Getting Settled In

Looks like the two of us will survive being indoctrinated into the South, both culturally and environmentally. David is much better and I’m better except for my terrible cough which the doctor says will be with me for a while. At any rate, we are able to be around the children and that’s what is important.
After David’s visit to the doctor yesterday, we went to the post office to pick up our mail which has been accumulated since we left our apartment in Pleasant Hill….can you imagine???? I had stacks and stacks of mail to go through! Some can be right frightening! I had changed our vehicle insurance before I left California for Tennessee, this meant we had to cancel California insurance and they had to write a different policy for Tennessee residents. No problem, more money up front, but they would reimburse us what we had left on the CA plan. Well, I open several documents from the insurance company and they are cancelling our insurance since I had not returned the signed documents that had been sitting in our mailbox in TN!!! I called them immediately, and they were able to re-instate our insurance, but where were the monies they were going to return to us? They kept it, of course! Well, the good thing is I’m paid up until the fall;-)


Another little surprise in the mail was the unemployment issue. While we were at the bank I got a phone call from Elk Grove, CA, since we are getting our debit cards, I ignored it, if it doesn’t come up with a name or I don’t recognize the name and I don’t have time to take the call…it’s getting ignored. Funny, there was no message either. Well, while going through my stack of mail, I found a letter from unemployment that they had scheduled a telephone interview on that day at that time, but I just didn’t know it! I called them the next day, they were very nice about it, but told me that Siemens had protested my unemployment! The nice lady asked me if I was a contractor for Siemens and I said no, I had worked for them for almost 17 years! She agreed that there was something amiss and told me that Siemens advised them that my last day was March 31, 2010, but they had no record of me being employed with them. Stupid…how can you give my last day worked and in the same breath say you have no record of me??? She told me not to worry, they would take care of it and I will eventually begin receiving my unemployment checks. I’m looking for work…I really am…there just isn’t anything available here in my line of work;-(

The last week we spent some time with Jill in Alabama, some time with David’s sister, Ruby, in New Johnsonville, TN, some time with Robyn in Clarksville, TN and some time with my sister in Hopkinsville, KY…today we came to the RV Park in Clarksville. I’m really glad! I was tired of being a vagabond! We got set up this morning and I got my new wireless printer set up and now I’m good to go! Still need to find a spot for some things, but we can work that out through the weekend. Got Direct TV coming in on Monday to hook up the satellite dish so we can have some decent TV, got groceries, what more do you need?

I love spending time with my sister, she is so creative. She is now the Beautification Coordinator for the city of Hopkinsville, KY, and is doing a fantastic job in sprucing up the city! She took David & I for a walk downtown to see her accomplishments, she’s been very busy!

Spending the time at Robyn’s allowed Kiley and me to re-connect; not that there was much reconnecting to be done…she pretty much knew that her Mimi was coming home and has told everyone that, “my Mimi is in Clarksville and will stay in Clarksville forever”. She pretty much never let me out of her sight which was just fine with me. Hudson, on the other hand, took up with his Grand David. He loves John Deere and any kind of heavy equipment. He & David spent time going through books while Hudson identified every type of equipment on the market…yep, he’s only 2 years old! Oh, they also have started raising chickens, so we got to see the baby chicks...yep, we're in the country now!

I finally got to meet Tony’s wife (David’s son) Jennie and his precious new daughter, Kennedy Page. She is only 2 ½ months old now and is cute as a bug! She has so much dark hair and the most beautiful eyes!

We have yet to see Shannon (David’s daughter) and Daniel & Jacob yet. I think Shannon and Jacob will be stopping by the RV Park to see us this afternoon…if so, we’ve pretty much seen everyone on our final trip back home!

It’s spring in the southeast so we have thunderstorms & wind forecasted for tomorrow and worse storms for Sunday. We hate them, especially living in the motorhome, but, that’s life! We had some hail when we were at Robyn’s earlier in the week, but fortunately it was pea size and didn’t harm the solar panels on our roof…David cringes when they call for hail!

We Are Home!!!

Sorry, I’ve been really sick for the last few days and just had no strength to do anything. We pulled into New Johnsonville, TN, on Friday afternoon and I headed straight for the bed. I surely was not very good company at all. How rude can one be, pull this behemouth into their driveway, sick looking woman enters their home and heads straight for their spare bedroom! Thank goodness David sister, Ruby, is so gracious. She totally understood how sick I was and was there with chicken broth hoping to get me well quicker. I never got to know David’s mother very well, but I know she had to have instilled these loving qualities in Ruby. Saturday was a blur because I just couldn’t stay up, slept most of the day; well until the storms hit! We really had some rough storms here, but fortunately no damage at any of our families homes. Someone said that the south was welcoming us with its fireworks…well, those kind of fireworks I can do without! So, between being sick and our brother-in-law not having WiFi, this blog has been neglected.

