MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

This is our little tree.
Merry Cristmas to all who come here to follow us through our travels. We are in Celina, Tx babysitting dogs and fish while the kids are in Ohio. The young'uns will get in round 7 pm tomorrow evening. I will have to brave the Dallas airport once more to pick them up. If I survive the trip, we will have Christmas at Duane and Brandey's on Friday. The whole crew should be here this year. We are looking forward to the get together. Once we are back on road I will try and post to the site more then I have been. Hopefully I can take a lot of good photos to post.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

Duane and Louise

In the woods at Jeremy's

Hello from Texas
We have been sitting in the rv park here in Kilgore for a week and a half now. Louise has been working on a quilt and I have been going to Jeremy's sitting in a hunting blind. She finished the quilt tonight and I got this picture of a bobcat. It was almost to far away to get a really good picture of it, but this one turned out pretty good. We'll be here till after Louise goes to the Doctor. She is getting around pretty good now. We hope she can take the cast off after the appointment.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Sitting still

We are now staying a rv park near Kilgore, TX. Louise is doing good with her air cast. She is going back to the doctor on the 18th. Hopefully she will be able to get around without the cast after her appointment. We will moving over to Celina, TX after she sees her doctor. We'll be spending a couple of weeks there at Duane Jr. and Brandey's.

Till next time

Duane and Louise

The Foot

We are back at the rv park where it all started, Miss Ellie's RV Park. Returned here so we would be closer to the doctor Louise was going to for her foot. She now has an air cast on her foot. It allows her to put some pressure her foot without it hurting to much. She returns to the doctors on the 18th to see how things are healing. We are going to stay at this park for a week, then move over to Jeremy and Jennifer's for a while. We'll be in Texas till after the first of the year.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

OUCH !!!

Today we spent the the day at St. Andrews State Park. The beachs were really pretty with pure white sand. Now the bad part......Louise was climbing around on the jetty rocks looking for shells. This cute little raccoon distracted her and she took a missstep on the rocks. She heard something crack in her foot. We toured the rest of park, went to get something to eat and stopped at underwater museum. After we left there her foot was really hurting her so we decided a trip to the emergency room was in order. BROKEN FOOT !!!!!!! She has a splint on her foot with an ace bandage holding it in place and walking with crutches. The hospital told her she needed to go see an ortho doctor. Tomorrow we will be heading back to Texas so she can go to our home doctors. We are about 750 miles from home base. I will take a couple days to get home. Louise will call our family doctor tomorrow to set up the appointments. Other then that we are having a really good time. We will be in Texas till after Christmas and a cruise we are going on in January. Hopefully Louise's foot heals in a hurry and we can be off again.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Back on the road

We are on the road again. Left Georgia this morning heading to Florida. Stopped at this lighthouse and wildlife refuge at St Martin, Florida. Then it was on to Carrabelle, Fl to see the smallest police station in the country. We drove to Mexico Beach, Fl. to a camp ground to spend a few days while we do some sight seeing. We'll stay here till Monday then move on again. Should be back in Texas about the second week of December. Just taking our time going across Florida catching a few sights on the way. I have internet here so I can post a little more often, at least till Monday....lol

Till later
Duane and Louise

Well it's been a while since we have had access to the net. We are in Quitman, Georgia till Monday then it's off again. We stopped at West Point Lake the first of November to spend time fising with Uncle Sie. Uncle Sie is John Harmon's uncle that we went fishing with when John was alive. We had a great time but it was COLD. I had to wear coveralls to fish, that just isn't right...lol. We did catch some really nice crappie. Louise stayed in the motorhome and worked on the quilt she is making. The lake veiw pic is from West Point Lake. After we lleft there we headed for Quitman where the Cooks live. I worked with Terry and his wife Cathy in Dayton at the GM plant. We have been there for a couple of weeks now. The pic of the geese was taken looking out the window of our coach in Cook's yard. Went to a few museums while here and did a little geocaching. We plan on leaving on Monday and head for the coast of Florida. We're going to travel the coast back Louisiana, then on north to Texas. I hope we have better access to the net from now on. We are in the only dead spot around here.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Georgia

