zipper into the fabric. She has not
ever sewn anything before, and actually did a good job on it. She made me a pillow for my bench where I sit.
While there this time I made lined curtains for Jacklyn's living room. She wanted me to teach her how to make them, but it turned out better for me to just do it myself. They turned out really good.
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January 27, 2023. Friday we picked Jayden up from day camp and went to the
Manatee Viewing Center. That was fun and I was able to go into the science
center and take a bunch of pictures to do a blog post. Over the weekend they worked on their bathroom
and shed. Jacklyn painted the tiles white because they were two tone and she
wanted one. So they decided to completely redo the main bathroom. Sean had a
worker from his work come and frame out the shed to make it larger. They did a
good job and he put in some electrical outlets and lights. He’s also going to
have to put the shingles on the roof before the rain comes on Friday.
January 31, 2023.
Monday I went down to EG Simmons County Park at 7am to sit in line and put my
name in for a site. They called about 10am and I drove back down there to pay
for the site for the rest of the week. We did not go there on Monday, but did
pack up on Tuesday and headed down there. We waited until Jacklyn was done with
her calls at 1pm, and then headed down.
The site they gave us is really out of level, both side to
side and front to back. It took quite a bit of work to get us level side to
side; the Andersons did not work as they just sunk right into the sand. We had
already unhooked and did not like the way the trailer looked. We were bickering
at each other quite a bit and the guy across the way came over and offered to
help. He said he was listening to us and just started laughing. It was nice
that the came over to offer assistance.
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| E.G. Simmons County Park, Ruskin, Florida |
February 2, 2023.
Our weather in Florida has been in the 80s and high 70s, which I am really
enjoying. The only downfall to EG Simmons is that it’s right on the water and
there are mangrove trees all over, and that is where the no-see-ums like to
hide. They come out at dawn and dusk to feed on the humans. If you have never
been bit by a no-see-um, you will be surprised at how much they hurt. They are called no-see-ums because you can
barely see them when they land on you, but when they bite they feel like a
needle going into your arm; they get right into your nerves and really hurt.
I talked with the person at the office to inquire about the raccoons getting into the dumpsters, and he said it happens every night. In the morning he goes around and opens up the lids to let them out. This is what I found this morning:
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| Raccoons in the dumpster |
Lucy and I have nice little walk every morning and go over to the playground/ picnic area. There is a small dock that goes onto the waterway, and I was able to get a great picture of the sunrise this morning.
Been watching the weather in our favorite campground in
Texas – Tres Rios, Glen Rose. All of our friends are fighting 20s weather with
snow. Jim keeps saying he wishes he was back there, but not with the weather
they are having this winter. This is Doug's site at Tres Rios:
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| Orlando Thousand Trails, Clermont, Florida |
February 14, 2023.
Happy Valentine’s Day. Been getting some work done on the trailer as we have not done any sightseeing while here as we don’t like
driving into Orlando or around the surrounding area. There is so much traffic,
etc.
February 17, 2023. This morning Jim woke up with something crawling on his back,
and it turned out to be a cockroach/Palmetto bug. Big, ugly thing. Do not know
how on earth it got into our bed or where it came from. I got a glass and threw
it outside. Will look under the bed to see if there is anything under there.
When we were at Walmart Monday we bought a log to burn in the
fire pit. It is not real wood, but condensed wood fiber that burned for 3
hours. We tried it out one night and it was good; did not put out any heat or
have the nice bed of red hot coals, but it was good nonetheless. We decided to
go back and see about getting more, and it turned out they were on closeout and
we were able to get a box of 9 for $2.50 each. We also bought one that has a
coffee seasoning to see what that is like.
We had also planned on meeting up with some of our long-time friends at Sertoma instead of going to the annual Tin Can Tourists rally. They used to hold it here, but this year decided to hold it at a KOA in Ocala, Florida. We did not want to drive up that far, plus our kids would not have been able to travel that far for just two days.
February 24,
2023. Arrived at Sertoma Youth Ranch (which is now called Florida Sand Music Ranch) on Sunday,
the 19th to a packed place. We thought there would be no one here
and we would get our usual spots. But there was a music festival going on which
was not on the calendar, so we were not able to camp in our regular spots, and
had to go along the fence line by the cows. It is nice and flat where we are,
which we really like.
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| Sertoma Youth Ranch, Brooksville, Florida |
February 22, 2023. Bill & Julie and Justin & Lisa came on Wednesday afternoon and decided to camp a few rows away from us. They wanted to be closer to the bathrooms. But the site they picked was not level and full of tree roots. It was very hard for Jim to walk around their sites.
February 27,
2023. Had dinner with Bill & Julie on Wednesday
night, along with a single lady who was camping on the same row as them. Her
name from Debra and is down from Michigan. I did find out that she lives in a
town just south of Traverse City where I plan on heading to this summer. So, I
will have to look her up when we get up there.
Thursday Bill, Julie, Justin
& Lisa took off for the day visiting with Justin’s parents. Jim and I just
hung around the park and rested. Thursday Bill cooked a ham in the crock pot
and we went over there and had dinner with them again. Julie had bought orchids
for the women, and now I have an orchid to try not to kill. I still have the
aloe plant I took from Bee’s, and it’s doing OK.
Friday Justin and Lisa took off
again to spend the day with his parents, while we stayed home waiting for
Jacklyn and Sean. Sean
and Jacklyn did not get there until almost 6 because they got stuck in traffic.
It took them about a half hour or so to set up, then we walked over to see what
Bill & Julie were doing and say Hi, then went back to our site to have dinner.
We never moved closer to them
because Jim Urban and Nancy parked across from them, and Jacklyn said that
since they were only there for two nights, that we should not bother moving.
They had to bring Murray and Pickles so it was easier for us to stay away from
the others. Saturday Julie, Lisa and
Justin went to a flea market in Dade City for the day while Bill stayed at the
trailer. He came over to play Jenga with us, which was a lot of fun. He did not
stay long though, and went back to the trailer to take a nap.
We had a fire going all day
Saturday to use up the firewood Sean brought – two large bins of it. They did
not want to do anything except sit around and relax as they did not have that
opportunity too often. Plus, they did not want to leave the dogs alone. Murray
was a mess when he could not keep his eyes on Jacklyn. Every time they went to
the bathhouse he just cried and whined. But, this was the first time they were
camping, and I think they did pretty good. Murray chased a lot of squirrels,
and Pickles wandered around. She was not feeling good. Hope she gets better. I think Jacklyn said that Pickles is around 14 years old.
February 25, 2023. Saturday for dinner we had
sliders that Jacklyn brought and then went down to the field to watch the bats
come out of the box. That was quite an event, and they were really glad to get
to see them. It takes about 5 minutes for all the bats to come out, and after
that we went into town for ice cream.
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| Walking to see the bats |
After viewing the bats, Sean drove us into Dade City to get ice cream. Jacklyn found an ice cream shop and upon arriving there we discovered that it was a new shop that made their own ice cream! They also rolled their own waffle cones, fresh and warm. We got Cookies'n'Cream, which was really good ~~ that's one scoop.
Sunday we all packed up to head
on our way. It was after noon before we were able to get packed and dump the
tanks. Bill & Julie headed back to Sebastian, and Jacklyn and Sean headed out to see one of
Sean’s cousins play a soccer game.
 |
| Jayden and Laurel |
Jim and I headed north to Casey Jones RV
Park, a campground in Lake City, Florida. Found a
street just down the road that was only businesses and at the very end a cul de
sac with land on each side bulldozed in preparation of houses. Lucy still has not eaten; she
did not eat at all on Sunday and has not eaten her breakfast yet this morning.
She did not seem to be not feeling well, but still would not eat breakfast. It could be she was stressed from the weekend with Murray hanging around and she worried about him getting her toys.
Jim on the other hand, was not
feeling well most of the day on Sunday, we think because he hugged Bill and
Julie, both of whom had gotten vaxxed because they went on a cruise to Panama
through a French cruise agency. Jim always seems to get sick when he is around
vaxxed people. Last night he was feverish and his stomach was not feeling well.
February 28,
2023. I did talk about going to Ichetucknee River
State Park, but it’s now going on 2pm and I had some work to do today. Got some
laundry done and changed the batteries in the TPMS. One of the sensors stopped
working, which indicated a non-functioning battery, so I decided it was best to
change all the batteries. The booklet says to change them once a year and it’s
been a year since I changed them last.
Been trying to get on Tres Rios
Facebook page only to discover that I have been blocked from it. I could not
find it at all when on FB and searching for it so I tried Googling it and when
I found it there, clicked on it and got the message that “This content isn’t
available right now.” When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only
shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it, or it’s been
deleted.
March 3, 2023. Wednesday, March 1 we finally got out of Florida and made it to our
first Georgia destination at a Coast to Coast park called Southern Trails RV
Resort in Unadilla, Georgia. We were sent to pick out a site from two rows of
30amp sites. It was hard to find a good site because the electrical stands are
very close to the ground and some of them are falling down. But, I did manage
to get us a spot near the end of the first row. We’ll be here until the 15th,
and then head north again.
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| Southern Trails RV Park, Unadilla, Georgia |
I did find a great place to walk with Lucy. There is a horse arena next door and a small gap in the fence where we were able to slip through. On the other side of the road were horse trails, so every morning we went there to get our morning walk.
We visited two places while here -- the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins:
We also went to Andersonville National Historic Site. We visited the POW Museum and then went to where Jim's parents are buried to visit their grave site.
There were other places I wanted to visit, but one would not let me take pictures so we didn't go, and the others were just too far to drive (gotta save gas).
March 15, 2023. Packed up and left Unadilla and made an overnight stop at Pine Lake RV Park in Bishop, Georgia, which is about 12 miles south of Athens, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia, and the Georgia Bulldogs. It is also where our daughter finished up her last two years of college.
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| Pine Lake RV Park, Bishop, Georgia |
No discounts, but got a nice, flat FHU site with a fire ring, with left over wood in it. So, of course we had a fire that night. Met the lady across the street and invited her over to enjoy the fire as well.
March 17, 2023. Headed to Carolina Landing Thousand Trails on Thursday. There were not many FHU sites open and we got one of the two left. It was hard to back into it and I realized that the utilities are on the wrong side of the site -- they are on the living side and not the utility side. It was OK for the water and electric but I had to wraggle the sewer hose under the trailer to hook up there. I then had to rake all the big rocks and sweet gum balls out of the living area so I could put down the rug and not have a bunch of stuff underneath it. But, we do have a nice view of the lower W/E sites that are not usually used. No grass through, so Lucy does not have anywhere to roll.
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| Carolina Landing Thousand Trails, Fair Play, SC |
Friday it was a rainy, cold day
and we just stayed inside. Jim’s phone has been acting up doing constant
resets. I was trying to fix things on it by updating the apps and such, and it
still kept resetting. He’s been playing on it for a while now without
resetting. I called Verizon and was told that the resetting may be caused by a
system glitch. If it keeps it up, he will have to get a new phone.
March 21, 2023. Saturday the 18th we drove to Toccoa to visit the Currahee Military Museum. The first part of the museum showed a lot of early furniture
and days of the area and then the military aspect of the area.
On Sunday we drove to Helen,
Georgia to meet up with our daughter, Jacklyn, Sean and Jim’s brother, Jack and
Tam’ra. We had lunch at Bigg Daddy’s and then walked around downtown Helen. It
was pretty crowded in town and we just went into a few stores, and then had to
head back to the campground.
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| From left to right: Tam'ra, Jack, Jim Gayle, Jacklyn, Sean |
March 25, 2023. Left Carolina Landing and headed for
Old Federal COE on Lake Lanier. Weather cleared up in the morning and we had
good weather for our whole drive. Got a wonderful site facing the lake. Jack
and Tam’ra came over after we set up; went to get dinner at the local tavern
and brought it back to the trailer to eat.
March 26, 2023. Sunday afternoon we got
together with Ed and Kathy Vasquez at the Stonemill Distillery, a German
restaurant with a brewery inside. We had a great time reminiscing. We have not
seen them since 2019 when we were here during the summer and went out on their
houseboat for the afternoon. It’s like the time between our visits never
existed and we are able to talk and have fun without any issues. We spent about
four hours sitting in the restaurant, drinking and talking.
