A Week in the Life of a Former RVer

I hesitate to hear myself say, “...as a former RVer” because in my heart I still consider myself an RVer. 12-13 years of thinking seriously about it and living it will do that to you 🙂.  Even if you don’t have an RV.  It’s fun to look at pictures and try to figure out where we were when...

Henry’s Lake in Idaho - 2 hours west of Yellowstone

The fact is though, we left the road 16 months ago.  Hard to believe!  So much has happened.  But then, we are living in a time where the speed of life has quickened.  We were warned this would happen as we got older.

I don’t mean the speed with which we rush through life, it just seems that time is flying by.

Pam and I are well and content with our post-RV lives.  Our days are full and we get to be around good neighbors and our daughter and son-in-law and get to hone our grandma and grandpa skills.  Its one of life’s greatest joys.

So this is what our weeks kind of look like.  Each is a little different but in these Corona Virus days we have a tempo and steadiness centered around our home.  We do a lot of projects.  I enjoy mowing our front yard and large back yard twice a week.  Its good exercise and I like being out in the sun.  I have a science project going in the front yard called rooting out the weeds and getting more grass to grow.  Its coming along.

We’ve planted lots of flowers.  I mean lots. Besides two flower beds in the front, we have a couple of small ones at each corner of our front yard.

We also were given some flowers we from friends that survived the transplant and we made another flower bed along the side of the house.

The deck has hanging baskets and flower pots of petunias, marigolds, and geraniums. We have some more flowers along the fence from Tennessee that may or may not make it.  Finally, we two other flower beds with day lillies and roses.

Then there is Pam’s garden.

There are probably twenty different plants in the ground.  We have harvested plenty of onions and radishes and the broccoli is looking pretty good as is the squash.  Peppers, egg plant, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, jalapeños, and sweet peas fill out the rest of our patch.  It will be fun to see how much makes it to harvest.

We spent a lot of time weeding, hoeing and watering the garden, but we enjoy it.

Then I have a few projects in the woodshed that keep popping up.  My latest is a little cabinet the boys wanted to be turned into an outdoor oven for them.

We see the boys every other day at least and that is why we are here -- for them.  Its about the best reason we can think of to leave the road and we are not sorry we are now doing this.  As much as we liked full-timing, this is a great post-RVing gig!

We keep track of doctors appointments and are fine.  It was about four years ago that I almost lost my left eye with a retina detachment but it has healed well and I have 20/25 vision in that eye and 20/20 in my right (with my glasses.)

We take the vehicles in for maintenance, get materials for projects, check out new home renovation projects that Kelly and Jon are working on.  It’s great fun to seen them turn a place around that needs updating and make it look really nice for re-sale.

Last week went to church a couple times (one for Bible studying the fellowship hall and the other time for Sunday service). Our small church went to two services and we had about 25 people at the service we attended.  Nothing like it used to be, but it was great to see people in person again.

I read that long time RVing friends John and Carol have bought a house in Indiana and are looking forward to their next chapter after 10 years on the road.  They’ll continue tours with Fantasy RV Tours and keeping their RV.  I’m excited for them and know they will enjoy their spacious house!

We continue we some upgrades on our place and are having a gas fireplace and logs put in.  Pam has been doing some stitching/sewing craft ornaments for Christmas and I have been working my way through Chesapeake by James Michener, one of my favorite authors.  Now that we live in the area, it makes reading it more meaningful.

Pam usually goes on a daily walk at one of our nice parks in the area if she gets there early enough and its not too crowded.  We have ventured out for lunch and dinner a few times to support some local restuarants and enjoy that.

We took a trip to Tennessee a week ago and saw Pam’s sister Joan.  She was diagnosed with ALS a couple of months ago.  She’s now in a wheel chair but is doing pretty well and the disease noticeably is taking its toll.

While there we learned Joan and Mike had their 50th wedding anniversary so we had a little celebration in their back yard with their daughter and family, and Joan/Pam’s sister and husband who life in the Knoxville area.




Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending our first ever graduation.  After a couple of long years, son Adam finished course work and was awarded a Master of Science degree in Computer Science.

