May 14 - 19, 2017 - Louisiana Bound - New Orleans, Here We Come!

Sunday the 14th of May was Mother's Day. We cooked lunch outside on the grill and it was really good! Then we watched TV and later Kristi and the kids went home. On Monday the 15th- We started the Packing and reparation for our trip to New Orleans. Steve adjusted the Safe-T-Plus steering assist again and we drove the RV to check his adjustments. I skipped the final Wordpress class. We packed all the many things to take to New Orleans. Tuesday -the 16th: We packed the last-minute items in the RV. Then attached the pickup and drove to Oklahoma City. We stayed at Twin Fountains RV Park. Pam & JC met us at Outback Steakhouse, for Pam's last real meal before her hip surgery. We bought them supper to celebrate JC's birthday and Pam getting her new hip. On Wednesday, the 17th we were up early and drove to McBride Orthopedic Hospital.

We saw Pam before she went into surgery and gave her a hug and wished her the best. Her surgery was completed about 12:30 PM, and JC & I listened to the doctor (Schnebel), who said her surgery went fast because he already knew what size hip replacement to put in. The surgery went well and she come out of recovery in about 1.5 hours. Steve & I had supper at Chili's, then returned to the RV to walk the dogs and sleep. We were up about 7:00 AM on Thursday and drove to the hospital to see how Pam was doing. She was doing very well. We returned to the RV and stowed our utilities, hooked up the pickup and started south. I was worried some about the weather-they were saying it was a very high risk for tornadoes and bad hail and thunderstorms. We left about 10:00 AM and had a good drive south on I-35. When we got to about Denton, TX the road was really bad with plenty of traffic and wild stuff.

Steve did an excellent job getting the RV around Dallas. He really liked the Safe-T-Plus Steering Stabilizer. It is keeping him from getting so tense in the neck and shoulders. We arrived safely at Wagon Train RV Park between Canton, TX and Van, TX. It was a really neat, clean, RV park. It had a large area to walk the dogs-so they were happy. The weather was extremely muggy when we were setting up the RV, so we went inside and cooled down. Next we drove back 4-5 miles to Canton in the Pickup to eat at Applebees and buy some groceries at Walmart. Again we were pooped when we got back to the RV. Friday we slept in until about 9:15 and left the RV park about 11:00 AM. We stopped at Van, TX for gas and waited for someone to move their SUV so we could pull in and gas up. But they were in no hurry, so finally Steve moved to another pump so we could fill up. We got on the road about Noon.

When we arrived at the Louisiana border we stopped at the Tourist Information Center, walked the dogs then went inside. I picked up some great brochures, then we were back on the road. There was a little thunderstorm, but it didn't last long. We arrived at our destination about 4:30 PM. The name of the town was Woodworth and the Park is called Indian Creek Recreation Area.

It was a very nice park on a big reservoir. Steve got a discount for being a vet, I think we paid $22.00 per night. We would definitely stay here again. I fixed us some grilled chicken, salad and strawberries for supper. The dogs loved walking there and even took a little dip in the water. That finished us for the day.

May 1 - 13, 2017 Getting Ready to get on the Road

Wow, the beginning of May started with a bang. I enrolled in a Wordpress class at Vo-Tech in Stillwater. This class was after work from 5:30 to 8:30 for 5 nights. I went on Monday and Wednesday the first week. My first impression was, it was somewhat confusing. The class was for beginners, supposedly, but most of the people in there (total of 5 students, including me)had been building websites on different platforms and had clear ideas of what they wanted to do/learn. So for me, it was more work, buy hosting, set up another site, confusion: which Wordpress to use - the free vs the paid version (hosted by another host). I decided on Bluehost and picked my domain name from namecheap.com. If I had not taken the class online from Amy Sowards, RD Entrepreneur Academy, I would have been totally lost. The next day (Tuesday) - I went to Ponca City and got a Bone Density test - easy peasy. When we got home I helped Steve check the gutters on the house. I worked on the new website and got frustrated. So I took a break. We had supper with Linda & Hazel at La Macarena. After supper I worked on the website more and accomplished some additional things. Back to work on Wednesday and the Wordpress class. More frustration. On Thursday, we dropped the RV off at Camping World to get the Safe T Plus Steering Assist installed. We visited my sister Nancy at the South Pointe Rehabilitation Center in OKC. We enjoyed a short visit and she seems to be doing fairly good. We returned home and took a nap. Friday, I worked, then came home and paid bills - my AND dues and Liability Insurance. I also reserved an RV site for July 3 - July 5 at Thousand Trails in Newport WA, using our zone pass. This should keep us from sleeping in the street over the July 4th Holiday. When Saturday arrived, we went to OKC and picked up the RV at Camping World. We hitched up the pickup and drove out, but returned quickly because it was not tracking correctly. The techs took it for a spin (after we unhooked the pickup) and did some corrections. Then Steve drove it with the techs and was satisfied with the job. We returned to Camping World and hitched the pickup back up and drove home. We also got our new debit cards with the chip activated. Next we drove to Enid and celebrated JC's Birthday - I am not sure of his age, he doesn't like to discuss that! We watched the Kentucky Derby, which was won by Always Dreaming. On Sunday we mowed the front yard and I don't know what Steve got into, maybe the leaves, but he had an asthma attack, so we had to get him recovered from that. Then he removed the shocks from the RV and ordered 4 new ones at OReilly. We napped, because we were sooo tired. Monday it was back to work, then home and fix supper, then go to the Wordpress class at Vo-tech in Stillwater. I think we have been on the road too much with work, classes and prep for our trip to New Orleans. Tuesday we did chores around the house. Our internet, home phone and cell phone were down from 12:30 PM to 5:30 PM. I was not happy about that! Steve installed the shocks on the RV and I assisted a little. Wednesday, I returned to work and completed my leave request for summer, 2017. When I got home our electricity was out for 2 hours - so another nap was in order- I skipped the Wordpress class (I only went to 3 out of 5 classes). I was disappointed that the class did not seem to be a good fit for me, or else I cannot build websites. Anyway, I stopped going because it just did not seem to work for me. I may not be a visual person. On Thursday - I worked and then came home and did some computer stuff to prepare for our summer trip (budget). I had a horrible drive home in the pouring rain-drove mostly about 45 mph. I kept checking with Steve to see if we were in a tornado watch. We weren't, but that was a miserable drive and I was so thankful to get home safe. Friday, we drove to OKC to the VA for Steve's F/U appointment at the SCI clinic. He checked out pretty good. Kristi and the kids came up Friday night. On Saturday, Steve & Kristi worked on her wiper board. Then we went to Guthrie to watch Logan play soccer.

 After the game we ate a late lunch at Stacy's in Guthrie. When we got home, we mowed the front and back yard and Kristi helped us while the children watched TV! Go Figure!