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| Jim & Gayle with Ed & Kathy Vasquez |
Sunday night a horrific storm
came through the area. It was not expected when I looked at the weather on my
phone, it showed rain with wind at 4-5. But when the front came through it came
from the southwest and shook the trailer like crazy; pine cones pelleted the trailer
sounding like hail, and branches must have hit the awning and put a few rips in
it. We lost power for a few hours and it was really dark; poor Lucy was walking
through the trailer and whimpering because she could not see the bed to jump
up. I had to shine a flashlight onto it for her to see. She was scared and
wanted to be in bed with us. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep because
of everything.
Monday was our shopping day to
Walmart and afterwards we had to fix the holes in the awning. Put some T-Rex black
tape on some small ones and Eternabond on the long one. Then put an adhesive
glue on the outside of the awning so you would not see the tape on the outside.
March 28, 2023. Tuesday we drove to Wilshire Park in Gainesville
and walked the paved trail from there to downtown Gainesville. They have a
solar system set up along the way ending in downtown, so I took some pictures
of that. We picked up some food and walked to Tap It Growlers for the guys to
get some beer, then climbed the stairs to the roof to eat lunch. Jack and I
played a game of cone hole; then we left Jim at the bar since his foot and back
was hurting, and the three of us walked back to the park. I then drove back to
Gainesville to pick up Jim and we went to the Gainesville Airport to watch the
small planes land and take off. There was a cool jet just about to take off, so
we watched that. It was cool. Had a good time that day.
March 29, 2023. Our niece Jennifer Kerch came over to visit for the afternoon. I don’t even remember the last
time we saw her, but it’s been quite a few years. I am really glad she made
time out of her day to come visit. She looks really good and talked our ears
off. She had just returned from a vacation in Florida where she visited with
her mother for a few days. I guess Debi had a hip operation and Jennifer helped
her a little. She is worried about Debi; says she is very forgetful and seems
to be heading toward dementia. She also said she cannot talk with her like she
was talking with Jim and me. We took her to lunch at Pig Tales on Lake Lanier
and we were able to sit outside where I was able to bring Lucy in to sit with
us.
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| Jennifer Kerch with Gayle & Jim |
March 30, 2023. Had a great cookout here at Old Federal with old friends Kathie &
Randy, and Jack and Tam’ra came over as well. It was a beautiful day but we had
a fire going anyway. It was really good to see Kathie again – we’ve known her
since Kent State days in the early 70s.
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| Jim, Gayle, Kathie, Randy Back row: Jack & Tam'ra |
April 5, 2023.
Arrived at Green Mountain Thousand Trails in the afternoon on the 2nd. It was not too bad getting here, but Jim did not enjoy driving on I-85 because
there was a lot of construction in Georgia. It got better once we hit South
Carolina, and then we got on Highway 321, which was another nice highway going
north toward Lenoir. Getting to the park was another trick as the GPS did not
say to turn left on Dimmette Road, so I had to have Maps open on my phone to
tell Jim where to turn. It’s back up in the mountains for sure. I picked a site
way in the back so we would have no trees and an open sky for the Starlink.
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| Green Mountain Thousand Trails, Lenoir, NC |
The trails they have here are all in the mountains. The
first trail I took was the High Lake
Trail, which was 2.33 miles, much of it up. It eventually flattened out and
I eventually came to High Lake, and the end of the trail. It took Lucy and me
over an hour to walk there and back.
April 4, 2023. We drove to Blowing Rock, which was all uphill.
The elevation where we are camped is 1,316 feet and the elevation at Blowing
Rock is 3,771. I wanted to see The Blowing Rock, which is a cliff 4,000 feet
above sea level, with the Johns River Gorge 3,000 feet below. The rocky walls
of the gorge form a flume through with the northwest wind sweeps with such
force that it returns light objects cast over the void. There is also an Indian
Legend surrounding Blowing Rock.
I then wanted to drive to Linville to see the Swinging
Bridge, but it just so happens that it was under construction until the 6th.
Anyway, we probably will not drive up that way again; it was long and rough on
our truck.
I did find a better trail to walk here at Green Mountain –
the Boulder Garden Trail. It is not
as steep as the other trails and Lucy and I get in a good walk. Have not been out except for laundry on
Wednesday and a trip to the liquor store on Friday.
April 12, 2023. We left Green Mountain and traveled west to
Waynesville, NC to Pride RV Resort. We are here for a week to visit with our
friend Andy at Wheels Through Time Museum, Barb Mars, and Phil Loyer (our son’s
father-in-law). Thursday we drove to Cherokee, NC to visit the Museum of the
Cherokee Indian. Boy what a harrowing road that was – all downhill (low gear)
on a narrow road and Jim was holding the door handle as the ditch on the
mountain side was deep and worry-some.
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| Pride RV Resort, Waynesville, NC |
We stopped at Wheels Through Time first and visited with
Andy for a bit.
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| Jim and Andy Norris |
They have put in some new exhibits and moved old ones around
for a different and interesting exhibit. We did not walk through the museum
this time, as we wanted to get moving to the other museum. I wanted to stop at
Soco Falls on the way but when we got close to it, the one road we were told to
turn on did not look right and Jim said to keep going; then the small parking
lot where people did park was full, so we just kept on going to the town of
Cherokee. We went to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian while in Cherokee. On the way back up the mountain to Maggie Valley we passed
the Soco Falls parking lot again and it was full, so we did not stop at all.
Stopped at Subway for dinner; and around 6pm Andy dropped by for a visit.
 |
| Museum of the Cherokee Indian |
April 14, 2023.
Today we are having lunch with Phil Loyer, Saturday another museum and then to
Weaverville to visit with Barb and her family. It’s been raining all morning and is causing the Starlink to lose its satellite connection, which means no internet. Plus, there are trees above us which does not help with its connecting to the satellites. Well, it’s good and bad. Looking at the bars on my phone, there are no cell towers in the area to allow for use of a jetpack or cell phone mobile hotspot use.
April 15, 2023. We were going to go to a radio museum in downtown Asheville and then drive up to visit with Barb Mars, but that morning she texted and said that one of her dogs got in a dog fight and she had to take it to the emergency vets. That took her all day; at 6pm she said that her dog had just gotten out of surgery.
So instead of the radio museum, we went to the American Museum of the House Cat. That was an interesting place and we even met the owner and founder of the museum. He was 88 years old and seemed to really enjoy talking to the people who were there. He showed Jim and I some of his old Edison phonographs that still work.
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| American Museum of the House Cat |
April 18, 2023. Sunday we sat at the trailer; Monday was shopping day and we had tentatively set up to go to the Wheels Through Time Museum with Phil, but he was helping a friend of his work on his house. Andy came over Sunday night for a couple of hours to visit. He also came again on Tuesday afternoon as he had a day off. He stayed a few hours and then had to leave as his wife’s family was coming over for a cookout.
April 25, 2023. Wednesday the 19th we left Pride RV Resort and traveled north through the mountains to check out an Escapees Park called Raccoon Valley RV Park in Heiskell, Tennessee. The sites here are very small, all gravel and very little grass in between the sites. We had a thunderstorm come through one night and we lost electric for about four hours. We were told that this often happens during a thunderstorm.
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| Raccoon Valley RV Park, Heiskell, TN |
On the 21st we went to Baxter Gardens, a private residence with massive gardens who open up their gardens to the public every April during Knoxville’s Dogwood Arts Festival. It was OK, many flowers were still not in bloom, but there were many interesting structures around that we were able to see.
On Sunday we went to a very interesting museum called the K-25 Science Center which told the story of how the U.S. developed the atomic bomb to end World War II.
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| K-25 Science Center |
April 25, 2023. Today we went to The Lost Sea in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Every time we drove up and down I-75 we would always say “We need to stop” but never did. So now we were close enough to go and I made reservations for us. It was a long walk in a very dark cave. I’m glad I brought my flashlight because I was able to light the path for Jim. He did not enjoy the walk at all. With his eyesight as it is, he hung onto me and panted and sweated the whole walk. He told me that this was the last cavern he was going to go in. It was not an enjoyable adventure for him. We finally made it to the sea and got into a boat and took a short ride around the lake. It was hard to see since it was dark and the only lights were in the water. They put fish in the lake that get fed every time a boat goes out onto the lake.
April 27, 2023. We decided to leave Raccoon Valley a day early as I did not plan the mileage very well from there to Diamond Caverns in Park City. I tried to get a site at a campground in London, Kentucky but I could never get them to confirm the 50% Escapees discount. Their website said the nightly rate was $47.85, but they told me that they were going to charge me $74 with 50% off of that. I told them no way; that was not fair and unethical. So I wrote Escapees a note and told them what I encountered.
After that I started looking for another campground, but they are far and few between. I finally decided we would go south to I-40 west and stop in Crossville, Tennessee. We could not get into the Coast to Coast campground here, so we stopped at a small campground called Bean Pot. It is a Good Sam park so I got a little discount. The young couple running it is trying to buy it from the former 78 year old owner. There is a lot of work to do here, but they are working on it. They are from Texas and decided to move to Tennessee.
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| Bean Pot Campground, Crossville, Tennessee |
April 28, 2023. Left Bean Pot around 11:30 am and instead of following the route the GPS would have taken us, I decided to take us straight on I-40 west to hit 231 north of Lebanon. This was a good route except we should have taken 231 to I-65 instead of the back road the GPS took us on. So, for future reference. I don’t remember what route we took last time we went from Crossville to Diamond Caverns.
When we got here some of the stuff we ordered was waiting on us. Jim’s new tablet that he got when his phone died back in South Carolina was here. Plus our old Nuvi GPS had started acting up after I tried to update the maps. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I messed it up and it started glitching and freezing, and then the maps would not load. So I ordered a new GPS which was also here when we arrived. Jim also got a gift package from Bug-A-Salt with a couple of shirts and other little goodies. He was thrilled with all of the stuff.
April 30, 2023. Got a nice back in site at Diamond Caverns instead of one of the middle sections where you actually face your neighbor. Our site was all gravel though, so Lucy did not have any grass to roll in. Saturday we met up with Jake and Robyn at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch then went over to their house for a little while. Sunday Jim and Jake went to a Latin service at 2pm, so I hung at the trailer and when they got back we went over to their trailer and Jake cooked burgers and corn on the cob. It has been really nice visiting with them.
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| Jake & Jim having a brew |
May 2, 2023. Monday we did our normal shopping, but added two new destinations to our day. One was an Amish surplus store with loads of food, toiletries, bakery, etc. called R&N Salvage Grocery in Horse Cave. It was amazing. From there we went to another outside market called Dennison’s, where I picked up some produce. Then of course we did our usual Walmart.
May 4, 2023. Left
Dimond Caverns on Wednesday and headed northeast to Kentucky Horse Park outside
of Lexington. We just stayed one night as there are people gathering to watch
the Kentucky Derby.
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| Kentucky Horse Park Campground |
Thursday we made our way to the Wilmington Thousand Trails
which was about 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati, Ohio. We are going to meet up with
Jim’s cousin, Gail Foertsch. I don’t
think I’ve ever met her and Jim has not seen her in years. We will also meet up
with my brother half way for lunch.
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| Wilmington Thousand Trails, Wilmington, Ohio |
May 8, 2023.
Friday, May 5 we drove to Dayton to visit the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. That is one huge place; we did not have enough
time to even cover all of the buildings. I skipped the Vietnam War and the
Korean War airplanes, and just looked at early planes and the World Wars.
Saturday we went to visit Jim’s cousin Gail. Her husband
passed away in January unexpectedly, so I did not get to meet him. It’s been
many years since Jim has seen Gail, and I don’t ever remember meeting her. We
had a wonderful visit and stayed for dinner before heading back to the
campground. She is in the process of selling her current house and moving, so
she is going to be very busy these few days.
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| Gayle, Gail and Jim |
May 7, 2023. Sunday we went to visit Chateau Laroche, also called Loveland Castle, in Loveland, Ohio. It
was built by Harry D. Andrews from inspiration on the castles of medieval
Europe. It was really neat and the people working there were very friendly.
They even allowed Lucy to walk with us. Jim mostly sat with her while I
wandered the castle, and he said that all the kids were coming to say Hi to
Lucy.
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| Chateau Laroche |
May 9, 2023.
Drove to Washington Courthouse, Ohio, which is a mid-way point between Gayle's brother and
us to meet for lunch. I found a nice restaurant called The Rusty Keg. Last time
I saw Bill was for Jacklyn’s wedding in December, so it’s always good to get
together with him.
