The Last Chapter

Yes, this is the last chapter.  It’s a sad one.  Grumpy requested that I not tell many people of his health issues.  He had a small stroke in July, got pneumonia a few times from not being able to swallow properly from the stroke, and he just became weaker and weaker over the next few months.  He had test after test done and saw several doctors in Michigan and in Texas.  When we arrived in Texas, he was so very weak, and the next day, he was admitted to the hospital and then was transferred to a rehab unit.  I visited him every day while I was working at the RV park as the activities director. 

At the rehab unit

He seemed to be doing better with rehab, was in good spirits, and after two weeks he came home.  I did not find out until later that he came home against recommendations.  He was still very weak, and being in a motorhome made things more difficult for him.  He was home for two nights before I found another rehab unit for him to go back to. 

 However, when it came time for him to go to the new rehab unit, he was so weak he needed help getting out of the motorhome and into the car.  It took three men to carry him down the stairs.  He was in respiratory distress and ended up in the emergency room where, after about five minutes, I realized they were working to just save his life at that point.  He had a pseudomonas sepsis infection in his blood and he could just not fight it.  There was more going on in his body than just the stroke, but the doctors never had time to figure out what it was. 

 Grumpy passed away the following afternoon, November 23^rd, 2019.  I soothed him as much as I could until he took his last breath.  After all of his suffering, I know that he is finally resting peacefully.  His last few months had been quite miserable for him. 

 

I told him to give me a sign when he was ready to go.

We had a celebration of life for Grumpy a few weeks later in the Dallas area.  An old neighbor took us out on his boat so that we could place his ashes in the lake in front of the house where he spent so much of his life. We all wore one of his bright shirts in his honor.

 

What would Grumpy do?

Saying goodbye on Cedar Creek Lake

Steve, I miss you every day and I always will.  You have been in my heart since the day I met you in Orange, California, in 1979.  I remember sitting across from you at Charlie Brown’s after work, and your smile when our eyes met.  You came to the mailroom at Thermco the following morning where I was sorting mail and bought just one stamp from me – and then asked me out.   You were a wonderful man and you have touched many lives.

Healthy and happy Grumpy

Sweet Grumpy

A California Wedding!

Grumpy and I spent the first week of October in North Texas relaxing after the busy summer job, visiting family, and going to doctor appointments.  We dropped off our motorhome for repairs just outside of Dallas and then began our three-day trek in the car to California for a very special wedding!

The drive was pretty much uneventful – there’s a whole lot of nothing between Texas and California! -- but I did talk Grumpy into stopping to see The Thing.  If you’ve driven that route, you have seen the signs for The Thing!  Out in the middle of nowhere.  But I have to say, for being kind of corny, it was actually a nice attraction.  Do it! 

The Sign!

Better than Roswell

In California, Grumpy drove the little car up the Ortega Highway.  It is a super curvy road up and down a mountainside.  Scary!  I drove up and down after that and decided that driving myself was less stressful than sitting in the passenger’s seat and looking down.  Some dear friends offered to let us stay at their beautiful home at the top of that mountain, overlooking the valley.  They were not home so we had the place to ourselves.  The relaxation and down time was much needed and much appreciated! 

 

Lake Elsinore

The beautiful view from the house

The big event was the wedding of my beautiful daughter to her handsome groom.   I had the pleasure of driving the party bus for the bachelorette party to a few wineries in Temecula.  Fun day with some beautiful young women!  The wedding was amazing and the bride and groom shined with love.

The bride and bridesmaids

Bride and Groom!  Natalie and Carlos Fajardo

Grumpy, Bitchy, Natalie, and Carlos

Two days later, Grumpy and I had to leave California for our next job in Mission, Texas, very far south and right on the border of Mexico.  While it was sad to have to leave, we were looking forward to our next job and adventure.

Summer in Michigan

Our summer campground job as Activities Directors was fun, sometimes hard work, and sometimes frustrating, but overall we had a good time and met some great people.  We hosted pancake breakfasts, Bingo once a week, and weekend dances and karaoke parties.  We ran activities and games for both kids and adults, and they were all fun.  The horse races were a crazy time because the horses (wooden) only move if everyone screams and yells!  

Fishin' on the lake

 

Dancing!

Saturday night horse racing

Beautiful sunset every night

Bitchy and Grumpy!

I have to admit, though, that my favorite activity was riding on the hay wagon!

Stocking the pond was a kid favorite.  The kids had a ball "helping" the fish into the lake!

One of the more special events was Christmas in July!  The campground had a contest for the best decorated site – and Santa came!

Santa!

Christmas cookies

Another favorite was Halloween!  The costume contest was a blast and the dance music was frightful!  Of course, trick or treating topped that list!

Bobbing for apples, of course!

Bitchy, the Paperdoll

Smarty Pants

Toward the end of summer, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a potluck.  It was a fun day spent with good friends made throughout the summer.  And the food!

The only picture I got of Thanksgiving was the rug that someone threw in a huff and I decorated it.

Aside from work, we did take some time to see parts of Michigan.  Another couple took some of us workers to hunt for Petoskey stones.  Great day!  And so interesting.  These stones are only found at a certain place in Lake Michigan.  Years ago, the lake had dried up in this area and the coral fossilized.  So we took our buckets and dug for stones.  There were also a lot of stones with fish fossils.  We are so glad we got to do this!

