Saturday December 9, 2006

I am having a fibrofog moment...I don't remember what we did Saturday during the day, LOL!
Saturday night Paul and grandpa went to play poker. Since we are still having such a terrible time getting the satellite dish to work at all, I stopped by the clubhouse here at Rainbow's End and picked up a video from the library. I watched the good version of Scrooge...the Alistar Sim version and a movie I had always wanted to rent, Beloved with Oprah Winfrey. Well, Beloved ran 172 minutes and was still on when they boys got home from poker. It was the strangest movie I have ever seen. The boys made a stink about having to watch the end. That's just tough. They can sit and watch the end...I am going to see this to the end. Boy, it really is a strange one. I looked it up on the internet just so I could understand what I had just seen. Thank goodness for the internet and study guides on line, lol!

We think we may go to the movies tomorrow.

later

dee

Friday December 8, 2006

Today was not a good day for the Ziaja marriage. I had purchased a large tin Texas star for my secret pal and we were trying hard to get it packed and mailed. We needed a box about 30" X30"...not too difficult a task. Wrong. We dumpster dived, checked every store we could think of to buy one and wound up at the UPS store. They wanted 11 bucks for a box and packing. Right. Then it would have been THIRTY bucks to ship. I don't think so. Paul and I had words about the stupid thing and he wound up taking it back to where we bought it. I was really pissed. We got a small star from one of the local stores that also had the word Texas on it...and I bought a skein of sock yarn for her. Big deal. I didn't even wrap it as I was so mad at Paul I wouldn't stop anywhere to get paper and tape. Back at the rig, grandpa was asleep in the lounge chair. I laid on the sofa and we watched TV until dinner time. We had left overs. Just like being at home, LOL! At four, Paul and I went to the announcements. Not a lot going on...it's been cold and dreary here.

Perhaps we will have a more exciting day tomorrow?

hugs

dee

Thursday December 7, 2006

Well...I was up for once at 7 a.m. Wanted to go shopping after sampling the infamous $3.00 breakfast at RanDee's which is only available until 9 a.m. Took a shower, woke up Paul so he could take a shower, and go in to rouse grandpa. He is famous for getting up five minutes before us and then asking us if we were going to sleep "all day". So I say...."Grandpa, are you gonna sleep all day?" to which he replies...."I need to go to the doctor, I think my stomach hurts." So I go tell Paulie and we hustle out the door. The Care Center nurse gave us the name of a local doctor and called us in ahead of time. After filling out all the paperwork, they finally call him and its been an hour since we arrived. They had a full waiting room, and I guess they could just about get him in. I sit for another hour. Finally Paulie comes out and says its gonna be another half hour. They had given him an IV for fluids and to shoot him up with antibiotics. He also needs to get an X-ray. Finally, I go sit in the car so I don't catch something from all these germy sick people in the waiting room. After all this time, they finally get out...its 11:15 and we have not eaten anything yet. I did have a protein shake, but I am on the verge of a hypoglycemic problem. I do have peanut butter crackers in the glove box, but just as I reach for them, Paulie and grandpa get in the car. We are off to see if we can find a place to eat other than crappy fast food. We find a neat little cafe called the Whistle Stop Cafe. The boys got soup and chicken salad sandwiches and I had a Ruben. Pretty good for a Texan Ruben.

We head over to WalMart, to drop off the prescriptions and pick up a few things. I purchased a secret pal gift for my poor knitting guild secret pal. I am trying to find a box to ship it in. I have to listen to naggy PIA Paulie telling me its gonna cost a fortune to ship. Cripes, I missed the girl's birthday, the least I can do is get her a NICE Christmas gift. Jeesh. Men. Why don't they understand these things. I lose Paul at WalMart. He calls me FOUR times to check where I am. Good Lord....I'm running away with the checkout kid for chrissakes. I find a pair of jeans. I am down a pair that fit great when I had to go to the ER in Peoria...they cut the pants off. Plus, I am wearing old short miss's 14's and they are too big. I also buy a Santa hat for myself and some shower gel. As my legs are killing me, I call Paul and tell him I am checking out and would meet him at the door. I find grandpa and we wait for the big guy to finish shopping. From Walmart we go to the hospital for the X-ray. An hour of sitting in the car for me. Jeesh. From the hospital we go back to Walmart to pick up the prescriptions. While in line, the scooter store guy calls and we give him directions to our campsite. Back to Rainbow's end to unload and wait for the scooter fixer guy. We pull up to the rig and he is right there. Of course, we KNOW he doesn't have the part...he confirms...he will have to order and get back with us. Crap. This is getting old. A wasted trip as far as I am concerned. Oh well. Just after the scooter fixer guy leaves, a truck pulls up and a guy asks us if we still want to move into another spot. OK. Yep...so we hurry up and unhook, pack in the slides and off we go. We are now in the main in and out area...we were at the Care facility lot and it was pretty empty and quiet. We finally get settled again...we will stay here until we pull out to go on the cruise next week. I like being around people. Plus, now I can access the internet legally. Yesterday I guess I was hacking into someone else's wifi system and I have a guilty conscience. Tangonet is the wifi service used here so I signed up just for one week, then we'll be off to Mexico. Well, so much for today. Paulie and grandpa are going to play poker tonight so I get the whole place to myself. I can watch what I want which is quite a treat for me.

