Yesssss!

I am thrilled to be able to share with you that I have accepted a part-time (for now) position as a remote Medical Editor/Medical Transcriptionist! The company I will be working with has a good reputation among MTs. I am awaiting scheduling for training on the transcription platform and then will be under mentoring for a while as I learn the platform, the specifications of my assigned accounts and the dictators on those accounts. Even with prior MT experience, this is the process that takes place.

It was weird/scary thinking about doing MT work again. After refreshing my transcription skills through an online acute care (hospital dictation, which I did before), I felt fairly confident; however, applying for employment and going through that process was a bit nerve-wracking. After all, I haven’t interviewed for a “real” job in 8 years. Narrow that down to a technical/professional position and it has been 9 years. Yoinks!

I always enjoyed MT work. It is fascinating, one learns something almost every day and there is a dark/silly sense of humor that one entertains working in the medical field. I’ve missed that.

You should have seen how excited and hyper I was the other evening after receiving the offer earlier in the day! Dave rode the wave with me in such a supportive and joyous fashion. He’s a good guy.

The profession of medical transcription has changed since I was last working in the field.  Back then, one listened to the dictation voice file and typed the document (known now as “straight typing”), sculpting it into a medico-legal document – correct not only in medical terminology, but in grammar, punctuation, etc. Typing, typing, typing.

Voice recognition – where the voice dictation is interpreted by a software program into a document – was pretty much in its infancy regarding widespread use when I worked in the field 8 years ago. Now, however, VR (or SR for “speech recognition”) has infiltrated to the point where the “medical transcriptionist” has become the “medical editor.” This is exactly that – editing the VR-produced document to match the voice dictation file.

This “old dog” will be learning some new tricks!

So, this week so far has been brimming with activity. A second interview, pre-employment testing, today the tech support guy tweaking my computer (installing the platform, etc.), paperwork, emails, phone calls . . . whew.

The result is one goal realized – land an MT job. Yay!

I continue to work my virtual assistant job, which is also part-time. I am learning new programs and very much enjoy working with my boss.  My vision has been to have 2 revenue streams with 2 part-time gigs, and that is what is coming to pass. We’ll see how that goes. It will be a while before things settle down and I get in a groove; both schedules are flexible to a point, so I see that it may be a really nice thing.

There have been moments of, “My brain hurts.” Bwahahaha!

This is a different type of thinking. With security work, the thinking was more physical (?) or action-oriented. “A strange car just entered the gates and headed towards the back. Better check it out.”  I could expect a phone call from the alarm company when an alarm would activate; we would then need to enter the building and check it out. Those are just some examples of the thought processes involved. Action-oriented. My thought processes are now of a more technical nature, i.e., learning software, reading/understanding written procedures . . . more of an intellectual process, if you will.

Yep, my brain hurts.

I am actually enjoying all this. Yes, in a perverse way, eh?

The focus so far – because it is happening so rapidly – has been on my securing MT work. We have yet to put the same time and energy into finding something for Dave. We are hopeful just the right part-time or full-time gig will come along for him. We know it will. In the meantime, he is enjoying the heck out of cycling here. He deserves that, as he took the brunt of the work load in South Carolina and did not sleep well at all there. In fact, he got very little sleep and was exhausted pretty much from October 2014 until now.  Yes, he is sleeping well now, thank goodness. All 3 of us are!

Hey, it’s early days yet. We haven’t even been here 2 weeks! I think we’re doing pretty darn good to be accomplishing so much in so little time.

We are managing to have some “together time” during the days/evenings, and that is important. I whipped up one of our favorite meals of chicken noodle casserole this afternoon, so we had a nice dinner with leftovers for tomorrow. Yay again!

Maggie is doing well and enjoys looking out the windows

I was working up until almost 10 PM and needed some decompression/fun time, so here I am blogging. It’s a hair past 11 PM now. I’m winding down and so is this post.

Thanks for stopping by! Ya’ll stay safe out there, okay?

It’s Been a Full Week

Good heavens! We have been here a week and it has been chock full of doing “stuff.”

I’ve been working my virtual assistant job a bit and hope to increase my hours this week. Seems there has been quite a bit to do settling in here, etc.

Keep your fingers crossed, as I had an interview with a medical transcription company this week. I sent out resumes to others and have heard back from some, so if the first one doesn’t work out, there are other possibilities. That process takes a lot of time, actually. Whew!

That’s at least 6 inches deep

As you may have heard, Texas was visited by what was left of Hurricane Patricia over the weekend. Our site essentially turned into a mud pit.

This doesn’t really do it justice, and it got worse after . . .

See the red marker towards the right top of the image? That was us. All that yellow and green passed through over the weekend.

We had prepared by making sure we had provisions and did not need to venture out. Walking Maggie was an adventure, and she received the Royal Princess Treatment, being carried down to the area where we walk her. She wears her pink jacket, which helps keep her dry, especially her belly. She was such a trouper during all this.

The rain finally stopped for good this morning. We located the Walmart and were able to get Dave a new waterproof jacket. Yay! After that, I ventured forth to a wee laundromat nearby.

Dave spotted this place and checked it out on a bike ride last week.

It beats the heck outta the on-site facilities at the park. I had the place to myself most of the time. First time in donkey’s years I have experienced a peaceful laundry setting other than my own.

Late this afternoon, Dave discovered a damp area by the head of the bed, which is in the bedroom slide. Rut roh. Quick check of the Montana Owners Forum and I found where this has happened to others. Examination of the outside caulking on that slide showed that the caulking needs to be redone. The next three days are to be sunny and dry, so Dave has a wee project! The storms this weekend were hitting us broadside, and there was quite a bit of wind. We have typically been inline with storms before, so we’re thinking we experienced a bit of a leak with the weather this past weekend.

WiFi is advertised as one of the amenities here, but it is nonexistent. We are using my hot spot.

Two of the three restrooms (the kind with toilet and shower in one individual room) now have no toilet paper. One of those has been out for a week. Dave is checking them now as a source of amusement and amazed, wondering how long it will be before they are restocked.

