I will not rant.....

The cost of an emergency room visit?  $4800. Now that's right up my income alley. Took Deb there for more tests, and they still don't know what's wrong with her. At least she is walking (or hobbling, anyway). We have been to the hospital several times over the last 2 months. The figure above reflects just one visit. We are making it, though. At each of our sites I configure some kind of steps to get her in and out. Mostly out of scrap wood and cement blocks.

We are jacked up in my mechanic's shop, putting yet another transmission in the rig. The pathetic 700r4 tranny that came out was ridiculously undersized, and the difference between that one and what's going in (th400, with no OD) is huge. Planetary gears about twice the size. Yokes about one third again bigger.

Can you see what these bolo's did to us when they stuck this tranny in? Greed, the final frontier of the american businessman. Yeah, I was negligent (twice) by not watching every single thing these yahoo's did. I was very distracted with other things, and I offer no excuse for not crawling under there with them.
  Now I am crawling under the rig right with the mechanic, being a PITA because of all my questions about this system. It is kind of a return to old school mechanical systems, because of the lack of an overdrive.
  We are planning on resuming the trip west next month, and I betcha I know this tranny inside out by then.

Trepidation

Today I must decide whether to call an ambulance to get Deb to the hospital. She has developed an inability to walk at all. Don't know why...I spent the last couple of days building a ramp with scrap wood around here to help her get in and out of the rig, instead of the Camping World steps that we originally used. She can barely get up and down the ramp with my help. I am truly worried. I will get her there one way or another.
  I originally thought that this blog/journal would be a series of wonderful photos of the journey west, the seeking of a quiet mind, and the peace that would entail. So it would seem. But my life, my struggle to find my soul is not coming easily. I would never abandon Deb, my wife, as so often happens when one spouse becomes extremely disabled. Deb seeks the same things I do. And burned into my grey matter is one phrase that I keep repeating to myself consciously and unconsciously is No man left behind.

  Those that follow me on this blog, I truly thank. It's my connection to the outside world and other like-minded folks. In my opinion, the salt of the earth. But it's no travelogue. And not for the faint of heart. The photo above is Deb from a quieter time, on the beach in Florida. Taken about 3 months ago.

Veteran's day and the 10 mile adventure

Our time was up yesterday at the COE campground. I had to move my rig and trailer to some place more permanent so we can wait for the funds to get the transmission repaired or rebuilt. The necessity for electric, and bathrooms for Deb prevents me from a boondocking site. We can go a week on our batteries, but Deb has had some problems lately with her disability.
  It was Veteran's day, and I didn't feel like doing a damn thing. Just like on Memorial day. Want to sit on my butt and hide. Too many military reminders, too many "Veteran's day sales!!" and too many parades. I do like the fact that so many people are now welcoming our soldiers home. But it wasn't always that way....
  Well, I really had to buck up. I didn't know if this rig was gonna make it or not, or even move a foot. I had found an RV park (ugh) that would take us in with bathrooms very close, so I packed up and prepared for the big  push, about 10 miles away. I was worried shiftless about the transmission being shiftless. During the drive over, to my great surprise all I had to do was punch the accelerator a couple of times to get the damn thing to shift! So the great "adventure" of moving the rig and trailer turned out to be anti-climatic, (climactic? climaxtic? who the hell knows) and we pulled in to the RV park and secured our spot, parked in a row of other RV's and trailer's and prepared to endure the bleakness of feeling like we are in a trailer park with no scenery and no sounds of nature wafting in our windows.
  But damn, I'm grateful for it! We could have been stuck on the side of the road, calling in a tow truck that I could barely pay for with our meager funds!
  Bottom line is, I had to get off my pitty pot and get busy with life and living and do what I had to do. No mattter what the emotional baggage I had to indulge myself with, life don't stop because I choose to live in a cocoon by choice on these kind of days.

  The picture was taken about 20 years ago, at a Vietnam moving wall veteran's memorial. My son is there with me. The only one I have ever attended...

Comments welcome

Well, since I'm so new at this blogging thing, I just learned that I had the wrong settings on my "comments" setting. Sorry, for all those who wished to communicate. I know that must have been frustrating, it would have been for me. I do like to make comments on other forums and blogs.

Stuck in Temple

We are in a campground near Temple, TX for at least a month, due to another transmission failure. This makes the third time. What bites my ass is that last time it was supposed to be done right. Due to my lack of knowledge of transmissions in general, I allowed the repair guys to call it good enough when they said that the lack of overdrive in the transmission would be no problem. I allowed them to tell me this because I have never towed anything in OD, and I tow a small enclosed trailer with my motorcycle in it. So it sounded logical to me that I did not need OD in this 700r4 tranny. Obviously they took advantage of my lack of knowledge, collected their money, and sent me down the road with my disabled wife. Apparently not thinking a whit about the disastrous consequences of being stuck on the side of the road with a wife that can hardly walk, cannot deal with any problems of a severe nature such as this.
  This is a trend in America. Take the money and run. Call it good enough and quit. Half truths and pass the buck.
  Anyway, we cannot drive anywhere, cannot even boondock while we are waiting for the monthly stipend to enable us to pay for another tranny job. We were lucky to have found a COE campground near Temple to wait it out. IF they let us stay here over 14 days. If they don't, well I reckon we are in trouble. I'm running for groceries and the like on the bike.

  I ask you, if anyone ever reads this stuff, when is America gonna wake up and get back to the word is the bond type of business dealings? It ain't gonna happen. We are too far along the road of "anything goes" if ya get the money quick. Now that's capitalism!

The most loyal creature

My constant companion, and 'hero,' is Patchy, my dog. She is a Lhasa Apsa and 16 years old. I need to get her in to this journal, I feel her time on this plane is limited. She is now having some old dog syndromes. One of which is her total blindness.

  Not long ago in Florida she attempted to "save" me from what she thought was a life-threatening encounter with  3 hunting dogs that were clamoring and barking, snarling, and generally causing mayhem around me. Patchy was blind then, but she made a beeline for those dogs by sound alone, galloping on those little short legs and barking up a storm. Nothing I could do to stop her, but eventually I picked her up and got her away. I must say that I do love this little creature, and it will break my heart when she leaves...

Sunny shores, goodbye. On to Texas

Kind of a late post, because we've been in Texas for a few days. land of my birth. It's been a long time. I grew up here (well, kind of grew up, I left when I was 16) and began an adventure into the 'outside' world. It was a shocker. I wasn't the traditional kid raised in the family, high school, and on to the job. The things that happened to me when I was on the road then for a year,, and then on to the Army, were life changing events, to put it mildly. I mention this because I believe a seed of non-traditional thinking and philosophy was planted at that time.  My (our) goal is to leave bitterness behind, just like everyone living this lifestyle.

  Anyway, I've been thinking maybe I should appreciate the seed that was planted way back then, and just take for what it is. Life.