Update on Pat (Conroe, Texas)

In my last post, I indicated that the doctor was hopeful that Pat could be home from the hospital before Christmas.  Unfortunately that did not happen but he finally came home two days after Christmas.  He has a boatload of medicine and lots of followup visits with doctors.  Not only does he have COPD but his sugar levels went haywire while in the hospital and he will be on insulin for awhile.  There are also some concerns about his heart.  One good thing about all this is that we now have all the doctors we should ever need in Conroe, Texas.  We were pleased with the level of care Pat received at Conroe Regional Medical Center.

As a result of these medical issues, we are not sure what our future plans might be so we are both glad that we have the cottage.

We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

December at Lake Conroe

It is almost Christmas! We have had mostly warm weather with some cool days.
After Thanksgiving, we ventured up to Dallas to see Pat's brother and wife for a couple of days. We were originally going to spend Thanksgiving with them but Pat came down with a bad cold and we had to postpone our visit. While in the Dallas area, we visited the site of John F Kennedy's assassination, drove past the Dallas Cowboy's stadium, and visited the Fort Worth stockyards. We had a really fun weekend with Roger and Maryann!

Building from which shots rang out.

Dallas Cowboy's Stadium

Cattle drive at Stockyards

When we returned to Lake Conroe, Pat still was not feeling well so we visited a doctor who ordered x-rays of sinuses and lungs. After a week, he was no better so back to the doctor we went and she referred him to a pulmonary doctor who diagnosed COPD. Because of his constant coughing, the doctor recommended that Pat be admitted to the hospital for a few days so that he can be treated with the high power medicines. So we are hoping he will be able to go home on Monday (Christmas Eve).

Our daughter arrived last week to spend time with us. She is looking for a teaching job here in the Houston area now that she has completed her degree requirements at Indiana University Southeast. Once she finds a job then the search for an apartment can start in earnest. Our cottage is a bit crowded with three people and three dogs!

We hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.







Happy Thanksgiving from Lake Conroe

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!

I guess it is time to update our adventures.  After leaving Little Rock, we stopped overnight at a campground in Carthage, Texas.  The Carthage RV Park was easily accessible, has nice level pull-through sites, and exceptionally clean restrooms.  This is an excellent place to stop for the night and I am sure many RVers do stop here on their way to Southern Texas.

We pulled in to Thousand Trails on Lake Conroe on October 30 and found a site to use for our three day unloading period.. Because we own a cottage, we are allowed to camp for three days to either unload or load the RV without the time being counted as part of our annual allotment.  We actually unloaded in only two days and were moved back into the cottage on November 1 with the camper in storage.  While it is certainly nice to be back “home”, we do miss our sleep number bed.  I don’t think either of us has slept good since returning to our Hidden Cove cottage (the bed is an off brand memory foam—I think you either love them or hate them).  As a result, we ordered a sleep number bed which will be delivered next Tuesday—yea rah!!

Another project upon our return was to have a golf cart parking pad put in-it is to the right of the front landscaping.   One of neighbors was extending their pad to accommodate a motorcycle so it made sense to have ours done at the same time to save on the cost of the concrete truck.  That job was completed about a week ago and is a great improvement over trying to park the golf cart and the big truck on the driveway.

Pat did a lot of the site preparation work and as a result, he came down with a bad cold/sinusitis.  Starting the day of the concrete pour and for three days, he was in bed.  We were originally going to host a surprise farewell party for our neighbor, Karen, who has decided to move to Massachusetts.  Since Pat was so sick, we had to move the party to another house but all went well with Karen being very surprised.  Our Thanksgiving plans also had to change.  We were going to go to McKinney, Texas to visit Pat’s brother but decided it would be best to postpone our trip so that he would not expose the grandkids.  Instead we ate dinner at the campground which was a nice fellowship time.

Pat being sick made us try to find a doctor.  What a joke that turned out to be.  One would think that you could go to any doctor regardless of the insurance coverage you happen to have.  That is not the case.  We tried one physician group but they have their own Medicare supplement insurance and would not see Pat at all with Medicare and an AARP supplement insurance.  We tried another doctor who does take his insurance but there were no openings.  We finally ended up going to a nurse practitioner at CVS who probably was as good as any doctor.  We will continue our quest for a local doctor and do have a couple of suggestions from our neighbors.

I have found a church-Plymouth United Church-in Spring, Texas.  It is a United Church of Christ and seems to be a growing congregation.  The adult Sunday school class meets prior to the service with a format of reviewing the Lectionary for the week.  I am looking forward to taking my daughter to church when she comes to stay with us in December. 