We have met a nice couple in our age range that are at the end of our row. They are here temporarily (as we intend to be) and are here because of lack of availability in other parks (as we are). We have enjoyed visiting with them a bit. She is originally from . . . wait for it . . Scotland, although she came over at a very young age. At any rate, it is nice to visit with others with whom we seem to have more in common in the way of lifestyle and expectations.

Guess I don’t know much else worth repeating, so I’ll toddle off for now. Hope you have a great week with amazing adventures and that you stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Busy First Day Here

Gosh, I’ve been blowin’ and goin’ all day! Sorry . . . no photos today.

Spent quite a bit of time throughout the day sending out cover letters/resumes to various medical transcription companies as a start to my job search. That has continued into the evening, actually.

Dave plotted a bike ride and took off for a while this morning. After he returned, we went over to another RV park to check it out. No, we’re not enamored with our current situation. Looks like for an additional $20 a month, we could be in much, much nicer and better surroundings.  There are no monthly openings at this time (it’s Aggie football season, after all), but we put ourselves on the waiting list. We’re third on the list and are looking at mid December for a possible opening. We have pretty much decided we will move if we are still in this area.

Got back into my virtual assistant job this afternoon/evening. More duties coming along with it, so I’ve spent some time this evening doing preliminary reviewing of that prior to hearing more about that and training tomorrow.

Dinner, a couple of walks – just the two of us and then with Maggie – in the areas where we are comfortable strolling and wowsers it’s almost time to think about shower and blankies.

Let’s see . . . there was a phone call with a friend in there somewhere and a few odds and ends around here.

The day just flew by, and I feel like I could use about six more hours to do stuff. Oh well. There’s always tomorrow!

Speaking of tomorrow, looks like the rains are going to be moving in starting then. It has become cloudy and breezy this evening, and a bit cooler.

Okay. That’s it. I’m going to have a bit of Words with Friends with Dave and then toddle off to The Dreamtime before long. My brain is tired, but I got a whale of a lot accomplished today!

Hope you’ve had a productive day . . . or enjoyed a day of chillin’ out. Whatever you’re doing, do it safely, okay?

Thanks for stopping by! Seriously. I appreciate you taking the time to visit!

Home for a Month

We departed Traders Village on the northwest side of Houston around 11 AM and headed on down Highway 290 West. Parts of it were under construction years ago when I lived in Houston and then later in Brenham and guess what? It’s still under construction an even longer way in what appears to be the addition of more lanes.

After getting really out of Houston’s reach, the highway became the 290 I remember, with no concrete barrier walls on the right side. Yay! We stopped at the Love’s I remember for a pit stop and a cup of coffee for Dave. I had a delightful conversation with a long-haul trucker while Dave was inside the store.

Scooting our way out of there, we were back on 290 until reaching Hempstead, where we branched off onto Highway 6 North. Now that was a pleasant drive! This took us all the way through College Station into Bryan, where we took the exit to get to Primrose Lane RV Park.

On our way here, we noticed how dry everything looked; the grass was brown, trees wilted and so forth. Entering the RV park, we noticed the same thing . . . even more so. The photos on the park’s web site are from days when there has been regular rain. That’s not the case now.

This park is divided into two sections. Up front there are some nice, long, concrete pull-thru pads for overnighters and short-term folks. There are back-ins for longer-term stays. There is another section behind a fence toward the back of the park that is a mobile home area. We took a walk this afternoon back there and decided we’ll stay up front in our section, as it really is . . . well, not our kind of area.

I actually backed us in, with some great spotting from Dave!

You can see how terribly dry it is here. Had to put our solar lights into cracks in the ground, as it was too hard to just put them anywhere. Yoinks!

We have a decent site, with tons of room between neighbors on either side. We do get some shade in the afternoons from the trees behind us. There is a street light across the street. Utilities seem fine so far; we were given converter boxes for the cable TV system. No TCM, but a better variety of channels than we have had other places. The manager was nice and helpful on our arrival, and we met a retired neighbor two sites down who came over to visit a bit.

This place really isn’t anything to look at and certainly isn’t nearly as nice as other places we have stayed; folks don’t seem to personalize or “cute up” their sites. There seem to be quite a few workers, but it is quiet out. That’s a good thing. The surrounding neighborhood appears okay; not fancy, but okay with some decent-looking houses across the road from the park. There is a nice H.E.B. about 2 miles away. The monthly rate is good and includes electricity (which is important in Texas) and I can get independent cable Internet if I need it for work. We have paid for a month and see how it goes.  We didn’t expect ritzy or upscale for the price we are paying.

We are expecting rain starting Wednesday with even heavy rain over the weekend. It won’t turn the grass green, but it should help the trees look and feel better. So incredibly dry . . . so sad. Guess you’ve heard there are wildfires in Texas again, even another one around the Bastrop area that was devastated not long ago by fires.

We did get settled enough today to go to H.E.B. for a few basic provisions and then I made quesadillas with guacamole for dinner. This evening I set up our converter boxes for the TVs and we’ve been enjoying having that on; right now we’re watching the series Fargo. Haha! It’s sooo Minnesota!

Well, we have landed safely and will use this as at least a starting point. I am grateful that the 90-something miles we traveled today were done in a safe and uneventful fashion.

Hope you’re settled and comfy somewhere and that you stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Power Issue on Landing at Traders Village in Houston

We left Beaumont this morning about an hour earlier than usual at about 10:40. We boogied west on I-10 about 30 miles to make a pit stop at the rest area near Hamshire, TX.

Nice!

Grooviest ladies restroom I have ever seen at a rest area!

Our passage through Houston was uneventful and even easy up until we got onto Hwy 290 West. It wasn’t difficult, but a bit tedious; the right-hand lane had those construction barrier concrete walls all along the whole way with no shoulder. You know what I mean . . . makes the lane pretty narrow. We made it through just fine with no incident, although we heard a squeak/scrape sound at one point; Dave said he thought it was the truck behind us scraping the wall. Yoinks! I didn’t feel anything and checked our rig after landing here; it wasn’t us, as there was no sign of us caressing the wall.

Getting into Traders Village wasn’t as bad as I though it might be, although there was a ton of traffic. In case you don’t know, Traders Village is a humongous flea market with an RV park. We made it to our site with no problem and began our process for staying one night . . . lowering landing gear, putting out slides, etc. All was fine until . . .