Sunday I had more strength so we took a drive to Loretta Lynn’s property which is just a short way from Ruby’s in Hurricane Mills, TN. They said she was still performing there and goes out on the road a lot, but of course, we didn’t see her.

Today, we left Ruby’s for Robyn’s. David drove the motorhome and my car while I drove his Dodge Ram. We decided that the truck was too much on their property, what with our motorhome & the car that we left the truck with David’s ex-wife. Sounds funny, but we are just one big happy family! She was nice enough to let us park his truck at her house for the next couple of days…that’s just the way we are here in the south;-) Thanks, Valeria and Danny!

David is pretty sick now, he’s held off long enough to get me home, he just can’t go any further. I’m taking him to an urgent care facility tomorrow morning…the grandchildren want to play with him, but they can’t get around him right now.

We pulled into Robyn’s this afternoon while she was at school picking up Kiley. It was wonderful to see her call come down the driveway, knowing there was a little almost 6 year old girl wanting to see her Mimi. She piled out of that car so fast and was in my arms before I knew it! She made the statement, “my Mimi is in Clarksville now and will live forever in Clarksville”! Guess enough said. Our little Hudson is the cutest thing…2 years old and a John Deere man for sure. Give him something green, a little dirt and a shovel and he’s so happy!

Well, hopefully, tomorrow my David gets some medication so he will feel much better quicker!

Tuscumbia, Alabama is the Birthplace of Helen Keller

Oh I hate leaving my girls tomorrow when we head to David’s sister’s house in New Johnsonville, but when I really think about it, I’m not leaving them and going to California, I’m just 3 hours away from them! I can pop in whenever there is an important occasion, or just when I want to see my girls. This retirement thing isn’t too bad! Besides, we have to leave, a major storm is coming in on Saturday with possible tornados and we don’t want to be traveling during such wicked weather!

On the retirement thing, I do have one complaint that my friend, Marilyn, will understand. When I left, the company made arrangements to put my severance check into my direct deposit. This should have been on April 16th, but there was no sizable entry into my Wells Fargo account…wonder why? I tried to contact Siemens’ HR person, couldn’t so I sent an email inquiring where is the money! While we were traveling from OK to AL, I got a phone call from Federal Express in regards to my tracing inquiry. I told them that I had not authorized a trace on anything, and asked who the shipping party was…Siemens Medical from Germany. Figuring there was a mix up, I told the nice lady that I had just recently retired from Siemens and there must be a mistake and advised her to call the Concord Siemens main number and inquire with them. You guessed it; they Federal Expressed my severance check to an address that I had already moved from! Great follow-up work HR!!!! So, I have assurances from Siemens Payroll department that it will be in my Wells Fargo account by April 30th. I’m not too upset; just find it funny that if you don’t follow up with others, it ain’t gonna happen!!! We’ll see what April 30th brings.

Today David and I went to Tuscumbia, Alabama, to visit the birthplace of Helen Keller. It was such a sweet house and the docents were so sweet and knowledgeable. It still amazes me that she accomplished so much with so many handicaps; she could hear nor see. What an amazing lady!!

Her parents bedroom. The rocker is the one that she tossed her newborn sister from, due to a little jealousy.

This is the kitchen, it was built away from the house in case of fires. The door on the left was the actual kitchen and the door on the right was the cook's bedroom.

Part of the kitchen.

No southern cook worth her weight in salt would be without her cast iron cookware!

The actual well where Helen was able to understand that the feel of water was the word her teacher had just spelled into her hand.

I don't know what this bush is, but it was absolutely GORGEOUS!

As David was cleaning the rig outside this morning, he was checking in the engine compartment and the little birdies have found something to do with these darn “worms” that are coming from the oak trees out here. They’ve built a nest in the engine compartment of our rig!! Jill thinks it’s from the Carolina Wren. We so hate to disturb this nest, but we have to leave here tomorrow, and I don’t think it will last through the trip, nor do I think the mom can fly that fast!

