Whew!!!

Well, we drove home without any incident and went to the doc on the following Monday. Our doc was concerned but not overly so. When asked why the Phoenix docs made it sound as if he might not even make it home, he shrugged and thought that they were just being overly cautious. He scheduled a nuclear stress test for Bob and carefully explained what it would show and what he was looking for. (He is so good at that.) The doc told us that he would call immediately if there was something critical, otherwise it would be a few days. Bob went for the test last Thursday. (I wound up home with a cold and a temperature.) We kept waiting for the phone to ring. When it did not ring we tried to tell ourselves that it was good news, but it is hard to keep waiting like that. While we waited we talked about how frightened we were about me trying to hook up the trailer and drive it home if Bob was too sick to do so. We both agreed that we would feel safer if we had a class C motorhome (one built on a truck chassis). Then if something happened I would not have to deal with trailer hook up stuff - which I could do if all went well, but could not do if there were any problems. So we started researching Class Cs. We looked for used ones because new ones are SO expensive. We drove around to many of the dealers and got a feel for what was out there. We had hoped to have a shorter one that would fit into the driveway, but none of the floor plans had any kitchen counter space - my one big criteria was enough room to put up the dishpan - that's all - it didn't seem like much, but we could not find it. So we started looking at bigger ones. They were more expensive, but we decided that this would be the last RV we bought so we needed to get what we wanted. We found one online that we really liked and called to make sure that it was still available and were told that it was out for the weekend on "demo." that didn't sound good. It was either a rental or it was close to being sold. finally we found one that was a really good price. We went to look yesterday and it was in really good shape with very low mileage and everything we needed - counter space, above the cab bunk for the grandson, double sink, oven. And this one has a walk around bed so that I don't have to crawl on the bed to change the sheets or make it. (I got pretty good at it, but it was still hard to do.) So we traded in the trailer and the pickup for the class C. We decided that we really do not need to have two cars - it is so rare that we both need to go somewhere at the same time. We can get a tow bar to pull my car when we go for long trips. So today I spent the morning pulling stuff out of the trailer. While I was doing that the phone rang. . . . and it was Bob's doc. The doc said that the test was a very good picture and it shows nothing wrong with the heart. That's right NOTHING WRONG. The doc had no explanation for why the EKG had changed. He said that there was no evidence of a heart attack or of any ischemia. I asked if it could have been the stress from being so dehydrated. He thought it was possible. I asked what happened next and he said that we could redo his EKG at some point in the future and see if it reverted back, but other than that, nothing. He said that Bob could stop taking the beta blockers and not worry about it. I couldn't stop grinning. I was so relieved. So now we get back to our lives.

Much better

We are both much much better today. The symptoms have subsided. We have talked to our Doc in Portland (actually his nurse, but close enough) and faxed him the results. Bob has an appointment on Monday. we will leave here on Thursday morning and take our time going home. But Bob felt good enough to actually go to the pool and take a swim. It was delightful.

The adventures keep coming

Well I just reread my last post and was surprised at how positive it sounded. Bob was not better. He was continuing downhill. He could not keep any liquids down and was vomiting and had diarrhea. We finally called the advice nurse from our insurance company and she was very clear that I should take him to the hospital to get rehydrated. So at 7 pm we left for the hospital. Luckily there is one less than 3 miles away. The RV place was very good about giving us printed directions to things, including the hospital. There was a long wait in the ER waiting area. Bob looked like he was getting weaker and weaker. when they finally took us in they moved pretty fast and began rehydrating him, giving him antibiotics, taking EKGs, blood work, CT scans. They were even worried about the wound on his foot from walking on a pebble. At about 11 pm they told him that they wanted him to stay overnight. They htoiught he might have pneumonia. By 1 pm he was in a room. Although they would have allowed me to stay the night, I decided to go home because I was not feeling well. I did not sleep well that night and got up with a pretty good headache. I got back to the hospital. by this time the doctor had come in to see Bob and told him that it was not pneumonia, it was just the old scar from his surgery. But then another doctor came in and told him that they were worried about his heart. While I was there he had diarrhea several times and the last one was black, i.e., bloody. So we told the nurse and she ordered occult blood test for the stool. Guess what, it came back positive. By now I was feeling pretty bad. So I went home, got in bed, and immediately started getting nauseous. After I had a pretty violent vomiting epid=sode I wanted to make sure that Is tayed hydrated. So I stayed in the air conditioned trailer all day and kept drinking as much as I could. At about 5 pm Bob called and said that they wanted him to stay another night because of the bloody stool and the heart issues. By 8 pm I was feeling better. I got a pretty good night's sleep and got the hospital at about 7 am. (I wanted to be there when the docs came in.) I asked Bob a lot of questions about what the docs had said. He didn't know the answers and told me that he was confused by it all. I told the nurse that Bob was confused and she came in and repeated what the docs had said. They were asking a cardiologist and a GI specialist to do a consult. Bob was feeling pretty poorly and they were still giving him saline by IV so it seemed good that he was still there. His appetite was still pretty bad. Finally the cardio doc came and shoed us the EKGs. They were clearly irregular and we had no idea if that was normal for Bob. She wanted to do further tests. We said okay to a stress test, but they wanted to do somehting more invasive. We talked about it a long time and even called Stef. We decided that if we were going to get that kind of test we wanted it in Portland where our records were. The GI doc wouldn't do anything until the heart issue was resolved. So at about 3 pm, the hospitalist doc came in and gave us all of his records and released him. When I saw the records I understood why they wanted to hospitalize him. He was seriously dehydrated and there were lots of other issues. But he was finally released at about 5 pm. I went and got his prescriptions filled and we tried tos ettle down. Neither of us was feeling very good, but it was better to be home. But we both woke uyp this morning feeling much better. We had a good night's sleep and we both ate a good breakfast. We are going to stay where we are for a few days and then decide what to do next - probably drive home.

