Friday, August 26, 2011

Rain, Rain

That's right, we finally did get a little rain here yesterday. It rained for about a hour.

We stayed in and did some house cleaning.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Three Months Already!!!

We have been full-timers for almost 3 months now. Since becoming full-timers we have stayed at Lake Lavon-Lavonia COE@ Lavon, TX, Lake O the Pines-Brushy Creek COE @Jefferson, TX , Cooper Lake SP-South Sulphur Unit @ Sulphur Springs, TX @Beavers Bend Resort SP @ Broken Bow , OK, Green Leaf SP @ Braggs, OK, Lake Lavon-East Fork COE @ Wylie, TX and Daingerfield SP @ Daingerfield, TX.

We haven’t gotten very far from where we started but we’ve had unexpected things come up that have kept us in this area. We started out with Dawn having an episode with cluster headaches. A few other things happened that we needed to return home for. We are learning as we go and we aren’t in any hurry anyway.

We’ve had some fun too. We’ve gone kayaking, spent the day on the lake tubing and visited the Cherokee museum and attended the Porter Peach Festival. We’ve jumped in the truck and drove around exploring.

We’ve stayed in a few new places and revisited some old familiar place too. We would have done more except the heat has been so terrible that we just don’t care to be outside for very long at all.

We are looking forward to cooler weather and new places to explore in the near future.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Friday, August 19, 2011

When's it Goin Stop?

My Mom is on the mend and my son had the splints in his nose removed today and he is feeling much better. I was starting to feel much better until my brother text me to say he was going in for emergency surgery for his gallbladder. I need my family to get healthy. My hair is graying by the day.

Nothing much is going on with us because it's just too hot (106) here.

We do have a concern about staying at a campground in the Piney Woods of Texas with this drought and heat. Yesterday there was a fire that burned for awhile just west of us. It was started at a scap metal yard. This evening there is a fire to th east of us.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Thursday, August 18, 2011

New Bikes?!?!

We were busy yesterday. We took an hour to level the fifth wheel. We were off on the curb side about 2 inches and it needed to be leveled. After we fixed that little problem we went to the laundry mat and washed a few loads of laundry. Dangerfield has a very clean laundry mat. We came home put away our laundry and decided to drive to Pittsburg to get a few items from Wal-Mart.

We grabbed some groceries and we bought bikes. That’s right. We bought a couple of Huffy bikes. These two fat gals are going to relearn how to ride bikes!
We came home unloaded our groceries and bikes. It is still pretty hot (106) outside. We rode a short distance and then returned to the fiver to make a few adjustments. Dawn’s bike had loose handle bars and my seat needed to be raised. By the time we were finished making all the adjustments to our new bikes we were close to heat strokes. We went inside and sat in the A/C and looked at our new bikes out the window!


Later in the evening we were able to ride our bikes for a few minutes before the heat got to us.
This morning we walked the fur kids. We practically have the park to ourselves. We are the only people in this area of the park except the camp host.

Its overcast here and there is a slight chance for rain.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A Quiet Day

Thanks for all the well wishes you sent for my son. He had the packing removed yesterday and said he felt much better afterwards. The doctor will be removing the splints on Friday. He ate pizza and anything else he could get his hands on after leaving the doctors office. He should be good as new if not better next week.

Today was a quiet day and we did laundry again.

This is our site at Dangerfield State Park, Big Pine area. Notice all the large pines and the wonderful lake view. We have full hookups for $20.00 per night

The park has a beautiful 80 acre lake with a trail that goes around the lake

This is the view from our front door. Each site in the Big Pine area are long pull thru's and each site is separated on each side with lots of trees. Can't see your neighbors and they can't see you!
It is sad to see the pines dropping their needles now. The extreme heat and lack of rain is killing a lot of trees and plants in this area.
Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Monday, August 15, 2011

Bad Week

Last week was not a good week for us. First of all, I had to go to the doctor for a sinus and ear infection and then my mother called to say her leg starting swelling a few days ago and she couldn’t walk without a walker. She said she didn’t remember doing anything to cause it. My sister took her to the doctor and after a few tests the doctor says it appears to be a baker’s cyst behind the knee. Thank God, the first thing I thought was a possible blood clot.

My son called us Monday at 3:00 a.m. to say he was lying in bed and felt something pop in his nose and shortly after he began experiencing a serious nose bleed. He asked what we might recommend in order to stop it. We suggested he put ice on his nose and lay still until it stops. 

He called several hours later to say he was in the emergency room and that his nose was bleeding profusely.  The emergency room doctor examined him and inserted packing in his nose and sent him home. 



He is in California and I’m in Texas. I just hate being so far away. His girlfriend has been a real sweetheart to keep me posted on what’s going on.
I received another call a few hours later that he was once again in the emergency room because he had bled through the packing and felt as if he was drowning with blood running down his throat.  The doctor removed the packing and repacked it with something different.

