Joan on the Road...of Life

I think we are still decompressing from our long stay in Illinois and our marathon trip across country. I just wanted to relax in a recliner and absorb the family around me :) Some kids played Killer Bunny, others were on the X-Box with Guitar Hereo. Grandpa and I were happy to just watch it all happen!

We had a lovely day at Renee and Tom's with all the SoCal family attending. More food than we could possibly eat. In fact, I just realized I never had any pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Tom did a rotisserie beef roast and spiral ham along with his cheesy potato slices. I added my spinach-artichoke casserole. Jim supplied Almond Champagne, Mary made Pear Pies and Naomi brought Kiss Kookies and double chocolate chippers. We were a well fed bunch! Evan never sat down for a meal. He just wandered around and got bites from everyone.

We didn't have much time to shop so I came up with the bright idea of giving everyone a Classical Music CD. I wrapped them and put them in a bag so it was reach in and grab. I think it was a well received gift. No one ran over to put their CD on the player but I imagine a few got played last night or this morning. It was a great classical selection and I wish I could have opened thme all and copied them before giving away :)

Mary amazed us with her many handmade gifts, especially the huge knotted fleece blankets. The tall boys loved that she'd made them extra long. We all wonder where she gets the time to do these special Christmas gifts along with going to school and working.

So today the party is over and I MUST start to wrap my arms around the Family Calendar. It's a long standing tradition that I surely can't break so you know where the monkey is today :)

Posted by Joan at 09:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thanks to a tip from the HWH tech guy, Frank, we now have the slide OUT. Never have I appreciated it more than today after living in the skinny MH for 4 days. Basically what Jim did was manually open a valve to enable the slide switch to work. So I think this proves that a solenoid is defective but we'll see when the tech guy gets here next week. I was apprehensive (as always) about trying this tip but Jim, the engineer, had to do it. That's what engineers do...they fix things!

Posted by Joan at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We made it to Hemet by 2 PM after a very windy drive across AZ and CA on I-10. Probably one of the worst windy, dusty days ever in our driving. But now we are safe and sound, although still in our skinny motorhome. The repair guy did not show yesterday and since we're into the holiday weekend I have doubts we'll get anyone til next week.

So we'll just putter along and enjoy visiting the kids and doing some shopping. More later....

Posted by Joan at 07:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is our site at Augie's Quail Trail RV Park in Gila Bend, AZ off I-8. The sites are HUGE!

Like last night's park it is all gravel but the sites are 35 x 80...really huge. Even though it's kind of barren, there are mountain views, it's quiet and surrounded by fields of shrubs filled with birds. I would not mind stopping here for a week to explore the area.

It was a smooth uneventful drive today. Construction through Tucson was not bad and we found a great Flying J gas station with a huge area for lunchtime parking. We arrived here about 2 PM and for the first time in months we sat outside and had a glass of wine to watch the sunset.

I cooked my famous Spanish Rice for dinner. I was tempted to take the easy way out with Stouffer's but since I had the time and Jim bribed me with some wine...I played Julia and cooked.

A typical night on this marathon trip is that we get set up including our little Christmas tree. Then we have a snack and light libation. While dinner is cooking we check emails and news. Then we put in a movie to watch while eating and relaxing.

At the start of the trip we decided to watch Band of Brothers. It's such an intense series and so well done. Every time we watch we see different things or have a different reaction to a scene. We are so thankful for these men who fought for our freedom....to live this wonderful life in this great country.

Posted by Joan at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since our snow day in Litchfield, IL we have had nothing but sunshine and good weather. Yesterday we drove 350 miles from Springfield, MO to Santa Rosa, NM straight across the Texas panhandle. One day I'm singing Oklahoma all day, the next I'm singing Pecos Promenade....well in my mind!

We arrived at the Santa Rosa Campground on Historic Route 66. The reality sure did not match the ad in the Trailer LIfe Directory! It was an old KOA with long, narrow sites and side by side hookups. Good thing it was not crowded. All went well until we started to put out the slide. No go! Jeez....just when I thought things were really going well.