I promise to take some pictures of the campground and facilities tomorrow.

later....dee

Wednesday, December 6th

Jeesh, a lost day. The front is coming in hard and fast and I was in bed the entire day. I just hate that.

I have added some photos...not many good ones, from New Orleans and from the Tabasco plant. We must be picture impared...we don't take any or the ones we do take suck. Gotta practice this a bit. oh, here is the addy....


http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rocketmom1985/album?.dir=/5c23re2&.src=ph&.tok=phrej7FBBOgrGa.o


later...

dee

OK, I finally have wifi again....we are at the Isle Of Capri having brunch. What a waste for me....six bucks and I had 1/2 pancake, two spoons of grits and some fruit. Next time I pass.
Remember to scroll down to where you left off and read UP! I know, its goofy, but that's the pia having no direct net access for days. *sigh*.

I will be updated sooner, hopefully when we get to Livingston. They have wifi I think.

hugs

dee

Monday December 4, 2006

We left the city of New Orleans around 9 a.m. We had a great time visiting with Tom and Sue, and I loved the French Quarter and of course Uptown. I would love to live there for 6 months or so…not summertime of course. The weather is again very odd for this time of year…it was freezing overnight and that rarely happens here.

We headed west on I10 then swing south to go to Avery Island, home of the Tabasco sauce plant. We stopped for lunch in a grocery store parking lot in New Iberia. Grandpa ate the leftover shrimp poboy, I ate the remaining chunk of the mufuletta sandwich and I made Paulie my special roast beef on white. It is very slow going on state road 90. This is the future I49 corridor, which should make the trip a lot easier. I thought Chicagoans drove nuts, these Cajun peoples are far, far worse! I think they drive like their music…fast and choppy and gets on one’s nerves. When we arrive at Avery, we paid our $1 entrance fee at the guards post across the bridge onto the island. We park and go in for the two cent tour. We actually got to see them bottling Japanese label Tabasco. It was interesting, but Paul and I wondered later if it was really worth the extra two hours of driving. We now know a whole bunch of useless facts about Tabasco sauce. We bought a jar of Tabasco Chili mix, a bottle of Tabasco A1 Steak Sauce for Zack and I finally broke down and bought myself a t-shirt. We took state route 14 heading west again to get to Lake Charles. This was a terrible road, very bumpy and congested for quite a few miles. Then it was turns and more turns. I made a few phone calls, first to set up an appointment with the fools at the Scooter store and then to the cruise line. I have called several times to see if my bringing the scooter would pose a problem. NCL told me that they couldn’t help, since we had booked with Vacations to Go, so I had to call them. Thank goodness it is all taken care of. Details. It’s always the details that kill ya. We decided to pass on the state park as it was 12 miles out of town so we called the Isle of Capri casino and got a spot in their RV parking area for ten bucks. Just electric but that’s all we really need. By the time we roll in it’s after five. There was an accident on this huge bridge over Lake Charles…a load of lumber was blocking the east bound lanes. What a mess. We finally pull into our reserved spot and let me tell ya…there is NO room for anything in these spaces. We are jammed in between a half million dollar Country Coach to the left and a nice 5th wheel rig to the right.

Both grandpa and I are hungry so we tell Paulie to step it up and we head over to the casino for some dinner. Of course, they have the all you can stuff yourself with buffet which is total waste of money for us, a sports type bar of place that has 15 buck hamburgers and then the top of the line steak house. Hmmmm…we finally find the sandwich market and Paulie and I split a cheeseburger. Grandpa settles for the most dried out looking piece of pizza I have ever seen. Both Paul and I try to talk him out of it to no avail. Stubborn old coot. By the way, he is not able to chew the crust…

I head back to the rig while the boys go throw some money away. I find very little to watch on TV…reruns and junk….Thank goodness for PBS….IL Divo in concert, am I lucky or what!!!!! Oooo, Ooooo that Spanish guy is sure a hunk.

