Bonus Day 5 (December 17th)

I for some reason have always remembered the first time I heard the phrase using "hospice".  It was the spring of 1984 in the teacher's lounge at Greeneview High School.  Don Green and I were in there with sub teacher Ed Prellar.  Somebody said that somebody was "going to hospice".

Don and I looked at each other.  No idea what the hell Hospice was.  Then, Ed said, it's where people go to die.

Understand, I was 23 years old.  I envisioned elephants going step by step, side by side, to their final resting place.  I couldn't shake that image and, obviously, I still can't.

So, on this day, I started the process of enlisting the services of Hospice.  Not sure what I'm looking for, but it's kind of when I hear it or see it, I'll know it.

We both want her to be able to stay here for as long as she can, but there are obvious limits to spending the rest of your time in an RV.  I have a limit to what I can do for her, especially in terms of her bathroom responsibilities.  It will be a challenge, but I'm up for it.

We also have to get a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) form filled out and handy.  EMT's are obligated in the State of Texas to do everything to bring back a patient whose heart has stopped.  Having this DNR will relieve them of that obligation.

I hope it's going to be a long, long process.  She was given two years and told to "get her things in order" in the spring of 2014.  Here we are about to be in the year 2020.

Alexander, AR to Shepherdsville, KY

I really don't like blogging about nothing.

The last few days, other than work things, I haven't done anything.

Stayed at Cherokee Lakes RV Park outside of Little Rock, which had a very peaceful setting, but had a lot of early risers with diesels.  Sites were really tight.

Moved on to one of our favorite non coastal parks in Tom Sawyer's RV Park.  There's nothing more peaceful, to me, than just watching the Mississippi roll.  Its so relaxing.  Again, I didn't do much, but I certainly enjoyed the surroundings.

On Monday, I motored to outside of Nashville in Dickson, TN at the Tanbark RV Park, another Passport America park.  Probably the dumpiest place I've stayed in awhile.  Definitely built when 8' wide, less than 30' trailers were in vogue.  There was nothing within 30 miles of the park to even leave for.  And the sites were tighter than anyplace I'd been to in a while.

Today, after the morning wakeup call of those who had to be at work early, I left for Singing Hills RV Park at Mammoth Cave, KY.  Funny how kharma works.  Since I was on the road so early, I thought about calling them and canceling.  I didn't, thought they would be in Eastern Time Zone (they weren't), and got there at 11 a.m.  Small talked a little bit, then came to the realization they didn't have me down.  No reservation.  Lady remember talking to me, I showed them my phone that I called (and that's probably the only reason I would have called), but nothing.  They had a 30 amp water/electric only site that I'd be "really tight to fit in".  Done.  See you.

Knew of a place short of Louisville that we'd stayed at before, but couldn't remember the name.  Thankfully, it was in our GPS.  Headed there (Grandma's RV Park), here for a night, then moving on to Caesar's Creek outside of our hometown of Wilmington, OH.

Sanger to Mount Pleasant

I had a great time in Sanger, TX at the Wagon Master RV Park.  Was a little bothered when I arrived and none of my non protected outlets were working.  Turns out there was something wrong in the pedestal that the park couldn't fix on their own with the 50 amp outlets, so I ran on 30 amps for the week.  Not a biggie.

Tuesday was another father/daughter day as Bethany had the day off so I went into Arlington to pick up her and a co-worker and we were off to Fort Worth.  Connie and I had been there before, so had some local knowledge.  Bethany was like "Finally!  I've been here almost a week and THIS is what I was expecting!" as we went to the Stockyards.  Had to stop at the Stockyards Hotel and have a Buffalo Butt Beer <link> while Bethany and Matt (or maybe it was Dan?) sat in saddles at the bar.

We stayed for the 4p cattle drive which I had a movie of, but something happened that I can't view it now.  <sigh>.

After the Stockyards, we headed down to Sundance Square and Riscky's BBQ which was fantastic eats.  Amazingly, it was started by two immigrants.  If you like good BBQ at a good price ($9.99 AUCE ribs???) and you're in Fort Worth, have to give it a big thumbs up.

Wednesday & Thursday were "work nights" as I was happy to go to Miguelito's to have dinner and a beverage with some cruise clients.  All great folks, and we certainly appreciate their business.  Connie and I used to do a "Client Appreciation Tour" every summer as we tried to figure out whether this full time RV'ing and keeping a business going was able to work.  This really brought me back to those good days.

After my Thursday night dinner (which was pretty early), I came back to the rig to share my last evening in Sanger with the two best card players in Texas (just ask them....), Fred and Vickie.  Played, drank and giggled through about 6 games of 3 handed hearts.  Fred killed us, both in the game and with his remarks.

