We’re in Blaine, Washington

August 1, 2015                                                                                                                     Lorraine’s report

Hello Washington!  Yes, we made it thought, even thought it rained on us before we hit the WA border.  I want to report that while we did have problems, we managed to get them cleared up and were able to move on.  Thank you Lord for that.  I was sure we would/could still be stuck some where in WA headed home.   But we did make it. 

Of course I had to see my sister, Thelma.  It was wonderful to see that they are okay, but still have lots of problems ahead of them they.  Please pray daily for them, they need all the help they can get.

Yesterday we went to the Arco/BP picnic for Friday night.  It was so nice to see and meet come of friends.  It was like old home week for us; we enjoyed the heck out of meeting and greeting them all.  Thank You for it all!

Thelma’s birthday is August 4th and my birthday is August 6 and we usually celebrate together.  It should be fun.

So now I am getting us ready to go to my sister,Thelma’s home for a big get together with the family.  I’m sure it will be fun, lots of food, fun times, and lots of visiting.

I am still missing Susy and Kaitlyn, but we will just have to wait until we see them again. 

Chuck has a lot to do to fix up the house, but we will endure that also..

That’s it for me.  Hope you enjoy the week. 

Hugs to all,

Lorraine

8/1/15                                                                                                                                         Chuck’s report

Before I forget, Lorraine and her sister both have birthdays this week, Thelma on the 4th and Lorraine on the 6th.  Happy Birthday to both of you.  They are planning on a combined celebration tomorrow at Thelma’s house. 

Last Sunday we left the Salem, Oregon area and continued our trip North.  Our plan was to stay at the Rochester, Washington Lucky Eagle Casino for the night.  As were were driving up, Lorraine called her high school friend and we met Judy and her husband Bruce at the casino buffet.  It was nice to get caught up on their lives since we last saw them, they are sure busy folks.  Thanks for taking time to drive over and visit with us, we enjoyed it. 

Next morning I was out walking Misty and asked one of the maintenance guys if it was ok to wash our rig.  He said it was no problem so we made plans to do that.  Our experience at this park is it is mostly just for overnighters and it empties out pretty quick in the mornings.  But just our luck, our neighbors on both sides decided to stay one more day so there we were, in an empty park except for the three of us. 

I didn’t really want to get their rigs wet when I washed ours so we decided to move to a different site to wash the coach.  Before we did that, I took all the throw rugs outside to wash them while Lorraine started doing a load of laundry.  We’ve stayed there before but I had forgotten they don’t have sewer hookups at each site.  Usually that isn’t a problem as our holding tanks are large enough to hold three days worth of water with no problem but with the extra water from doing the laundry we would just drive over to the on-site dump before returning back to our site.

It’s been awhile since we’ve washed the coach, the Elks lodge in Santa Clara doesn’t allow it and we were there for 4 months so the coach was really dirty.  I washed the roof first, boy was there lots of chalking from the fiberglass up there, it doesn’t have a clear coat.  Of course, all that chalk stuff runs down the sides and it really looks bad.  But with Lorraine helping, we washed the side that was in the shade and followed the shade to do the other side.  But we were facing South and unless we wanted to wait until dusk, we had to wash the front portion in the full sun.  No problem as we use a squeegee to dry the windshield and dry the rest with wash cloths.

It took us just over two hours but it looks pretty good once again.  I’ve said it before but the only time I would like to have a smaller rig is when we are washing it and when we are buying fuel.  I took a couple aspirin as I figured I would be a bit sore but it wasn’t too bad although I did sleep well that night. 

We then drove over to the dump site and emptied our black and grey tanks.  We had to leave the park area to turn around and the best place was to drive through their gas station so we filled the tank while we were there so now we were almost ready to travel. 

We pulled back into our original site, set up and headed over to the casino for dinner.  We just went to the café as the buffet would have been too much two days in a row.  

Of course while we were there we had to play the slots.  The first day was a good one for Lorraine, she had a couple of machines that treated her pretty nice.  I was also able to walk away with some of their money, just not as much as Lorraine had.  The second day Lorraine couldn’t find a good machine but she was still up for the trip.  I won $2 but better than losing. 

Tuesday we were heading out for a short day’s drive, only going to Mt. Vernon, Washington.  I had an appointment at the Freightliner shop to have our rig worked on.  We have a Spartan chassis and they notified us of a safety recall that we needed to have done.  I had it scheduled at a place in California but they went out of business.  I had the part with us and I checked with the shop and they had the instructions from Spartan so we should be good to go. 

We drove up to 1000 Trails in Bow Hill for the night.  This was our first time there so we had to drive around a bit to find a spot that was large enough, level enough and hopefully had enough open area through the trees to get satellite reception.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get TV reception, even repositioned the coach three time but no luck, it’s been a long time since we have been unable to connect.  No problem however as we have a good collection of movies with us so we would just watch movies for the night.  Once again, they don’t have sewer hookups at each site here but having just dumped our tanks, we were good to go. 

We unhooked the car and headed out to the shop to see what their procedure for check in would be.  They told us where they wanted us to park in the morning and we filled out the paperwork while we were there.  They told us they are open 24 hours/day this time of the year and they had a tech assigned to us who has done this recall work before. 

We needed to be at the shop by 10:00 and it was about 15 miles away.  We left in plenty of time, got there about 9:40 or so and got checked in.  The recall papers said it should take about 3 1/2 hours to complete this job but because this place doesn’t work on Spartan chassis often, they told us it might take longer. 