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| Jim, Gayle, Bill |
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| Bill with his Harley |
May 11, 2023. Left
Wilmington on Wednesday and took three hours to drive to Pier-Lon RV Park in
Medina, Ohio. Going through Columbus was a mess; tried to take the perimeter
around to the west, but the police had it blocked off (Why??) so we drove more
on I-71 and got off at the next exit, headed west to get onto the perimeter
highway. Saw a sign that said there was major construction in downtown Columbus,
so I wanted to stay away from that! As we drove down the road toward I-270, the
sign pointing West was gone, so we ended up driving past it and turning around
in order to get it. This detour added a half hour to our trip. Got to the park
around 3:30 and then took another two hours setting up.
 |
| Pier-Lon RV Park, Medina, Ohio |
I love the Ohio grass – it’s lush, green and thick. I wish we could take some of it and transplant it in Texas – that would be ideal. Our site is all grass with gravel to park the trailer on. No need for a carpet here with the beautiful grass all around us. The park is huge with lots of people living here during the summer. I understand that the park closes for the winter. There are huge grassy areas around the playground and lake (and “No Dogs” signs).
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| View of pond from our campsite |
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| View of playground from our campsite |
Talked to my niece Kimberly Balach Costa, who just had her
first baby a few months ago, to set up a time to go visit her and the family. Since
they both work, we are going there late Friday afternoon. Then I talked to my
Dad’s girlfriend, Pat, to see when we could visit with her. Her cousin just
passed away last week, so she will call me back after she finds out when that
funeral service will take place.
 |
| Kim, Andrew and baby John |
May 13, 2023.
Today we went to a restaurant called Gandalf’s Irish Pub in Valley City, Ohio
to have lunch with Bill Marks and his wife, Chris. I have never met Bill before
but did talk with him quite a bit over the phone. We enjoyed our afternoon and
the good conversation. The weather was
fairly nice (rained a little) but we sat outside underneath some huge
umbrellas. It was a very nice lunch and we had a good time.
 |
| Jim & Bill |
May 14, 2023.
Happy Mother’s Day!! Got a bouquet of flowers from Jacklyn via text message, and a call from both Jacklyn and Josh later that day. Today we are heading to Pat’s house, who was my Dad’s
girlfriend for over 20 years after my mom passed away in 1988. Pat was welcomed
into Dad’s family of brothers and their wives and I still keep in touch with
her. Pat is 91 years old now -- she was 12 years younger than my Dad (he passed away in 2014 at 94 years old). She looks
good, uses a walker but still gets around good.
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| The whole group plus friend Wayne (in the way back) |
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| Pat with her daughter, Kathy & husband Dave |
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| Jim, Gayle & Pat |
May 16, 2023. Our
Ohio visit has almost come to an end. Today we went to visit Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I grew up going to this park before
it was a national park. Karen and I used to ride our bikes up to Bedford
Reservation, which is north of the park and play in Tinkers Creek and walk the
trails.
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| Visitor Center |
When we visited Maple Heights, Ohio in November 1997, Dad took Jim, Jacklyn and me down
to Tinkers Creek:
.jpg) |
| Gayle & Jacklyn |
.jpg) |
| Gayle's Dad, Elmer Balach |
.jpg) |
| Jacklyn |
.jpg)
After our visit to the Park, we went to All Saints Cemetery where both of my parents are buried. Both of
them were born in 1920; Mom died in 1988 from cancer and Dad died in 2014 at
the age of 94 from natural causes. We were working at the Jellystone Park in
Waller, Texas when we got the call that Dad had gone into hospice and we needed
to get there ASAP. So we resigned our position, packed up the truck and trailer
and headed out. It took us a whole week to get to Maple Heights, but Dad held
out for us. The day we arrived we went to the hospice center where the rest of
my family was. We were able to talk to Dad, even though it did not seem like he
knew we were there. His body was in the process of shutting down; but the
nurses assured us that he could still hear us. So we stayed and talked with him
for a few hours until it was time to leave. About an hour after we left, we got
word that he had passed away.
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| My parents' gravesite |
After visiting the cemetery, we went to visit with Jim’s
cousins Dick & Carol Toth. Jim talks to Carol quite often, and every time
we are in the Cleveland area, we make sure to visit with them. We sat at their
house for a while and talked, and then they took us out to dinner at a great
Steak & Brisket restaurant. It was very good and we were able to bring a
lot home.
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| Jim, Dick, Carol, Gayle |
May 21, 2023. We
left Ohio on May17 heading for Michigan to visit the Henry Ford Museum. I found
a campground in Monroe that took Passport America -- Harbor View, so instead of $59 per night,
we paid $59 for both nights.
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| Harbor View |
Thursday the 18th we drove to Dearborn, Michigan and visited the Henry Ford Museum. I guess we walked around there for about three hours and did not even see everything. We did skip some things since we had already seen that exhibit in other museums.
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| Henry Ford Museum |
Friday May 19 we drove from Monroe, Michigan to Syracuse to
Jeff Brookbank’s house. Jim has known Jeff for over 50 years from when they
lived in south Florida in the early 70s and went diving together. We opted to
stay in his driver versus spending $180 at a campground. The only thing bad is
that we don’t have 30amp service, so I have to be very careful about what we
run at the same time. Last night I forgot to shut off the hot water heater and
when Jim turned on the TV, it blew a breaker. Also, he has so many trees in his
yard, I cannot get a good signal on the Starlink.
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| Jeff's yard |
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| Jeff, Jim, Gayle |
May 25, 2023: We
left Jeff’s house on Tuesday and headed west to Maple Ridge Campground in
Lakeville. We are here for three days so I can visit my friend Marilyn, who I
worked with in Atlanta for 14 years. She moved back to her home town of North
Liberty where she grew up. I spent
Wednesday afternoon with her, just talking and enjoying each other’s company.
 |
| Maple Ridge Campground |
I like this campground we are at. It’s a big family
campground, well kept with lots of “seasonals.” We met a few of the people
living her, who are very nice and friendly. The grounds are well manicured, the
bathroom clean. Everything is kept up good. There are some walking (golf cart)
trails in the woods, so Lucy and I have a good walk in the morning.
May 28, 2023.
Went over to visit with Marilyn on Wednesday the 24th for the
afternoon. We had a wonderful visit and caught up with each other families.
Thursday we took her out to dinner. And wouldn’t you know it – I forgot to get
a picture of us!! I’m totally bummed about that.
Friday, May 26 we drove an hour north to Bear Cave Thousand
Trails in Buchanan, Michigan. This is a very small park – one of the smallest
TT that we have been in. Another thing I don’t like about it is that it is
totally gated – to the point where you can only get out through the gate and
back in the same way – by car only. I kind of feel like we are in a prison. The
park is on a river with a very nice dock, floating dock and the people bring
their boats and jet skis. There are a lot of annuals who come here in the
summer. They have some FHU sites, which were all taken when we arrived, and we
ended up with a W/E site.
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| Bear Cave Thousand Trails |
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| St. Joseph River |
Saturday we met a couple that had to boondock Friday night
as they did not have a reservation; however, as there was an empty spot next to
us, they asked about taking it and were told OK. Turns out that they are OCP
members and spend a lot of time at Millwood Landing, and they know Mike &
Mary Edwards. Their names are Ray & Brenda Koch, so I will have to get a picture
of them and send it to Mike. Since they live so close to Millwood, they are
going to come down to Tres in the fall when we get back.
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| Gayle, Jim, Brenda & Ray |
May 28, 2023. Met
another family here – a Polish family that came to the US about 27 years ago.
They still have quite an accent, but they have done very well for themselves.
They have a nice RV and came up here from the Chicago area for the weekend.
They seem to have taken us in since we are all Polish. They are very nice; have
not really met and talked to the wife yet; don’t know if I will, but one of the
men (whose Mom is my age; he’s 53), talks a lot. He showed me his YouTube page
where he sings to his wife and does a lot of other videos. I gave him my website
link so he can keep in touch. His name is Pawel (Paul) & Eva Kobierski. We also met
Tomas, Eva’s son, and another man traveling with his daughter.
Pawel and Tomas talked to us the most (far right and far left). Pawel's brother is standing with Jim next to his Harley in the top picture. Pawel also has a YouTube channel where he sings songs that he has written. Most of the songs are in Polish though, but he said he may add English subtitles at the bottom.
June 1, 2023. We went to the RV Hall of Fame on Tuesday with our new friends Brenda & Ray. They followed us in their jeep so we could go our separate ways after lunch. I look a few more pictures again, even though I take pictures every time we visit the museum. I found out for the first time that they actually allow dogs to walk with us through the museum, so I was able to bring Lucy in instead of her sitting in the truck.
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| RV/MH Hall of Fame |
June 6, 2023. Last week we went to visit the South Bend Chocolate Company. They give
tours of how they make chocolate and they also have a small museum that tells
the history of chocolate and a collection of chocolate boxes and tins.
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| South Bend Chocolate Company |
Finally leaving Bear
Cave today. It will be good to get away from all this dust.
June 7, 2023. When we were leaving Bear Cave I noticed a
lot of fresh looking water running out of the corner of the cover the hides the
tanks under the trailer. We let that run out before heading out, but we cannot
figure out where all the fresh water is coming from. When I emptied the tanks,
there was plenty of gray water that came out. I put some water in the gray tank
along with dishwashing soap and let the tank clean itself out while we drove to
our next destination.
Kalamazoo Resort in Kalamazoo, Michigan is
part of the Outdoor Adventures group that bought Ocean Canyon. I had no trouble
getting a reservation through Coast to Coast, contrary to the lie that the
salesman told us that we would not be able to. Anyway, the site we got is huge.
Not quite level, but not bad. Huge picnic table along with a fire ring that is
almost useless as it is corrugated metal filled with concrete so there is no
way to really enjoy a good fire.
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| Kalamazoo Resort |
There is no
laundromat here so I had to drive into a little town called Plainwell to do my
laundry. That was OK; I’ve done it before. But it’s weird that the park does
not have one. They also have a hiking trail, swimming pool, putt putt, store,
etc.
June 11, 2023. Thursday the 8th we drove to
Holland, Michigan. It’s where the people from Holland settled and grow tulips
and brought over one of their windmills. They opened up a museum type and
called it Windmill Island Gardens.
Every May is tulip month; this year they received over 73,000 visitors coming
to see the tulips. We got there after the tulip fest and all of the tulips were
gone. We were told that they allow the public to come in and pull up the tulip
bulbs for their own use. The museum then gets new tulips from Holland every
year to plant a fresh batch.
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| De Zwaan Windmill |
Not much to do at
this park; we were told that they used to have an activity center for adults
but they took it out. Now there is none. So, no billiards, lounge or anything
of the sort. They have a very small “activity” office but that’s all.
Everything else is outside – pool, putt putt, a large lake for swimming,
playground. Nothing for adults.
My walking trail
consists of going through the “new” section that is not open yet, then walking
the nature trail, around the pond where W/E sites are. Then I found another
pond that is down a trail next to the check-in booth. It’s a nice fishing lake
– I saw lots of gold and white fish in it. There is an abandoned trailer and
shack, but the grass is mowed. So Lucy and I walk around the pond and then back
to the trailer. That gives us roughly a 2 mile walk.
Met some people
here; our next door neighbor is a single lady named Alice. She’s here with her
two dogs and cat. She still has a house, and just goes camping to get away. Her
next campground is one of other Outdoor Adventures.
June 12, 2023. Trying to find the beverages Jim drinks
here in Michigan is turning into an issue. They do not sell Yuengling, and I
cannot find the Topo Chico Ranch Water that he likes either. I’m hoping that
when we get to Traverse City we can find it. The prices are a lot higher as
well.
Met another couple
who got talked into upgrading into the Outdoor Adventures Michigan parks. They
said that Outdoor Adventures is not honoring their contract and they are
fighting with them. Boy, that just makes me glad that we did not fall into that
trap.
June 15, 2023. Left Kalamazoo Wednesday and headed north
to Leisure Time RV Park in Irons. This place is out in the middle of nowhere,
and the park itself is pretty run down. The roads are dirt and our site is all
dirt and not even big enough for us to park the truck. I ended up parking in
the site next to us. If we had taken that site, however, I think it would have
been wide enough for both the truck and the trailer.
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| Leisure Time RV Park |
I was outside last
night and met one of the annuals that come here for the summer. He has two nice
looking shepherds and I started asking questions about the park. I asked him if
there was anywhere that Lucy and I could walk and he told me about a trail into
the woods across from the park. Lucy and I took that walk this morning. It was
a nice walk into the woods and then we ended up on a major dirt road that went
into the forest further. We walked down that, past the lake and then turned
around.
