El Paso, TX

A quick update, since I don't want to go too long without posting anything.  I am struggling to see, so there may be typos in my post. I went to an eye Dr. in December and ordered new glasses from Costco (we even had to re-join, just to be able to get the glasses.).  When I got them, they weren't right.  I wear progressive lenses, and my right eye was still blurry.  Anyway, back and forth several times, long story short, I just dropped off my new glasses again to get re-done, so I am making do with OLD glasses from about 5 years ago.  Can't see much.
The trailer is still at Camping World, apparently waiting for parts.  We'll go check on it before the weekend, just to make sure its still plugged into the electric outlet. When last we left it, it was in a site with full hook-up, but who knows if they moved it.  I want to sneak in to check on it, since I am happy for them to keep it as long as necessary.  We are just going to store it for a month anyway, and the longer they have it, the cheaper the storage will be for us.
Tom (Paul's brother) and Sue have come and gone.  It's been pretty sad around here, but it was good to have them here for a couple of days.  We didn't end up meeting with the doctor (long story) although the "original" Porters did have a conference call  with him on Saturday.  We also had a meeting with a Neurosurgeon today, and got some new  insight and feedback from him regarding Tom's condition. I think its going to be a very difficult  time here in El Paso.
Technically, Paul and I, and Jess are all still "Michiganders" and because of that, I have made dentist and doctor appointments for all of us in Michigan this spring.  Our daughter Jess also has jury duty in May, so we will pick her up from Ball State in Indiana, and head straight for Michigan, so she can fulfill her civic duty (at 20, she is pretty excited about it).
As for the near, and midterm future, Paul and I will book a last minute trip to Albuquerque in early Feb. for our anniversary.  I think we will shift the days since the superbowl is on the 7th, and we'd like to be back in El Paso for that.  I was very sad that Brett Favre didn't make it to the superbowl...he is "old" like us, so we were rooting for him.  I guess we'll root for the Colts, since the Patriots are out, and I kind of think its cool that 2 Manning brothers are quarterbacks (plus, Jess DOES attend a college in Indiana).
This afternoon I finished booking flights for both of our kids to meet us in Las Vegas for Jess's spring break.  Our son Stephen lives in Boston, and we booked a flight for him to meet us there for a couple of days, so all 4 of us will be together again for a couple of days.   I am soo looking forward to that.  Paul and I will take the trailer and the cat and head there, maybe leaving a little early, so we can do a little hiking along the way.

El Paso, TX

We have settled into somewhat of a routine in the last week. Paul's mom leaves for the hospital in the morning, and stays all day usually, whereas Paul and I stay home in the morning, doing errands or small chores.  One such errand was to scout out and join a gym.  We were successful in finding a gym that fit our needs- in addition to the machines to work out with, there are classes such as Pilates and Step.  We could also join a month at a time, although it was a better deal to do 3 months,  so we did that. We have already been there several times (ouch) and hope to take a step class tomorrow.  After lunch I walk to the hospital, since its only 1.3 miles from the house, and the weather has been in the 60s.  Once I have more minutes on my cell phone (tomorrow) I can start using that time to call some friends!  Its hard not being on the east coast since everytime I think of calling someone,  its usually too late. I stay at the hospital until Gerry is ready to come home at about 5 pm.
Paul in general stays home and works on projects around the house that need to get done, like re-grouting bathrooms etc....He also ends up doing most of the dinner cooking since he is by far the best cook among us.
      On Friday, Paul's brother Tom and his wife Sue will  be flying in for the weekend.  We all have a meeting with the doctor on Friday, so we'll see what ( if anything) he has to say.  There has been no improvement in Tom's condition that we can see, nor has he gotten worse.  He is still unconscious but breathing on his own.
     Meantime, our trailer SHOULD be fixed.  They are still waiting for one part to fix the sofa, and they are reasonably sure the flexing issue is fixed- once again, only time will tell.  We have been debating whether to store it for a month, until we leave for Vegas, or keep it at a campground. There are pros and cons to both, but price is of course the biggest difference. We have made a decision,then changed our minds, about 5 times.
Paul and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary in February and we are thinking of spending a couple of nights in a hotel in Albuquerque, NM.

