Moving from Aripeka, FL to Keaton Beach, FL

Hi all,

On Saturday last we made the trip to Keaton Beach, FL.

We'll definately take advantage of this 'while the gettings good' cause I'm pretty sure there won't be anything resembling this on the drive across Texas. You've noticed now that we finally got into taking some pictures.

On the way here we drove thru places like Homosassa, Chiefland, Old Town, and Cross City. We crossed the Suwannee River on the way and that looked like a desireable area to camp, but we stuck to the plan. There's alot of virgin territory on the way up here and thru the panhandle. Relatively undiscovered you might say. I'm sure it's a bit colder here than southern Florida, but hey....

Along Highway #19 we followed along beside Florida's Natural Gas Pipeline construction project. We've found that alot of folks staying in RV parks on this coast are construction workers working on that huge project.

This is another sleepy fishing village on the Gulf. No one near the beaches, it's winter. You could'a fooled us. It's been 60-80 degrees and sunny here Sat aft, Sunday, and Monday.

OK, regarding reality, it's Tuesday now and truth be told, today is nothing but helacious rain coming down in buckets, big thunder, lightning, and wind coming off the Gulf and rocking the RV. Got out to do the laundry just in time earlier this morning. We're cozy in our rig now tho, looking in all directions thru our windows at the whitecaps and bobbing birds (mostly pelicans and large long legged white/gray herons) as they float, each facing directly into the wind in order to weather the storm. Seagulls are lined up in groups on the pier, hunched down and also with their beaks directly into the wind. This rain is going to last all day and night. From my seat, I can look into the LR mirror, and sure enough it looks like just another window view of the waves outside. I'm feeling very humbled and blessed to be here, so grateful. Maybe like Gilligan ??

We have cable TV here but no AT&T cellphone coverage. It feels awkward having 'no bars' for 4-5 days, but I will communicate out via the blog. I realize there are other vehicles, but the outbound blog seems to do the trick for now. We know all of you are there with us, and thank you for that. We love you.

I have learned that 'The Old Pavilion' used to be a restaurant/bar here on the pier outside our door. I was told that a storm destroyed that place, hence the RV Park today, of the same name.

Laurie, thank you for risking your life last Thursday, driving in the snow to send our mail out to us. We got the envelope yesterday (Tues). We love you and thanks again. Don't get mad at me for saying 'thanks'. 'Hi' to everyone.

We'll plan to leave here on Thursday. We'll have a few stops to get us to northern Alabama where we'll visit with more friends, Gary and Amanda. Anne says our next stop is in Mexico Beach, FL, the Rustic Sands RV Resort, near Panama City, FL. A look at mapquest tells me we're going deeper and deeper into the boondocks as we drive the coast of this pan handle. No complaints tho !!

Aripeka, FL - Jan 19

Hi each of you,

Yesterday, after one weeks stay, we left NSB and drove directly across the state to the West Coast, Aripeka, FL. Aripeka is a sleepy fishing town, between Tarpon Springs and Homosassa. There's alot of lowland, dune grasses, and waterways here such that the area is susceptable to flooding. We will be here at Aripeka West RV Park till Saturday.

It's only a few miles from here to busy Highway 19 which runs north and south parallel to the coast, and has all the bells and whistles you could want, all the stores and restaurants. We went 15 miles on it today, and I counted 3 Wal*Marts. Out here tho, the village is quiet. Folks live along waterways and fish from boats and bridges. There are 3 small bridges on the Aripeka Road loop (which begins and ends on Highway 19) which have some parking spots allowing folks to stop and see the sights. Other than that main drag there are lots of back roads, many of which end at the ocean, of which we explored just a few so far. Many of the people who live here have their home on the water (whether it be a stream, marsh, or the Gulf of Mexico) and sure enough, everyone has a boat. Folks say Babe Ruth used to come here to fish. Ironically, he got married back in Elicott City where we stopped 2 weeks ago to see my sister. The man got around.

When we arrived here yesterday we literally drove out of hot sunshine a few miles inland into dense fog here on the coast. It was 10 degrees cooler when we stopped driving. Today the fog lifted early and we had a nice sunny day. We drove the loop and hunted for spots to go see sunsets. We got a couple ideas.