Well it's been a while since we have had access to the net. We are in Quitman, Georgia till Monday then it's off again. We stopped at West Point Lake the first of November to spend time fising with Uncle Sie. Uncle Sie is John Harmon's uncle that we went fishing with when John was alive. We had a great time but it was COLD. I had to wear coveralls to fish, that just isn't right...lol. We did catch some really nice crappie. Louise stayed in the motorhome and worked on the quilt she is making. The lake veiw pic is from West Point Lake. After we lleft there we headed for Quitman where the Cooks live. I worked with Terry and his wife Cathy in Dayton at the GM plant. We have been there for a couple of weeks now. The pic of the geese was taken looking out the window of our coach in Cook's yard. Went to a few museums while here and did a little geocaching. We plan on leaving on Monday and head for the coast of Florida. We're going to travel the coast back Louisiana, then on north to Texas. I

Taking it easy

Here are are a few pictures from the rodeo we went to on Sunday. We had a good time. I was told today that the coach should have it's new radiator by Friday. When we get her back we will take it to Duane and Brandey's to load our things back in it, then to Jeremy and Jennifer's to gather the rest of our stuff. Next we should be off to Georgia if nothing else slows us up. Right now we are just hanging out waiting. We will go over to Denton to Campers World to look around maybe tomorrow. May just drive around site seeing some.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Still in Texas

Well we are still in Texas. We were to have the radiator in the coach fixed on Friday, but that turn into a real mess. When I called to set up the appointment, I told the service writer that the coach was a Monaco with a Cummins engine and the radiator was leaking. The guy set up the time to bring it in. We had to wait a week and a half to get it in. When I arrived the man on the desk told me that they didn't work on Monacos. He said that the radiator was the responsibility of the chassis manufacture, go figure. I called Monaco support, he said that the closest place to have that worked on was in Dallas. I told him that I didn't want to drive it that far with a bad radiator. He talked to the man on the desk for 10 minutes, then told me if I wanted to pay for the work Monaco would pay me back as long as the repair people followed their rules. I went back in to tell the guy to go ahead and fixed it but was told that they would not follow the rules from Monaco. Sooooooo, I call Monaco back and they say I would not get payed back if they didn't do it right. I told Monaco to set up the appointment in Dallas. Got to Dallas with no overheating. Got up the next day to find antifreeze under the coach. We take it in to the repair center on Monday. We are staying at Duane and Brandey's house while the coach is being repair. When we get the coach back we will be off to Georgia for a while. We were going to go to Fort Lauderdale, Fl for Louise's aunts 91 birthday. Got a call the other day that she had passed away. So I don't think we will be going there now. We will spend 3 or 4 weeks in Georgia then head back to Texas for Christmas.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

Back in Texas

We stopped at Meramec Caverns for a couple of days. The campground is right on th river and very pretty. Took a tour of the cave and really enjoyed it. The stalagmites and tites were really cool. I liked this tour better then the one of Mammoth Cave, much prettier. When we left Meramec we headed for Branson, Mo. We stayed at the Escapees Park in Branson. This park was nice and best of all cheap.....I'm all for saving....lol.... While in Branson we went to the Circle B Chuckwagon dinner show. They served dinner before the show. The music was all cowboy songs. We had a good time there. The next evening we went to an outdoor drama at the Shepherd of the Hills theater. It was a good story about the people of the Ozarks. During the day we traveled around the area, took a hike, did some geocaching and saw lots of pretty scenery. The weather there was nice, not to hot. The trees had just started to turn thier fall colors. The color would have been great in about 2 weeks, but we couldn't stay any longer. We left Branson and headed south. The first night out we stopped at a Walmart for the evening. When we got up the next morning I noticed that a tire on the Jeep was low. I took it over to the tire repair in Walmart to check it out. Bad choice!!!!! I stood there for 5 hours waiting for them to fix it....SLOW..... Leaving there Louise decided to take the the scenic route over the mountian into Oklahoma. Of coarse she wasn't the one driving. The drive was REALLY curvy and REALLY steep up and down. I got to see the sights when I pulled off at the turnout vistas. It really wasn't too bad of a drive for me, at least there weren't any drop offs with no guardrails to deal with. We stayed at Broken Bow, Oklahoma Saturday and Sunday, then drove on in to Jeremy's on Monday. When we arrived there I notice antifreeze dripping from the radiator off the motorhome!! So I made am appointment to get it looked at, of coarse they can't do it till Friday the 20th. We will stay here till that's fixed, then off to Georgia.

