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After a packed week in Louisville, we continued our trip north, stopping at a KOA campground east of Indianapolis. Whereas the last campground had us in an upgraded site with paved seating area, swing, and furniture (but very, very tight, had a tree right in front of our door), our site in Indy was super long (you could park two of RV’s in our space), lots of open space and, as we’d find out later, subject to minor flooding when it rained. Just one of the joys of camping – the variety of different sites and pros/cons you can find at each. The one in Indy was great because, as you can see from the pic below, we had tons of shade!

Our visit to Indy would not be as busy but would include TWO HUGE activities. Of course, the first that comes to mind is to visit the one and only home of the Indianapolis 500, otherwise known as the Brickyard. We upgraded our museum visit to get a tour around the track and to several important locations around the track. Specifically:

• A lap around the track (granted, in a golf cart!)
• An opportunity to stand at the finish line and “kiss the bricks”, a yard- wide remainder of the original brick race track from over 100 years ago.
• A visit to VIP levels of the Pagoda as well as the Media Center
• A tour of Gasoline Alley
• A visit to see the official pace car used for this years Indy 500
• A chance to stand on the victory stage and winners circle

It’s amazing how large this track is, how much is held inside the track and the idea that over 100,000 people fill this every year to see the most famous race in history. Later, we were also able to hunt down some special beer – Hinchtown Hammerdown in honor of our favorite Indy Car Driver, Jame Hinchcliff!

In addition to seeing the track and related locations, we also visited the Indy Museum which is actually located inside the track (you drive under the track and into the infield to park at the museum). Inside were cars from many of the races, including the very first winner! There was also a special section honoring 50 years since Mario Andretti won his Indy 500 in 1969. Lots of amazing machines and history to take in.

As some may recall, while in Alabama, we visited a Medical Museum in Foley. In Indianapolis, there is another Medical Museum that is housed in a building built in the late 1800’s to help teach and advance the study of medicine. It remained in use until a few decades ago and has been retained in its original condition. We spent an hour touring this unique piece of medical history.

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The rest of the visit had a military slant to it. We made a quick visit to the USS Indianapolis Memorial. For those not into WW II history, this ship delivered the first atomic bomb so that it could later be dropped on Japan in order to quicken the end of the war. Afterwards, while enroute to its next assignment, it was torpedoed and sunk only days before the end of the war. Of a crew of over 1,100, about 900 went into the water but only about 300 survived until rescue 5 days later. About 600 succumbed to exposure and shark attacks due to errors made by the navy before and after the sinking. Many years later the captain of the Indianapolis was absolved of any blame due to a push by surviving crew members who uncovered multiple errors and coverups by the navy. A sad story but also one of amazing strength

Finally, on one of the last days in the area, Dan traveled south about 45 minutes to a small army reserve base outside the town of Franklin, Indiana. His destination was Camp Atterbury. This army facility was originally built in 1942 as a training facility to help ramp up for WW II. It was built as a temporary facility but it has continued to serve on and has been closed and then reactivated for every major army engagement from Korea to the Gulf War. Dan’s reason to visit was personal – this was where his father, Sidney, arrived after completing Officer Commission Service training and assignment to go to the Korean War. Born in Massachusetts, Sid realized he might be drafted for the war and thus enlisted and went the OCS route. Although he was a “yankee”, he was, ironically, assigned to the Dixie Division, comprised mostly of troops from various southern states. He arrived in mid ’52 and departed at the end of the year. But, in between, he met a woman who was working at the base in an administrative function. Her name was Jean Huntsberry and they would later meet and get married before he shipped off for Korea in January of 1953. And thus, in a way, this was where Dan’s history started. They had a small museum with some displays as well as some equipment displayed outdoors.

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We stayed close to camp for most meals but did venture out for a local favorite for one day – an Indy Tenderloin. This is a pork tenderloin, beaten flat and fried, presented as a “sandwich” but as large in diameter as a basketball!!! Yummy as can be!!!