This is not a town anything like Clearwater or Tarpon Springs. There is no glitz. There is nothing here to attract anyone, just like I said, a sleepy fishing village, however spectacular property, water views, bird watching, dune grasses, and scenic vistas. There's a brand new home erected on stilts down the road, built on speculation, going for $155,000. Nothing like the million dollar properties in the ajacent towns. Kinda neat. There's only so much coastline, so I suppose someday these folks will have the opportunity to 'sell out' and write their own ticket as the demand for oceanfront property will never end.

Tomorrow's forecast is for a showers in the morning, clearing, and a sunny afternoon, so we hope to enjoy a spectacular sunset tomorrow evening and be ready to leave early on Saturday for Keaton Beach (The Old Pavilion RV Park) at the bend of Florida as we head off to the pan handle on our way to Alabama.

We have a few stops picked out between here and there. The next friends we're looking forward to visiting are in Decatur, Alabama, Gary and Amanda Knotts. G & A spent a summer living with us back about 10 years ago when Gary played for the Portland Sea Dogs. We love them, and have not seen them maybe since Olympic Stadium in Montreal when met them there to see Gary pitch for the Tigers against the Expos, maybe 6-7 years ago. Gary is now a police officer in Florence, AL, and Amanda is the mother of their 2 little girls.

Unfortunately, we keep forgetting we brought the camera !! More pictures coming soon I promise.

Jacksonville, FL to New Smyrna Beach, FL - Jan 10 and on

Let's see, I need to get caught up with where we have been the last handful of days.

On Monday we were able to leave South Carolina. Just after pulling out of 'The Oaks at Point South' and before jumping back onto 95, we pulled into Waffle House and treated ourselves to a tasty breakfast. We felt like we deserved it after being trapped in the RV for the past 2 days in the freezy cold/wet weather. It was funny to watch Dixie look out the window of the truck as we enjoyed breakfast. She never took her eyes off of us. The locals working there were really nice to talk with, and on leaving we found the rest of the road thru SC, Georgia and into Florida to be very smooth, quiet, flat, and easy to drive. I don't remember how many miles were travelled that day but we arrived in Jacksonville mid afternoon.

I'm not so sure Beasley would agree about the ride from SC to FL tho. He didn't speak to us for a day and a half after we got here. We decided to leave him alone in the RV as we drove it, thinking he'd appreciate it as opposed to being kept in his tiny crate in the back seat of the pickup where Dixie rides. Dixie was confused too, and didn't know what to think without her buddy in the back seat. Anyway, Beasley spent all the next night and day behind one of the lazy boys, hiding from us. Not sure why the ride would have been hard on him. I think I would have appreciated it.

We called Anne's girlfriend Sue Carter after we settled in Jacksonville. Soon there after she and her friend Glenn came and found us at the Fleetwood RV Park. We just love her and it was fun. They took us in Glenn's new car for a lengthy ride across greater Jacksonville, and out to dinner at Whitey's Fish Camp. Everyone was pleased with the fresh seafood, and we had a great visit with those guys. Sue left Buxton 9 years ago and has lived in Jacksonville ever since. At one time she lived with Anne in South Portland, and she worked with both Anne and me at Union Mutual. Those were the good ol'days, as they say.

Tuesday morning we headed down 95 to New Smyrna Beach, FL, the NSB RV Park where we are in the midst of a possible 2 week's stay. It is still cold out but much nicer now. Sunny and in the 50's during the day with palm tree's blowing and private planes flying overhead, however still in the 30's at night.

Finally with the warmer weather we were able to hook-up to the park water source, push the anti-freeze out of our on-board plumbing system, fill and turn on the water heater, and run some water. Everything worked well, no broken pipes, and the warm water felt good when it came on thru. We are now finished dry camping, hopefully for the remainder of our trip. Of course we don't know what Canada (Trans-Canada Highway) will bring in late April and May when we plan to be going thru there on our way home. I'm not planning on winterize the RV in April/May, that's for sure.

It hasn't been warm enough for me to wash the outside of the RV yet. I really need to do that with it being so filthy from the drive down the eastern seaboard. Our neighbor is from Kingston, NH and he offerred to let me use his long handled brush. I'll take him up on it if I can do it tomorrow, since he leaves here for the Orlando area on Saturday.