Be careful what you wish for

Well, we did want it warmer, but not quite so warm. According to the Weather Stations thermometer it was 105 in the shae this afternoon. Now it is down to 98 (with an 8% humidity). I have always been very hesitant about using air conditioning. I don't like the sound and then I never get used to the warmth. But today I had another reason, besides the heat, to turn on the AC. Last night Bob was sick all night. He vomited at least 6 times. Then in the morning it did not get better. I went for a one hour walk and he told me that he did it three more times. I finally went to WalMart and got some meds, some ginger ale, and some saltines. I don't know what worked, maybe just time, but he was better by about noon. He thought he had a fever so I gave him some DayQuil. I then went to the pool and sat in the sun and in the pool for about 2 hours. I figured that was enough for this white skinned lady. When I came back Bob told me that he had had an accident in his jammies and had put them in the hamper in the bathroom. Well this is a very tiny bathroom and when I stuck my head in, it stunk. I turned on the fan and put in a smelly candle, but it did not help. So in this heat, I trudged over to the laundry and did all our laundry. (It was time anyway, but I was hoping for cooler weather.) The good news is that our AC is really working well and that is helping Bob. He is feeling better. Tomorrow is another day.

We gave up

It has been a busy week. A week ago we were in Butterfield and the weather did not get any better. It kept raining and it was always windy. We spent NO time outside. If I wanted to be inside I could have stayed in Portland. Then to top it off, the propane tank for the campground shower broke and the bathroom was closed. The workers did not seem to be in a very big hurry to fix the problem. Needless to say, I was not happy.

Thursday night we went out for dinner with the young couple who were camped next to us. we had a wonderful dinner and a great evening. After we got back to camp we went into their HUGE class A rig and talked and drank for a while until we were so tired that we were not making sense. It is a big rig, and there was more room in the middle, but I don't think a lot more sotrage space. Anyway, it was nice to have some time to talk.

Friday morning we left early for Phoenix. We had remembered tat there were a lot of RV parks in Yuma so we stopped at about a dozen of them to see if we should move there. I had done some research in advance, but we were not impressed with any of the parks. They were for OLD people. They were expensive and crowded and had lots of "activities." The season is almost over and so most of the folks were starting to leave. It did not look in the least bit interesting.

We did find a nice park just north of Phoenix which is very clean and well maintained. The sites are a nice size and the people are incredibly friendly. There are no "activities." Just a pool, an exercise room, and a reading room(all of which are open until 10 pm). It was not very expensive, but it was, of course, more money than we had planned because we thought that we had paid for the month. (no refunds at Butterfield). We had a wonderful weekend with Ira and Cathie. I met my great great niece and my great great nephew. So cute. We went to a spring training game for the Mariners and really enjoyed that. I had a good time just talking to Ira and Cathie - who were great hosts.

On the way home we stopped at two more RV parks and neither of them was great. So we considered just staying at Butterfield. But when we got back to Butterfield it was VERY windy. It turns out that it was very windy the entire weekend. That did it. Bob and I decided that we would either go home or go to Phoenix. We decided on Phoenix.

It really did not take much time to pack up the trailer. All those months on the trek make it very habitual. We left early yesterday - in the midst of a lot of wind. We got here in Phoenix and set up in very short order. It is warm here and there is a slight breeze. We had dinner outside on the picnic table. We had breakfast outside on the picnic table. Bob was able to go ona pretty good walk because there was so little wind and it was flat. Then we got the scooters down and took them to the local Lowe's to buy stuff to repair a hole I made in the trailer. We stopped for lunch. The trip on the scooters was so much fun. We just went around for a while. then I saw a Super Cuts. It has been too many weeks since my hair was cut. So I stopped in and got it cut. So cheap and it looks fine. I figured that even if it was a bad cut it would grow out soon enough, but I couldn't take the overgrown look of my hair any longer.

We are now just sitting around. Bob has fixed the trailer - it took no time. It is 93 degrees outside with 12 % humidity and a slight breeze. We may have to come back here for a longer stay next year

The pictures above are of the new campsite and the one cactus that was everywhere at Butterfield - the ocotillo.

Yeah. Bob finally feels as if we are on vacation.

An adventure - if you think of it that way.

Sunday morning here was nice but chilly. I went for a long walk with the group from here and we went into a small mine. Lovely. As the day wore on it got windier and windier. It got more and more cloudy. I knew this was the desert but I smelled rain. We were going to go into town to buy groceries but the wind was blowing so hard that Bob did not want to leave the trailer. (I asked him what might happen and he was not sure. Nor was he sure what he could do if he were here when it happened. He just did not want to leave.) the winds were averaging 25 mph with gusts up to 40 or 50. The trailer was rocking back and forth.

