Please…Don’t Let It Get Toooo Cold Here!!!

 

 

 

Who is this clown, wandering around looking for snow??? He just better stay out of our neighborhood!!!  ( I DO like the look, though…Polar C,S & D…(Cool, Suave, and Debonair).

 

Actually, McGuyver decided not to winterize the RV yet..He will  just blow the lines out for now, trying not to blow out his back again,  and hope we can get back on the road before January…or whenever the Arctic winds begin to blow out of Canada….

The last time we were here for Christmas was in 2007…We left the day after, and it was a challenge just getting the camper loaded and ready in the colder weather….

Above is proof that only Santa should don the red hat..Who ARE these people, anyway???

  I went to see my sis today at St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin.  She just had a feeding tube put in, so she can get nourishment.  They hope that once her trache heals she will be able to actually EAT again, but for now, the tube is it.  I told Darlene that our nephew Scott, (who has had a feeding tube for 4 years), says there is a steak in every can.  She still cannot talk, also due to the trache, but she is very fiesty and somehow maintains her goofy sense of humor.  So you see, we are alike in many ways.

 

 

                                                    CHRISTMAS AT THE CAVE’S 2007

     

We are not sure exactly if ,and when ,we will get out of here…Dennis finishes his steroids Friday, and he is feeling fairly good..He wants to wait until he is done with the ‘roids’ and see how his back feels.  Why is it, (she asked dumbfounded) , that men put off ANY visit to a Doctor??  Men should have to suffer all the invasive procedures that we do, that’s what I think…Then they would have a REASON to delay the visit.   Let’s have a show of hands…How many of you ladies would like to AVOID your yearly trip to stirrups and the Gynno Doc??  Me, too….

  I went to get my turkey today, a 16 pound bird.   I’m trying to keep it simple this year..yea, right.  Just the basics..I like it traditional..No turduckins for me,  and no goose or duck either. We will have Uncle Jr. and Aunt Jeanette down, which is ALWAYS a good time.

  OK, this blog is becoming a huge bore to ME, so I cannot imagine how you, who didn’t already nod off, must feel.  I promised an update on the train car, so I will get a new photo for my next blog….and try to “kick it up a notch”…

HEY!!! YOU!!! THE ONE DRUELING , WITH YOUR CHIN RESTING ON YOUR CHEST…!!

YOU CAN CLICK ME OFF NOW….BUT..JUST REMEMBER “I’LL BE BACK!”

WAS IT ALL A DREAM??

  I had the most wonderful dream….I dreamed we went to Indy to visit Chris, John and Aiden…Then we got in our RV and went down into Mississippi for 10 days.  The weather was glorious, and we saw some Civil War history, plus we stayed right on the Mississippi River for 4 days….Then…..I woke up and I was in Sandwich, IL…

  OK, OK,….so it wasn’t a dream…We actually are back in Sandwich, IL …as of this afternoon…..

Long story short….Den’s back was still not 100%, so we figured that since we were only 600 miles from home, and not 2000 miles away, we should get back here and see how his back does….At least we are in our own town, with our own doctors and local hospital nearby, should need be..(But, McGuyver is doing OK for now)…He is still taking steroids and pain meds, so we shall see how he does when those are gone… We both figured it is still early in the season, and we can rewind this trip and start fresh once we are satisfied Dennis is feeling great again.  Also, while on our way home, I got a call from my brother-in-law, and my sis isn’t doing well.  She now has a permanent trache tube, and is back in the hospital in Elgin…So, you see?….It seems that sometimes things happen for reasons… 

  Meanwhile, I have adjusted nicely to our new plans…I am getting the fixins’ for Thanksgiving dinner at our house, which will be fun.  Family time is always good, and we hope we can get all our kids together.  I DO love the smell of turkey roasting in our house, and all of the wining (the liquid kind) and dining that goes on.  Hey, I even have the idea of putting up a few little Xmas decorations.

  There are no photos for this blog…We pretty much drove for 2 days, staying last night at Rend Lake in Southern Illinois…Today, we spent all afternoon UNloading stuff from the Hiker..Hey!! Didn’t we just LOAD that sucker??? In came the TV receivers, computer and printer,(first MOST  important)…then the cocktails and food (gotta have that stuff for our campfire on our deck!), then the dirty clothes (big whoop)..…We left our shorts and summer stuff out in the Hiker… kind of like placing little seeds of hope for a future trip….