A great week in Indy. Next stop, northern Indiana, specifically the RV Capital of the WORLD – Elkhart. Stay tuned for the next post that includes a visit to the Motorhome/RV Museum (yes, there is such a thing!).

Sorry for such a long delay between postings, been busy being tourists, moving every week, and keeping up with “chores” around the “house”. That and the fact that wifi hasn’t been the best in most places where we have had time to update the blog. But now that we have a little time on our hands and decent wifi, we’ll try to get you up to speed over the next few days!

After a fun but very HOT week in Nashville, we set off for Louisville, Kentucky and the promise of cooler temps and rain. We got both our first full day at our campground just south of the city. Because of this we decided to take a day off to relax, catch our breath, and just chill.

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Our first day in Louisville was another rainy day so we decided to stay indoors and take in the Louisville Slugger museum. We caught it when it was pretty quiet so had a nice walk thru the museum and a tour of the actual production facility. Who knew there were so many ways to make/get a bat? Dan took a few swings with some famous bats – one used by Babe Ruth (really heavy) and one by Ken Griffey Jr (really light)

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The next day was beautiful – sunny, breezy, cool, and low humidity. We took advantage by driving over to Old Louisville – supposedly the largest contiguous group of Victorian Age homes in the US (and third largest overall). We walked past some beautifully maintained 100+ year old homes as well as touring one.

The Conrad-Caldwell house was a highlight of the day, taking a guided tour and getting to see the home pretty much as it was back in the early part of the last century.

Another day, we enjoyed some outdoor time by visiting the Bernheim Arboretum. Jill was able to take a short hike where we discovered some beautiful lakes as well as some artwork (well, we think that’s what it was…)

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After lunch at a wonderful old tavern (Talbot Tavern) where we enjoyed our first Hot Brown, we were off to tour My Old Kentucky Home. Unfortunately, no photography was permitted inside but in addition to the tour, our guide also treated us to a rendition of “My Old Kentucky Home” (the song).

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We saved the best for last. No trip to Louisville would be complete without visiting Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby. Although we don’t follow horse racing and know next to nothing about it, the visit was still very enjoyable. We toured the museum (which was a bit much for us, too much detail for the casual observer) but best of all, took a private “back stage” tour that took us from the VIP suites to the jockey’s locker room and everywhere in between.

First were exterior views, some captured below:

Then on to the interior areas including the Jockey Locker Room, the actual weighing in scale used prior to the race, a room where all the “silks” worn by jockeys are stored, and a massive piece of art with caricatures of every winning owner over the last 135 races.

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As with the owner painting, there was also an even larger one for every jockey who has won the derby. Looking closely at some of the pics was very amusing. For instance, the jockey who appears to have some sort of Federation insignia (Star Trek reference for those who don’t follow). In addition, if you look closely at his hand, you’ll see he is holding up three fingers, his folded pinky and thumb. But look closer and you will see two more fingers folded down – meaning he has 7 fingers??!! This was created after the artist painted him after the first win. He won two more races but the artist just added more fingers instead of trying to fix those that were folded.

Then there was another fellow that just looked oddly out of place. Regardless of your politics, we found it funny to see this guy on a horse.

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After the first couple of days, the weather was wonderful during our entire visit but we did realize that packing so much into one week can contribute to two frazzled and worn out RVer’s. We promised ourselves that our next stop (Indianapolis) would be at a more leisurely pace, even if we were going to the Racing Capital of the World! Next stop, Indy!

May 19th we pulled out of Atlanta on a warm, humid day, heading just up the road about 90 miles to Chattanooga. Well, actually, our campground was in Trenton, Georgia so we didn’t really get credit for camping in a new state just yet. Given our desire to take short trips, we decided not to make the entire run to Nashville in one drive but to break it up with a two-night stop just outside Chattanooga. We stayed at a really nice little KOA off the beaten track and up a hill, nestled in the trees. We had a great site, allowing us to sit out and enjoy the outdoors even in the warmer temps.

