Getting Closer

Up early and both of us well rested. Big push for home today.....I couldn't do it but HH thinks he can so we will see. Sun coming up and weather looks good.

Made it across MO and then the long ride north through IL. Loved finally seeing signs for Rockford. Henry looks very tired but determined to sleep in his own bed tonight.

In our driveway at 8:30. Called the neighbor to let them know we are back early and not burglers, locked up the camper, showered and fell into bed.

Amazed at the really huge banks of snow Jon cleared for us to get in and to the house, can't picture 19 inches of snow until you see it in person. We are lucky to have good sons close by.

Home Is Sounding Better & Better

Did not make it as far as Tucumcari as a very tired HH opted to stop for the night in Santa Rosa, NM in a nice enough LaQuinta motel. I was delighted to see they had a recliner so spent a comfortable night reclining....much better than trying to lay propped up in bed where eventually I feel like a turtle on his back and helpless to move w/o HH. Pleased with our progress and now long for home and familiar things around us. Son Jon has the driveway cleared of the huge anount of snow we got so the welcome mat is out and the house is waiting. Henry, driver, male nurse, companion and tear drier has been wonderful but we are both getting tired of one armed travel.

Hope to make it out of NM, across the panhandle of TX and through OK today. Great driving weather except it is always windy.

Have stopped for the night in Joplin. MO. Super HenryHoney has found a wonderful suite for us. Big overkill with full kitchen, two TVs but a wonderful huge bathroom and a leather recliner..I'm past ready for it.

First Leg Home

Have had perfect travel weather and today should be the same. Up early and sit comfortably in the truck while HH secures the camper and loads the bikes. We are at Karchner Caverns State Park south of Benson and north of Sierra Vista, AZ so will leave soon travel east and hope to spend the night in Tucumcari, NM at a motel. I'm doing OK, Nights are not the best but do-able.

Day of Rest

Henry is using today as a rest day before the long trip home. When the camper gets secured this time it will not be used again. We will motel as we travel home. Plans are to leave early tomorrow morning and run the max each day. Waiting for further word from my primary physician in WI but won't hear until Monday.

A Visit With the Orthopidic MD

Spent 2 hours at the MD and about 15 minutes with the MD..isn't that always the way. He confirmed what we already knew about the fracture and advised us to "Go Home", make an appt with local Opod \, get new x-rays to check the current positioning of the two bone parts and then the long process of Physical Therapy. So the decision is made at last...HH will rest a day (Fri) and we will turn to the east on Saturday early am.

On To Sierra Vista

Wednesday, February 28 -

The plan is to get a motel and fix my hair (it really needs fixing) and see the MD tomorrow. As the luck of this trip would have it, arrived in Sierra Vista to find all motels full as a military conference is being held here this week so after eating a couple ice cream bars we drove back another 26 miles to Karchner and will camp another night, WE FEEL LIKE OUR LIFE IS ON HOLD....will know more tomorrow.

One Arm Travel Is No Fun

Tuesday, February 27 - Got a nice site at Gilbert Rey. It is one of our favorite stops, just chuck full of cactus varieties and terrific birds. Much lower altitude and much warmer nights. Those mountain nights were pretty cool but the furnace keeps us snug no matter.

Checked out the local dollar store and bought a pkg. of socks to use for sling strap padding. Cut out the toe and slide em' on..works.

Then out to Three Points and the Tucson Rifle club, poor HH will be without his favorite spotter but will manage to verify his scope settings. Don't know if we will be around for his match but he
will be ready.






HH broke his glasses while digging under the lower bunk so he is wearing my old ones that he carries around in the flowered case...Jon, I know you've seen those glasses...just quit smiling.

Very windy but could see how much pleasure HH got from being at the range and talking with the locals. I brought 16 books to read so have plenty to keep me interested. Had a McD's for lunch..wahoo..and back to the campground for a walk around and a few pics.

