She’s Home! 2014

What Day is it?  Did you answer ‘Hump Day’ ?  Sister Margret Mary will crack your knuckles with her ruler!

Ash Wednesday here.  What will you give up for Lent?

More important to me is that it is homecoming for Anne-Marie.  She came home last night and slept like a baby.  This morning she was able to pose for a picture and say thanks for all the cards & prayers.

Yesterday did not start well with rarely seen ice cover here in Texas.  The bridges and Fly Overs had black ice, traffic was snarled for miles.

One of my neighbors gave me a ride about 80 miles South to pick up the Subaru that we will be using for a ‘Toad’ behind our new coach.  The day continued to be bleak as the car seized a front wheel bearing after 30 miles.  I had it towed into a local Firestone Service Shop where it was repaired and it’s ready to go this morning.

 

 

I’m shown here with R.W.B. Rickee Lee Allen who is the Master of Henry Thomas Lodge #278 in Smithwick, Texas.  He’s smiling because He’s about 5” taller than I am.  I’m smiling because I drove on circles looking for the lodge.  There is no real address on the website, my GPS could not find it and my i-phone was out of range from the civilized world!

The fellow who sold me the Subaru had a hobby business fabricating desk and floor lamps using cast of material he finds in junk yards.

All Good News from St. David’s Hospital 2014

We have been so busy the last 10 days, I have not had time to sit at our home computer and write a blog.  I have been able to respond to e-mails and face book stuff do to my wonderful Samsung 7” Tablet.

Anne-Marie had her double fusion on Monday, 2/24/2014 with no problems, Dr. Loftus expected very good results.  She had a very hard time for the 1st 2 days as she did not assimilate with the narcotic pain killers.  One of the few flower Children of the 60’s that never did drugs, she hallucinated and her mind, “Went to a bad place”.

This picture of her in sweats is 4 days post surgical, no pain killers and she walked about 500 feet.  She is now in a rehab. facility where she will have PT for several days before coming home.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch I sold her beloved PT Cruiser to a needy your girl at the campground as we have no use for it.  I am replacing it with a stick shift small car the we can tow with the motorhome.

I found this rather profound reminder od the necessity or rapid intervention for stroke victims posted on a wall at the hospital.  It is so important to get fast medical attention to folks who display classic signs of stroke or cardiac distress.  As volunteer E.M.T.s Anne-Marie and I helped and cared for lots of victims, the several time I know I saved a life were when I was able to intervene on one of these folks.

I have other news that I will blog later this week as time allows.  In closing, it was 74° yesterday {Sunday} when I went to church.  On the way home from the hospital at about 5:00 it was 28°!  The wind chill this morning is 3°.  This is damn cold in the neck of the woods.

Just so you single ladies out there know, I’m taking care of myself.  Last nights dinner consisted of double cut lamp chops sautéed in garlic and capers, baked potato.  The vegetable was corn which had been squeezed and served in a Maker’s Mark glass.

Yes, it was wonderful!

This is the end of our Spring Fling for 2014

We stayed at Lynn and Mickey Wait’s lot (#11) in Yuma for 2 days after are arrival back into the U.S.A..  It is in a very nice devolvement in The Foothills of Yuma.  They have 3 spots with 50a 3-way hookups.  Thanks Lynn & Mickey, we rejoiced in long showers after boon docking for a month or so.  We replaced our food and beverage supply and had Anne-Marie’s blood work done.

We drove to another favorite stop, 2 days at the Escapee’s CG in Benson, AZ (#12).  We are always warmly greeted there, we had beautiful desert sunsets and I’m told the mornings were nice for those that arose to meet them.  I started to have a ‘husky’ sounding voice, a new manly man persona?

#13 is our 2 day stop a Deming NM.  Note that this is shown as #4 & #13, this is because we stopped both east and west bound at several places.  At the Schaffer’s suggestion, we went to The Adobe Deli about 8 miles out of town.  This link has great pictures of the eclectic eating place that featured COLD Beer.  Me? I’ve lost my appetite and just wanted to rest as I was spending most of the evenings coughing.

Our next stop (#14) was Fort Stockton for 1 night.  Close to 300 miles, it seemed to be trans continental to this driver.  Beautiful road where the 80 MPH speed limit encouraged me to step us up to 70 mph.  Good dinner at home and early to bed, tomorrow I’m going to ‘Seal The Deal’ and land this old girl in Georgetown (#15).

The trail from Fort Stockton into the Round Rock  consists of primarily good 2 lane farm roads.  Being Texas the speed limit is 70mph, watch out for livestock!  At the half way point is the town of Mason, this is photo of it’s bank.

Long suffering readers may remember I was issued a speed warning by a Brother Mason there last year.  He missed me this year, he was an upright fellow!

 

Anne-Marie takes care of my eyeglass cleaning, I hand them to her and she sprays with alcohol and wipes them.  She gave them back and I couldn’t see.  I handed them back to her and she looked my eye and said, ‘Oh Stink’.  It was so yucky I will not post a photo here.  We phoned our doctor and made an appointment for the next day. 

The next day we recovered Anne-Maries soon to be sold PT Cruiser and went to the doctor who seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed by the extent of my condition.  Today the doctor who is doing Anne-Marie’s cataract surgery (after her back heals) saw me on an emergency basis.  It appears that I have a rather rare infection of Viral Conjunctivitis which is highly contagious and not treatable with antibiotics being a virus.

 

 

 

Closing days at Ensenada 2014

 

We toured the Antiquities Museum located (and financed) on our resort’s property.  In a very poor country, this investment stands out in it’s grandeur.

