How we ended up in the farmer's driveway

When we travel, a couple things are almost always true.  We don't go far (usually average about 175 - 225 miles).  We go interstate highway whenever possible.  We plan ahead and we stick to the plan.

There are a lot of reasons for all these things, but that's the premise behind today's post.

We woke up Tuesday morning in Amana Colonies, IA and it was cold.  Plus, it was going to be colder the next morning in Utica, IL (about 167 miles) where we were going to do an overnight stop, then on to Plymouth, IN (about 190 miles) and stay two nights.

About 80-90 miles into it, I called an audible.  We're not stopping in Utica, because its going to be too cold to set up and too cold the next morning to tear down.  Let's go straight to Plymouth (about 357 miles total).  Not only that, I don't want to drive I-80 between Joliet and Gary, let's take the state routes that looked like a pretty straight shot.

We'd stay warm in the truck.  We'd only be running about 50-55 mph, so not much wear and tear on the tires.

There's a thing about the GPS.  You can get in trouble following it.  And, you can get in trouble NOT following it.  Suddenly, somewhere in Illinois, we were on County Roads, not State Routes.  Roads were narrower with not much berm, and farmers use those to move their equipment.  Not a biggie, but it was going to be old for the last 100 miles or so.

We got on a road that was being paved and there were signs for "hot oil".  Great.  Got through it OK, single lane with a flagger and a little ways down the road, it looks like my driver's side tires are putting off a little steam.  Weird.

I stop.  Being a veteran of tire failures, it wasn't that at all.  Tires looked fine, that "smell" wasn't there.  Must have been the hot oil.

We go a little further, plenty far enough to wear off any oil, and I'm still seeing light smoke.  I stop again.  This time I touch the hub and its hot.  REALLY hot.  I'd shot a bearing.

Where I stopped along the road was at a house in the country, but about 250 yards up the road was a farm.  We should go to the farm.  We both grew up in a farming community.  Farmers are good people.

As I turned left into his driveway, I looked at the tire in the mirror and it was like crooked.  Not good.

Connie called Good Sam Roadside Assistance around 4p, told them we had a bearing problem and they would have to send someone out (couldn't be moved, couldn't be towed).  While she was on the phone, I was meeting Jerry.  Jerry ran the cattle farm.  Spectacular guy.  Offered us to stay in the drive as long as we needed, offered us gas for our generator, water for our tank.  Farmers are good people.

When I would go to my friend's farms when I was young, they always had farm dogs.  Not house dogs, these were dogs that ran the farm.  They were always around that farm.  Jerry had a couple farm dogs, a shepherd and a lab.  Everytime I stepped out of the rig or the truck, I had two shadows.  The lab wanted petted, the shepherd wanted me to throw something so she could bring it back.

Didn't go well with our dogs.  Carmen was terrified of the Shepherd and Sloopy wanted a piece of her (which would not have been a good idea).  Jerry was worried for our girls, and so was I.  Our girls are good at dog parks, but these were farm dogs and this was their farm.  Give them a week or so, things would have worked out, but the welcome to the pack message was a bit harsh and direct for our girls.

Around  6:45p, here comes our boy.  J.D.  And his boy.  About 2 years old.  Mom had to work, so junior came with dad.  This kid scared the bejeezus out of both Jerry and I.  Wouldn't sit still, kept playing with the tools, always in and around the wheel and the jack.  Not my kid, but wanted to step in there.

I about feinted when J.D. jacked up the rig and took the tire off the hub.  Just lifted it off.  I was moments away on the road from having that tire pass me.

Basically, J.D. said we'd need a new hub because the bearing had toasted most everything.  Not enough grease in there.  The good news was the spindle was OK, so we wouldn't need a new axle.  (A new axle???)  But it would have to be tomorrow because parts store is closed.

We went into Wal Mart/Rest Area/Truck Stop overnight mode.  Out came the generator.  Slid out one slide.  As we're doing this, I notice J.D. hasn't left.  In fact, he's laying under HIS truck.  I go out to see if he's OK.  He doesn't have reverse.  We try to push him up the hill to the road.  No good.  We have to get Jerry to bring a tractor out, pull him out of the drive so he can get home.  Why is it mechanics have the biggest POS vehicles?