We will see Anne's brother Ronnie and wife Janet in the next day or two. They live in Ormond Beach just one beach north of Daytona. Here we are one beach south.

Back in the early 70's I'd travel over here to NSB from Rollins College with friends on Saturdays for keg parties. It was an hours ride thru the woods/swamps back then, and the beach was abandoned, the unknown beach just south of Daytona, with nothing but sand dunes. Now it's totally developed and populated as you can imagine. Seems I have a photo somewhere of my roomate Jack, proudly shooting-the-moon on top of Peter Becker's gold van for all to see on the beach one day.

OK...Back to reality... this Saturday a.m. there will be a park wide yard sale going on here. That's more my speed these days. The sign says to check your closet and shed, load up your table right on your own site, and let the money pour in. I'll walk around and have fun looking and talking. I don't think we have anything to get rid of at this stage of the game.

So, we'll determine whether to stay here 2 weeks, or move on to some other place here in Florida. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks friends for being there with us. We love you.

Yemassee, SC - Jan 9

We left Wilson and drove 300 miles to the Charleston area today. We came East to avoid a snow storm which is crippling this area today, from Alabama to South Carolina. We are in Yemassee, SC. It started icing after we awoke today. The temperature has been below 32 degrees all day, but now, around 2pm, it is slightly above 32 degrees. The ice on the steps of the RV is gone.

All of the tree limbs and the spanish moss (hanging from the trees here) were glazed over with a coat of ice today. We had a loud crash on the roof this mid-morning and I went out to find a 2inch branch had crashed from the trees to our roof. I haven't been able to go up there yet due to the ice. We hope no holes were punched into our rubber roof. No drips so far inside, so maybe no holes, eh? We'll see soon enough. It has been pouring rain here all day since it changed over from sleet.

Anne made turkey burgers for lunch. Much appreciated, as are all of the fantastic things she planned and brought along with us to eat. We've been gone now for 5 days so soon reality will set in when it comes time to do laundry, go shopping, etc, etc..

Today we could do nothing with all of the rain, so so far we have watched Marcus Welby MD, Leave It To Beaver, and the Rifleman. Let me tell ya, these kinds of things will cause you to stop and relax. I wouldn't think of tuning into these shows at home, too many other distractions to get concerned about. Feels good.

We are spending another night here due to this storm in the SouthEast. It is going to last all day, and expected to stop raining around 6pm. Tomorrow we plan to head to the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area to visit an old friend of Anne's, and mine.

Wilson, NC - Jan 8

We arrived today around 4:30pm in Wilson, NC. We pulled in and guess what? Level again. We will relax here, for the night only, without disconnecting the truck from the RV as usual. It's freezing here in NC too, and it looks like winter with all the leaves down and grass dormant. The evergreen trees are big and beautiful. Tomorrow the plan is to head down to Charleston, SC.

Anne is first to hit the shower. She comes back and emphatically announces "It's primitive,,, but it works". In the bathroom here there are small heat making devices hanging on the wall which have 3 available settings, 0(off), 1(pilot), and 2(on). I don't know what kind of fuel they use. When you get in there it is set to one, and you notice the pilot light is on when you get there. You move the setting from 1 to 2 and the flame ignites. This ignites like a 3x5 inch piece of what looks like a piece of gause pasted to the middle of the device. Somehow that keeps you warm while you are in there. You've got to be careful not to lean up against it. The shower is everything you need, it's clean, has paper towels, hand soap dispenser, hot shower, etc.. I agree with Anne's assessment.

By 7pm we are showered, in our jammies, in our LazyBoys. We have wireless internet, and 'over the air' local TV stations which our antenna will pull in after I crank it up from inside the RV. No intentions of going out into the cold tonight except to let Dixie out to do her thing. She won't want to stay out there long either.

Sid, the new owner of this park, came up to me when I was outside and introduced himself. He asked if we were just staying the night, and asked us to come back again sometime. He said next time the park would be paved, or in process of same. Made me feel welcome. I wished him luck here. This place may be primitive, and only $15/night, but it feels like a million bucks, you know, because of the way of the people. So nice !!