El Paso, TX

We've left Arizona behind now, and we're back in Texas, where the weather isn't quite as nice, but it sure isn't as bad as it seems to be in the rest of the country.  Lows in the 30s, highs in the low 60s, so I won't be complaining.
We got here Monday, got settled and then went to see Paul's dad in the hospital. I haven't been feeling all that great, so I haven't been to see him since Tuesday.  We did meet with Hospice on Tuesday and got some good information as to what to possibly expect in the coming months.  We are essentially in a holding pattern right now.  Tom has not improved since the accident, nor has he gotten any worse. Basically we have to wait until one of those two things happens, then we'll have a better idea of what the future holds for him.
 In the meantime, the Everest has been in the shop, with a list of things that need to be fixed.  Most are small things, but the main thing is the flexing in the frame at the front of the trailer.  Unfortunately, the repair place called Paul yesterday to say that they have tried everything the Manufacturer told them to try, and its not working.  We may have to take it back to Indiana to the factory. We should know more today or tomorrow. Other than some parts they ordered, everything else has been taken care of.
Hard to believe that we put 5000 miles on the truck in the last 6 weeks, but we did, so Paul is at the Ford dealership getting the oil changed again.
We may, in time, take a side trip or two from here, depending on how things are.  Jess (our daughter) wants to spend spring break in Las Vegas since her step sister is getting married there.  I want to try to take a trip to be there for it, since I am not interested in going 5 months without seeing Jess!


General blurb for anyone who hasn't read previous posts....


Paul and I are in El Paso with his parents. On November 30th Paul's father fell through the floor in the attic. He has no broken bones, but is currently still unconscious. We have curtailed our traveling for the time being, and will stay with his parents for as long as they need us here.

Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

Paul and I decided to "go for the gusto" and hike to the top of Picacho Peak today, instead of doing a smaller hike today, and then tackling the peak tomorrow.  It probably wasn't the best idea, since neither of us has done anything physical in almost two months.  We started out early, at about 10 am, and the weather was gorgeous- low 70s. As I was walking behind Paul,  my thoughts wandered, and I started thinking about my "rules" for hiking.  First thing is, never make the backpack so heavy that Paul will need a break from carrying it. Plus, I usually let Paul lead for two reasons- he is more experienced, but also, when I get really tired, I just follow exactly where his feet went, no thinking involved.  My first rule and most important one, is to always take a picture of  the map at the beginning of the trail, if there is one. The only place we actually bought trail maps was Big Bend because we were doing a ton of hiking there.  The books are usually $12, so it isn't usually worth it, but if I take a picture of the trail, I can refer to it, and not have to carry anything!                                                      

Today was a strenuous 5 mile hike, with a 2 mile walk back to the truck, since we went up the Sunset Trail and down Hunter trail (elevation 3375 ft/1685 ft gain). I was really excited about this hike because its the first time I have done a hike that required cables. The first 2 miles were fairly easy, but the last mile was more like rock climbing, with lots of cables and very steep drop offs. We really had a blast, but were completely exhausted afterwards.

Once we trudged back to the truck, we went to see if we could find nearby groceries. We didn't, but we did find a Dairy Queen, so life is good.

Back at the campsite we sat outside with a nice fire and a nice drink and watched the sunset. We cooked hamburgers and ate them outside by the fire before heading in for the night.

Picacho Peak State Park, AZ

I think I have discovered a trend.  It seems like whenever I mention in a blog that we will probably do something in the next day or so, it never happens.   I think from now on I will stop trying to tell the future. We were planning on putting the inflatable together and taking it out onto the bay, but yeah, we never did. Instead, we got lazy for a couple of days in San Diego- the weather was nice and warm, and we decided to just hang out at the beach and at the pool for a couple of days.  We did take one day and go to the local flea market-Kobey Swap Meet.  Its absolutely huge...after walking around for hours, we ended up skipping over some of it because we were getting tired.  We ate lunch there, which was a mistake, since the food was AWFUL. Jess got new boots and a new jacket out of the deal so I think overall she was happy.  I bought her "Silence of the Lambs" and told her she had to watch it (but not with me!).  She called today from school to tell me she watched it already and was properly horrified.

We had already decided to spend our last couple of days in California at Paul's brother's house, in the OC, outside of LA.  Jess and I had hair appointments for Tuesday, and her flight was leaving Thursday at 6:45 am.  I was very anxious to get my hair cut since its been 4 months and its driving me nuts, and it had been even longer for Jess.  We didn't know it would be a marathon day for her though!  She decided to try to go back to blonde, or at least as close as she could get after dyeing her hair black.  She ended up at the salon for about 6 hours because the stylist had to work her in between other customers. 

