More humidity

Field of Dandelions

Violets and One Dandelion

Gordon with the deer

Deer in the morning mist

Deer frolicking in morning sunrise

We had a rotating thunderstorm last night that lasted from about 8:00 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning. Consequently poor Bib didn’t go outside until this morning at 7:15 a.m. He’s such a good boy. I thought he’d wake me during the night once the storm was over. At one point there was a tornado warning as well. I really miss the southwest!

I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed but couldn’t breathe so I got up and did some reading and computering and then lay down on the couch about 2:30 a.m.

This morning when I took Bib out it was very misty and the sun was coming up. There were also six or eight deer that seemed almost tame but with the dog there they weren’t taking any chances. I’ve enclosed some photos of them.

I really enjoy seeing wildlife so close without having to leave the park so I think we’ll probably stick with this park and just try to arrange a better site next time.

Gordon and his sister, Carol went to the Cincinnati Conservatory today to photograph the flowers. I decided I didn’t have the energy so stayed at home with Bib and started to get some of the bills ready to cross the border. It’s a big job but I don’t want to wind up paying through the nose for duty and taxes like we did last year so it needs to be properly organized. I also read and went for a walk around the campground. It’s quite humid here again today.

When Gordon got back we both had a nap and then he got the BBQ out for the first time in a while and cooked up the burgers that I had in the freezer. If meat isn’t in it’s original package, there may be a problem crossing the border and I had the burgers made up and in a freezer bag.

It was a nice evening so we ate outside at the picnic table. That was really nice for a change.

The campground is pretty much full, I guess since it’s Easter weekend so it’s interesting to sit outside and watch what’s happening. The people across from us have a wire haired terrier puppy named Mickey Mouse. He’s so cute and also has no clue as to obedience.

The forecast tonight is for more thunderstorms!

It's Humid! We must be in Ohio!

We had a thunderstorm about 5:30 this morning.

I slept late. I think it was almost 10:00 a.m. when I finally got up. Thank goodness the dog didn’t want to go out early! I guess yesterday at Carol and Rick’s wore me out. After walking Bib and having breakfast, Bib and I sat outside for a while. It was a beautiful morning. If there hadn’t been a light breeze it would have been hot and humid.

After lunch we headed out to look at other campgrounds. Cedarbrook is the closest to where Carol lives and is within the Lebanon, OH town limits. The other campground that has a Lebanon address is Olive Branch. It’s quite a ways out of town and in the middle of nowhere. It’s also not the cleanest or prettiest campground I’ve seen and their daily rates are $40 for a back-in and $45 for a pull thru. They don’t have wifi, they don’t have cable. I don’t know how they can get away with charging that kind of money. Based on that $62 in Key West doesn’t sound all that bad! You could rent a motel room in most places around here for that! Nix that one!

Then we drove up to Waynesville. Gordon lived in Waynesville when he first got married and his daughter was born while they lived there. It’s quite a cute little town and claims to be the Antique Capital of the MidWest. We also saw the Frontier Campground but no one was around to talk to us and we drove to Caesar Creek State Park campground which is a possibility except it’s also in the middle of nowhere and quite far from where Carol and Rick live.

We were looking for a campground where they didn’t have many trees so setting up our internet satellite wouldn’t be such a problem. Gordon finally did get it working on Wednesday so we’re okay here but there are very few sites where we could see the satellite. We’re going to take note of those sites for next year.

There’s also a Travel Lodge motel in northern Cincinnati that has 15 RV spots that we want to check out too just so we’ve covered all our bases.

While we drove through Fort Ancient (on the highway) where they have Indian Burial mounds. We also drove past an interesting old tavern which is pictured above.
It was built in 1802 and was operated as The Cross Keys Tavern from 1809 to 1820 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

On our way back, Gordon dropped me at WalMart. We’ve needed groceries since we got here but my being in the hospital got in the way of a lot of things. I called him when I was going through the checkout and he picked me up and we went to Taco Bell for dinner. We should own shares in Taco Bell! We had some rain about the time he was coming to get me and when we were taking the groceries to the truck.

It’s cloudy, warm and humid tonight. You can tell we’re back in Ohio!

We Visit Carol & Rick

L to R: My husband, Gordon, his sister, Carol & her husband, Rick

View from Carol & Rick's yard

Today when I got up I had some breathing difficulty and was feeling shaky but I felt better after I was up and around. After walks and breakfast, I decided laundry had to be done so we drove the laundry down to the laundry room at the campground and it wasn’t too taxing but I was tired when I got back. We went for showers and then I sat outside in my chair with Bib for a while.

We were supposed to be at Carol’s for about 2:30 p.m. so we got ready and went over there. We sat and chatted for a while, then I lay down on Carol’s couch in her family room and had a nap. It’s a really comfortable couch! We walked around her yard and saw her spring flowers and then had a really nice dinner. We were home by about 8:30 p.m.

That was enough for me for today!

No posting for April 11th

My apologies for no posting yesterday but I had an excellent reason.

I woke up yesterday morning not feeling the best. I took the dog for his walk and then went for my walk but I was very short of breath and shaky so I came back to the RV and asked Gordon to look for a hospital nearby. We wound up at Bethesda Warren Emergency here in Lebanon at around 8:30 a.m. They were great people. I had five people working with me at once. At one point they gave me a morphine cocktail which made me really high and very sleepy so I slept most of the day.

