Time for an update

Wow. We have really been busy during the month of June. Tom spent a couple of weeks recovering from his injuries from the ladder incident. We got our stuff ready to go, this time we meant business. We left Ft. Yargo last Sunday, June 22. We really enjoyed our time there and look forward to going back.

Before heading out, though, we had to take our grand girls, Kaylee and Victoria to lunch. Kaylee's birthday was yesterday, June 26. She's Sweet Sixteen and very grown up. We had a great time.

After leaving on Sunday, we drove 150 miles to Chattanooga. We stopped at Camping World to have some work done on the rig. While we waited for that, we explored some of Chattanooga. The Aquarium was awesome and well worth the price of a ticket. We went to the IMAX theater and learned tons of stuff about sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. The part that made the most impact was learning that many species are endangered, mainly because their food sources are disappearing. Hopefully it's not too late to turn things around.

We drove up to Cloudland Canyon State Park in Georgia and visited with Tom and Ethel Smith, who hosted with us at Ft. Yargo a few months ago. We spent a couple of hours catching up. It was good to see them. Cloudland Canyon is beautiful -- it sits near the top of Lookout Mountain.

We are spending tonight in the Oh! Kentucky Campground at Berea, KY. We had just pulled in and got set up when it started to storm, complete with lightning and thunder. Tomorrow we will go to Wapakoneta, Ohio near Lima.

That about covers it for now.

What is this?

Can you guess what this is? Here's a hint: It was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, May 31. That's right, it's the Space Shuttle Discovery. Our son, Eric took this photo from about five miles from the launch site. He took it using his cell phone! They were in Cape Canaveral on Saturday preparing to board their cruise ship on Sunday for a cruise to the Bahamas. How cool is that?

The Latest View From Our Site

This is the view from picnic area 2. About a month ago the park manager asked us to change from camp host to maintenance host and had us move from the campground to this site in the picnic grounds. This is a quiet beautiful spot, just perfect for recuperating from a nasty fall. I (tom) fell off of an 8 ft ladder and sustained a broken elbow and other assorted injuries.

The park management have been great about letting us stay until we can travel. We should be on the road pulling our new rig down the road in about 3 weeks.

CHANGE OF PLANS

We had this trip planned down to the last detail, leaving the park on Friday and going to Elkhart, In and then to Michigan. Campground reservations were confirmed and we planned to meet our friends, Tim and Sally in Indiana.

But on Thursday as Tom was sweeping off the awnings, the ladder that he had climbed tipped and he fell and landed on the graveled campsite. Nancy ran outside to find Tom lying flat on his back. I called the park office and three rangers were here inside of a minute. They determined that he could be moved and helped him inside. We then went to the hospital where they treated him for a broken left elbow. They xrayed the lower and middle back also and did not see any apparent injury there. Today (Monday) we went to the orthopedic doctor who told Tom that the elbow should heal nicely in about 8 weeks. But they did send him for a ct scan because he is having pain on the right side in his arm and up into the neck and back. The doctor said that was probably from an area that was swollen from the fall and pressing on the nerve. And that it should heal as the swelling goes down.

We are hoping to be back on the road in about 4 weeks and resume our travel plans. We go back to the doctor this Thursday for the results.