So…..we are back home for the time being…Looks like we may see a flake of snow here Wednesday evening or Thursday morning…If we get much snow while we’re here, I may have to talk McGuyver off the ledge…He can tolerate the very first snowfall, then he turns into an old curmudgeon armed and dangerous with a snow shovel… 

Sorry I haven’t commented on any blogs yet.  As you probably know, when we are on the road we have no computer …..And right now, it is waaaay past our cocktail hour…and I have my priorities..I promise I will check all blogs soon! Sorry we had to unload all you kids from the back seat, but you are welcome to stay and visit our house while we are here….I promise we will get back on the road ASAP!!

 Tonight I’ll probably get up in the night, bounce off the walls trying to find the bathroom, and try to flush with my right foot…oh, well….LIFE IS STILL GREAT, DAMMIT!!!

McGuyver …McHurting…McBetter, But …A Change Of Plans…

Yesterday was pretty exciting around the Cave Dwellings..Let me just say that McGuyver has had some issues with his back for the past couple months….It couldn’t have anything to do with the heavy lifting of logs while using the log splitter in our back yard…RIGHT?? JUST MY OPINION…..

  This condition has been progressing as we have traveled…and yesterday it made it’s crescendo into one major pain.  He woke up and was having trouble bending over the bathroom sink…He was OK sitting, but standing was becoming more difficult..As I stated, sitting down, he was fine, but just about lunch time, he was in so much pain when standing that we decided to get the Hiker ready to travel and head home to Illinois Saturday (this morning)…I called and cancelled our much coveted reservations at Bruin State Park LA and at North Toledo State Park for Thanksgiving ($44.00 non-refundable, but at that point I didn’t care)…I even called our Doc in Sandwich and set up an appointment for Dennis on Monday at 3PM….

  McGuvyer, (being McGuyver), proceeded to try and get some stuff outside stowed away…Let  me just say, when I saw him hanging onto the door of the RV with a death grip, and sweating in pain, I decided that THIS was the last straw!!..Sometimes ya just gotta take the bull by the horns…and McGuyver by his britches.  I got online and looked for an urgent care clinic to get him into.  About 1/2 hour later we were at Greenville Family Medical Center, waiting our turn to see a Dr….ANY DOCTOR!!

Let me just say that we didn’t wait long…A little paper work and copies of Den’s insurance cards, and we were into a cubicle.  McGuyver was walking with GREAT difficulty, and now I was the one sweating profusely, wonder what the Hell was going on!!  Just about that time, in swoops Dr. Neal Suares, looking like Matthew McConaughey (for those who know what a hotty he is)..He takes one look at Dennis leaning on the gurney, makes a few cute comments about Sandwich, IL, and gets to the point… He asked Den if he had tingling or numbness to his leg and Den, said, “No, it just feels like someone is jabbing a knife in my lower back when I put weight on my left leg”. Dr .McDreamy decides there is no need for X-Rays, and rules out a pinched nerve. “What I am pretty sure you have” he states confidently, “is a muscle spasm…possible from heavy lifting” (NO, REALLY???)….See, McGuyver, you are NOT SUPERMAN!!!

  He prescribed an injection of Toradol (an anti-inflammatory), some 500mg Naproxen (Aleve), and steroids….Come to find out, Dr. Suares did some of his medical schooling in Chicago area, and worked at St. Joseph Hospital, where my sis has been in and out…AND he has some family who live in Geneva and St. Charles area..just about 30 miles from Sandwich…SMALL WORLD!! I have to mention that this whole deal was only $127.00.  We had our Visa card ready, but they didn’t want us to pay anything, saying they would submit Den’s Medicare and co-insurance…I couldn’t believe they didn’t want one red cent…They even want money up front at our local hospital back home..

  The prescription drugs were available right there at the clinic pharmacy..Fred’s Pharmacy…No, I am NOT making that one up…that is the real name of the place…And they took Den’s Drug Insurance Card, processed it , and we owed $4.44.