I am really tired tonight. We should be in Livingston tomorrow. So far a very enjoyable trip overall.

Later…dee

Sunday December 3, 2006

We were up having coffee and reading the paper by ten. At least I got up and was semi-awake at ten. We decided to go back to the Garden District and the Uptown area just to tour around in the car and view the architecture. Again, the map we have sucks so Paul got another one out of the newspaper. Unfortunately he didn’t look at it closely and it has no street names, but accompanied an article in the paper about the levee system reconstruction. Gee, what a helpful guy he is.

We were quite impressed with the uptown area. Beautiful mansions. Truly unbelievable palaces to be honest. The uptown area is where all the universities are….Tulane, Loyola and St. Xaiver. The garden district is historically signigicant as if I recall it was the former high society area of old New Orleans money was centered. I was quite surprised as the homes there were not opulent or over adorned. Lots of lush, but overgrown landscapes. Most of these old homes have been converted to condos and apartments. Not a parking spot to be found…anywhere. We circled around a bit and then headed back towards the river. We wanted to check out the steam boats, perhaps taking a tour. We parked just outside the JAX building, the former Jackson brewery. It is now shops and restaurants but I thought they still operated a small micro-brewery. Nope. No beer. We walked across the street and came upon what the sign said was the only operating micro-brewery in New Orleans. We went inside to check it out. I ordered the sampler which was four approximately 3 ounces glasses of the house drafts. A dark German type; a Pilsner; a reddish brew called the Stallion and then the special which due to the holiday tasted like it had nutmeg in it somehow. I relished them all. Grandpa ordered the Black Forest dark brew and Paulie shared my samples even though I wasn’t in the sharing mood. Who shares beer for heaven’s sake? Certainly not moi.

After this we go back in the car, paid the outrageous parking fee ($8 for not quite two hours…a real rip off but what choice does one have?) We were just outside the French Quarter so we decided to find a place to eat. First we had to find a parking spot. Lo and behold we find a handicapped FREE spot just off Royal Street. We stroll down Royal which is the art gallery and antique shoppe street in the FQ. We saw some street musicians and all of a sudden the streets began filling up with people in Saints jerseys. The football game has ended and the FQ invasion of the drunkards had begun. No restaurants to be found on Royal. We get to Bourbon and make a hasty exit. It smells like vomit and beer. Jeez. How disgusting. We make our way up to Toulouse and find a bar & café that looks inviting. I must say inviting because we were hungry, tired and the sun had set and it was getting quite chilly. Grandpa had the house sampler (gumbo, red beans with rice, and either jambalaya or the et-to-fey (Sp…My dictionary doesn’t do Cajun and Creole). Paul and I split a hot beef poboy that had the most delicious gravy. I ate about three bits of beef but chowed down the fresh French bread covered in that marvelous gravy. Talk about being stuffed. Bread grows in my stomach, and I know this…so what do I stuff my face with? Yep, bread. Paul finished up, paid the bill and went off to get the car. By this time the streets were filling up very quickly with the tourists and more of the football folks. We headed back to the rig, all tired from our unexpected walk through the French Quarter. We will be heading into west Louisiana towards Cajun country tomorrow. We plan on touring the Tabasco plant on Avery Island and then head to the Sam Houston Jones state park to stay the night. We will then head towards Livingston, Texas on Tuesday.

Later…dee

Saturday December 2, 2006

We slept in this morning. Paulie was up first and took a walk to an interesting little Chinese grocery store several doors away from the RV Park. He picked up the newspaper and a breakfast sandwich. I didn’t get my bum outta bed until almost 11. Tom and Sue called and said they would pick us up around three, and take us to the lake house for a pontoon boat ride. We stopped for crawfish and shrimp at a local place near the lake house and by the time we got to the house, the sun was sinking into the lake quite quickly. So…we just looked around at the lake house property and then dove into the food. I am very picky about my food, if it looks nasty, I don’t eat it. Well, I had to quickly decide if I was gonna be squeamish or starve. The shrimp still had the heads on. So Gross. So Disgusting. So Vile. Sue showed me how to rip their buggy eyed heads off and peel ‘em. They tasted wonderful. Unbelieveably fresh, just caught today. The crawfish are another story. They really ARE bugs. Mudbugs. They remind me of the monster in the Alien movies. I grabbed one and again Sue guided me thru the process of ripping off the bug eyed head, pull some of the shell off and just crack the tail and pull out the meat. There would be NO sucking of the stuff in the heads to pass these virgin lips like Tommy. There is approximately one one-hundredth of an ounce of meat in a mudbug. I am not making this up. The little sliver I managed to get out of the shell was as big as my ring finger fingernail. It was ok…one was enough. I now can say I ate a bug. Of course, dear readers… you know that alcohol was involved in this…NO WAY would I eat this stuff sober yanno. I am not nuts, honest.