That’s about it and some of the things we are involved with in our new life as the weeks go by.  We love hearing from you and a day doesn’t go by that we don’t think about our RV friends and the RV life.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Book Sales and Brook's debut on TV at the Legos Display

The book is doing well.  Thank you so much for the great response!  It has been fun!

Over the course of deciding to give it a go and actually seeing it to completion, my main thought was, “Writing this book is a hobby -- let's not get too complicated.  Let’s see if we can actually get across the finish line.”

Having said that -- my goals are changing a little bit and you can help!
Its never too late to post a 5 star review on Amazon about the Wonder of RV Living! 😳
If you are inclined to do so, that would be great!!

Meanwhile, we are climbing up the ranks on the Amazon Bestseller List:

I didn’t really know what to look at but this is a quick snapshot.  I am pretty sure we were at 432,000 in Books, so we are climbing up the list!
Also - if you are considering writing a book, I highly recommend it.  It has been fun!  It took a long time but I find the whole process intriguing.

It reminds me of an earlier hobby I had -- making custom to fit golf clubs.

Back in the 1990’s I caught the bug and started putting them together and was shipping sets of clubs to England, Hawaii, California, Tennessee, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado.  It was a learning process too, and I loved the mystery of it all.  I learned about suppliers and marketing and a whole host of other things.

This book-writing reminds me of that in many ways.  Apparently one has to have a marketing plan with a Book Launch to propel sales at the start.  Maybe we’ll do that for Vol 2 "Full-timing-Our First 7 Months on the Road.’  I’m looking for a Spring release on that one.  Stay tuned.
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Now on to other fun stuff.  The boys have had a couple of up and down weeks.  Mostly up but with the winter season, there have been some colds and worse.  First the fun stuff.

The weather here in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area has been pretty mild.  It has had some 70+ degree days and now there is snow in the forecast.  Early last week the boys and Kelly, Pam and I went to the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk to see the Legos displays.

 The boys came well-prepared with their scooters to zip around the walkways.  After a few hundred yards, we came upon the 12 displays that were impressive.  Each display depicted gardening or animals and birds that one would find at he gardens.

 I really liked the fact that it also had information on how many Legos it took for the display and how many hours it took to build it.

 The boys accommodated the photographer from time to time.

 Near the end we saw the hummingbird and then went to another display.

While there, a videographer from a local TV station asked if they could film Brooks.  Just like that, he was added to the list of kids at the gardens who got to say a few words.

Brooks had a few words to start off the clip. There is a brief look at Pam and Kelly and Harry and Brooks walking.  Have to be quick to see it.

The last couple of weeks have flown by!  Hope you and yours are well and if you haven’t taken a look you can check out the book on Amazon here.

Thanks for joining us on this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Quick Update on Pam

We got some great news a few minutes ago I wanted to pass along.  Pam completed radiation on Friday and we just got a call from the doctor’s office that she doesn’t need to do chemo!

So that means we are done!

That is about the best Christmas present we could have!  Thanks be to God!  He is sovereign and we give Him thanks!  And thank you all for your prayers and concern.

I have trouble remembering what happened when so I jotted down a summary of the last 8 weeks: 

October 

• 18  - Mammogram
• 23 - Ultra Sound
• 28 - Biopsy

November

• 1 - Met with Biopsy Doctor and Nurse Navigator discuss results and plan
• 6 - Met with breast surgeon (Dr Reed) - identified as Stage 1
• 7 - Genetic Testing to determine if close relatives at risk (they are not)
• 13 - Breast Cancer Support Group Meeting (discuss surgery and aftercare
• 14 - MRI
• 18 - Surgery (lumpectomy)
• 25 - Follow-up with Dr. Reed
• 29 - Radiation appointment with Dr. Williams

December

• 4 - Met with Dr. Reed to insert internal radiation device (catheter into her breast) 
• 5 - Met with Dr. Williams/ MRI
• 9 to 13 (Mon-Fri) - 8:30 am and 2:30 pm; radiation treatments 2 x a day
• 13 - Remove catheter after last treatment
• 19 - Follow-up with Dr. Reed/remove stitches from where the catheter was.

BTW - the catheter was quite an interesting device.  Friday after we were done, we talked with the nurse (Janette) who was in on every radiation treatment.  She answered all of Pam’s questions each day and showed us what the device looked like that had been in Pam’s right breast for the last 10 days.