No power inside the rig. Rut roh.

Power at the pedestal and into our power cord, but zilch inside. What to do? Called a couple of mobile services; it’s Sunday, so no joy there. Called Good Sam and talked with Technical Assistance, who was some help as to what it might be, but all they could do was give me phone numbers of RV service people. No joy there.

Opened all the windows and figured we’d just deal with it overnight and hit an RV service center in Bryan tomorrow (Monday).

Walking around outside, I saw two guys on the roof of a Class A two sites down. Walked that way thinking I might see a mobile tech van. Guy walks up and asks if I’d seen the owner of the coach; they were here doing work on roof and guy left his truck window down.

Nope, hadn’t seen the guy as we had just arrived. Asked him if he happened to be a tech.

Yesssssss!

So he came over and checked stuff with his voltage meter. After doing this, he right away determined it was our ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch), which is in a rig that has an onboard generator or is wired for one, which ours is. He found the box, opened it and voila!

The switch had melted. Yoinks.

He said this was probably due to low voltage. Well . . . our surge protector black box had shut us down a few times at the work site in South Carolina due to very low voltage like 105 (norm is 120). The facility manger had checked and said that everything was fine; however, by the time he would get to the spot to check it, incoming power would be back to normal ranges and our box would power us up again.

This happened several times during September. We weren’t totally convinced that our box was on the fritz, but there was nothing really to be done.

We did notice during our time there that our interior lights weren’t as bright as they had been . . .

So! Rhoan (the tech guy) commenced to fixing us. Since we do not have an onboard genny and have no plans to get one, he bypassed that portion of the ATS. Now power comes straight in and to the rig without going through that extra portion.

That boils down to power coming straight from the pedestal to the load (the rig). No middleman, so to speak.

Dave watching Rhoan (inside basement) rewiring the ATS. You can tell we have no A/C at this point, because our door is open and so are all our windows!

Rhoan works at Demontrond RV but also works freelance on weekends. I tell ya, after checking voltage in a few places, he knew right away what it was. Said he has seen this happen quite a few times before. He said we would probably notice our lights were brighter since we were using straight power now and bypassing the ATS.

Turning on our living room overhead lights after dark . . . wow whee! Yep. It’s brighter in here again! We had replaced the regular bulbs with LEDs a few months ago and had commented on how nice and bright it was in here. We had noticed – while in SC – that it was dang dark in here and Dave was struggling to read or use the computer in his recliner.

Well, it was money we really didn’t need to spend on repairs, but taking it to an RV dealer might have cost us more, taken longer and might not have even been fixed.

Just Providence, good luck or whatever that I happen to look around and hook up with Rhoan.

So we’ve gone from looking at a relatively miserable evening and hassle tomorrow in getting to a dealer before landing at our spot in Bryan to being comfortable. A/C is working fine. I can charge my phone. The TV has picked up some sort of movie station (showing Gregory Peck movies).

Whew. What a day. I am looking forward to getting to our landing spot tomorrow, settling in, working my virtual assistant job and finding a medical transcription job. Hoping our life will settle down and we can get in a comfortable groove.

I am very grateful for today’s safe passage of a bit over 90 miles under beautiful skies and gorgeous weather.

Hope your Sunday was pleasant and that you stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Relaxing in Beaumont, TX

We were sitting outside a wee while ago and realized we are finally get the relaxation layover we intended first in Lexington, SC (where we extended our stay due to the rain event) and then in Hope Hull, AL (where loose dogs were an annoyance in the park).

Finally! Yes, indeed!

Yes, Phyllis, there is still construction on I-10. Isn’t there always? Traffic was not backed up westbound, so it wasn’t bad at all. (Check out Phyllis’ full-timing blog here.)

We did get up and out the door in time to mosey over and check out the free breakfast here. It really wasn’t anything to write home about, but Dave got a cup of coffee. I brought a biscuit back, warmed it up and ate it with a bit of butter. Not bad, but not outstanding. It is a nice gesture on their part.

We were out and about before 11 AM, stopping first at Hidden Lake RV Resort not far from here. I certainly would not call it a “resort,” but it was a nice enough park on drive-through and one to perhaps consider in the future.

Our next stop was the Walmart, which was a bit of a drive from our park. We picked up a few items there and then dropped into the H.E.B. for some groceries on our way home.  For those who don’t know, H.E.B. is a Texas grocery store chain. This was apparently a “super” H.E.B., as it was the biggest one I have ever been in, and I’ve been in quite a few. OMG. Was it delightful! We supplemented to our current stock of provisions, so we’re good for meals for quite a while again.

We even have lettuce in the fridge again and we each had a salad with our stuffed salmon for dinner tonight.

Lettuce! The quality of lettuce was so deplorable in South Carolina that we stopped buying it. We haven’t had lettuce in almost three months.  I was in lettuce heaven this evening!

When I attended Lamar University here back in the late 1970s, I had no real reason to come to this west side of town. I tell ya what, though, it sure has grown! “Stuff” everywhere and the traffic to go along with that. We had initially talked (well, I did most of the talking – haha!) about having a meal at Patillo’s (BBQ) today, but after our errands . . . well, all I really wanted to do was chill out here at home. Dave was definitely okay with that, so that’s what we have been doing.

I recognized so many of the street names – Major, Phelan, Fannett, Gladys, Washington – even though I frequented those on their opposite end closer to the university. I sort of wish now that I had scheduled us for a longer time here so I could go exploring a bit. If we were here for, say, a week, I’d be checking out old familiar places, seeing what’s been done/renovated/added. There is a lot to do and see in the area. Oh well. Next time!

I’m just really enjoying relaxing and hanging out at home and the park.

We’ve had some strolls around the park, some with Maggie and some just the two of us. This is a wonderful place to walk, as the streets are paved and the park is well lit and fenced. One feels safe walking here even at night.

We have one more day here, and our friend Rachelle will be coming up to spend some time with us. Yay! Even though she and I talk on the phone frequently, we have not been together since right before we hit the road in 2010. She and I go waaaay back, having worked at Exxon together back in the 1980s/1990s.

