Author: Lori

 

When we arrived at the Maverick Ranch and RV Park in Lajitas, Texas; bewildered from the drive, we were met by the kindest gentleman, Mr. Bob Farley. Gentleman is a term that is not used a lot today. Many young boys are not taught to be gentleman, or even know what the term encompasses. This man is the definition of such term. He helped us set up our camper, calmed our nerves with his gentle voice and even brought us a beer to help relax. He offered to escort us  to some of the hiking trails during our stay. When we arrived, we talked about only staying one night because we did not realize we were 50 miles from the National Park.  His kindness, quickly changed our minds and we stayed the 4 nights. We spent some time at the pool, and every person there had such kind words to say about Bob. On our last full day, we were driving back from Big Bend and about 7 miles from the Ranch, the low tire pressure light went on. God guided us safely back to the campground, where we noticed TWO deflating tires.

Bob dropped what he was doing to come to our aid. He plugged both tires in 100 degree weather and made a few trips back throughout the evening, to see if the tires were holding air. In the morning, he escorted Terri to get the tires capped off with air. I think I insulted Bob when I offered him money, that was not my intention. If that wasn’t enough to ask, I noticed part way to our next destination, I had lost 2 trinkets. They were very special to me. One said “Believe” and the other was a polished stone with footprints on one side and “then he carried me” on the other side. I carry these in my pocket daily and they must have fell out when I was getting the camper ready. Bob had given us his phone number in case we ran into more trouble. I texted Bob about the medallions and he is going to check the campsite. Thank you for all your kindness, Bob. God Bless you!

I’ll get to posting about our time at Big Bend in a minute. On the way to Big Bend, prior to getting on hellish  FM170, I was calling the shots with the music. Enough with Disco- the fad lasted what,  3 years and I felt like I had been listening to it for 5!  Question, Who would EVER leave a perfectly good cake out in the rain? WHO? Now in control of the music, I began to auto scan. The scan stopped on some happy music. Terri says, “Awe, Polka music… My Aunts would listen to this all day long.” My response, “Honey, that is Mariachi music….I don’t think we will find any Polish Mexicans in this part of Southern Texas!”…

We got a late start from Abilene, Texas. Terri had to get blood work and we also had to do a Wal Mart run.

We spent far more time and money than we originally planned. Terri and the Deli lady had a lengthy discussion about turkey breast. This happens quite often. Terri always makes educated purchases. It took a year and a half to pick out our camper!

Needless to say, we did not get on the road until 11:30. We purchased an RV GPS App for this trip. We plugged in the dimensions of our camper and truck and this app is to keep us on appropriate roads to accommodate the size of our camper. It had been fabulous, up until now. It did not recognize the address of the Maverick Ranch RV Park in Lajitas, Texas and you can not put in the name of the business instead of street address. We also had trip tix done from AAA. I was reluctant to depend on the trip tix because I was not sure if they took into account the size of our camper, so I just put the route number in that lead to the RV Park and the town. WELL……It kept us on FM170 Texas route for over 50 miles. Those 50 miles were all through the mountains with steep descends and assents. Tight turns and limited guide rails. God bless Terri, she did a fabulous job at maneuvering our 35 foot camper through this mountainous maze.

Prior to getting on the route, Terri suggested we stop for fuel and we were over a half tank full. Thank God we did because she burned a lot of gas trying to get up the steep hills. Just another reminder God is guiding us, gently nudging our decisions. We would have ran out of gas as there was no one or no civilization the entire route until we hit Lajitas.  Poor Terri was so stressed the entire time, but she kept remarkable composure, as always….. I learned FM  stands for Farm to Market- It is no interstate!

We pulled into Maverick Ranch, RV Park and Resort around 8:15 PM.  6 hours and 11 minutes turned into 9 hours!

View from our camp site:

Big Bend National Park is 50 miles from Maverick Ranch. The state park is just down the road and is hundreds of acres. Terri was exhausted this morning, so we just hung out at the pool for a bit and she has been resting. We plan to go to Big Bend  National Park tomorrow.

 

 

From Hot Springs National Park we headed to Abilene KOA in, you guessed it- Abilene. We spent one night there and did laundry. That’s all I have to say about that.

Well the auditory hell ended at the Hot Springs KOA in Arkansas, or as Terri jokingly says “R Kansas”. I feel, this was our first logistical mistake. We only reserved one night at the KOA, but did not arrive until 4:45 PM and the NP  Visitor Center closed at 5 PM. It did not open until 9 AM the next morning, which meant, getting the camper ready to pull out before we left for the Visitors Center. Hot Springs NP is confusing because the town is also called Hot Springs. The National Park explains the town is trying to claim they are the NP. The Visitor Center is located in the middle of town (which doesn’t help their argument) on Bathhouse Row and is actually the old Fordyce Bathhouse.