We hung around for an hour and the coach hadn’t been moved into the shop yet.  I asked why and was told the tech was finishing up a job that was taking longer than expected but he would get to ours as soon as he was finished with the one in the bay.  So we headed out to IHOP for breakfast. 

Our friends, Joe and Alice, had called to let us know they were driving down to a doctor’s appointment nearby and wanted to know if we would meet them for lunch after their appointment.  I told them we would unless they finished up with our repairs and would talk with them later. 

We got back and sure enough, the coach was in the repair bay.  They told us he just got started and it was now his lunchtime and he would get on it after lunch.  I always disliked someone standing/looking over my shoulder when I was working and didn’t want to bother them too much so we left once again and drove over to Camping World.  As luck would have it, Joe and Alice were there too, they were early for the doctor and spent some time at Camping World.  We had a quick visit and told them we hoped to see them for lunch. 

After leaving Camping World, I drove back to the shop to see what progress had happened.  The recall is to replace a power steering box and to get it out, they had to basically dismantle the whole power steering system and remove some of the front suspension parts.  They assured me nothing they were doing would affect our front end alignment, I was worried about that. 

Well, they didn’t even have it  apart yet, it was welded in place and they were trying to figure out the “best way” to do the job.  I asked what the instructions from Spartan said so they checked and sure enough, there was their answer.  Bad sign, not reading the instructions. 

By now Alice was finished with her appointment so we agreed to meet them for lunch at one of the local casinos.  Joe suggested going to Swinomish Casino to their sports bar.  He said they have a great hamburger special as well as a full menu.  We got there, met up with them and headed for lunch.  I had the hamburger special but Lorraine noticed they had fresh halibut so that’s what she ordered.  We had a good meal and a great visit, thanks Joe and Alice. 

I called the shop while we were there and they told me things were progressing nicely.  I asked if they had a guess on the time they would finish and they told me if we got there by 4:30 or so, they should be finished. 

We got there about 4 and checked in at the service desk.  Well, they had another problem and escorted me back to the shop to show me what was happening.  They had removed all the parts but couldn’t get a bracket to come off a shaft, it was seized.  They tried lots of “tricks” but it wouldn’t move.  The instructions said to NOT use heat so they were a bit limited but they had it in a 100 ton press when I saw it.  The tech activated the press while I was there and the bracket did start to slide off the shaft, yea.  They were pleased and suggested we leave again and return back in a couple of hours.

So off we went to another local casino, Angel of the Winds.  Lorraine has always liked this place so it wasn’t hard to get her to agree to go there.  We checked in and they gave us $10 in free slot play, good deal.  Lorraine managed to turn her $10 into a hundred while I only won $7 but once again, we were both up, Lorraine way up, almost made the waiting worth it. 

After playing the slots for a couple of hours, we headed back to the shop.  We found they had most of it put back together but hadn’t started the welding yet.  The foreman told us things were going well (a common phrase from him I found out) but he doesn’t/won’t give finish times.  We went to the customer’s lounge and watched TV for awhile, by now it was 8:00.  I kept checking in with the foreman and always got the same reply, things are going well.  About 10:30 I asked to go back and see what was happening and found the tech was unable to get one nut back on.  He said he wasn’t sure if the threads were bad on the nut or on the shaft and he didn’t have a large enough thread tap/die to clean it up. 

The foreman said they would probably have to order a new piece, tie rod I think, in the morning and it wouldn’t arrive until Friday at the earliest.  Now why couldn’t he have offered that information a few hours earlier so we could have made some decisions?  So at 11 pm, we grabbed a few things from the coach and headed out to a hotel for the rest of the (short) night. 

Next morning I called to see what was happening and the gal told me the coach was finished, had been test driven and everything was good to go.  What a good surprise.  But I was worried she might have made a mistake so didn’t really get my hopes up too high.  The hotel had a fairly good breakfast so we ate there before going to the shop.  Once we got there, I couldn’t find our coach, it wasn’t in the parking lot or in the service bay.  I drove around the shop and found it on the backside, plugged in to keep the batteries charge.  I checked it over and everything seemed to be back in place and the weld looked good. 

We went to the service desk and they said the night tech was able to get the tie rod connected once he found a new nut.  Whew, that was good deal, no more waiting.  I wasn’t sure what this was going to cost us, they had worked on the coach for about 12 hours and the recall said 3 1/2 hours.  When we got the paperwork, they only charged $400 something for labor, it was all covered by Spartan on the recall and all we had to do was sign and leave.  I bet they don’t like those kind of jobs but except for not keeping us informed of the problems at all times, they did a good job and we would return to them if/when needed in the future.  I don’t know if Spartan will pay for their extra hours or not but I do know they worked on it for a long time. 

We hooked up the car and got ready for travel, again a short drive.  We are staying at 1000 Trails here in Birch Bay and they have two sections here.  The old section has lots of trees and have the utilities set up such that four sites share them.  There is one 50 amp hook up at each set up and is taken by the first one who connects to it, the others get 30 amp.  The other section is pretty open, no trees and they have it set up with the utilities shared by two people, one in each directions.  But this section doesn’t have any 50 amp power, only 30 amp. 

We checked in and I walked around to see what site we could get that would allow us to connect to 50 amp and get satellite reception through all the trees.  The place is pretty full but I found two sites that might work and returned to get the coach.  I unhooked the car and drove over to the first place I wanted to try.  As luck would have it, a better site opened while I was gone and we snagged it.  We are able to get TV reception, have full hookups with 50 amp power, water and sewer.  So we can run both of our air conditioners and do laundry here. 