Janette said the one she showed us was a little bigger than what was inside Pam, but not much bigger.

As I said -- this whole encounter has been very smooth and Pam has had very little side effects.  It just all went exceptionally well.  

It gives me an extra sense of gratefulness.  I know our experience is far different than those who have life-threatening (or worse) situations.  Thank you once again for your prayers.

Thanks for checking in today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

It That Time of the Year!

Seems as if the time has flown by and here we are almost in the middle of December.  Hope you and yours are warm and enjoying life.

Thanksgiving seemed like a blur.  It came and went very quickly.  We celebrated with Kelly and Jon and the boys. Jon cooked 3 turkeys (not all for the same meal) and they turned out great.

Jon’s parents were able to drive up from Georgia the day after Thanksgiving so we had another turkey then.

The next week we had appointments and did some decorating.

Friday night we got into the spirit and drove downtown Norfolk to the Roper Performing Arts Center.  We were treated with a great concert entitled “Across the Ages - A Celtic Christmas”.  It featured two Scottish performers and a local group of singers called “The King’s Choir”.

Shona Donaldson and Paul Anderson

 Donna Thomas leading the King’s Choir

We’ve also been able to tackle a couple of projects we’ve been meaning to get to.  The first one was in my office.  It only has dual prong electrical outlets so Pam and I installed a GFCI outlet and put a three prong in another outlet in the office.  It was not a big deal except I had never done it.

This is right up Pam’s alley, so she showed me how do it and life is better and I have lamps and printers and such much better organized.

The other one was a storm door in front of the house. We wanted to do it earlier, but ran into some complications after the renovations were done on the house.  Apparently the opening for our front door measured out to where it is not the standard 36" x 80”.  That means a custom door is necessary which is almost double the price of a regular door.  Hmmm.  That didn’t sound too good.

We already knew we were going to get the door from Home Depot so we talked with them about installation.  We figured that if something doesn’t work out, they would make it right.  Another plus was that it would be done by professionals and not by a guy who knows enough just to be dangerous...🙂.

The Home Depot guy said the door opening may be different because it was “wrapped’ with aluminum siding.  I removed the wrap and we had it  re-measured.  Sure enough, a standard sized door fit fine.

Today was the install day and we are happy with it.

Finished product.

The kids and grandkids are on the beach headed south for some beach time.

The boys having fun in a pile of leaves at home.

The boys enjoying warmer weather in Florida for a few days.

I’m very happy to report Pam’s internal radiation treatments are going well and she should be done by the end of the week!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  

Pam Update - Going Well

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and some time off with friends and family.  We had a nice feast at Kelly and Jon’s with the boys a couple of days ago.

Now an update on Pam.  We’ve been to appointments since Pam’s surgery on November 18.  Everything is going well, we are grateful to report.  Key to her breast cancer diagnosis  is that the small tumor was found early during a mammogram.

That was a little over a month ago.  From mammogram to surgery was 30 days.  Lots of factors lead us to be cautiously optimistic.  They acted quickly, it was small, it was Stage 1. The surgeon is first rate and yesterday we met with the radiologist.  He too is very good.  Both are the kind of doctors you want:  at the top of their game, very highly rated technically, and have good people skills.  And they both communicate well so we can understand what is going on.  They are espouse confidence in our situation so we have confidence.

From the start, things have stayed pretty much on track. The original plan was for a lumpectomy followed by radiation.  Chemo is still TBD.  More on that in a minute. The doctors said Pam was a perfect candidate for partial breast radiation which we are going to do.

Basically, a catheter is inserted in the incision area where the tumor was removed.  It will remain there for the 5 days of treatment.  Two times a day doses of radiation are delivered to the tumor cavity and surrounding area.  We expect appointments to be something like an 8:30 AM and a 2:30 PM appointment. They are hoping to start Monday December 9 until Friday December 13.

Meanwhile the tumor is off to a California lab somewhere for oncotype testing.  This is how one website describes it:
The Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score test is a unique genomic test that helps women recently diagnosed with early-stage invasive breast cancer. The test generates a score of 0-100 based on 21 specific genes in your breast tumor tissue that was removed during surgery. This unique set of genes predicts your response to chemotherapy as well as the chances of your cancer returning to provide personalized information that is not available from any other test or measure.

