Winter Trip Update and an Unexpected Challenge

This photo is taken a couple of days after my last post at the end of January (2018).  We are at a private campground, Arizona Oasis, on the Colorado River just a few miles west of Dome Rock BLM. We're there for the Superbowl weekend party and game.  David and I enjoy the party dancing to a few oldies.
The next night, at half-time, he starts complaining of pain in his left forearm where he had knocked it up against the bathroom door latch.
The next morning he is running a fever.  We relocate to the fiberglass rally at Dome Rock and find a walk-in clinic in Quartzsite where he gets antibiotics.   Over the next two days his arm swells (from his wrist to his shoulder) and I become frightened.  
We need to get back to a more populated area where there are great medical resources. 

By Thursday afternoon we are in an emergency room in Scottsdale, AZ where David is admitted to the hospital.  (We picked Scottsdale, a three hour drive, so we can be close to his family that lives there.)

It takes a few days but his arm eventually responds to the excellent medical treatment.  He has an extremely bad case of cellulitis!  The nurses teach me how to care for his wound, cleaning it, applying layers of medicine and gauze and securing it with a sleeve.

After four nights David is released and we decide to stay at his daughter's until he recovers more fully.  I am not a "happy camper" as I am not the RN in my family and have been known to faint, years ago, at the sight of blood!  But, somehow, we manage to get the dressing changed each day.

The weather has turned cold and rainy and we are glad to be warm in the back yard.  Ten days after his hospital discharge we resume traveling and head to the Escapees' North Ranch in Congress, AZ.

We picked North Ranch for two reasons.....I was just so ready to get out of the city and we were able to get full hookups for a long weekend.  We did not do much....the weather was not typical Arizona winter weather...but I did manage to get in a mountain bike ride in the BLM behind the ranch.

Sleet on the Tundra!

One of the colder days!

One of our friends, Jean, is at Gilbert Ray campground next to Tucson and we are ready for warmer weather!  We say bye to central Arizona and go south to join her.

BLM South Entrance of Joshua Tree

Canyon Lake

Gilbert Ray campground is beautiful!  The following day, Oliver trailer friends pull into the site next to us! We are having a mini rally!

It's time to leave Arizona and there's another state park on the way home that we want to see...City of Rocks in New Mexico! Our friends, Jerry and Wanda, posted fun photos of this place prompting us to put it on the must see list.

Very unusual place....this City of Rocks. A volcanic eruption millions of years ago created the city in the middle of a plain.  A full moon rises above the rocks creating a keeper photo!

Sylvester gets a little crazy while walking in the rocks.  He runs from rock to rock exploring every crevice.

New Mexico sunset

Plus there's Faywood Hot Springs just up the road from the state park.  This soaking experience is addicting....can't wait until it's time to return next year!

We spend three nights at City of Rocks leaving on a Sunday morning.  I am having mixed feelings...sad that we are saying goodbye to the West but hopeful for future trips.

That night finds us at Wal Mart in Fort Stockton, Texas and we are not alone!  These are our views from bed the next morning.

 side

 back

side

We hear that all the local rv parks are full....guessing 30 to 40 rigs are Wallydocking.

We have a little time to spare before our reservations start in Alabama for the Green Eggs and Ham rally.  We decide to visit the Canyon Lake in Texas.  Great idea! We stay a couple of nights doing a little walking and a lot of resting.

Using Google Maps, paper maps and the Garmin we find a way around Houston staying on 290 and 105.  It is a long day..much out of our way but no white knuckles.  Most of the route is very rural.  Another night at Wal Mart at Beaumont and we are on our way again and almost through Texas!

Another stop in Mississippi at the Welcome Center gives us information on local beaches fifteen miles away! We have not seen the gulf from Mississippi and the beach is calling my name.  We find a site at Buccaneer State Park near Waveland and Bay St Louis. The campground is big and the ocean is nearby!

(Full disclosure....I enhanced the beach photos using the app Snapseed.  The sand was not very white.)

It's getting late and this post must come to an end soon.  I'm going to close with photos from the Green Eggs and Ham Rally.  An event we have attended for many years...one we really enjoy!

We are now home in Chattanooga and gradually adjusting to living in a house.  We have a short trip coming up in a couple of weeks...over to our beloved Smoky Mountains.  After that, no real plans other than be gone in the summer.  XXX

Nine Nights of Pull-Throughs

The weather forecast is for a deep freeze to settle over the nation.  We are ready to go, so ready to get on the road and head for Arizona!  Do we wait for the freeze to pass and take the chance on more snow and ice after the freeze?  No, of course not!  We hit the road, hoping for the best. The weather is fine that Saturday, the day before New Years Eve and we make it from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Meridian, Mississippi.
By bedtime the internet is full of cautions for tomorrow morning…icy streets, hazardous driving conditions.  I am thinking we will not be going anywhere!
But we do.  It is almost 11AM before the road seems safe and we get another 200 miles to Fontainebleau State Park in Louisiana.
It’s New Years’ Eve.  The wind is howling. The forecast is 24 degrees! We pay 2 bucks extra for a pull through and do not exit the trailer till morning.
Our destination for January 1 is Beaumont, Texas, Gulf Coast RV Park, another Passport America campground that has a great free breakfast!  It being a holiday, the office is closed but there are instructions guiding us to a vacant site.  It’s a repeat.  Another 24 degree night where we hole up to keep warm. We cover the Fantastic Fan’s screen with aluminum foil and stuff plastic grocery sacks in the weatherstripping around the door.