Woodbine, Maryland - Jan 6-7

We blew right past Winter Haven PA and headed for Woodbine, MD (suburban Baltimore) in order to avoid the worst part of the snowy forecast. We lost 2 hours as we got off track in Harrisburg PA area this day. We arrived at Ramblin Pines RV Park in Woodbine and settle in for the night. We park level again, so no need to detach from the truck. Not to many winter campers, but we are not alone here. There's a large motor home aside from us which is here from Key West.

We stay here so that tomorrow we can visit with my big sister, Ginny, who lives 17 miles away in Ellicott City, MD. She picks us up here around noonish, and entertains us for the entire day, including dinner at her place with my nephew/neice and all of their children. Ginny put this visit together, what a good lady and family leader. She knocked herself out.

George (our nephew-in-law) brought us back to Woodbine around 9pm. In the morning there was an inch of snow of the ground, and 2 inches by the time we pulled out of here. A snow plow is making laps around the park roads (which are paved) as we prepare to drive away. We slide down the snow covered camp road to the Highway 97 which is wet. They treat the roads with 'brine' for these conditions. I guess it sounds better than 'salt'. Excuse me, but 'Welcome to MD'. That's what the camp owner said to me when I gently commented on the $45 nightly rates.

We'll travel smaller roads for about an hour as we go towards suburban Washington DC where we'll get on the 495 beltway and then 95 South once again. We are heading to Wilson, NC for our next overnight stay. It's 290 miles away.

Overnight stays have cost between $19 and $45/night so far. We'll manage this to be closer to the $19 end of things fron now on as best we can. We are members of 2 RV clubs and enjoy preferred rates much of the time, and we hope to find that RV parks don't resent us for that. I doubt it. Mom would say campers are nice people, so let's think positive.

Oh, the diesel fuel cost has been from $3.55/gal at home to as low as $3.19/gal as we move south. Will be nice if we can keep that trend going.

OUR RV ADVENTURE begins today !!

BooYa - HipHip Hooray, we finally started our big adventure.

It's Wednesday Jan 5, and after putting our closing touches on the house, we had pets in hand as we piled into the truck. A much long awaited moment, which by the way caused for many a sleepless night of worry. Now, we calm down. If we forgot anything now, well, we can't worry about it any more. We check tire inflations and fill the tank with diesel fuel. By noon we were on 95 heading south! We run into snow showers after being on the turnpike for one mile or so- yuk. We can’t wait until we get to NC and hoping to beat the upcoming snow storm weather forecast.

We'll be missing our family, church family, and all you friends, so please think of us and keep us in your prayers.

Our first stop is in Sturbridge, MA at the Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Campground. As we arrived I go into the office and Dave turns on the furnace in the RV. It is freezing here, and going to be 18 degrees tonight. It’s still daylight and Dave has time to ease his worried mind about backing the RV into a slot in the woods. There are 5 pull thru slots here, and no one around, so he practices backing into one of the slots. After 3 tries he is confident. We’re the only ones in the pull-thru area and I watch him go back and forth. He’s a happy camper! The RV was dead on level once we parked it, so we won't even disconnect from the truck this night. We'll just secure the four corners so it doesn't bounce too much when we walk inside, and be good to pack up and leave in the morning.

We notice a big Ostritch (sp?) in a coral next to the camp office. He is loaded with big feathers, and we figure if it can survive in the cold, so can we. There is a small pond here too, very much frozen over and abandoned. This is probably a nice campground in season, but just an overnight stop for us.

Dave brushes Dixie and I take her for a walk. We have wine, cheese, pepperoni & crackers for dinner. We both agree that today was a great day! We look forward to using our new camera with pictures (coming soon) of our big adventure on the road.

Soon after we set up and before dark, RV'ers from Bangor Maine pull in next to us, and another one comes up along side around 8pm. We will leave in the morning for Winter Haven PA for the next stop on our voyage to warmer weather. Nice to know we're not the only folks doing this kind of thing.

Our on-board plumbing system has been full of anti-freeze since Dave winterized the RV in October, so we are 'dry camping' at least till we get South, or somewhere warm. Till then, we carry a supply of windshield washer fluid to flush with, and of course we hope to have nice hot showers at the parks we pull in to. We hope for solid Cable TV and Wi-Fi signals to be everywhere we go too. That's part of the adventure I suppose. The other services we have on board and available while we're in the cold climates include heat, fridge, lights, and AC and DC current.

9/1 Visit to Cardiologist

We saw Dr. Sze yesterday as planned.

