Sunday, August 2, 2020

Update (long overdue)

Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

It's been over five months since my last post. My, oh my, how things have changed over that time. I ended my winter trip thru Texas during the last week of February. My original plan was to rest up for a few weeks while seeing my doctors for check-ups, visiting with family and be back on the road before the summer heat hit Louisiana. That plan didn't work out due to lots of reasons. 

The main reason was Covid-19. The governor of Louisiana issued a "stay at home" order on March 22, 2020. I isolated myself from Brandon because his immune system is being suppressed to reduce the possibility of his body rejecting the transplanted kidney and pancreas. By the way, today is his second anniversary of his transplant and he is doing great. His mother, my X-wife, lives with him and she has several medical conditions that makes her also an "at-risk" person for Covid. So, I spent lots of time cooking for myself and twiddling my thumbs. Not long after the Louisiana "stay-at-home" order was issued, the State of Texas required a 14 day self-imposed quarantine for any citizens of Louisiana entering Texas. Texas state troopers were actually stationed at the border to enforce this action. That somewhat "unconstitutional" order from Texas began on 4/5/20 and ended on 5/1/20. Strange times for sure.


Beginning about two months ago, my x-wife was in the hospital on three separate occasions. The first time was for a folded intestine, then ischemic colitis, then dehydration/heat exhaustion. The total time in the hospital was about twenty days with the last one being the most serious which came close to killing her. It was good I was here so I could be with her and report back to the rest of the family as to her condition. I guess that is the job of a "wasband", uh? For those curious readers, we were married for 28 years and been divorced for 14 years. 

Covid also interrupted visits with the grandkids so I had to settle for facetime and pictures. However, things have lightened up some over the last few weeks and I've been able to get my necessary hugs. 

So far, the riots and looting has not started in my part of Louisiana. Hopefully, it will stay away. 

Between Covid and family medical issues, my travel plans have been put on hold until at least sometime in the winter. Hopefully that will give time for things to settle down. I've received reports from some other RV'ers who's said things are a little dicey in parts of the country if you have the wrong license plate on your vehicle. Also, for now, it seems avoiding large cities would be wise. It's never bothered me traveling through large cities and have never had any problems. A few scary moments, but no problems. But now, things seem to have changed. Hopefully the November election will stop some of the craziness.
Olivia taking Nathan for a ride. He's not sure about this. I hope I'm around in about 10 years when she gets her license so I can see her driving Nathan around in a real car. 
 
This was just a quick update since I had been neglecting the blog for a while. By the way, the new blogger program is not as good or easy to use as the old one. Why do people always try to fix things that aren't broke? 

Ya'll take care of each other. I may Cya down the road.      

    

13 comments:

  1. Yep the c-19 has really screwed up my rving also. I am about to start month 6 here in Del Rio, Tx. I am hoping to finally get to north Alabama in September for my grankid time.

    I was married for 28 years and been single now 24. I hope to see you on the road again. Be careful of crowds. That seems to be the biggest source of infections these days.

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    1. Be safe out there Barney. The grandbabies make it all worthwhile.

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  2. It's great to hear you and the family are still doing well Darrell. It has been a while since we all heard from you, I figured you probably had a lot more important things on your mind than a blog considering what's been going on with the Bat flu.

    All of the face masks, the self isolating, and the worry certainly hasn't been any fun but it will give us a lot of stories to bore the grandkids with in the future.

    Tom

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    1. Hello Tom. I'm glad you made it back to your daughters house safely. Be safe around that big city.

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  3. Good to see your post, I was wondering about your status.

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    1. Hi John. How are your RV plans going? Did Covid make changes for you?

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    2. Well, I did not retire yet #$@&. I was promoted to City Manager here in Columbia and my plans were pushed back a year or two. I turn 62 next year and I will hopefully get start then. Thanks Darrell, I have always enjoyed following your life adventures.

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  4. Glad to hear you and your family are doing good. We have put down roots but are grateful for all the years of traveling. We are doing well riding out this virus.

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  5. Hello Barb. I hope Walt is still getting stronger. One of your sentences sound like ya'll have quit RV'ing and settled down. Is everything OK? Perhaps an update to your blog would be nice. Be safe out there, whereever there is.

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  6. Thanks for the update. I've followed your travels for the past couple of years. We traveled 3-4 months a year and due to family health problems stopped 2 years ago. Planning on hitting the road again this year but c-19 ended that. A lot of things out of our control changes our direction. Stay safe.

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    1. Hello Larry. Yeah, Covid has changed a lot of things for everyone. But, you're luckier than some who have never traveled. I hope your family health problems improve. Be safe out there.

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  7. Darrell, you take care of yourself with this hurricane coming!

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    1. Hello K and J,,,, My oldest son's house in Sulpher, (next to Lake Charles) was damaged a lot. But he, his wife and kids will get through it together. As for me, I lost power for a few days and moved to a different campsite that had power. My youngest son and X-wife lost power for three days as well, but no other damage to the house. My daughter who lived near the Arkansas state line had no damage and no power loss. All in all, my family and I fared pretty well. Thanks for asking. Be safe out there.

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