I brought inside everything that could be harmed if it got wet - thinking all the time This is the Desert!!! At about 4 pm it started to rain. then it started to pur. Neither of us could concentrate on reading so we played cribbage. then we played Scrabble. Then we watched a good Clint Eastwood movie. The wind was blowing really hard and the rain was coming down in torrents. We usually go to be at about 9:30. But we were too nervous to sleep. finally it started calming down a little by 11. We got in bed and were really rocked to sleep. we got up in the morning and, the only thing that was ruined was our dining tent (yes, the brand new one that we bought earlier this week). We knew it was happening, but it was blowing too hard for us to go out and take it down. Bob thinks that maybe he can fix it. Maybe.

It was cloudy and rainy all day yesterday. We did drive into town and had a nice Thai lunch and got groceries. It was too cold to do anything outside (and this coming from two Oregonians - what wimps). We did inside things again. This morning it was cold when I got up - 39 degrees. I did not want to walk and did not want to do my exercises behind the trailer. so I went into the visitor lounge and did them here. People kept coming in and staring. But I got them done.

As I sit here typing the sun is out. There are some cottony clouds over the mountains, but none overhead. Maybe it will be a nice warm day. Yeah.

We are finding things to do

It is amazing how you can find things to do everywhere. We were getting tired of the wind so on Thursday we drove above 50 miles to a casino. We had no luck, but had fun. We also had a good steak dinner for very little money. It was a nice evening.

Then I found out that there are weekly hikes leaving from here, so I was ready bright and early Saturday morning. It was a great hike. It took about 3 hours. We walked up to a house built out of local stones. On the way we saw amazing wildflowers. They are blooming very early this year because of the amount of rain. They had 12 inches of rain this winter and they usually get less than 3 inches. We also found many artifacts from early homesteaders in this area. Apparently there used to be a lot more water here, but in about 1955 there was an earthquake and it really changed the aquefer. But we saw foundations, water troughs, wagon frames, and even a house made out of stone that was built by the miners who worked the mines. We saw a spring that was still running. Near the spring our guide (Barbara who is VERY knowledgeable about the area) found what she thought was a hiding area for illegals. You could see where they slept and where they had a very small fire.

Barbara agreed to take a couple of us on Sunday for a walk to the mines. There was a young couple who were on the walk with me - Ed and Ashley. Ashely takes tours of youth groups to Israel. I was reading a book about Israel in 1945 and brought her the book later that afternoon when I finished it. while I was talking to them Ed said that he wanted to learn to play cribbage. So they came to our trailer with a bottle of rum. we played cribbage and they joined us for dinner - Bob had made some really yummy clam chowder.

then last night was the full moon. this was apparently the closest the moon has come to the earth in 18 years. So there was a campfire to watch the moonrise and then a lovely short meditative walk under the moonlight. There was also a group of Hindus here who were celebrating the full moon. They had dancing etc to celebrate. It was a busy night.

This morning we met at 9 am for another walk to the mines. It was again beautiful. The wildflowers were even bigger. We walked cross country rather than on a path. We got to the mine and went in. It was small and obviously dug by hand. Lots of various minerals here underneath the ground. All of the walking feels very good. Barbara says that she will take me on another walk later this week.

Meanwhile it is cloudy, cool and windy here. So I think we will take the opportunity to go to the store and get some groceries. Then if it is nice tomorrow, we will be able to enjoy the warmth.

The wind

the sun has been pretty bright here, so Bob and I decided to put up the dining tent to get more shade. during the night the wind as strong enough that we got out of bed to put down the awning on the trailer - it was shaking the whole trailer. When we got up we looked over at the dining tent and it was demmolished. Bob was really angry at himself for not tying down all four legs - he only tied down two of them. So we drove into Ramona and bought a new one. then we tied it down real good. Before we went to bed we lowered it to get it out of the worst of the wind. And guess what? No wind last night. But it was nice to have the awning this morning. Yeah.

This is our home for March

Another nice day, but a little windy and muggy. We thought about going to the hot springs, but decided to do chores like laundry and cleaning the trailer. It is very quiet today with the weekenders gone. We had to pull up the awning because of the wind. Now it is a bit cloudy, but it is blowing over. Anyway, here we are.

A day of travel

The campground was a little busier over the weekend, with lots of kids and families. By yesterday morning they were starting to pull out. Bob and I decided to go on a small trip. We drove to the small town of Borrego Springs. Our campground hostess told us that there was a great mexican restaurant there. So I put that info in my gps and we started looking. There were two mexican restaurants. We went to the first and it was just a hole in the wall - looked like take out. So I plugged in the second one. We followed the directions very carefully and wound up in a very fancy looking and expensive looking golf resort. We kept following the directions. We kept going around in circles. I couldn't turn off the gps because we could figure out how to get out. I finally plugged in the name of another town and the gps led us out. Whew! so we decided to just drive and look. We found the other one, plus a coupld of steak houses. We went to the second one. It was not that great at all. Bob and I still maintain that the best Mexican food that we have ever had was in Silver City New Mexico. Yum.

We did a little touristing and then took off. We had heard about another campground called Fountain of Youth and both of wanted to go see it. We found it easily on the other side of the Salton Sea. The spaces were very small and not very scenic. But the place was very well kept with lots of amenities and LOTS of activities. It reminded me of the activities on a cruise ship - going on all the time. It was not a lot more expensive than what we are paying here. It would have on site wifi, instead of having to go to the visitor lounge - and I bet they don't close their visitor lounge at 6 pm. It also has cell phone reception. The downside is that it is pretty hilly and that there would not be a good 4 or 5 mile walk for me. Or a one miler for Bob. We will think about it for next year.