Our next stop was a week in Music City, Nashville! And where else do you stay when in Nashville but at the Grand Ole RV Resort??!! This is a private campground that I really don’t think can claim to be a resort. The campground really had three sections which I have fondly given names to as follows:

• The outer barren land – this area along the outer boundary was all gravel, very tight, with campers set up facing each other and apparently sharing one picnic table. I’m all for getting to know my neighbors but this was just too close for me.
• The inner sanctum – this area was in the middle, had a little bit of grass and some trees that would provide some amount of shade. We were right on the edge of this section with the barren land across from us.
• The 50/50 world – The sites had great shade and also were close to the store/market/restaurant/stage (more on these amenities later) but were also right below a MAJOR freight train line. I mean, these trains ran all the time, were fast moving and loud, and appeared to be right next to the campground (but with the rail line about 20-30 feet higher than the campground level). So, you had great peaceful shady sites when you weren’t being shaken to death by the trains going by.

But, this campground also had a ton of positives. They had live music EVERY night for two hours. Really good musicians, we could just sit out on the lawn or a friends camp site and listen for free. They also had a restaurant that served breakfast and one dinner item each day. Never tried it but the prices were great! And the people were really friendly and helpful which makes all the difference.

So, what did we do while in Nashville? Mostly what other tourists would do but also some off-the-beaten track activities. Here were the highlights:

• Ryman Auditorium – really cool piece of history, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.
• Country Music Hall of Fame – way too much to see and do, realize we aren’t THAT much of fans as we tired of it and felt a bit overwhelmed with all the various songs going on from all directions. As Dan put it – pics of lots of old dead singers with displays of their guitars and boots.
• Tour of Studio B – a tour of where so much magic and history was made. Most of Elvis’ hits were recorded here as well as many, many others. Highlight was sitting at the very piano Elvis and others used during their recordings!
• The Parthenon – Oh, so that’s what it would look like if we could go back in time!
• Lotz House Museum in Franklin – site of a major Civil War battle. Interesting but the tour guide was WAY too verbose. After an hour we still had not finished touring the bottom floor (which was all of four small rooms). He loved his history but was more detailed than we could handle so we bailed without seeing the 2nd floor.
• Belmont Mansion – A beautifully restored home from the early 1800’s that escaped damage during the Civil War and sits right in the city.

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We also had a chance see a few friends and have some fun experiences:

• Had dinner with Diane Stevens and her adorable daughter Brooklyn
• Had lunch with Casey Miller before she jetted off for a long weekend in NYC
• Ran into a former business colleague, Chris Carter, staying at the very same campground as us!
• Sampled some great wines at Arrington Vineyards (owned by Kicks Brooks of Brooks & Dunn fame).
• Sampled some music and beer in a local honky tonk

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The weather was really hot for May (mid-90’s during the day) but we still enjoyed ourselves in Nashville. A great city and great experiences to help kick off the “tour”.

Now, on to Louisville….

After posting a partial list of locations and dates, we received several comments about it looking like a concert tour and thanks to the suggestion of one follower, we’ve decided to give this upcoming trip a name – “The Mended Bones Tour”. We are even having t-shirts made to commemorate getting on the road.

The “tour” starts and ends in Atlanta, leaving Atlanta in May and returning in August. More about this in coming blogs. In the mean time, we’ve finally been on the move and have been enjoying a week in Orange Beach, Alabama. We have a lovely site on a lake with a tiki hut, outside kitchen, lots of seating and just across the street from the lazy river pool.

But before we could get to Orange Beach, we encountered some electrical challenges with our “house” batteries. Although fully charged, they would not provide any electricity to the “house” portion of our coach. That meant the engine ran fine and we could drive over to Orange Beach but nothing inside was working – no AC, no refrigerator, no radio, etc. After an hour of trying to diagnose, we finally decided to pull out and just drive over (luckily, it wasn’t too hot and it was a cloudy day so it didn’t get too steamy in the coach and the contents of the fridge survived until we could hook up to shore power again).

After a few days of tinkering and testing, we determined all the batteries were fine but found one cable broken and a lot of build up on the terminals that was blocking flow. A new cable and some cleaning and we were back in business.

