life changes

We have had some interesting life changes this spring. On May 5th I was diagnosed with Kindney Cancer in my left kidney.On May 24th I had a rad nephorectomy of the left kidney (they removed it). At some point during the surgery I had a stroke in the vision center of my brain and was left with hemianopsia (I am left sided blind in both eyes.

Lindsey also closed her business the same week, as the economy was rough, I was not able to give her days off and the BP mess killed the beach traffic that we counted on for the spring and summer months.
As the world crumbled around us, we all moved into the RV along with the six dogs. Yes, I did say SIX dogs. We are parked in a Christmas Tree farm, so there are plenty of trees for the dogs, however most of the summer has been in the 100 plus degree range and we are over the heat of the deep south. We are looking forward to getting back on the road as soon as my doctors say I can go.
Tomorrow is my son Tony's 25th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY we love and miss you. Don't party too much and try to stay safe out there in sin city.

Where have we been?

Well, as you know we have been in Alabama since mid-September. We did manage to take a wonderful trip to visit our friends Terry and Billy in Colorado in January. We had a great time, visited lots of cool places, ate wonderful foods and met some of their awesome Colorado friends. The weather was perfect and we can't wait to go back. We did not take the RV in January and really look forward to doing that in the spring.

I totally fell in love with Boulder and would consider workamping there this summer, if the right opportunity appears.

The months pass so quickly....

We had some family issues and had to return to Dothan for the winter. We are helping our daughter at her business for awhile. While here our dear friends Terry and Billy moved to Colorado and we are very sad. However the good news is we have a place to retreat to when the tempatures soar to the 100+ degrees here in Dothan.

In the meantime, we are getting ready for the Christmas season. We have a 2 foot tree on the dashboard (complete with lights) and gifts around it. We bought a TV for the living area to watch all the Christmas specials on, and am looking forward to spending time with family. Then it will be off to Colorado for a much needed respite in January.

From Salt Lick to Amelia

Upon leaving Salt Lick, Kentucky for Amelia, Virginia we got all of 10 miles and had a blow out on the RV. Good Sam Roadside Service came to our rescue and within 4 ½ hours we had our spare on and were down the road in search of a new tire. The tire that blew out was a Goodyear with only 1200 miles on it. So we found a Goodyear store and they could not help us. You see, if you have no tread left after a blow out, they have no way to pro-rate your tire. So we continued on into West Virginia and found a Firestone dealership, where we replaced three tires with heavy duty truck tires, and decided to deal with Goodyear later.




Now we are in Amelia, Virginia. It is south of Richmond and in the heart of the rock hounding/mining areas. We visited the Lucky Gem Mine and panned for gems out of buckets of sand and clay. It was fun and we came away with some really nice rough gems. We have been touring the back roads seeing unusual sites (Tom thought this old school would be a good teaching job for me) and looking for gems in the creeks. Tom sunk in a hole in one but came up with a nice Geode. I think maybe next time he should get a life vest for creek wading. 








We will be going to Colonial Virginia at the end of the week and to the Blackstone Art and Craft Fair next weekend (YEAH!!). In the meantime we will search for more gem mines and creeks in hopes of finding our fortune. 

Indiana

We moved on from Illinois to Indiana. Before making the move we bought groceries. Pictured are the things that appeared in the cart via a little helper named Tom.


YELLOW BANKS RECREATION CENTER

This place is an old family farm that has been around since 1840. It has been converted into a recreation/art center. They have a beautiful manmade lake and a pond with log cabins for rent around it. Some nice RV sites and a few seasonal sights as well. And you couldn't ask for nicer people.

Also they have a clay foundry and produce beautiful pottery work from the clay. I had the opportunity to watch the potter spin some mugs on his wheel and was amazed at how quickly and expertly he was able to produce two in less than 5 minutes. He was a wealth of information regarding clay and glaze properties. All this while working on a special order for 100 mugs. Now, if I could only fit a wheel and kiln into the RV…….hmmmmm.

This is a very talented family, as the Grandmother (in her 90’s) is a professional quilter and the potter’s mother makes miniatures for sale. His Aunt is a published author of spinning and cooking with wild flowers books. In addition, she owns a country store in a nearby town that sells Yellow Bank pottery. The potter’s wife works at the family store/diner (the only store in Selvin) as a cook and waitress. Oh yes and let’s not forget dear old Dad, who is a retired business teacher, and runs the recreation center. I think that he strongly believes diversification is a good thing.

This certainly has been an interesting place to stop and I hope to come back again. Tomorrow we move further east to see new things and meet new people.

Illinois State Museum and Sesser

We visited the Illinois State Museum located right here on Rend Lake. They boost exhibiting the works of over 750 Illinois artist. It was an amazing place. They had quilts, ceramics, photography, jewelry, pottery, paper art and the list just went on to every kind of real art you can think of. We especially liked the recycled works (Tom’s new Rock Band….”The Tinmen Group”….now playing at an RV park near you) and the very large ceramic roosters. It was a fun place to visit and gave us some great ideas for future projects. Now, if I could only learn to light the welding torch without taking off my eyebrows, then I could make some birds and bugs too. Hmmmm....






The rest of the weekend we did laundry in Sesser (population; 2128), took the dogs for a swim and then gave the dogs baths. Sesser is a stop sign in the road. It is so small they do NOT have a traffic light. Just one 4 way stop. One Grocery store. Two gas stations. A Public library. One Laundromat. One ice cream palace and a dozen antique shops. A very cute and laid back place. Today we went back to Sesser to buy milk and bread and explore an antique shop as long as we were there. (Tom still does not get my fascination with “old used stuff”.I'm working on that one.)

Rend Lake, IL

We are in southern Illinois at Rend Lake. It is very peaceful here. We got lucky and reserved a spot that has sewer hook-up so we don't have to move the coach until we leave. We went into Benton and Marion yesterday to resolve some of our previous issues (MiFi and converter)and was pleased to find that both are very busy communities with lots to offer. We have decided to just use our oven for storage and find a toaster oven. So if you know of anyone that has an extra, Tell them to give me a jingle.

The lake is very pretty here and the tempatures are mild (mid to low 80's)during the day and cool (low 60's) at night. We hope to get some fishing in and do a little sightseeing of the area in the next few days.