By the time we got back to Butterfield, the place was almost empty. I had forgotten about daylight savings time and had to plead with the owner not to closse the visitor lounge so that I could check my email. But he agreed and I was able to do so.

This morning started cloudy so it will be cooler. I am using this opportunity to do laundry and maybe clean the trailer a bit. Tomorrow we will probably go to Agua Cliente and spend some time in the spa. Ahhhhh!

We are into a routine.

The weather here is getting better every day. It is in the mid 80's during the day and in the 50's at night. I have been doing my exercises every morning - either a DVD or a one hour walk. the walk that I found has a steep downhill at the 1.5 mile mark. I get to the bottom and turn around and walk back up. It is quite a workoout and I feel really good when i do it. I do my DVD with my laptop on a small table, set up in the shade of the trailer (because it is already too hot by 7 am if I am in the sun.

The placer is OK, but they have not done real maintenance in many many years so it is getting run down. There is only one shower for our area, but it is a nice one, so that is not a problem except on weekends when there are more people here.

We are not doing much. We have found a good one mile walk around the perimeter of the place. It is pretty flat. For the last two days Bob has walked the loop twice a day. It seems to help me. He is much less congested here and is very happy that he is able to breathe better.

We took out the scooters one day and went about 10 miles. But it was really windy and a little tough. We decided to wait until the winds die down before we try it again. Today we are going to Borrego Springs (about 40 miles away) to check out the "historic town" and have lunch at what is purported to be a very good Mexican restaurant.

Nice to be so relaxed. I did not even realize that today was the first day of daylight savings time. We have a thermometer and clock that is automatic and readjusted itself this morning. Bob accused the clock of being wrong. Then we looked at the calendar and realized that it was right. So we reset all the other clocks.

We have heard about the earthquake and the tsunami in Japan. It is just terrrible and I have been coming to the visitor lounge here several times a day. They have CNN on 24/7 so I do get updates. It is very frightening. Wow.

Getting settled

We got to Butterfield on Tuesday. We stopped on the way in Julian for a yummy lunch. We were here by noon. It was still a little chilly, but the sun was shining brightly. The manager (Barbara Jean) told us that they had had gale force winds the night before, but that the bad weather was supposed to be over. They had snow here just two weeks ago. I think that we timed this well.

Bob was surprised to learn that the altitutde here is over 2000 feet, so he is having a little trouble breathing, but it is not bad. We are doing things slowly. It took us a while to set up the trailer. We had our choice of over 100 spots. I asked why it was so empty and was told that it gets more full later in the month and on weekends. OK. So we tried one spot and noticed that it did not have a fire ring. So we wanted to try another. I asked Barbara Jean and she said that the other one had electrical problems. So we tried a third and it is great.

Since this was Tuesday, I wanted to watch the Biggest Loser. (Stefee has gotten me hooked on that show.) There is a TV in the Visitor Lounge, but they close the lounge at 6 pm. Barbara Jean said that if I got there before 6, she would show me how to lock up. She is great. So I got to watch the show. Walking back to the trailer in pitch black darkness with a tiny flashlight was a little difficult, but I finally found it.

I got up yesterday and walked about four miles. I didn't realize that I chose the downhill direction. That meant uphill all the way back. When I walk again I will try the other direction. It was nice getting some walking in.

We set up the scooters, filled their tires with air (Bob has a portable everything), and everything looked done. I was going to use the free wifi. Bob gets too impatient with the slow wifi so he wanted to try our Verizon. We got in the truck and then drove about 10 miles down the road where there was cell phone coverage. We tried our Verizon broadband. It didn't work. So I called Verizon. The first young man (sounds ominous already doesn't it) told me that it wasn't connected. I was frustrated because we had made sure to get it connected a week ago. He kept me on hold for a while and then told me that it was complicated and he was transfering me to a specialist. The next young man identified himself as being in sales and told me that he had to run a credit check. At that point I lost it. Here we were sitting in the middle of the desert and I was having to deal with such incompetence. When I told my story again, he said that he would check. Then he said that he would hook it up and it would be ready in 15 minutes. He gave me his direct number in case it did not work. We waited 15 minutes. It did not work. I tried the direct number and it needed an extension which I did not have. So I tried again and got a third person. She was finally able to fix the problem. URGHH!!! It turns out that they had given me a new phone number because of the length of time that we had closed the service. She just needed to walk me through to change thge number. Now i know for the future.

We got some bills paid and came back to the trailer. I sat out in the sun to read my book and got quite a little sunburn. No sun for me today. I was so tired that I was in bed fast asleep by 8 pm and slept until 5 am this morning.

It had been getting pretty cold at night here - like in the low 40's. But not last night. When we got up it was 50 degrees. NICE. Barbara Jean had put a DVD player in the lounge for me so that I could do my exercise dvds. But I forgot that the lounge is locked. It doesn't open until 9 am. So I set up my laptop outside and did 45 minutes of power sculpting outside in the shade. Also NICE. Barbara Jean says she will meet me to open the lounge at 7 am. I will walk tomorrow but meet her on Saturday. She is really nice.