Are All HMO’s So Hard To Deal With

Monday, February 26 -
So we are on the phone with Ortho guys and Dean HMO our medicare supplemental and “It Don’t Look Good”. Dean wants us to come back home for further treatment. They say they only cover the ER portion and antthing further needs to happen in MSN. And so as I sit and stew in my camper, waiting for Henry Honey to make me a miracle, the realization is settling in that we will be doing a 180 soon. How very sad. More when I know it.

Late afternoon.....Dean has not made a determination and some one further up is considering our situation. (Injury, travel time, weather to drive through, etc) In the mean time HH has decided to make an appt. for the orthopedic consultation and if all insurance fails we will pay for this ourselves. First available appt., Thursday at 2:00. Have not taken the percocet, only the Advil and things are not feeling too bad.

This is a wonderful campground. They have a "family" restroom facility so HH and I can go in together and I have all the help I need. HH gives way too gentle a shampoo but one winged Granny can't complain. Tomorrow we will leave for Tucson and Gilbert Rey Campground .

Henry Honey and Grandma One Wing

Sunday February 25 - Again an early sunrise morning. Very chilly so got dressed, including my new L.L. Bean hiking shoes and headed for the bathroom. Headed is a good term as when I stepped off of the camper step I took a header during which I felt an “omph.” as I hit the ground accompanied by an audible or felt “crack”. Of course Henry Honey comes flying out of the camper to see what the crash was.

Well...the left arm was not usable and my mind was saying “Should Have Stayed Home Old Woman” and the next trick was figuring out how to get this big sack of potatoes up and off the ground. Not an easy thing. Well, I crabbed around in a circle until I could find something higher than the ground to help me get up. Henry is trying to think of a way to get me up without touching me or hurting me worse. Too bad he never mastered levitation.

Once up, he gently stuffed me into the truck, took down and secured the site in record time, helped me to the bathroom, checked for cell signal (none), checked the map for closest urban setting with hospital. So ninety miles later we arrive at a very small hospital with a wonderful ER staff. Got it x-rayed...fractured humerous (I know it is spelled wrong yet seems to apply)near the ball and shoulder socket. They immobilized it and gave me a script for Percocet and said to get a consultation with an orthopedic guy and some physical therapy or I could end up with frozen shoulder.

Being a Sunday, we need to wait until Monday to talk with Dean. So off we went to Karchner Caverns State Park and try to get some rest until tomorrow when we will know more. The night went very well considering. I manage to get into the camper by lining myself up with the door and Henry Honey gives a large shove with his hands and shoulder and in I go. Slept on the lower bunk and a worn out HH got the queen to himself. This night I think life is not so good..

Finally Something Other Than Driving

Saturday 2-24 - Up early and feeling very rested. Have a feeling this is going to be a Henry and Patti day - forget about Hagar and Helga.

One thing about camping is once it gets dark, unless you have a campfire, you go to bed soon after. We did not bring the TV this trip but do have half a dozen DVD’s but alas this park has no power. This morning my honey made a great breakfast. He had grapefruit and we both had pancakes, bacon and hot tea. I pre-cooked bacon and wrapped them in four slice portions and froze them so they can be crumbled into scrambled eggs or like we did this morning, just slip the bacon into the pan with the pancakes.

So rested and well fed we went out to explore. I took pictures of the sun coming over the tops of the mountains. As you might imagine, firsgt the peaks are aglow with sunlight and as the minuites pass, the sunlight slides down the mountain face until finally it is here in the campground. I would never tire of watching the day begin this way.

The campground is full of Western Bluebirds and Mexican and Grey Jays. Lots of folks are looking at them. There is a creek passing through the campground so hiked along the creek looking for found wood or pretty rocks. I always bring rocks home, don’t ask me why!

Back to camp after our hike and Henry wants to take the bikes out so we rode around tcampground and that was enough for me. Snacked on some string cheese then Henry rode off to explore and I got to carving on a woodspirit in cottowood bark, Is this living or what???

