Oh! Lions and tigers and bears! Oh, my!

A trip to San Antonio area for an animal lover isn't complete without a visit to the San Antonio Zoo. There were even a couple of old goats in the petting zoo. If Barbara was with us she would have loved their pink flamingos.

Dauphin Island, Alabama

We had another beautiful day today. I took Nancy down to Dauphin Island and toured the old Civil War Fort Gaines. The construction of Fort Gaines started in 1819 and took 40 years to build.

Dauphin Island was first known by the French as Massacre Island until they changed it name in 1707 to Dauphin in honor of heir of the French throne: "Dauphin." The island was also the first capital of the Louisiana Territory.

After our tour I took Nancy to a little seafood cafe I knew of on the island for lunch. I became a little teary eyed while there because this was the same little cafe I took Barb to after we toured the island four years ago and started planning our Hawaiian trip.

After lunch I took Nancy for a half hour ferry cruise across the bay and came back to the RV park through Gulf Shores and Foley but not before stopping at a produce stand in Loxley where I picked up some hot boiled peanuts. I don't think Nancy cared for them that much.

Just before getting back to the RV we stopped and picked up a couple loaves of bread so Nancy could feed the ducks and geese back at the RV park.

 

  

 

  

 

Back in Presidio

It's been 6 years, December 2008, since the last time I was here in Presidio, TX with my late wife Barbara. She was having problems with her big toe healing after burning her foot earlier that summer. We had left for Palacios, TX right after the surgeon in Alpine gave her the clearance to go. That was also the year of the big flood here in Presidio which left the golf course under 15 feet of water.

Not much has changed since I was last here. A couple of new buildings in town. There's now a city-wide, city-owned Wi-Fi system that we are connected to out here at the park. Few people come here for the winter now. Most of the older people who used to come here for the winter no longer come. They're up in age or have passed on. BJ had built the park for them after the RV park in Lajitas was closed. Jim & Jenny Kidd are still spending their winters here. They first came here the same year that Barb and I did back in 2003. Happy-hour is still everyday at 4PM when Jim fires off a couple of bottle rockets. Happy-hour is when everyone gathers at a central point to socialize with one another.  It's a good time to greet new comers and pass in formation. There will be a Christmas pot-luck dinner Christmas Day. A lot of the cedar trees in the park have died and were removed and the golf course isn't kept up like it was anymore. The caravans that used to come here don't come anymore. Since there's very little money coming in to the park now there's very little money to keep things going. This will probably be my last time coming here since next winter I want to take Nancy to the West coast and then to the East coast the winter after that. After that who knows. I'll be 65 years old and Nancy will be 68. We may just want to find a favorite place and spend our winters there.

Yesterday the temperatures in town got up to 83°F. There's a cold front coming in today so the forecast temperatures is supposed to only get up to the mid-50s. I'm not sure yet what Nancy and I are going to do today but we only plan on being here for a couple of weeks and there's a lot of places here for me to take her to. Maybe since we've been on the road for the last several days since we last done laundry maybe we should stay around close and get that done before taking day-long trips.

New mattress bag

A few years ago we had a custom mattress made for our motor home while in Oklahoma. It was something that Barb just had to have after laying on one down in Florida. It had to be custom made because it's a non-standard size. It's made with a layer memory foam over a thick layer of latex rubber. We paid $1300 for that mattress. A couple of years ago, I noticed the bottom of the mattress bag had rotted after getting wet and not being able to dry out completely. I couldn't remember when or where we bought it but we were in Norman, Oklahoma at the time. I was able to go back through my travel blog and found the month we were there, then was able to go back through my computerized finance records and found the day and name of the company who made the mattress. A search on the Internet and I found their phone number. I was able to order a new $260 bag for the mattress. I'll make sure next time it will be able to dry out by placing an anti-moisture layer under the mattress called DryMesh.

New starting battery

Started working on the motor home to get it ready to go to Oklahoma with it the end of April or 1st week of May. It's been off the road since Barb & I moved into this house in October 2011. $195 to replace the starting battery. Also got with the service manager of a local RV dealer about doing some needed work on it. At 1st they didn't want to because it's a big Class A Diesel Pusher and the only RVs they handle are small Jayco travel trailers. But what I need fixed would be items that would also be on their trailers. So whenever the snow melts enough so I can get it out, they're going to take care of me.

It's emotional just thinking about going on a trip without Barb. Barb and I lived and traveled through most the United States for 8 years in this motor home before we had to stop because of her health. Last summer she told me she really missed living in it. I did too, but my health was getting bad because of the stress I was going through because of her health.

In Loving Memory

The love of my life, best friend and soulmate, Barbara Jean Pesicka, aka Barbie, passed away this morning.

We were getting ready to leave Sacramento, California this morning heading back to our home in Wisconsin after our Hawaiian Cruise when she passed away in my arms.

Her final wishes were to be cremated and then her ashes mixed with mine after I pass away.

Barbie and I had a great life together. We traveled to many parts of the country and several foreign countries together the 10 years that we were married.

Good bye Barbie. I will always love you.

Barb is in the hospital

Barb has been admitted into a hospital in Green Bay, WI. Barb developed a water blister on her right ankle a couple of weeks ago after breast surgery preformed by the VA medical center in Milwaukee, WI. She went to our VA clinic in Appleton, WI to have it checked out. They punctured it to let it drain and then placed a bandage over it. The following day, she went back to the VA medical center in Milwaukee and had wound care look at it. They were upset because the Appleton clinic had punctured it which could cause it to become infected. This is not good for a person who is diabetic. They gave her a petrolatum dressing to place over it and told her to keep it clean with the dressing over it, that it will drain on it's own and heal. A few days later, we returned to the Appleton clinic for a follow-up, they gave her more petrolatum dressings with the same instructions. The blister drained and we kept it protected as instructed by the VA. It looked like it was starting to heal. After she showered last Thursday, I went to bandage it and it looked bad so I took her the the emergency room here in Oconto. The doctor said it was badly infected and sent us to see a surgeon in Green Bay. The surgeon immediately had her admitted so they could start her on anti-biotics. They took a MRI of her foot the next morning and it shows the infection has not reached the bone. Had it reached the bone, she may have lost her foot. They will be keeping her in the hospital over the weekend.

Had this been a one time occurrence that we felt that the VA had gave improper care, and very little after care, and even though we have both used the VA medical system for our medial care for over 10 years, we have both came to the inclusion that the VA medical system provides poor medical care for our nations veterans and is not the place to go if you have other options available. Since I am retired from the United States Civil Service and the US Army, I have a very good medical insurance policy for retired federal employees. I believe for now on, even though we are both service connected disabled veterans and the Veterans Administration is obligated for our care, we are going to start relying more on the civilian health care system for our medical needs. We know that the civilian health care system could mess up too. But with the civilian health care system, there are recourses that we can go through if they mess up. With the VA health care system, we are dealing with the United States Government and their bureaucracy.