LEXINGTON VIRGINIA TO SOMEWHERE NORTH OF STATESIDE NORTH CAROLINA…..STILL NOT UP TO PAR:((

Unlike our usual traveling selves we were not on the road in the pre-dawn hours but some of our welcome overnight guests were.  In unknown areas it’s always comforting to have a few other RV’ers or trucks scattered about and last night it was half a dozen trucks which were not a bother at all.  In fact one fella had pulled in a few spaces over and left his engine running but as darkness fell he backed his rig up about 3 lengths and we like to think the driver did that out of common courtesy for us.  Hmmm, wonder if he/she was a fellow Canadian:))

Have definitely moved up another notch on the good old ‘feeling better’ scale and I think much of that had to do with a desperately welcome good night’s sleep for a change.  Had to use a powerful sleeping pill to do it though.

ROLLING ALONG THROUGH THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

We had the big wheels rolling at 8:30 and were soon southbound on I-81.  What a gorgeously beautiful morning it was again as we slipped along over hill and dale around gently rolling curves.  Clear blue skies and scenery that went on forever.   Sure is a picture perfect part of the country and I’m glad we finally had a chance to have a look at it.

BLACKBERRY PHOTO BOMBING

I could tell right away I was solidly back in the driver’s seat again handily taking charge of my surroundings.  We encountered a few long winding grades and the The Big EEE never missed a beat and I’m thinking it all has to do with blog reader ‘Chris the Jeep Guy’ taking the time last winter in Congress to disassemble, clean and reassemble our O2 sensor one morning.  We have not had a speck of trouble since he did that.  Don’t know if your still out here Chris but a great big ‘Yahouie Louie’ to you:))))

INTERSTATE TO THE LEFT WITH A RUNAWAY TRUCK RAMP TO THE RIGHT

Traffic was lighter this morning but feeling a little drained around 11 we decided to take advantage of a Cracker Barrel again only this time for some breakfast.  Several folks have mentioned I should be eating some eggs so eggs it was at the Barrel.  Soooooo good.  As generally always happens we can never eat all our food and end up with enough stuff to last us for supper.  Today was no exception as our generous waitress loaded our Bowser bag with extra dinner rolls, butters and jams as well as two piping hot full cups of coffee to go.  One look at me and I’m convinced she thought I was a homeless person.  We had to wheelbarrow our goodies out in a shopping bag.

 

I PUT A LOAD OF LAUNDRY IN WHILE WE WENT IN FOR BREAKFAST

Feeling a little under the weather I rested in the rig for about 40 minutes before we hit the road again and as soon as we had ourselves rolling I rallied and felt perfectly fine.  Might have even had myself a quiet little whistle.  Our conversation finally centered on which route to take.  We were coming up on a couple options and needed to make a decision before we blew on by the exits.  I was still leaning towards my I-81 and 26 heading through Asheville to Augusta Georgia.  Following Triple AAA’s Triptic Kelly came up with some new plans which would get us off I-81 earlier and head us on down through Charlotte then pick up a secondary highway heading to Augusta.  Well boys you know there’s no use winning anything when that female mind is made up so at the junction of I-80 and I-77 I swung that Motorhome steering wheel hard left and headed due south. 

ELMO HAS REALLY BEEN HAPPILY ENJOYING HIS VERY FIRST EVER RV TRIP…..HE SURE GIGGLES A LOT

Along about 1 o’clock I could tell I was beginning to fade yet again so had my trusty navigator plot us a course to the nearest standard safe port and sure enough using her Blackberry for the first time as a GPS she found us a Walmart just a short distance dead ahead.  Oh how welcome it always is at the end of a travel day to see that big old blue Walmart sign.

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After seemingly driving through Virginia forever yesterday and today it was nice to see a new State finally show up.  No idea where we’ll be Thursday night but tonight we are somewhere north of Stateside North Carolina……………..

Don’t know why but my energies keep tanking.  Tried taking Pheebs for a short walk late this afternoon but had to return quickly on rubbery legs and hit the washroom.  Told Kelly I wanted to try walking to the Walmart store and jokingly told her to come along in case she had to bring me back in a shopping cart.  That nearly happened and I was so glad to make it back to the rig and flop myself into my recliner.  Whatever it is I have seems to come and go.  One minute I’m feeling reasonably good and the next minute I feel like a big steam roller has run over me……...then backed up.

OUR SPOT FOR THE NIGHT AND YEP THAT’S PHEEBS AND KELLY WAY DOWN THERE OUT FOR A WALK

GROANER’S CORNER:(( By the time the sailor pulled into a little town every hotel room was taken. "You've got to have a room somewhere," he pleaded. "Or just a bed, I don't care where."  "Well, I do have a double room with one occupant - an Air Force guy," admitted the manager, "and he might be glad to split the cost. But to tell you the truth, he snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms have complained in the past.  I'm not sure it'd be worth it to you."  "No problem," the tired Navy man assured him. "I'll take it." The next morning, the sailor came down to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy tailed. "How'd you sleep?" asked the manager. "Never better." The manager was impressed. "No problem with the other guy snoring?" "Nope. I shut him up in no time," said the Navy guy.  "How'd you manage that?" asked the manager.  "He was already in bed, snoring away, when I came in the room," the sailor explained. "I went over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said, 'Goodnight beautiful,' ….....and he sat up all night watching me."

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Once upon a time there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly decided to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to Earth in a barnyard, nearly frozen solid. A cow passed by where he had fallen, and crapped on the little sparrow.The sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings!  Warm and happy, able to breath, he started to sing.  Just then a large cat came by, and hearing the chirping he investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird, and promptly ate him.

The Moral of the Story:

Everyone who craps on you is not necessarily your enemy

Everyone who gets you out of crap is not necessarily your friend.

And if you're warm and happy in a pile of crap, you might just want to keep your mouth shut.

SPENCERPORT NY TO LEWISBURG PA TO FALLING WATERS VA TO ‘CRACKER BARREL’ TO LEXINGTON VA

I WAS FEELING TOO SICK TO EVEN GET OUT TO PUT GAS IN THE RIG SATURDAY

We haven’t really figured out why I became so sick yet but if it was food poisoning it shouldn’t have lasted so long and if it was the flu then why hasn’t Kelly picked it up.  It’s very close quarters inside these RV’s.  Hadn’t been feeling up to par for a couple days which I blamed on the cold and wet bleak rainy weather back in Spencerport NY a few days ago.  Friday night I was standing by our kitchen sink when I suddenly began shaking.  Within seconds it seemed like every muscle in my body was going in a different direction.  I had shivering tremors going up and down my abdomen with muscles tightly contracting.  Arms and legs shook and I couldn’t believe how my wrists and hands were shaking so badly.  My arms were jerking uncontrollably.  This lasted about 20 minutes then thankfully subsided and from there I just went right down the tubes.  I’ll spare you the details but let me say that over the next 3 days I pretty much wore a rut into our Motorhomes floor between my recliner and the overworked washroom.

IT WAS RAIN SOAKED HIGHWAYS ALL THE WAY TO THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE LINE

‘BETTER DAYS AHEAD-BETTER DAYS AHEAD-BETTER DAYS AHEAD

With a poor night’s sleep Saturday morning came way too early.  It was time to go.  Luckily the rig drove across the grass just fine without sinking in and minutes later under a street light I painstakingly hooked up the Jeep in a cold drizzle.  A few quick goodbyes and we had the big wheels rolling at exactly 8 a.m.  Kelly’s Mom is a Triple AAA member and had them do up a TripTik route map from Spencerport NY to Sarasota Fla to Congress Az.  That triptik really helped us out over the next couple days.

A SCENIC STOP AT THE PENNSYLVANIA WELCOME CENTER

Poured rain from Spencerport all the way to about the Pennsylvania State line.  Because it was a Saturday morning traffic was very lite and that is why we always prefer to start our travels on a week end with Saturday and Sunday being the best driving days of the week especially Sundays.  By the time we pulled into the Pennsylvania Welcome Center for a break roads were dry, skies had brightened but no sun yet.  At this point I had not eaten anything since Friday afternoon at the Bad Apple Bistro.  I had no appetite but thought I’d try some tomato soup and grilled cheese Kelly whupped up.  An hour later I threw it all up.  The next few hours was a really tough drive for me because I felt so sick but I did notice how absolutely beautiful the scenery was going by.  We were traveling through the Allegheny Mountains with their Autumn colors at their finest.  Even with no Sun to fire up their crimson colors the forests put on a great show for us.  I was reminded of Ontario’s Beaver Valley and Collingwood’s Blue Mountain areas.

MOTORING THROUGH THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS

HERE’S KELLY SHOOTING RINGS AROUND ME AGAIN WITH HER BLACKBERRY DTEK

By the time we reached Lewisburg Pa I knew I couldn’t go much further and here’s where we caught us bit of luck.  I remembered one of our blog readers (Connie) had given us directions to a friendly and easy to get to Walmart in Lewisburg and following those directions we found that Wallyworld behind Sheets gas station.  And just in the nick of time as I went into my second session of shakes and tremors.  Same as before but lasted only half the time.  From this point on if I wasn’t in the drivers seat I was in my recliner and how thankful I was that Kelly had insisted we get that nice leather recliner for the rig last summer.  Guess you could go as far to say I have been living in it these past few days.

STOPPED AT WALMART IN LEWISBURG PA

Skies began to clear early Sunday morning as we rolled out of Walmart following our TripTic instructions through a series of off again-on again highways winding our way down to and around Harrisburg Pa.  It was about here when Aunt Jean phoned to see how we were making out.  A bit further on past Chambersburg Pa I began feeling very bad so we knew it was imperative for us to quickly find an RV Park and hole up for a day or two.  Needed to take on some water anyway so Kelly found us a little campground near Martinsburg West Virginia.  Falling Waters Campground

FOLLOWING ALONGSIDE THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER

HAD TO PASS US HALF A DOZEN SLOWER MOVING ARMY VEHICLES

Only a mile south of I-81 ‘Falling Waters was easy to find.  We’re packed pretty tight in here.  This was now over 2 days with no food in my stomach and I was feeling very weak.  I had trouble hooking up the water, sewer, and power lines and Kelly had to pretty much take over.  I was having trouble with my balance and worried anyone watching would think I was drunk.  I was so glad to get back inside the rig and into my recliner where I was to basically remain until Tuesday only venturing outside once to take a photo of our campsite location.

NO NOT A BACKWOODS BALARINA BUT YOUNG FELLA LEADING US TO OUR SPOT AT THE FALLING WATER CAMPGROUND

The thought of eating anything since Friday night absolutely repulsed me but late Sunday afternoon I thought of Chicken Soup and that thought agreed with me but of course we did not have any chicken soup with us.  There is a bit of a camp store here so Kelly walked over to see what she could find and sure enough they had one lonely little can of chicken soup sitting on the shelf all by itself.  What a piece of luck that was for me.  Kelly heated up a small bowl and ohhhhhh how great that tasted.  And here’s the best part, it stayed down.

OUR SPOT FOR A 2 NIGHT STAY

PHEEBS EXCITEDLEY WATCHES FOR MOM TO RETURN WITH A CAN OF YUMMY CHICKEN SOUP FOR DAD AND OH HEY HERE SHE COMES NOW

KELLY ON HER PHONE TALKING TO HER MOTHER THIS AFTERNOON AND WOULD YOU BELIEVE HER MOTHER KNEW OF THE CAMPGROUND WE WERE IN BECAUSE IN HER AND KELLY’S DAD’S RV SNOW BIRDING YEARS THEY HAD ACTUALLY STAYED AT THIS VERY SAME PLACE

So nice to see sunshine streaming through the windows Monday morning.  During the course of the day Pheebs took Kelly for a number of walks around the Park while I spent all my time sleepily anchored to my chair under my favorite blanket.  It was around noon sometime that I felt a slow change beginning to overtake me.  Kelly had made me a bit of porridge earlier that seemed to agree with me and I noticed I had a craving for ice cream.  Back to the Camp Store Kelly went coming back this time with an orange Creamsicle.  Perfect!!  Creamsickles were a favorite of my mine as a kid.  She gently melted it in the micro wave and it was the absolute best Creamsicle of my whole life.  And a word here to say how helpfully patient Kelly has been through all this.  She had to take on the Lion’s share of duties even gassing up the rig twice and one time in a cold rain.  Taking Pheebs for her outings and walks.  She did everything I couldn’t do while slumped in my recliner with hardly enough energy to blow my nose.  And then there was darling little Pheebs who was so concerned when Dad was not acting his usual self.   Knowing something was wrong she would jump up on my lap and shower me with smooches then lay there just looking at me before falling asleep while I petted and reassured her Dad was going to be Okay and soon us guys would be getting ourselves a Jeep ride going complete with a coffee and shareably delicious carrot muffin.

THAT’S US DEAD CENTER…..CAN ANYONE GUESS WHY WE DON’T FREQUENT RV PARKS DESPITE ALL THE NICE PLUSES LIKE WATER, SEWER, AND ELECTRIC

My interests began returning and I was soon into my music again.  Out came my laptop for the first time in days and I read all the comments and emails from readers and of course that spurred me on to write a short post Monday night.  Feeling better I remembered the chicken soup in the fridge so Kelly heated that up for me and all of a sudden I seemed to be on a feeding frenzy.  Kelly was having some left over turkey and dressing and here’s where I went overboard and made a mistake.  I ate way too much and chased it down with some Yogurt.  Now I was immediately into a new set of problems.  Stomach cramps!!  From having no food in my stomach I had gone and dumped down a big cannonball of food.  Now I was dealing with cramps as well as bloating.  My rumbling stomach sounded like Mount Vesuvius about ready to blow and turn my belly button inside out.  Not good:((

Okay so that finally brings me up to date today Tuesday October 25th.  I know this is an already a grudgingly long post so I will try to keep today short.   My day started at 3:30 a.m. and compared to the past 3 days I felt a big improvement but soon found out I wasn’t out of the woods by a long shot yet.  The nausea, headaches and constantly running to the washroom were easing nicely into the past but I found myself scarily low on energy and sluggish.  Felt like I was living in a slow motion movie.  Anything I did seemed to take me awhile to do. 

SLOWLY GETTING PACKED UP TO HIT THE ROAD

We were on the road by 9:10 and headed south on I-81 through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley.  Although too early for Fall colors I marveled at the sweeping vistas laid out before us.  We seemed to be running parallel with the Appalachians off to the East.  My mind kept going to things I have seen and read about the Appalachian Trail etc.  So much Civil War history in this whole area as well.  The scenery sure had my imagination in gear.  Probably drove right on by a million photos today.

HEADED SOUTH UNDER CLEAR BLUE VIRGINIA SKIES

By the time we reached Harrisonburg I was feeling poorly again but it wasn’t the same flu like problems I had earlier.  I felt shaky and I wasn’t my usual confident self behind the wheel.  I had not brought my A-Game to the table.  Traffic was moderate and fast moving.  Maybe I have spent one too many days just lolly-gagging along our sparsely traveled quiet back country roads.  At one point I saw a dirt road below off to the left and on that road I saw a pick-up truck ambling along slow with just a wee whiffle of valley dust chasing up it’s backside.  Wondered if it was a farmer and did he have his dog alongside him on the seat.  I wanted to trade places with that guy.

PHEEBS AND I ARE SO LUCKY TO HAVE A GOOD NAVIGATOR OR ELSE US GUYS WOULD JUST BE LOST LIKE CRAZY

Only thing I had for breakfast this morning was peanut butter and honey so Kelly suggested something reasonable to eat would perk up my strength.  She always has the greatest ideas.  Twenty minutes later we rolled into a Cracker Barrel.  Now that was a ‘Yahouie Louie’ moment for sure.  Oh what a welcome port in a storm that Cracker Barrel was.  We both had the daily special and oh how wonderful those mashed potatoes and gravy tasted with meat loaf and green country beans and biscuits.  It just tasted sooooooo darn good.  Waddling back to the rig I rested for nearly an hour and definitely feeling better we headed out again but only to look for an overnight Walmart location which we found maybe half an hour later in Lexington Virginia.   Signs said ‘No Overnight Parking’ so we slipped next door and found us a nice spot in a Lowes parking lot.  And of course that is where we are now as I type this.

WE DO LOVER OUR CRACKER BARRELS WE DO

 

YESIREEEEEEE IT’S CRACKER BARREL ALRIGHT

EVERY CRACKER BARREL HAS A BIG WARM COZY HEARTH LIKE THIS AND WALLS ADORNED WITH MANY THINGS LIKE BELOW

HERE’S A CERTAIN LITTLE DOGITTY DOGSTER WAITING FOR HER CRACKER BARREL SNACK >>>>>>>>

One of the difficult realities of aging is the fact one does not bounce back as fast from illnesses or injuries and I’m having to deal with that little subtlety at the moment.  Okay so I got over the flu yesterday so how come I’m not feeling like Jack the Raging Bear today??  Aw yes the realities of life and the patience to understand them all eh…..

OUR QUIET PEOPLE FREE SPOT IN LOWES PARKING LOT……BY THE WAY OUR MOTORHOME HAS BEEN RUNNING TOTALLY PERFECT SO FAR 

NO IDEA HOW FAR WE’LL GET TOMORROW……IF I’M FEELNG ON TOP OF MY GAME MAYBE WE’LL MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO SARASOTA FLORIDA (YA RIGHT) AND IF NOT MAYBE WE’LL JUST MAKE IT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF LOWES PARKING LOT…………….NOW AINT’ THAT JUST THE TRUTH………….

WHEN I STEPPED OUT WITH PHEEBS TONIGHT BESIDE THESE COLORFUL BUSHES I COULD HEAR CRICKETS CHIRPING AND A ROBIN SINGING…….NICE:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink. "Why of course," comes the reply. The first man then asks: "Where are you from?" "I'm from Ireland," replies the second man.
The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland."
"Of course," replies the second man. I'm curious, the first man then asks: "Where in Ireland are you from?"  "Dublin," comes the reply. "I can't believe it," says the first man. "I'm from Dublin too! Let's have another drink to Dublin." "Of course," replies the second man. Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks: "What school did you go to?" "Saint Mary's," replies the second man, "I graduated in '62." "This is unbelievable!", the first man says. "I went to Saint Mary's and I graduated in '62, too!" About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's been going on?" he asks the bartender. "Nothing much," replies the bartender. "The O'Brian twins are drunk again."

SLOWLY ON THE MEND

It has been a very rough 3 days but I think I Just may be finally coming out whatever this is that snuck up and unexpectedly clobbered me late last Saturday.  I will go into that more in the coming days but for right now I want to say thank you to everyone for their well wishing comments and emails.  Appreciate the offers of help and many suggestions.  You guys are the best.  As long as I don’t have any kind of nasty set back I’m hoping to have these old blabber fingers of mine fired up again for a regular Tuesday night post.  Don’t know where it will be from, maybe in West Virginia somewhere or maybe a little further on down the road.  Thanks again for all your thoughts everybody:))

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GROANER’S CORNER:)) I will seek and find You . . I shall take you to bed and have my way with you.  I will make you ache, shake & sweat until you moan & groan. I will make you beg for mercy, beg for me to stop. I will exhaust you to the point that you will be relieved when I'm finished with you. And, when I am finished, you will be weak for days. All my love……The Flu

Falling Waters, W.Virginia

Decided to stop at a campground this afternoon .  Al wasn't feeling much better and was too tired to continue.
  After having no food since Fri. afternoon, he decided to try some chicken soup.  So far so good.  That and Imodium. :)
   Will see what tomorrow brings .
Thank you for your comments, emails and helpful concern.  He has not opened his computer since being sick.  so that sure tells me he is not himself yet.  

K & P

Stopped in Pa. waiting for Al to get well.

Al was not feeling 100%  for a couple days, but started feeling much worse around 1:00 this afternoon.  Probably some kind of flu. 
       We are at a Walmart in Pennsylvania.

Kelly & Pheebe