We did a self tour of the Fordyce Bathhouse, it looked like something out of the Roman Empire. A lot of marble and ornate statues. This was a place for the elite to relax in a tub of mineral water from the hot springs. I’m thinking this sweat box wouldn’t have done it for me-

Veni, Vidi, Vici- I came, I saw,  I ran like hell!

Check out more pics:

I think that bath tub needs some soft scrub!

They also noted  electrocutions  by mineral baths were preformed at Fordyce Bathhouse. Yet another reason to Vici.

We walked the promenade,  the path on which the elite would walk to the bathhouses. Al Capone was a frequent visitor.

We stuck our hands in the thermal spring. 145degrees! it was awesome to see fountains with steam rising.

The main street was called Bathhouse Row where 8 functioning Bathhouses/spas compete for business. Here is one:

The prices are pretty hefty for a mineral bath and spa treatment. Oh lest we forget, the temperature of the water is 145 degrees! If Terri  and I wouldn’t pay $25.00 for a photo of the two of us on the iconic center stage of the Grand Ole Opry, we are not paying over $200.00 for a bath!  Besides, when you’re gay, the term bathhouse has it’s own connotation.

We only spent about an hour and a half, in downtown Hot Springs. We noticed a beautiful shrub. The Park Ranger informed us it was a type of Japanese Golden shrub:

I also saw my first Georgia Magnolia tree in bloom, and I was in Arkansas.

“Go ahead M’Lynn, slap her!…We’ll sell t-shirts sayin’ ‘I SLAPPED OUISER BOUDREAUX’ Hit her!….You just missed the chance of a lifetime! Half o’ Chiquapin Parish’d give their eye teeth to take a whack at Ouiser!”  See a theme regarding Shirley McClaine?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Nashville to Hot Springs Arkansas was over 400 miles- 7 hour drive time with stops. I didn’t think I did anything to upset Terri, perhaps she was just getting  me back for having to do all the driving.  Whatever it was, i did not go unpunished. Terri decided to plug in her I pod -hours of her personal favorites: Donna Summer, Mariah Carey, Barbara Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Peobo Bryson and Bobby Vinton! Dear Lord save me from this auditory HELL!

I remember years ago, we went to a Heart/ Def Leopard concert. We were  tailgating in the parking lot  of the PNC Pavilion in Burgettstown.  Terri had her I pod plugged in, jamming to Heart. Our section of the parking lot was enjoying the drop down speakers on my Dodge Caliber hatch back. Terri decided to switch over to her Def Leopard collection, however did not have her glasses on. When she scrolled through , she clicked on what she thought was Def Leopard, it was instead, the theme from Lion King. Silence fell upon the parking lot, except for the sound of people spitting out their beer. I yelled, “wrong type of cat!”  We laughed hysterically.  Still one of many favorite memories.

 

Well this is as close as I got to him-Damn!  Poor Terri waited for Johnny Cash to show up-

Eventually, they asked her to leave. Thank God, she is doing all the driving.

We stayed 2 nights at the Nashville KOA.

We arrived early, so we toured the Grand Ole Opry. It was a backstage hour tour. I was surprised to see the Opry was right next to a Dave and Busters, adjacent to a mall. The property used to be an amusement park. This Opry was built in 1974. It’s original location was the Ryman Church on Fifth Avenue. The old location is now Ryman Auditorium and serves as concert venue.  The new Opry flooded in 2010 and was up and running in a few short months. A section of center stage from the Ryman was moved to the new location and continues to be center stage. This section of stage is where all the country icons stood to preform. Terri and I stood on that same wood and they took our photo. For $25.00 we could have a copy of the photo. Needless to say you are not going to see copy of the photo, but here are some we took for free!

Blake’s mailbox:

Okay so we didn’t take many photos inside…..but we got one of Blake’s mailbox…

Growing up in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, neither of us have ever set foot in a Honky Tonk, unless you count Pipetown hotel. So we ventured to Broadway. No, not to see Hamilton- wrong Broadway…. The first Honky Tonk was Tootsie’s. It was so jam-packed, the only standing room was on the bar. We visited 3 others, heard some locals and did some hootin’ and holler’n. The street reminded us of a mini Vegas,  but instead of Casino’s,  bars. Many of the bars had roof top entertainment. The view of Nashville from a rooftop was stunning.

The following day, we went for a bike ride on a park trail in Nashville. We certainly got a different view of the city.