I don't know what we will do for the rest of the day. Bob was not feeling great this morning. If he feels better we may try riding the scooters or biking. Not sure. But we are enjoying the sun.

Getting ready to hit the road again

In four days we will hit the road again. We are taking Honey to the southern California desert. this time we will go to one place and stay put for the month. Then come home. It will be very different from the great trek. Neither of us know if we will like it. This would not be the year to do another trek like the last one. It snowed in Tucson Arizona this week!

We will be staying at an RV resort that does not have cell phone service, but it does have free wifi. We may have to drive a few miles to call and say hi to family. We are taking the scooters and the bicycles and plan to do a lot of sightseeing around the area. But mostly we are looking forward to warm and dry. (Bob has had a congested chest for several weeks now and that is no fun.

We are planning on driving straight down on I-5 and turning left just at LA. The only issue will be the weather going over the pass (Siskyou summit south of Ashland). We thought about trying a different route (eastern Oregon and eastern California), but once we realized that this would be the rainiest and snowiest March in a long time, we opted for the interstate. It will be quicker and safer. (Just heard about two more families that were stranded for days in the snow. Don't want that to be us.)

Gas is going to be very expensive but I guess we will pay what we have to pay.

We are now busy packing up the trailer and trying to get everything ready. It is amazing to me how much I keep saying - oh don't forget that. We were so organized on the trek and it seemed so easy. Now we have to recreate it and I have already forgotten what we did before. It will work out and we can buy whatever we forget -except for our meds and I already have those in the trailer.


Yeah!!!!

Home with new eyes.

I did not think that I would continue blogging after our return from the trek, but the trek has changed me. When I drive through Oregon I now look at it with different eyes and am just awed by the beauty of the mountains around here. Last weekend Bob and I went up to our favorite camping spot. It has a great view of the Clackamas river valley and of Mt. Jeffereson. We had two days to ourselves and then daughter, grandson and two friends arrived. While it was just the two of us I sat there and almost had tears in my eyes looking over the beauty. It was awesome in every sense of that word. I must be thankful for the trek to have given me those new eyes. Bob and I sat at the cliff edge and just watched the sky and the clouds as it got closer and closer to sunset. I will not say that we watched the sunset because we were looking southeast, but it was that time. We watched the clouds move in, dissolve, and move in again. We watched the mountain turn pink as the sun actually set. We said goodbye to our favorite spot because the altitude is so high that it is difficult for Bob to breathe. He is able to manage, but not really much energy. It takes him almost a week to recover from the lack of oxygen. So we have decided that this is the last time.

Then when everyone arrived I did not really have much time to look at the scenery. Grandson is truly a handful and is very active and into everything. We gave him a small broom and he spent many hours sweeping the dirt. I love him so much.

We were very thankful to have the larger trailer for this trip because it got pretty cold at night. Daughter could come into the trailer in the morning and have coffee, heat a bottle for the boyo, and we could let him run around inside until it warmed up. we even had enough room inside for everyone to have breakfast in the warmth. (It went down to below 40 so it was pretty cold.) It warmed up later in the day, the Honey was very nice in the morning.

Honey is now at the dealership getting some very critical repairs made. She will be there for a while and that is fine. We are not planning on going anywhere for several months.

We are home!

What an amazing journey. It ended with a little difficulty. We left Pendleton and planned to be home at about noon. We were driving along and listening to the final two discs of our story. We were less than 100 miles from home. (I had passed a car with a flat tire and thought how lucky we had been not to have any problems along the way. As soon as I thought it I wondered if thinking it would jinx us as it does when I say it. I didn't say it, but too late.)

Suddenly Bob rolled down his window as a car was passing us. I could see a hand out of the passenger window as the car with trailer cruised by. I asked Bob who it was. He said that they had indicated some sort of problem. We wanted to pull over and look, but this was part of I-84 where we were right next to the Columbia River, the roads were very windy and there was almost no shoulder. Bob finally found a very short spot with a wide enough shouder and we pulled off. At first we did not see anything wrong. Then we saw that one of the passenger side tires on the trailer was gone. It was not just flat, the entire tire was gone. We were riding on the rim.

We got into the pickup and started looking for the emergency phone number fom our insurance. We reached them and they indicated that our emergency coverage had lapsed over ten years ago. This was crazy because we did not even have insurance with this company ten years ago. But they were willing to send someone out if we paid almost $200. There we were on the freeway with cars whizzing by and causing the pickup and the trailer to shake every single time. The wind was very strong and it was scary to even get out of the pickup. I didn't have much choice so I gave her the credit card number and figured we would fight it out with the insurance company when we were home and safe.

It took about an hour for the tow truck to get there. The guy was wonderful. He knew just what to do. He didn't use a jack but rather boards and had Bob pull the other trailer wheel onto the board and that lifted the trailer enough for him to take off the wheel and replace it with the spare. He also found out what had caused the problem. There was a small piece of metal that was hanging behind and between the two tires. It had scored the other tire and had obviously scored the missing one so much that it just disintegrated. Thank heaven the other car warned us and we were able to stop safely. It could have been a disaster.

We started up again with all tires working. It is amazing how vulnerable we both felt after this. But by now, we were both hungry. We stopped at a wonderful restaurant in The Dalles. (It was obvious that the woman on the emergency phone was not from Oregon. When I told her that we were near The Dalles I had to repeat it about five times and finally spell it out including the space. I love Oregon.) We were able to collect ourselves and Bob was already planning his speech to the manufacturer about this being caused by a manufacturing defect.