My daughter and her husband both have a late evening working, so we are taking the granddaughters out for dinner…they get to pick the place. Caroline, who just got her license and her first car, will be our chauffeur for the evening.

Letting no moss grow under our feet/tires

We left Oklahoma City yesterday, Tuesday, at 8:30 in the morning to head east. We had planned to be at Jill’s house by Wednesday morning, but David got on a roll and we pulled into Jill’s about 8:30 last night.

It is so wonderful to be back in the south, I love California, but there is just something about being Southern born and being gone for such a long time that I can really appreciate returning. It is spring here and the flowers are blooming and everything is new again! Jill's yard is full of vibrant blooms!

Too, it seems that when we got into Amarillo last Friday, I either have a bug or allergies are really giving me a horrible time! I’m sneezing, coughing, aching and just generally miserable!

Jill gave me the name of an urgent care facility so David & I headed off to see a doctor this morning. After 2 injections and 4 prescriptions, I’m hoping to begin feeling decent by tomorrow! This stuff sucks!

Oklahoma City’s National Memorial & Museum

Well, what can I say, it isn’t raining, but it is still a little cloudy…maybe the skies are filled with tears for today and are trying hard not to let them fall. David & I went to the memorial and museum for the victims of the bombing of the Federal Building here in Oklahoma City and I cannot tell you how moving this tribute is. In a way, it reminds me of being in the Civil War battlefields back home in the south, it is sad, somber and sobering.

We did not know until we got to Oklahoma City, that today is the 15th year since the bombing. At 5 am this morning, the city began their tribute to the victims, survivors and rescue workers, we watched the events on TV and I mentioned to David that maybe we should wait until tomorrow before we go, thinking of the crowds. He was adamant that we will go today, and I am so glad that we did.

To think that there are a few disgruntled people in our world, worst yet, even in our country, who think that the best way to make themselves heard is through terrorism. I can’t for the life of me understand that I would feel better if I created tragedy and destruction! There were 168 lives lost on April 19, 1995, with 19 of them only little children…that will make you feel better????

There were 168 empty chairs with 19 of them smaller that the others to represent each child lost in the horrendous event. Family members had been through earlier this morning and placed flowers, wreaths, stuffed animals and other mementos on the individual chairs.

I have to say that when you go through the museum, it forces you to face the crime, the terror, the confusion, the chaos, the survivor’s experiences, the rescue and recovery, the funerals and mourning, the investigation that led to the trial and conviction of Timothy McVeigh & Nichols. It is such a moving experience.

I want to give credit to Oklahoma City for the development of the reflecting pool (only ¾” deep), the field of empty chairs, protecting the survivor tree (a 90 yr old tree that lived through the violence), the original chain link fence with tokens of love & support and the amazing museum

So many of the families offered personal items to the museum for display which was so emotional for David & I. If you are ever in Oklahoma City, you MUST visit this site…as an American, you MUST visit this site. You owe it to the lives lost, the survivors permanently injured and the rescue workers who risked their lives, to pay your respects to what was lost on these hallowed grounds.

On a lighter note, as we are Californians, we were amazed that we had NO traffic on the roadway (12 Noon) and found a parking space right beside the Museum! For what today was, that was amazing to us!

OKLAHOMA!!!

Ever realize that you need to cut you loses and hit the road? We did, I know there are a lot of people who just love Amarillo,TX, but I have to admit, David and I are not fans. We paid through tomorrow for the RV park that we were in Amarillo, but decided we did not want to stay in that town one day more! To our friend, Drew Grigson…you are correct, there is NOTHING in Amarillo but wind!

We talked about our future plans on Saturday evening  and decided to head out to Oklahoma City Sunday  morning. We were hoping for better weather, but there is a good possibility that tomorrow, Monday, will be just a tad better than today. It rained almost the entire way from Amarillo to Oklahoma City….really tired of rain! Remember, I’ve been a Californian for almost 17 years…no rain after mid April!!! Yep, pretty much spoiled!

So we have crossed the BIG STATE OF TEXAS, and yes, they really think everything is big here. Well, there is a lot of land, but I still think that I would have been happier in Texas if we went further south, but Mr. Jenkins wants to stay close to I-40, so I’m done. We did come past the tallest cross in the US, or so they touted it as such. It was pretty fitting that we came across it on a Sunday.

We have arrived in Oklahoma City and I would love to talk to their city planners! You cannot get from point A to point B in this town! After calling our RV park and getting more explicit instructions on how to navigate to their park, we finally made it! Oh, yes, I hear you all…my GPS system had us in the entirely wrong place!!!