He explained that back on Aug 24 Anne had about 10 centimeters of fluid around the back of her heart, and now there are 7 centimeters. This means that the body has been absorbing the fluid naturally as we had hoped it would. Let's hope the trend continues. He doesn't need to see her again for 2 months.

Tomorrow we see the oncologist Dr. Ebrahim, and I think he'll be pleased when he sees Anne. I don't know what the next steps will be with him. Will let you know.

We were camping up at Pemaquid Point Campground last week and we went out to dinner one night at New Harbor. The parking lot for Shaw's Restaurant was hillside, from the road (Rt. 32) down to the restaurant at sea level. It was quite a steep hill such that it was a long drop out of the pick up truck if you were on the downhill side. That wasn't a problem.

Anyway, as we ascended the hill after dinner Anne fell behind the group. You know me, I didn't even notice her standing back there all alone. She had to stop and struggle to catch her breath, point being, she still cannot do things like walk up hills. It's because of the fluid that crowds her heart, lungs, and stomach. She has started to go back to Curves tho, starting slowly to try to work out once again.

Thanks for reading, and I'll keep you posted with any news about Anne. She is feeling and doing much better all the time, and happy with her curly hair.

Our best to all of you friends. Thanks for being there.

Anne is slowly improving, getting better now

Hello all,

This is to let you know that Anne is improving ever so slowly, day by day.

She still cannot take deep breaths, so cannot exercise or take walks yet, and, she has some digestion issues occasionally depending on what she eats. I can tell you that the red licorice was a very bad idea. I thought after she tried that that we'd be on the way back into the ER, but she weathered the storm and used pain medicine. There are some other foods that have a terrible affect on her intestines.

Anne has lost alot of weight, and she looks great.

She will see a Cardiologist on 9/1 and have another ekocardiogram done to look at the fluid near her heart. We hope the fluid will leach out of there and dissipate naturally throughout her body. Her Cardiologist will be Dr. Sze and he is very good.

We saw the surgeon (Dr. MacGillivray) yesterday, and he has released her. He felt she was doing well, just needing more time. Doug is an exceptional surgeon, but not someone you'd want to be stranded on a desert island with.

We have another appointment with the oncologist (Dr. Ebrahim) and we are glad for that. He is just fantastic and he ties everything all together for us. When we're with him it's as if he has nothing else to do except care for Anne, with no one else waiting in line to see him. He's a blessing as have been so many of the Drs., nurses, residents, technicians, and all who have cared for Anne this year.

Anne still has to avoid the humidity and take it pretty easy, but she feels like doing things now, and soon there will be no stopping her. Thank you all again and again for all of your cards, prayers, and well wishes. She knew you were there and thinking about her, and you helped her so very much by being there.

Discharged and Home Again

This morning Anne was discharged. She still has some labored breathing and shortness of breath if she over does it with physical activity.

Dr's did not want to do anything else to try and solve the problem. They think Anne needs much more time to recover from the esophagectomy.

Anne has some new anti-inflamatory meds to take too.

The majority of time in the hospital the past 5 days was used in taking xrays, ekocardiograms, etc, etc, and with various Doctors analyzing those test results and discussing those together. At the same time Anne was taking meds to reduce the amounts of fluid in her body.

Long Weekend In The Hospital

Anne will be in Maine Medical Center all weekend. She is being treated with diaretics and monitored. The diaretics are being used to try and reduce fluid around Anne's lungs and heart.

This morning Dr. Poulan came in and told Anne that he thinks these diaretics will work. All of the Drs working on this problem agree that there is fluid near the lungs and heart, but the amount of fluid doesn't alarm them. They do not want to do anything to invasive at this time.

We learned that Anne's diaphram is out of place, higher than it should be. It may be a result of the esophajectomy. It is keeping one of Anne's lungs from filling to capacity, thus the shortness of breath and chest pain.

Other than that there isn't much news to report. Let's hope and pray that this plan is going to help Anne feel better.

Thanks for reading.

Anne Hospitalized again

Yesterday we went to Maine Cardiology Associates for a scheduled appt for an EKO Cardiogram. This was a follow up to the one done 2-3 weeks ago which showed a small amount of fluid around Anne's heart. Drs weren't concerned with the amount of fluid found at that time, but scheduled this EKO Cardiogram so as to do a comparison.