The rock hunters getting ready to get wet.

Lake Michigan

Example of the coral and Petoskey rocks (not my pictures)

From there we drove up toward Mackinac Island and took the ferry across in the fog.  NO cars are allowed on Mackinac Island.  It was absolutely beautiful! 

The Grand Hotel, where Somewhere In Time was filmed (swoon).

It seems wherever Grumpy and I go, we have old friends to visit!  I was so happy to get to spend some time with Carleen and even got to attend her lovely wedding to her sweetheart, Joe!

Carleen and Bitchy

My pieces of wedding cake just waiting til we got home.

We got to spend some time at a cottage on Wolf Lake with my new best girlfriend, Georgia, and her sweet husband, Jon.  It was a nice getaway, and we had a great time visiting and being out on the lake.  Later in the summer, my sister and her husband came to visit, and we all spent a few more days at the cottage.  We appreciate your hospitality!

Wolf Lake in the morning.

We made some great friends this summer, both other workampers and regular campers.  As summer came to an end, I felt like a kid at camp, not looking forward to saying goodbye to our new friends.  We will see most of them on Facebook but I will still miss them.  Good times at morning coffee, Bingo, sharing quilting stuff, and don’t ever forget Margaritaville!

Bitchy, Leslee, and Danny

Some of the summer crew -- it was hard to get everyone together at one time!

And as our luck goes, just ten minutes before we drove away, we could not get one of our slide-outs in all the way.  Since it was Saturday, we could not find anyone to repair it for us.  Thankfully, a few of the guys came by and pushed the slide-out in, then C-clamped it so it wouldn’t slide out on the freeway!  A huge thank-you again to Ken and Gordie for your help!!

We are now in Texas, getting ready to move on again, still trying to get the slide-out fixed, but we’re working it out.  Next stop is California for my daughter’s wedding!!  Woohoo!  And then our next job will be in Mission, Texas, starting on November 2nd. See you there!

April 2019, Big Foot, Moonshine, Turkeys, and more!

Our winter job came to an end, but before we left Oklahoma, we made a quick day trip to Branson, MO.  We did not see any shows but we did do the Big Foot Experience!  It was fun and scary and funny and cheesy, all at the same time, and worth every penny!!  Unfortunately, we did not spot Big Foot.  Afterwards, we did some wine and moonshine tasting, of course.

Before we searched for Big Foot, we got to feed these beauties - Scottish Highland cattle.

That face!

This is a trap that was set up to catch Big Foot.

It was kind of sad packing up to leave Oklahoma.  We made some good friends and got to spend time with some long-time friends, who will all be missed.  Mother Nature had to give us one last kick in the pants before we left.  That last morning, it was 32 degrees outside! 

Our first stop from there was a Harvest Host at Pecan Creek Winery in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  We parked our motorhome outside the tasting room, tasted some delicious wine, and stayed the night.  Seriously good wine!  Next stop was another Harvest Host location at Lenoir Sage Winery in Bells, Texas.  Tasted and drank some more good wine and stayed the night next to a beautiful meadow. 

We stayed about a week in the Dallas area on a lake, and got to spend time with family and friends.  One of the highlights there was the four turkeys that strutted by every morning! 

Angus came to visit Grumpy!

Turned out, we were on Turkey Loop Road.  These guys were strutting proud!

Before we left on our “vacation,” we had to take care of some paperwork for the car we bought in September 2018.  We never got our plates or tags because the dealership was doing some funny business and never processed it.  We ended up driving all over Texas to get everything done and had to apply for a bonded title.  When we finally were handed our plates, we happily took off and headed east!

We had plans to spend a few days in New Orleans and a few days in the Florida Keys, but everything had to be canceled because of the car paperwork mess.  But in the end, we did get to spend two nights in New Orleans and they were even having a French Quarter Festival!  Interesting!  We still headed towards The Keys, had to cancel again, and then made plans to just go to Central Florida.  Nope. 

Grumpy got his hand slammed in the car door.  Bitchy had a Hurricane!

Two miles down the road from our first stopover in Florida, the engine shut down and we had to be towed to a place that repairs big rigs and large RVs.  Luckily, they have parking for pitiful people like us so we were able to sleep in our RV in their parking lot for three nights while they ordered parts and fixed us.  Did I mention the tornado watch?  Ha

Towed by a giant tow truck to Freightliner Service Center where we stayed for three nights.

Destin, Florida, beach.  No sunscreen so we did not stay long.  Beautiful!

And then we’d had enough and we started our drive towards Michigan for our summer job.  Beautiful drive but it was windy – and scary!  Bitchy was stressed and not happy!  We stayed in Shipshewana, Indiana – Amish country – for several nights.  We rested and shopped and ate, toured the RV Museum, and then headed to Michigan.  Our last overnight stop was at an apple orchard where they had...... wine tasting! 

Amish country in Indiana

Exciting!

Next stop – Lakeside Camp Park for our summer Workamping job!  We checked in and were led to our site.  Our motorhome started sinking from all the rain!  We are mostly in our spot and off the road, where we’ll have to stay until the ground dries up.  Meanwhile, we met our boss and other coworkers and are very happy!  It’s going to be a great summer!

Our summer home

Mud!

Our view of.... the freeway!

We are already applying to Workamping jobs for next winter.  Where will we end up?!