A Little "Road Trip", Some Sad News but A Very Nice Visit

DeBary, FL.

80 deg. partly cloudy, SW wind @ 5 mph.

Forecast tonight = Mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph.


Tuesday, Jim had his last Radiation Treatment. He's very happy to have them over with. Going in every weekday was really the worst part of it. 

Tuesday was also the day that Jim suggested that he and Linda go on a "Road Trip" and take Lily and head over to Wildwood, FL to go to the Russel Stover's Candy Co. Store and stop and see Donna and Monte, (Rving friends since way back in 2001). 

So, Jim called Donna and asked if they'd be home on Wednesday? Well, then came the surprise. Donna told Jim that Monte had passed away!!!!!! :-(  Yep, you read that right!!! Donna told Jim that Monte had passed away last November the 20th!!!! 

Donna apologized for not letting Jim and Linda know, but she's been very busy trying to get everything straightened up since his passing. Well, Jim told her that they'd still like to come to see her for a few hours in the afternoon, if that would be alright. 

She said it would and that she'd really like to see them. 

So,  ,  ,  ,  , about 10:30 Wednesday morning, Jim and Linda took Lily and drove the close to 60 miles over to Wildwood. First they went to Stovers and then went out to eat at a Wendy's Restaurant. After that, (about 1:00 by this time), they headed over to see Donna. Parts of this visit were very sad as Donna told about Monte, but other parts of the visit were very nice and I'm sure Jim and Linda will be going back to see Donna again. 

It was late afternoon by the time they returned here to the house and by the time they came into the house, Jim was pretty beat! For supper, they just had sandwiches and then Jim took a nap. 

Both Jim and Linda said that Donna seemed to be doing pretty well.  She's strong and has a good attitude about the future.

Oh, and by the way, Lily did very well and provided a very comfortable ride for both Jim and Linda. ;-)  

Now, Jim and Linda are starting to get ready for a visit from Mike and his family, this coming Saturday!! They will be heading down to the "attractions area" for a 1 week vacation and are planning on stopping by both on the way down and the way back to North Carolina.

I sure hope they'll be able to stop for a few hours, It seems like ages since we've last seen them.


A Quote to Ponder : "The Language of friendship is not words but meanings."

                                   Henry David Thoreau


Woof!!!

On To Plan "B" For Summer Travels

DeBary, FL.

54 Deg. clear, no wind

Forecast tonight = Clear to partly cloudy. Low 52F. Winds light and variable.

Forecast tomorrow =  Some clouds in the morning will give way to mainly sunny skies for the afternoon. High 79F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.


It's a good thing that Jim still has that big eraser cause he and Linda have made some big changes in this summer's travel plans!!!

Let me explain.

You see, Jim has been stressing out about the planed trip out to Portland, Oregon this summer. He's mostly worried about his stamina holding up for such a long trip where we'd be traveling almost every day with a 2 day stay once in awhile. He seems to be doing fine, but his energy level isn't what it should be and he gets tired more easily. When he drove over to the Tampa area and back for Dave and Dee Dee's fish fry, a little over a week ago, he was really beat by the time they returned here to DeBary and he didn't even feel like doing anything the next day.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  he and Linda sat down and had a discussion about what they should do. It was decided that we wouldn;t  go to Oregon this year, but would go up to Illinois again this summer and plan to head to Oregon in 2018. :-(  This wasn't an easy decision because, as you might surmise, both Jim and Linda's past health problems might again pop up and mess up any future travel plans.

But, they still decided that a very long trip this summer wasn't a very good idea.

Jim called Jeff, who lives in Portland, and of course he was disappointed, but understood and agreed that it probably wasn't a good idea for Jim to try to make the long trip out there. In fact, he suggested that possibly, he might be able to come to Illinois this summer, (like he and Heather did last summer), and spend some time in Rantoul with us. :-)

So, we'll leave here sometime between the middle of April and the first 1st May and take our time going up to Illinois. Not sure yet if we'll be going up to North Carolina and Virginia Beach before heading to Illinois or not, but there's plenty of time to decide. I'll let you know what the plans are as soon as I know.

A Quote to Ponder. “If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there”
― George Harrison

Woof!!!

Yes, We Did Make It To Rantoul

Rantoul, IL.

65 deg. clear, N. wind @ 8 mph.

Forecast = Sun and clouds mixed. High 87F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.


Sorry it took so long for me to write this post, but it's been quite busy since the last time I've posted.

We left the Hilltop CG in Goreville Monday morning after a nice restful day on Sunday. It was about 8:30 when we pulled out of our site and headed North on I-57. 57 took us all the way up here to Rantoul where we turned off on US 136. 136 took us into town and to Rt. 45/Century Blvd. where we turned South. If you keep heading South on Century Blvd instead of following US 45 as it turns West, Century will take you to within a block of the Prairie Pines CG. All you have to do is turn East on the S. Perimeter Rd at the stop sign and take it 1 block to the CG. (You'll be able to see the CG as you drive South on Century.)