Tom and Sue’s lake house is quite beautiful. Just what you’d imagine a getaway cabin to look like. It is bigger than the house we live in…furnished in that rustic look that is so popular now. After dinner we just sat around and talked…it was almost ten by the time we were back on the road and on the way home. Another great day in NO.

Later…dee

Friday December 1, 2006

I think I have my dates goofed up on my previous postings. Now ask me if I care. We awoke to a very frigid New Orleans. Crap. Normal temps are in the mid 70’s with lows in like the 50’s. Today the HIGH will be fifty. With a very cold and biting wind. Better than being at home I say. I don’t like ice and snow anymore. Oh well, we are up and out the door, heading to Café Du Monde in the French Quarter. Of course, we take the Canal Street exit off I10 and I TELL the driver to stay on Canal. An arrow points straight ahead and says in ENGLISH, Canal Street ahead. The driver makes a right. Me, playing navigator, tries to read the map upside down since the map is one of the guide book things and I am desperately trying to figure out where the heck we need to go. After several U-turns, the driver runs right through a frickn’ red light. We make it through alive. We finally ask some guy and he says to go right and stay on this street. We go through what seems to be the financial district before we stumble onto Bourbon Street. What a sh*t-hole. Strip clubs line Bourbon street. I thought this was a place to hear music and have a drink. Ugh, the place is so gross. We continue on and get to another cross street which I recognize so we turn in, and finally we are in the real French Quarter. We find out later that after Hurricane Katrina, that disgusting Larry Flint came in and bought up Bourbon street for pennies on the dollar to destitute property owners. What a shame. Bourbon Street is now Hustler filth alley.

We find a parking spot just off Decatur Street, and see the Café across the way. The wind off the river is really nippy. We get into the Café and it is not unlike my expectations, very quaint. There are only either Chinese or Vietnamese waitresses who can barely speak English. We each order beignets and I got the café aulait, the boys ordering hot cocoa. The coffee is a dark roast that is very rich. Half coffee and half hot milk is perfect. Best café auliat I have ever had. Obviously I am biased by my surroundings. We have NINE beingnets in front of us. Gee I hope they reheat well. They are hot and loaded in huge mountains of powdered sugar. I immediately fell in love with Café Du Monde. I will be back. Just now, I can checkmark this place on my list of “wanna go to’s” and “wanna go back to’s.” Paul and grandpa seemed to enjoy them also, at least they didn’t complain. After we finished, we went up to view the Mississippi. We are below the levee and I would assume under sea level? We walk up the rampart, and all of a sudden my head is just spinning and my ears are screaming in pain. The air pressure is not normal here and I am frantic to get away. We walked a bit down Decatur. Lots of really neat shops and café’s, including the French Quarter Grocery, home of the original Muffaletta sandwich. The smell from the grocery was incredible. We continued walking for a couple of blocks to the visitors center and check out tours. Grandpa and I just cannot walk to do tours or sightseeing. My head was pounding from the air pressure and grandpa’s legs were giving out. We found the French Market but just were outta gas to do any kind of shopping. Paul walked back to the car and grandpa and I sat freezing in a quaint little park off the market waiting. Paul had gotten a call from his friend Tom, and we headed to Gretna to see them. I wanted to stop at the rig first to get cleaned up…I had nasty bed head this morning and just stuck a baseball cap on my head. They have a beautiful home. Right now son Tommy and his wife and two kids are living with them until February when they transfer to Houston. We talked all afternoon, and then Sue made a wonderful dinner of Italian type chicken with breadcrumbs and diced tomatoes, sautéed broccoli and noodles. We talked around the table until about 9:30 pm. I felt really kinda stupid keeping my baseball hat on the entire day, but by then my bed head had turned into a couple of greasy tufts of thin stragles so no way would I take the hat off. Let Tom and Sue think I am a weirdo, I wouldn’t let anyone see my hair like this. Poor Pepe was prolly doing the “I gotta go potty” dance back at the rig so we said our goodnights and went home. We pretty much just went to bed when we got back. A good day…very disappointing for both me and grandpa. It is soooooo frustrating not to be able to walk more than a block. Both he and I are in the dumper…we had looked forward to doing some sightseeing here. He’s almost 90, so he’s got reason…me, who knows?