After three months of parking on a gravel/dirt space with no picnic table and no amenities at all at our site, Orange Beach was a real treat. We had a deluxe site on a lake, a Tiki Hut and a 6-burner grill. Needless to say, we were happy to just hang out many afternoons and evenings! And, the resort even had a lazy river pool!!!

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We didn’t do a lot while in Orange Beach. Mainly relaxed, visited a few restaurants in the area and did a few touristy things. Dan drove out to Fort Morgan which separates Mobile Bay from the Gulf. Very similar to Fort Pickens in Florida, both in design and current state. Fort Morgan’s claim to fame was that it was in engaged in the Civil War and is where Admiral Farragut is rumored to have uttered the famous phrase: “Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.”

The absolute highlight of our visit was a Dolphin Cruise in the marshes and backwaters of the area. We took a trip on a small boat thru Cetacean Cruises and it was highly entertaining and we saw TONS of dolphins while remaining in very calm waters. After spending time with the dolphins, our guide was eager to show us “the lady of the lake”…a floating sculpture that a very rich man had commissioned and now sits at his marina! Real classy Alabama 😉

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After ten wonderful days in Orange Beach, it was time to turn our wheels north and away from the beach. And we won’t stop heading north until we reach upper Michigan in late July!

First stop, Fort Gaines, Georgia (yeah, I know, it’s on everyone’s bucket list!). We stayed a couple of nights at a Corp of Engineers (CoE) site on lake Walter F George so Jill could visit relatives in South Georgia. It was also the first time in over 4 months that we were camping with trees and shade! How we had missed a shady place to call our own 😉

After this short stop, it was back to Atlanta for doctor appointments (much overdue), vet appointments, hair appointments and catching up with friends and relatives. It was a crazy busy week for us, seemed like we barely saw each other (we rented a 2nd car so we could cover more ground individually). It was great to see old friends, Dan spent a lot of time with his mom, and we got (most) of our needed visits completed (long story about our dermatologist appointments that were cancelled without notice…).

On May 19th, we officially began the “Mended Bones” tour. If you can’t read the back of the shirt above, here is what to come:

• Chattanooga, TN
• Nashville, TN
• Louisville, KY

As of the writing of this blog, we’re actually just wrapping up Nashville (Chattanooga was just a two-night stop/layover) so we’ll update that week in the next blog.

Thanks for following us and until next time, take care and stay cool (what is with this hot May in the south??).

Given we stayed here way longer than planned, we got to know this park and the people who work there much more than usual. And given how they helped us out in our time of need, are review and perspective is probably a bit biased. But for those looking to camp in this area of Florida, thought we’d provide a review.

First off, this area of the Florida panhandle is really laid back, sitting between Destin and Pensacola (both about 30-45 minutes away). Other than one weekend during Atlanta Spring Break, we never found there to be heavy traffic or issues getting into any place, restaurant, etc. Navarre is on the Santa Rosa Sound with Navarre Beach just across the bridge. The beaches are wonderful, featuring the flour/sugar soft sand that this area of Florida is known for. In addition to the Navarre Beach Park, just 15 minutes down the road is the Gulf Shores National Seashore with terrific beach access and miles and miles of empty beaches. If you do need activities and the bustle of more bars, restaurants, etc., you can be in the middle of it in Destin (east) and Pensacola (west) are a short drive away.

With regards to the park, it might not be the fanciest in the area (that award goes to Santa Rosa RV Park just down the street) but it has some great amenities that include:

• Heated pool
• Inexpensive laundry facilities
• Concrete pads and picnic table areas
• Great soft sand beach on the sound (never have big waves!)
• 325′ pier with fishing allowed with no permits needed
• Tiki huts with stools and tables over the beach to watch the sunsets
• Great cable and OK WiFi
• Kayak rentals
• Activities center
• Very friendly office staff as well as campers

On top of this, they have created two emergency/temp spaces which, of course, came in very useful to us in our time of need. In addition to our need, they also helped out a man who had a heart attack while visiting the area and a family who needed a place to camp while tending to their parents who were in a local hospital due to an auto accident. We really lucked out when we picked this place.