Till next time
Duane and Louise

On the road again

We left Troy, Ohio on Tuesday and stopped at our friend Barbara's house for an evening. On Wednesday we headed west. We stopped at Terre Haute, In for the night. Louise has a niece that lives there, so we got to visit her and her husband for a while. Off again to Missouri and big arch. We took the tram to top, pretty cool. It's a long way up there!! After the arch we were off to Meramec Caverns where we are spending the night. Tomorrow we will take the cave tour. From there I think we will go to Springfield to the big Bass Pro Shop.

That's it for now
Duane and Louise

Back in Troy

We are back in Troy, Ohio for a couple of days. We went the rv rally in Van Wert, Ohio this past week. We had a real good time. Went to a lot of classes on rv care and a couple on traveling the country. Found out a lot about work camping. Went to a class on working for the U S Park Service and a class on going to Alaska. The night time entertainment was pretty good. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Left Van Wert on Friday to go back to Troy for the blacksmith convention. I got to see a lot of my old friends from my smithing days. I watched several of the demonstrators and kind of got the urge to do some smithing, but no place to put the forge in the rv......lol

We will leave Troy by Wednesday morning. We are heading back to Texas for my doctors appointment. Not sure how we will go yet. Thinking of going back through Missouri. Maybe stopping at Branson. We will let everybody know when we know.

That's it for know

Duane and Louise

Troy, Ohio

We're back in Troy for a couple of weeks. At this time we are parked in the driveway of our friend Bob. We were going move to our daughter's, but the yard was too soft from the rain. Bob was kind enough to let us stay at his house and provided us with water and electric. It's great to have good friends. This week we are taking care of our grandbaby during the day. Ain't she a cutie !!!! She will be 2 on the 11th of September. She's having her birthday party on Saturday.

We will be going to the Escapees rv rally in Van Wert, Oh. on the 17th thru the 22nd. Then it's back to Troy to the Southern Ohio Forge and Anvil annual blacksmithing convention. After that we will be off again. Planning on stopping by Louise's brother Ed's house then moving through Missouri on our way back to Texas. We have doctors appointments on Oct. 11. I have to have my scans done to make sure they got the cancer out. That done, we are off to Georgia for a while.
That's it or now
Duane and Louise

Canada

another overlook
lake overlook
Louise behind the falls
gone fishing

View from the hilltop

We spent the last week in Canada fishing and hiking. We met Stacy and Carrie there and had a ball. The bad thing was there was no internet but it was fun. We worked our way through Michigan staying in casino lots and Walmarts most of time. Driving across the Mackinac Bridge was a real treat in the MH for the first time. Pretty scary!! Stopped at the Soo Locks to watch the boats go through, then over the Soo Bridge into Canada. Fishing was not real great because of the weather changes but we caught enough to eat. The girls and we went for a 7 mile hike up a mountain to the "view from the hilltop". One day we went geo chaching, found 3 of the four we went after. Did a lot of hiking that day. Our little boat did a good job with the 4 horse motor we bought on the way up. Caught fish evey day, just not many. We had our mail sent there and had to stick around for it to get there. We were planning to leave on Saturday, the mail got there Monday about 2 PM. As soon as we got it we hit the road back to the States. Pulled into Troy, Ohio Wendesday afternoon. We will be here till time to go to the Escapees rv rally in Van Wert, Oh.
That's it for now.
Duane and Louise

Michigan

Mowing the field.

