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| Colorado City, Colorado campground |
Since my last post of March 23, not too much has transpired. Mark's condition has been steadily improving. He was seen by a neurologist in early April, who finished the visit by advising him to come back for a follow-up in a year. That in itself encouraged us to start planning again for our future travels. He has not needed any physical therapy, other than hand exercises to help with strengthening his right hand, which was most affected by the stroke. We bought him some rubber grips and finger stretchers the doctor recommended for that purpose. He still has persistent tingling in the face and hand, but was told it would subside over time-- perhaps as much as a year.
He tires more easily since the stroke and we talked about slowing down-- traveling shorter hours in a day, staying longer in the same place, and resting more often along the road.
...except our very first plan threw those determinations to the wind. And here's how that went:
Mark's grandson, Aiden, was to graduate from his homeschool group in Valdosta, Georgia, on May 7 and Mark wanted to be there. It would be a four-day trip for us, and since we were disappointed to have missed my sibling reunion that occurred the first week of March in Gainesville, Florida, we thought we'd add a stop in Gainesville into the bargain and at least see my two brothers who live there. We could pick up a short visit with my sister in Mississippi on the way back. We made all the necessary campground reservations and carefully mapped out our route, including fuel stops. The trip would be a very long one-- it would have us going from Shreveport to Gainesville and back to Pueblo Colorado in a four-week time span. Not only that, but it would bust our budget.
We knew this trip we had planned went against everything we'd talked about, but we wanted so much to make it, we disregarded all the negatives and said (like every rational being that wants what he wants) that we would execute our new slower travel plans just as soon as this particular trip is done.
And so we prepped to move on Sunday, the 2nd-- disconnected water and power and pulled up the jacks. I opened the fridge to secure everything therein and noticed the light was off. Red flag! No power to the fridge. Our inverter, which controls power from the batteries, should keep the fridge running when power is disconnected, but it wasn't doing its job. We cannot travel all day with the fridge off, nor boondock without battery power unless we run the generator constantly. And that we cannot do. Mark went to work troubleshooting to find the problem and fix it so we could head on out.
Well, the long story would no doubt bore you, so I'll give you the short version: We ended up driving back to Choudrant, Louisiana on the 4th, to see Ronnie Wolfe (our mechanic) who promised to squeeze us into his schedule. At that point we knew we would not make it to the graduation and decided, with great disappointment, to scrap the whole Georgia/Florida/Mississippi plan altogether.
Wednesday, Ronnie looked at our inverter and with the whack of a hammer, got it working again. Don't ask me what was wrong with it. Don't ask me why whacking it with a hammer fixed it. Those details were never explained to me. As far as I'm concerned, the whole thing was a divine intervention. I can picture the Heavenly Father looking down at us and saying something like, "That, dear folks, is a very bad plan. Here, let me fix it for you." The fix (both of the inverter and the travel plan) cost us nothing and saved us a whole bunch of money, time, and stress.
And so, we went instead to Lake Tawakoni Thousand Trails RV Park in Point, Texas, where we stayed for half the month of May. About half of those days it rained. There is nothing in or around Point, Texas, worth visiting, so it was by all accounts a very quiet, restful fifteen days. While we were there, I finished up some crochet projects and started some new ones. Mark installed some new shades in the front room (pictures below). And we both spent a good deal of time sitting around doing more or less nothing. I guess you might call it "resting," "taking it easy," slowing down."
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| Lake Tawakoni near Point, Texas |
This past Sunday we left Lake Tawakoni for Colorado City, Colorado, which is just a bit south of Pueblo. After a short two-day stay at a campground in Clayton, New Mexico, we arrived at our destination this morning. Mark has relatives here whom he hasn't seen in some years and wanted to spend a couple days with.
And that catches us up.
Safe travels to our traveling friends, and God's blessings to all!
More pictures...
Magnificent clouds
Amarillo Texas
Clayton RV Park
Clayton, New Mexico
We don't usually stay at KOA campgrounds, but
this one suited our needs and was somewhat affordable.
The new Legacy roller shades from
ShadePro
Dining Area
Living Area