A bit more fluid was found yesterday, and the Dr. (Dr. Z) (Sze) was concerned. He arranged for Anne to be admitted to Maine Med for additional testing which would determine whether a procedure would be necessary to remove fluid from around Annes heart or lungs.

Anne hasn't complained very much (I wish she WOULD complain more and sooner), but she has had chest pain and has been unable to exercise due to shortness of breath. She felt that she had pulled a muscle getting into the pickup last weekend, she was wrong. Now, this fluid is suspected to be causing the pain and shortness of breath.

If you remember, Anne has sufferred from both plural effusions (fluid near the lungs) and paracardial effusions (fluid near the heart). Now, several Drs are analyzing lots of numbers and test data, and they work as a team to share ideas and to agree on the best approach.

This morning Anne went to the 8th floor for a test where they inserted a catheter/wire thru the groin and pushed it up thru a vein near to her heart in order to check for pressure (from fluid), and determine how the heart was performing. This test did not 'hurt'.

Dr. Poulan completed this test and spoke with me and he said there was pressure around both sides of the heart. With that, he would recommend a procedure be scheduled asap to remove or displace the fluid from the area around the heart. It would be done via a small incision (a simple surgery). A 'window' would be made in there so fluid could escape from around the heart, and move to other areas of Anne's body where it can and should dissipate on it's own. Some of the fluid will be captured and sent away for testing, i.e. for pneumonia, bacteria, etc.. the fluid is said to be caused by inflamation from the surgery, i.e. just like any wound drains fluid.

At this point, the latest plan that the Drs have agreed to is to use a needle this afternoon, bedside, to remove fluid from the area near the left lung. They concur that this is the least invasive thing that will do Anne the most good at this time. They will observe her afterwards and this weekend to see how she does with that. If she worsens, there are other more invasive things that would be considered to solve the problem (alleviate the pain and eliminate the shortness of breath). At present, we wait for the bedside procedure to happen. The team of Drs are interested in doing this as soon as possible. Anne is resting comfortably.

Home Again !

On Thursday Anne was looking and feeling better. A pulmonary Dr came to evaluate Anne. He did some breathing tests. He didn't find anything of concern.

Anne came home late on Friday.

There was no pneumonia, and no concern for any fluid around Anne's heart or lungs.

Hospitalized once again !

Hello all readers,

Anne was hospitalized this morning.

This all started at 1am Tuesday (yesterday) morning. That's when she awoke with breathing difficulties at home. After a couple hours with no improvement we called the 'rescue' and I followed Anne into the ER. After ER found nothing they sent us home around 10am and we needed to try to catch up on our sleep.

We followed up with Dr. MacGillivray's office in the afternoon and he ordered a CT Scan. With that, we headed into Brighton Medical for the CT scan at approx 3pm. We understood that the CT would help rule out any blood clot problems in the chest area. Dr. MacGillivary left word that we were to stay at Brighton until he had a chance to call and speak with Anne directly, however he was still in surgery. At about 7pm he was still busy in surgery, so his office sent us a message saying that he wanted Anne to go to the ER. We headed to the ER and then Anne was admitted to the hospital from there by 1am.

The word on the CT scan is that there are problems in Annes chest. There are questions about a potential for pnemonia in her lungs, also fluid around her lungs, and also for fluid around her heart. It's now about 1pm and we don't have a plan of attack yet.

Dr. MacGillivray was here this morning and told Anne this was unusual for this recovery. He referred us to a cardiologist due to his concern about the fluid around the heart. The cardiologist was here and ordered an EKO Cardiogram, to get more information about the fluid around Anne's heart. We do not still have any results from that or a plan of attack as of yet.

Anne is resting, I would say less than comfortably, because she can only get small breaths. She isn't visibly complaining or visibly in trouble, but I know she would be much happier if she could take a deep breath. She's also be happier if we had a diagnosis and a plan. Before much longer we should know what might happen from here on.

The cardiologist just told me that if there is much fluid around the heart that they can go in with a needle to drain that. I asked him about the pneumonia and fluid around the lung linings. He said that there was nothing crucial regarding those concerns. He said his team of residents will be making their rounds shortly, and thay they hoped to have the results of the EKO cardiogram by then.