Later,

dee

Thursday November 30, 2006

The rig was packed and ready to hit the road about 9:30 a.m. It is starting to drizzle again. The cold front is pushing south and we are running just ahead of it. Paul had run over to a small donut shop and brought us a couple of deep fried grease nuggets. Why does deep fried grease taste so good?

We got back on I55 once again heading straight south. We stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center and picked up a bunch of tourist brochures. I would love to go on the Vampire and Cemetery Tour, but it is a walking tour and its after dark, too deadly for moi. Walking is still difficult and forget walking in the freakin’ dark…since I have no balance I have to use my EYES so darkness renders me totally unbalanced…no rude comments please.

I55 into NO is very interesting. About 20 or so miles out of the city, there are bayous along the highway, shrimp boats and houses on stilts. Very interesting. We plan on doing a swamp and bayou tour. I better remember the bug spray or I won’t come out alive, sucked dry no doubt.

We arrived in New Orleans just ahead of the super thunderstorms that are making up the cold front down here. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the traffic on the NO freeways just whizzed by us. I think Paulie was stressed. I cannot describe just how terrible it still is down here as we passed on I10. All the residential areas we passed still had half the houses in repair or disrepair. Roofs missing, windows boarded up. FEMA trailers still stand in a lot of front yards. We passed a strip mall that was still just a pile of rubble. Some homes look like they have been rebuilt already…their insurance must have been good. There are still piles of rubble everywhere, on street corners and even on roofs. Very sad. This was probably not a very attractive area, most likely a poorer area and it just looks like jumbled up shambles.

We finally find Chef Menteur Hwy and get off to find the park. Hmmm, it’s a parking lot with hookups. There is a pool, and a hot tub. I truly doubt if I’d set foot in either one, even if I was dying of the heat and humidity. There are mostly work campers here. It looks like a lot of electric company trucks are here. I suppose if the work is here, staying in a campground is not such a bad deal. At least you go to bed in YOUR bed every night, and can cook a meal. About six blocks from here is the quarry and the main barge landing on the Mississippi. Not the most picturesque place we’ve ever stayed by a long shot, but NOT as bad as my favorite place in Southern Illinois. We are about 5 miles from the French Quarter. First thing tomorrow morning I am shagging male asses outta bed and we are going to the Café du Monde for beignets and café au lait. It IS open 24 hours so I may just steal out in the middle of the night and treat myself.

The rain finally caught up with us at around 5:30 p.m. It was really heavy and came down in torrents blown to and fro by a strong wind. Paul stupidly made himself and grandpa fish sticks for dinner and stunk up the entire rig. No windows can be opened due to the torrential rain, and he makes fish sticks…in the toaster oven. Jeez. Now it smells like Arthur Treachers in here for heaven’s sake. I am lighting candles all over the place. Putz.

Well, that’s about all that’s going on here. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so I am not sure what is on the agenda except for the beignets .

More later

Dee

Wednesday November 29, 2006

After a nice sleep-in, we decided to go to Vicksburg to once again visit the Battleground Museum and Cemetery there. Grandpa had changed his mind and decided he now wanted to go, so we thought we could see things we missed on our first visit over two years ago. We again purchased the CD tour which is very interesting and puts the battle into perspective as you drive through the huge battlegrounds. The Siege of Vicksburg is told from both sides, Confederate and Federal. The townspeople fled to caves they had carved into the hillsides along the Mississippi. The most beautiful monument in the park is that of Illinois. It is a domed structure of marble and inside its circular interior are the names of each Illinois soldier to serve in this historical campaign. I have put up a new album of a few photos at http://www.yahoopictures.com. We didn’t get out of the car so the pictures are just basic…but the day was beautiful and 77 degrees.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for a late lunch, early dinner thing. Of all the regional foods we could have sampled, the men choose CB. Jeez. Whoosies, both of ‘em…all that BBQ just waiting to be sampled and we eat at a place we can eat at any damm time.

We will head for New Orleans tomorrow. It is about 245 miles from here so it will be a nice easy day. We found a place to park the RV in the French Quarter…it only costs $80 per day. I think not. Instead, we will be staying at a place called Judes Camp for a mere $30.00. I sure hope it’s in a good part of town, or is there such a thing anymore in New Orleans?