I don't have a great picture of the new color yet, but it is definately lighter than it was! Paul picked me up so I didn't have to wait around for her to be finished.  We just went back to get her after dinner.

Part of Jess's plan for our "LA portion of the trip" as she called it, was to go see a taping of one of her favorite shows- Chelsea Lately, so she went ahead and got us tickets.  But on the drive up from San Diego she got an email that changed our plans completely.  Before she came to CA, she had applied for several internships in the LA area., and she let them know that she would be in the area for Christmas and available for an interview.  She is majoring in Creative Writing (just changed from Journalism), and would love to write for a magazine or work in publishing. The email was from a woman at one of the  places she had applied for an internship and the woman was available to meet with her at exactly the time the show was being taped.  So instead of going to LA for the show, we drove to Santa Monica for the interview.  She did get the internship, and it looks really interesting, but she will continue to look to see what other options she can find. 

Jess left on Thursday to go back to school, and we went straight from the airport back to the trailer in San Diego.  We spent part of the day acting as go-between for her and her boyfriend.  He was supposed to fly from Milwaukee to Indiana and they were planning on sharing a limo to get back to campus.  Unfortunately his flight was canceled due to weather, so he had to go to plan B.  Naturally, she was already in the air, so we helped them communicate all day.  He managed to get a flight from Chicago, that was actually only delayed two hours, so they were still able to share the ride and made it back to school ok.

This morning we got up and got on the road as quickly as we could.  We are headed back to El Paso, but we are taking a couple of days along the way to do some hiking. We drove 375 miles today because we wanted to make it all the way to Picacho Peak State Park in AZ.  This is our first "repeat" campground!  We stayed here on the way to Phoenix, but had no time to do hiking, so we will remedy that tomorrow  (oops, there I go predicting again.)

We'll stay with Paul's mom again for the next month or so, depending on the situation.  His dad has not improved.  He is breathing on his own, but still nonresponsive.  He has been moved again to a longer term hospital. 

In the meantime, we are taking advantage of having a place to stay by making an appointment to get the trailer fixed.  The sidewall is still flexing, causing the caulking seal to break continually, plus he has a short list of things he wants them to look at.  Usually he just fixes stuff himself, but since we are bringing it in anyway, they may as well check it all out.

Happy New Year!

My first post of 2010, and I am posting from sunny San Diego! 
The weather forecast in El Paso did not improve, so we left there on Monday afternoon, in order to outrun the snow.  We drove for about 5 hours, and then had to find a hotel that accepts cats.  We settled on a Motel 6, right off the highway in Tucson, AZ, and the experience has convinced me that that's the last time I will stay in that caliber hotel.....just not worth it.  We grabbed a late dinner, then hit the road early the next morning and made it to the campground in San Diego by early afternoon.
There are a lot more people/kids at the campground now, since its after Christmas, and still vacation week.
Jess kept an eye on the weather forecast so we could make decisions on what day to go to the beach, the amusement park (California Adventure) etc.  Our first day here was supposed to be nice (scattered showers) but cool, so we headed to California Adventure for the day.  Once we were on the way, we heard "oops" from the back seat.  Apparently the forecast she looked at was for San Diego, and the actual forecast for Anaheim was rain all day.  We decided to keep going anyway, figuring the park would be less crowded, which it probably was, but it drizzled almost all day, and it never got out of the 50s.  we froze for most of the day, but hey, whatever.  We still had a good time, since, as many people know, we are not exactly known for bringing GOOD weather wherever we travel, so rain and cold in California doesn't surprise anyone, including us.  We liked California Screamin, the roller coaster, and Jess and I rode it 3 times.  The rest of the rides were good, but without little kids, this park wasn't really worth the price of admission for us. 
We were done by 6 pm and were so cold and wet we decided not to stay to see the electrical parade at 9 pm.  It would have been nice, but we've seen one before, and by then, we were seriously cold (Jess was wearing flip flops!).
The last few days have been spent hanging out at the beach, and lounging around. Paul's brother Tom and his wife Sue(1){Sue is Sue1 because she is the first Sue Porter to join the Porter family.  I was the second Sue Porter, so I am known as Sue2} came down for New Years eve and went with us to the party that the campground had.  Live music and dancing until midnight, then fireworks on the bay. Tom actually did dance one dance even though he had a knee replaced a month ago. They stayed in a hotel, then joined us for breakfast in the morning.
Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be in the 70s, so we are thinking of taking the inflatable out into the bay.