Sitting in the sun feeling lazy and writing in my journal. Henry is studying the mountain and rock surfaces with his spotting scope and trying to convince me that his stories or versions of what caused some unusual feature is true and should be believed. We saw two deer pass behind our site today. There is a fair amount of dodo around and about and Henry has identified it as—well several different possibilities - I’m just sure it is dodo.

It has been a wonderful day. Himself just buzzed through again on his bike. Wonder where he plans to walk off the leg cramps that are sure to hit in the middle of the night. I guess he’ll have to take a walk on the wild side...with da bears.

Henry & Patti Finally Arrive

Friday 2-23 - Had a wonderful breakfast at the motel and decided it was time to dip south as Albuquerque and Flagstaff had possible snow warnings. So we drove from Santa Rosa to Alamagordo and on to LasCruces then west on Hwy 10. The excitement here was high winds and tumbling tumbleweed. Only had to remove one from the grill but they were ablown. Our destination the Coronado National Forest and the Chiricahua National Monument. Actually took some pictures as we approached this scenic mountain area where the Chiricahua Indians supposedly hid out for the blue coats or ???

As the photos show, it was clouding up pretty bad and the sun broke through in startling diagional rays that gave the landscape a dramatic look at times.


The narrow road to the forest was 26 miles of great scenery and always going up and up. Helga spotted an animal and sure enough there was a free grazing horse next to the road.


Arrived at our campsite and got all set up and it started to rain/hail. It is much colder at elevation (5154 feet). Had some dinner and got into our warm snug much appreciated queen bed. Thoughts of bears in the night filled our heads.

The Hagar & Helga Saga Continues

Thursday 2-22 - About 2:00 am we decided to get on the road again to get through Tulsa before rush hour. That all went well except Oklahoma gobbled up $10.75 in tolls to cross their state which is pretty steep when all of the other states are free.

Helga keeps lobbying for drive sharing so Hagar gives up the drivers seat 20 miles from the Texas border. Helga is excited to tell her children that she drove clear across Texas while Dad slept. Actually it would only have been across the panhandle but she didn’t even get that done. Coming into Amarillo there was major construction and lots of big trucks so Helga headed for an exit and woke up Hagar so he could brave the traffic and obstacles.

On to New Mexico and after much discussion and consideration we decided on a New Mexico state park for our first real stop with camper up and plans to stay a few days. We chose Conchas Dam State Park about 30 miles north of Hwy 40. So off we go, great scenery and narrow roads. Very nice looking lake, nice looking park and a really nice looking “Closed” sign. So 30 miles later we are back on Hwy 40 on the way to Santa Rosa. There is a state park there to but by this time we were yelling at each other so opted for a wonderful motel with a king bed and hot shower. Hagar had a shower and stretched out on the bed and he was gone (7:30pm) We got to see the weather channel and a storm coming to Wisconsin so we were so glad we left early. So far our weather has been sunny and 58-70 degrees. - Super travel weather

A Long Day With Hagar & Helga

Wednesday 2-21-2007 - I guess the only eventful things the first day as we drove along was Hagar saying “Huh????” and Helga repeating everything she said (sigh). Oh well communication is difficult with all of the road noise, radio, etc.

Drive sharing worked well. Helga had little experience driving the truck with the camper so Hagar pretented to sleep with one eye open waiting to save Helga from some anticipated blunder. None came so soon Hagar could really rest. Hagar drove to Rockford, IL and then Helga drove the length of Illinois. Hagar took over for the St. Louis area then drove across Missouri and into Oklahoma.

We stopped for fuel in Vinita, Oklahoma late in the evening and Hagar decided he needed to walk arould a bit so after a stroll he decided he needed to push back in the seat and rest. So we spent our first night at a wayside near a railroad switching yard. Life is good when you travel with Hagar.