We are hopeful the tests determine that there is no need for chemo.  We will see.

Meanwhile, Pam is feeling almost normal.  Aside from her blood pressure being a little high at our appointment (I will be they see that a lot from patients), everything is moving along well.  She is sleeping like she usually does.  She rests a little in the afternoon but seldom naps.  She is eating normally and never had an issue with nausea.

That’s the latest and we appreciate checking in.  We are thankful for your prayers and interest.

Next post will be about a couple of small projects we are doing.  We are so glad to be here.  Especially with this on our plate and for this time of the season.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Change of Plans - Nov 2019

We were planning on tent camping in Florida for 6+ weeks this winter (Dec-Jan).  We even bought a few supplies including a tent and screened in canopy.  My USAF training told me we wanted to do an “Operational Test and Evaluation”, so I  set it up in the back yard to check it out.

We made reservations at Pinellas County Campground at Fort DeSoto and at Key West for some tent camping.  And we accumulated some supplies and equipment for our next adventure.

Meanwhile we have been also fixing up the house with one project after another and throughly enjoying it.  And watching Pam’s amazing garden grow and product a never ending supply of jalapeños, and some kale, swiss chard, mustard greens, carrots, lettuce, and collard greens.

And we’ve enjoyed some house guests recently and always have fun with the boys.  It is such a delight to see them and spend time with them.  It is really great to be able to drop by their place or have Kelly and Jon and the boys swing by for dinner or dessert or hang out time.

And we’ve been catching up on doctors appointments and such.  One that we’ve been “getting around to” finally, was Pam’s yearly isn mammogram test.  She got it scheduled for October 18 and things have been happening pretty quickly since then...

Rather than belabor the point -- testing (subsequent ultrasound then biopsy) confirmed she has breast cancer.  Stage 1, estrogen positive, HER2 negative, invasive, ductal carcinoma.

Ugh.  OK -- With that news though we have plenty of good news from the testing and are very encouraged by our hope of a successful outcome.

Here’s how we got here and where we are at the moment.

• Mammogram/results - Oct 18/21
• Ultrasound/results - Oct 23/24
• Biopsy/results - Oct 28/Nov 1
• Appointment with the surgeon - Nov 6
• Genetic Testing Appointment - Nov 7
• MRI appointment scheduled for - Nov 14
• Surgery date scheduled for - Nov 18

After surgery (lumpectomy and probable radiation), it will be sent off for further testing.  There are a number of treatments possible with different chemo and depending on the risks, % and likelihood of re-occurrence, they may proceed with some kind of chemo.  

If that occurs (and with the possible loss of hair) Pam adamantly let it be known she will not be wearing a wig.  🙂

How is Pam doing? She’s doing well and handling it all admirably.  Kind of makes her head spin with the news and all the followup with the doctors and such.  But she is positive her faith is strong.  Still - this could kill you and something that will weigh on her I’m sure.

It’s a little weird being the object of other people’s concern, or sympathies (or whatever you call it).  Sometimes it is very uncomfortable “being out there” but we have to remember to let other people help us even if we may not think we need it.  It that makes any sense?

Our overall take is that God is merciful to us. Pam’s life/our life is in his hands. We don’t want to be over dramatic about this -- but this is serious stuff.

At the same time we are quick to remember so many people who have suffered greatly and for a long time with this disease.  In that way it is far different for us.

We have much to be thankful for:

• Detected early
• Small (6mm)
• Slow growing 
• Stage 1 
• Not in her lympnodes or spread anywhere else
• Great care/top notch doctors and nurses
• We are not on the road RVing somewhere 
• We are settled into a home base
• Have an excellent small 100 church (people or so) that is wonderful
• Surrounded by a supportive and helpful group of Christian friends
• Our daughter Kelly is right here and a big help
• Prognosis is very good.  
• There are many treatment options vs “being a mystery or something they have never seen before...”  

I wanted to let our larger “family” of friends and acquaintance know what’s happening (with Pam’s concurrence) since many of you would like to know.  Feel free to reach out and ask anything you like.

