rollin', rollin', rollin'..............

     Rollin down Interstate 81 in PA- day two of our beeline to Massachusetts. I have a huge smile on my face in anticipation of spending time with my family and friends.   The timing appears to be good. We should be in time to help our son move into his new apartment.
  The weather over the last 2 days has been an improvement over earlier in the week.  I am sure most people saw or heard about the massive storm that came through the midwest on Tuesday.  Paul and I were watching the Weather Channel (the old peoples' MTV, according to some) that morning and saw that the storm was headed toward Muncie Indiana, where our daughter lives, so we called to make sure she was aware of it.  Within 30 minutes Muncie was under a Tornado Warning, and the Ball State University campus was in lock-down. 
    We continued to watch the TV until we saw that all of the counties to the west of us were gradually transitioning  from Watch to Warning. At that point we started packing up our"go" bag, the cat, etc., and as soon as the warning was called for our county, we headed for the clubhouse and spent the next two hours doing laundry.  That's what you call killing two birds with one stone!  We made it through fine, but the winds didn't diminish much for two days.  One night we got up in the middle of the night to pull the slides in, the trailer was shaking so much.
    We were a little concerned leaving on Thursday since it was still gusting, but once we were on the road it was a tail wind, so no problem for us and we didn't have to stop.  We put in 370 miles before calling it a day. 
Today we have gone 250 miles with another 180 to go before we get to MA. We may stop for the night if we can find a place to stop, but they are few and far between in New England. 
As for my foot- its doing fine and I have to go see the doctor one more time, in late November.

Change of Plans

I always say that we make our travel plans in jello, with plenty of wiggle room- we reserve the right to change our mind about our plans and our direction- its one of the perks of being on the road full time.
After looking at maps and taking all factors into account, including the fact that although I can walk, I am not really up for spending a day sightseeing, and the fact that I miss my family, especially my son, we are blowing off the Virginias and heading to Massachusetts. Assuming the weather forecast doesn't contain the "S" word in it before we leave here, that is.
Everything, of course, depends on what the doctor has to say on Wednesday, but unless something new crops up, he pretty much said I could leave for a couple of weeks on Thursday.

Happy Halloween, again



There are no real people in this picture



 A lot of RV parks have Halloween every weekend in October, and this one is no exception.  Apparently Paul is getting jealous of all the decorations.  I could actually see him trying to stop himself from picking up decorations in the store. Especially the 6 foot inflatable spider that moves it's head.  Three times he went to look at that thing.  Eventually he said he would wait until after Halloween and get it on sale.  We do have about 10 bins of Halloween decorations in storage, but who knew we would want them so badly while on the road?  He did buy some LED lights, as a compromise with himself.

This RV Park has a lot going for it, especially for families.  There seem to be a lot of activites for all


an absolutely adorable "Dorothy"

 ages.  We haven't done all that much, but we did walk the entire park to check out the decorations. It sure is a good thing they close the roads for the trick or treating, since there were hundreds of kids, and their parents, walking the streets on Saturday night.
  We got here on Thursday and will hopefully leave by next Thursday. I haven't been very active, but today I wanted to push it a little, so we went to Sterling State Park, which is on Lake Erie, and walked for about an hour. Afterwards we came back, put our feet up, and watched the Patriots beat the Chargers. All in all, a good day.

hoards of trick or treaters

Lake Erie

Inching our way away from Detroit...

     We moved to Monroe Michigan this morning, after another meeting with the doctor. I have to go back to see him again next week, but its less than an hour drive, so, no problem.  I can walk as much as is comfortable and I need to flex my foot as much as possible in order to avoid a round of physical therapy. I'll be working hard at it since the therapy would start in late November and last a month.  Not Likely. 
   Paul is happily ensconced in front of the TV, watching his favorite "how-to" channels now that we have cable TV. Tomorrow we'll head out and start exploring the area, which is minutes from Lake Erie.

Two weeks of recovery done....