On Tuesday he called to say he was being prepared for surgery. The ENT doctor decided he needs to go in and cauterize the vessel that was bleeding out. It was 10:00 p.m. our time and I was a nervous wreck.
A little after midnight his girlfriend called to let us know that he was out of surgery and the doctor felt confident that he was able to cauterize the vessel that was located deep in his face and that he also repaired his severely deviated septum. He would spend a couple of hours in recovery before being sent home.

On Wednesday afternoon he was taken back to the emergency room because he was bleeding again. The doctor admitted him. We weren’t able to talk with him. His girlfriend told us he was very weak and was still losing a lot of blood. They were giving him IV fluids and keeping him sedated. He hadn’t eaten anything since Sunday and had lost quite a bit of blood.
His girlfriend, Erin is a real sweetheart. She called me every time the doctor came by and anytime there was any change in his status.

He was released from the hospital on Friday. He was still had a little bleeding. He still wasn’t able to talk but Erin said color was much improved and he had regained some of his strength.



Saturday was our day to move. We left Lake Lavon, East Fork Park about 11:30 a.m. and drove to Dangerfield State Park. It was raining when we left Lavon and sprinkled on us off and on to Dangerfield.  We didn’t get our favorite site but we did get the site across the street so we could see when our site became available.

Saturday evening we received a phone call from my son. He was able to talk and said the bleeding had almost stopped.

It was noon Sunday before we were able to get into our favorite site. It took an hour to get moved and set up. It was worth the wait. We were able to talk to my son several times yesterday. He is so looking forward to having the packing removed from his nose on Monday.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Where to Spend Winter

We are trying to decide where we want to spend the winter. This is our first winter as fulltimers and we are clueless. We know it is expensive in Florida and we don't want to spend our winter in the middle of the desert of Arizona. Not sure where we are going and are looking for any recommendations.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Monday, August 8, 2011

Haven't Gotten Very Far

“You guys sure haven’t gotten very far” We hear that from a lot people lately. It’s true, we haven’t gotten very far. The truth of the matter, we have encountered a few things that have kept us close to home.

The road will still be there when we’re ready. There are just times when we need to return to our roots to take care of business or be available for a friend.
Those people that laugh and say that we haven’t gotten very far are some of the same people that told us we were crazy to even think that we wanted to fulltime. I still don’t understand why those people can’t be more supportive.

We had already planned to be back in this area in early November so Dawn could take care of some medical issues. Dawn has Graves Disease and has to have blood work done every six months. So our plan now is to stay in this general area until after her doctor’s appointment.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Friday, August 5, 2011

Dinner Time

I took this picture while at Green Leaf SP.



It was like a family reunion with a catered meal!!

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Texas Heat

It's HOT! Have I mentioned that the temps here have been 103 + for the past month here? It's HOT! Last night at 10:00 P.M. it was 100 degrees. Our A/C units have been getting a real work out.

We will be here at Lake Lavon for a little while longer before we move down the road again. We would love to head to Colorado and find a mountain with a few inches of snow. The problem with that is we are afraid the highway will melt right under us. The rail road tracks here are warping and the roadways are collapsing. I grew up here and have never seen anything  like it. You have to look hard to find green grass and there are dead trees all around us.

The local news reported that a record number of people have lost their lives due to this heat.

One thing that really scares me is fire. There are burn bans all over Texas but people throw lit cigarettes on the ground and people are careless when lighting grills.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Ants, Ants and more Ants

We have been on the road for 2 months and haven't had any problems with bugs until yesterday. The ants moved in and brought all their family, friends and then some. We noticed a few ants near the entry door and attempted to sweep them out the door when we realized that there were thousands of them. We jumped in the truck and drove to Wal-Mart and loaded our buggy with ant spray.

When we got back to the fiver, we put the fur kids in the outdoor play pen and I went to war in the fiver. My weapon of choice was Ortho, Home Defense Bug Spray. It KILLS on contact.

After spraying inside, I went outside and drenched the area around the fiver with killing spray.

After about an hour, I went in and checked for any survivors. There were NONE. Looks like we won that battle and hope we don't have to deal with that again anytime soon.

We did another truck load of laundry yesterday too.  That is about as exciting as it gets around here for now. It's just too HOT to do anything much.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise

Monday, August 1, 2011

Loss of a Great Friend

Rest in Peace  our dear friend J.T. Trammell (aka Daddy J.T). J.T passed on July 28, 2011 at the age of 73.  His love for the Fightin’ Texas Aggies was only overshadowed by his love for his family and friends.

J.T was a fun guy and loved to give everyone a hard time. He was fun to be around and we have enjoyed many special occasions such as birthday parties cookouts and camping trips with him and his family.

Travel Safe Dawn and Denise