That about does it for now!!

EASY LIVING!!

Little Rock (October 22-26, 2012)

Greetings to everyone! 

Our time in Southern Indiana was uneventful and we received clean bills of health from our doctors and don’t go back to any of them for a year.  The colors of the trees were beautiful which pictures don’t really show.  We did try to go to Harvest Homecoming in New Albany on Sunday during our stay but there was a forecast of high winds causing the festival to be canceled for the day.  This decision was made for the safety of the public but caused the various organizations to lose projected revenue.  Oh well, you can’t fight Mother Nature!

After our stay at Charlestown State Park, we moved back to Diamond Caverns for a few days.  We celebrated Pat’s birthday and our anniversary by going out to eat at Applebee’s in Glasgow, KY.  Our original plan was to leave on Sunday, October 21.  However, we had planned to have the truck serviced in Bowling Green but forgot to do that until the weekend.  Of course, the Chevy dealer was closed and we had to wait until Monday.  That is one of the nice things about this lifestyle—we can make changes as needed since we don’t have to be someplace by a specific date (except when it pertains to doctors).  So Pat headed out early on Monday morning to be the first in line for the service department.  He succeeded and got back to the RV Park by 8:30.  While he was gone, I got the trailer ready for our move—put things away, put dish satellite down, fastened TV (we strap it in place so it doesn’t move as we roll down the road), and unhooked the water.  Then all we had to do when he got back was to pull the slides in and hook up the truck.  We were on the road by about 9:30 headed to our overnight stop in Tennessee.

We stopped at Memphis East Campground which was not a very good place.  It was OK for an overnight stop but that is about all.  We were under a tree and couldn’t connect to satellite.  The manual over-the-air antenna worked until we tried to put it down.  The arms of it got caught in the tree branches so I had to climb up on the roof to pull the branches away from the antenna while Pat cranked it down.  We were lucky it didn’t break.  We were glad to leave that park!

Next destination was Tar Camp Park on the Arkansas River south of Little Rock.  This is a Corp of Engineer park with campsites that back up to the river.  Probably one of the nicest parks we have ever stayed at with a really low rate of $9.50 a night (senior rate is half of the full nightly price).  We have electric and water but not full hook-up so we do have to conserve our waste water.  These pictures tell the story:

Our Site at Tar Camp Park overlooking the Arkansas River

Part of Nature Walk at Tar Camp Park

Sunrise over the Arkansas River

Nice gravel patio with covered table!

Barge going down the Arkansas River

Barge Tug

 

The dogs are not all that fond of this park because the grass has burrs that stick to their feet.  We have to check feet, including ours, every time we come in and pull off the burrs.  Duke especially does not like that experience and he usually says ouch in dog language.  The first few days were quite warm with temps in the 80’s but a cold front came through last night and the temps fell to a high today in the 50’s with rain.  Our neighbors told us about a restaurant in town called the Mammoth Orange that serves really good hamburgers.  We decided to try it and looking at it from the outside there was no way we would have stopped if not for the recommendation.  I am glad we had the recommendation—it apparently is an old standby in the town of Redfield!

The Mammoth Orange!!

 

Thursday, we did the tourist thing and drove into Little Rock to visit the Clinton Library.  We enjoyed it very much and found it to be the best presidential library that we have visited.  I was glad to be able to refresh my memory on the accomplishments of President Clinton during his eight years in office.  

William J Clinton Library

Pedestrian Bridge

Clinton's Limo

Replica of cabinet room

Add caption

Replica of Oval Office

 

We also visited the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.  This is a small museum consisting of military memorabilia housed in the historic Arsenal Building where MacArthur was born.  Outside the museum is a Korean War Memorial.

Jeep used in World War II

Display at MacArthur Museum

Korean War Memorial

 

After our tourist stops, we decided to find Texas Roadhouse to have a nice lunch to celebrate my birthday.  We found it but it was not open until the dinner hour—bummer!  We had several other stops to make and figured we could find another restaurant somewhere.  On our way to Home Depot and Sam’s Club, we found and Applebee’s and had a nice leisurely lunch.

This about brings us up-to-date.  We have two more days here and then we move on to Texas.  We will make one overnight stop on Sunday and then finally arrive back at Lake Conroe in Willis, Texas on Monday.  Then our work begins as we unload the RV and move back into our cottage!  Looking forward to staying in one place for a while!!