Later

Dee

Hey, since this is the first time I've had access to the net, I've done several updated entry/uploads all at once...scroll down until you get to the point where its new to ya....

dee

Tuesday November 28, 2006

Forget Tunica…we decided to just do a short 220 jaunt south to Jackson Mississippi. The weather has been great, but we awoke to cloudy skies and light drizzle. After packing up the rig and saying goodbye to Tom Sawyer’s place we were off and out of Memphis heading south on 55 by 9:30 a.m. We stopped for breakfast at Waffle house, one of our favorites. I of course had to have a waffle AND a bowl of grits. I KNOW I cannot eat even half a waffle so what’s up with me getting the grits too? They are so good with butter. If I lived south of the Mason Dixon line or where ever the invisible line exists where hash browns suddenly turn into grits at the eateries, I’d weigh 600 pounds. Grits, butter and fat Dennise. No question. I ate ¼ of the waffle and about 5 spoons of grits. The poor waitress thought something was wrong…I just had to assure her that my eyes are a whole lot bigger than my stomach. If she only knew.

After an uneventful yet pretty drive, we pulled into Swinging Bridge RV resort. I think they are using the term “resort” quite loosely down here. We unhooked the car and made a quick trip to the market. I was able to access wifi at the local McDonald’s but it took me forever to get the software uploaded. I had SBC freedom link but now its gotta be AT&T. Like I need more aggravation. Oh well, we are updated, I was able to access my email and send a message to the neighbor to send mail to us in New Orleans Wednesday.

Tomorrow is either Vicksburg, which grandpa has never visited , or Gulfport and find a campground with an ocean view. Paul and I went to Vicksburg so I’d prefer to keep going south.

Will update more when it happens.



oh, here is a picture I snapped of Pepe...he was trying so hard NOT to fall asleep....

Monday, November 27, 2006

A beautiful day again in West Memphis, AR. The river runs quietly by, the occasional barge passing by with sounds similar to a passing train or motorboat. The river currently flows approximately 7 miles per hour. Funny, I’ve passed over the Mississippi a million times heading into St. Louis, but it never seemed to flow as swiftly as it does here. Perhaps it is because passing over a distant bridge, the current is unnoticeable. I just sat and watched this morning in the bright sunlight sipping my morning coffee. The swift current continued to wind its way always southward, itinerant tree limbs, origin unknown, keeping pace, making their inevitable journey to the sea. (Gee, I shoulda been a writer).

It was a quiet catch-up kinda day. Since I walked what seemed like miles yesterday, I was not only sore all over, but I was simply exhausted. How funny this disease fibromyalgia is. A good day or two and then the bastard reels you back in for more misery. Good thing Paul and grandpa understand. Grandpa had spoken earlier to one of the campground hosts. His wife also suffers from this unseen disease. He said that for a period of about 6 months, she could barely get out of bed. He says she has improved since they have been here at this RV park. Perhaps it is the mild climate or maybe it’s just the ability to sit and watch the river each day that creates a sense of relaxation and quiet peace.

We will be pulling out tomorrow morning, heading (I think) towards Tunica. Grandpa said he had no interest in seeing it, however we have a lot of time before we meet up in Gretna, LA with Paul’s friend, so we need to slow down the pace and that seems like a good place to do it.

Sunday November 26, 2006

Poor Paulie…he tries soooooo hard. He has a couple of other Rv’ers helping him to set up this stupid dish. Every Rv’er in the freaking world has a dish satellite hooked up and running. Except us. Bummer. One fella brought over his signal finder and attached to the dish, it shows at least a 70% signal but the satellite strength on the TV is zippo. *Sigh*. No Bears game today unless we hit some kinda sports bar. Grandpa wants to go fishing in the pond, convinced that he can get dinner. We could send him down to the river which is right out the door but he won’t pop the $5 for the license. He took off on MY scooter…the one I haven’t even USED yet…oh well, he breaks, he BUYS ME A NEW ONE!

Paulie is on the phone with Dish. I hate these people. As soon as he is done we will be off into Memphis. First item…Walgreens…I need refills on two scripts. Just plain forgot to do it before we left. Nothing that I can’t live without. The expensive little Purple pill Nexium and a bity thing for high blood pressure which is stupid cause I don’t HAVE high BP. Argh.

We slept til about 9 and grandpa was already up. He had turned on the coffee pot, as I had kindly premade it last night before I went to bed.
I sure do make good coffee, if I say so myself.

Paulie went to get us some cream for the coffee (as he forgot the one at home that I bought). He brought a Memphis paper and a couple of sweet rolls. Of course, grandpa took the apple one and then bitched about how lousy it was. Sometimes…..he just irritates the crap outta me.