So tomorrow should be a fun day, with perhaps a visit to Tyrell Park and the Botanical Gardens (or not), hanging with a dear friend, fueling up the truck and then hitching up later in the day with a view to hitting the road to and through Houston on Sunday. The emphasis will be chilling out. Just be-ing.

We did find our “Welcome to Our Clan” sign and hung it outside, and Dave graciously hung our pictures inside, since we’re having company! Tomorrow is slated to be about 12 degrees cooler than today, with a forecast high of 80F. I imagine there will be a bit of sitting outside time.

We can tell we’re definitely in Texas, as we can hear marching bands and the announcer from a nearby stadium and what sounds like a high school football game. It’s a lovely, almost cool and cloudless night, and the sound carries. I like it.

Speaking of sounds, we did not hear the trains after about 8 PM (I’m guessing) last evening and not at all today. Yay!

Hope your Friday has been as relaxing as ours and that your weekend will continue to be so!

Ya’ll take care and be safe out there, alrighty?

Thanks for stopping by!

Back in Texas

We had a nice overnight stay in Duson, LA at Frog City RV Park. We really did enjoy this park and would certainly return for an even longer stay. Part of that enjoyment was the visits we had with our next door neighbors, a part-timing couple from PA and their 14-year-old dog.

Rolling out of the park just shy of 11:30 AM, we hopped on I-10 to continue our journey westward. We planned to make a pit stop at about 50 miles at a Love’s Travel Center; however, there was no convenient truck parking and we had a bit of a tight squeeze getting through the travel plaza pump area after deciding this was not a practical stop. Whew. We did it, though, with no harm/no foul. That’s the last time I try that, I tell ya. RV parking my ptooie.

I do dig my Pilot truck stops and hanging with the big dawgs. It’s easy. We’re courteous – pull forward to the line after fueling, don’t leave our rig unattended – and we’ve never had an issue; in fact, all drivers we have interacted with have been courteous and friendly, if not downright helpful.

Good thing I wasn’t desperate for a pit stop, as the Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles was definitely kinda skeery. Well, not really. Well, maybe just a wee bit. Gee, that was steep. Dave did the sightseeing. I didn’t want to look down and I was focused on getting us up, over and down again safely. That sucker is steep! Did you know that the Department of Transportation has declared it structurally deficient? The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development says it’s fine and dandy. That’s according to Wikipedia.

A tad over 91 miles from our start, we rolled into the Texas Welcome Center. I think that’s a record for yours truly without a pit stop. The traffic on I-10 just whizzed (no pun intended), by while we took our stretch break.

Texas Welcome Center I-10 West

This wasn’t too far from Beaumont and Gulf Coast RV Resort, our home until Sunday.  This is a big place with paved roads and sites, Wi-Fi that is nonexistent (and we’re even in the first row by the office) and minimal TV stations, about 13 with really nothing to watch. Oh well. The park is well-lit and a combination of long-term workers, short-terms and overnighters. It is well maintained. The restrooms are clean, individual units with toilet and shower. There’s a free breakfast consisting of Texas waffles, biscuits and gravy, muffins, cereal, coffee, juice. Don’t know if we’ll make it for that, as it is served from 7 AM to 9 AM. There’s a pool, exercise room, playground and dog park.  Our site is concrete and plenty long with ample room between us and the site. We are on an end, so we do not have a neighbor site on our driver side.

We are in Site #77, convenient to restrooms and laundry. We also have a lovely power station in our site and a useless patio. Other than that, it’s cool. Well, only if the trains don’t blow their horns all night.

Guess the only thing I’d say on the down side is that the utilities are at the rear of the site. The pavement is only wide enough for the rig, so you step down into grass. There is a concrete patio with picnic table; however, it is at the front end of the site and essentially useless. Makes you wonder if whoever designed the place had ever set foot in an RV. All the sites are set up this way.

Maggie is feeling much, much better and is chillaxin’ here. She totally rearranged the daybed to suit her comfort.

We were walking Maggie in the doggie walk area earlier and about jumped out of our skins when the train blew its horn. Yes, the tracks are pretty dang close. I’ll let you know if this goes on all night.

Traffic was heavy coming through Beaumont, so I didn’t get to look around too much, but I did recognize some landmarks such as the Babe Didrikson Zaharias Museum and I certainly recognized names of the streets on freeway exits. We are on the western outskirts of town, and it’s nice not to be smack dab in the middle of things. We plan to go out tomorrow for a few provisions; not sure how much wandering around we’ll do. We’ll see. The washers and dryers in the laundry room are only a buck each, so I may do a load of laundry during our stay. Or not. Ha!

We’ve had a few strolls around the park, both before and after our dinner of burgers and steak fries here at home.

Again I am grateful for the 123.6 miles traveled safely and without incident today. It was in the low 90s here in Beaumont when we arrived but has cooled down nicely. Not a cloud in the sky all day.

We’re here for the weekend. Where are you spending your weekend?

Hope your Thursday was a good one. Stay safe out there, would ya?

Thanks for stopping by!

Spending the Night in Duson, LA

We both woke up before 8 AM this morning and got away from Indian Point RV Resort just before 11 AM.

Remember the dog I mentioned in yesterday’s post? Well, sure enough, poor doggie spent the night in the cage crate under the overhang of their 5th wheel.  Keep in mind that we had curtains open around 7:30 this morning. This is what we saw . . .

Animal abuse takes all forms. This is one of them.

Okay, so they had a fan heater of some sort sitting there; however, this poor soul was obviously miserable, shivering with every breath. It was chilly and damp out overnight. Doggie is not sleeping, but is hunched down shivering, being uncomfortable and plain miserable.

Time passes. We do our morning stuff, walk Maggie, have breakfast and start our leisurely prep for departure.

These jokers finally emerged (well, at least the guy did) at about 10:30 AM to get the dog. This soul was in the crate for a bit over 12 hours. Yeah. Doggie got out of the crate and was chained to a tree to have his breakfast outside.

This sweet soul made nary a sound overnight. Even when seeing me out with Maggie, no bark, growl or whimper was heard from the cage.

Here’s the rig of these idiots. Truck front plate is an LSU tag (not a regular license plate). The truck is a white dually. That’s a new-looking Blue Ridge 5th wheel. They had 2 bikes on a rack in the back.

