Back to TX -- the Ohio Leg

We left Timber Ridge Campground Monday to begin our journey back to Texas.  Really enjoyed our summer there.  Had lots of "Davis time" this summer and are so appreciative our their generosity over the summer.  Will miss those smiling faces.

Drove down to Columbus and stayed a night at the Cross Creek Camping Resort.  Since we were there last, they instituted a "no pet fence" policy which sucked, especially for Tangy.  We were going to go the ignorance route and put it up any way, but with just a one night, we figured we'd fight that battle on another stay.

We went to the Winking Lizard Westerville to meet with our friends Craig and Sandy, Dave and Jean and were surprised by Connie's cousin Lisa and her friend Wendy.  Had a great time, even though the Indians (a theme) lost AND I forgot to take a picture of our table.  Great catching up, they've been such good friends.

Tuesday, we headed to the hub of the universe, Wilmington, OH.  Stayed in our normal spot at Caesar Creek (saw a lot of deer!), went in to visit Connie's Dad Oz and his wife Betty.  Surprised them with a visit from Bethany and Kingsley.  Went out for pizza at Generations Pizza before retiring back to the rig and K's first overnight "camping" experience.  All went great except it rained hard around 3a and the vent window didn't automatically close when we went to bed.

Wednesday, we got moving slowly, but ended up at Frisch's for brunch with Oz and Betty, then back to the rig before Bethany and Kingsley had to take off for home.  A great time.

We headed out late Wednesday afternoon to check out an RV park for our Ohio Heartland Rally next August.  Looked like it's going to be a winner, and I hope to finish up details with the managers today.

Finally, it was off to the Little River Cafe in Oregonia.  It's owned by a Barb and Todd Holmes.  Barb and I were in homerooms together since Junior High, and Todd and I lived in each other's back yards.  Was a nice place with a live band, fireplace (which we needed!), and good food/drinks.  Met with Rich and Kim, Randy and Shelley, and even Barb made time to come out and see us.  Again, great catching up and experiencing their place.  Got home to watch the Indians lose.  😩

Today, we leave Ohio for the last time in 2017 and will make our way to Elizabethtown for an overnight, a couple of nights in Nashville before three nights along the mighty Mississippi.

I would say not much has gone on since our last post .....

But that would be a lie.

6 days after our last post (June 20, 2015), Kingsley Marie Davis, entered everyone's lives.  It's been a whirlwind, and hard to believe almost 3 months have passed since that day.

We've gotten absorbed in the "grandparent thing" to where that's pretty much been the rule with not many exceptions.  Our daughter and her husband couldn't be happier and are going to be super parents.

Our July was spent shuttling into Fairview Park (about 45 minutes from here) for either doctor appointments or visiting.  Starting on the last week of July for 3 weeks, Bethany, Kingsley and her boys (Buddy and Tucker) came out to us while their kitchen got remodeled.

We have had a few getaways.  We went over to Port Clinton for one of our friend's birthday celebration.  We went to Aurora for a Meet N Greet with Ohio Heartlanders.  My Mom came and visited for a week.  I went to Cross Creek Camping Resort for a weekend rally with Ohio Heartlanders.  We went back to Ashtabula for a quick evening to see some friends and I directed the Lakeside MB for Alumni Night.  As I said, more the exception than the rule.

Connie got back great results from her scans at the end of August.  Mostly stable with no significant progression of the cells.  So, we'll keep the 3 week treatments in and keep hoping for those kind of reports.

We're here until the end of September, then we'll head west towards Indiana for the Indiana Heartland Rally, and south for the North Texas Heartland Rally.  We're looking to be in Port Aransas by the middle of October for a couple of months of well deserved beach time.

Thanks for checking in!

Fall Schedule Back to Texas Finalized

Have gotten pretty settled on our schedule back to Texas.  Leaving a little play at the end in case we want to wander around before settling back at Copano Bay RV Resort in Rockport.

09/01 – 09/02           Caesar Creek

09/02 - 09/03           Lake Cumberland, KY

09/03 – 09/05          Chattanooga, TN

09/05 – 09/08         Atlanta, GA

09/08 – 09/09         Columbus, GA

09/09 – 09/16         Panama City Beach, FL (Music Festival)

09/16 – 10/07         Gulf Shores, AL

10/07 – 10/08         Hattiesburg, MS

10/08 – 10/09         Vicksburg, MS

10/09 – 10/10         Shreveport, LA

10/10 – 10/14         Bullard, TX (Heartland Rally #1)

10/14 – 10/20         Montgomery, TX  (Heartland Rally #2)

10/20         Arrive in Rockport, TX (Copano Bay)

Will try to keep the blog updated on the travels south.  Hope to see some of you along the way!