EASY LIVING!!

End of Summer (Park City, KY - Charlestown, IN) Sept-Oct 2012

Summer has come to an end--at least in Kentucky and Southern Indiana.  We concluded our time at Diamond Caverns in Park City, Kentucky.  Our main purpose of staying so long was to bide the time until our annual doctors' visits.  While at Diamond Caverns, we participated in the weekly potluck suppers where there was always plenty of food.  One week I made a baked pasta dish and the next time I repeated my chicken chutney dish which is a heart-healthy dish.  On Tuesdays, we usually went to the Watermill Restaurant in Cave City.  The Tuesday buffet had a cost of only $7.00 plus drink and featured fried fish, another entree (one week was pot roast), mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, salad, mac and cheese.  Then if you haven't had enough to eat, there is always peach cobbler and banana pudding and either ice cream or sherbet for dessert.  YUM YUM YUM!!

Our only other activities during this period was a very welcome day visit from our son John.  We bought some really nice steaks and enjoyed them with him as a sort of early birthday dinner.  Always nice to see our children!!

Duke and Abby enjoyed walking around the campground each day.  However, with a shooting range next door, Abby usually went into hiding whenever she heard the pop, pop, pop of target shooting.  She is especially afraid of loud noises regardless of whether the source is thunder, fireworks or gunshots.

On October 6, we moved from Park City to Charlestown State Park in Charlestown, IN.  A massive cold front came through and we have pretty much spent the last few days indoors to escape the chilly wind.   It was nice to see all my friends again at St. Marks United Church of Christ in New Albany, IN.  We enjoyed a visit from both children, John and Cathy, after church on Sunday.  I fixed corned beef with mashed potatoes which has been a Cronin favorite for years!  No left-overs from that meal!

The rest of the week will be spent with doctors--Monday was blood work, starting Tuesday after supper I will be on a liquid diet in preparation for a colonoscopy (routine) which is scheduled for Thursday, next Monday is visit to primary care physician for annual exams, and Pat has a stress test next Tuesday.  Whew--we will be glad to have all this done.

We will probably try to squeeze in some fun times at New Albany's Harvest Homecoming.  St. Marks UCC, as a downtown church, uses Harvest Homecoming as an important fund raising with a parking lot, a flea market, and a food booth.  The funds raised are instrumental in funding the several missions of the church.

Recent books read include Private by James Patterson and The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.  Both were a good read!

Next posting will probably see us on the road back to Texas.

EASY LIVING!!

Michigan, Ohio, and Kentucky

Well I guess it is time to catch up on my posts.  As I said in my last post, we were going to Lake Michigan which we did.  These pictures were taken at Ludington State Park with its very pretty sand beach.

The campground called Vacation Station was very nice with concrete pads and patios and paved roads.  It was a very busy weekend as the summer season started winding down.  Our site was nice and long so there was plenty of room for the camper and the truck.

After our few days at Ludington, we departed and drove to Kalamazoo for a week's stay at Markin Glen County Park where we spent time last year.  Pat's brother Mike and his wife Joanne followed us from Ludington and they camped next door to us.  Even though the weather was still hot, we had a campfire and enjoyed each other's company for the week.

From Kalamazoo, we headed to Ohio so that we could meet my sister and husband for dinner.  We stayed at a campground close to the Ohio Turnpike in Milan, Ohio.  It was an OK place for a couple of days with the highlight being Sunday dinner with Valerie and Jim at Oberlin.  This is a picture of our campsite:

From Milan, we traveled south in Ohio to the Thousand Trails RV Park in Wilmington, Ohio (just north of Cincinnati).  This is a very peaceful park and we wish we could have stayed longer.  We will certainly keep it in mind for the future.  Across the road was a pasture with cows which Duke and Abby enjoyed visiting.  Of course, the pups were on their leashes and the cows were on the other side of a fence, but our two kids had to let their feelings known by barking at the cows.

From Wilmington we headed back to Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY.  Our original plan was to stay a few days and then continue south to Texas.  However, some personal issues came up so we have stayed and will be here until October when we will go back to Indiana to see our doctors for our annual exams.  While at Park City, we have had visits from our daughter and our son.  I spent a week with our daughter to take care of some personal business and was able to visit my former co-workers at Guthrie/Mayes Public Relations.  The only tourist type thing we have done was to go on a tour of the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, KY.  That was interesting to see the actual production and we were lucky to be able to see it.  The plant tours are now closed while they retool for the 2014 model.  Unfortunately no cameras are allowed so we couldn't take any pictures.  Our campsite is very nice with shade all day and we have enjoyed sitting outside now that the temperatures are more moderate. 