Oh and did I mention it was 95 degrees…that was the thermometer reading, not heat index….we kept well hydrated and then went for a swim at the  KOA.  Nice day! Real nice Day!

 

 

We flew home from Fort Lauderdale Saturday night June 9th and spent the late evening doing laundry. The next day was spent packing the camper and picking up last minute incidentals. We initially planned to leave Tuesday, however that would have meant a 10 hour drive to our first destination. At the last minute, we decided to head out Monday,  drive half-way and spend the night at our first KOA. We booked Lebanon/Cincinnati NE KOA.

Lebanon Ohio is a very quaint and pristine little town.

We didn’t have time to check it out, but it looks like a great place for a quiet getaway. I love little towns with unique store fronts and cafes.

The next stop Singing Hills RV Park in Cave City Kentucky, 5  miles from Mammoth Cave National Park:

 

We spent two nights at Singing Hills. We did one tour of the cave, and there were many; from easy to difficult. We chose an easy tour of Frozen Niagara. Most of the cave is dry, except for this section.  I took pics, however it was dimly lit and you were not permitted flash. The cave is a constant 50 degrees, a welcomed change to the 87 degrees/high humidity of the day.

 I asked the Ranger the difference between a cave and a cavern-  a cave you walk into and a cavern you have to be lowered in to. However, the terms are used interchangeably.  There are over 300   different species residing in the cave. One is a fish that is a distant relative to the trout. It has no eyes. As this fish evolved, it obviously did not need the sense of sight. The Ranger demonstrated complete darkness in the cave- a bit freaky. We did not come in contact with any bats- thank you Jesus!

We also enjoyed hiking 4 of the numerous trails in the park and outside the park. Don’t we look like seasoned hikers? Oh, did I forget to mention, Terri made sure our backpacks were supplied with;  bear spray, a compass, a commando saw, a thermal blanket, a whistle and a Leatherman. We did  a total of 6 miles, kept well hydrated and did not get lost, cold, or come in contact with a bear. There were however, turkeys -lots of them. See a pattern with foul? They may be migrating to Key West.

We were exhausted at the end of the day. But what a day it was. For more pics, see page titled Mammoth Cave NP under Menu.

 

 

 

Dr. P had been making rounds daily, many times twice a day.  Terri and I were very appreciative of Dr. P and his concern. Terri has a way to people’s hearts. I had worked in the medical field for nearly 20 years and I never witnessed a patient and Dr. say “I love you”. To this day, they hug and exchange “love yous”… His  staff are the same and so genuine. We are blessed…

The pathology results were in about a week after surgery. Dr. P gently broke the news, cancer. He had explained he removed the tail of the pancreas and believed he had clean margins on the tumor. The news, of course, was devastating. Then as Terri often does, she was thankful. Thankful it was on the tail of the pancreas and not the head. Thankful the doctor had gotten all of the tumor and clean margins. Thankful she made it through surgery. Thankful Dr. P felt he could reverse the colostomy within a year.  Understanding chemo would start in 2-3 months after she healed from surgery. This was so much to absorb. So much to take on, yet I remember Terri praying for the women in the next bed; praying the woman would feel better soon and get home to her family. This is Terri…This is who she is. I am so blessed she has chosen me to share this life.

Terri went through 6 months of gemcitabine  chemotherapy.  The regime was weekly;  3 week on, 1 week off.  Oncologists and nurses are very cautious that patients do not put a lot of weight in CA 19-9 tumor markers because they fluctuate and are not as specific as other tumor markers. Her oncologist at the time, was drawing them monthly.

Terri had her colostomy reversed December of 2014, 11 months after the first surgery. The reversal was more complex than the original colostomy and Terri was in the hospital for several weeks. After recuperating from the reversal, the worst appeared behind us.

Terri had monthly appointments with the oncologist in Pittsburgh where she  would continue to have monthly CA 19-9 tumor markers drawn, The numbers started to slowly increase. The oncologist cautioned her not to put a lot of emphasis on the numbers because the scans were coming back clean and there was no evidence of disease. Every time a scan was done, we held our breath until we received the results. The stress is indescribable.  The tumor markers continued to rise…

It seemed fitting to start this journey at mile zero – the southern most point. In addition to snorkeling and fishing tours, we experienced as much of  Key West as we could, in four short days . We spent the first evening at Mallory Square having some fun and catching a stunning sunset-

We also did some cycling but the heat and humidity was challenging.

Of course, some beach and bar time-

We even caught a Cabaret show, featuring a female impersonator Christopher Peterson-

 Key West was a great start to this trip of a life time.  But what is with all the chickens and roosters???