Joan on the Road...of Life

The black and gray tanks drained nicely on Sunday. Well, easy for me to say. Jim is the one out there in the cold with his waterproof snowmobile gloves on doing the "dirty" work. He's got the system down to a little under an hour to drain tanks and fill the water up again. The water pressure is pretty low so it takes time to fill. We leave no hoses outside so each time he has to hook everything up.

We went out to Island Lake to a brand new Camping World store and picked up some curly water hose. That makes working with the cold hose a lot easier. Also got some RV anti freeze and dumped a couple of gallons in each of the tanks. Hopefully that will keep us liquified. Jim also put a "trouble light" in the outside compartment where the water and sewer drains are. Rexhall says this should do the trick to keep us draining.

We have a small electric space heater that keeps the front of the coach warm and the furnace is sucking up propane but keeping us comfy. We're using a tank of propane about every 3 weeks. When the sun shines, like today, I open all the shades and soak up the sun so the furnace is running very little today even though it is only 31 outside with a wind of about 20 mph. Ahhh....the joys of windy northern Illinois.

Posted by Joan at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here's that cute great-grandson, Evan, joining in the holiday festivities in California. This is his first family toast! Of course he's drinking apple juice :)

On Thanksgiving our wonderful son, Jim, coordinated a "video conference" so that we could see the California family dinner AND see our kids, Laura and Steve, in Montana. We took our laptop to the hospital and Jim connected to the hospital wifi. Then we connected with UStream.tv and found Jim's and Laura's shows. Amazing!

If we had a camera they could have seen us too....maybe for Christmas :) It was a real joy to connect with all the family this way. We saw baby Evan (now 2 years) sit at the counter and join in the toast. He looks so proud of himself to be doing what the big kids do :)

So far we are surviving the winter here in Northern Illinois where temps range from mid 20s to low 40s. We did get the awning put away without any hassle. It warmed up enough to melt the ice so the awning is now secure. Next test is to see if the gray and black tanks will drain after 5 nights of 25ish temps. That's Jim's task for the afternoon.

Posted by Joan at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The snow did melt on the awning yesterday. When we left we put it all the way down and the heat from the furnace exhaust was enough to clear it off. So today Jim was going to roll it all the way up and put it away for the duration. We don't want it packed and saggy with snow again.

But....the awning cover tube has ice in it and the awning won't roll up into the cap! Bummer! So up it went and down it went. I just wonder how Jim does all this without swearing :)

We'll wait a couple of days until it's in the mid 40's and hopefully the ice will melt OR I'll get out the RVers best friend, the hair dryer. I figure with a ladder I can stand up under the tube and direct some hot air on the offending ice, melt it and coax the water out of the tube. Wish me luck on that one :)

Posted by Joan at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is not where we planned to be on Thanksgiving but...oh well...you do what you gotta do! We are experiencing our first snowfall in many years. Too bad we left the awning out! :) Now we can't roll it up until the snow melts.

Last weekend my Dad had another setback and we just decided that there was no way we could leave here until he's home and well on the road to recovery. I felt a sense of relief making that decision. Now I'm not going to worry about what the weather is across the country and how we can get to warmer places. We'll just hang tough here until the time is right to leave.

Today we are all going to the hospital to have Thanksgiving dinner with Harry. He's not feeling too bad, just not healing well. The doctors are talking about possible hyperbaric chamber treatments. We do feel he is getting excellent care and attention from the hospital staff and doctors.

So, in the words of an old campground song...."It's going to be a looooooong winter! What will the poor birdies do den...da poor tings?"

We'll see and we'll let you know! :)

Posted by Joan at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With all the other things on our minds we forgot to order propane delivery! And wouldn't you know the temps dropped into the 20's last night. So we had a restless night hoping that the propane would last. It did...so now I'm sitting her waiting for the delivery truck, looking at my map and plotting the warmest and fastest route to California.

Yesterday the temps were 40ish but the wind was 30ish! What a combo. Jim had to dig out the winter coats and gloves.

But we're surviving. We're warm and cozy, No snowflakes....YET!

Posted by Joan at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday my Dad was transferred back to the hospital because of more bladder issues. He had another bladder surgery on Monday where the doctor found more stones and blood clots, unseen in prior surgeries. Yikes!

So it's been very stressful and I just haven't known what to write or even felt like writing anything. Just when we tell people that things are going well, there's another crisis.

All through this Harry has been feeling OK. The pain from the hospital infection seems gone. But the issue once again is having enough strength to walk with a walker. So it's one day at a time.

Every week the temperatures here in Northern Illinois get a little bit colder. Today the winds are 20-30 with temps in the 40's. Pretty darn chilly. So we're exploring alternatives and trying to do "out of the box" thinking to figure out what we'll do over the winter.

Right now I'm going to try my deep breathing and thinking positive thoughts that Harry will mend quickly and get through rehab and get home soon.

Posted by Joan at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WooHoo! Today my Dad went to the rehab room and walked with the help of the parallel bars...six steps back and forth. Celebration time!

About 10 days ago he moved from the hospital to the fancy rehab facility. But he'd been in bed so long that he was pretty weak and he was just able to do a tiny bit of movement each day. But after several days of good food and gentle exercise he's gained strength and now each day brings visible progress.

It's been a hellish two months for Harry. But now the infection and the bladder problems seem to be under control. There's light at the end of the tunnel and it's not a train!

Our daughter Laura came to visit her grandparents and brought a lot of sunshine into their lives. She helped Grandma sort through some stuff and then they packed boxes of treasures for Laura to ship home. They watched movies and Laura helped her with meals and got some little problems resolved. They found a mobile doggie groomer to come take care of Stella the poodle and Laura befriended Patsy the cat who is very lonely for Harry. We were sorry to send Laura off in the limo this morning but truly enjoyed her visit

So every day things improve. Even my knee. Today, three weeks after surgery, I'm walking up and down steps pretty well and can walk distances without pain. The same is true with Harry....every day is a little better and he can do a little more. Pretty soon he'll just put on his clothes and come home :)

Posted by Joan at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)