I continue to read my Kindle and have read the Fifty Shades of Grey series, M is for Malice by Sue Grafton, The Callahans (a family saga) by Gordon Ryan, and a couple of light romantic/mysteries by M.J. Pullen.

That's all for now. 

EASY LIVING!!

Axle Woes

Our original hope was that the new axle would be ready on Friday, August 10.  However, the manufacturer couldn't get it ready until Monday morning at the earliest.  That meant that we had to make alternative plans for our weekend since we couldn't pull the RV anywhere and our camping spot at the repair facility does not have full hook-ups. 

Fortunately, Pat's brother Mike lives in Michigan only about an hour away so we packed suitcases, dogs crates, some groceries, my Keurig for coffee, and dirty laundry (just like in college!) and headed up the road for the weekend.  We had a pleasant stay with Mike and Joanne and their dog Scooter except when Duke decided that he wanted to go for a run.  The first time he got out loose, he came back with no problem.  The second time we (he) was not so lucky--he headed down the road to visit a neighbor's boxer and decided to try to be the dominant dog which ended in a bit of a dog fight.  Needless to say, Duke was in the doghouse for the rest of the weekend.  The three Cronin dogs got along pretty well and after the initial get-acquainted period, they all settled down.

Scooter, Duke, and Abby

We had made plans to get together with some of Pat's nephews on Saturday evening.  One of them was sick and I was also sick so Pat, Mike, and Joanne meant the others and had a pleasant dinner. 

On Monday morning, we packed up everything (clean clothes this time) and returned to LaGrange, IN to get our camper.  However, when we got there, they didn't have the new axle and the repair folks wanted one more day to fix everything.  Back we went to the Michigan Cronin's for one more night. On the way, we passed some Bison grazing close to the road:

Tuesday morning, we called ahead and all was done so we headed back to LaGrange for the camper.  We paid the bill (insurance did cover the repairs!) and headed to a campground in Shipshewana for the night.  After we got hooked up, we discovered we were still having an electrical issue.  We disconnected the 50 amp cord and headed back to LaGrange.  It turned out that we had a situation that could have easily caused a fire--this time they replaced the plug that goes into the camper and all is now OK (whew!). 

On Wednesday, we had an appointment to have the axles aligned and then finally headed up to Ludington, Michigan (200 miles from Elkhart, IN).  Much cooler weather up here--it was in the 50's yesterday morning (Friday) and only in the 40's this morning.  It feels good to be in the low 70's during the day!  Hope this follows us as we head back south!!

We are going to Lake Michigan today so I will have pictures on the next post.

EASY LIVING!

Indiana Escapades (August 2012)

Okay so our plan was to leave Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY on August 2 but on July 31 we ran into electrical issues and thought it was poor power at the park.  We decided to go ahead and leave a couple of days early and head for Charlestown (IN) State Park.  Upon our arrival and while trying to plug in the camper, we discovered that our power cord plugged into the camper was broken so we had to rush to a camper supply store to buy a connector to temporarily fix our electrical problem.  It sort of worked but we still only seemed to have power on one leg of the 50 amp circuit.  We thought it was still a problem with the camper but could deal with it for the six days.  We did see several wild turkeys in the campground and paid a visit to a very old cemetery that is on the grounds of the old Indiana Ammunition Plant.

We were both glad that we moved to Charlestown a couple of days early.  It enabled us to meet a friend and her mom (Susan and DJ) for lunch at Chuys which was most enjoyable.  DJ was one of our neighbors in Georgetown and Susan's children and ours have been friends and classmates since elementary school.

Thursday, our daughter Cathy, her boyfriend Jesse, and good friend Tiffany and two sons came out to the campground for a cookout.  Of course the temps were probably the second hottest day of the year so we pretty much spent the time in the camper--5 adults, 2 children under the age of 5, and three dogs makes for a very crowded and hectic time.

Friday was a relaxing day and we met our good friends Rob and Becky for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. 

Saturday morning our son John came out to the campground to visit and enjoy our special Dutch oven breakfast casserole.  We had a very nice relaxing visit with him.

Sunday was church at St. Marks United Church of Christ in New Albany followed by lunch with some more friends.  This stop certainly was filled with visits with friends and family.  This time I remembered to take some pictures!



