We Made It Home

Riverton, Utah           High 92 Low 66

We made it home yesterday after driving from Rawlins but I was too tired to post last night.

We had another uneventful drive and everyone arrived safe and sound.

Cindy's Mom got check in to the rehab in Orem and Linda told me she was happy to be there. Linda didn't know how long she would be there.

We started to unload last night and pretty much finished today. It is hot here but the humidity isn't near as bad and the mid-west. the phone showed 21% humidity instead of the 85% we were getting in Indiana.

The kids seem to be happy that we are home and Taylor is my shadow again. He wants to help me when he is really too little but I let him try.

We have a lot to do so we both will stay busy.

Thanks for visiting.

Red Desert Rose Campground

Red Desert Rose Campground

Rawlins, Wyoming         High 82 Low 54

Yes, we are back in the desert: warm in the daytime and cool at night. The elevation here in Rawlins is a little over 6800 feet. This is quite a raise in elevation from the 800 feet we were at for the last month.

We are at the Red Desert Rose Campground. It is a basic RV Park with 50 amp electric and full hook-ups but the sites are a bit close but are adequate for one night. They even have a courtesy vehicle if you need to go into town. All sites and roads are gravel with no grass and few trees but what do I expect in a desert?

Cindy’s Mom was doing OK after her episode yesterday. To answer Ricks question on comments yesterday, yes she has been checked for sleep apnea. Linda told me that when she was checked she was having up to 60 episodes an hour and that is the reason she has a CPAP machine. I think what the EMTs did was put oxygen with her CPAP and it only took a few minutes to see a remarkable change.

We had a lot of wind through Nebraska but it settled down once we got to Wyoming.  We got to what is known as the Lincoln Rest Stop before Laramie and got a few pictures. The elevation there was 8800 feet which seemed like a lot for Cindy’s Mom but Linda said she seemed OK.

I'm guessing the height at 30+ feet for the monument.

When I went over this afternoon to help her with her puzzle, I found that she was nearly finished with it and seemed to be OK. We all will be glad to get back to Utah. It is a little over 300 miles to home from here. We should be home by mid-afternoon.

Thanks for visiting.

In Nebraska

Sidney, Nebraska             High 80 Low 60

Yesterday we drove from Des Moines, Iowa to Grand Island. The day was hot! It got up to 95 degrees and with the humidity it felt like 112 (this came from TV). The Interstate in Iowa was one of the roughest I have driven on. Whoever built it sure failed smooth highway building 101. After we got to Nebraska the highway improved but still was a bit rough.

We drove to Grand Island and stayed at the Hall County RV Park. It is $20.00 for an electric only site but it sure is a nice Park. There are only 19 sites but all are concrete with lots of space between sites. We got to see some wild turkeys as we drove in and Cindy managed to get a picture of them later. Sorry the picture didn't turn out too good because she was shooting into the sun and the turkeys were going into the woods.

Here I am setting up.

Old church we cold see from the RV Park.

Today we drove to Sidney and are staying at Cabela's RV Park. This Park has 27 Pull through sites and 4 back in sites with full hook-ups including cable. They also have some electric only sites. The Wi-Fi even works in our RV. The normal charge is $30.00 but if you apply for a Cabela's VISA they give you a free night. The only thing if you plan on staying here, get here early in the day. They don't take reservations And right now it is 6:00 PM and the Park is almost full.

We had a scare this afternoon after we got set up. Linda came over and told us the their Mom had really low blood oxygen. I suggested she try the oxygen bottle instead of the machine but that didn't seem to help. So she called 911 and they sent out the para-medics and they checked things out. At first nothing seemed to help so they put her on a CPAP machine and the oxygen number returned to normal. The technician called The ER and they suggested bring her in and checking her over so that's what they did. Linda called from the Hospital and told us they weren't going to keep her because she seemed to be OK. So right now the plan is to continue toward home.

We will be in Wyoming tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting.

We Are Back in Iowa

Grimes, Iowa         High 83 Low 67

We drove to Grimes, Iowa to Cutty's Des Moines Camping Club, the same Park we were in in early June. We are here with Coast to Coast again.

We had an uneventful drive with cool weather most of the way but this afternoon it warmed up and got hot with all the humidity.

My Mother-in-law isn't doing the best so we are only staying here for one night. We will drive into Nebraska tomorrow. From now till home we plan on doing over-night stops. It will still be Friday before we are back to Utah if we don't have any more glitches. We are trying to stay at about 275 to 300 miles per day.

Last night I was able to get some pictures of the two fawns. I don't know how old they are but they are covered with spots. They visited the large lawn area behind us every evening. They seemed kind of skittish and ran off as soon as they saw me.

Their mother was already into the trees by the time I got this picture.

Thanks for visiting.