Before I went to bed last
night, I knelt down under the dining table to talk with Lucy. When I got up I
must have moved just right because it knocked an ear "crystal" out of
its home and into my semicircular canal -- where it's not supposed to be. This
causes extreme vertigo and nausea. It was awful. I could not sleep - everything
was spinning all over and I felt like puking. This morning I looked up the
"somersault" maneuver that is supposed to make the crystal go back
where it's supposed to be. It's called the "Foster-half somersault
maneuver" for BPPV (positional vertigo). I've done it twice so far, but I
still feel dizzy and sick to my stomach. I've read to do it 3-5 times, so I'm
going to do it again.
It's now Thursday
afternoon and I did the Foster half somersault maneuver three times. I am
feeling better and not so nauseas. I
keep eating as that seems to help my stomach instead of leaving it empty.
This is the
freakiest thing that has ever happened to me. It just came out of no where when
I stood up from talking to Lucy. Last night was awful. Jim sat up with me and
made me sit on the couch for a while, which helped and then we went back to
bed. I don’t even know how long we were up before going to sleep.
I wanted to go to do
some sightseeing today, but the weather never warmed up and it’s damp and cold
outside. Plus, since I was still not feeling good, Jim said we should just stay
home. We’ll go out tomorrow.
June 18, 2023. Got to head out Friday and Saturday and see
some sights along the coast of Michigan. Friday we drove to Manistee, had lunch
and then toured the SS City of Milwaukee,
and on Saturday we drove to Ludington to visit the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum.
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| SS City of Milwaukee |
We then decided to hang out in
Ludington until 7pm or so to see the passenger and vehicle ferry SS Badger come into
port, turn around and dock. After dinner, we went to a park next to the
municipal marina to hang out until it came in. Unfortunately, we
got word that the Badger was going to be late and would not dock until around 9pm. So,
we decided not to hang around and drove back to the RV park.
Sunday we are staying
in. It’s hair cut and beard trim day for Jim, and nail trimming for Lucy. The
weather is finally warming up; it will be in the 80s today and will be warm all
week. Tomorrow we head north to Beulah and Turtle Creek RV Park for two weeks.
Lots to see in the Traverse City area and the peninsula next to it.
June 20, 2023. Finally left Leisure Time RV Park, which
Jim called the worst campground we have ever been to. Our GPS took us a very
round about way to Turtle Lake, which was a single lane dirt road through the
state forest. The kind of road horses and ATVs would take. It was awful. We
finally made it out onto Miller Road, which took us to the main entrance. The
girl in the office said that Garmin always takes people that route and that
they have tried to get them to change it in the system, but Garmin has ignored
them so far. I found a Garmin Facebook page and put a post on it telling them of our experience.
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| Turtle Lake Campground |
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| Turtle Lake |
June 23, 2023. Since we arrived here on a Monday and did
not get set up until late in the afternoon, we went to do our weekly grocery
shopping on Tuesday. I have a list of places I want to visit while we are in
the section of Michigan, which we started on Wednesday. On Wednesday we went
to the Arcadia Overlook aka Inspiration
Point, and then drove a little north to the Point Betsie Lighthouse. I took the tour of the lighthouse while
Jim sat outside with Lucy.
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| Arcadia Overlook |
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| Point Betsie Lighthouse |
Friday Jim was not
feeling good; woke up dizzy and did not want to do anything so I thought this
would be a good day to visit the Michigan Legacy Art Park. The website said the walk was rough and steep hills, which
turned out to be accurate. I was able to take Lucy with me and the description
of the path was hilly – big hills up and down in places. But we had a good
walk. There was a wedding taking place when we got there; we were able to walk
by some of the wedding party and of course, they had to come see Lucy and pet
her. Everyone loves Lucy.
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| Michigan Legacy Art Park |
June 24, 2023. Saturday was a hot, sunny day so we decided
to head to Sleeping Bear Dunes NationalSeashore. We went to the Visitor Center in Empire first and walked through
the museum they had. Got my passport stamped, then got our map for the park.
Our first drive was
on the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive.
That was a nice one way road with a few turnouts for viewing. We stopped to see
Glen Lake, then the Dune Overlook, and lastly Sleeping Bear Overlook. This was
a short sandy trail up to the top of a dune. We took Lucy with us here; the
walk was short and the sand was not too hot. We had to take our sandals off
just to walk in the sand. Jim stayed on top of the dune and I walked over to
the deck which showed the dune from the other side. Standing at the top you
could see the edge of it and nothing else – it was a sudden drop off. From the
deck I was able to see what the Dune looked like from over the edge, and wholly
cow, was it ever a long, steep slide down to the bottom of the dune. And if you
did go down, you had to climb back up!
 |
| Sleeping Bear Dunes |
Leaving the scenic
drive, we headed north on Hwy 109 to the next turnout – Dune Climb. There were
lots of people climbing the dunes here, but I did not. I did meet a couple who
had a huge telescope set up with a view of the sun. They are part of the
astronomy club and come into the park as volunteers to let people look at the
sun. I was able to see a big orange ball with black spots, which were sun
spots. Fascinating. I took a few pictures of the dunes here, but that was all.
Our last stop was
the Life-Saving Service Station Museum at the tip of the park. We stopped to
talk with a volunteer at the boat house, then walked through the museum a bit.
We were thirsty and it had been a long, hot afternoon so we headed to a market
in Glen Arbor to get some beverages, and then headed back to camp.
June 27, 2023. Had a rain storm come in on Sunday and
Monday. The weather pattern is strange up here. It seems to come
counter-clockwise from Canada west through the UP, around Lake Michigan into
Wisconsin and then back around the south end of the lake and up into Michigan
again.
Today the smoke from
the Canadian fires are coming down into Michigan, so we will probably not be
going out to see anything because the air quality is bad, and the visibility
will be bad.
June 28, 2023. Air quality report:
Smoke originating from wildfires in Quebec and Ontario, Canada are expected to
impact PM2.5 concentrations at the surface across much of northern lower
Michigan. The air quality index is expected to range from the unhealthy for
sensitive groups level with some hourly concentrations reaching the unhealthy
level. It is recommended that sensitive groups such as people with lung
disease, heart disease, children and older adults should limit prolonged or
heavy outdoor exertion.
Jim’s cousin Carol
just called to let him know that her husband Dick just passed away this
morning. He was having a hard time breathing, did a nebulizer and went into the
bathroom. She noticed he had not come out and went in to find him laying on the
floor. Dick’s parents were Jim’s Uncle
John & Aunt Martha (who was his mom’s sister). I’m glad we stopped to visit them while we were in
Ohio last month. We got a really nice picture of the four of us at a
restaurant, which I sent to Carol. This was the last picture taken of Dick.
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| Jim, Dick, Carol, Gayle |
June 29, 2023. Another day of very bad air quality. The
wildfires from Canada are coming down into Michigan. I can see the smoke in the
air; making it seem as if it is going to rain. There is a foggy look to the
air. Jim said that just being outside for a minute made his eyes water. I’m
glad we did most of our sightseeing last week. I had suggested waiting until
today to go to the Dunes, but seeing what we are going through right now, I’m
glad we did everything last week. This week is a dud because we would not be
able to stay outside and would not be able to see anything.
June 30, 2023. It looks like the wind may have shifted somewhat and is
moving the Canadian fire smoke out of Michigan. Jim said he went out last night
and the smoke was really thick – the had his head lamp on and you could see the
smoke in the light. The moon was also partially obscured by the smoke too.
This morning the sun
is shining, but I see that there is still a Air Quality Alert until late this
afternoon. This has kept us inside for the most part as the smoke really seems
to affect Jim’s eyes and lungs. His eyes start burning and his lungs fill up.
He coughs a lot and hacks up crud. He could not even ride his trike, even though
this is a good campground for riding. This area of Michigan is geared toward
horse back riding (there is a section of the campground just for people with
horses), and ATVs. The ATVs ruin the roads; there is one road that I like to
walk on with Lucy as it’s pretty flat but the stupid ATVs have to go on that
road instead of sticking to the trails made just for them. I’ll be glad to get
away. We won’t ever be back to Michigan.
Since this
campground (Turtle Lake) does not have a clubhouse or anyplace to go that is
inside for activities, we are stuck with staying in the trailer. I picked this
campground because it seemed like a centralized place for touring the area. But
some of the places to see are 25 miles or so away and cost $$ to go to. So this
week we did not do anything.
July 1, 2023. The
weather was nice yesterday and the air quality did not seem too bad, but today
the wind has brought the smoke from Canada back into Michigan.
July 6, 2023. We
left Turtle Lake RV Park on July 3; never did get together with Tom and Jenanne
even though they were only 20 miles from us. We were hoping to hear from them,
but did not until the day before we left the area. After Turtle Lake we headed
to Benjamin’s Beaver in Gaylord, Michigan, another Outdoor Adventure
resort. They put us in a little W/E site
that barely had enough room for the trailer and picnic table. I had to shove
the picnic table into the hillside just to have enough room for the rug and
chairs. I asked for a FHU but was told they were booked (not true). The site we
got (site 4) was one of the worst, even though there were other W/E sites that
were wider and had more room.
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| Benjamin's Beaver |
It started raining a couple of days ago, mostly in the
afternoon. It rained all afternoon yesterday and this morning. It’s very wet –
the water just runs off of the sandy hillside and right through our site.
Worked on our itinerary for the rest of the year; changed
some to shorten our stay at some places and canceled others. Still planning on
heading into North Dakota after our visit with Jay and Lynda in Minnesota.
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| Call of the Wild Museum |
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| Deadman's Overlook |
July 9, 2023.
Met up with Tom and Jenanne at Trout Town Eatery in Kalkaska. It was a Sunday
and most everything in town was closed. We had lunch then walked to the Big
Trout and took some pictures, then walked a bit into town so we could visit
some more and catch up.
.jpg) |
| Jim, Gayle, Tom & Jenanne |
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| National Trout Memorial |
July 12, 2023.
Monday was shopping, then on Tuesday we left Benjamin’s Beaver and headed north
to the Upper Peninsula. Jim was worried about crossing the Mackinac Bridge,
thinking it would be swaying in the wind. But his worries were naught as the
bridge is well built and it was really no big deal crossing it.
The park I made
reservations is Castle Rock Lakefront Mackinac Campground in St. Ignace. It’s right on the Saint Martin
Bay and Lake Huron so there is a long beach to walk on. There is even a dog beach here. They
have a nice dog trail through the woods and a disc golf course that goes
through the woods and on trails they made through the swamp. We were able to
get in a 1.75 mile walk this morning.
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| Castle Rock RV Park, St. Ignace, MI |
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| Beach on Saint Martin Bay (Lake Huron) |
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| Trail thru the marsh to the beach |
.jpg) |
| Walking trail thru the woods |
I am making our schedule for when to go to Sault
Ste. Marie and Mackinac Island. We are going to do the Soo Locks Boat Tour on
Friday, and go to Mackinac Island on Sunday. There are a few minor things to
see in the area.
July 13, 2023.
We decided to head to Saulte Ste. Marie today to do the Soo Locks Boat Tour. We
chose the “Original” boat tour as I could buy tickets and then show up for any
of their boat tours. When I looked at the “Famous” it looked liked I had to
pick a date and time to tour the locks. We left the campground around 11am and arrived
about a half hour before our scheduled 12:30 departure time. We had to wait
about a half hour for a tour bus to arrive; so when it arrived we got on first
to get our seats. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong side of the boat to sit
on. We sat on the starboard side, and all of the things to see took place on
shore, which was off to the port side. There was a lovely young lady who did a narration
of the area sights. We went through the American locks to Lake Michigan, and
then came back through the Canadian lock back to the U.S. side.
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| Soo Locks |
July 14, 2023.
It’s raining a bit this morning with a cold front coming through, so we will
probably not be going out today. I talked with a lady at the Horse Carriage Company
on Mackinac Island and she said Saturday is a very busy day as well as Tuesday.
So, Saturday we will go see some sights around St. Ignace, and then on Sunday
we will head to Mackinac Island. We are taking the Shepler’s Ferry service –
they offer a shuttle from our campground to the dock; and also allow Lucy to
come with us. She is also allowed on the Horse Carriage Ride.
July 15, 2023.
There were some small sites to see around St. Ignace, so we went out on
Saturday afternoon to see them, then had a late lunch at the Mackinac Grille
& Patio Bar, which is right next door to a little park and walkway called
Wawatam. I highlighted them in a separate blog post called Sights to See in Michigan.
July 16, 2023.