Once we got set up, Lorraine called and we went over to visit with her sister, Thelma and husband, John.  John has been going through some serious medical issues but was having a good day he said.  We had a good visit but when John appeared to be getting tired, we left.  I would like to ask everyone to put John in their prayers and we hope for a good outcome. 

Friday I called the guy who had been working on our house and he agreed to meet me at the house.  I drove over early but I had him change the locks a couple of weeks ago so I didn’t even have keys to get inside.  I did look over the new decks he had built for us and saw he did a good job with them.  He also had do a LOT of cleaning up outside, even had his wife and son working in the yard. 

Tom got there at 8 and we walked through the house.  I was very disappointed to find the contractor working on the fire damage repair had not been to the house in over two weeks.  They have finished the major restoration in the bedroom where the fire was but haven’t started replacing the flooring, in fact, they haven’t even removed the old laminate yet.   They also have to replace one window and a whole door, frame and all. 

Tom has done lots of good work in/around the house but it still needs lots of work to get it ready to put on the market.  The house sure doesn’t show any pride of ownership for sure but after being rented for the past 7 years, I guess I didn’t expect it to look like we still lived there. 

I plan on making some hookups and moving our motorhome over there so we can get things going.  I called the contractor doing the restoration and his boss to let them know I was disappointed in their work.  They did do a good job getting rid/covering the smoke smell however.  The boss said he would have the project manager meet me at the house on Monday to address my complaints/concerns.  We’ll see how it goes, hoping they get going now that we’re here and I don’t have to get a different company. 

When I got back to the coach, Lorraine told me she had made an appointment at her hair dresser.  The last time she went to a salon she was not satisfied with the outcome so she really wanted to see her normal gal.  We made a quick trip to town then I dropped her off.  I went over to fill the car with gas then waiting until she was done, much better this time and she was happy too. 

We returned to the coach to feed/walk Misty then went to the refinery annual picnic.  This is a two day affair but we usually only attend on Friday, seems to be more old-timers/retirees on Friday.  When I started working at the refinery back in ‘72 there was less than 200 people working there.  Now they have about 1000 I heard, including the marketing department that moved in after I retired.  With that many people working there, on Saturday there are so many folks who I don’t know that we are almost lost.  Plus Saturday is the busiest day, they have the big BBQ.  They cook a whole calf, whole pig, tons of fresh salmon, lots of salads and the like. 

Anyway, we did get to see a bunch of the folks I worked with before I retired.  The retirees have cooked hamburgers and hot dogs at the Friday picnic for a lot of years and it’s good to see them.  Plus lots of other retirees are there too. We had a good time seeing some of our friends and coworkers as always.  It’s always sad to hear the names of folks who have passed in the last year, this year being no exception. 

All of the folks we talked with told Lorraine they couldn’t even tell she had a stroke a few months ago.  She has a homework book but she hasn’t opened it since leaving the Bay area.  But daily living is also a good therapy and she didn’t have any problem with the crowd at the picnic yesterday and of course the slots were no problem for her either, ha. 

Susy is recovering well too, she is working 1/2 time now.  Her work is all on a computer so she is able to do that half time at home this week so she isn’t having to drive during the rush hour traffic down there.  Lorraine mentions almost every day how she is missing Susy and Katie. 

We did get some bad news about one of my good friends.  Glen and Jan’s grand daughter graduated high school last month and was in a car accident yesterday.  She was killed in the accident.  We are so sorry to hear about that and offer our condolence and prayers to you and your family.  May God be with you during this very trying/heartbreaking time.  I can’t imagine what you are going through but if we can help in any way, please let us know. 

The weather has been very warm this past week.  We were in the upper 90s in Oregon and not much less now that we are in Washington.  There have been more 90 degree days this year than I can remember, in fact, the TV news said the most since ‘58.  Plus they had a comparably warm winter with very little snow.  Yesterday the temp was in the upper 80s and it was HOT.  The forecast is for a bit lower temps but no sign of rain in the near future. 

We have found that almost every time we return to Washington it rains on us as we cross the border.   This time we actually got some rain in Oregon the day before we left.  It didn’t rain on us as we crossed the border but it did rain on us it at mile marker 12.  I guess the rain is sort of a “Welcome Home” to us or something. 

Like I said, our travel plans are only to move over to our house after we get hookups there.  I don’t know how long we will be in the area but do plan to see old friends and lots of family while here along with working at the house.  I don’t think I can do a full days hard work but I sure plan on giving it a shot. 

A couple of my friends have offered to help when I need some extra muscle, I’ll take you up on that I’m sure.  Plus our friend Tim is going to meet me at the house on Monday to see what he needs to do for hooking up the electrical power for us.  Thanks Tim, I’m sure not good on that electrical stuff for sure as you well know.   

I’ll check our camera and add some pictures Lorraine has taken lately. 

Showing the difference between an irrigated field and one that isn’t. 

  

Here are some pictures of Lake Shasta showing how low the water level is.  In a good year, the water level is up to the trees. 

  

  

It is good to see the mountains and trees. 

  

  

 

Proof of the rain, this was an accident that stopped traffic for about 20 miles or so. 

  

Thanks   Chuck

685

We’re in Keiser, Oregon

 

July 25, 2015                                                                                                                           Lorraine’s report

So we are back on the road, headed into Washington!  Yea, it is nice to finally be back on the road after such a long, tiring process.  I can not tell you how great is is to be back on the road.  I wasn’t sure I would make it, but with Chuck pushing me forward to complete all my stuff, I felt like I could make it.  Thank you Chuck, with you I can do most anything!!!