It was right at 12:15 when we pulled up in front of the office, so we traveled the  220 miles up here in 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Our site is right across from the office this year. I'm still trying to decide if I like as well as the site we've had previously. It has shade at many times of the day, but in the evening, (around dinner time), there's no shade at all on our awning side, and the sun is low enough that the awing doesn't help either. Now, later in the evening, the sun goes behind some trees to the west and shades our site nicely.

I guess it's like anything else, it'll just takes some time to get used to the new site.

Jim got Nora partially set up when we arrived Monday and then Monday night, we had a strong storm go through the Rantoul area. Just a few blocks North of here, there was quite a bit of damage at the airport and there were many trees and branches blown down in the area. We lucked out here at the CG though, only small branches and a few things blown around. There was one MH on the East side of the CG that lost it's awning though. As for us, the big thing was that Nora developed a leak where the front cap connects to the roof and water leaked into the cabinets over the bed and then down onto the bed!!! :-(

Needless to say, Jim and Linda spent much of the night, soaking up water and trying to prevent the bed from getting too wet.

Tuesday, Jim went over to ACE Hardware and bought some silicone sealer for the roof/cap joint. Then In the afternoon, Paul's son, David, (who was visiting Paul and Louise and lives in California), came over with a tall ladder and ran sealant all along the joint, while looking for any small cracks or places of possible leaks along the seam. David evidently did a good job because Tuesday night we had another heavy downpour, which lasted most of the night, and there were no leaks. Jim didn't get much sleep though because he was constantly checking inside the overhead cabinets for water.

Thanks so much, David!!!! Jim just doesn't feel safe getting up on a ladder at this time and he really appreciated the help.

Wednesday, Jim was very tired and really worn out, so he rested and napped most of the day.

By yesterday morning, (Thursday), he was feeling much better though and even felt good enough to re-organize some of the "basement" compartment. Then, for dinner, he and Linda took Big RED and headed over to Fisher, IL and to the Blue Start Restaurant where they both had very nice meals.


A Quote to Ponder ;  “The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”
John E. Southard


Woof!!!

AL to TN to KY to IL and A Long, Long Day!!

Goreville, IL.

77 deg. clear, no wind.

Forecast = Sunshine and clouds mixed. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.


We left the Deer Run Campground near Troy, AL earlier than usual (8:30 am), on Friday morning. The reason being that Linda was up early and the weather forecast for later in the day was for thunderstorms with high winds and heavy rain.

From Troy, we continued NW on US 231 up to Montgomery, where we first  got on Westbound I-85 and then turned North on I-65. 65 took us up through Birmingham where the road is still very rough, but at least the construction that we encountered on our last trip through Birmingham was finished. Continuing North on I-65 took us up to Cullman, AL and the Cullman RV Park.

The Cullman RV Park is off the beaten path, but we've been there many times in the past and knew that they had some nice shady, level pull-through sites where we could stay for 1 night.

It was right at 12:00 when we pulled into the park so we had traveled 192 miles in about 3 1/2 hours.

Oh, and the weather that was forecasted? Well, it rained hard in Cullman after we arrived, but there were severe storms in Birmingham where there were trees down and some road flooding.

Yesterday was an eventful day. We left Cullman about 9:00 and continued North on I-65 to Nashville. On the North side of Nashville, just before we were to turn off on I-24, the traffic came to a screeching halt!!! The problem was that they had 2 of the 3 lanes of I-65 closed down for construction and everyone was trying to funnel down to the one lane. :-(

I think it took us the better part of 1/2 hour to get through that mess!!! :-(

Once on I-24, heading NW, traffic once again moved along nicely.

Following 24 took us up to Clarksville where we had planned to stay at the Clarksville RV Park. But, guess what? The park was full!!!!!

Now what to do? We had already traveled about 190 miles and those of you that are familiar with the area, know that there are not any other decent campgrounds in the area!!! We also learned that evidently, the Father's Day weekend is a popular weekend to go camping, it was a good chance that all state parks and COE parks would be full-up also!!!

Well, Jim decided that he would call our next planned stop, which was about another 2 hours farther away and see if they had sites available. They did not answer the phone, but Jim left a message on their machine and we took off continuing NW on I-24.

After awhile, the CG called back and said that they had sites available and they would be sure to save one for us.

So,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , here we are in Goreville, IL. at the Hilltop CG. It was 3:15 by the time we arrived and we had traveled  335 miles in 6  hours and 15 minutes!!!!

A long, long, long day for us!! In fact I can't remember the last time we traveled that many miles in a day!!!!

How did Jim hold up?? Well he was really beat by the time we arrived, but he took his time getting Nora set up and then took a nice long nap. By evening, he was feeling better and it seemed like he was pretty well rested.

We'll be here for  2 nights and then tomorrow, we'll head for Rantoul.  We'll get there a couple days earlier than planned, but I'm sure Louise, (The CG host), will have a site for us. 

Did you know that Davy Crockett was not born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, as the song says? He was born on the banks of Limestone Creek near Greeneville, where a replica of the Crockett's log cabin stands today.

Woof!!!