We went to Mackinac Island today. We
left around noon and picked up the 12:30 ferry to the island. It was the “Mighty
Mac” departure where they go under the Mackinac Bridge and give a short history
on the bridge, then off to the island. The island was very busy; there was a
couple of cruise ships that were docked there, so it was busier than I
expected. We decided to head down the street and take the horse drawn carriage ride right away. It was $78 for Jim & I and $16 for Lucy as she sat on the
seat with us. It went through the city with the driver also being a tour guide
and telling us about the different buildings. We stopped half way through the
tour where we got out to look around at the Butterfly Building (extra charge) and
the forge. I did not do either of those because I did not pay extra for them.
So we rested a while and then got on another carriage ride to finish the tour
through the State Park, mostly wooded. We did stop at the ”Arch” to take pictures,
then kept going to the Governor’s House, where we got off and walked down the
hill to the park. There was a small grocery store at the bottom where I got a
couple of sandwiches and chips ($22) and we sat at the park and ate lunch. (Make
sure you bring your own drinks. I brought Jim a beer and Ranch Water.)
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| Mackinac Island |
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| Grand Hotel |
By this time it was after 4pm and we decided we
had enough of the hustle and bustle and decided to leave. We did not do any
shopping (expensive) and got on the ferry to head back to the campground.
July 19, 2023.
There is an Indian Museum in downtown St. Ignace called the Museum of Ojibwa,
so we decided to head there and look at it. It was very interesting; the
history of the different American Indians who settled in this area.
July 22, 2023.
It rained most of the day on Thursday so we did not go anyplace; just sat
around the trailer. Friday we packed up and headed an hour west to Log Cabin Campground
in Curtis, Michigan, close to Germfask. We were only able to get an electric
site and had to fill up our tank and use on board water. It’s OK as we are only
here for two nights, and I think we will still have plenty of water left.
Log Cabin Campground is on a lake but has no real
beach to walk on; but at least they do have a short walking trail through the
woods. Saturday we drove into Curtis to have lunch; it was OK. I just don’t
enjoy going out to eat. It’s hard to find something good to eat.
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| Log Cabin Campground |
July 23, 2023.
We survived the two days on the water in our tank, and could have lasted longer
if I had reserved water better. But in one day I went through most of it by
doing dishes and taking a long shower.
Today we packed up and went to Big Cedar
Campground in Germfask. It should have taken us 15 minutes, but the stupid Garmin
GPS did not grasp the correct location of the campground and took us in the
opposition direction. It looks like having N in front of the street number
makes a big difference. When we got to the campground I was able to pinpoint
the address on the GPS to located the campground. It showed that the address
should be N7936, not just 7936. So after I was able to put in the correct address,
the GPS had no problem getting us to the campground.
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| Big Cedar Campground, Germfask, Michigan |
It's a small campground, but I was able to find a
place to walk. We crossed the street through the church parking lot to a gravel
road, then left to Robinson Road which took us to Seney National Wildlife
Refuge. The gate was down, so we just walked around it and into the Refuge. We went
down the road a bit and just got under the trees when we were inundated by tiny
biting flies. They were swarming all around Lucy’s head and belly. She looked
at me and stopped walking and turned around, telling me that she’s had enough and
was going home. Can’t say I blame her; they were awful.
The next afternoon we walked down there again, and
as soon as we got to the gate, Lucy stopped and said Nope, not going any
further and stopped and turned around.
July 26, 2023. Monday was shopping; the closest grocery store was in Newberry, 26 miles from Germfask. Tuesday we hit two places since they were in the same direction and past Newberry.
The first place we stopped was the Tahquamenon Logging Museum. That was pretty cool showing the logging industry in Michigan.
Then we headed to Tahquamenon Falls State Park, another 25 miles north. We went to the Lower Falls first, which was really neat. We walked on a boardwalk toward the falls and hit a couple of viewing points. There were a lot of people who kept walking and went onto an island where they could get in the water. I hear that this bridge to the island is new, and people are taking advantage of it. We did not. We stopped at the last viewing center that showed the falls themselves.
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| Lower Falls |
From there we drove back to the Upper Falls. These were bigger but harder to see. The trail along the river and to the falls were over grown and it was hard to see the Upper Falls. We went to three different viewing points, and that was it. If we went in one direction, it was 94 stairs and at the other end it was 181 stairs to the trail next to the river. I did not do either one, and of course, Jim did not either. The stairs were open metal grates, which dogs cannot handle; so even though Lucy was able to go with us everywhere else, the stairs are a definite NO.
 |
| Upper Falls |
Since we were ending our day around 5:30 and we did
not have lunch, there is a Pub & Brewery at the Upper Falls so we stopped
in there for dinner. Food was good and reasonably priced (for the UP).
Wednesday will be laundry day and rest as on
Thursday (Jim’s birthday) we are driving to Munising and taking the Pictured
Rocks Cruise.
July 27, 2023.
We didn’t get to leave until 12:30 as Josh called Jim to wish him a Happy
Birthday. Josh and family are on Oak Island in North Carolina with Karen’s
family. They get together almost every year there, which they have been doing
for years. They went out deep sea fishing and caught a shark. I learned that in
order for a shark meat to be good, the fish has to be cleaned while it’s still
alive. Yuck.
Our trip on the Pictured Rocks Cruise was really neat to tour the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We initially sat up on the
top deck next to a German couple who is in the U.S. traveling in their RV. They
actually transport their RV from Germany to the U.S. and spend six months
traveling. It was really hot sitting up there in the sun and by the time we
were turning around, we went downstairs out of the sun. I left Jim sitting and
went onto the back deck where I was able to get better pictures of the rocks as
we went back to the dock.
After we got back home, I fed Lucy and Jim wanted
to go out to dinner for his birthday. We went to the local hotel/restaurant for
dinner called the Jolly Inn. Google reviews put it high on the list to visit,
and since it was so close, we went there. I had a dish that is famous in
Michigan called a Pasty. I think there are a lot of different pasty’s, and this
one was supposed to be like a pot pie (meat hand pie). It was not very good; it seems to me
that they pre-make these and either freeze them or keep them in the refrigerator.
It did not take very long for it to land on my plate. The inside is supposed to
be filled with carrots, onions, parsnips, potato and ground beef. It was hard to find
the veggies, and the meat was clumped together and not very warm. Maybe I’ll
try one from somewhere else, just to compare – maybe. (Mine did not look like the picture in the website. Not in the least.)
July 29,2023.
After dinner I was having my usual piece of chocolate, Cadbury Royal Dark
chocolate. I put it in the refrigerator to keep it hard, but it’s TOO hard. I
had a piece last night and chipped another tooth. It’s on the middle left and
of course, it was filled with a mercury filling. At least it does not bother
me, and I’ll wait until we get back to Glen Rose to get it fixed. Boy, how
often is this going to happen? My teeth from having so many cavities growing up
and filled amalgam fillings is doing a number on my teeth.
Last night I walked outside around 10pm to take
Lucy on her nightly walk before bedtime and looked up into the sky to see a
very strange cloud pattern. I ran inside to get my camera to take a picture of
it. I put the picture in my blog on our adventures.
July 30, 2023.
Moving day again. We are leaving Big Cedar and heading to Gladstone Bay County
Park in Gladstone, Michigan for four days. I picked this place because there is a Walmart and Tractor
Supply in nearby Escanaba. I need to get food for us, extra RV supplies, and dog food for Lucy.
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| Gladstone Bay Campground |
The early morning weather has been fairly cool
during our morning walk. This morning the thermometer showed 49 degrees. So I
guess I should not complain about wearing a jacket in comparison to what Glen
Rose is going through this summer. Their low is our high!
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| Sunrise over the Bay |
August 3, 2023.
Gladstone Bay was a really nice campground. It was quiet and right on the bay.
I had a good walking trail where I could let Lucy loose and run and a nice,
quiet neighborhood to walk. Even though we only had W/E, it OK.
Today we headed out to our next destination, this
time a Coast to Coast called Captain’s Cove in Gresham, Wisconsin. And we are
back in Central Time. We have been in the Eastern Time zone since November of
last year, and kind of got used to it. Now sunset is 8:20 instead of 9:25 and
sunrise is 5:45 am instead of 6:45am.
It’s out in the country and of course, no service
again. We have one tiny, tiny bar on the phone, which in essence, means no
service. At least I can hook our phones up to the Starlink. This park is mostly
in the woods and it was hard to find a spot that gave us a view of the north
sky. We found one that gives us about 25% of the sky, so we will just have to
deal with it for the week. It’s taking quite a while for the Starlink to figure
itself out; maybe because it does not have a clear view of the sky. It’s been
mostly offline for the past few hours.
Well, son of a gun. I keep getting stuff stuck in
the broken tooth so I was just using the metal toothpick trying to clean it,
and pulled the filling out. It does not hurt, which means that when I got the
filling, they dug out the nerves. Now I have a big hole where my tooth is
supposed to be. The back side of the tooth is still there though.
August 4, 2023.
This campground is so full of trees that the Starlink is having a very hard
time finding the satellites through the small gap that I found. The site we
took in the FHU section F3, was all rocks and no grass at all. It may be been
shady, but that’s all it had going for it. It took over 12 hours for it to seek
the sky to settle in. At first the obstructions were every 2 hours, but this
afternoon it’s down to every 13 second. The blue sky turns and the red shows
the obstructions. I don’t know if it’s just the trees, or there is something
else in the atmosphere that is causing the obstructions. I hope it gets better
as we are here for 8 days. I’ve had smaller holes in the trees for the Starlink
to look for satellites, and I did not think this was too bad, but I guess it
is. Starlink really needs 100% open sky for the best reception.
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| Captains Cove (Site F3) |
August 6, 2023.
After two days the Starlink could not find any satellites and had an
obstruction every 12 seconds. So we ended up moving down to a site in the W/E
section where we have a clear view of the north sky. What a difference! It’s
right next to the road so we ended up locking the outside storage compartments,
put a lock around the bikes, and a lock around the EMS. I put stakes in the Starlink
base as well.
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| Captains Cove (Site N5) |
There is another family down here with us. We
stopped to talk with them this afternoon before Dad and three of the kids left
for home so they could work this week. Mom and the four other children are
staying here until the weekend. We had a good conversation with them about
kids, the school system, masks, the Covid shots, and more. We talked about our
female issues and having babies. She could not stay pregnant and kept have miscarriages.
They said they could not figure out why she kept miscarrying. So they went the
Foster route and that is how they ended up with seven children. Some of them
they have adopted and some they are still fostering. Dad’s a machinist and she
is a teacher. One thing about fostering is that the state assists financially
with the fostered child. The last one is a little girl, 6 years old, and her mother
at 39 had the baby and left her with the hospital. This mother has had 9
children – definitely a loser.
August 12, 2023.
We had a nice quiet week at the new site. Lucy and I got our 2 mile morning
walk, and then a shorter walk around the park in the afternoon. On our last day
at the park I found another place to walk, which appears to be an ATV trail in
the summer and snowmobile in the winter. We never made it to the Thirsty Whale
for a meal, nor did we go out to eat anywhere.
Jim did get some riding in on his trike.
We were going to leave on Friday, but it was
supposed to rain all day and the roads we were taking to the next place, so we
decided to wait until Saturday to leave. The whole week there was just us two
families, and all of a sudden people started coming into our little area. It
filled up very fast, and then a young man camping with his two sons pulled in
next to us.
We made friends with some of the families that pulled in; one even gave me a bunch of veggies from her garden. The young son of the man next to us got bit by two bees, so I gave him some benadryl (which his son would not take) and some anti-itch salve.
Saturday the 12th we packed up and
drove to an Encore Park (Thousand Trails Collection) called Lake of the Woods in Wautoma, Wisconsin.
This place is out in the wilderness as well, and in the woods, but I was able
to find an opening to the north sky for the Starlink. Oshkosh is directly east
45 miles; Walmart 22 miles in Berlin, Wisconsin. This park has a lot of annuals
who come to party; they have shuffleboard, swimming pool, putt putt, among
others.
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| Lake of the Woods, Wautoma, Wisconsin |
There is an unused air strip which they are now
using for disc golf, but it’s a huge area and that is where Lucy and I will be
taking our morning walk.
August 17, 2023.
As we walked down one of the airstrips, I saw a huge tree that had fallen and
beyond it was a trail sign showing a squiggly line indicating the way the trail
went. So we walked past the fallen tree and found a locked gate with a sign
indicating foot traffic only beyond the gate. The trail was not too overgrown
so I decided to give it a shot. What a wonderful trail; it turned out really
nice. It is part of a State Natural Area and if you keep walking all the way,
it looks to come out on Hwy 22.