I want to thank Susy and Kaitlyn and Mike and Mark for helping me through the “Hard Times” we went thought.  It was hard, but with my family & friends, we make it until we completed.  Thank you everyone!!!  It was scary and to have to go with it was so hard, but we make it!

So now, we are headed home to see my sister, Thelma and her family.  I still pray for her and her problems; I pray God will help them through these “hard times.”

So that is it for me, I’m happy to be “going home”.  Have a safe trip and we’ll see you “down the road”. 

Hugs,

Lorraine

7/25/15                                                                                                                                      Chuck’s report

Yes, we are back on the road, heading towards Washington.  I thought about sending out an update before we left but just didn’t get around to it until tonight. 

In our last blog we were waiting for Lorraine’s neurologist visit, hoping he would give his approval for us to leave.  Once again, he was pleased with Lorraine's progress and said we could leave with his blessing.  He did say he didn’t think Lorraine was at risk for any more stroke episodes from her aneurysms, in fact, he said he didn’t think she was at risk more than someone who had never had a previous stroke, yea.  We liked to hear that as he originally said we shouldn’t leave the Bay area doctors for maybe up to two years. 

Susy had her follow-up doctor visit on Monday.  She said Susy could stop using her neck brace, start driving again and return to work on a limited basis.  Good new on that front too, yea. 

Although we’ve really enjoyed being around Susy and Katie for the all this time, I’m sure they are glad to get their lives back to normal once again.  Lorraine and I are glad to be able to resume our travels once again and return to our normal travel mode. 

We left Santa Clara on Tuesday morning.  We did not move the coach for the four months we were there and I was a bit nervous about something not working.  But everything worked normally, only problem was one HWH jack didn’t come up all the way and needed some assistance with a 2 X 4 but it worked fine since. 

Our first night’s stop was at Rolling Hills Casino just South of Corning, CA.  Everything worked fine on the way and no issues when we set up either.  Surprise, we did go inside the casino too, both of us even won this time plus we had a great buffet there too.  We only stayed the one night and next morning headed out continuing our trip.  

Second night we spent at 7 Feathers Casino and Campground in Canyonville, Oregon.  This is one of the nicest campgrounds we’ve found in our travels and we like to stop there whenever we are in the area.  We had another great buffet here too but weren’t as lucky on the slots here. Once again, this was just an overnight stop and we were back on the road in the morning. 

We drove up to Salem area here in Oregon where we stopped at a Speedco Truck oil/lube place to get some of our annual service done on our coach.  We had the oil and filters changed in the coach and the on-board generator and the coach greased as well.  We normally have this service done in April but were a couple of months late this year due to sitting so long in California.  I checked and I think we only drove 7,000 some miles this year so this service was one that was due by the calendar, not the odometer. 

We left Speedco and drove over to the Elks Lodge in Keiser, our normal stop when in the area.  They have 45 sites here and only had two open when we got here.  We had to take a back-in site and the roads are a bit narrow so it makes it harder to get in place.  But with Lorraine’s direction we made it with no problems.  We got set up and headed over to the lodge for dinner, we happened to hit it for their steak night. 

Friday morning we went to the large outlet mall in Woodburn, Lorraine likes this place.  We picked up a few items then drove into Clackamas to a shoe store Lorraine really likes.  This place carries wide shoes, hard to find them in most stores but they specialize in wide shoes.  Lorraine found two pair she really likes so we bought them for her (Happy Birthday Hon).

On the way back we stopped at a Wal-Mart to pick up some stuff we needed then called it a day.  We headed back to the Lodge for dinner once again.  They have a very nice restaurant and have specials most nights but also you can order off the menu which is what we did. 

Today we planned on just having a quiet, laid back day after three days of travel plus one day of shopping.  Lorraine did want to go to Fred Meyer, a chain of stores in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.  It’s been awhile since she’s been in one and wanted to walk the whole store.  I made my normal quick walk through then told Lorraine I would wait outside for her. 

We plan on heading out tomorrow and stopping at Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, Washington for a couple of days.  Lorraine wants to visit with one of her friends from back in high school days.  Judy and Bruce have lived in the area for awhile and this will be the third time we’ve stopped and visited with them.  Plus it makes for a fairly short travel day.

I have an appointment at the Freightliner shop to get a recall done on our Spartan coach on Thursday in Mt. Vernon.  I had the parts shipped to a repair shop in California back in October but we just couldn’t work out a schedule to get it done.  I went by and picked up the parts and planned to have the work done in February but with Susy’s surgery I didn’t give them a call.  I did call them before we left this time and found the shop is now closed, shoot.  So next best was to find someone along our route.  The company suggested this place in Mt. Vernon so I called them and made an appointment back in mid June.  Looks like we will be able to get this done on our way through, only taking one day.

Lorraine has been just fine with this traveling thing, no problems.  We both are missing Susy and Katie but Lorraine calls everyday for a “fix”.  Katie went to Disneyland with her dad for the weekend, hope they are having lots of fun. 

We have reservations at 1000 Trails in Blaine for two weeks and hope to make some hookups at our house and will move over there when they are done.  Our house is empty now and we a want to get it repaired, cleaned, on the market and sold before fall sets in.  We still have two different contractors working on the house, one is repairing damage from the fire, the other is getting the place repaired and cleaned.  We also need to go through the shop while we are there and get rid of lots of stuff we have stored. 

The weather has been nice this week, a bit cooler when while we were in California although it did get hot once we started traveling through the Sacramento Valley.  It was in the high 90s when we were at Rolling Hills, thankfully we had full hook-ups with 50 amp service so we could run both air conditioners.