We stopped at the check-in station (which is a bit of a ways away from the RV sites and is not visible from the main campground) on our way out. I showed the photo of the dog in the crate to the gal on duty and explained what had taken place, beginning with their arrival and the dog in the open bed of the truck. She thought that was pretty awful, and assured me she would advise the owner of the park.

A few stops today to break up the trip . . .

At the Atchafalaya Welcome Center

There sure were some long bridges heading west on I-10 in Louisiana! Whew! We stopped at a couple of Pilot truck stops; they weren’t busy, so it was a breeze in and out, and relaxing pit/fueling stops. I-10 wasn’t too bad, but a bit whump-a-whump over the segmented part in Louisiana.

We have landed here in Duson, LA at Frog City RV Park, cozied up in site #15 for tonight.

It was too dark when I got around to taking a photo of our rig in our site, but here’s a shot of the entrance sign.

This is not a bad little park at all.  The sites are neat, the park is well lit, the roads are paved and sites are gravel with a picnic table and of nice size. There are quite a few cable TV channels and free Tengo WiFi, but we are using my hotspot.  It’s a mix of long-term workers, short-term rigs and overnighters like us. There’s a hotel next door and a gas station/truck stop/convenience store on another side, but the park is fenced and these are not annoyances. You can hear some highway sounds from I-10 when outside, but not really when indoors. Restrooms are the individual kind with toilet, sink and shower; they are cute and clean. Dave is using these facilities tonight for his shower. The laundry room is clean and functional. There is a small swimming pool and a book exchange. Seems to be quite a few cats – young and older – around the office area. There was a raccoon washing its hands in a basin near the office; it scooted away under the office building when we went strolling by! Access is easy from I-10. Yep, we’d stay here again.

We have strolled the park and then had a nice dinner here at home of fettuccini alfredo and a chopped veggie salad.

We traveled 232.3 miles today – another long one for us. I am once again very grateful that our trip was uneventful and safe.

Tomorrow we head on to Beaumont, TX, where we will be for 3 glorious nights! It will be good to stop for a while!

Have a great evening and be safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Landed in Gautier, MS for One Night

We departed Hope Hull, AL at about 11:15 this morning, in that time range that we seem to get going naturally.

We cruised south on I-65, stopping at a rest area and then a Pilot just north of Mobile to fuel up the truck. At Exit 0 in Mobile, we hooked up with I-10 West and headed towards Mississippi.

Mississippi Welcome Center on I-10 West

A little bit later, we rolled into Indian Point RV Resort in Gautier, MS. This is a huge place with hundreds of RVs in here and quite a few cabins and cottages for rent. There are long-term workers, folks with apparently seasonal sites (and boats) and then some overnight spots such as ours towards the front of the sites. We have a concrete pad and patio, although the pad at this particular site really is not quite long enough for our rig still hitched up.

We are in Site PA2. That empty site next to us is no longer empty.

We were originally assigned to site PA1, the empty one in the above photo. Not sure why they gave us PA2 on arrival and I wish they had not. On this row of overnight sites, we have the most cramped and the trickiest to exit. Oh well. It’s only one night. There’s a small tree towards the front that is not in the photo; I’ll have to swing reaaaaally wide in the morning to get out. This site really is too close to the next one on the door side. Ugh. Oh well. One night.

One of two lakes here

Impressions so far suggest this is fine for an overnight stop, but it’s just not my kind of place. There are just too many people here and too many trees . . . We are bypassing the free WiFi, as it is not secured with a password; we’re using my hotspot instead. The restrooms/showers are okay, but Dave opted to shower at home tonight; he will often use the facility showers if they are nice, enjoying a larger shower stall. There is cable TV; it is very basic cable, but we are able to tune into CNN and have the Democratic debate on right now. There is a clubhouse, pavilion for gatherings, café (apparently only open in the mornings), swimming pool, pier and boat launch. Quite a few of the roads are sand/dirt. The sites that are not concrete are more grass than gravel; perhaps they were nice gravel at one time, but the grass has pretty much taken over. Even though it has the word “resort” in its name, it has more of the feel of a campground and/or fishing camp.

Again, fine for one night.

Moving along . . .

Since the above photo was taken, a dually with a pretty and big 5th wheel pulled in. Why am I mentioning this? Because . . . their rather large dog (not a pit bull but some breed that sort of looks a bit like that) was riding in the open bed of the truck when they arrived. I really cannot even imagine my dog riding in an open truck bed, much less with a 5th wheel hooked up to the truck. Sheesh. Any bump or turn of the RV and . . . it could result in a not-so-happy ending for the dog.

Then . . .

They chained the dog to a tree and put its food and water bowl outside. They have a cage for it placed under the front overhang of their RV. Yes, they have been inside with the dog chained to the tree outside. Yes, I’m guessing the dog will be sleeping in the cage outside tonight.

What the hell is wrong with dog owners in the South?

Now back to our regular programming . . .

Interstate 65 South is actually a nice highway and an enjoyable drive. I-10 hasn’t been bad so far. We’ll see how tomorrow shapes up as we head on into Louisiana for tomorrow night’s stop in Duson.

I am grateful that the 203.3 miles we traveled today were done safely and without incident.

Maggie is pretty much back to her usual self and made today’s journey very well.  The weather was gorgeous with a high in the low 80s.

Have a great evening and be safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Last Night in Alabama

This is our last evening in Hope Hull, AL. We’ll be on the road tomorrow headed to Gautier, MS for one night. We’ve got around 200 miles to go tomorrow. That’s not much for some folks, but it’s a full day for us.

Dave pedaled 51 miles today on his bike this morning, once again thoroughly enjoying the cycling here. He has racked up 208 miles in 5 days here. He has also been taking some photos with his new phone.

 

From the charity ride, alerting riders of the upcoming rest stop named Road Kill Café. Cute, eh? Each rest stop is named with a theme.

Also for the Road Kill Café, this says, “You kill it, we cook it.” Haha!

Route markers

The park is full tonight, with 4 rigs parked in the new sites. Those sites do not have gravel yet, but the utilities are functional. We hitched up the truck a bit ago; that’s one less thing to do in the morning.

Maggie was definitely feeling better today and has had a bit of food at reduced amounts. She is certainly more her usual perky and alert self. I am so grateful and am keeping my fingers crossed that she (and I) has another restful night.