This is a clock tower at Greenfield Village, the men ring the bell.

We're on the move again!! We had everything fixed on the coach that we had signed up for and took off for Michigan. Spent the first night in Cabela's parking lot, it's free!! Then we were off to Ypsilanti, Mi to a KOA camp ground. It was real nice but real expensive. Stayed there for 3 nights while we went to the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. We spent from 9:30 till 5:00 walking and looking both days, boy were we tired. The bad news is my camera went haywire and I had to send it back to the company for repairs. I still my old camera so I can still take pictures. Friday we left for parts north. Stopped at a Flying J for the night. They have wifi here so I get things done that need to be done on the net. We are working our way to Canada as slowly as we can. Have to be there Aug 19 so we have a few days to hit some other sights. Going to stop at Mackinaw City and then Mackinac Island for a few days of sight seeing.

That's it for now

Duane and Louise

Indiana

After a nice visit with the kids we spent a couple of days with our friend Barbara. We had a great time. Then it was on to Amish country in Indiana. We are now in Wakarusa, IN. waiting to get the work done on the motorhome. We will be here till the weekend anyway, camping is free!!! While we wait we have been traveling around here a bit. Went to Notre Dame campus and walked around one day.

Then we went to the Studebaker car museum. That was pretty cool.

Today we toured the Monaco factory to see how the coach was built, did the laundry, then to the library to get on the net. We will be here for a few more days after we get the work done on Wednesday then off to Michigan.

That's it for now

Duane and Louise

Ohio

We spent 3 days in Cincinnati visiting with our daughter Stacy and her partner Carrie. Had a great time with them. Plan to meet up them again in Canada for a little fishing in August. We camped at the FMCA camp grounds, very nice and it was free!!
Then it was off to Troy, OH to visit daughter Rachel, her husband Benji and the grandbaby Madeleine. We took a trip to the zoo and had a blast.
Then off to Richmond, IN for a few days to visit our friend Barbara. Next stop, the factory to have a few things worked on in the motorhome.
That's it for now
Duane and Louise

Kentucky

We left Denton, Texas on Saturday and arrived at Mammoth Cave National Park on Sunday night. We toured the park on Monday. We took a cave tour and a driving tour-- pretty cool. That evening we went visit my brother Dean, had a good dinner and good chat. Tuesday it was work around the coach , install shoe storage and general cleanup. Then it as off to Cincinatti on Wednesday. We will meet with Stacy and Carrie tonight, leaving on Saturday for Troy.

AND WE"RE OFF

Well sort of....... We left the rv park in Waskom on Sunday morning, got about half way to Jeremy's house, blew a tire on the left inside dual. We had sensors put into the tires about 4 weeks ago to tell us when a tire went flat..... they worked...... pulled into a rest area, got out to check the tire, sure enough FLAT. I called our emergency road service, they called me back to tell me they couldn't find a tire on Sunday, we would have to wait till Monday morning. About 8:30 they called to tell me they a had a man on the way, be there in one hour. 2 hours later he showed up, it's a southern thing I think. lol He got the tire changed and we were on our way. When he changed the tire we found the sensor had broken on one end. I had to call Campers World and make an appointment to get it fixed before we left Texas. We got to Jeremy and Jennifer's Monday about noon. We spent the next 4 days moving stuff around in the coach for the big journey.