Today we had lots of clouds in the morning and even got a short rain shower.  It’s been awhile since we’ve had a rain and Lorraine was joking that we usually get rained on as we cross the Washington border.  This time it just came a bit early, ha. 

I know Lorraine took a few pictures as we were traveling but I haven’t downloaded them so none to add here this week. 

Thanks   Chuck

624

We’re in Santa Clara, California

 

July 12, 2015                                                                                                                           Lorraine’s report

Hello from Santa Clara.  It is so nice to be almost done with alllll the therapy and stuff I have been going through…It has been a longgg haul for me.  Thank you Lord for all you have done for me, I am so thankful for all your of your great and wondrous thoughts and deeds that you have given me.  Thank you Lord for it all.  I am so grateful for it.

Thursday was a good day for me even though I had to say good bye to one of my therapists.  What a nice gal.  She sure put me through a bunch of stuff, but I came through with flying colors, and I am better for it.  Thank you Kim!!  You know, this was the 2nd/3rd time I have gone through some of this “therapy”  stuff.  Hope it doesn’t happen again.  If I do, well, this gal was sure good to help me.  

Some of the writing is still hard for me but I am getting it again.  I just have to slow down and at times retype it.  As I have said, I just need to just slow down and rethink it again. 

I have tried to remember some of the things that happened when I had my “time out”, when I had the stroke.  It was pretty awful!!!  It took me a few hours/week to remember and try to piece some of it together.  And  I can’t remember parts of the stroke; it was pretty traumatic for me.

So now I hope we can move on and get on with our lives.  We saw one of new doctor’s last week (the surgeon) and he said we need to get back to our lives.  It was so good to hear that Doctor say that to me.  I just can’t tell you how much that means to me;  I’m getting another chance to go forward.  Thank you all for all you have done for me.  I can’t tell you what that means to me. Thank you!

Until next time…Hugs to all, 

Lorraine

 

7/12/15                                                                                                                                      Chuck’s report

I checked our calendar and counted the number of doctor and therapist appointments Lorraine has had since we came here after her stroke on March 22.  I couldn’t count the ones when she was in the hospital after her stroke or when she was having her procedures done.  So in April, May, June and July, she has been to a doctor 19 times and worked with a therapist 37 times.  I figure in just 101 days she has had 57 visits, more than one ever other day and none of these visits were on a weekend.  In the beginning, she had three different therapists seeing her twice a week but for the last two months its just been the speech therapist. 

But I must say, everything seems to be falling place as well as we had hoped now.  Lorraine saw her GP doctor this week and once again got good news/results from her.  She said she didn’t have any problems with us traveling but does want to see Lorraine in 4 – 6 months.

She also had a visit with her speech therapist and she also says Lorraine is progressing very well and suggests she stop therapy and see what happens.  She also had no problem with us getting back to a traveling lifestyle and told us if we though Lorraine needed more therapy that most hospitals could help us find someone. 

Lorraine has one more doctor visit, she see’s her neurologist for a follow-up on Thursday, its been three months since she’s seen him.  At that time he was recommending that we plan on staying in this area for up to two years because of her medical issues.  But in that three months a lot has happened so we are planning on him also giving her the green light to resume a more normal life. 

We’ve discussed our traveling lifestyle and won’t plan on going/staying in remote, more out of the way, areas as much.  We will try to stay closer to cities that have good medical facilities in case we need one.  But that probably will not limit us too much, when I look back at our travels we haven’t been out of touch for more than a week at a time very often.  So based on that, I think we won’t have to change much, maybe a little more advance planning, stay out of West Texas and maybe not drive to Alaska through BC and the Yukon. 

But I will say, every time we’ve had a medical issue on the road, we’ve always been very satisfied with the medical people we’ve found with one exception, a doctor in the hospital in Bullhead City who was very hard to work with.   After we fired that doctor, the replacement guy and the care Lorraine got at that hospital was very good. 

Susy is also recovering nicely and she sees her surgeon for a follow-up on Monday the 20th.  We are planning on her getting the ok to resume with her life too, mostly being able to drive as she is doing just fine except for that.  She will probably get a different neck brace to wear whenever she is in a car, something a little smaller that will allow her to turn her head. 

If Susy does get released to drive on Monday we are thinking we will leave here on Tuesday or Wednesday and head North to Washington.  We will probably take a week to get back home, we don’t have to hurry.  But we are both getting “hitch itch” after being here this long.  Lorraine said this is the longest we’ve been in one spot since we’ve been on the road except for the time I took a part time job back home in 2010. 

I got a text message message from an app on my phone, Gas Buddy, letting me know the price of gas would be increasing in California this week due to lower storage inventory.  Today on the news I heard prices went up $0.40 to $1.00 a gallon in Southern California over the past two days.  It’s only gone up about $0.15/gal here but this is just in time for us to resume travels, go figure.  I don’t know if the prices will be going up elsewhere but what starts in California usually goes throughout the rest of the US quickly.   

The weather has been a bit cooler this week, highs only getting to the high 70s, low 80s.  Even around Sacramento the highs have only been in the lower 90s the last couple of days, not bad for this time of the year.  I doubt if these lower temps well still be around when we travel through there in 10 days but one could hope. 

I checked and once again there aren’t any pictures to add this week.  Instead I guess I’ll just close up and get this posted. 