Thanks for reading!

Some time in North Texas

Connie and I left Copano Bay RV Resort last Friday the 28th of March.  Our friend Karen had come down and she rode with up to San Antonio with us.  We stayed at the Stone Creek RV Park.

Friday night we saw the Alamo and walked the Riverwalk.  Always enjoyable, especially when its good and warm!

Saturday morning I took Karen to SAT for an early morning flight, then Connie and I went to the Valero Texas Open.

Got an itsy bitty bit of TV time behind Matt Kuchar on 16th green.  (That's me in the red hat!)

Texas State Capitol

Governor's Mansion

On Sunday, we rolled on to Austin, TX and stayed at Oak Forest River RV Park. We spent the day going to the State Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, Franklin's BBQ (it was closed), SoCo and 6th Street.  Austin's an incredibly different town.  They've passed a law making it illegal for stores to use throw away bags, regardless of paper or plastic.  Horrible for me.  Went to the store twice, forgot to take bags twice.  Ugh.

Our site at Oak Forest River

Wednesday, we made the rather uneventful trip to Santo, TX and Coffee Creek Resort for the North Texas Heartland Owner's Club rally.  Knew many of the people, met some more great owners.

Went out Wednesday night to the Natty Flat Smokehouse, that also had the largest rocking chair in Texas.

 Thursday, I went out with a couple of guys for some golf, then just hung around the rig.  Friday, the official opening day of the Rally, we went out to dinner at a Catfish Diner.

Saturday was the beginning of splitsville.  Opened the morning by helping cook bacon for the Rally's breakfast.  Around 10:30a, I took Connie to Dallas Love Field for her afternoon flight back to Ohio.  When I returned, we had a potluck dinner and I returned to the rig to watch the Final Four.

Our daughter, Bethany, was working at AT&T Stadium for the Final Four, and Sunday was her day off.  I drove back over to Arlington, and we had an enjoyable afternoon seeing some sights of Dallas (Texas Book Depository, downtown, etc.), then went to the NCAA's Fan Fest called "Bracket Town.".  Had lunch at a rather eclectic little diner, then headed back to the rig after dropping her back at the hotel.

Today (Monday) was getaway day from Santo and on to Sanger, TX and the Wagon Master RV Park. <link>  Pretty short ride, but I held off leaving to miss the traffic from the Texas Motor Speedway who had their race delayed.  Never touched the brakes the whole time.  Looked like there were PLENTY of good seats still available.

Was my first solo tear down, drive and set up.  Things went very well, and I felt very prepared.

Till next time!

They Will Tell The Good News Over The Phone......

The "not good news" requires a visit to the office.

On March 24th, I went in for a follow up CT Scan of the chest and pelvic area.  Doctor wanted to see how the new treatment was working.  Was to get the results on April 9th at my scheduled visit.  Blood work was all coming back good, so we were only going to be required to go every 2 weeks instead of every week.  Great since we were getting ready to make a mini road trip to see more of Texas.

Was able to enjoy a nice dinner (March 25) at Moby Dicks in Port Aransas with our Heartland Owners Coastal Bend group.  While there, I received a call from the doctor wanting us to come in the next day.

As we expected, the news was not good.  The cancer has progressed in the lungs (larger and more) and a new area was found on the liver.  The doctor is recommending changing the treatment again to be even more aggressive.

Options are to start the treatment here in TX on April 9th (and stay until June for monitoring ) or head back to OH for the new treatment there.  We chose the second option.

At this time, I am waiting for the doctors in OH to get the information and schedule the necessary visits and treatments.  I will fly back as soon as we have more details from the Cleveland Clinic.  Bob will be heading back solo with the rig.

We will be passing along information as it becomes available.

Thanks again to all our friends and family.  We certainly appreciate all the love , support and prayers!

And.....we're back

Sorry we haven't posted for a while.  Not for lack of news or Connie updates.  I'm going to give you the cliff notes in reverse order.

Connie's changing treatments as of last Monday (2/3/14), going to a TDM1 treatment which we hope will be as effective, but not have the side effects of the terrible hand-foot syndrome.  Horrible stuff.  She had some nausea and was overall just tired after this past Monday's treatment, but her hands and feet are almost back to being her age, rather than those of a 120 year old.

We returned from a cruise aboard the Carnival Magic with our daughter and Connie's Dad who's staying here through the 11th.  Way too much fun.  Hope you can click this link to see all the pictures.

