First It Was Nora, Then Lila and Now Big RED!!!!

DeBary, FL.

83 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast tonight = Clear. Lows overnight in the mid 60s.

Forecast tomorrow = Sunny, High 96F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.

First, Nora left us when Jim and Linda took Big RED and pulled her down to Palm Beach where Laura and Lindsey traded her in on a brand new, smaller trailer. (which is really nice, by the way),  I thought that would be the end of it, but then, all of a sudden, this last Thursday, Jim and Linda went car shopping!!!!!

 When they returned, they were driving a different car and Lila had been traded in on it!!!

Friday, Jim had an Opdivo treatment in the morning and a Radiation treatment in the afternoon. Then, Friday evening, Laura and Lindsey stopped by and Lindsey helped Jim clean out the back of Big RED!! That made me wonder what was going on, but I didn't have to wait too long to find out!!

This morning, Linda took the car they had brought back from the dealer on Thursday and Jim got into Big RED. Then, they both drove away!!!

Well, come to find out, they had traded Lila and Big RED in on a brand new car!!!!

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  say hello to Lily!!!!  She's a brand new Toyota Camry LE and she only had 8 miles on her speedometer when Jim and Linda pulled out of the dealer's lot on Thursday!!

I guess you're wondering why they did this and why they named the new car Lily. Well. Jim decided that Lila wasn't suitable for any kind of longer distance traveling. She was great around town and was just what they needed before Jim decided that he really couldn't handle RVing any longer. But, out on the road, she wasn't very comfortable to drive for longer distances and she was quite small.

Big RED was quite large and hard to get around with. especially in towns and cities. He also didn't get real great mileage and the cost of diesel fuel is always higher than regular gas.

So, by doing some "trading", Jim and Linda traded both of them in on Lily and even got some "cash back" because Lila and Big RED were worth more than the price of the new Camry! ;-)

Now, there is only one insurance bill,  one license fee and for the first time in a long time, we now have plenty of room in the driveway!!! And Lily should get pretty decent gas mileage on trips.

Now, why was she named Lily, you ask??? Well, Linda thinks her color looks just like that of an Easter Lily. Hence, the name.

On the way back from the dealer today, they stopped at a Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch and had a great meal. It was the first time they went out to eat, anywhere special, for a long time.

Jim and Linda are both doing fine. Jim is experiencing  quite a bit of fatigue but is still able to do most things, just at a slower pace or by resting from time to time. He hasn't had any serious side effects from the Opdivo as of yet and so that's going well. This coming Tuesday he will have his last Radiation treatment, and I'm sure he won't mind not having to go to have them every weekday.

When Jim takes more photos of Lily, I'll post them here.

A Quote to Ponder = "You  will never change your life until you change something you do daily"
                                   Mike Murdock

Woof!!!!
I hope Jim and Linda take me for a ride in that new car soon. :-)

Treatments and She's Gone

DeBary, FL.

69 deg. clear no wind.

Forecast = Mainly sunny. High 89F. Winds E at 10 to 20 mph.


Jim started his Opdivo treatments Friday and so far, the side effects have not been too bad. He's been having some aching in his legs, a slight headache at times and some fatigue which may be from the radiation or the Opdivo. (Probably both)

He's half way through his radiation treatments now. and the last one will be the day after Memorial Day.

Laura and Lindsey have been meeting Jim and Linda out at the CG where Nora was parked to help clean her out. It's amazing how much "stuff" you can accumulate in such a small space! :-)  Then, on Saturday, Jim and Linda took Big RED out to the CG, hooked Nora up to the back of him and took her all the way down to Palm Beach where Lindsey and Laura had made a deal on a brand new 19' travel trailer. It was about 185 miles down there, so it ended up being a long day of driving for Jim.

Even though Jim and Linda just dropped Nora off at Palm Beach and then came right back, it took them about 7 hours which included a stop for "brunch" at a Bob Evans Restaurant on the way back.

So,  ,  ,  ,  , for the first time in almost 30 years, Jim and Linda don't have an RV. How do they feel about that, You ask???? Well there's mixed emotions. It was hard to drive away from that dealer's lot, down in Palm Beach, but in a way, it felt good to not have to worry about Nora sitting at the CG for months at a time without anyone really looking after her.