On Wednesday when I went to do laundry, I went
into the office and told the people in there about the trail. They had no idea
as the whole staff was new. It just so happened that one of the maintenance men
was in the office and said he was going to go check it out. He did! When Lucy
and walked there this morning he did go and get rid of some of the debris from
the fallen tree.
I was thinking about driving down to a city just south of Wisconsin Dells to see some sights, but I really want to listen to Mike Lindell’s symposium and what he says will change the elections. Also, Trump put out a statement that he has proof that the Georgia election was rigged and his latest indictment will be overturned, which his attorneys will bring out in their lawsuit.
August 21, 2023. Our time at Lake of the Woods ended on Saturday the 19th; we headed west to Pla-Mor Campground in Winona, Minnesota for one night, and finished our trip on Sunday to Dakotah Meadows RV Park in Prior Lake, Minnesota. Jim was talking to a gentleman yesterday and found out that this park is owned by an American Indian tribe and is connected to the Mystic Lake Casino. The tribe makes so much money from the casino that they give $1 million to each household every year.
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| Pla-Mor Campground, Winona, MN |
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| Dakotah Meadows, Prior Lake, MN |
Yesterday Lucy and I walked around looking for
someplace to get in our morning miles. I did find a small trail outside of the
fence, so we walked that a little. It took us into an open field, but since I
had on sandals, it was not easy walking, so we left.
This morning we took off to that area again, only
this time went up into the field and discovered a trail between the swamps
going to a bike trail. WOW! There is actually a wonderful, flat, paved bike
trail that does off into the woods with miles of trails for the bikers. So that
is where we went this morning for our walk. It was great. We will be doing that
every morning this week. There were beautiful flowers along the
trail, such as Purple Coneflower, Black Eyed Susans, and another yellow flower
I don’t know.
Tuesday night we drove to Chanhassen to check out
the huge mural of Prince. I wanted to get some pictures of it to send to our
friend Peggy, who is a huge Prince fan.
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| Look how tiny I look! |
After dinner the A/C started making the horrid
noise again – same as it did when we were in Florida in December. Jim said it
sounded like a bearing. So since I had the ladder off the truck, I decided to
go up on the roof and check out the unit. The fins were all clogged with dirt
and dust, so I cleaned those off again. Then I sprayed some Ballistol in the
fan and on the stem going from the motor to the fan. It took a while, but the
noise eventually went away. Jim said I needed to clean the fan blades as well
(which I did not do the last time I cleaned the unit), and they probably need
to be cleaned. I think I’ll wait until we get up to Buffalo, ND to get up there
and work on it. There is an RV next to us and there is not much room between
the units to get the ladder set good.
August 23, 2023.
This morning on our walk on the bike trail, I decided to check to see if there
were any Geocaches on it, and there was! It was a very easy geocache, just off
of the trail. I found it with no problem, so now I have another smiley face.
Jim’s cousin Jay and Lynda were supposed to come
over this afternoon, but Jay called and said that it was too hot for Lynda to
be outside. I cannot disagree with him as it hit 99 today. So he suggested we
meet for lunch instead. We went to Bailey’s Public House and had a good time
catching up with him and having a great lunch. For some reason, Lynda decided
she did not want to come to lunch. I was sorry to hear that, but oh well. We
had a good time with Jay anyway.
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| Jim, Gayle and Jay |
August 27, 2023.
Thursday we took the Excursion to Christian Brothers to get some work done –
front brakes & rotors; fuel filter; and the passenger front wheel bearing.
And since they did the brakes, they also put in fresh brake fluid.
On Friday we packed up and headed northwest toward
North Dakota, stopping in Caulk Center for the night. As we were driving up
I-94 we saw a huge rain storm coming at us, and luckily we were right at a rest
stop, and decided to stay there until the rain passed. It was a quick moving
storm, and by the time I got Lucy and us into the trailer, the rain was gone.
But it dropped the temperature outside about 10 degrees.
Back on the road, we were close to our destination
when I mentioned that the truck did not seem to be running right. There were
noises that did not seem right and the engine started running very rough. By
the time we pulled into the campground it was chugging and coughing, which we
knew was not normal. I looked up a local auto mechanic and Jim called to talk
to him and he said to bring in the truck and he would do a diagnostic. We were
lucky here as it was 2:30pm on a Friday afternoon. We dropped off the Excursion
and they gave us a little car to go back to the campground so we could finish
setting up. The people at this garage were very nice and helpful.
The diagnosis after looking at the coils (which we
have had issues with in the past) he did a compression test and determined that
the gasket between the 1st and 2nd cylinders were not
functioning properly and we were losing compression. Jim called a mechanic in Fargo and discussed
our situation with that guy and he actually recommended we drive back to
Minneapolis and have a new engine put in the truck.
When we picked up the truck we stayed and talked
with Kevin, the mechanic who did the testing and it was his recommendation that
we put a new engine into the Excursion. If we had it fixed, we would be
spending up to $3,000 or so just for that.
Across the street from the campground was a really
nice park with lots of things to do for children and young adults. There was
also a walking/biking trail that went around the park and then up a hill and
out into the country side. That was where Lucy and I took our morning walk.
Very pleasant and quiet.
Since we were only able to stay at the Sinclair
Lewis campground in Saulk Center for one night, and since we were not going to
continue on toward our designation of Buffalo, North Dakota, I had to find us
someplace to camp for Saturday & Sunday. I tried at Dakotah Meadows, but
they did not have any openings. I was able to find a campground called River
Terrace in Monticello, which is half way back to Minneapolis. I was able to get
a site at Dakotah Meadows for Monday through Friday, and will have to let them
know of our predicament on getting the truck worked on when we get there. I
hope they can work with us since once our truck is in the shop, we will not be
able to move.
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| River Terrace Park |
The campground here is mostly a mobile home park
with some full time RVers that are here working. We saw a few people from Texas
as well. Saturday afternoon when Lucy went out for our walk I saw a sign that
said “nature trail” so I followed the signs and discovered an ATV trail into
the woods. It’s nice and flat, about 1 mile long from one end to the other.
This campground was right on the Mississippi River ~~
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| Mississippi River |
I have already started cancelling the reservations
that I have made for our journey, and will finish all of those up this week. I
am hoping that on Monday or Tuesday, Christian Brothers can let us know how
long it will be before they can locate an engine and then get it installed. I
am also hoping that Dakotah Meadows can work with us on a site for the next few
weeks because when I tried making reservations online, they were booked over
Labor Day weekend and then again the following weekend. When the truck goes in,
we won’t be able to move anywhere!
August 30, 2023: We took the Excursion back to Christian
Brothers on Tuesday; they did their own diagnostic on the engine and determined
that the compression in the cylinders are fine. They have a pretty in depth
diagnosis; I think it took about three hours. What they eventually determined
was that we need a new fuel pump. Jim again talked to the first mechanic who
diagnosed low compression and he was certain, but then talked to a 40+ year
mechanic friend of ours. When Jim mentioned to him that we had the fuel filter
changed and that the engine started acting up about 1 hour after we left, he
confirmed that could mess up the fuel system. So, today the Excursion is
getting a new fuel pump. Praying that this solves the problem because we are
supposed to leave this site on Friday.
August 31, 2023.
After Christian Brothers changed the fuel pump, the technician drove it while
also doing a diagnosis at the same time. The new fuel pump did not solve the
issue we had with the low compression, but this time it was diagnosed that
cylinder 3 was the issue. When we picked up the truck it was running very
poorly, and in the end we still need a new engine. So they put an order in and
it should be delivered on Tuesday, the day after Labor Day.
The campground is very aware of our circumstances
and when we found out that a couple we met here who had reserved a site for the
whole month of September had decided not to stay. So this morning they and I went up to the
office so we could switch sites. They gave us their reserved site, so Friday
when the people move out of it, we will pack up and move to a new site for two
weeks. I paid for the site from September 1 to 15th, and then they
also are holding it for us in case we need to stay longer.
The Excursion goes back to Christian Brothers on
Tuesday so they can start on dismantling the engine to be ready for the new
engine when it arrives. They said it’s supposed to take 25 hours to do the
work, but that does not include the minor things that need to be done. So, I
actually do not expect it back by the end of next week; that’s why I reserved
through the 15th.
September 1, 2023.
The Excursion ran really bad on our way back to
the campground on Wednesday, but we did not know how bad it really was.
Yesterday afternoon we were going to go to the Edelweiss Bakery; I started the
car and it started making a horrible noise and then died. I tried to start it
again - nothing. Jim opened the hood and I looked at the radiator -- no water!
Jim pulled the oil dip stick and it showed over full with water in it. That's
where the radiator water went. Since we have to move sites today, Jim's cousin
will be able to move us and then Christian Brothers will come to tow the
Excursion to their shop. I wonder how much of the is a “coincidence.” Would
this all have happened if Jim had not said “We need to get a new fuel filter
put on the Excursion”? The truck was running fine before we got the new fuel
filter put on. It was all down hill after that.
September 3, 2023. Jay came over on Friday and moved us to the
new site. I walked some of our stuff up the hill, took some valuables out of
the Excursion and Jay took them to put in his garage; and everything else came
with us to the new site. Christian Brothers called a tow service and they came
Friday afternoon and towed the truck away. The odometer showed 281,746 when it
died. Jay is going to loan us one of his cars that he has so we don’t have to
rent a car. That will save us a lot of money.
September 6, 2023. It’s been two full days
that Jim has been on the Optavia diet. I am making “Lean & Green” meals for
us in the evening and during the day he eat the “fuelings” from the company. I
make a breakfast for him; at lunch he has a shake; then two granola bars and
one snack the rest of the day. This morning we weighed him and he was down 4
pounds.
He
weighed in on the 3rd at 230; waist 46” – that’s considered obese.
He has not had an alcoholic drink and is starting to drink a lot of Nuun and
tea. And he pees a lot. His feet have been pretty swollen and we cannot figure
out why they are swollen. So, he has been laying on the couch with his feet in
the air; and he is also starting to walk more. He is walking “around the block”
of our small area here in the park.
Jim
called Christian Brothers around noonish to find out about the Excursion. Mike,
the office manager, is out sick so that is why we have not heard from them. Jim
was told that the block came in Tuesday and they are now working on the truck
and are “hoping” to have it finished by Friday. After we get it back, we will
be driving around the city here to make sure it’s in good working condition
before heading out on the 15th.
September 13, 2023. We picked up the
Excursion on Monday the 11th. Everything seems to be OK; it rides
real nice and the engine purrs. The new engine cost us $13,000, but that’s
cheaper than buying a new vehicle. There is no vehicle that could replace our
Excursion. It’s the best truck we have ever had.
Jim did
find the radio antenna sitting with the windshield wipers, and the CB antenna
was bent over 90 degrees. Christian Brothers said they would reimburse us the
cost of a new antenna, but Jim decided to try and bend it back up. It worked
without snapping.
The
swelling in Jim’s feet has gone away and he has lost 11 pounds and 3" in his waist so far – in just
one week. He is doing great; complaining but he is not drinking, is always hungry, but keeps losing weight. I'm very proud of him for sticking with this. I have to keep looking for dinner recipes that we both like.
September 15, 2023. Were able to pack up
before the rain came Friday morning. I checked the air in the truck and trailer
and added some in both. We eventually packed everything else and left Dakotah
Meadows around noon. Our first stop on the way back to Texas was at Margaret
McNider County Campground in Mason City, Iowa. It was 7 miles off of I-35, but
for a FHU site on a concrete pad cost us $28 a night. I found a bike/hiking bridge that goes across
the Winnebago River and there was a nice walking trail there. It’s supposed to
rain again in the morning, so I hope it’s not raining too hard and we can get a
walk.
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| Margaret McNider, Mason City, Iowa |
This is
just a one nighter, and tomorrow we head to a Coast to Coast called Cutty’s RV
Resort in Grimes, Iowa. We’ll stay there five days and meet up with Linda
Clayton, who we first met when we workamped for Amazon in 2012. Since then we
met up with her in Keystone, South Dakota and she also worked with us for a
short time at Lone Star Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas.
September 20, 2023. We arrived at Cutty’s RV
Resort on Saturday; did not do much while here. The sites in the park are
pretty small; ours was a pull through on a little hill with some grass, which
was really nice. It’s a huge park with lots of room to walk, but I was able to
find a walking path in the subdivision across the street from the park where I
was able to let Lucy run loose.
