The Great Outdoors RV Resort
I-95 Exit 215
Titusville, FL
GPS: 28.550355, -80.861438
For the past week, while I was laying in the hospital, Michelle has been dealing with the medical buracracy, keeping friends and family informed, sitting in my hospital room for hours (boring!!), and freezing her butt sleeping in our rig in the parking lot at night. Knowing how much cold weather bothers her, I am grateful for her willingness to endure the situation and be there for me. Thank you Michelle.
This morning all my vital signs and blood work were finally good so I was released from the hospital about 11:30AM. Michelle and I walked out to the rig parked in Lot F. The Cougar was a sight for sore eyes. Although the walk was short I felt it. I was pretty shaky when we reached the rig. We hooked up the power cord between the Cougar and the truck, did our light check, and said goodbye to Southeast Georgia Health System -- Brunswick Campus.
Today's travel -- 207 miles
I didn't have much of an appetite so there were no big meals in today's travel plans. My concern was my newly rearranged insides bouncing around in the truck. That turned out not to be a problem.
Michelle had kept in touch with our friends Nelson and Carole Hommel through all of this. They were anticipating our arrival and had arranged for a neighbor who is experienced in parking Fifth Wheels to be available to park our rig. That was very thoughtful and I appreciate it.
We were looking forward to an uneventful drive today but life had other plans. About sixty miles out from Titusville, we had a blowout on the right rear tire of the Cougar. I saw it happen in the side mirror and of course we both heard it. What a bang! Fortunately we were on a clear stretch of road with a wide shoulder and were able to pull off immediately. What a mess.
A blowout is never damage free
Our Good Sam Emergency Roadside Assistance Policy came to the rescue. They found help for us quickly and soon a repair truck arrived and changed out the flat tire.
People complain when things go bad and stay silent when they go well. I must pause to give special praise and thanks to Brett Barrett of Barrett's Roadside Assistance, the man who provided the roadside assistance. I don't know how long it took Good Sam to reach him but he arrived in reasonable time. He had all the necessary tools, surveyed the situation quickly, then changed out the wheel. All the time being polite and pleasant. To me that was especially gratifying after our adventure that preceeded this event. I'm going to recommend him to Nick Russell to include in his directory of RV Good Guys.
The whole process took about two hours. Not bad. We were moving again and finished the trip without further incident. We got to The Great Outdoors RV Resort in Titusville, FL just about 6PM.
Carole, Nelson, and their neighbor were waiting for us at our site and we quickly got backed in and leveled before dark. This trip is done.
My thanks to all those fellow Americans along the way who were there for us when we needed help.
6505 Bagdad Rd
Fayetteville, NC
34.98326, -79.036070
Glynn Place Mall
219 Mall Blvd
Brunswick, GA 31525
31.218683, -81.491561
Southeast Georgia Health System -- Brunswick Campus
2415 Parkwood Drive
Brunswick, GA 31520
31.175633, -81.486428
Yesterday we had a nice visit with Tricia, Tony, and Ava. We haven't seen them since July when Tricia and Ava joined us in Ohio to help pack up the house. It seems like every time we see Ava she has grown another six inches. It is scary when you stop to realize that we are growing older at the same rate the kids are growing up. We caught up on all her school activities and her preparations for this winter's performance of the Nutcracker.
Tony leaves for work at zero dark thirty so we didn't see him this morning but we got Tricia and Ava off to work and school and then put ourselves on the road about 8:30AM. Today's travel simply continued south on I–95 and our goal for today was to at least reach Savannah, GA before stopping for the night at a Hotel Walmart. That is about 250 miles and half way to our destination in Titusville, FL. If we get there early, we'll press on further.
Today's travel -- 325 miles
We left Tricia's with our coffee mugs full and stopped for gas and breakfast about 10AM. On travel days, we usually do breakfast late then a very late lunch/early dinner. Today was no exception; I had a delicious Meat Lovers Omelet. So far it was a good day to be living the RV lifestyle; good weather, easy travel, heading south for our winter digs in Florida. What more could one ask?
A couple hours after breakfast, I started experiencing some "gastro–intestinal distress". I assumed it was the omelet getting back at me and the pain would pass. The pain didn't move and it intensified.
We reached Savannah early in the afternoon and decided to press on further. I was feeling lousy but stopping wouldn't improve that so we kept rolling.
About 3PM we approached Brunswick, GA. My pain was pretty intense and I was having trouble breathing. This was definitely not the omelet. We got off the highway and I used the Walmart app on my phone to locate their nearest store. It was nearby but this area is a "no sign" area and shopping centers are hidden behind bushes and trees. We drove around a bit unsuccessfully and finally pulled into the first shopping center parking lot we could see. Michelle called 911 and reported me as having a heart attack. I had no problem with that report since I didn't have any better idea what was happening. We didn't know where we were. All we could say was "We are in a shopping center parking lot behind JC Penney". I used my hand–held GPS receiver to mark our coordinates. When Michelle tried to give the coordinates to the 911 operator, they said they didn't need them they had our location. I don't know if they got the location from our phone or from the JC Penney comment. In just a few minutes, an ambulance arrived. Good thing. By then my pain was really bad and I was having serious problems breathing.
Glynn Place Mall
Off to the hospital in an ambulance for the second time on this trip. My turn to be in back and Michelle to be up front.