Paulie and I are off in the car about 11 am. We head first to the visitors center and pick up a few brochures. Then we find Beale Street. Very picturesque…and disgusting in the daylight. Delapilated store fronts, actually bar fronts, peeling paint and an ATM on every corner. There were lots of places to eat and the smells were fantastic. Since I am not a good walker yet, we only went up two blocks and then back on the other side. We stopped at The Pig’s…BBQ with an attitude. We split a pulled pork with beans and fries. Memphis BBQ is unique, it has a vinegar base almost. The sweet sauce was great. Even the beans had vinegar in them. We really enjoyed our lunch which we followed up with a renowned southern fired peach pie. Of course, I had to take a pain pill…swilled down with a Killian’s Red…it hit pretty fast. The I had a stupid hot flash. Hmmmm, maybe related to the pill and the beer?

We walked back to the car and started our quest to find both a Walgreen’s and a grocery store. We had to get one of my refills….oooops. Guess I blew that one. We finally got back to the RV park around 3 pm.

Remember earlier when I lent grandpa my scooter and said he’d have to buy me a new one if he broke it? Well, guess what. He broke it. Snapped the go forward lever right off. I am not a happy camper…we called the scooter store and all they could do was have someone call us on Monday. Crap.

After I took a ‘lil nappie, Paulie made us a nice dinner of steak, baked potato and corn along with a salad. Quite tasty. He is so good to us.

Well, we saw the last ugly minute of the Bears game. That damm Grossman. What a putz. He needs a sports psychologist. The same guy never shows up to the game for chrissakes. That’s why I hate getting to involved watching sports. My team always breaks my heart. We will just watch a bit of TV tonight…Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal are on. At least we’ll get a few laughs tonight.

Here are a couple of photos of the Mississippi about 20 feet from our campsite at Tom Sawyer's RV park in West Memphis, AR.

Friday, November 24

We slept til about 9 am. Auntie Avril came out just as Gene was getting Pepi out for his morning walk. She said breakfast would be ready soon. I had wanted to take her out for breakfast but she beat us to it. She had made French toast and bacon and it was wonderful…she even heated up the syrup!
After breakfast, Paul disconnected the car and he and grandpa went off in search of a Bridgstone tire. Auntie Avril and I just talked ourselves silly til they got back around noon. Around 1:30 we decided to try to drive a couple of miles towards Memphis before traffic got bad. Peggy and David were entertaining some friends and we would have to miss visiting them at the farm this trip. We stopped at a KFC for dinner (since we didn’t have any lunch) and filled up the tank. We decided to stop at the West Plains MO Elks club. They had 30 am hookups and water and all for a $5 donation. Incredible. We all turned in early, but Paul and I watched TV til about ten.

later...
dee

Thanksgiving Day 2006

Well, we had a good nights sleep, and were up and moving about 7. The tough part about loading the motorhome is that the majority of stuff we will use is stuff we use daily in the house and therefore have to wait until take-off day to load it up. It is very tiring. After putzing around for several hours, we finally hit the road about 11 am.

By this time I had a sore hip, sore butt from walking and I was walking into stuff. I have so little stamina, just vacuuming the kitchen floor had me winded. I stretched out on the new sofa/futon, which is by the way, quite comfortable, Pepi along side of me and slept until we were way past St. Louis. We hit a bit of traffic in the Springfield but it was clear sailing the rest of the way. Just as we passed Cuba MO, Paul was flagged down by a passing car, the passenger pointing to the toad. After pulling off, Paul discovered that the right front tire was shredded. Earlier, I had heard a thump, so there must have be something on the road that wasn’t visible. Paul called OnStar and they said someone would be there to change the tire within an hour. Of course, this meant we had to get the temp tire outta the back of the Vue, which meant unloading the entire back end, including my new scooter. After the mechanic helped get us back on the road, it turns out we had only been down for about an hour. I had called Auntie Averil so she knew we’d be a bit late. I think we rolled up about 5ish. We had a great time catching up, and then we had our turkey dinner, hauled all the way from Springfield. It was just as good warmed up as it was fresh. We all just sat around and talked until about 10 p.m. and then we headed to our rolling home to retire for the night.

As usual, I don’t sleep well the first night in the rig (it’s the change of bed or excitement or just plain stupid). I was up to the bathroom at least 8 times. Snickers decided to sleep in between Paul and me….by our heads, and she kept putting her paw on my cheek, hoping I’d pet her. Paul seems to be snoring a lot again…have to mention this to him. He isn’t breathing thru his nose, he is breathing thru his mouth and doing the sleep apnea stop breathing for 15 seconds tricks again. Grrrr.