It took another 1 1/2 hours to get home. I must say that we did not see any place in the entire five months that was more beautiful than the Columbia Gorge. We both kept seeing things that we had never noticed before along the way. What a wonderful way to end the trip!!

We have pulled Honey into the drive and I have started emptying it and doing laundry. I am having a hard time remembering where things are in my own house. I am sure that it will not take long to get back into the swing.

So here is what I will take away from the trek.

1. The USA is beautiful and there are so many more places to go and see that we did not have a chance to visit, even on a five month trip.
2. There is no place like home for me. There was no place that I would rather live than here in Portland Oregon. It has the right weather, the right scenery, the right pace of life, etc.
3. I missed my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson more than I thought I would.
4. It takes a lot of work for two people to be together 24/7. I am amazed that we are still talking to each other.
5. My favorite places were, Kartchner Caverns, Galveston Beach, Henderson Beach Florida, St. Augustine, Washington DC, Hershey Pennsylvania, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Mt. Rushmore, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia Gorge.
6. Bob's favorites were, Kartchner Caverns, City of Rocks in New Mexico, Fredericksburg Texas, Henderson Beach, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Cape Cod, Maumee Bay Ohio, and Mt. Rushmore.
7. Neither one of us has any desire to do such a long trip again, but we will do shorter ones.

Thanks to everyone who read this and let me know that they liked it. It has been a joy.

We are in Oregon!!!

I have been so tired the last few nights that I have not downloaded my pictures to include in my blog. Tonight I finally did it. I am including one picture from the KOA campground. You can see our site and also how crowded the campground was. I love the picture as we were leaving Mt. Rushmore of the profile of George Washington - different than you usually see. The last two pictures were from Yellowstone - one showing the yellow stone from the geyser. The other showing the devastation from the beetle that is killing the trees. So sad.

Last night after I finished blogging and was talking to my daughter on the phone, Bob was having trouble getting comfortable. He stretched and hit the picture of our grandson. It fell over and came apart and scattered. I got off the phone and started helping Bob look for the pieces. We couldn't find them all. We actually had to go into the storage compartment under the sofa because some pieces fell through the hole and were down there. The picture frame was demolished. Good thing that we were parked outside a Walmart. When Bob announced that he would not be able to fix it, I just grabbed my purse and marched into Walmart and bought another one. Yeah.

We had another long driving day today. We are now in Pendleton Oregon. We cheered as we crossed the border. We then filled our gas tank and Bob started to get out and I had to remind him that he just had to roll down his window and say "fill er up." We cheered again. We got some lunch and there was no sales tax. We cheered once again. Good to be home.

As we drove from Ontario to Pendleton I viewed the scenery through new eyes. Oregon is amazingly beautiful and I have not appreciated it in the past. At first it was barren land - no water but no trash. This must just be grazing land. But it was starkly beautiful and thought provoking in appreciating the difficulties of the pioneers. I don't have the right words to describe it well and pictures do not capture it.

Then it got greener. There was still very little trash and there was a lot of obvious pride of ownership. The properties were neat and well tended.

I had completely forgotten how beautiful the drive down the mountain and into Pendleton is. (I did have my eyes closed for part of it. I trust Bob's driving, but some of it is so scary and feels as if you are careening down the hill out of control and ready to plow into that semi doing about 20 miles an hour.)

We are camped at the Wildhorse Casino campground. There is a powwow going on here that we will stop and see tomorrow - too tired tonight. (I had a little scare. We went into the casino for a little gambling and then dinner. I went to pull out my wallet to pay and the wallet was not there. I get so scared when that happens. I hightailed it back to the trailer which was about half a mile and left Bob in my wake because I was so nervous. There it was sitting on the table in the trailer.) We plan to stay here tonight and one more night and then head for Portland. We will be home on Monday July 5. Yeah.

Yellowstone

It was very warm last night in the Walmart parking lot. We made a mistake and parked so that the parking lot light shined right into the window above the bed and right onto me. That made it hard, I could not throw off the covers and lay there naked because the light was shining right on me. It would have been a great view for someone. But when it cooled off we slept better.

I have to laugh at myself. After we had dinner Bob got on line to do his month end recap of our finances (Yes we can do that in a Walmart parking lot as long as we have cell phone reception.) He wanted to print out the summary of our charges so that he could compare them to our receipts. The printer was out of colored ink (it still had black but no colors). I was in the store shopping so Bob started to look around for the extra ink that we had packed. When I got back he said that he could not find it. I remembered seeing it the day before when I was cleaning. I started looking. I pulled up the seats with the storage underneath - not there. I pulled out the drawers - not there. I looked in the drawers in the pickup - not there. I pulled up the seats again, I pulled out the drawers again, I searched every inch of the pickup - thinking maybe it had fallen out - not there. I thought about going into Walmart to see if they carried the ink we needed. I was so frustrated. I KNEW that I had seen it. Bob finally changed all the fonts to black and printed it out. We were tired and irritable. I suggested that we have a drink of the scotch that I had brought. (I keep the scotch wrapped in a dish towel with all of the cleaning stuff because the cleaning stuff is all plastic and I can keep the glass bottle of scotch from rolling around.) I pulled out the scotch and guess what was behind it amidst all the cleaning stuff - the printer ink! I have no idea why I put it there. Maybe I needed more stuff to hold up the scotch bottle. We just started to laugh and then sat there drinking the scotch. How can you lose stuff when this trailer is so small?