I don't remember much about the next few hours but the end result was that I was admitted to the hospital, I had a gall bladder attack not a heart attack, and I was scheduled for surgery tomorrow. "Acute cholecystitis; Choledocholithiasis with obstruction" was the diagnosis. I cannot pronounce it or even spell it. I copied this from an information sheet they gave me after the fact. Anything that hard to spell and pronounce should hurt really bad and it did.
Southeast Georgia Health System -- Brunswick Campus
What about our rig? While I was being poked, prodded, and drugged, Michelle contacted hospital security to inquire about parking our rig in the hospital parking lot. They were very accommodating. They assured us that we could park but were quite emphatic that we should park in Lot F. After I was settled in, Michelle took a cab back to the rig and moved it to the hospital. While trying to find Lot F, she encountered a different security person who emphatically directed her to Lot R. That would cause a problem later.
Now I'm going to preach. Almost all of our RVing friends are couples. In too many cases, the wife cannot and will not drive the rig. "Hubby does all the driving" is the standard smiling response. "What happens when hubby has a heart attack?" never produces a satisfactory answer. This is especially disheartening when you consider that a large percentage of RVing couples are seniors. My admonition to all RVing couples is that both parties must be able to drive and maneuver the rig – no excuses; no exceptions. That is as much a part of RVing safety as checking your tires and brakes. I am proud of the fact that Michelle and I both can drive our rig. Sometimes she lets me.
Our rig
6505 Bagdad Rd
Fayetteville, NC
GPS: 34.98326, -79.036070
Yesterday (Sunday, 26 Oct) we stayed in the Baltimore area and spent the afternoon visiting with Jean and Mary Morais. We got to see their apartment then went to The Mall in Columbia where Mary works at the Hallmark Gift Shop. We had a nice lunch at Maggiano's Little Italy, then Michelle and Jean shopped for a bit. We spent a couple hours back at Jean's apartment catching up on our lives, then returned to the hotel for a quiet evening anticipating our travel on Monday.
Today's weather was beautiful and our goal was to reach Tricia's house in Fayetteville, NC – a trip of 362 miles. First we had to get back to the Naval Support Facility at the Naval Academy to pick up the Cougar. The folks at the marina were fascinated with our story of being full–time RVers. We thanked them for their hospitality and hitched up the Cougar and got underway.
The primary north/south route along the eastern seaboard of the US is I–95. Before the interstate highway system came into being, this role was filled by US Routes 1 and 301. Today my goal was to get onto I–95, but from Annapolis the shortest distance would put me on I–95 north of Washington DC and we would be pulling the Cougar through DC on the infamous beltway. Using US–301 would let me connect with I–95 south of Washington DC and north of Richmond, VA. I opted for that choice. US–301 is an old highway so it goes through every town as a surface street, obviously slower that I–95. I was OK with that. The weather was beautiful and getting to see some towns and farms was a pleasant relief. We had a substantial number of miles to cover but it was not unreasonable.
Today's route – 362 miles
Of course we had to cross the Potomac River. I knew that and gave it no extra consideration. When we reached the bridge I got two big surprises. First, the Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge is very high and very narrow–one lane each way. Second, the toll for our rig was $19–CASH ONLY. A sign for the toll charges gave the rate for passenger cars only and nothing about cash only. We got this surprise at the toll booth. Single lane, cars behind us, no room to turn around, and between us only $13 in cash. The lady in the toll booth told us to drive on through and the camera would take a picture of our license plate and we would get a bill in the mail. We did, the alarm went off, and we continued on our way. We'll see what happens with the bill.
Gov Harry Nice Memorial Bridge
The rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived at Tricia's house about 6PM.
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, MD 21402
GPS: 38.982070, -76.483983
This is a special place for us.
U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD
What makes it special, begins on a day in late June ...
Initiation Day
... and ends four years later on a day in May. For us it was May 26, 1999.
Graduation
Those "Four Years by the Bay" are a grueling physical and mental building experience for the midshipmen, not to be appreciated for some period of years after. But they are four years of interesting, fun experiences for the parents. We parents have a different set of memories of those years.
The class of '99 had the big reunion tent at the stadium for today and that was the scene of the action all day. Adam, Amy, and the boys left the hotel before us and went to the reunion tent for pre–game activities.
Michelle and I went later to the stadium. We haven't been there since graduation day fifteen years ago.
Navy - Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
I'm not an expert on football stadiums, so I won't throw out statistics to try to prove this is the biggest and best stadium ever built; it's not. But today, just like every other time I've entered this place, I got a lump in my throat as I read the names of the places where so much bravery was shown and so much blood was spilled for this country. No other stadium can do that.
Thank you for your service
It was a beautiful day for football and there was a football game but few paid attention. Navy beat San Jose State 41-31.
The boys in their Navy logo gear and
Grandma in her sling
We joined up at the reunion tent after the football game but we were 5th wheels at the party. The handsome young ladies and gentlemen who had thrown their caps in the air fifteen years ago are now middle–aged folks dragging a string of kids behind them. They were intent on trading life stories and not paying attention to us aging parents. Our job was to corral the kids and we were happy to do that.
Classmates and friends for life
Dan, Adam, Brian
The next generation
Ben, Ella, Joshua, Andrew
This evening we changed hotels; relocating close to Baltimore-Washington International Airport in preparation for the morning departure for Denver. This adventure is about over.