In summary, more camping adventures to Florida can wait.  We cancelled our reservations at Fort Desoto and Key West. We need to be here this winter and take care of this.  We have a terrific network of family, friends, neighbors, and church folks.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner(less) Chronicles

Flashback: Pancakes and Polishing the Roadrunner

Sometimes my mind wanders.  There we were, reading to the boys before afternoon nap time and engrossed in "Curious George Makes Pancakes."

The boys love pancakes and this one had a few blueberries in the plot.

For some reason it triggered a thought back to our time at Cheyenne Wyoming during Frontier Days. I remember gong to a free pancake breakfast downtown in Cheyenne and along with hundreds of other folks, being served some big pancakes.

It was a fun day.

A day or two later I was in the midst of one of the many projects we have going at our house in Norfolk (15 minutes away from the boys). I decided it was time to clean the vinyl siding on the house and garage.  I had some fairly expensive spray that was supposed to take the grime and algae? right off the vinyl.  I hooked up the hose and started on the garage first.  I figured I could give it a test run on the back side of the garage and no one would notice if it didn't work out.

Well, the green stuff and dirt didn't loosen up and fall right off after I sprayed it.  Instead, I had to use elbow grease to get it clean.  I got a bottle of Awesome spray soap cleaner from Dollar Tree and it worked perfectly. With my ladder and some rags, I systematical rubbed down one side, then the other, row by row on the siding.  I didn't mind it, but it took a little while.

In fact I did one side and the back, and on another day did the front and saved the other side for yesterday.

All in all I spent about and hour a side on the garage but I was pleased with the results.  Not only did it get clean, I got some exercise,  and felt a sense of accomplishment while I worked away.

As I stepped back it reminded me of all those times that I washed and waxed the Roadrunner.

I never minded doing it and knew that I was saving money by doing it myself and I knew that it was done well.

So there I was -- thinking of days gone by that were fun memories.  Thankfully we have pictures of all the places we went and things we did and can look back and smile.
We're about to head out on a road trip tomorrow and make some more memories.  We'll be in the truck going to Canada, (north of Toronto), Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee for a couple of weeks.

I imagine there will be lots of those kinds of days with flashbacks and memories of our time on the road.  We enjoyed it SO much.  And we are enjoying this stage of our life too.  Hope you are having a great week and thanks for joining us today!

Getting Settled In

We've been in our new (renovated house) for a couple of weeks now and things are moving along well.  I'm including a few pictures of the mostly finished house.

Our daughter Kelly asked a few days ago if it felt like home?  -- Not yet but we are getting there.  Here is a look at what we've had done:

The house.  We painted the whole house and renovated the kitchen and both bathrooms. We opened up the kitchen by taking out a half-wall between the kitchen/dining room and cut a pass-through window above the stove between the kitchen living room. The master bath had a door from the hallway and the bedroom. We took out the hallway entrance. We also had a new roof put on, new gutters, new windows and have done some gardening. We still have the baseboards and trim and baseboards to finish inside.

After becoming fans of downsizing, we relearned the skill of upsizing and got new furniture for every room.  I was amazed at how quickly we filled up the garage which is from the tools and stuff we carried in the motorhome.  😳

We love projects and have a long list so we are enjoying it.  Pam's garden is still going strong despite a fungus that took out the squash.  The

pictures:
Kitchen

 New flooring, countertops, cabinets and appliances, lighting

 Dining Room

New lighting, pantry cabinets

Den/Family Room

Living Room

Hall

New lighting, moved cold air return vent from above closet to the door (second door on right). Removed hall access to master bath.

 Office/Bedroom

New lighting

Hall Bathroom

Completely renovated, new floor, tub, vanity, lighting, shelves, tile, 

Boys bedroom (for sleepovers with Grandma and Papa)

Master Bedroom

Master bath

Completely redone. closed off the hall door, moved the pocket door from the bedroom, tile floor and shower, new vanity and plumbing.

Laundry room

Removed cabinets, moved washer, dryer, added mop sink, added shelf, bench seat at lower right

Deck

We didn't do anything to the deck, just got a table and some chairs.  Adam and Melissa gave us their umbrella which gives us some good shade.

Garden

Yard

That's a brief look at our new abode and some of what we've been doing in the last month.  Hope you all are having a great summer.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!