On Friday morning we left for Denton, Tx to get the sensor fixed. I had a 2 PM appointment and plans to start back east after the fix. Well as you might guess, they got done at 6 PM so we drove about 10 miles up the road to a rv park for the night. We will leave in the morning and head towards Ohio. We plan on going to Bowling Green to visit brother Dean, then to Cincy to Stacy and Carrie's for a few days. The back of the jeep is full of stuff to dropoff there. From there to Rachel and Benji's for a visit.

That's it for now
We are off

YEA !!!!!!!!

Went to the doctor today. I was told that I could do whatever I wanted to as long as it didn't jostle me around to much. He said I could get back to exercising but not to lift anything heavy yet. He gave me a letter to carry with me to give to a doctor in another town so I can get a CT scan on the road. I have to have one every 3 months for a while. I called GM and I have to go in to the plant on Friday to sign my retirement papers, then we can do whatever we want to.

We are planning to move the coach over to Jeremy and Jennifer's house for a few days to finish getting things ready to travel north. We have to do some rearranging so things travel better, remove stuff and add some other stuff. We will probably head to Ohio first either via Illinois or Kentucky, not sure yet. Hopfully we will be on the road sometime next week. I am awaiting a call from the factory to tell me when I need to have the coach there to correct the satellite issue. After that it's Canada in August to go fishing with Stacy and Carrie, then to Ohio for Madeleine's 2nd birthday.

I SURVIDED !!

I had my surgery Monday. The doctor said that it was cancer, but he was able to remove it all. I have to go for a check up next Wednesday, then a ct scan in 3 months. Doc said I should be ready to travel after my check up. He is going to write a letter so I can get the ct scans out of this area.
If everything goes alright at the the checkup we will start getting ready to hit the road. We have to do some rearranging in the mh so things travel better. We have to gather up the things we are taking to Ohio and figure out how to haul them. I figure we can be on the road by the second week in July.

Getting ready

We went to Denton, Tx to Campers World this week to have the washer/dryer installed in the coach. We also had a new braking unit put on the Jeep and had pressure sensors put in the tires so we can monitor the tire pressure. We had a flat on the Jeep last year and didn't know it until someone flaged us down on the road to tell us. I said then that when we started to travel a lot we would have the sensors installed, job done.
Monday is the big day, I get cut on. Wish me well. If everything goes the way it's suppose to, we should be on the road by the 3rd week of July.

Good News Bad News

Lets start with the good news. I was told today that I will be released from work on June 30. We can finally start making plans for our travels. We think we will be heading up to Indiana first to have some work done on the satellite if I can get an appointment at the factory. Then to Canada to go fishing with Stacy and Carrie. Then to Ohio for our granddaughter's birthday.

Now the bad news.... I have been diagnosed with cancer on my right kidney. I am going into the hospital Monday the 19th to have it removed. The doctor said he is 90% sure he can get it all with laparoscopic surgery. If everything goes alright I should be up and ready to travel by the second week of July. I won't know about what follow up I will need till after the surgery.

That's the good and the bad of it. I will post again as soon as I can sit up to type.

At Caddo Lake

May 29, 06

Well here we set waiting for GM to let me know when I can leave. I have been trying to get them to give me a date for the last 2 weeks, they are NOT cooperating. Hopefully I will know something soon.
The Texas kids all had things to do this weekend. Louise and I went fishing one day, geocaching one day and sat around working on sorting pictures and putting them on cds so we can find them better. Real exciting huh. We had a good time.
The weather today is great, breezy and not to hot. I'll post the dates of our travels as soon as I get a release date from GM. Hope it's soon.

Our new home

We are parked near Waskom, Texas till I retire, which we hope is the end of June. The first place we will be heading is Arkansas to do a little fly fishing, then to Indiana to the motorhome factory to have a few things done to the coach. We will be in Canada in August, Ohio in September, Georgia in October, Florida in November, then who knows. That is the plan, if it all works out, we'll see.

We have done it !!

We have sold the house and moved into the motorhome. I should be able to leave work the end of June.