Some Sight Seeing

 Sublette, Illinois             High 83 Low 69

It was a nice day today but the predicted rain hit last night. We saw the county we are in on TV with severe thunder showers warnings. It rained most of the night although I didn’t feel the wind.

This morning as we went through the Park there were lots of limbs down and close to us a tree had fallen and was blocking the road. There was a crew working on cutting it up and opening the road.

We have seen lots of deer in the open place behind us. I tried to take a picture of them last evening but the camera lens fogged up so quickly that I wasn’t able to get a clear picture.

We went for a drive in the country side and found a few places that were worth a picture. One was a barn with a large quilt block on the side. Cindy liked the field of corn and how it looked with the barn in the background.

Another picture we took was of an old silo that had been remodeled into part of a home. It made for an interesting picture.

One lot in this Park had a lot of logs with smiley faces on the end. We thought someone was very creative.

We went over to see Linda and my Mother-in-law at their lot. They are in the same Park we are in. My GPS said that they were 1.2 miles from us (as the crow fly’s) but 2.1 miles if the crow has to drive there in our truck. I believe this is probably almost the biggest RV Park we have stayed in with the exception of one in Texas. In it we were 5 miles from the entrance and it went on for a lot further.

Thanks for visiting.

Woodhaven Lakes

Sublette, Illinois                  High 89 Low 69

We had a pleasant drive from Indiana to Sublette, Illinois. The weather here is nice and sunny but we are not used to the humidity. Right now it is 70% humidity which my phone says feels like 102. That is 10 degrees hotter than Riverton, Utah. But rain is predicted for tonight which should raise the humidity even more.

We got to our RV site and after we got set up, we drove out to buy some fresh corn we spotted on the way in. Guess what is on the menu tonight.

On our way to the site we saw 3 little fawns complete with spots but they ran into the woods to fast to get any pictures. We did get some pictures of a doe in a soy bean field. She just looked and looked before running off.

As Judy of Travels with Emma used to say "the end".

This Park is huge. It is large enough that they have their own police force, one of which led us to our site. We were in this same Park three years ago and we are only 4 sites away from where we were before. This site seems a lot bigger and backs up to a gigantic common area. Cindy says this Park has the simple joys of life. We have 50 amps electrical, sewer, which the last 2 parks didn’t have, and we are able to pick up a few more TV stations. I guess it doesn’t take much to make her happy.

The following pictures are of our site:

This is in back of our trailer.

We plan on leaving here Monday to go back to Iowa.

I should add that Cindy's Mom seemed to make this leg of our journey OK.

Thanks for visiting.

We Leave Tomorrow

Howe, Indiana               High 84 Low 65

It has been nice weather here for the last while. Today was warm and humid. We are used to the dry humidity in Utah.

My Mother-in-law got released to the motor home and was OK'd to return to Utah. We plan on going straight home, but will take what time we need to get there so she doesn't get too tired. Linda met with the oxygen provider, Lincare, and got an oxygen generator and enough bottles to get us back to Utah. They are located all over the US so if we need anything from them, it will be readily available.

I am afraid Cindy and I have been here way too long. We talked about going to Rise N Roll this morning and both of us declined.

After we leave here we are scheduled into a Coast to Coast Park in Sublette, Illinois. We plan on being there three nights to get Cindy's Mom used to traveling again and also to give her a little rest. Most travels days with be Freeway and we will try to drive in the neighborhood of 300 miles per day. It looks like some will be a little longer, but it will take about five days of driving to get back to Utah.

Thanks for visiting.

Another Update

Howe, Indiana        High 77 Low 57

It was another nice day today. With us any day it doesn't rain in a big plus.

We went to the hospital today to see Cindy's Mom and while we were there the Doctor came in. He told us she was doing a lot better and he was going to release her to the Rehab this Afternoon.

Linda moved her there and we went to see her this evening. She seemed to be in good spirits, and to us, she looked great. She was sitting in her wheel chair and I helped her work on her puzzle.

They have put her on oxygen all the time so her heart doesn't have to work as hard and it seem to be doing the job.

The Doctor did tell us that she might be in the Rehab for a week to ten days. Once she gets released from there we plan on heading to Utah.

This RV Park would be a lot better if there were sewer hookups but we are conserving on water. They do have a dump station that we can use when one of the tanks gets full. The Park managers have been great to work with and we (Cindy and I and Linda) feel they have done everything possible to help us at this time. They are really full and have told us that we can stay as long as possible, which we really appreciate.

Thanks for visiting.

Update On Cindy's Mom

Howe, Indiana            High 80 Low 71

It turned out to be a nice day after the rain stopped in the night. It wasn't as hot as the weather guessers had predicted which was good.

Linda thought their Mom would be released to the Rehab Center today, but it was not to be. Some of her numbers were up after being down yesterday and she retained more water than the Doctor liked. He thought it would be a good idea to have the cardiologist check her before releasing her.