Roaming dogs have been less of an issue today, at least so far. Perhaps someone dropped a word or two to their owner down the road?

I am also happy, no, thrilled and relieved, to report that we have had no ants in our rig from day #1 since leaving the work site in South Carolina. Obviously they were coming in from outside. We are both grateful for that and happy to be away from that location.

One other cool thing I have forgotten to mention. When we were getting ready to leave Lexington, SC after the rain event had passed, Dave noticed a wee frog that came out from under our Lynx pad under one of the tires.

Little wee Frog. Good omen. Sent by Cousin Karen, I betcha. Watching over us. Yep. Indeed.

Hope you have had a great Columbus Day. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in Canada!

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday

While Dave was out cycling Friday, he noticed route indicators on the roads. I hopped on the Internet and found the Glassner Autumn Challenge, taking place today.  Although he did not pay the entry fee, he still rode the 30-mile route, as this is something he would have done anyway. The staging area was at a church about 3 miles from here.

Dave had a whale of a good time being amongst other cyclists of all skill levels. The photo above and the one below were snapped by him at the event.

The Caped Crusader (Batman) was handing out goodies to riders

Everyone was quite friendly and ride hosts insisted he partake of the sumptuous spread of fajitas following the ride. Yep, Dave scored big time!

What did I do while he was gone? I got my feet wet with my new virtual assistant job, taking advantage of the quiet time.

Our Maggie woke up at 6 AM with nausea which, along with another symptom, led us to believe she was experiencing a flare of the slight pancreatitis she was diagnosed with a couple of years ago. I immediately began her on the prescription medications I keep on hand for this. They absolutely alleviate the symptoms but make her a bit drowsy, although this is a good thing. Napping and being quiet is a benefit during these flares. I also held food except for the minimal amount needed to take the meds; this gives her gut a break. She was not appearing distressed or in any discomfort, but not 100% her usual bouncy, perky self. If you didn’t know better, you wouldn’t be able to tell anything was going on just being around her.

After a nice dinner of crab cakes and wild rice, we watched an incredibly bad horror movie in the evening. Dave has commented that we certainly have done well with meals. The only groceries we have needed have been staples such as bread, milk, etc. I’m glad I stocked up the freezer, fridge and pantry prior to embarking on our trip. There’s still several more meals to be had from our current provisions. We have not eaten one meal out so far. We didn’t have dinner at Stuckey’s the other day; I just got the pecan divinity and we ate dinner at home.

Sunday (today)

Maggie made it through the night without stirring, so she and I both had a good sleep. She has done well today and acting somewhat more like herself. She still is on her meds as a precaution to get her through this episode. I am hopeful we caught this early and that she will be able to travel Tuesday.

Dave took off on the bike again today, as the area here is excellent for cycling. In fact, he says it is even better than the Lancaster, PA area, which he really enjoyed. I did some more laundry, which  puts us in a good position in that regard for our departure Tuesday. Got a bit more work done, too!

After Dave’s return, we went the 10 miles north on I-65 to the actual town of Hope Hull and the Winn-Dixie market there for a few basics in the way of groceries. We then stopped at the Flying J near the park to fuel up the truck for Tuesday’s leg of our journey.

View of sunset this evening from our site

The roaming dog saga continues this evening. The total number of dogs that roam freely through this park (but do not actually belong here) has risen to 6, with the latest one being a very large brown dog that just showed up a few feet from us this evening as we were sitting out on our patio.

Earlier in the evening (before dark) I had just stepped out of our RV to take Maggie out – she was still just inside the door on her leash –and saw one of the big white dogs (which belong down the road apparently) just entering our site. It saw Maggie and Maggie saw it. I got back inside; thankfully, Maggs had not started down the steps yet.

Spooked the heck outta me, I tell ya. The best thing for Maggie during these health episodes is to not become excited. Good luck with that here. No wonder my stomach is rumbling, too. Walking her is stressful, especially at night, as there are no lights anywhere in this park. Flashlights and spray bottle at the ready, and we double-team walking her – one walking her and one on lookout.

Yesterday evening the cat was under our rig, sat up on its haunches and grabbed onto the rig’s underbelly with its from paws/claws. We were sitting out and shooed it away.

Management here is very nice and the park is well-maintained; however, the roaming critters are enough of an annoyance and issue that we would not return here except as an overnight stop. The fact that there are no lights in the park makes it a bit more dodgy when walking Maggie. We do have good flashlights as part of our “arsenal” in security work, and we have been using them. We also leave our porch light on at night and our driver side security light on all night.

The evening is moving along, so I’ll mosey out of here for now. Be safe out there, okay?

Thanks for stopping by!

Yesterday and Today

We departed Madison, GA yesterday morning a bit after 11 AM under beautiful blue skies. What a relief!

One of a few stops today, this one at the Alabama Welcome Center

Our trip was uneventful, but we were glad to see Atlanta in our rear view mirror, even with taking the loop around the main part of the city. Interstates 85 South and 65 South were both of good quality and a pleasant drive. We traveled a total of 236.5 miles and landed at Montgomery South RV Park in Hope Hull, AL, which is just south of Montgomery.

We are in Site 1

We were not impressed upon arrival with the fact that the “campground mascot” dog (a small older dog which appears to have ear mites and a skin condition) immediately began hanging around our site, followed by a cat, then another small dog came around . . . sigh. This was while we were trying to unhitch and set up, and Maggie wasn’t even out of the truck yet. Later when we were backing the truck out to go get groceries, a tenant’s large dog was hanging around the truck; Dave had to shoo it away so we could get out of our site . . . all while the owner woman was seated at a picnic table at her site about 2 down from us. Yet another tenant’s large black-and-white dog was off-leash down the street, and this morning some dog left a “deposit” in the grass next to our rig right by our basement doors. I did mention this to the office person on duty, and he came by to clean that up.

When I casually mentioned I had never seen so many loose dogs in an RV park, the response was, “It’s Alabama.” Well. Okaaaay. That explains it? That’s a source of pride?