Got away early (for me) Friday morning and put about 150 miles behind me.  Planned stop here in Mt. Pleasant, Texas at the Ramblin Fever RV Park.  Instantly got in trouble as I put up the dog pen for the girls and was told by "the guy" that I couldn't do that.  Didn't matter that it wasn't in the rules, he said.  So I took it down.  Just as I'm finishing setting up, the owner comes by and says "Mr. Sams (sic), I don't care if you put up your little dog pen."  So I put it up again.  That was fun in 80 degree heat.

I'm here till Monday, when we move again.  Thanks for visiting!

"Upon Approval....."

The last week has been a real roller coaster of emotions for us.

Wednesday we headed to the General RV store north of us to look at RV's and see the outlet stores that are located next door.   Connie had made a list over the last few weeks of models and brands that were appealing at least via the pictures, layouts, etc.  General RV had a few of them, so we thought we'd touch and feel.

Salesperson Tom was incredibly helpful, took plenty of time with us, showed us everything we wanted and then some.  After we came back to the rig, we had narrowed down to a couple of Heartland models, and the one we liked the most (a Big Horn 3670RL) they didn't have in stock in Chicago, but did have a 2012 at one of their other locations.

What did become apparent was this was going to be the future, whether it was a near future or a far future, it was the direction we were heading.  And the scooter didn't fit into those plans -- no way to haul it.

We thought that to make that commitment to the future, we were in the perfect time/place to make that happen.  Where else but a college town as the students are coming back to school to sell a Chinese scooter?  We placed our first Craigslist ad Thursday, got a response that night, and by Friday at dinner time, it was loaded in the back of a guys truck and leaving the park.  Just like that, the end of an era.

Lo and behold the model we wanted was located at our friends (long story for another time) RV dealership in Batavia, about a 40 minute drive from Connie's parents and our hometown of Wilmington, Ohio.  They were kind enough to run down on Thursday and take a look at the model and THEY fell in love with it, too.

Long story short, here we are on Sunday, figuring to hear back from the dealership on Monday about loan approval and taking delivery plans.  So for the last 48 hours, as we're thinking about where this or that would go, we try to preface every sentence with "upon approval" so as not to jinx ourselves.

Hoping for the best!

Pizza Night

We love our homemade pizzas.  With the extreme heat that has been following us, we hated to use the oven.  So, we found a way to make the pizzas on the grill.  Of course, this required us to get a new grill.  :)

There are many options to do this.  Some like to use the ready made crusts. We like to use dough.  We used to use fresh dough from Walmart.  However, as we move around, we found that not all of them carried that.  Our latest find is the Rhoades Bread frozen dough.  Simply set it out in the afternoon to thaw and it will be ready to roll out in time for dinner.

We decided to go with a barbecue chicken pizza for last night's menu.  Here is how we made it:

Once the dough has thawed and is at room temperature, roll out.  Tip:  spray the work area with non-stick cooking spray.  Works better than flour and keeps the dough moist.  Be sure to spray the pizza pan too.

After rolled and positioned on the pan, let rest for a few minutes.  Then, preheat the grill.  We turn both burners to low which gets it up to approx. 300 degrees.  Use a fork to pierce the dough so it will not get too puffy when baking.

Place on grill and bake for 10 minutes.

We had previously cooked the chicken breast.  While the crust is baking, cut up the chicken and pineapple.

The crust is ready for the toppings:

Baste the crust with barbecue sauce.  Then, place the chicken and pineapple around.  Top with mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Anything you can cook, I can cook on the Grill!

Ok, I know we have been hitting it hard with the food and recipes.  Can you tell we like to eat?

Anyway, it has been soooo hot here in Oklahoma that we have not wanted to cook inside the RV.  That just adds to the heat and makes the A/C run harder.  But, we still need to eat.

We recently purchased a new grill so we would be able to have a thermostat and more consistent cooking temps.  The thermostat also enables us to use the grill just like an oven.

Tonight, we needed to use up some leftover chicken (from the Beer Can Chicken previously cooked).  We decided to go with one of our favorites - Bisquick Impossible Pie recipes.  All we needed to do was adapt the recipe for the grill.  Lower the cooking temp to 350 degrees for 1 hour (indirect heat) instead of 400 for 30 minutes.

Worked out great and the RV was able to maintain a comfortable temperature inside.  Outside was showing 102 degrees.

Hot, hot, hot!

Enjoy a Safe and Happy 4th of July!