Thanks   Chuck

515

We’re in Santa Clara, California

July 5, 2015                                                                                                                              Lorraine’s report

Happy 4th of July.  Hope you all enjoyed our holiday.  I know we did and we so thank all the service men and women who helped keep our country safe and sound.  It  has been a nice week here.  Hope all is well.  Take care…Hugs,

Lorraine

7/5/15                                                                                                                                      Chuck’s report

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July yesterday and are still enjoying the holiday weekend.  I know we did. 

Just a short update here.  Lorraine is still doing just fine, tomorrow will be a week since her procedure to repair the brain aneurysm.  After her stroke she was sent to a specialist who checked her brain to see if there was any problems.  He found she had two aneurysms in two different places which just happened to correspond to the areas in her brain where she had both this stroke and a prior one in 2012. 

We elected to have him repair the aneurysms by working inside her veins vs through her skull.  He makes a small incision in her leg to gain access to her veins so he can run a camera and other tools all the way up to her brain.  The repair was to put a coil inside, lots of coil, enough to basically fill the whole thing.  Then he would inject a cement type solution inside to finish the job. 

She had two different type of aneurysms, one was like a balloon with a small “neck”.  This one was only required the above treatment.  The other was more like a box or large “neck” type.  The difference with this one was if he filled it with the coil and cement, it could fall out later and block the main artery, not a good thing.  For this one, he would need to put a stent in the main artery, allow it to become firmly attached and then later, in her case 6 weeks later, go back in and put the coil and cement solution. 

When he repaired the first one, he also inserted the stent for the second.  This procedure when well and now we only had to wait the 6 weeks for the second one.  Last Monday she had the second one filled and once again everything went well, no problems.  We have to see 4 of her doctors this month for follow-ups and we are going to try to get permission from each for us to travel afterwards. 

Susy is also continuing to recover from her surgery.  She had two disks removed and three vertebras fuse in her neck.  She is still wearing a neck brace, mostly just when she is in the car and when she is laying down.  But she doesn’t have permission from her doctor to drive yet so she has to rely on someone else to pick her up and bring her back.  We try to be there for her as much as we can and she either spends the day at our place or we spend our day at hers.  I know she is really wanting to get her independence back as soon as possible!  Only good thing is she hasn’t been able to go back to work but that’s just a view from an old retired fart. 

Katie is on summer vacation from school and is busy doing lots of activities.  For example, yesterday she and her dad went to a 4th of July parade in the morning, an amusement park in the afternoon and watched a fireworks display even later.  She had a busy day but then, most of her days are filled with lots of activities. 

We were at Susy’s place yesterday where we had a very nice BBQ pork rib dinner with fruits, potato salad, Costco Apple pie (yea Dave, that one) and a cake decorated up for the 4th.  For sure no one was hungry after all that.  Thanks for a very good day Susy!

We are hoping to get back up to Washington in August, leaving here after Lorraine’s last doctor visit.  Lorraine’s sister Thelma’s birthday is two days before Lorraine’s (August 6th) and Lorraine would like to celebrate together once again.  Thelma and her husband John will also have been married 50 years this August and we would like to be there for that occasion as well. 

We are also having work done on our house we still own back home.  We had a fire inside one of the bedroom in April and the insurance repair folks are still doing repairs.  We are getting the house ready for sale and will get it on the market as soon as possible.  Even though I have a good guy helping out up there, I would like to be around too. 

This guy has replaced both of the decks and will be doing more work on the outside of the house to get it in better shape.  The house is on the water and gets lots of storm/wind/sun exposure and even though the siding is vinyl, the exposed wood on the eves, window and door frames and such needs to be cleaned and painted.  Plus he is going to wash all the vinyl, I guess it’s pretty dirty too. 

After renting out our house for the past 7 years, there is some work that also needs to be done on the inside too.  We aren’t sure of the scope of work for that just yet but the realtor and the contractor will be doing a walk-thru, checking everything out and will make a list of items needing work on Tuesday. 

We also have a large shop that we have been storing some stuff in since we’ve been on the road.  We are going to attempt to go through all the stuff and get rid of most of it.  We are thinking of hiring an auction company to handle it once we pick out the things we want to keep.  We will probably buy one of those POD storage units or something to keep our remaining items somewhere until we find a place to settle down someday. 

So if you know of someone who would like to have a nice house and shop right on the salt water on Bellingham Bay, let us know.  Here’s hoping we have it sold by Labor day!!  It really is in a good location, just South of Ferndale, not too far from Bellingham and a nice, no traffic drive to work at the refinery or aluminum plant. 

The weather has once again been really nice here over the past week, high 80s even a couple of 90s.  Like I’ve said before, this area would be on our short list of places to settle down except for three things, 1. Way too many people and all the problems from that 2. Its California and comes with all the high taxes and fees they have imposed and 3. The prices for everything, especially houses, is just too high.  But it is a nice area and we like being close to Susy and Katie. 

I didn’t check to see if we have any pictures so will just finish up and get this posted now. 

Thanks   Chuck

 

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We’re in Santa Clara, California

 

6/29/15                                                                                                                                        Chuck’s report

I wanted to send out an update on Lorraine’s latest aneurysm repair.  Very short version is she came through with flying colors once again. 

Longer version, we got to the hospital by 6:15 am this morning.  The nurse took her into the waiting room and prepped her with the IV and such.  She came and got me a couple of times to help with the paperwork then I was able to stay with Lorraine after the 2nd time.  The gas passer came by and talked with us about what he was going to do and asked if we had any questions.  A short while later the operating room nurse came by to take her to into the operating room at 7:58, not bad for an 8:00 schedule.

Having been through this before, I hung around outside in the hallway and caught the doctor as he was headed towards the operating room and talked with him for a bit.  He said he would be finished in less than an hour and would see me again afterwards. 