Our daughter Bethany and our son in law James were here for the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Weather wasn't the best, as it has been currently for Connie's Dad's visit.

Now to the future.  Spent most of the day today coming up with my first draft for our getaway from Texas.  We'll actually leave Copano Bay RV Resort on the 28th of March when our monthly rate is up and head up to Santo, TX for a Heartland Rally.  Back to Copano Bay for a few days while Connie has a treatment on the 9th of April, then heading back to Ohio.  Hoping to be in Ashtabula by April 29th.

Our map is located here.

Will try to be back before another two months elapse.

Nashville then on to T-Town...

Had a great time visiting with Connie's Dad (and sister), along with some of our Buckeye Heartland friends in Wilmington at Thousand Trails.

Left Monday morning around 10:30a and got into Nashville (without any drama along the way) around 5:30 EST, 4:30 local time.  Love Nashville.  Stayed at Two Rivers Campground where we spent a month in October of 2011.  To recap Thousand Trails (which ran $43/night) had grass, uneven sites, water/electric only and was located in the middle of ding dong.  For $2/night more, we got a level, gravel site with full hook ups and we were 7/10 mile from Opryland.  Don't get me started.

Saw 'Miss Peggy' (so glad as its her last week there) and Lisa.  Nashville is our Carmen's birthplace, and Lisa is the fantastic story maker that made that happen.  Brought a smile to get those two back together again.

 Tuesday, we hopped on the Downtown Shuttle to take on Broadway.  Love this area.  Best live music we've happened on.  In 4 hours, we heard Modern Country, Old Country, Rock, Metal, Dueling Pianos all done very well.  We were both over served which made the shuttle a great idea for $10pp round trip, and we had a tremendous time.  Visited Tootsie's, Robert's Western World,  Rippy's Ribs, Crossroads, the Big Bang, and, of course, Margaritaville.  (It's bad when you have to go back through your receipts to remember where you've been, isn't it?)  No covers at any of these places, but you needed to have some tip money for the band.  We did a lot of "holler and a swaller".

Wednesday was a recovery day, and Thursday was travel to Tuscaloosa, AL the home of the Crimson Tide.  Again, no travel drama which we're thankful for.

 We're staying at the Elks Lodge here in T-town.  They have 7 spots with water/electric that they rent out on Football weekends for $40/night.  Great sites.  Went into the lodge last night, was asked if I brought any potatoes (um, that's "Idaho") and met a couple of really nice guys from Coshocton and Wheelersburg.  Always meet Buckeyes, even if they're dressed in Crimson.  We'll be here through Sunday.

Our first RV Rally...

One of the things that intrigued us about the Heartland Owner's Group was their "Rallies".  Seemed like what everyone talked about.  One of the things we truly missed about boating was doing the "summer circuit" and going to Club X, Y, and Z for their Rendezvous, Steak Fry's, etc. , then having them come to our Club for weekend events.  The Heartland Owner's club looks like they're going to fill this void for us.

We were a little taken back at our arrival at the Elkhart Co. Fairgrounds in Goshen, Indiana, by the scope of this thing.  248 units spread all over the place like manure at the ..... well, you know that line.  And they have the ability for 900 hook ups!!!



Tuesday was pretty much a set up morning, then getting a feel for the schedule and meeting the neighbors.  We were incredibly lucky (or fortunate) to pull the spot we did.  We were with all the "poobahs" of the place (Presidents, State Chapter Leaders, District Leaders, etc).


I played golf on Wednesday, while Connie did some seminars on Wednesday, which was a pretty free day.

Wednesday, we had a "dessert potluck" followed by a real potluck on Thursday and a couple of catered dinners on Friday and Saturday.  Great time to meet some of the other Heartlanders from all over the country, plus some of the great friends we had met in Texas and elsewhere.

Saturday, was a highlight as we went to the Heartland Factory to see BigHorns actually in production.  It was fascinating.

Basically the frame comes in one large door, goes back two stations, then moves sideways about 20 stations before it goes forward and leaves the plans as a finished coach.  I've included tons of pictures below:

Connie did a great job all week of "pacing herself", some afternoon naps, limited her walking.  She really enjoyed herself and we're both so glad we could go and experience the event.  We got home around dinner time on Sunday night and found an early excuse to go to bed.  We also were really lucky that we won two door prizes, a thermal bag and a tire pressure monitor for the rig that sits in the truck.

Today, we power washed the rig -- it was filthy from 10 days on the road -- and did all the laundry.  Tomorrow, Connie has a scheduled treatment which is a perfect time for me to clean the inside.