Jim called HWH, the manufacturer of the slide out system. They helped him troubleshoot the situation but it looked like more than a simple fix. So since it was stuck IN we decided to just travel in a skinny motorhome. Even with all our stuff we can still do that although it's a little tight here and there. And we have to plan our moves. But we'll make it and we have a repair guy set to come over when we arrive in Hemet.

Today we traveled 400 miles from Santa Rosa to Deming, NM. We've been here before and decided to try a new park, 81 Palms. It's OK for overnight. Large, level gravel sites. But our neighbor who's from North Dakota says they've been coming back here for seven years...just love it. Well maybe if you're from North Dakota this looks pretty good. But not to me! It's freeway close and has a train track next door!

Our only travel problem was the wind blowing 20-30 mph. It gets a little tiresome driving but as I've said Jim is one heck of a guy and he managed to do it all in good spirits. He is so glad to be in warmer weather and out of the snow. Today we actually had to turn on the AC for a bit while driving. On thing we've learned is that it's best to get a real early start when traveling west. Driving in the late afternoon with the glare of the sun in your face is pretty miserable. Can't read signs, can't see well at all.

So tomorrow we head for Gila Bend, AZ. Early start. We want to arrive by 2 or 3 to avoid the afternoon rush, the sun glare and we need to make a few phone calls. Two days left...650 miles. Looks like we'll make it for a family Christmas :)

Posted by Joan at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a good travel day. We got a much easier, better start and hit the road by 8:15. As the day progressed we decided to push it and went 387 miles. Most of it was on the OK Turnpikes where we dropped $25 in tolls. Hmmm....Illinois could learn from Oklahoma.

We took bypasses around Tulsa and OK City so it was pretty speedy. Our only problem today was the wind blowing about 30 mph and gusty. But Jim "is the man" and he drove the whole way then cleaned windows, dumped tanks and filled the water. We are good to go for the next 1300 miles until we reach Hemet, CA!!!!

Isn't this a much better picture than yesterday. This is our campsite at the Elk City KOA in Oklahoma.

Posted by Joan at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We made it out of Gurnee, IL on Friday!!! Good thing we left because they got socked in with snow again. But so did we! :) Here we are at Kamper Kompanion CG in LItchfield, IL after 24 hours of snow. It doesn't look as bad as it was because the snow was over my boots :)

We had a good travel day on Friday to southern Illinois but the snow started Friday night and didn't let up until this morning. We awoke to sunshine and 5 more inches of snow. For the umpteenth time Jim cleaned snow off the roof of the MH and de-iced Mr. Moto. Jim was adamant that we would leave and head for warmer climes.

I was not so anxious to leave because I'd been awake all night listening to the wind howl and rattle the slide awning. I lay awake envisioning all kinds of disasters. But none of them happened. We got plowed out, the slide worked, Mr. Moto went up and down...and off we went.

We thought the interstate would be clear. Wrong!!! The first 40 miles were a nightmare of one-lane, slushy, icy driving with semis wanting to hurl by us. But when we hit Missouri the roads cleared. Guess they know about salting the roads.

Our excitement for the day was trying to get gas at a station that had not plowed so the access was poor. But we'd made the turn in and were committed. My Next Exit book gave us a bum steer on this one. Anyway, we pulled in, found it did not work for us (a store front type station with not enough room). So we headed to the exit which was uphill. Jim paused at the top of the exit to look for cars and ....ooops....started sliding back down the hill! This with the car attached! OMIGOD! I grabbed the walkie talkie, jumped out of the coach and headed back behind to tell him what was happening.

We slid back about 20 feet and were headed for the gas pumps. We had about 6 feet left. So I guided him back as far as possible so he could gain a foothold and told him to GO FOR IT! He did, made it up the hill and onto the road and picked me up down the road. Yikes! My heart was pounding for half an hour :)

We arrived safely in Springfield, MO where there is barely any snow, the temps are 10 degrees warmer and wer'e headed for 57 degrees tomorrow. Never do we want to see snow again :)

Posted by Joan at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We made it through the massive ice storm without power loss. I was awake half the night listening to the tinkle of ice on the rooftop. Not a very pleasant sound. Not like the soothing sound of rain. Fortunately the temps rose to 35 so the ice softened and Jim spent the morning breaking and pushing a collection of ice from the roof. He sprayed Mr. Moto with Rain-X 2 which contains some alcohol. That helped clear the satellite so we put it down and back up just to assure all was well. It worked. Yeah!