In summary, there are more fancy campgrounds around but you can’t beat the amenities and the people at Emerald Beach RV Resort

The last few weeks have settled into a regular routine for us. A mix of “vacation time” along with regular living obligations fill up each week. There is laundry, grocery shopping, maintenance and cleaning Lola (and with two shedding dogs, the floor cleaning never ends!), getting our hair cut, and doctor/dentist appointments.

One of the expectations for our journey is to seek out and explore little areas of the country to learn about local culture, history and nature. One thing to point out is that here in Navarre, things move at a much slower pace. Spring Break has come and gone and there really wasn’t a lot of crowds involved (only one Saturday really saw any heavy traffic). That’s because we are in between Destin and Pensacola and their respective beaches which pull in tons of visitors. Navarre and Navarre Beach are somewhat unknown and have very little in the way of hotels or attractions other than the Santa Rosa Sound and the beaches of Navarre and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. We have really been lucky to have landed in such a quiet peaceful place while Jill fully recovers.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t things to see and do. We’ve posted previously of some of the attractions but here are some other things we’ve seen and done over the last few weeks.

Naval Live Oaks

This is an area near Gulf Breeze (about 20 minutes from our campground) that is also part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. This area was the country’s first designated National Tree Farm. It was specifically set up to grow Live Oaks which were used for building the early US Navy’s ships. Today, it’s a peaceful place with paths and boardwalks to admire the natural landscape.

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Jill’s Aunt Peggy was not doing well so at one point, Jill flew back to Atlanta to visit with her and also celebrate her BFF’s retirement/60th birthday, leaving Dan behind to tend to the dogs and RV. That left him with an opportunity to visit a few major landmarks of the area which Jill had no interest in visiting.

Naval Air Museum

If ever in the area, I would strongly recommend a visit to this museum. It is chock full of history and planes related to naval aviation from the very start in the early 1900’s up to the present. It is also the home of the Blue Angels so if you time it right, you can catch them doing some practice maneuvers. You could spend a quick hour or a half day at this museum, depending on your level of interest. I spent about 2 1/2 hours there and enjoyed it very much.

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In addition to the Air Museum, just across the street you can transport yourself back in time to when lighthouses guided ships into port and visit the Pensacola Lighthouse. I didn’t go up into this one but enjoyed the view from outside.

Fort Pickens

A few days later I made the trip over to the end of Santa Rosa Island, past the beaches of Pensacola to Fort Pickens. This fort was established in the mid-1800’s, did see some action during the civil war and then was updated for WW I and WW II support (although it never saw action in those wars!). A beautifully preserved fort along with some wonderful nature was the reward for traveling out this far.

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Radio Live

As mentioned earlier, the journey is also about learning about and enjoying local culture. Thanks to an idea first planted in us by friends Guy & Pam Wyche and then later followed up with by Blair & Anita Powell, we were introduced to a local public radio program called Radio Live. This is a live program that happens the first Thursday of every month in Pensacola. We decided to join Blair and Anita for the April show. The program is held in the intimate atmosphere of the Pensacola Commerce Museum in downtown Pensacola and usually features several folk artists, both local and national. The show runs about 2 hours and we had a BLAST.

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Beach time

Of course, we are on the coast so we have to take some time to enjoy the sea breezes and wonderful beaches of the area. This area is known as the Emerald Coast and we can tell you we have seen that color among others in the waters of the bays, sounds and gulf. In addition to enjoying the beach and pier at our campground, we have also ventured over to Okaloosa Island and Santa Rosa Island to visit stretches of almost empty beaches, even in the April/Spring Break season.

Hats off to Okaloosa county which provides free to the public wonderful beach wheelchairs. Jill took advantage of this one day and we really had fun giving her the mobility to travel along the sugar/flour soft sand of the gulf beach (with the help of Dan’s pushing!). We also are enjoying the easy access via the Gulf National Seashore on Santa Rosa Island next to Navarre Beach.

