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Travel Journal

January 2005

The New Year began with an ice storm and sleet that lasted for ten hours. The streets, houses, forests and fields were covered with a sheet of ice. The RV turned into an igloo.

Then it began to snow on top of the ice. We have been using a special sewer connection that pulverizes the sewage and then pumps it through a garden hose into the sewer. The insulated fresh water line will function while the temperature remains at around 25° F or higher. This holds true for the sewer line also but when it gets colder, we can have fresh water but no way of emptying the tanks until the weather gets warmer. So, we have to also sparingly use fresh water. In a campground with a full sized sewer line and a heated fresh water inlet we probably would not have this inconvenience. The RV itself remained quite warm so we are still living quite comfortably.

Here is a few photos

After the first „warm“ spell, we got the idea to empty the tanks, then use a leaf blower to blow the hose clear of water, so it wouldn’t freeze, and bought a „hose heater“ for the fresh water line.

After New Years Chuck went to the doctor because his right arm and shoulder were not getting any better. He was diagnosed with a frozen shoulder that would require physical therapy.  He received a steroid shot in the joint and was scheduled for an X-ray and physical therapy.  The following day Chuck had the X-ray and began the physical therapy which was quite painful.  Two weeks later Chuck was advised that the X-ray revealed a healing fracture and that he had broken his shoulder.  How it happened is a total mystery!  It was already hurting him quite a bit in the emergency room but they were concentrating on his left hand.  We have surmised that something must have hit him causing the table saw accident or he is blocking out a short period of time after the accident. 

Since January 26th, our grandchildren are living here in Fort Wayne with Michael and are enrolled here in school. Unpleasant occurrences and conditions in the mother’s house (Home?) prompted the Child Services to intervene. Whether or not the children will permanently remain with Michael is yet to be determined by the court.

Our travels for the immediate future will begin in late February. We plan to leave here around the beginning of March because Chuck has to be back in Washington for a follow up on March 7th with the Ophthalmology Clinic where he had surgery for a detached retina about a year ago. By that time Michael will have the child care arrangements worked out. It has been a good thing that we were here when this all happened.

We are supposed to meet a German friend on the East Coast in late March and she will be traveling with us for a week or two. Where we are going and how long we stay hasn’t been decided. That is exactly how we planned it to be: having no plans!

To be continued ………………………..

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