We left the clinic, drugs in hand and a shot in McGuyver’s behind…McGuyver drove…driving wasn’t an issue..walking WAS. But, after about an hour of being back at the Hiker, McGuyver felt MUCH improved, (and so did I)..  He even lit a campfire and watched the barges go by as the sun was setting…

So, as I said, our plans have changed.  Tomorrow morning we decided to keep our direction in a lateral move to Texarkana, TX..We have stayed there before, and know the area…Civil War history will have to wait for now…But, we don’t want to head any further South….just in case….And we want to give McGuyver’s meds a chance to see if he is truly getting better…

THANK YOU DR. NEIL SUARES!!

THANK YOU GREENVILLE FAMILY MEDICAL CENTER!

THANK YOU FRED’S PHARMACY! 

 

YOU ARE ALL VERY NICE, FRIENDLY, HELPFUL PEEPS!!!!

“FATHER OF WATERS” OR “GREAT RIVER”…

  As we left our campground Wednesday morning, I had McGuyver slow down so I could take a photo of this very cool vintage motorhome that parked just down from us….

 

…This is a Crown Commander motorhome…vintage about 1973.  It was in pretty good shape with the exception of the front bumper…I love old stuff!!! So does Dennis..hence our marriage is working out pretty fine!

  We only had about 100 miles to drive to Greenville, MS.  The weather was in the 70’s…We arrived at Warfield Point Park about 11:30AM, which gave McGuyver lots of time to put up our HD TV dish AND our Hughesnet.  I must say that he is getting quite good at this , and now uses very few expletives during the process.

We are camped directly on the Mississippi River and the barges go right by us.  McGuyver is in 7th heaven…He loves anything that involves the terms, locks, dams, barges and tugboats…I will have a hard time dragging him inside at night.

 

 

 

That would be McGuyver in the distance watching a barge come through….The Mississippi was named by the Algonquin Indians, and it means “Father of Waters”, or “Great River”….Can  you just imagine how vast this river seemed to the Native Americans who first saw it??…  I would love to stick my toe in it to “channel” some history, but there are big signs warning of the undertow….so I won’t be channeling anything from the river…

 

We took our walk around the park and discovered an old paddle wheeler parked behind a chain link fence.  (Am I NOT going to be able to touch ANYTHING  for my psychic history??)

…Above is the MV Fayettville, built in 1924 in Charleston, SC….

…That would be the old paddlewheel on the right.  They do have plans to restore this great ship.  I’m sure money will be an issue, though..…Dennis calls this a “sternwheeler”….I have no idea if there is a difference…I wish I could consult Mickey Mouse…Didn’t he pilot one once,  in a cartoon?? NOW I AM REALLY DATING MYSELF!!

On our walkabout, we also found a great observation tower to help get our cardio work-out for the day….(Nellie would be proud!)  Once at the top (breathe in, breathe out)…the view of this great old river was..dare I say it???…AWESOME!!! (a nod to Margie, who would definitely approve)…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This river flooded and crested at 65.4’ in 1927, and they marked it on the tower…YIKES…

On the right, my driver, fixer, and sometime the fodder for my blog…but always my co-conspirator in crime, Dennis, AKA McGuyver….(Lookin’ pretty spiffy, if I do say)…Great River..Great Guy…

We are going into Greenville to do a little sightseeing this weekend.  I am hoping to actually get my hands on something historical, and I feel this could be a promising trip to town..I KNOW I will get my hands on some Church’s chicken to bring back for dinner!!!

 

SUNSET ON THE “FATHER OF WATERS”

I JUST LOVE OUR COUNTRY!!!

THANKS TO ALL THE VETERANS WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE TO BE HERE!

LAUNDRY, GROCERIES….AND A US HISTORY LESSON….

 

Last night’s Cornish Hens….I managed to cut off their legs in this photo shoot….Ansell Adams, I am not….But THEY were great!!

Before I get into my blog, I need to warn you kids in the backseat of the GMC…Angela tells me she is getting carsick.  So whoever is sitting next to her might want to grab one of the WalMart bags and keep it handy.  (Hopefully, Kenny is right beside her, so he can deal with it..)