It is a beautiful RV park and we plan on staying at least through Tuesday morning. Tomorrow, we plan to go to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum….I get goosebumps just thinking about it. This Wednesday is the 15th Anniversary of the Federal Building bombing, so I am hoping that we will be able to tour the museum and outdoor symbolic museum.

After David and I discussed our future plans last night, I told him that after Oklahoma City, I didn’t see anything more of interest before we got home to Clarksville. Arkansas has no decent RV parks and besides the Clinton Library (which we’ve already seen), there isn’t anything of interest for us. David said, “so, why don’t we go to Alabama and see Jill?”. MUSIC to my ears! Jill is my oldest daughter who lives in Florence, AL. There is lots to see down in that area…Helen Keller’s birthplace, the home of Alabama the musical group and lots of other stuff. Besides that, it is the homeplace for my oldest daughter, son-in-law and my two beautiful granddaughters!!

So stay tuned…we are not in Tennessee yet!

Amarillo, Texas

After all the wind and rain from yesterday, and since this RV Park is so cheap and very nice, so we’re here until Monday morning. I’ve found out that there is not much to do in Amarillo, but David needs to rest from the road.


Today we went cruising through Amarillo and found the Big Texan Steak Ranch (home of the free 72oz. steak). It reminds me of the old time roadside places that you stop at along the road and you just oogle of the stuff the put on sale! This is the restaurant where if you can eat the 72 oz. steak as well as the bread, appetizer and salad within an hour, the meal is free. We did not take the challenge…even though both David and our friend, Loyde Tatton ate the regular banana split at Fenton’s Creamery, I think I need to protect him from these things…at least until he drives this motorhome back to Tennessee;o)

We found a Flea Market, all in-doors, with lots of traffic…we decided, why not? When we went in, we realized that we were the only Anglo’s in the building. I didn’t care, I love Mexican stuff, so we went on. Unfortunately, if I liked Frederick’s of Hollywood clothes and CD’s that I couldn’t understand, it would have been great….sorry, Rueben & Rudy…ain’t my bag of tricks!

Came across the Cadillacs buried in the field, but it was way too muddy for me to get a picture. Besides, I told David, if I had not known they were Cadillacs, I would have had no clue what this was!

We Are Up & Running....

So, I’ve been bragging about an uneventful trip so far…well, SHUT MY MOUTH!!! We were almost to Albequerque when we ran into some road work, shouldn’t be bad, should it? Well, these orange barrels led us to the shoulder where the indentions are (you know, the ones that tell you that you’ve gotten off the roadway, stupid!)…had us traveling over those things for a short while, then we were able to get back on the regular roadway. You know how loud those things are when you are driving over them, well, the sound didn’t quit when we got back on the regular road. We thought that it was the road…but nooo, it was the motorhome. David pulled over onto the shoulder and looked underneath the rear wheels of the rig and there was a rod hanging from the m/h…ain’t suppose to be doing that! We got back on the road since there was nothing he could do on the side of the road and about 2 miles up the road was an exit, so we took it. All the while, the rig was making a horrendous amount of racket. David knew that something terrible had gone wrong with the air bags…or should I say…air-less air bags. Things from the over-head cabinets in the rear of the m/h came spilling out over the bed onto the floor. Our clothes in the closet actually came out of the hooks and the clothes came spilling out of the closets! By the time we got stopped, I had one heck of a mess to clean up!


Then we started looking for a mobile repair service….good luck there! Called the RV park we had reservations at and they gave us some phone numbers, two of them said they couldn’t come out until next week….that wasn’t good. Oh, did I mention that this particular exit was at the Route 66 Casino???

After 6 calls, we finally found a wonderful guy who was there in about 45 minutes, fixed the rod, got air back in the air bags and advised us to get the filter for the air system replaced. If you are ever in the Albequerque area and have mechanical problems, please call Jake Kline with Route 66 Emergency Mobile Service, you will not be sorry that you did!

Got to the RV Park that sounded really nice on their website, but really wasn’t much more than a dump! I am a planner, I review all of these parks through an RV website, the individual website as well as our RV club memberships….but that doesn’t always tell an accurate story. Stated it had WiFi, but I could only access it during certain times of the day and if too many other RV’ers logged on, well, you get kicked off! I have to give them credit, since they are on the old Route 66, they had a lot of older campers connected to old Hudson automobiles and it caters to the Route 66 crowd. I like to reminisce with the best of them, but camping in the dust with no TV and no WiFi is NOT camping for me! Those of you who say that this is not camping, try camping the old way and then camp “our way” and tell me what you like best! So, that’s my excuse for not updated our blog for the last couple of days.