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As we wrap up this blog, we are only two weeks out from pulling up stakes and starting on our journey again. May 1st we head to Orange Beach, Alabama and after that we turn our wheels north with plans to visit the following locations (friends make note!):

• Andalusia, AL
• Fort Gaines, GA
• Atlanta, GA
• Chattanooga, TN
• Nashville, TN
• Louisville, KY
• Indianapolis, IN
• Elkhart, IN
• Holland, MI
• Traverse City, MI
• Mackinaw City, MI
• Saginaw, MI

Thanks for all the good wishes for Jill, she is really doing well and working hard! Looking forward to getting this show on the road!

Dan & Jill

I had promised to provide campground reviews for those who are interested (plus it will help us remember each place we stayed, what we liked, etc.). Realized I’m a bit behind on where we have stayed so wanted to update on where we stayed before we got to Navarre (where we still are).

There are not many options around Crestview, FL. Crestview is the county seat of Okaloosa County and is also where we have a domicile set up (see previous posts for more details on this). Eagle’s Nest received high ratings from several sites so we figured we’d stay there.

This is a pretty bare bones campground with a few exceptions. Gravel roads and sites (some were more grass than gravel), completely flat. Heavy rain did cause pooling but everything drained out quickly so no big problems walking around or at our site. Lots of folks appeared to be full time living at this campground but all sites were nice and neat. Cable worked fine and they have really great high speed wifi (which you have to pay $1 per day to use). Very quiet place and even though they were pretty full while we were there, we ran into very few people and never heard anyone.

Good amount of space between sites but not much in the way of trees so no shade. Bathroom and laundry room was very basic and we did not use.

Overall, OK for what we needed but not somewhere we would go if we didn’t have business in Crestview or needed a place to stay on the way to somewhere else.

Since our travels have been put on hold there is much less to provide in the way of updates on where we are, where we are going, and what we have experienced. That doesn’t mean things aren’t happening, they are just more focused on Jill’s recovery. More on that in the next post but in the mean time, thought I’d share on some of the more interesting observations we’ve made and experienced on the trip so far. Most are on the amusing side, which we could use right now.

First off, as we travel we won’t always be in big cities with a choice of grocery shopping destinations. We may have to rely on the one small store in the town we are near. That happened in Carrabelle where we visited the local IGA (Independent Grocer Association) store. We could find what we needed but also some odd items were noticed along the way. We’d never heard of them before but we found Pinot Beans (not only had we not heard of them, but we also discovered they are Essential!). And who knew that bed bugs could be eliminated so easily – just Spray Way!

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As we traveled farther into Florida, we eventually arrived at our current campsite in Navarre, Florida. Located right on Santa Rosa Sound with Navarre Beach just across the way, you’d think we had found such an idyllic, peaceful place to enjoy sea breezes and the sounds of seabirds overhead. What we didn’t realize was that we were camped very close to the Air Force Special Operations Command Center at Eglin Air Force base and that they liked to “test” their ordinance and weapons most evenings. What sounded like closing car doors and very large fireworks were actually live rounds being fired across the sound by AC-130’s and other aircraft.

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You also meet interesting characters along the way. 99% of the people we have met have been friendly, welcoming and just all around good people. There have been just a few who have made us scratch our head. One such individual was spotted out on the beach of Okaloosa Island one cold, foggy day. He wasn’t very interested in other people but did seem intent on making friends with the local bird population as you will see by this picture.

When Jill was first hospitalized, she was put on a trauma floor where they were used to handling injuries such as the one Jill had sustained. She was in a lot of pain and not able to do anything for herself. A friend of hers recommended placing a bucket of chocolate candy in her room which was for anyone who came in to check on her. This way, folks were incentivized to check in on her and have a few chocolates at the same time. Sounded like a really great plan. Unfortunately, the weekend shift of nurses felt it made more sense to move the chocolate out to their station – that way they could have all the chocolate they wanted without checking in on Jill! Our friend took care of that when she visited and we later informed the head nurse of the floor that her staff seemed more interested in the chocolate than Jill 🙁

When Jill moved from the hospital to an inpatient rehab center, they ended up putting her in a “bariatric” room (room for big folks). This mean that everything in her room was super sized. She had a really big wheelchair (she got that swapped out), she had a chair that looked more like a loveseat, and she had a toilet that was quite large. In fact, it was called “Big John”. I kid you not, that was the label on the toilet.