  Today McGuyver and I found the coin laundry and had a fairly non-eventful time.  I say “fairly” because it was a challenge finding a clean spot to sit and do crossword puzzles while waiting on our laundry…I also say “fairly” because  after we left the laundry, McGuyver discovered his fly had been down the whole time we were there…Luckily, no one  was in there but us, or it could have been lots more entertaining…Luckily, also, that he discovered this faux pas  BEFORE we went into WalMart. McGuyver would have fit right in with all of those WalMart shoppers we get on our email.

  We took a drive up Scenic Loop 333 to the Grenada Dam…This is one huge lake!!   And what a great day!! The temps got up to 65 degrees…finally!

 

  We also discovered the sight of an old Confederate fort on that road…Fort Redoubt.  

…We walked up the wooden walkway and found the original Grenada-Graysport Road, hidden deep in the woods…

…This road was used by Confederate General Van Dorn and his troops when they raided General Grant’s supply depot, thus stopping Grant from invading Grenada… As I stepped across this old “forest floor” road, I could just imagine the excitement of the Rebel soldiers, sneaking up and destroying Grant’s much needed supplies..(You may already know how I am with this kind of stuff.. You can call ME nutso…, but I call it “channeling” history…)

We headed up a long wooden stairway and came to the top of a hill.  The earth was built up in different points, but there were no remains of the fort, except a few placed cannons…. This spot sat just above the old road below..a definite vantage point to see who and what was coming…I LOVE THIS HISTORY STUFF!!!

What you have on the left is one HAPPY CAMPER standing by that cannon …I think this trip through Mississippi and Louisiana is going to be MEGA EXCITING  for McGuyver and me!!..When I was in high school,  I hated ANY kind of history class.  Then …..I took the required US History class as a freshman in college, and was fortunate enough to get a fabulous history professor.  He was the one who turned me on to our great country’s  story….Thanks Proffesor Lehr….I never listened that close to any instructor ever before  (and never have since…this includes my Driver’s Ed. instructor in high school, who would attest to that fact.)

  When we got back to our Hiker, we took a walk down to the boat launch.  This is the most ridiculous boat launch I have ever seen.  Grenada Lake is definitely quite low at this end…..the trees are sticking up out of the water…It is virtually a dry lake bed here…

 

 

Notice where the ramp leads…WHAT THE HELL??? The only boat you could launch from this ramp would be Aiden’s bathtub boat!!!

 

 

 

 

While we stood there, a guy with a boat in the back end of his pickup (what, no trailer?) pulled past us and followed the muddy lake bottom to find some water to unload his boat into….That little puddle of water at the end of the ramp (right photo) wasn’t gonna do it, for sure!!

So, all it going extremely well at the Cave Dwellings…

…We are deep in the woods of Mississippi .  Wednesday we leave here and head to Greenville, MS for 4 nights.  I have already researched things to see there…As you can see,  last night I had a  much more colorful outfit to wear by the fire….

Thanks y’all for following…Oh, and Angela…take some Dramamine, or I’ll be dressing you for our next campfire!!….

NO BEARS TODAY…REAL OR OTHERWISE….

First of all I would like to welcome another brave new follower, Lynn-Country Heart and Roses….It is my firm belief that there is nothing better than a “country heart”, and I hope you like riding with this rowdy group we have in the back seat of our GMC!!!  WE DO HAVE FUN, THATS’ FOR SURE!

    Today is Sunday, which means Chicago Bears football at our house.  However, we cannot get the Bears down here, so we will have to be content with checking our WGN Chicago radio station online….To tell you the truth, they have been zero, zip, zilch fun to watch lately anyway.  We need an offensive line to protect our quarterback, and so far we have a bunch of panty wastes.  I WANT DITKA BACK!!! WHAT COACH HAS THE NAME OF “LOVEY” ANYWAY???

This campground we are in has had lots of work done since we were here last…They poured all new pads and got new picnic tables, grills and fire pits since we were here 2 years ago….

….Maybe this is the reason the price went up this year.

EVERY SITE EVEN GOT NEW GARBAGE CANS..NOW THAT’S PROGRESS!!

This park has a few spots in the front that are out of the trees, but most of the sites are in heavily wooded areas.

At one point in time, there  must have been an old bridge over the ravine…The cement remains are still here in the photo on the right. There is no shortage of firewood here and McGuyver has been busy as a beaver with his electric chain saw.  We found some huge mushrooms growing on some of the wood…

If I knew for certain I wouldn’t die, I would love to stuff that big one and have it for dinner tonight….