When we got to the hospital she was sitting up but to me she seemed very weak when she had to get up from sitting. But she did have to get to a standing position twice within 30 minutes. The nurse told Linda that she seemed to recover faster than she has for the past few days.

There is still hope that maybe she will finally get released to the rehab facility tomorrow. After that we don't know how long we will be here. We are still on hold.

Thanks for visiting.

We Might Be Here For a While

Howe, Indiana          High 78 Low 67

We had our almost mandatory rain storm last night and this morning. After 11 AM it did quit but more is forecast. It was so much that two of the vacant RV sites not far from us were flooded.

We went to see Cindy's mom this morning and she looked a lot better. We found out from Linda that the physical therapist thought she should spend some time in a rehab center before continuing any traveling.

Linda found a rehab place she likes in LaGrange, Indiana about 5 miles from us, that she likes and as soon as her Mom is released she will go there for a while. At this time we don't know how long she will be there. LaGrange is south of us, while Sturgis is north. She has been in the Sturgis, Michigan hospital.

This afternoon Cindy and I went looking for a reclining love-seat for our fifth wheel to replace the hide a bed. If it is not the most uncomfortable seat I have ever sat in, it is in the top ten. We found out that because of the way the slide is built, we are pretty much stuck with what we have. The slide is up 7 inches above the floor and it would put any type of sofa too high to easily get into, and then there is the headroom problem. One manufacturer said he could make a long step that we could move when the slides are brought in but Cindy convinced me that I probably would hit my head every time I tried to sit down if the seat were any higher. I might try to see if I can have the bottom cushions replaced with something more comfortable.

Maybe if we are going to be as long as I expect, I can find someone that can make something.

Thanks for visiting.

Picnic

 

Howe, Indiana        High 76 Low 53

Today was a nice day and not too hot, just about right.

Cindy’s Mom is in the hospital and we went to see her today. They expect to keep her there for at least 3 days. The nurse told us that they couldn't see any change in her numbers from yesterday but to expect at least 3 days for much improvement.

We went to the Rise ‘N Roll Bakery today. Of course all the samples are as good as ever. We bought some more cinnamon doughnuts again along with an apple fritter. It’s probably a good thing we don’t live here all the time.

We got invited to a picnic in Three Rivers, Michigan. It was at the Kline’s Resort on the banks of Portage Lake. It looked like a nice big lake and we could see boats pulling tubes and I understand there is fishing on the Lake. The resort is a retirement communities and RV Park. The Park itself looked to be well kept and very nice. We went for a break in our routine. 

This church was on the way to the picnic.

Lots of good food.

It is a very beautiful Lake.

Right now we will probably leave here Wednesday or Thursday of next week.

Thanks for visiting.

Back in Indiana

Howe, Indiana           High 78 Low 58

We drove to Howe, Indiana today with rain most of the way. Right now the sun is shinning and the temperature is perfect.

We are back at the Grandview Bend Family Campground. We tried to come in with Coast to Coast but we haven't been out for 30 days and Coast to Coast told me they couldn't do anything. So we called the campground and they let us come in for $10.00 a night (which I guess is what they would have gotten from Coast to Coast. We thought that was very nice of them.

Linda took my Mother-in law to the hospital in nearby Sturgis, Michigan. They did a lot of test and I'm not sure what the number Linda told me is called, but it was supposed to be from 400 to 500. Hers was 13400 which means she was drowning in retained fluids. So they admitted her to the hospital and will do what is needed to get rid of all the excess water. Lots of fun.

At this point we don't know how long we will be here but we plan on visiting Rise and Roll at least once. We can't seem to pass up a good bakery.

And Cindy like the ham salad we get in Shipshewana.

The ER Doctor we talked to acted like we might need to hurry home for their Mom, but we will see.

That's about all that happened today.

Thanks for visiting.

Lehman’s Hardware Store

Loudonville, Ohio            High 80 Low 65

We had heard about Lehman’s Hardware from a couple next to us in the RV Park, so we decided to go see it.

But first we got some pictures in Loudonville.

After that we got to Kidron and found the Hardware Store. It is a store that caters to the Amish in the area. It has some farm scenes on the outside of the building.

The inside is full of antiques and they are on display everywhere. The store was full of things for sale that we haven’t seen before. Cindy wanted a butter mold to make fancy butter for different meals and they had several to choose from.

As their handout says they are a destination by themselves.

We both enjoyed the visit.

There were lots of Amish wagons and buggies at the Thursday auction by Lehman’s. There were also a few vendors around the auction building. Unfortunately there was a sign that said no pets of any kind in the auction arena and we had Penny so we weren’t able to see the animal auction.

After we left, we decided to drive back to the RV Park by way of the back roads and Cindy was able to get a few pictures.

We have decided head toward home tomorrow and are heading to Indiana tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting.