On our way to Illinois...

September 5 - 9, 2016

We left South Dakota and headed for Morton, Il.  to see my best friend in the world!  Julie Cleveland & her husband Anthony.  Julie & I have been friends for more than 50 years!
Had reservations at Spindler Campground, http://www.fondulacpark.com/facilities/carl-spindler-campground, there Thursday, September 7th to Saturday the 10th.

We got as far as Waterloo, IA & decideded to stop for a couple days.

Found a nice KOA campground,http://koa.com/campgrounds/waterloo, that was reasonably priced, close to the interstate.

What a nice park!  We were up on a hill overlooking a small lake.  The off leash dog park was right behind us.  It was beautifully landscaped & had gravel roads in great shape.







Went to lower the landing gear so we could unhook the truck.  Only 1 side was going down!

How could this be?  They work together.

I got on my phone to find a mobil rv repair place.  They apparently weren't as common here as they are in Florida.  Got a lot of nope, we don't do that but you could bring it in.  We could get to it in a few days.  Yea...that's not going to work for us.  We finally got hold of a guy that listened to Georgie explain what he saw.  We sent a few pictures.  He called & told us how to fix it.  Wish we had his name.

About 2 hours later we got it fixed & unhooked. Whew!  What a relief.

Enjoyed a couple days there.  They had a nice, new casino, Isle Casino, http://waterloo.isleofcapricasinos.com.  We went a couple times.  Did some laundry & just kinda hung out.

On the 7th we got ready to hook the truck up...best layed plans...HA!  Both truck batteries were dead!  Unfucking believable!   Called AAA.  They were there within a 1/2 hour.  Not so bad.  Georgie decided we should get 2 new batteries.  So he followed the guy that jumped us back to his shop.  The guy tested our batteries...they were fine.  We needed a new alternator.   Oh yeah!  How long was THIS going to take?  A very nice surprise...only about 45 minutes!  The guy was great!

Georgie got back.  Backed up to the hitch.  Oh...ANOTHER NICE SURPRISE! (not really)
I went to extend the landing gear...it wasn't moving!  We had to raise it to get the truck hooked up! WTF!  (said out loud)   Spent about an hour trying to figure out what it was.  OH!  We figured it out...it wasn't good!  Called that same guy, sent pictures, etc.  He had to order a part.  He ordered a new worm gear & had it shipped to him overnight.  It came, we picked it up & tried to figure out what we had to do.  It took 2 days!

Luckily the KOA was able to extend our stay...day by day.  We didn't think it would take 2 days...but it did!

September 9 - 12, 2016

We were finally on our way to Illinois.  We were also lucky that the campground there could change our dates...and didn't charge any additional fees!

We got to Spindler Campground about 7:30 pm.  Guess who was waiting for us?  Julie & Anthony! What a really nice surprise!

We spent time with them.  Went to dinner with Julie, Anthony, her sister Janet & husband Greg, and her brother Jim!  We laughed all night!  I may have peed a little in my pants.  I didn't tell any of them that.   I did, however, seem to spill my guts about most everything else that's happened to my bodily functions as I've grown older!  (I'm chuckling a little to myself right now)

Julie is one of those friends that you can talk to once a month and it's just like it was yesterday that we talked.  We just pick up where we left off.  That's why I love her so much!

Never enough time with her but...we had to get on to Pennsylvania to see our daughter Jessica & her family.

Our Time in Cortez, CO...so far!

Friday, July 15, 2016

Arrived at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, CO (pop. 8,500) about 4 pm. 

 
What a nice park.  No pool but we don’t need one.  Staying 17 days.   We set up in about ½ hour.  They have a Safeway & City Market (Kroger) as well as a Super Walmart.  They also have quite a few “weed stores” (as Georgie puts it).  You can easily spot them…they have a large green cross outside.  Georgie made sure this was our 1^st stop!  That’s all I heard from him the last 2 days of our drive here.

Since it’s legal here I decided I could smoke some.  Yea, well!  We were laughing SO hard.  I was laughing so hard I started to fall backwards.  I grabbed the edge of the counter…and ripped it off…on my way down to the floor!  Great!  Of course this was just one more thing to laugh about!  Old people and dope…what can I say. 

Saturday, July 16

Unloaded the Harley’s.   Cleaned the garage.  Took a nap…a long nap…because we can.

Sunday, July 17

Had to take Annie to the Emergency Vet in Durango (pop. 17,800), Riverview Animal Hospital.  

 

 

 

 

 

Found a nice restaurant where we could eat outside so Tori could be with us, Ska Brewery.  I think they have the best hamburgers we have ever eaten!

Monday, July 18

Hung out around here.  Did some laundry.  Took a drive to see the town.

 

Tuesday, July 19
Rode the Harley’s to Four Corners Monument-90 miles round trip.  Stopped at Ute Mountain Casino on the way there.  A lot of penny slots.

 

Wednesday, July 20

Back to Durango.  Annie had to get her bandages changed.  Made reservations at Alpen Rose RV Park for Aug 1-8.

Thursday, July 21

Rode out to Dolores (pop. 953) through Mancos (pop. 1,360).

Friday, July 22

Rode back to Dolores.  Had really good pizza at Riverfront Bar & Grill.  Sat out on the deck, right on the Delores River. 

Saturday, July 23

I stayed home to do some things around the house.  Georgie road to Dolores.  He rode through San Juan National Forest.  Was only gone about 2 hours. 