“Pets are welcome, although dogs must be kept on a leash at all times when outside of your RV. Pets must be walked in designated pet area and please pick-up after your pet. Pets are not to be left unattended.” This is under the park’s Rules on their web site. Be advised, however, if you stay here that this is in no manner enforced. They are adding 2 rows of additional sites here, so we are essentially in a construction zone to boot.

When we were out last night, I purchased a spray bottle for shooing critters away. Dave and I tandem walk Maggie. I think the “mascot” dog has gotten the idea about not coming over here after being sternly shooed away a few times.

Today we really considered looking for something else a bit down the road, but decided to stay here. It’s not bad enough to drag ourselves down the road and there really isn’t much around that is close to as decent as this.  I am tired and need a rest. The facilities (restrooms, laundry) are okay. There is no cable TV and no lights in the park whatsoever (so it’s pitch dark at night), but the WiFi is decent. Staff is nice and gave us a good site and good rate for our 6-night stay. Most of the current tenants are “worker bees,” but the park is quiet at night; I imagine most folks go to bed pretty early. We’ll see what it’s like on the weekend. The nearest town and grocery store is about 8 miles away and the nearest Walmart is about 25 miles, so I’ve been told. I would not stay here for an extended period simply because of the dog issue. If you do not have a dog, it’s probably not a big deal; however, if you do . . .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The dirty clothes hamper became more full than anticipated due to our longer stay in South Carolina, so today was a much needed laundry day! Thankfully, no one was using the 2 washers/2 dryers, so I availed myself of them. Yay!

Dave hopped on his fixed-gear bike and got 32 miles today, his first time back on the bike in 12 days. He had a good ride on quiet country roads with no dog issues.

Drying out the awning under sunshine!

I did a few things around here like deploying our awning to dry, putting out our solar lights, arranging a bit inside for a few days’ stay, etc. Dave kept asking if I wanted to find somewhere to get our dinner, as it is my birthday today. “No, not really . . . but thanks.”  There really isn’t much around here and I couldn’t justify the expense for fast-food burgers. Ugh. “Wait! There’s a Stuckey’s back on the corner! Let’s go there. I haven’t been to one since I was a kid and there aren’t many left. Maybe they still have pecan divinity.”  Traveling with my parents when I was a kid, we’d stop at Stuckey’s. Dad would gas up the truck, they’d get coffee and perhaps we’d get a snack, we’d use the facilities and often I’d get pecan divinity.

Just a bit of silly fun and something to do for a bit.

Birthday present from Dave.

A low-key birthday, but I’m tickled to just be safely settled someplace for a few days and to have clean laundry again. We’re just hanging out this evening. We’re well-stocked for meals, so there’s no real need to go anywhere until right before we leave Tuesday just to pick up staples like bread and milk. I’m sure Dave will get more cycling in here and I’m hoping to get some virtual assistant work done over the next few days.

And some resting and recuperating from the rainy days in South Carolina . . .

Ya’ll be safe out there, wherever you are!

Thanks for stopping by!

Landed Safely for the Night

Quick post just to say we have landed in at Montgomery South RV Park in Hope Hull, AL, which is just south of Montgomery. Uneventful trip, although we were glad to be out of the Atlanta area.

This park is okay . . . although we are not initially impressed due to the fact that there were 3 freely roaming dogs (1 which we have to chase away from our site and who appears to have ear mites and some sort of skin condition) and 1 freely roaming cat we had to shoo away. Site is really too short for a long rig, but is doable. Utilities are at the rear of the site, so one cannot pull up far enough to park one’s truck behind the rig or to line up entry steps to the concrete patio (which is large and nice). So . . . we’ll see what tomorrow brings. We’ll probably stay unless the owner/manager cannot/will not control the dogs or if this becomes a major issue. There are no lights in the park whatsoever, although we are parked right by the office and there is a porch light there.

There is cable for TV but it does not work. Internet is slow and unsecured. Cannot fathom an unsecured network in this day and age, especially since putting in place a password of some sort is a simple thing.

Owner/manager is nice and gave us a good rate but . . . one can have the nicest park in the world and freely roaming dogs and cats make it a thumbs down.

Can you believe this is in their rules here . . . “Pets are welcome, although dogs must be kept on a leash at all times when outside of your RV.”

Ya’ll be safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

And on the 14th Day . . .

the Sun Did Shine!

We awoke a bit after 8 AM this morning at the Barnyard RV Park in Lexington, SC to actual sunshine. It is difficult to express how wonderful this was after enduring 13 straight days of virtually nonstop rain, including the massive and catastrophic rain system that pummeled South Carolina this past weekend. We rolled out of the park and onto I-20 West shortly before 11:30 AM.

Our first stop was about 60 miles down the road at the Georgia state line welcome center. Yes, there was cheering as we crossed into Georgia from South Carolina.

Dig that blue sky!

We munched Pringles (our road trip snack of choice) merrily along until Exit 114, and stopped at the Pilot across the interstate to fuel up for tomorrow’s leg of our journey. Back out on US 129/US 441, we crossed I-20 and cruised down a couple of miles to Country Boys RV Park. This is our third stay here. The park really isn’t much to look at, but it is quite decent for an overnight stay with WiFi that works, cable, good utilities and decent gravel sites. Most of the park is filled with long-term workers, but everyone is friendly and we stop now and then to visit for a bit when we take our strolls around the site loop. We talked quite a while with a young man who is a traveling nurse. I would certainly recommend this as an overnight stay.

Letting our awning dry out a bit here at Country Boys RV Park

If you’ve been watching any coverage of the situation in South Carolina, you’ve heard about dams failing and/or breaching. These have been earthen dams in the area; however, we were never in the path of potential danger from these.

Lake Murray was not too far north from our location in Lexington. The Saluda Dam (or Dreher Shoals Dam) is a large dam that is located there. Lake Murray had reached capacity and the dam floodgates were opened at least twice during our stay. This had not happened since 1969, except for testing purposes. South Carolina Emergency Management Division periodically posted reassurances on Facebook that the Lake Murray dam was in no danger of failure, and I certainly did appreciate that. If that dam would fail . . . well . . . we would have been done. Quickly. Period. Truth be told, I feel just flat better being away from there.

Here we have cows lowing in the field next door. Cows have groovy energy.