Here is a wonderfully flattering picture of me and Auntie Averil....she's gonna kill me.....

Wednesday November 22

Heh, heh, heh...you guys fell for my bs again. I haven't updated since Oct! Well, the old saying, the best laid plans....

For weeks the debate here in the Ziaja realm has been ...."when are we gonna leave? What are Zack's plans? Are Jan and the girls coming in? blah blah blah." We finally make a decision to leave Thanksgiving day. Not MY choice. Grandpa has had his clothes in the motorhome since October. Every now and then I see him sneak out to get some clean underwear...he wears the same pants and shirt everyday. Paul has to steal his clothes in the middle of the night so they don't walk away. Just Kidding yanno.

It is 8:30 pm and Paulie is still outside loading the rig, mostly the stuff in the storage bins. My thoughts are this should have been done WEEKS ago yanno? Last minute Paulie, flyby the seat of his pants. Some things never change I guess. I don't get it. We have talked up this trip for freaking MONTHS. The bad thing about being part-timers is that we have to share the stuff in the rig with the house...like pots and pans. Toothpaste and shampoo. Can't keep it in the rig as it melts in the summer and freezes in the winter. Same with clothes. Gotta wear seasonal clothes, can't leave them in the rig either. But stuff in the bins? PIA.

Add to this, we all had to pack for the cruise. Summer clothes for the cruise, warm clothes cause we don't know what the weather is where we are going stateside, light jackets, a heavier jacket, and who knows what kind of clothes for the Rio Grand Valley. Gee what a terrible dilemma!

Well, I am totally exhausted at this moment. I will have to take something strong tonight. All I have to take into the rig tomorrow is my cruise suitcase(if anyone can lift the sucker) and my meds and toiletries.

We probably will get on the road around 11. Our first stop is Lebannon MO to visit Auntie Averil and get there some time in the afternoon. She lives about 150 miles from St. Louis so with the 90 to SL, we have about a 4 to 5 hour trip. Not too bad.

I will update when we get on the road tomorrow.

Boy, time sure flies when your having fun. Since my last update over two months ago, I had my surgery, recovered, dislocated my new hip twice and after several ambulance trips to the er and visitis back to the doc, a revision is only option. Crap. Had revision on Sept 27. Doc said there was fluid in the joint which made it unstable. He lengthened my leg, inserted a new socket that has a lip to keep the ball in place and then put in a larger ball. I did ok after surgery. My ass hurts where all the soft tissue damage was done. Can't describe it any other way...I have pain in my right ass cheek. Hmmmm. Back to square one...a simple (for most folks anyways)surgery, becomes a 16 week ordeal for me. Typical.

We are getting ready for the great get-away. Hopefully we will get outta Rochester before Thanksgiving. Time will tell.

I am going to try to update daily from this point on, keeping everyone abreast of what is happening here.

later
dennise

Oh goodness. It's Monday night and I have only one more day to wait til I get this freakin' hip fixed. I have so much stuff to do tomorrow it is just ridiculous...I hired a cleaning lady today...$15 an hour...oh well, it's only money right? I just can't deal with a dirty house and Paulie just can't keep up. I suppose it will be about 4 hours worth of work for this woman, and I promised her that I'd have the place at least picked up so she doesn't have to clean around clutter. We picked out the lino for the bathroom redo today...its a light grey background with speckled spots...just like the stuff from the 50's. I am going to draw something up for the wallboard guy to look at...I want beadboard and chair rail along with new baseboards. Shouldn't be too expensive. Can't wait to see it done. One more step to selling the house. I am making lists of stuff we have to do. Get rid of sh*t is number one. Getting rid of furniture is next. Gosh, its gonna take months to get this stuff done. I worry about video tapes of Zack when he was growing up....pictures, knick knacks and stuff I really love is gonna be tough. If we do buy a mfg home, I can keep some stuff. Kitchen stuff. I have great kitchen appliances such as my Kitchen aid mixer. Ain't giving that puppy up...how about my pizzeli (sp) maker...no...how about my professional cookie sheets, hell no! China, silverware and serving dishes are also hands off. I gotta have some stuff to make a new home a real home.

I will prolly not post until after I get home. Don't be offended if I am a bit grumpy or surly...it is gonna hurt like hell and I am not gonna be a happy person by any stretch of the imagination...

hugs

dee