So, after about $475, we were on our way to Texas! I think I’ll be glad to get out of the desert….I’m needing to see green grass and trees!!

This photo is for my grandson, Hudson James Poole.

So, after about $475, we were on our way to Texas! I think I’ll be glad to get out of the desert….I’m needing to see green grass and trees!!

It’s funny how these types of emergencies cause other things to happen. Robyn, my youngest daughter, reminded me that one of our dear friends and her husband lived in the Albequerque area and when I posted on Facebook about our predicament, Connie Harrison Grigson, emailed me. Connie and Jill, my oldest daughter were best friends from middle school through college and she lives here in Albq. Her and her husband invited David and I to bring the motorhome to their house for the night…so special! Thanked her but told her we were safe and sound in the RV Park. This morning I got to thinking, how can we be so close and not even drop by to say hi? I remember how many of our friends would come to the Bay Area and never call or anything…sorta of hurt my feelings. Well, I gave Connie a call this morning, asked if we could drop by...just for a minute. Her and her precious husband welcomed us with open arms and a pitcher of sweet tea! We only stayed about an hour, but it was enough to catch up, hug and take a few pictures….I truly believe that these things happen for a reason.

Connie & Drew gave us tips on seeing Santa Fe and gave us a great restaurant in Albq, for some terrific New Mexican food…if you come here, try out Los Cuates del Norte. I love hot stuff and they had a wonderful hot salsa that I got to purchase. Don’t know if anyone at home other than my two son-in-laws like the heat like I do, but you can betcha, they will have an opportunity to try it out!

By the way, (this is just for my friend, Marilyn) I bought 3 original bracelets from the artist who made them in Sante Fe!


We have arrived in Amarillo about 3 PM this afternoon! What a ride, I have to give my darling husband all the credit for getting us here safe and sound because the weather was horrible! The wind was so strong, but mix that with torrents of rain and semi-trucks, and I think you will get the picture. David is such a great driver (well, when someone doesn’t tick him off), he knows that this is our home that we are traveling in and he does take great care while on the road.


The RV Park we pulled into seems to be really nice…has cable and WiFi and appears to be relatively new so I think we will be happy for a couple of days, however, they say that it is always WINDY in Amarillo, so we’ll see.

pe this brings us up to date and I hope that I’m never without decent WiFi ever again! Amazing how we are addicted to our technology of today…David says he never can have a conversation with me because my nose is either in the iPhone or internet (but he never thinks about his nose being in the TV!).

Sedona, AZ

Am I one of those woosie Californians, or is 22 degrees too darn cold? It snowed blue blazes last night but as the morning progressed, it started melting. My dear husband fixed breakfast this morning, what a treat!

After the snow melted we made our trip to Sedona. What a gorgeous landscape! We've been there before, but you NEVER get tired of the beauty of the red rock formations.

One of the most gorgeous and awe inspiring is the Chapel of the Holy Cross, built into the red rock formations. God really knows where to build these churches!

We left Sedona back to Flagstaff and then on to Williams, guess what I found....a Cracker Barrel!!! Our first since leaving California. I was checking for one in Nevada but nothing. Guess where we had our dinner? Chicken and dumplings....um, um, good!

Tomorrow we leave Arizona for Albuquerque, NM. Hoping to see some balloons!!!

The Grand Canyon

The weather certainly has changed from what we encountered in Las Vegas. The wind got so bad last night that David had to get up in the middle of the night to pull our slide out in...found out this morning that the wind was 27 miles an hour with gusts up to 37!

We started our morning with a gunslinger show out by the train station...always fun. We boarded the train for a trip that was a little over 2 hours up to the canyon. Once we got there, we debarked and boarded a tour bus. The bus took us to a great lunch and then we did the actual tour. The Grand Canyon is so amazing...there are not enough words to describe the vision. Our tour was almost 3 hours and then we came back to the train station so we could tour the El Tovor Hotel and the Hopi House. I was intrigued with the Hopi House which was a building built in the early 1900's by  Hopi workmen using native stone and wood.

The wind at the canyon was brutal! But, even with the wind, you cannot deny the beauty of the Grand Canyon!

Just a little peek at the weather we are experiencing tonight...snow, high winds and very low temperatures!