Sylvester staying warm.
Forgot to mention that the trailer is winterized. We are making do with a few gallons of fresh water in jugs and keeping antifreeze in the drains.

At Gulf Coast RV
We hit Houston just before 10:30 am and it is less of a problem than usual. We are shooting for Boerne, Texas where we usually boondock at a visitor’s center….but not tonight!
Top of the Hill, another PA park, is 10 miles past Boerne. For $22.50 we are escorted up the hill and have the run of a nice clubhouse with a large screen TV. I consider showering and decide it is too cold!  It will be 20 degrees in town tonight and colder at this elevation. The wind is brutal! We are not having fun!  But we are eating good due to the mini Instant Pot.  Our freezer is full of meatloaf, mexican casserole, ham and chicken.

The next day in a small western town we encounter Jerry and Wanda of Egg Rollings at a gas station.  They are heading for the same RV park in Fort Stockton.  It is great to see them!  That night we enjoy a great dinner together at the Roadrunner Cafe. 

Another pull through at Fort Stockton RV.
We are members of the Escapees RV club and so are Jerry and Wanda, so it was only natural that we were again going to the same campground, DreamCatchers RV Park in Deming, New Mexico.
From Deming we always go straight into Arizona…normally as fast as possible.  This year we decide to take a look around the area and go south down to Pancho Villa State Park.
There’s a museum at the park that explains the history of Columbus, NM being invaded by Mexico in 1916.  Enjoyed our time there but we were ready to leave the next day, skipping the almost mandatory trip to the Pink Store across the border in Mexico.

Pancho Villa SP, $14 a night with electric and water.

As we drive the last stretch into Arizona, it is finally warm, in the 70’s!
We stop for lunch at a I-10 rest area in western New Mexico and pull in behind another Escape….which looks real familiar.  I go up to check it out and, yes, it’s our old friends, Duke and Beverlee from Texas!  We exchange hugs and promises to visit in a few weeks at Quartzsite.
Saturday night, day 8 on the road, we stay at the SKP park in Benson, AZ.  Great place!  We stayed here for 7 nights January 2017.
This time we boondock….$5.58 for members!We are planning to spend another night when I manage to reserve three nights McDowell Mountain Regional Park, close to Fountain Hills, AZ.  We hear that it is really nice…..I’m excited!
We leave Benson with a plan to stay at the Escapees park in Casa Grande but for some reason it just does not feel right. We pull off a side road and call Usery Regional Park where we land on night 9.  Another pull-through and after 2100 miles we still have not unhitched the trailer.
But that status changed two nights ago when we set up camp at McDowell. 
For two and half days we rest. I ride the bike, read, walk and write.  And sit gazing at the mountains….my favorite thing.
Will close with photos from Usery and McDowell.

Usery


McDowell

Ready, Set, Go!

Kentucky Lake at Land Between the Lakes Rally

It is way past time to get this blog updated!  Where did this year go? And these past three months have flown by.

Three months in a nutshell....two fiberglass rallies and one hip replacement.

By mid September it became increasingly obvious that David's left hip was not going to last until March, 2018. We call the hip surgeon and set the process in motion, hoping that it will all work out time wise and not interfere with the winter desert trip.

We have reservations for the Land Between the Lakes rally in early October.  Arriving a few days late due to doctor appointments, we find old friends already there.

We take a break from socializing and go paddling!

We are camping in a different loop and it feels like a new rally.  Managed to get a few nice sunset shots.

We spend time with old friends, make some new friends and just enjoy life.

.......A brief interruption here...I am working with Blogger and Google Photos.  Just experimenting, trying to make blogging easier.

We get back home, wash clothes and head for another rally at Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park.

Now this bunch knows how to party!

(Anticipating some protest, I deleted the karaoke video!)

By mid-October the surgery date is set for 11/6/2017 and we need to get the Escape ready for winter before the operation.  As the trailer lives in storage, we decide to camp at our local county park, Chester Frost, to perform the clean up.

After 4 days of washing, polishing, adding gutters, and winterizing, we are exhausted and ready to go home.

This is the best these two senior citizens can do.  Think we will hire professionals the next time!

Two weeks later we are at the hospital and David's getting another hip replacement.  Definitely a scary procedure for an eighty year old but it is a successful operation.

David is working hard to rehab the hip and doing a great job of it!

Checking up on our neighbors' new house

This brings the blog up to present time where we are counting down to the winter journey.  This will be our 6th year to winter in Arizona! Looking forward to being back in the desert and also to seeing friends.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Normally each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I get depressed.  Nothing major, just mild sadness possibly attributed to seasonal affective disorder.  But not this year!  Maybe it's because we have been so incredibly busy but I want to think that the different state of mind is due to internal changes.

This has been the most difficult year.  I have experienced the whole spectrum of feelings from sadness and isolation one year ago to rage, fear and hopelessness.  I have been astonished by a few friends and fretted over their behavior.  Yes, I am talking politics.

But through this pain and darkness there have been gifts.....for I am a better person than I was 

a year ago...a stronger person more willing to say what I need to say and a more forgiving person. Forgiving myself when I react negatively and forgiving others when they are unkind.

I am loving more, including those who want to label me.  And I have hope.

Wishing that everyone finds love, peace and happiness under their Christmas tree this year.