I walked the hallways for awhile, tried reading a magazine then returned back to the hallway to wait for the doctor when he came out of the operating room.  An hour passed, then 90 minutes.  By now, I was thinking all kinds of bad thoughts, he said he would be done in less than an hour.  About 9:50 I saw him and asked why so long.  He said he was doing paperwork and everything had gone extremely well, whew.  He told me if there were any problems that they would show up in the recovery room or even in her stay in the ICU but that Lorraine had done very well on the “table”.   

He did say the gas passer had thought the procedure would take longer and Lorraine was really out and it would be 15 minutes or so before she would be transferred to the recovery room and I could see her as they wheeled her out if I waited in the hallway. 

Soon I did see then wheeling Lorraine out in a hospital bed but she was still pretty much out of it.  I could get her to open her eyes and knew she was able to talk a bit but that was about all.  But she didn’t appear to be showing any bad symptoms, at least any I could see. 

I had to wait in the waiting room while she was in the recovery room but the volunteer at the front desk checked on her a couple of times and gave me updates that all appeared to be well in there.  A little more than an hour later they were wheeling Lorraine out of recovery and headed towards ICU and I could walk alongside and talk with Lorraine.

She had a very bad headache but they did give her some pain medication and it was getting better.  Once again, I didn’t detect any symptoms that she was having any problems and the recovery room nurse said the same thing.  Lorraine was holding a cup of ice chips so they had allowed her that much at least and they said she didn’t have any problems swallowing, one common issue from this procedure and I was glad she didn’t have any problems with that. 

I had to wait while they got her transferred over to her regular bed in ICU then was allowed in.  She was allowed to move around some in bed but she had to keep her right leg straight and not move it from the hip for 4 hours.  This was because they inserted the camera and other tools in her femur artery and they wanted to make sure the “plug” they used to seal it off had time to do it’s thing without any movement.  She was doing well but was still very tired, sleeping off/on for the first two hours or so. 

The nurse gave her more ice chips, some ice water and a cup of Jello, she was happy to have that as she hadn’t had anything to eat since about 9 pm yesterday evening.  I asked the nurse if Lorraine could have a liquid diet lunch delivered late and she said she would see if she could make that happen.  About an hour later they came by with a tray with some chicken soup, iced tea and another cup of Jello.  They also gave her a menu so she could order a regular, full meal deal for dinner. 

She enjoyed this light lunch and didn’t have any problems swallowing except for a sour throat from the breathing tube she had while in the operating room.  And she was hungry and wanted to have her dinner delivered on the first delivery if possible.  She ordered turkey dinner with gravy and said it was really good.

About 5:00 she was allowed to sit up for the first time since 8:00 this morning.  I was pleased to see that she wasn’t dizzy at all and was able to stand and turn around just fine, yea.  She was only up for about 5 minutes before she had enough but she did just great. 

I was getting pretty tired, didn’t sleep well last night and got up early this morning.  The day shift nurse was working a 12 hour shift and getting off at 7 so I wanted to wait around to see the oncoming nurse before I left.  But it was only a few minutes after 7 when I did leave after meeting the night shift nurse. 

Susy’s was watching our dog so I didn’t have to make a quick run every four hours or so to walk or feed her.  Susy is still recovery from her neck surgery earlier this month and can’t drive yet so I really appreciate her taking care of Misty for me. 

When I left the hospital I just came back to our rig, ate a quick meal and started this note.  I’ll be going back to the hospital about 8 tomorrow morning and the doctor told us he would probably allow her to check out before noon tomorrow so that’s our plan, have her back home by noon tomorrow.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers and good thoughts for Lorraine as she went through this one more time.  Like I said, everything is fine and we don’t anticipate any problems to crop up overnight although that is why she is in ICU, she gets more attention from the nurses there than if she was in a regular room. 

Susy posted a note on Facebook about Lorraine and she was able to read it and all the replies.  She was happy that so many people were praying for her and wants to thank them.  I’m sure she will be sending out her thanks on facebook tomorrow.

On a side note, I would like everyone to put my BIL John in their prayers.  He has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and needs all the prayers he can get.  Too bad we can’t be there to help you and Thelma at this time but we have to take care of Lorraine’s issues down here.  But we do have you in our thoughts and prayers everyday! 

Thanks   Chuck

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We’re in Santa Clara, California

 

June 27, 2015                                                                                                                          Lorraine’s report

I  just want to say “Happy Birthday to Rick.”  I really miss him, hope we can see you soon…

Today I had my hair done.  Chuck’s haircut turned out fine, by my hair cut/color was awful.  It was all black, she said it would wash out, but it was waaay too dark and I hated it.  She did it over and it is still way too dark.   It will take a long time for it to grow out.  I have to have someone that will listen to me and have it turn okay.  So that is it for me.  Have a good one.  Hugs,  Lorraine

 

6/27/15                                                                                                                                        Chuck’s report

Two occasions to talk about today, First, our son is having his birthday today.  Happy Birthday Rick, hope you have a great one.  Second, our friends Richard and Sandy are celebrating their wedding anniversary today with a trip to Vegas.  I know you are having fun there, we’ll make it there with you some year. 

We are still here in California going through and getting Lorraine’s medical issued resolved.  She’s been going to the speech therapist twice a week and had a couple follow ups with her doctor and one with her eye doctor.  The therapist tells her every time how well she is doing and makes note of her progress.