Lots of people have asked us how we live in an RV and also live with two dogs. For the most part, they are pretty laid back and seem happy hanging out but sometimes they do make us laugh.

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One thing we’ve noticed here in this part of Florida is an odd establishment that is part liquor store, part “lounge”. We stopped at one in Carrabelle, very small and limited selection of wine, beer and liquor, decided not to check out the lounge side of things. But these seem to exist a lot in these parts. One establishment we’ve seen several times is “Cash’s”. They seem to be very proud of what they have done in support of their communities as evidenced by the sign we have seen at more than one of their stores:

One final bit of fun to share. Before we started out on our journey, we were “surprised” with a “gift” from a friend. This gift was a stuffed toy resembling the mascot of a “university” in the state of Georgia that we are not that fond of. Not wanting to offend and throw away this gift, we have allowed him to ride along with us. Unfortunately, he always seems to be getting into trouble. No matter what we do, every time we look around, he’s at it again…So, meet our version of “Flat Stanley” – “Bad UGA”

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Hope you have enjoyed some of our more amusing observations from north Florida. An update on Jill will be next!

The movie ended and all the plans we had went out the window. As we walked out of the theater and darkness and into the hallway, Jill experienced some dizziness and before she could catch herself, she tumbled to the ground, striking the floor hard and hitting her head against the wall. The first concern was her head but we quickly realized there was something really bad going on with her left leg. She could not move it at all without extreme pain. An ambulance ride to the Fort Walton Beach Medical Center and some x-rays confirmed a broken left femur. Lots to sort out:

• What is the planned treatment?
• What’s recovery look like?
• Where does the RV stay (we were supposed to depart the next day for Orange Beach)?
• We are in the process of getting set up in COBRA. Right now, we are considered “uninsured”. Will that impact treatment options?
• Are the facilities and doctors good? Can we trust and rely on them?
• WTF!!!!???

If we were “go with the flow” before, now we were minute by minute, throwing out any and all plans. Saturday, Jill had surgery.

From the day of surgery until Wednesday morning, Jill struggled to gain strength, grapple with a leg that was swollen and didn’t seem to work right, and an inability to leave her bed. It was a low point in our very short-lived full time RV adventure.

In the mean time, we also had to figure out how to find long term camping in the middle of winter when the “snow birds” had most sights filled up. And what to do about our plans and reservations that carried us thru March??? But, with the help of friends (both local and from afar), we worked to pull a plan together. COBRA processing moved forward, the campground had an overflow/emergency site available for as long as needed, a friend/nurse from Pensacola was available to watch over and support Jill in the hospital, and we happen to be located near one of the nation’s best outpatient rehab groups.

This has been a BIG learning moment for us. Plans are meant to be changed, altered or cancelled. What was important before doesn’t matter now. Bad news could be worse. In our case, we have strong support from all our friends and contacts. The campground has reached out, offering help and support wherever needed. Where we had to cancel, almost all have offered thoughts and prayers and waived fees and wished us well. So, our plan to travel and experience the country has been put on pause for now. We’ll stick around the Emerald Coast of Florida for awhile.

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Right now, Jill is in inpatient rehab including 3 hours of rehab each day to help get her back on her feet and walking. Dan and the dogs have moved to an “overflow” site at the Navarre campground, hoping for Jill’s release sometime around February 20th. We’ll remain in Florida thru the end of April as outpatient therapy is expected to continue. We’ll continue to provide updates but obviously we won’t be moving anytime in the near future.

Your thoughts, prayers, and support are appreciated.

Dan & Jill