Jerry and I chuckle about that, and he tells me about the coyotes that are everywhere.  I wish he hadn't of told me about them, but sure enough around 11:30p out came the howling.  And it was close.

Around 3a, I wake up and the generator (which only has about a 1 gallon tank) was still running.  I got up and filled it with the gas I had left in my little 1 gallon tank.  About 4a, I wake up in a panic.  "When was the last time I checked the oil?"  I screwed up my bearing by not greasing it, now I was going to toast the genny?  I got up, shut the genny off, put in all the 2 cycle oil I had, and fired it back up.  By 5a, I was up for good.  Too much mind spinning.  Can't keep making dumbass mistakes that were costing us big bucks.

By 6a, I was greasing the other 3 hubs in the rig.  Spraying WD-40 everywhere I could.  I unhitched the rig and drove in to town.  Filled Jerry's 5 gallon gas can for him and our 1 gallon can.

J.D. made it back to the farm around 12:45p.  Had all the parts.  And a different truck.  Another POS truck.  Pretty quick, pretty painless.  He puts the old tire on the new hub.  He's kind of struggling with the lug nuts.  He takes the tire off.  Wrong sized studs on the hub for our lug nuts.  The phone calls back to where ever were not pretty to watch or hear.'

We're back on hold.  Jerry tells me about his daughter.  Finishing up her first year as a Band Director.  Small world.

Finally, by 3p, J.D. is back with lug nuts, we pay the rather sizable bill, and by 4p on our way.

Our 24 hours on the farm, in the driveway were over.  Had we of gone I-80 through the suburbs of Chicago, this would have been an ugly, ugly story.  Why went longer than normal, went state routes instead of interstate, skipped the plan, all is why this was just an expensive story.  Not an ugly one.

(Well past) Time for another update ....

No posts since January.  <sigh>  I guess I hate writing just to be writing.  Blame my college professors and Sue Terrell.  (If you know who she is, thanks for your friendship for all these years!)

 The Porters and I walked the Harbor Bridge (on the left) in Corpus Christi the first weekend of February.  Was neat to say that you've done.  As slow as we did things, really wasn't that bad.  All told, I've done it.  Don't need to do it again.

Of course, after we finished, we went to North Beach for a celebratory beer.  Yes, I know it was 10:30 in the morning.  I have a problem.


February and so far in March have been incredibly rainy.  We've had more rain this "season" than the previous two years combined.  Last year was a lot of shut in time for cold.  This year has been warmer, but been shut in for rain.

Did get a visit from Bethany and James for a couple of days in early March.  Connie and Vickie were able to take her shopping for Baby Davis while I took James golfing.  On the right is James retrieving his drive on #18.

We've been able to meet with our Heartland friends about once a week for a meal and some good conversation.

This last week of March is when the Winter Texans will start flowing out of the Coastal Bend.  Always seems to happen around this time.  Then they all get home and whine about how cold it is there.  Duh.

We met with Connie's oncologist last week and started mapping out our exit strategy.  She's going to do on more treatment in March (next Tuesday the 24th), another in April (on the 14th) then a final one in Texas tentatively on the 5th of May.  Between the 14th of April and 5th of May she'll do the scans and tests and we'll have those results read on the 5th of May.  Whether or not those show progression of the disease will determine how we proceed.  From a health standpoint, she's been very tolerant of these treatments.  Lose the night of the treatment, but that's about it.  No nausea, her weight has held pretty steady and other than some balance issues, has been going about life great.

Speaking of going about life, we decided to take a last minute cruise on April 5th.  Life's too short.

After we hear what the oncologist has to say on the 5th of May, we'll start figuring out a run to South Dakota (have to spend at least one night there every five years), then on to Ohio.  Want to be loose and free with our plans, at least to South Dakota, so that we can play the volatile weather in the Plains during May.  Do hope to be back in Ohio by the Monday after Memorial Day.

That's about it for now.  Treasure every day and the people you spend it with.

Sugar Bowl, Bethany Visits, and it was cold.....

Had a couple of spectacular weeks following the Buckeyes to a National Championship.

It started on New Year's Eve as we drove to Baton Rogue, stopping to pick up our daughter in Houston at the airport.  Not conditioned for those long drives any more, it doesn't seem.