Lorraine’s visit to her eye doctor this week was good.  He checked out the peripheral vision loss in her right eye that came from her stroke and said it is almost back to normal, yea.  He said what little loss she still is experiencing should get better in the next couple of months.  I also asked him about Lorraine driving a car and he said as far as he is concerned, she is good to go there too.  But she doesn’t have permission from the neurologist yet. 

Her regular family doctor set her up with a visit to a cardiologist, just for a check up and suggestion.  He set her up with for a nuclear stress test for Thursday this week.  Based on family history, he wanted to check out a few possible issues and get ahead of them, if she had them. 

She walked a treadmill to get her heart rate up, got a set of x-rays, got injected with some sort of isotope then did the treadmill and x-rays again.  Then she took a break and ate (they suggested a donut so that’s what she had) then one more time on the treadmill and more x-rays.  She was pretty tired after this but made it through just fine, biggest problem was they had trouble getting an IV started, poked her arm/hand 4 times before getting it.  Her hand is very bruised because of this. 

Friday we went to see the doctor for the results of the stress test and good news once again, he said she doesn’t appear to have any issues.  Her blood pressure is under good control and she doesn’t have any blocked arteries in/around her heart that the found, yea.  I guess this was a good week for her, two good reports from two different doctors and her therapist. 

She does have her last aneurysm repair scheduled for this Monday the 29th. Once again, we report to the hospital at 6:15 am and her surgery is scheduled for 8:00.  She is scheduled to stay in the hospital for at least one night and hopefully will be released on Tuesday. 

Last time the doctor fixed (inserted coils in it) one aneurysm and prepped the second one (put a stent in the main artery before/after the aneurysm).  This time he will fix (insert coils) the second aneurysm.  As I understand, once the coils are in place, he injects some material that completely fills the aneurysm and reduces the possibility of them causing any more problems for her.  Sure hope that’s what happens, she’s had enough issues and worries. 

So once again, I’m asking for your prayers and good thoughts for Lorraine as she is going through this one more time.  We hope this will be the last procedure until she returns for a check up in 6 months. 

We are trying to make sure Susy doesn’t spend too much time alone in case she were to fall or have issues from her surgery, she had two discs removed and the vertebras fused in her neck.  We either go to her house or pick her up and have her spend her day with us at our place.  She is able to do lots of normal things, no problem walking but has to be carefully bending, twisting or lifting.  She’s a lot like me in the fact she is trying to get better too quick, I think. 

Monday she had a follow up with her surgeon who checked checked her out and said things are doing/healing well and she should continue wearing her neck brace for another three weeks.  

We haven’t been able to spend as much time with Katie as usual, school’s out and she is busy doing swimming and soccer lessons.  Her aunt Christina is getting married this weekend and she is going to be one of the flower girls, she is looking forward to that.  Her other grandmother, Mary, came down from Seattle for the wedding so she is trying to get some time visiting her too.  All in all, Katie is a busy little girl who’s growing up too fast, I find it hard to believe she’s already 10 years old.  But at least she’s not 10 going on 20, she is quite content to be a girl and play with her dolls, her friends and such. 

Last weekend we made a day trip to Santa Cruz with Susy and Mike.  We toured parts of the beach, part of the town, the college, had a great meal and a better day.  It was good to get out and not have to think too much about doctors and surgeons and such. 

We’ve sure been enjoying the fruits and vegetables we get this time of the year.  Susy said she thinks we have eaten two watermelons every week along with all the nectarines, peaches, grapes, cantaloupes, honeydews, oranges and such.  We have had BBQs at Susy’s place quite a few times plus Lorraine and Susy have fixed a few very nice meals too.  I guess the easy way to say it is, I certainly ain’t starving. 

Once again, I have great things to say about the weather we’ve had this past two weeks.  We had a few days when the temperature get into the 90s but most days we only get into the 80s.  This area seems to have a repelling factor for rain, some of the other portions of the Bay Area have gotten a little bit of rain but we’ve only had enough to get the cars dirty.

We have no travel plans yet, waiting on this next procedure for Lorraine before we attempt to make any plans.  We have started the process to get our house ready for sale again, it’s tough to do when we aren’t there.  The guy we hired is finishing up replacing the front and back decks, a big job but the pictures I’ve seen look good.  Here’s hoping for a quick sale, lots of folks say the market is picking up now and people are looking to purchase before the interest rates are raised.   

One of the natural bridges at the beach in Santa Cruz. 

 

A flock of pelicans on the left, up the beach on the right. 

  

The same rock, on the left on low water, on the right, as a wave is coming in.  Looks to be about 4’ waves. 

  

Another natural bridge and another beach picture. 

  

The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. 

  

One of the 20 or so Missions in California, this one is the one in Santa Cruz. 

  

  

The dormitory, Lorraine coming out of one of the rooms. 

      

Whole families lived in one of these rooms. 

   

The one on the right was rented out to a family as late as 1950, still not for me. 

  

Some large trees behind the dorm. 

 

That’s Susy beside one of them. 

  

Just a nice house on the left.  A large Catholic Church in town. 

  

UC Santa Cruz College.  A large tree on campus. 

  

On the right, Mike is climbing the tree.

  

 

Finally, we go to the beach.  Surprise, pictures of Lorraine getting her feet in the water. 

  

Susy and Lorraine in the surf.  Susy is wearing her neck brace. 

  

 

Katie and Nana working on a project in our coach. 

  

 

Lorraine’s hand showing where the IV bruised her hand.  Susy says “You should have seen the other guy”, ha. 

 

Guess that’s it, I’ll attempt to get this posted now.

Thanks   Chuck

 

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