I had my 2nd post-op doctor's visit this morning.  Every time we see him he seems to change the gameplan a little.  Originally he said I had to stay put for a month, and then I could leave for a couple of weeks. Last week he said I could leave for a couple of weeks after today.  Today he said I need to come in again in 2 days and again next week- then I can leave for 3-4 weeks.  No big deal but we have to keep adjusting our plans. So now we are going to stay here for another 3 days and then leave for the other Rv park that's not too far away.
      Overall though, the surgery went awesome and my recovery is going very well. The muscles in my foot seem tense, as if they aren't working quite right.  He said that's because I haven't had much range of motion in that joint for so many years, the muscles haven't really done much work in a long time, and now they are.
        So, Paul is finishing some projects and possibly starting another one.  He may build in an electric heater into the wall so we won't have to use the portable one we have.  We have a furnace with a full heating system but many times we just need a small electric one to take the chill out of the air.
The weather has been great, although its getting a little cold at night.  Last night it was in the mid 30s. Today its in the high 50s and the sun is out.

Dinners!

Last night we went out to dinner with friends and had a great time.  Tonight we went out to dinner with friends and had a great time. Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner with friends, and I am sure we'll have a great time!  I'll have to go on a diet, but it's worth it.
   Originally we were going to leave here this weekend and drive to an RV park about an hour from here for a couple of weeks, but we are going to stay here until my doctor's appointment on Tuesday instead.  Paul has been on a buying frenzy, buying "stuff" for the trailer while he has time order it, get it shipped and install it all. So far he has installed a water softener, but he wants to secure it better, so he has that project to finish.  He bought a heating element for one of our air conditioners so it can be used as a heat source, and he has that installed.  He ordered a part to install on  the awning to our largest slide so that water won't puddle in it, but it hasn't arrived yet.
In general he's been getting a lot done while waiting to be able to get on the road again.

One week of recovery done...

One week down, a few more to go....I had my first follow up visit yesterday and was very happy to hear that I will probably only have to stay in Michigan for another 3 weeks instead of 5 weeks.  Because this surgery was less invasive than the one originally planned, the recovery is faster. He did say that once the damage builds back up again (hopefully 5-10 years), my only option will be joint replacement.   I still have to wear the Cam Walker for another week, but that's ok, I really don't want to smash my foot at this point anyway.  I can walk around as much as I want as long as I don't overdo, so we are checking out wedding venues and making plans to go out to dinner with friends before we leave here this weekend (headed about 45 minutes south).  I think we may head to the West Virginia area for a couple of weeks before coming back to Indiana for Thanksgiving.

the view from my lounger

Here you go, Steve!

I won't dilute the message with extraneous words.

No voy a diluir el mensaje con palabras extrañas.

Post Surgery

Just a quick note to let everyone know I am out of surgery and back at the trailer. Everything went fine, although he couldn’t do everything he planned to do.
The original idea was to move the joint between my toe and my foot back a bit and rebuild it, so I would be able to flex my foot when walking, which  I couldn't do because of arthritis and bone spurs.
     There was too much cartilage damage to be able do that, so he just reshaped the bone, and removed the spurs, and he feels that I should have full range of motion and it should keep me for the next 5-10 years, at which time I will have to completely replace the joint.
The good part is that the recovery from this should be quicker…

Thanks for the good thoughts!

Michigan

Well, I am sure it wouldn't surprise anyone at Valassis to hear that I have a sore throat.  I went to visit my former co-workers and friends, and talked non-stop for about 3 hours.  It was so great to make the rounds and see everyone, although there we a few people I missed. I am hoping to see people again before we leave.
   We are at Haas Lake Park again- we arrived here after spending a couple of days in Muncie with Jess and her new fiance. I've discovered that I don't take any pictures when I am visiting people.  The only pictures I took in Muncie were of Jess trying on wedding gowns, and I can't post any of them!  Tomorrow we are checking out a couple of potential wedding venues for Jess since its the last day I'll be able to do anything for a while.  I had a doctor's appointment this morning, going over the details of my foot surgery that is scheduled for Wednesday.  I was pretty much assuming I would get crutches and be able to hop around as much as I want, as long as I put no pressure on my foot, but he tells me I need to pretty much stay home for  two weeks and keep walking to a minimum.  Ugh. 
Anyway, since I will be recuperating, and not exploring, there won't be too many blog posts in the next few weeks.