We left Cody fairly early and headed for Yellowstone. One of the best buys we ever made was to buy the senior pass for national parks. It has gotten us into at least three different parks on this trip without any cost and Yellowstone was another one. Nice!!!

According to the literature the entire park is above 7000 feet in altitude. Bob has a hard time breathing above 5000 feet so this was a challenge for him. I asked him to stop so that I could take some pictures. He got out the driver's door and walked to the passenger door and was out of breath and had to rest. So he did not get out much.

There is a big lake in the middle of the park that is a caldera resulting from a volcano. (I didn't know that the park was part of a volcano.) The trees in the eastern end of the park have been devastated by a beetle. They are dead. It makes it hard to look at them. But it was an amazing sight to see.

We then got to the area of the geysers. There were way too many people around Old Faithful so we skipped that one and went to one of the smaller ones. Wow. Bob was not able to walk so he stayed in the truck and I walked up to the geyser. It was really hot. The steam was pouring out. You could feel the heat walking by from about 15 feet away. The steam was so heavy that there were times when you could not see anything. The smell was a little sulfuric, but not bad. The sulfur in the water left yellow stains on the rocks as it went over the falls and into the river. (I had one of those really stupid moments about 5 minutes after getting in the truck when I realized why the park is named Yellowstone. Duh!) We had a very nice picnic lunch, but it was hard on Bob to stay much longer, so we just drove out. I liked it, but to tell the truth I was more impressed with Bighorn yesterday. I would like to go back and camp at Bighorn. Yellowstone is just too crowded. (Yeah I know this is a holiday weekend but from everything I heard it is always crowded.)

We drove 8 miles in Montana and then into Idaho. I must say that eastern Idaho looks like someone decided that the entire part of the state should be a dump. There is trash all over the place - in huge piles and everywhere. There did not appear to be any pride of place. I don't think we had seen any other place that was as trashy. It got a little better as we drove west and it became more agricultural. But there was still lots of trash.

We are now in a Walmart lot just outside of Twin Falls Idaho. So close to home. We will probably camp in Oregon for a day or two. It all depends on whether we can find a place to camp during the holiday weekend.

We look back on this and we both agree that we are getting tired and we want to come home. We are thinking about where we will park Honey in our small driveway and I am planning on getting my hair cut as soon as possible. We are looking forward to pulling up to a gas station, rolling down the window, and saying "fill 'er up." Soon.

We are in the mountain time zone

We had a very relaxing day yesterday. I cleaned the entire trailer, including dusting, washing the floors, and washing the windows. It took me less than an hour to do that. (Amazing.) We spent a little more time at the pool. (As I spend more time in the pool I enjoy the water more and more.) The sun was out all day but it was windy. I took a walk around the entire campground - it is huge. I would love to bring grandson (and his parents if they are interested). He would so enjoy it in about 5 years.

I didn't sleep well last night - too much resting I think. So we were up early this morning and left early, heading west. South Dakota continued to be very touristy right to the border. I can't believe all of the things that they are using to get tourist money. But the scenery was gorgeous and Mt. Rushmore is worth seeing. (Bob says that Mt. Rushmore is just a hill of "beans." I don't know what that means, but he insisted that I include it in the blog and he thinks it is very funny. Weird husband.)

As soon as we crossed into Wyoming there were no more touristy things. In fact, there was very little. The landscape was green, but there was no water to be seen and very little development. It was fairly flat. Then suddenly you could see the mountains. These were the Bighorn Mountains. I had never heard of them. We turned off the interstate and started to cross the mountains. We climbed very steeply. Hank (the pickup) was struggling a little, but he did not overheat. We just slowed down some.

The views were gorgeous. This was one time when I really wished that I could paint or draw because photos just cannot capture the amazing sights and vistas. The ground is mostly rocky and there were regular signs identifying the type of rocks and their ages, ranging from millions to billions of years. The strata were beautiful and often included streaks of red or orange. As we got on the other side we were in a gorge with sheer walls of the most beautiful rock formations. We wanted to stop, but this was a narrow road and a 9% downgrade so we thought it might not be a good idea.

We then went through a high plateau that was very flat. There were some small rivers and some agriculture. At the end of the plateau we started up the foothills of the Rockies. This was designated in our map as one of the most scenic rides. At first there was not much to see. Then as we got closer there were amazing rock formations and mesas. (We had been listening to an audio book and had to turn it off to watch.)

I realized as we were driving that one big advantage of blogging is that I do not just watch the scenery go by. I look at it and try to use words to describe what I am seeing and feeling. That helps me to really see it and to think about what I am seeing.

We were luckier on weather today than usual. As we were driving along the plateau I could see a huge black cloud that was obviously raining and it looked like it was right over where we were headed. But the wind was strong and it blew the cloud further east before we got there. We are currently in Cody Wyoming, the sky is beautiful blue, and it is 90 degrees with 11% humidity. We are in a WalMart parking lot. (This is very easy and inexpensive. I have now learned to look up which towns have WalMarts so that we do not have to guess.) There are already 15 rvs in this parking lot and they keep pulling in. If everybody buys something from WalMart when they stop here, it is a good business idea. I really tried not to buy from WalMart before we started spending the nights here.