Mike, Tara and Mark



Christa, Bill, and our son John

Pat and John

On Monday, August 6 we left Southern Indiana with our destination in Northern Indiana for RV Repairs at Indiana Interstate Enterprises (Paul Cross).  When we plugged the camper into the RV repair place 50 amp, all looked OK.  Our conclusion is that we had two problems at the last two places--one was bad campground wiring and the other was our broken cord.  That problem has been solved but now we are sitting at the RV repair site waiting for a new axle.  Back in March when we first arrived at Lake Conroe, we apparently damaged one of the axles by driving partly through a ditch.  All seemed OK until we got here for repairs.  Upon close inspection, one of the axles is damaged beyond repair.  Hopefully, our insurance will cover the cost of the new one.  As a result, we will be in Lagrange, IN until Friday, Aug 10 or possibly until Monday depending on when the new one is ready.

Our plan is to move on into Michigan for a few weeks so stay tuned.  Never a dull moment in the RV lifestyle!!

EASY LIVING (?)!!

Alabama and back to Kentucky (July 2012)

As planned, we stayed at Diamond Caverns in Park City, KY until July 15.  We left the camper in storage (actually just had to leave it on the site and plugged in) and drove down I65 past Bowling Green, Nashville, and into Alabama to Hidden Cove RV Park in Arley.  This park is so far off the beaten path that we barely had cell service.  We got registered into the cabin which had a nice view of Lewis Smith Lake.  This lake is probably the clearest lake I have ever seen (unfortunately we do not have any pictures showing the clarity of it).  I did talk to some folks that were swimming in the lake and they told me that when the lake was created, there were some landowners who refused to leave their property.  The story goes that the authorities went ahead and flooded the land and those landowners subsequently perished (I am not sure this is really true).  The official report of the dam construction states:  "The projected flood zone was sparsely populated, although Clear Creek Falls—actually a pair of falls about a quarter mile apart in southeast Winston County—was a popular recreation spot for generations. In 1853, a post office was established near the falls and a small village, later known as Falls City, developed. But well before the dam's construction the town dwindled, a victim mainly of its remote location. In 1953, the U.S. Postal Service abolished the Falls City post office altogether. It is unclear from historical records just how many families were displaced by the dam project. In addition to buying out residents, the company also paid to have 78 graves relocated from four cemeteries that were in the dam's flood zone." 

View of Lewis Smith Lake

Cabin at Hidden Cove RV Park, Arley, AL

We were very disappointed in the cabin.  It was dirty, had broken electrical outlets, outlets that had shorted out, a stove that we couldn't light, and ants everywhere.  Our daughter, Cathy, arrived on Monday and by Tuesday, we had enough when the power went off and no one was around to fix it.  We packed up and drove back to the camper parked at Diamond Caverns.  On Wednesday, we had to call Hidden Cove to cancel our remaining days--their reaction was "the cabin is old".  That may be but it is no excuse for poor maintenance.  We will not return to that campground.  I don't know if we would even be able to get our camper into any of the sites.  Since we have been back at Diamond Caverns, we talked to some other folks who also had some trouble with reservations at Hidden Cove in Arley.

The rest of the week with Cathy and her dog Hallie was enjoyable.  Cathy and I toured Diamond Caverns, one of many caves in the area besides Mammoth Cave. 

Entrance to Diamond Caverns

Cathy waiting for tour to start

Cathy in cave

 Various pictures from inside the cave:

Vastness of the cave!

An altar in the cave--weddings were performed here at one time.

Susan on the way back up the steps!

If you look closely, you can see a drip of water.

Looks like a tree stump!  This one has been polished and
therefore will no longer grow.

This is similar to the previous picture but has not been polished
and is therefore still growing at a very slow pace.
It takes thousands of years for the formations to grow.

We also drove around the national park and saw several wild turkeys and deer. 

Mostly we just sat back and enjoyed visiting while trying to stay cool in the continuing hot weather.  

Cathy with all three dogs--Duke is under the blanket and Abby and Hallie are on top!

Cathy left to return to Southern Indiana on July 21. Since then, Pat and I have not done a whole lot.  We did visit the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.  When we first met, Pat had a 1982 Corvette so I had to take a picture of him next to the one at the museum.  He sold his when we started our family and built a house in Tecumseh, MI.  Needless to say, Corvettes are not very good family cars!

On August 2, we leave Park City and return to Charlestown, IN for a few days before continuing our trek north in search of cooler weather (also to visit family and friends)!  We have lots of plans for August and September, so stay tuned!!

EASY LIVING!