New Year's Day we drove into New Orleans.  Our first stop was at the Mid City Yacht Club, the official bar of the OSU Alumni from New Orleans, the Cajun Buckeyes.  Was a real throw back bar, in a neighborhood, surrounded by row houses.  Had a great time there.  Met Buck-I-Guy and Archie Griffin, had a few beers then headed downtown towards the Super Dome.

Parked in our spot a few blocks away from the Super Dome and hopped on local transit to the French Quarter.  Stopped for lunch at Crescent City Brewhouse.  Nice place, filled with Buckeyes and Bammers alike.

Next was on towards Manning's where ESPN had been broadcasting.  Got there just as they were striking the set.  <sigh>  Was still a good place to stop, rest, have a few beverages and watch some football.

Continued our walk to the SuperDome where there was a Fan Jam going on outside the stadium.  Met up with an old friend college, a Bama fan we had met on our cruise to Hawaii in 2011, my cousin from Orlando and our friends from Bellevue, who's brother I went to school with.  Was a really fun atmosphere, got super psyched for the game.

We got into the SuperDome in plenty of time to see all of pre game.  We didn't have an usher for our seat, we had sherpas.  They were up there, but still a great view of the game.  Needless to say, it was the desired outcome.

Drove back with Bethany to Rockport the next day, and spent the next two days recovering from the 3 day blitz.  By Monday, we had decided the price of tickets was going to be too high, the weather in Dallas was going to be too cold, and we bailed on taking the rig to Arlington opting instead fly Bethany back from Corpus Christi.

Spent the next week indoors most of the time.  Temp highs in the 40's will do that when you're in an RV.

Had a great tailgate party with the Porter's for the National Championship game, but that afternoon our furnace didn't fire.  Turns out the circuit board was bad.  Would be till Friday until we got the part, so I got a little portable heater.  As the temps didn't clear 55 for a week, it was cold in the rig.

Again, the National Championship game had a desired result.

Started a Euchre Night here at the park on Tuesdays, and we think its going to roll.  Played twice a week at Pioneer RV Resort in the fall and really wanted to keep playing.

Finally going to get to play golf this Monday as the temps are going back to their normal mid 60's for this time of year.

Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read our doings.  Till the next time......

December and The Holidays

We've been at Copano Bay RV Resort since December 20th.  Had a Happy Hour most afternoons with our friends here.

Connie has had two treatments since our last blog.  She seems to be tolerating them very well.  Her oncologist sees most of the cancer being stable and not worthy of being too aggressive, so that's what we've done.

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas.  We had a snacks and carols on Christmas Eve, then an afternoon potluck Christmas dinner here at the park.  All very good food, fun to be a part of.

Christmas Day we had a FaceTime conversation with our daughter, Bethany, and her husband, James (and dogs).  With the announcement that she's expecting in June, we'll probably be doing a lot more of this in the coming months and years.

We took our Christmas decorations down yesterday, the day after Christmas which is earlier than either of us can remember..  Its amazing how much space we donate to our Christmas decorations, but its something both of us enjoy.

Weather has been terrific (until today where its rainy and in the 40's) with the highs in the 60's-70's and the lows in the 50's-60's.  Going to be a bit of a roller coaster for the next couple of weeks.

We'll be following the Buckeyes to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl.  Meeting our daughter at the airport in Houston, then on to Baton Rouge for New Year's Eve, then NOLA for New Year's Day and the game vs. Alabama.  Shortly after we return (with Bethany) to Rockport, we'll head back with her to Dallas where she's working the National Championship game (and hopefully to continue to follow the Buckeyes!)

Vacation is Over

It's been a while since our last post.  We have been busy enjoying my vacation from treatments.

As noted in our previous blog, we had a great time making our way to Texas.  It took us 7 weeks to get here!

Time to get back on the treatments.  The diagnostic scans were done in early November.  For the most part, they show that most areas are stable.  There are a few new areas in the lungs and minor progession.  However, the doctor feels they are not very concerning.

So, with that news, we are going to continue on the hormone pill that we started back in August and combine it with Herceptin infusion.  This is a drug that I had received previously and tolerated it with minimal side effects.

Going to get this started tomorrow.  Treatments will be every 3 weeks.

Hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday.  We had a good time and good food here at the park.  Met some really nice folks!

Had a couple of days of cooler weather.  It inspired us to get out the Christmas decorations.  We will be moving to our normal winter spot in Rockport on the 20th.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!