We’ll take a drive up there some evening before dark.  Georgie thinks we’ll see a lot of wild life.

 

Sunday, July 24

Back again to Durango for Annie’s check up.  Got her bandages off but now has to wear her Cone of Shame ALL THE TIME!

Elevation in Silverton

Silverton

 Drove up to Silverton (pop. 629).  What a SCARY drive!  Rt. 550 is called The Million Dollar Rd.  We hit a deer as we came around a curve.  Most of the road has no shoulder, just a looooong drop off.   No guardrails!  Silverton doesn’t have any fast food places BUT…they have at least 1 “weed store”.  We decided that since Annie will have to go to the Vet at least 1 more time we’d stay another week in Durango and ride the Harley’s up to Silverton.

 

On the way back from Silverton

Monday, July 25

Rode the Harley’s to Mesa Verde National Park.  What a beautiful ride!  Lots of switch-backs but there were guardrails so not too bad…for me.  About  50 miles round trip.

 

There are a lot of places to stop.  As far back as 800 AD the Pueblo Indians built and lived in the Cliff Dwellings.  

 

Tuesday, July 26

Started to wax the rig.  This is going to be a big job.  We’ll do a little at a time.  It was somewhat overcast today so was a good day to do this.

Dropped the bedroom clicker beside the bed.  On my side there is a small space between the bed and the floor so the slide can go in and out.  The clicker fell down in that small space.  We had to take the strip of wood off Georgie’s side then slide the broom handle all the way across to push the clicker up where I could reach it.  Georgie was in charge of putting the strip of wood back.  He’s getting so handly!

We fixed the emergency window latch.  It broke on the drive here.   We ordered a new one.

And the Saga of Poor Sweet Annie Continues....

If you read our blog post from Friday, July 8, 2016 OMG!  Glad We Weren't...On the Road..., you know what happened to our Annie.

We left Brent & Ashley's on Sunday, July 10th.  We were checking her wound every night when we stopped.  On Wednesday, July 13th we noticed a couple of stitches had come out.  We didn't think too much of it.  We put some Neosporin on it, a huge bandaid then wrapped gauze around it then put her T-shirt back on.
When we checked it on Thursday, July 14th a couple more stitches had come out.  Again with the Neosporin, bandaid and gauze.

We arrived at our campground on Friday, July 15th in Cortez, CO.  We were busy setting up and we were sooooo tired.  Annie's wound didn't get checked until Saturday morning.  It looked like most of the stitches had come out but it didn't seem to bother her.  We wrapped it again.  We called all the vets in the area, none were open until Monday, July 18th.  We figured we'd just keep an eye on it then take her Monday to see a vet.
On Sunday when we checked it, it was completely open.  You could see the muscle!  We found an emergency vet in Durango that was open.  We all loaded in the truck at 9:30 am and headed to Durango, about an hour east of us.
We got to the vets office around 10:30 am.  They looked at it.  Dr. Randy said they would have to do surgery...again.  There may be some infection also.  Shit!  And we thought we were taking good care of her.  Shit!  He said it would be a couple of hours before we could take her home.  Poor Annie.
We drove around a while, went to lunch (at Ska Brewery-more about this in another blog post)
We got a call around 2 pm.  Annie was out of surgery, it went well.  She was in recovery.  We could pick her up around 4 pm.  This was beginning to be a very long day!  We asked if we could come see her.  They said she was still sleeping and wouldn't even know we were there.  Ok we said.
About 20 minutes later my phone rings.  It's the vets office.  Annie woke up.  We could come get her as she would probably be happier with us.  (We figured when she woke up, she WOKE UP!  She was probably barking and wouldn't stop).
We raced to the vets office.  We could hear her in the back.  Tori was ready to head back there. 
They brought her out.  Poor thing, she looked pitiful but was full of energy!  Oh...and she gets to wear "The Cone of Shame". 

They wanted to see her on Wednesday, July 20th at 7:45 am.  We thought they said they were going to check her and take her bandage off. 
She did pretty good with the cone of shame.  She got to take it off to eat and when she went out to pee and other stuff.  She caught on pretty quick when she got it off.  She wanted to go out a lot more than normal, that's for sure.  It was the least we could do for poor Annie.  Tori didn't know what to think.  Alley cat was puzzled.  How would she be able to play with her buddy.  Believe me, they figured it out!
Anyway, we got to the vets office on Wednesday and had to leave her for about an hour.  We were excited for her to have her bandage off!

We got a call that we could pick her up about 9 am. 
They brought her out when we got there.  To our dismay, she had another bandage on.  This one was red instead of blue. 

We were kind of disappointed but Dr. Randy explained that with her being a puppy it was best if they kept it bandaged for a couple weeks.  We understood.
They wanted to see her Sunday, July 24th and then again on Thursday and again on Monday or Tuesday.
We were only going to stay in Cortez until Friday, July 29th.  We looked around Durango for campgrounds.  We found one we could get into for a week starting August 1.  We made reservations at Alpen Rose RV Park in Durango (Will tell you why we chose this campground in another blog post).  Came back to Cortez and extended our stay here until August 1.
Hopefully Annie will recover nicely and this will all be behind us.
We've said many times...this is the most expensive dog we have every owned!  The nurse said Annie needs to get a job.  Well...show dog is out of the questions now.