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| Cutty's RV Park, Grimes, Iowa |
We went
to the Gold Star Military Museum at Camp Dodge. I thought I pulled up to the
wrong place when we pulled in at the gate, but the gentlemen at the gate said
yes, just follow the signs. It was a great museum, and of course, Jim enjoyed
it. He really likes military museums.
John
Wayne has a museum that was about 30 miles from Grimes, and cost $19 per person
to get in. I cringe at paying that much for a museum, so we did not go there.
Wednesday
we met up with Linda Clayton for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We met Linda back
in 2012 when we workamped at Amazon in Campbellsville, Kentucky. We were both
staying at the same campground and then the following year we were both at the
State Park working there again. She ended up working with us at Yogi Bear
Jellystone Park in Waller, Texas when we were activity directors there in 2015.
Such a small world. We then met up with her again when she was working in
Keystone, South Dakota and we were there visiting. We all went to Custer State
Park and drove through that. It’s always great meeting up with people that we
have met through the years.
.jpg) |
| Linda, Gayle & Jim |
September 25, 2023. Thursday the 21st
we headed south to Wallace State Park in Cameron, Missouri. We had a pull
through site, not very level so I had to unhook even though we were only
staying one night.
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| Wallace State Park, Cameron, Missouri |
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| Walking trail at Wallace State Park |
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| Parkview Mobile Home & RV Park Pittsburg, Kansas |
On Sunday
September 24, we headed south again to Brush Creek COE in Sand Springs,
Oklahoma. We have a FHU site right by the Keystone Dam. This place is very nice
except for when they blow the horn announcing water being released from the
dam. There is a nice paved walking trail, that is also a fitness trail with
things to do along the way. Lucy and I walked it this morning and then turned
around to make it a 2 mile trek. They put little green lights along the trail
to highlight it – I guess if you want to go walking or running at night so you
can see.
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| Brush Creek COE, Sand Springs, OK |
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| Arkansas River low |
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| Arkansas River high |
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| Walking trail with little green lights |
I took
Jim off of the Optavia diet – I think he overdosed on the fuelings one night
because he woke up late; ate late, then after dinner still had 3 fuelings left.
He is supposed to eat 1 every three hours, but ended up eating all three that
night. That did not go well. I also think he is having a reaction to the
ingredients because since he started his stomach was rumbling. So I decided to
look up the main ingredient – soy protein isolate. It’s not a good product.
Side effects are digestive upsets, such as constipation and diarrhea. Too much
may upset your stomach and may make your stomach rumble. It also has a higher
concentration of trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is an enzyme that helps digest
protein and the soy inhibits the trypsin from doing its work.
Soy
protein isolate also contains unhealthy additives such as aluminum hexane; and
it’s also chemically modified processed filled with pesticides. To make SPI,
soybeans are chemically engineered to “isolate” their protein. This process
strips out all of the other nutrients the original bean had. As of
today he’s been suffering with lots of gas and an upset gut, mostly I think in
the lower intestines.
September 28, 2023. Jim still has
some gas, but not like the last few days. He’s eating again and his constitution
is getting back to formal. He is not eating any of the Optavia anymore, but is
eating a bar of oats and nuts that I made; then for fuelings he is drinking his
glop with whey protein, and I also bought some Quest bars to eat in between. He’s
lost 15 pounds so far, and I want him to keep going. He really needs to lose
another 20 pounds.
We left
Bush Creek COE today and drove two hours south to Ada, Oklahoma. Not a big park
and no place to walk to get our miles in. So, I guess we’ll just walk around
the park in the morning. Probably won’t get as much as I would like, but
something is better than nothing. I’ll do my other exercises after our walk.
 |
| Sissortail RV Park, Ada, Ok |
It’s a no
frills park with only a bathhouse and laundry. There are lots of workers here –
oil lines, traveling nurses, etc.
September 29, 2023. Arrived at Lake Texoma
Thousand Trails today. We are now back in Texas, which makes Jim very happy. Since
I had previously made our reservations to get back to Tres Rios on October 3, I
kept that date as it corresponds with when we will be heading to Houston in
November for Thanksgiving.
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| Lake Texoma Thousand Trails |
 |
| Walking Trail |
October 3, 2023.
We arrived back at Tres Rios and were very busy setting up. Lots
of people stopped by to say Hello and welcome us back. It was really neat how
many came by.
 |
| Tres Rios RV Resort, Glen Rose, Texas |
October 4, 2023. The next day on Wednesday, Jim had a dentist appointment. One of his back molars is bothering him; he got a round of x-rays and a checkup. They recommend a “deep cleaning” and the bothersome tooth extracted. He is not going to have the tooth taken out, and is debating about the deep cleaning. With that, they numb half of your mouth because to clean they go under the gum line.
Thursday Jim had his eye appointment with Dr. Mueller. He had a sty in the inner lid of his right eye; it’s going away and Dr. Mueller thinks it’s caused by bacteria in his eyes and suggested we buy an antibacterial eyelid cleaner to help his eyes. Other than that, his eyes are doing good.
He is doing good on his diet as well; he’s lost 19 pounds and since I have quit eating so much chocolate and sugar, I have gone from 113 to 105.
October 7, 2023. Saturday night there was a pool tournament. There was Jim, Don and three or four other people. By the time I got in there, it was down to Jim, Don, and a lady. Jim ended up winning but just by the skin of his teeth. Don put up a good fight and almost did win, but scratched and I think that helped Jim win the tournament.
October 10, 2023.
Today Jim had an appointment with Dr. Krone, who does colonoscopies, etc. and
also operated on Jim’s umbilical hernia a couple of years ago. Jim has another
hernia popping up but this time it’s above the other one. Dr. Krone said it’s
fatty tissue that is coming through the abdominal wall. Nothing to worry about
yet. It should eventually be fixed, but there is no rush. He’s leaving it up to
Jim to decide when and if that will happen.
We also had a get together tonight for about four couples who
had wedding anniversaries in October and September. There were four in October
and Jim and me in September. There was lots of good food and talk. The men played games of pool while others just talked.
I also want to acknowledge our son Josh and his wife Karen's wedding anniversary on October 13. They will be married 16 years. This picture was taken at our daughter's wedding in December 2022.
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| Josh & Karen with Jason and Juliella |
October 14, 2023.
Yesterday was Josh & Karen’s 16th wedding anniversary and
Juliella’s 13th birthday. They flew out Friday morning to Atlanta,
rented a car and drove to visit Jack & Tam’ra, then on to Waynesville
(Karen’s Dad lives in Waynesville). Karen’s sister Susan and Lili drove down
from Durham, NC to visit as well. Josh & Karen will be going to Knoxville
to a UT football game on Sunday, and then they fly back on Monday.
I have been thinking about what to do with the tooth that was pulled ($279.00) and the cost of putting in cadaver bone tissue in the tooth hole ($275.00). I’ve paid $554 so far and the rest of the cost to have a post put in and then a crown will be an additional $3,675. That’s A LOT of money!
I saw Resetsmile.com on TV the other night. They do a partial that clips onto the teeth next to the missing tooth. This would cost me less than $700. Since this tooth is just used for eating and it’s not in front or cosmetic, I think I am going to go this route.
Paula & Jim came by the other day and gave us a picture she made called It's Five O'Clock Somewhere. She loves making things like this and thought of us when making it. Jim won the pillow at the pool tournament.
October 20, 2023.
Had a dentist appointment yesterday to check on the progress of my pulled
tooth. I talked to the dentist and told him and I did not want to spend $4,000
to have a tooth put in. So I talked to them about a partial because I was
thinking about going with Reset Smile. They did a cost analysis and it looks
like Glen Rose Dental has a better product and my insurance (Humana PPO) will
pay 100% for it! That was very good news.
We head out on Tuesday for our week out and I have another appointment on November 1 for them to do the preliminary for the partial.
October 26, 2023. The motor died on our air conditioning unit so Monday morning Jim and I drove to United RV in Fort Worth and bought a new motor. It is the same kind that is in there now, but a little smaller. Joe came over and helped us install it. This motor is a little smaller so we had to put a riser underneath the bracket that holds up the motor so it would fit properly. I had a plastic piece left over from when I did the TV antenna, so Jim cut out the piece out of that and it fit perfectly. We now have a running air conditioner!
Arrived at Whitney Resorts on Tuesday during the rain. We are going to have rain off and on for the next week.
Went to visit with Oren & Donna on Tuesday afternoon, and they took us to the place that they bought here. It turns out to be the same place that Jim and I had looked at. The thing that turned us off was that a metal roof was mandated to be built on all structures here. They are paying $79,000 to have a roof put on their house. They are next door to Garner and Pam, which is in the “circle.” It’s a cul de sac where some other friends are living as well.
Went to play games with Pam on Wednesday afternoon; learned Rummy Cube and met two of the ladies she plays with.
Decided to go ahead and order the new awning to replace
ours. We are buying it from ShadePro from California in the Heather Beige color.
It’s a light brown because they do not offer the multiple colors like the one
we currently have. Now we have to find someplace that will replace it for us.
October 27, 2023. Jim was sitting outside enjoying the warm weather when Mark Storm rode by and stopped to chat. Then he and RuthAnn came by that afternoon to visit. They had been workamping in South Dakota for the summer and are now back at Whitney for a short time. It was real nice seeing them again and catching up on what we both have been doing.
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| RuthAnn & Mark Storm |
October 30, 2023. Went out to dinner Friday night with Oren & Donna to the local Mexican restaurant. It was very nice visiting with them; going to miss seeing them when we leave on Tuesday.
Cold front from the north swooped down on us over the
weekend with wind and rain. Dropped 20 degrees in one day, making being outside
really uncomfortable. This morning it’s 39 degrees with the high around 48.
Going to pack up a lot today as we need to leave early tomorrow to get back to
Tres Rios as I have a 1pm eye doctor appointment to get to.
By next week it
will be back up in the 80s and the rain is officially gone for a while.
Jim is doing great on his diet. He is still not drinking very much; not like he used to! I think that has a lot to do with him losing weight. We weighed him in this morning (and this was after breakfast) at 206 (down from 230) and his waist at 41-1/2 (down from 46).
November 3, 2023. Went to the dentist on Wednesday; Jim got half of his mouth deep cleaned – lots of stains removed. They did a lot of scans to get fitted for my partial for my missing tooth. It may or may not come in before we head to Houston for Thanksgiving, and if not, I have to pick it up next month.
Also, next month I will have to go back to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked for glasses. So, it sure looks like we will not be heading to Lazy Palms in December. Plus, if we go to Houston for Christmas, I guess we will head down there in January.
I went to my doctor Thursday for the pre-op for my cataract surgery and all was good except that she wants to see my blood work results before she will sign off on the surgery. I called Humana to see if the blood work will be paid for if I go before a year is out and the lady said she did not see anything that precludes me from going before the year. So Jim and I went this morning to get our blood work so it will get to Dr. Lopez way before my scheduled surgery. I will follow up next week to make sure she gets the results and sends the OK to the eye doctor.
November 10, 2023. Jim went to the dentist twice to get his teeth “deep cleaned.” Wow – what a difference! The stains are all gone and his teeth are looking really good. I went to get another mammogram and bone density test. No problems with the mammogram – so this will be my last! The bone density shows I have osteopenia, which I have had for years. Just as long as it doesn’t progress into osteoporosis. I stopped taking calcium as I listened to a naturopath who said our bones are not made of just calcium but a lot of minerals, so I bought some minerals for bone health. Also started doing my weights again.
Jim’s PSA test came back higher than last year’s test, so he will be going to see a new urologist to get a check up. He also has a hernia that he may have to get taken care of. This will all be next month, so we will be back here to Tres Rios for December and then maybe go down to Lazy Palms in January.
November 10, 2023. This morning Jim took the Excursion to Spinks to get an inspection only to find out that the emergency brake is not working. We now have to get it fixed before it will pass inspection. So we are taking it into Christian Brothers on Wednesday morning after my follow-up eye doctor appointment.
November 12, 2023. Had a very nice Veteran’s Day celebration Saturday afternoon. The local American Legion Post 462 Glen Rose Texas came and there were a few of our local veterans who spoke. There was also a lady who came and talked about the history of November 11.
Then in the evening there was another pool tournament. There were five guys who came to participate, along with Jim and Cliff. In the end, Jim won again.
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Friday morning Jim took the Excursion to Spinks to get an inspection only to find out that the emergency brake is not working. We now have to get it fixed before it will pass inspection. So we are taking it into Christian Brothers on Wednesday morning after my follow-up eye doctor appointment.