Lots of driving today and Bob is quite tired, partly becuase of the higher altitude here. But we both enjoyed the day. I really like the west (better than the east). I like the scenery, the people to tree ratio, and the pace of life. Hmmm.

KOA Hill City/Rushmore

It is 9:30 am, the sky is absolutely blue, the temperature is 81 degrees, there is a nice breeze blowing, and the campground wifi is working. Yeah! So I have more time to write about our doings. The trip from Marquette to Rapid City was a little grueling. We did it in two days so that was a lot of driving. It really was not very interesting. Once again we noticed differences between the regions and the states. Going such a long distance in a short time makes it more noticeable. Finding a place to stay on Friday night was a challenge. We had decided that we did not want to pay to stay in a campground just to sleep. But the rest areas do not allow overnight parking in Minnesota and we got off the interstate so we were on a two lane highway with no rest areas. Bob assumed that we would be able to see a WalMart from the road. We drove and drove and didn't see one. It was also boring and I was getting irritable as was Bob. We had no more CDs to listen to. Yuck. We finally stopped for dinner. It was okay. We then continued driving. At about 8 pm (it was still full light) we stopped for gas and I took the amazing step of asking if there was a WalMart around. There was and we found it easily. We bought some stuff there (including a CD) and spent a fine night in the parking lot.

The drive on Saturday was easier because we had a shorter distance and we had a CD to listen to. The info center when we entered South Dakota was full of info, but the guy who gave it to me spoke so quickly and by rote. He had done this too many times. There were so many touristy spots along the road. It was all aimed at tourists. We had not seen so many RVs since Florida - I guess it is time for summer vacationers. The info guy told me that we might have a hard time finding a campground without reservations so we sat in the parking lot and I started making calls. It only took three calls and we got a spot at this very nice KOA, We didn't want to pay $40 to get here at 8 pm and just sleep so we decided to try another WalMart. First we stopped at a Flying J. They were fine with us sleeping there, but there were so many big semis (a lot of noise and movement) and it was gravel. So we found the WalMart. This one already had about a dozen RVs in the lot. One had even disconnected the trailer and the car was gone (a real no-no). It was warmer that night and the rv that parked next to us ran his generator and his air conditioner most of the evening so it was really noisy - how rude. But we slept well and were ready to go.

We had a 45 mile drive on Sunday so we got here real early. The place is just huge. It is a full mile from our site to the front desk. The scooters are coming in really handy. The quieter pool is by the front desk and not by us (did I say the scooters are handy?). There are so many kids here. It is a kids paradise. There is always a background noise of kids having fun. It is like music. It is remote enough that many parents allow the older kids to just go where they want. The temperature is nicely warm, very hot by 5 pm, but cools down nicely in the evening. This is a nice destination campground if you have kids (or grandkids). Maybe we will come back with the grandson. It is even nice without kids by the way. Just a relaxing comfortable place.

One thing that I found interesting is why they decided to carve the Rushmore monument. It really was as a tourist destination. They wanted to bring folks to western South Dakota. They did. It was quite a spectacle and an amazing feat of engineering. By the time we left it was really crowded. People pushing and being rude. When I was in the gift shop I started to pick up an item, but the man standing next to me decided he wanted that item and grabbed it, almost from my hand. The elevation was over 5000 feet so Bob was having a hard time breathing. He mostly sat while I ran around taking pictures. at one point he was looking for a seat, someone stood up and he started toward the seat and a couple of teenagers ran over and sat in it before he could. RUDE! Too many people. Time to do other things - which we did. The drive around here is intersting and stark. We noticed that there were not many deserted buildings as we had seen in other areas. We decided that things were too hard to get here to abandon buildings. There was not much water. What there was was dammed up and made into resort areas - for more tourists. I wonder what the state would be like if they did not have the tourism.

Yesterday after we left Deadwood Bob said that he was done with touristing. I agree. It may be just that we are getting close to home, but I am getting anxious to be home. Today we are going to just stay in the campground. I want to spend some time cleaning Honey. We can go to the pool or just ride around on our scooters or bikes. Campfire tonight probably, then pack her up again. We will leave tomorrow morning and take the back roads and head for Oregon. It will probably take us about three days or maybe four. Yeah.

Geting close to home

We are camping at a beautiful resort in South Dakota, but we have no cell phone access and the wifi is iffy. So Bob and I are in a bar, drinking beer, eating nachos, and I am blogging. I never included the pictures of Marquette, so some of the ones above are from Marquette. Minnesota was interesting. It reminded me a little of Tuscany, except they were growing corn instead of grapes and olives. We stayed two nights in a WalMart parking lot. Not bad.

The resort is absolutely wonderful. It is huge. Two large heated pools, two hot tubs, a jumping pillow and many playgrounds and activities for the kids, a water slide, nightly movies and entertainment, wine tasting, whew!! When we checked in they said that many people come and never leave.

Mt. Rushmore was gorgeous, but it is clearly a tourist attraction and was intended to be such. The idea was to draw folks to South Dakota. The whole area is a trouist attraction. You cannot believe how many from houses of mystery to wild west towns.

We spent today in Deadwood. A lot of history. We gambled and walked and had a good day. (We didn't go to Crazy Horse becuase they wanted $10 per person just to drive in. We looked at it from afar.)

I want to eat more nachos and drink more beer so I will sign off.