But, it was time. Neither Jim or Linda can see the time when we'll be traveling near as much as we have, even in the past few years, so having an RV for such limited travel just didn't make sense. Jim figures that the money saved by not having to pay CG fees, insurance and license fees alone, will more than make up for the Motel/Hotel fees we'll have to pay for our limited travels.

What are our plans for this summer? Well, they're all on hold for now. When Jim's done with his treatments, (sometime in July), and he has a scan, we'll find out what travel plans can be made. Jim and Linda would really like to get up to Illinois to see doctors, family and friends and they really would like to get up to N. Carolina and Virginia to see Mike and Joe and their families, but only time will tell if that's going to be possible.

A Quote to Ponder;  Dream the impossible dream, Fight the unbeatable foe, Strive with your last ounce of courage, to reach the unreachable star.
Joe Darion

Woof!!!

More On Jim's Treatments and A "Kicker"

DeBary, FL.

53 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Abundant sunshine. High 88F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.


On Tuesday, the 2nd of May, Jim had his first radiation treatment. He will have a treatment every weekday for a total of 20 treatments. He did not however. start the Opdivo treatments on the 5th as we had thought because he had some major concerns about the frequency and the total length of time the whole series of treatments would take. (Possibly taking a whole year)!!!!  So instead of a treatment on the 5th, he and Linda had another meeting with Dr. Gupta which lasted for a better part of an hour.

She went into much more detail as to what to expect and also explained what the options were as far as treatment frequency, how some summer travel could be accommodated during the time Jim was having the treatments and  how a treatment or two could be handled, even while we would be traveling.

All of this put both Jim and Linda's minds much more at ease and gave them a more positive outlook for Jim's future.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  Jim will start the Opdivo treatments on the 12th of May. He'll have them every other week for 2 months and then will get a scan, (either CAT or PET). If the scan is good, he may not have to have any more treatments for at least 3 months. If the scan shows something, he will have to continue the treatments but more than likely, will be able to get a treatment or two at a facility up North during our travels.

It's not ideal, but at least we'll be able to head up to Illinois so that Linda and Jim can go to their doctors and financial adviser up there and possibly get together with some friends and family.

All in all, both Jim and Linda are feeling much better about these treatments and the outcome of them. There's always a great risk with cancer, but it sounds like they may have caught this round very early and it is hoped that the doctors will be able to knock it out. It may come back or spread in the future, but if Jim has scans frequently, they should be able to "control" it for quite some time.

OK now for the "kicker"..  Jim and Linda have decided to "hang up the keys" as far as RVing goes. Laura and Lindsey, (Linda and Jim's daughter and her husband), will get Nora. They may use her as a trade-in on a different trailer, (more to their liking and smaller, so they can pull it behind their smaller truck). Jim is thinking we'll keep Big RED for now, to use for travel this summer, and then sell him this fall.

The reason for this???? Well, it doesn't look like we'll be traveling a real lot anymore and the cost of insurance, maintenance and lot rent keeps going up while both vehicles are sitting around gathering dust and rust. Jim has done a lot of research and has concluded that because we won't be traveling as much, it would be less costly to stay in hotels/motels and also save a lot of fuel by traveling either with just Big RED or even more with Lila, (Linda's car). This will also make it much easier on Jim, as he won't have to be hooking and unhooking Nora and there's less stress traveling if you're not pulling a trailer or driving a large vehicle.

I'm planning on keeping this blog going as long as I can. It won't be about RVing any longer, but it will help friends and family keep up on what's happening with Jim and Linda as well as where and what we're doing while on "vacation".

So, keep checking back. I'm hoping to blog about some of our past RVing adventures on the road as well as our travels this summer. If everything goes according to plan, we should be leaving here sometime in July or early August to head up North. In the meantime, I'll be letting you know how treatments are going and on what's happening around here.

A Quote to Ponder:  "The trouble with the future is that it usually arrives before we're ready for it."
                                  Arnold Glasgow

Woof!!!