We traveled 152.9 miles today without incident or discomfort, for which I am very grateful. Tomorrow we’ll be making our way down to Hope Hull, AL, just outside Montgomery, where we will lay over for 6 nights.

Hopefully that stay will be the relaxing time we envisioned for Lexington. Although we were never in immediate danger, the conditions were absolutely uncertain and we never could really let down our guard. I’m looking forward to doing laundry, working my virtual assistant job and transitioning from disaster preparedness mode to enjoying-the-road-trip mode.

Thanks again, everyone, for your continued support and good vibes as we journey along!

Ya’ll stay safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hopefully . . .

We are hitched up and hoping to make our departure from here tomorrow. I don’t think there are any current issues on I-20 West, but I’ll check in the morning before we head out.

We really could have left today, but there was still some rain and a good amount of wind; we also thought there might be a fair amount of traffic craziness on the highways, so we thought we’d give it another day for everything to settle down a bit. We didn’t have to leave, so we didn’t!

We did have rain off and on today, but nothing nearly as heavy as over the past 36 or so hours. In fact, we were able to get in a few walks, including one that was entirely rain-free just a bit ago.

Four rigs, including ours, are parked – 2 on each side of the street across from one another – up here on this end of the street. All couples were out this morning standing around for a lively visit for a while. I can say that is the one thing that has been a plus in this experience . . . the people we have met here.

We’ve had not only RV’ing in common, but being here through this together. All four couples of us are planning our “getaway” tomorrow, some headed east, some north and 2 of us west.

I’ll also say that Tina (the manager here) has been very helpful and accommodating in extending our stay day by day.  She was absolutely swamped (no pun intended, but there it is) with phone calls and rigs swarming in during the peak of the event.  There were absolutely no flooding issues here and no problems with the utilities. This is a sound park and a good choice for overnight or long-term.

We did venture out earlier today for a couple of things from the convenience store just on the corner. No bread to be found, of course. We’ll pick up some along the way after we leave here.

Columbia has been hit extremely hard. Just talked with a guy in a crew that came in today; they’ll be doing construction/restoration work and I know they’ll be busy for a long time. He said it is absolutely catastrophic – roads gone, buildings flooded, inability to even get into some neighborhoods, National Guard out . . .

We have been extremely fortunate here and for that we are so very grateful.

Except for the torrential rains the past several days and the television coverage, you would not even know all this was unfolding just from being here in the park. Today was the first day we ventured out of the park since (I think) Saturday (or perhaps it was Friday) morning, when I went to fuel up the truck.

Well, short post tonight just to say we are alive and well, high and dry. Tomorrow is advertised as sunny with a high in the mid 70s. That will be absolutely delightful if it happens.

Today was day 13 of rain for us, as we were experiencing it before we left the work site prior to coming here. Day 13. Sheesh.

C’mon Mr. Sun!

Ya’ll be safe out there!

Thanks for stopping by!

It Doesn’t Even Have a Name

This massive rainstorm doesn’t even have a name, although it is certainly worthy of one. I imagine you have heard about the devastating rain event occurring here in South Carolina. We are in Lexington, which is probably a bit under 10 miles west of Columbia, one of the hardest hit areas. We have been very fortunate so far with no flooding issues whatsoever. Turns out our neighbors across the street used to live in Lexington for several years, so they are quite familiar with the surrounding areas. It was great to get some information about what to expect (or not) here and so forth. We exchanged phone numbers this morning and both turned off city water in case of contamination and disconnected sewer hoses from the ground connection in case the sewer system backed up.

Later today, Columbia was advising residents to boil their water. Lexington has not issued such an advisory so far, but better to protect our rig than be sorry later.

This is what we had for about 10 minutes this afternoon, including a wee showing of sunshine. We started on a walk, as did several others in the park, but the rains came on again, so we headed home. That’s us up front on the left.

Yes, Susan (Travel Bug), I have the AccuWeather app, along with The Weather Channel, WunderMap, FloodWatch (USGS service), iDamage, NOAA Radar, Weather Alerts, the Red Cross, FEMA and a Police Scanner app among others on my iPhone. Conditions on the site in New Jersey necessitated that we be in touch and aware of weather and our environment up there, as we were subject to severe conditions such as Nor’Easters and were parked by a river. Thanks for your suggestion!

Dave went to bed last night a bit before midnight, but I was too wired to sleep and wanted to be up to monitor what was happening since we are in an unfamiliar location. I tell ya, the rains were absolutely torrential. Epic. Biblical. My phone kept sounding with alarms. At about 4 AM this morning, I felt confident enough that flooding was not going to be an immediate issue and I was able to get about 4 hours of snooze time in my recliner with Maggie snuggled on my lap.

There were lights on in quite a few of our neighbors, so I wasn’t the only one keeping vigil.

The rain has eased up today but has been fairly steady, and it has been a bit breezy. Our forecast is calling for possibly 1-2 additional inches through Monday. We have decided to stay Monday night and continue our journey westward on Tuesday, which is looking pretty good at this point.

Amazingly, this morning quite a few rigs pulled out during heavy downpours, hoping for better conditions elsewhere. We watched them leave, hoping they would be safe. Advisories were being issued for people to stay off the roads even this morning. I hope these RVers did not run into any issues on the roads. We know some sections of I-20, I-95 and I-77 (I think that’s the one) have been closed due to flooding. There are numerous secondary roads that are flooded and washed out.

We’re just more comfortable with waiting until conditions improve a bit more and we feel it is safer to travel.

I talked with our destinations in Madison, GA (Tuesday’s stop) and Montgomery, AL to change our reservations yet once again. The park in Madison has not flooded; they did not get the rain that we have seen.

The rest of today has been just hanging out and watching The Weather Channel coverage of the events unfolding here in South Carolina.  Since we travel well stocked with groceries, it was homemade quesadillas for dinner tonight. Comfort food!

We so appreciate the messages here and on Facebook and the phone calls I’ve received today from everyone checking up on us. Ya’ll rock! It’s so nice to know so many people are thinking of us and helping keep us safe.

I hope this has made sense. I’m pretty tired tonight. I’ll have shower in a bit and then I am going to actually go to bed tonight. I bet I sleep!

Stay safe out there, okay?

Thanks for stopping by!