Nancy released from hospital

Nancy was released from the hospital around 11:30 this morning and we are on our way home. We should be home by late Saturday afternoon.

Nancy in the hospital

The doctor finely came in a little after 12 Noon today. She's getting breathing treatments, have her on oxygen and giving her antibiotics through an IV. The doctor has started weaning her off of the oxygen and will recheck her levels later today. When they can take her off the oxygen they will then discharge her so we can continue home. It's a 2 day drive home from here. We have been to so many places the last several weeks so have no idea where the bacteria came from.

Clarksville, TN

We got an early start this morning and was on the road by 8 AM. Our destination today was a 330 mile drive stopping at the Harrah's Casino parking lot in Metropolis, IL to visit the Superman Museum.

Nancy hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days. We both haven't been feeling our best since our week stop in Georgia. Last night she had a bad cough and was having difficultly breathing. I asked her if she wanted me to take her to the hospital but she turned me down saying I needed to get some sleep so I could put in a full day of driving.

We had great driving weather and the traffic wasn't bad until we got to the east side of Nashville. A large house boat was being moved and got stuck under a low bridge blocking I-40 for several hours. I found a way to get around it and came upon another slowdown because of road construction on I-24 north of Nashville.

After getting through all the slowdowns around Nashville I stopped at the Welcome Center/Rest Stop on the Kentucky side of the border for lunch. I asked Nancy how she was doing. She was feeling worst and this time agreed to let me take her to see a doctor.

I disconnected the truck from behind the motorhome and punched in HOSPITAL in the GPS. It took us to Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville. Nancy was diagnosed with pneumonia. The doctor told us that she needed to be admitted and may be in the hospital for a couple of days.

While driving back to the motorhome where it was parked at the rest stop, I passed a RV park along the highway. Back at the motorhome I made a sandwich and looked up the RV park on the computer. I called them and they had a space available. I hooked the truck back up behind the motorhome and was checking in by 6:30 PM. Afterwards I went back to the hospital to see Nancy when they finely had her settled into a room for a couple of days. Looks like we won't make it home by Easter as planned.

Clarksville RV Park & Campground

Bald River Falls - Cherokee National Forest

We had a great time today visiting with my friends John and Kathy Winter. John took us out for a ride to Bald River Falls in the Cherokee National Forest. Later we went back to there house for a grilled stake dinner and wine.

  

 

Niota/Sweetwater, Tennessee

We were on the road leaving Chattanooga by 9:30 this morning. Our next destination was only 68 miles north on I-75 at the Tennessee Country Campground in Niota, Tennessee. We got to the park at 11:00 but there was no one at the office. I called the cell phone number on the office door and the owner told me to park in the only site open, site #8. I pulled into the site and got the pickup unhooked and then started to get my services hooked up. I didn't empty my holding tanks before leaving the last RV park so that was one of the first things I wanted to do here. I hooked up the drain hose and pulled the handle to empty the black (sewage) tank. Almost instantly sewage started overflowing out of the park's sewer connection. There was a clog in their pipe. If you have ever watched Robin Williams' movie "RV", you might get the picture of the mess it made. Luckily I was right there on it and got the valve closed before it made too much of a mess. This was one of the many times while RVing the word "OWFISH" literally came to mind. The park's staff was able to soon unclog the lines and I washed off the spilled sewage from the concrete parking pad and had everything else hooked up and took a shower before my friends John and Kathy Winter arrived from Sweetwater.

Rock City - Lookout Mountain

After Nancy and I walked through Ruby Falls Cavern, we drove to the top of Lookout Mountain and toured Rock City Gardens.

  

 

Ruby Falls

This morning after breakfast, Nancy and I set off to see Ruby Falls and Rock City. It's spring break here in the area and the place was crawling with kids. My last time here was in April 2004 with my late wife Barb.

 

Chattanooga, Tennessee

We are at the Raccoon Mountain RV Park & Campground in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a couple of days. While here Nancy and I will tour Ruby Falls and Rock City.

Guild, TN

The last 5 days in Lenoir City were great. We met up with John Winter of John Winter Yacht who gave us a driving tour of the area. John moved here last year from Oconto, WI where he done most of the Phase 1 Renovation work on our boat. Besides stopping to visit John on our trip south, we wanted to see areas of the Tennessee River for consideration of relocating to Tennessee and cruising the over 600 miles of the river. We loved what we seen and John said this was just the tip of the "ice burg".

To see more of the "ice burg", we pulled out of Lenoir City getting on the road by 10 AM this morning and headed to Hales Bar Marina & Resort in Guild, TN for a night or two. Guild is some 20 highway miles west of Chattanooga, TN on the Tennessee River.

We drove 115 miles today, stopping in Chattanooga for fuel, taking on 63.05 gallons costing $185.30.

Lenoir City, TN

We got a late start this morning but were on the road by 10 AM after having breakfast. Traffic going through Louisville should have been down but there was an accident on I-64 that had the traffic backed up for 10 miles. By the time we got up to it though, they had cleared the road and traffic was moving again.

We stopped at the Flying J travel Center in Waddy for fuel. Usually I go through the truck line because the pumps are a lot faster. 60 gpm compared to 5 gpm at the RV line. But I wanted to fill the onboard propane tank and that's in the RV line. The fuel pump might have been pumping 2 gpm so after 25 gallons I stopped. I would have been there for another 10 minutes before the tank was full.

From there through Lexington, KY the traffic wasn't bad but going south on I-75 from Lexington to Knoxville, through the Cumberland Mountains, the traffic was heavy. I kept looking for a rest area where we could stop for lunch but there is none between Lexington and the Tennessee border until we pulled into the Tennessee Welcome Center. There was no place to park! So I pulled through and stopped on the on ramp before getting back on I-75 long enough for a bathroom break and a fast sandwich.

We finely made it to Lenoir City, TN where we are staying at the Lazy Acres RV Park or a few days. Today we drove 279 miles but it felt like the longest day of driving. Total miles from Oconto to Lenoir City was 935 miles.

Clarksville, IN

We were on the road by 6:15 this morning as we continue our trip south for the winter. Our planned stop was in a small town east of Louisville, KY at the Flying J Travel Center until we discovered during our lunch stop that we were out of fresh water. I don't know why because I filled up last Thursday at the yacht club. Well a 100 gallons goes fast when your taking showers and washing dishes. So we dug out the campground directories and found a campground on the Indiana side of Louisville, KY for the night called the Add-More Campground in Clarksville, IN. Today we traveled 319 miles. Tomorrow we will try to make the last 280 miles of this leg to Lenoir City, TN.

Where did the summer go?

Well, we've been here at the Oconto Yacht Club now for 6 months. Tomorrow morning's forecast low is 38°. Where has the summer gone?

It's time to pull the Shangri-La out of the water, winterize and shrink wrap it for the winter. It's time to get our mini-storage in order so I can get everything, including our old Ford Ranger, tucked away for the winter. It's time to start thinking about heading south for the winter.

This winter we are planing on going to Gulfport, MS. We found a mobile home/RV community called Southern Oaks Mobile Home & RV Community costing $410 a month. It's about 10 miles from where Barb's daughter Angel lives in Biloxi. We'll stay there for 4 to 5 months, then a month or two in New Iberia, LA before heading back up here, via Oklahoma City, to Oconto next spring.

En-route to Gulfport, we are planing a stop in Lenoir City, TN to visit my friend John Winter. John rebuilt the cabin top and installed the new windows in our boat last winter and summer before moving to Tennessee.