November 15, 2023. Had my cataract surgery on Tuesday morning. It well quite well as I do not need my glasses to see distance any more. It’s crazy to be able to see so well. I do need glasses to see up close though. I am going back and forth between reading glasses and my prescription glasses. Such as now while I type this, I seem to be able to see better up close with the prescription glasses than I do with the readers. However, when I was reading my Kindle earlier, it was better with the readers.
This morning I had my post-op appointment to check on the progress of my surgery. Dr. Mueller has a new doctor working with her, a Dr. Cox, and she said everything looks good. I did ask the girl who first checked my eyes about doing a glare test on my right eye. My right eye seems to have gotten worse as I see things fuzzy out of it. I did not do well on the glare test and I was also told that there is a cataract in my right eye. I decided to go ahead and schedule cataract surgery on my right eye, which I scheduled for December 12.
As it looks now, I am not sure when or if we will be able to go to Lazy Palms. We may be able to get there the middle of January as we still have doctor appointments in January, and we also need to have someone come and replace our awning.
November 21, 2023. Had another eye exam Monday morning and confirmed cataract surgery on my right eye for December 12. I am not using my glasses anymore as it messes up my left eye and I cannot see. I am doing better without any glasses as I can actually see long distance now and need reading glasses for close up.
Monday we also packed up and drove to Brazos Valley RV Park in Caldwell, our half way point on our way to Houston. Today we will finish up our trip; another grueling drive as we head down 290 into Houston and then Beltway 8 around the southern part of Houston to our final destination at Jetstream RV Park.
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| Jetstream RV Park |
November 26, 2023. Got to Jetstream on Tuesday afternoon and set up before heading over to Josh & Karen’s for dinner. Josh has decided to put in double pocket doors to close in the room to what used to be the kids’ play room because he wants to turn it into his office and move the kids upstairs. He bought lumber and the doors and Jim and he started working on it Saturday.
Jason and Juliella came over on Wednesday for the afternoon. Juliella baked these two pumpkin pies in my oven:
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| Entertaining themselves |
Thanksgiving Day was very nice; Nate and Tammy Dunlap and family came over again, which they have been doing for the last few years. There was a lot of food and we are still eating off of the two pumpkin pies that Juliella made. She and Jason came over on Wednesday to bake and spend time with us. Thursday morning Juliella also made a Cranberry Tart and Onion Dill bread.
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| Jason & Grandpa playing chess |
Jim and Josh have been working on the framing and doors for almost two days now, watching a YouTube video by the company on how to install converging pocket doors. I think it’s a lot more complicated than they thought it would be and it’s a good thing they watched the video more than once to understand what needs to be done. As it goes, measure and measure again before cutting.
November 28, 2023. After spending the last three days installing the framing for the pocket doors, Josh hung one today (upside down) and discovered red dots on the other door. Since he bought them through Wayfair, he had to call them to get replacements. Now he is going to have to wait for them to ship the other doors, which could take up to three weeks. By then Karen’s dad will be down and hopefully he can help Josh finish the job. He also discovered that Wayfair does not sell official Johnson Doors, but a knockoff and uses false advertising by including a link to Johnson on their website. Josh called Johnson and discussed their issue with them and that’s how he found out about the material and instructions.
Since they could not do any more tonight, as Karen had clients and Josh had a neighborhood board meeting to go to, Jim and I did not stay long and decided to go to J. Henry’s for dinner. That was a good idea; our meals were delicious and I even got a free piece of chocolate cake for my birthday.
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| Gooey Chocolate Cake |
November 29, 2023. Well, it’s been another trip around the sun. Today marks 72 years on Earth and God’s grace upon my life. He’s blessed me with a great husband of 44 years, two great children and three grandchildren. I am truly blessed.
This was the card I got:
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| 72 Years Young |
Here is Juliella decorating the cheesecake they bought for my birthday:
Jason wanted to make me a birthday card but got too busy playing and did not get around to it. He was very sad about that and did not want us to see us leave.
December 2, 2023. Left Houston on Thursday during a rain storm. We had lots of rain and mist from vehicles all the way to Caldwell. It was not fun for Jim driving. Friday dawned sunny and with no rain. We had a better drive from Caldwell to Tres Rios on Friday. Our site at Tres Rios had been mowed and weed eating got rid of all the weeds around the sewer and electric hookup. It was an easy set up on dry ground.
Since we made it back in time for the Tres Rios bake-off, I made Peggy Lee's Cranberry Mandarin Orange Bread and it was a hit.
Deborah made her Orange Cake and Laura made an Apple Cake. The three of us won and got onto the Tres Rios Facebook page. Everything was so good, it was hard to decide, so
I decided not to even vote. Jim said he voted for something besides my bread,
so he did not help me win.
December 4, 2023. We had a great get together today in Texas Hall. Lots of card and pool players.
December 7, 2023. On Monday the 4th I went to the dentist to pick up my partial for the tooth that had to be pulled. It’s a tiny thing but looks big in this picture, but it fits good in my mouth. Best of all, insurance paid for the whole thing – not a penny out of my pocket!
Tuesday the 5th had another eye doctor appointment, one to check on the left eye surgery and to finish the paperwork for my next cataract surgery. All is going good and I’ll be heading there on Tuesday to get my right eye done.
Someone did some aerial shots of Tres Rios, and our trailer is in the photo!
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| Back of TR near the Brazos River |
December 11, 2023. Not much going on since last week; this week has lots of things happening – cataract surgery and then a trip to Bennett’s on Thursday so they can install our new awning.
December 14, 2023. My cataract surgery went very well. Dr. Mueller was very pleased with the results. My eye was quite dilated for the whole day, but I still went to play cards. Had my follow up appointment to get my eye checked the next day. Dr. Cox said it all looked good and did not see anything wrong.
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| Right eye done |
Now - no more glasses for seeing long distance. I will, however, need glasses for reading and up close.
Today we took the trailer to Bennett’s to have them install our new awning. It took them longer than usual – three hours total – but it looks OK. There are wrinkles in it, and I don’t remember if the other one had wrinkles in it when it was first installed. They said this new one is not the same size as the old one so the up/down latch is not in the same place, but maybe if I take it in and out a few times, it will settle down. It’s also not even from the bar on both sides; it’s longer on the high side because I cannot get the bungy ties around twice to secure the deflappers. I don’t think we can move it on the roller, so I don’t know how I will even it out.
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| New Awning |
December 17, 2023. Rained all day Friday so nothing was done; I discovered that the front window is leaking again. There was a puddle of water on the front sill and the curtain was wet, so I moved all the stuff off of the sill and now we have to check the front window before the next rain event comes, which looks like next week.
Tres Rios had their annual Christmas luncheon on Saturday. There was a lot of food, but it seemed like the amount of people there was not as big as in years past. We decided to play cards and at 3pm took a short break and took the dogs to the dog park to get pictures with the Grinch and Santa.
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| Lucy with the Grinch and Santa |
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| Maggie Mae with the Grinch |
There was also a Christmas dance Saturday night (16th). There was a DJ and the Palace was set up real nice. There were a few games and we played a few games of corn hole as well.
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| Jim & Gayle |
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| Deborah & Cliff |
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| Marlene & Doug |
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| Jim with Cliff |
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| Kimmie & Sean (photo bombed by Savannah) |
December 21, 2023.
Jim and some others set up a bocce ball court next to the sales office. The
grass there is low and the ground smooth. He had two picnic tables moved over
there. The one day they played they had a good turnout and it looked like
everyone who played had a good time.
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| Jim & Dean |
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| Karen & Chuck |
Jim had an appointment with a new urologist on Monday. We
had to drive to Burleson, an hour drive. But since we had such a bad experience
with the other one, we needed a new opinion. Plus, we decided to switch doctors
and the new doctor recommended this new urologist. I liked this new guy; he was
very amenable and talked about the new method they have of detecting prostate
cancer, that does not include a biopsy through the anus. He has an appointment
to go back next week to take a urine, blood and another test that will give
them the ratio. Jim cannot take any prostate pills, ride his trike, have sex,
or eat pork products at least 4 days before the appointment. All of these
things could affect the prostate results.
We also have another appointment at the end of January to discuss the results. I have going to see if we can do that appointment by telehealth, which would give us the opportunity to go to Lazy Palms.
My next eye doctor appointment is January 10, at which time they will test me for glasses and dilate by eye to make sure all is good. I’m still putting eye drops in my eye for the next 3 weeks.
We had a water leak in the front window and since we could not figure out where it was coming from, we decided to clean the grommets up and paint black Flex Seal all around the window. It turned out really good and looks great. The Flex Seal turns to a rubber compound and sealed up the window. Looking at that, I think I will use the rest of the black Flex Seal under the front part of the trailer.
December 30, 2023.
Starting last Saturday or Sunday, Jim started having trouble with his gut. He
was drinking the Dark Red Blend wine that we bought, and that was on Sunday. He
thought he had a reaction to the sulfates in it. I don’t remember what we had
for dinner on Sunday; but on Monday I made a pot of Texas Chili. Jim had a
little bit but then stopped eating altogether and did not eat anything until
Friday when he started drinking some bone broth. We cannot figure out what is
going on with his gut – did he eat something that brought on a bout of diverticulitis? Did his hernia start acting up and cause a blockage? He was in
a lot of pain the whole week and did not do much of anything. I called the
doctor’s office and Dr. Krone is out of town, and his nurse said that if Jim is
in that much pain he needs to go to the ER and see Dr. Krone’s associate on
call there. He opted not to go and seemed to be getting better.
Thursday the 28th he had an appointment at Texas Urology to give blood and a urine sample. LabCorp took the blood sample and it came back already. His PSA went down a little and it showed that his testosterone was very low. I guess the test from the urine is the one that takes three weeks before we get the results. I did ask them if we can do the end of January appointment by telehealth, and they said they are trying to do away with telehealth appointments and will have to let me know. I guess if they say no, I will send a note via computer telling them that we are going to be in south Texas and will need to do via telehealth.
Friday Jim seemed to be doing much better and even sat outside awhile. Friday night he went to bingo and then thought he would go play some pool with Dale and Cliff. About 9:30 he came home because he pulled a muscle in his lower back with just about crippled him. He is in a lot of pain and can hardly walk. I put some Icy Hot on his back which did not do anything. He needs something stronger. I would suggest he take Ibuprofen but since he has not been eating, I don’t think that would be a good idea.
December 31, 2023. We put the heating pad on his back that night and he slept with the heating pad on. Saturday Jim decided to get out the TENS/EMS unit and put the pads on his back. We got 8 of them on his back and then he put his Copper Fit back brace on. He then decided to head down to Texas Hall and play pool with the guys. He said he had a lot of fun, so I guess his back isn’t hurting that much.
He left it all on overnight and two of the patches came off and the black gunk got on the sheets. That stuff does not come off; I tried alcohol and mineral spirits and neither one worked. The alcohol worked better than the mineral spirits though, so now the bed smells like mineral spirits.
This morning we put fresh pads on his back; one of them is the long one along the bottom part of his back with four new small square pads. Then we wrapped them with the wrap used when you give blood. Had to use 3 of them to get them around his belly. Hope this all helps his back.
Tonight there was a New Years Eve party in the Palace. There
was a DJ and lots of food. There were lots of people and a lot of kids,
screaming and running rampant. We sat in the back with Rod & Susan, plus
Jim sat with Cowboy and talked to him mostly. Jim and Cowboy left at the same
time Rod and Susan left, so I eventually got up and went to sit with Cliff
& Deborah, Marla & Savannah, and some others. I did make it to
midnight, yawning a lot, and when I tried to go to sleep, it did not work very
well and I ended up not sleeping most of the night. Still got up at my normal
6:30am to take Lucy for her morning walk.
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On a side note, I wanted to tell everyone about our daughter Jacklyn and her husband, Sean, and their journey to adopt a baby. I pray every morning that God will bless them with a healthy baby boy.
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| Sean, Jayden, Jacklyn |
Jacklyn and her husband Sean are in the process of adopting a baby. Sean has a daughter from his first marriage, but he and Jacklyn want a child of their own. Some of you may not know, but Jacklyn had ovarian cancer in 2015 and cannot have children, thus their desire to adopt. If you feel in your heart to help them, we would deeply appreciate it. This is what they have put together to tell about their journey:
Many people are just looking to just donate money, which I think is the best thing to do. There are two ways to do this: donate through their Paypal Adoption Fund: babylist.com/list/sean-and-jacklyn-peters or you can DM me personally and get their home address and send a check. We all thank you for your consideration.
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