The bylaws of Chapter #8 require that it’s annual meeting be held in Mexico.  During this years meeting, we allocated charity disbursements in excess of $6,000 and sent our annual contribution to CARE (Escapees low cost, volunteer driven assisted living center in Livingston Texas).  Anne-Marie was elected to be next years Wagon Master, she announce the our caravan will travel to Kino Bay.  That is on the east side of The Bay of California, about 250 miles south of the international border.

A tip of my hat to our relatives and friends from Christ The King Church who donated used clothing for the children at the schools and orphanages that we chose to help this year.

This will be a real challenge for us to exceed next year.

This fellow towed a utility trailer down from Colorado.  In it was 30 sets of turn-out gear the was out of date code for use in the U.S.A.  The local Fire Department was very pleased!

 

 

 

Our route back to the states took us on a short cut, crossing the border at Tecate.  Anne-Marie was found in possession of 4 eggs and 2 potatoes.  It seems to us that the import restrictions on food stuffs are a moving target.

I picture to Border Guard leaving for work, “Honey, I’m going to work, do you need anything?” 

“I told you yesterday that we need eggs and potatoes, all you brought me was a lemon!

 

 

 

 

One of 3 Blow Holes in the World! 2014

We bus toured about 20 miles South to view the one of 3 Blow Holes in the world.  This phenomena is caused when a cave at waters edge is connected to another cave that is below the water level.  As the tide comes in, the pounding waves cause the ‘Blow’ effect.  We also had a brief glimpse of a whale spouting about 100 yards off shore.

A few hundred feet from the BlowHole was a typical Mexican Flea Market where everything in never on sale.  OK, I did pay $20 for a leather belt that passed ‘the lighter test’.

 

 

 

Than we were into a pleasant restaurant where our need for Good foods and drink was satisfied while looking out over the Pacific Ocean. Note the huge chip on the glass, VERY common down here, maybe that’s why you get a straw?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was a tour of ‘Kids Kingdom’, a home for abused, abandoned or orphaned children. Started in  1989 Tomás and Maricela Shockey, they presently have 36 ‘kids’, all of whom were in high spirits, clean and appeared well feed. Tomas gave a 20 minute explanation of the goals and a satisfying demonstration of their progress.  This home is ‘gated’ and uses private schools, 3 Kids are in collage!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Center picture above, Tomas gave us the Mission‘s history and explained it’s needs. Todays fire drill was food staples and the handle broke off their last fry pan!  Later in the week, we took them to COSTCO where they concentrated on rice and beans, a new fry pan will come from a second hand store.  

The crowd went wild when the found out I was a Shriner. This 31 year old ‘Kid’ graduated to becoming a full time handyman and resident at the school.  Thanks to the intervention of our Shriners, he had 3 operations to repair a club foot when he was a youngster.

Another your lady (now in collage) had here legs repaired with about 5 years of surgery.  Her problem? ‘Rickets’!  I disease unheard of in the states do to our better diets.

Our small group raised $7,000 this year to help several home of this type.  Next year Anne-Marie and I will bring Chapter#8 to Kino Bay, wouldn’t you feel like a part of this work if you sent me a check for 3 Starbucks Coffee’s?

Trip to Ensenada 2014

We left California on Wednesday, 48 rigs, we were in the 2nd group of 7.  We were told that we would be ‘ushered’ thru the border crossing due to the charitable desires of our group and we had agreed not to bring excessive food stocks into Mexico.  Well, that didn’t happen.  Our group leader was pulled over for an inspection, I was #2 in the line of 7.  Per our previous instructions, I stopped and plugged up the whole works.  The officials were insistent in wanting me to move.  ?No Comprend’a ?  I’m not moving, much hollering and ordering, did I tell you they have automatic weapons?  After several tense minutes, our leader’s inspection was expedited and he was released.  Photos?  No, these armed fellows are very camera shy.  I could send you my underwear :-0.  We did have a police escort thru the border town which was very helpful.

 

 

 

Toll stops were a P.I.A. as we had to wait for our group’s last rig to clear the toll before we moved on.  We were rewarded with beautiful vistas of the Pacific Ocean.  You will have to use your imagination to remove the electrical lines!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of our group while we tend to ‘personal business’.  This is not the toll road, rather a bypass that detoured us around a section of the toll road that has fallen into the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Sculpture is about 50’ tall, it is looking over the town and out to sea.  Appears to be on public land, awesome!

We arrived and set-up at our campground at Estero Beach Resort.  Than the party started!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anne-Marie looks good here.  it the restorative miracle of a Margarita!

I’m posting this on Thursday, fist time I’ve had decent i-net.  We are are now in Yuma, AZ where the high today will be 88°.  Keep watching!

Lions & Tigers and Bears! 2014

 

We arrived at the San Diego K.O.A. Park on Friday after an uneventful trip over the mountains that tested our Cummings Engine and our Retarder.  We was running 42mph at 2400 rpm for many miles with plenty of time to take in the scenery.  The campground is very nice, a bit rich for our tastes at $38/nite. 

Lot’s of wind power out here! Blowing sand and 45mph speed limits in the hills tend to get this driver’ attention!

 

On Saturday, we allowed the youth in our old bodies assume control and went to the San Diego Zoo.  In the mid-50’s they had a TV program which my Dad would only allow Perdue Football to preempt.  We walked uphill and down from 9:30 until half past exhaustion (about 3:30).  We had a $10 Burger and a $9 draft beer, yes we are in Southern Kalifonia!

Big Critters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You cannot go to a great zoo without having a good time, it brings out the ‘Kid’ in all of us.

                                Medium Critters                                            

 

We arrived back at Camp to find that several of our traveling companions from Chapter #8 had arrived.  I noted that it was 4:00 and the party was on!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next few days will be spent preparing for our tour to Ensenada.  We have Legal, Cultural & Practical information for our 2st time travelers.  not all work however, there will be food, drink and tall tales of our summer to share.  Someone has to do it, might as well be us!