It rained all day so we were surrounded with slush and I was getting very anxious about the weather. But now it seems the storm line has passed and we have a good window of clearish weather to head west.

I feel very torn about leaving here because Mom and Harry are housebound. But I think we have a good caregiver and they do have some family here to help in emergencies. So I just have to trust and move on. We look forward to Friday....getting on the road again.

Posted by Joan at 05:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are so many warning systems in the motorhome and I thought I knew them all. So tonight while we were watching It's a Wonderful LIfe and I heard a tiny beep I was puzzled. This was a new one. So ...walk around and see if I could find it. Not the inverter, not the CO2, not the smoke alarm. Not the propane warning or the tire pressure sensor. Not the computer hard drives or the computers. Where in the heck is it coming from?

Jim was dozing through the movie and when I nudged him and said there's some kind of alarm going off he said, "yeah OK" and went back to sleep. Damn!

Finally, he was wide awake and we both sat in different spots listening for the faint beep about every minute. Have you guessed it yet? I said, "You know it sounds like something that's been packed in a drawer and has a little battery warning on it." Hmmmm....

Jim felt his pocket for his cell phone. Now where is that? Well I'll be darned. It's in his coat pocket in the closet and it's faintly beeping....a voice mail message! Oh brother!!!!

Posted by Joan at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After 3 months and 2 days my Dad, Grandpa Harry, is home. We are woohooing!!! After he hugged and kissed Mom he got on the phone to spread the good news. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers.

He's a little weak and unsteady, using a walker to get around. But he can do the basic self care stuff. They'll be having help come in each day and will also have home health care and probably "meals on wheels".

So after they get settled in with all their helpers our fondest wish is to get to warmer weather. We had the big snow, then the temps dropped to 10 or lower. Our hot water line froze so Jim got out the RVer's handy helper...my hair dryer. He warmed up the lines and voila...success. I had visions of a trip to CA with no hot water for showers and dishes. So now we have trouble lights on in two outside compartments hopefully keeping everything above freezing.

I think we'll drop down to Interstate 44/40 then head west. So our fingers are crossed again waiting for a couple of good days just to get us south.

Posted by Joan at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To people who live around here this was probably not a big event. What's 1-3 inches of snow? Well it turned into about 8 inches (the lake effect) and it all needed shoveling! Jim had to get snow boots for this one.

We shoveled snow most of the day. Got the driveway cleared and cleaned a path all around the motorhome. Jim was on the roof cleaning off Mr. Moto and the slide awning. We got a path cleared to the dump valve and the water and also a walkway to the house. That snow is pretty darn heavy! But we survived another winter event :)

OK...I don't want to jinx anything but....I'm crossing my fingers and toes while I'm knocking on wood! Tomorrow a very special event may happen here ....stay tuned :)

Posted by Joan at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

FRIGHTFUL! But what are you gonna do? Yesterday we were hit with an ice/snowstorm followed by rain. Hang around long enough and you'll get all the weather you ever dreamed of here in Northern Illinois. We spread the de-icer stuff, shoveled a path from house to motorhome and survived nicely.

I keep checking my attitude to assure that I'm just accepting what I can't change. Can I go out and stop the sleet? NO! So I made some popcorn and we tuned into a movie and just settled down to relax.

Dare I say it?.....We think Harry is really on the mend! It's been 3 months! He's getting physical therapy every day for 3 hours. Today he walked with a cane while holding onto a railing. On Thanksgiving day he could not get out of bed by himself. So this is wonderful progress. It also seems that his bladder may be really healing because he's having very little bleeding and the docs say not to worry (but we've heard that before so we can't really relax on that).

Jim continues to be an amazing patient advocate and all around wonderful guy. We are just taking one day at a time and that seems to help my stress level immensely. When Harry gets home and we get them settled with some help then we'll just look for a good weather forecast and head out. Until then we'll just take it as it comes. Shoveling snow is a realy good exercise ! :)

Posted by Joan at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)