Tomorrow is laundry day, so we will drive back into Grenada and probably pick up a few groceries.  Tonight we are having Cornish Game Hens on the grill, and I have them marinating in buttermilk, garlic pepper and Louisiana Hot Sauce.  All they need is my famous rub, and they will be good to go. I also made some homemade potato salad to go with them.. See kids, I told you that we would get to the good food eventually!!!

Our game plan from here is to go to Greenville MS to Warfield Point Military Park for 4 nights, then on to Lake Bruin State Park  LA,  which will be our base camp to go to Vicksburg.  We will be there 1 week.  We have found that you MUST have a reservation over Thanksgiving weekend, or you could spend it in a WalMart parking lot eating KFC.  Therefore, we booked ourselves in at North Toledo Bend State Park in Louisiana  for the week covering Thanksgiving.  From there we are fairly close to Natchitoses, LA to do some day tripping.  After that, we hope to spend some time in Jefferson TX.

  So now that you see we actually HAVE  a plan, you can relax and stop asking “Are we there yet?”….Yes, we are.. we are there..and there….and there….and that’s the beauty of pulling your house behind!!! 

MORE LATER…AND THANKS AGAIN FOR CHECKING IN!!!

“WHERE Y’ALL FROM IN ILLINOISSSSS??”

  I love the South…We get this question from local campers as soon as we park and they see our Illinois license plates…And if we told them that we are from Sandwich, IL, they would be clueless..So, we say we are from a small rural town about 60 miles Southwest of Chicago, called Sandwich…THEN they get the picture.

  We drove 325 miles yesterday to arrive in Grenada, MS.  There was some interesting road construction (like that is news) going through Memphis.  As McGuyver was navigating the Hiker through VERY narrow and curving lanes, with huge semi  trailer trucks beside us…I was keeping my mouth closed and quietly praying to the Elvis Presley God to get us through safely…”Thank you,…Thank you vermuch”…..

  Once we got to the town of Grenada, we had another 18 miles to get to our campground at Grenada Lake.  We have been here before, and it is a pretty drive deep into the woods.  FYI, the diesel price was cheaper than Illinois, $2.89…”fill ‘er up, please”….and we did.

 

Notice my ensemble is not QUITE as colorful as I usually wear…

I really must get out my pink socks and plaid “happy pants”…..

We were here 2 years ago..It is and Army Corps park, so us older folks get 1/2 price camping..The last time we were  here it was $5.00 a night..this time it is $7.00…inflation hits the Corps parks, I guess.

There is an old cemetery here on the grounds, protected only by a fence which has been walked over numerous times…This morning for our walk we found it again, back behind some of the campers…

  Left, is the path to the cemetery…right, you can see the gate to get into it….

  This apparently is an old family cemetery.  The name Ingram was prevalent on the tombstones..

 

 

One larger stone has this insignia on it…It says “Woodmen Of The World”, which was a fraternal organization organized to provide insurance for it’s founder….That link is pretty informative, but if you want to be further inquisitive,  like I was, just Google it…They had some pretty interesting “ceremonies” back in the day..

So, we are trying to decide when we will leave here..We paid for 5 nights, planning on heading to Vicksburg.  We were  thinking the Louisiana State Park system honored the “Golden Age” card..Well…..it used to…until they changed the rules.  They will only honor it if OUR home state park system does…Does the Illinois State Park system honor the Golden Age Card?, you ask…HELL, NO!! ILLINOIS IS SO BROKE WE SUCK…AND…. WE HAVE NO HONOR ANYWAY…..(There, I feel much better now..)

  So, we are still pondering our next move.   Right now,  McGuyver is changing the fuel filter on the GMC….We seemed to be having some problems climbing the big hills while pulling our Hiker on the last 50 miles of our trip yesterday…McGuyver thinks we may need a new fuel filter.  It has been a while since it was changed…HMMMMM…Was that on his list of “to do” stuff???

  At any rate, we are here in the Mississippi woods,  and the weather is warming up nicely…You kids can put away your winter jackets soon, and get out the sweatshirts!!! As for McGuyver and I…we are living life…and LOVING IT!!!