They took me in right away, took all kinds of blood tests, EKG but they didn’t have a CT scan machine (they are moving in two weeks and will have it then) so they sent me to their hospital in Cincinnati, Bethesda North by ambulance. This was also my first ambulance ride. I went into Emergency at around 1:00 p.m. at Bethesda North, got my CT scan and thought I would be released. In fact one of the clinicians had said that since my CT scan was normal that I would be released. Then the doctor came by and said that my insurance had approved my overnight stay for observation and a stress test in the morning. They finally fed me. I hadn’t eaten all day, not even breakfast. They brought me some really tasty chicken noodle soup!

This was my first time staying overnight in a hospital. Imagine. 57 years old and never been in the hospital for anything serious. I consider myself to be extremely lucky!

Good things about staying in a hospital:

• They wait on you hand and foot


• They have really good cable TV


• They have an adjustable bed

Bad things about staying in a hospital:

• They take too much blood


• They wake you up to take more blood


• They wake you up to take blood pressure


• They starve you until your tests are finished

This morning they told me that my stress test would be at 10:30 a.m. and that I couldn’t eat until after the test so by the time the stress test was done and the heart photos done (this was done by nuclear medicine) and I got back to my room it was well after noon so I got lunch. Then about 2:00 p.m. I had to go back down for more heart photos, then back to my room to wait for results. About 5:15 p.m. the day nurse, Beth (really nice girl and really young) came in and told me that my stress test and photos were completely normal and that she had a call into the cardiologist for instructions but she felt that I would be going home today. The cardiologist came and talked to me, said all my tests were completely normal, he had no idea what the problem was and to increase my Nexium (I have GERD) to twice per day. For those of you that don’t know GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. There is a possibility (probability in my opinion) that this is what has been causing my breathing difficulties and shortness of breath. I got released about 6:00 p.m. I have to say their food was pretty good when I finally got to eat but maybe it was because I was starving! I've never told the same story over and over and given out my birth date more often.

So, now I’m home, it’s hot, about 83F at 7:30 p.m! There’s talk of a thunderstorm tonight but it’s supposed to be a really nice day tomorrow.

Needless to say, we didn’t see Carol yesterday but plans are to go to her place for dinner tomorrow night. Unfortunately Lillian has a bit of a fever and Ian and Tracy have plans this weekend so we probably won’t see them until we’re in Columbus next week.

Sorry, no photos today.

Back in Ohio

We left Mulberry Grove, IL around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lebanon, OH around 2:15 p.m. We’re now back on Eastern time.

We had another nice day for traveling. We went through Indianapolis around 11:00 a.m. and traffic was fairly good. We arrived at Cincinnati around 1:00 p.m. and traffic on the bypass wasn’t too bad but we didn’t have far to travel.

When I called yesterday for a reservation at the Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon I was told that they had no pull thrus and I asked for an easy back in. We probably had the worst time backing into our spot here than we have anywhere. The guide who took us to our spot probably should have just left and let us do it on our own. We’ve usually been fairly successful but it took almost an hour, I think to get parked. They have wifi internet here throughout the park thank goodness because the park is surrounded by trees and so far we haven’t been able to get our internet satellite set up. I really hate paying for it when we can’t use it. We’ve been lucky on our travels this year, I think there were only two places where we couldn’t use it, Banff and Chilliwack.

Anyway, we’re here safely and that’s what counts.

The photo today shows Gordon just coming out of the door of the RV and it shows our internet satellite set up but unfortunately that’s all it is, just set up not working.

Tomorrow we're going for lunch at Taco Bell with Gordon's sister, Carol.

We are both wiped out and have lots of mundane things to do like laundry, vacuum and get groceries, but not tonight!

We Officially Arrive in the East!

Timber Trails Campground, Mulberry Grove, IL

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO (taken from the truck en route)

We left America’s Best Campground in Branson, MO at 8:50 a.m. and headed east on I-44. The trip was uneventful except for getting through St. Louis. Driving through large cities is never fun but thank goodness it was Sunday.

We officially arrived in the east as we saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis – Gateway to the West and then crossed the Mississippi River although we’re still in the Central time zone until we reach Ohio tomorrow. We took I-70 out of St. Louis and arrived at Mulberry Grove, IL around 2:30 p.m.

Our plans had been to stay at a Good Sam Park east of I-70 but when we were traveling I checked the Passport America book and found that the campground north of I-70 was a Passport America campground and only $15/night. We arrived and finding no one in the office, I called and got an answering machine. We were about to move to the other campground when we came upon some pull thrus that faced south so decided to go ahead and set up. As we parked a man came along on a tractor and since we had decided to stay here, paid him and got set up. Gordon then went to fill up with fuel so we can beat a hasty retreat in the morning to get through Cincinnati hopefully shortly after lunch.

I called and made a reservation for a week at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH where we stayed in 2004 on our first trip in Big Harv. We are sort of between Dayton where Gordon's son and family live and Middletown where Gordon's sister lives but closer to his sister.

Tomorrow's trip is 318 miles.

I’m looking forward to staying in one spot for a week. I don’t really like packing up and moving daily.

There’s no cable here but our aerial gets ABC TV thank goodness so I get to see Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy tonight. I would not be a happy camper otherwise!