Monday March 30 2009 by Leland.

We had planned on being in Alabama for about 10 days, it turned out to be 30.  We left this morning and traveled about 1oo miles to Gulf Shores National Seashore just east of Biloxi.  A nice site in this NP.  Tonight we’ll go into one of the 11 Biloxi casinos for some dinner and a little slot machine action.  Wish us luck.

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Sunday March 29 2009 by Leland.

Today we settled down to the process of hitting the road again.  We have the rig cleaned, the laundry done, groceries as required and a route for at least one day’s travel laid out.  Boy what a busy day.  Tomorrow we are going down to Gulf Shores Al and heading west towards Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay.  We’ll take a look at the fort and then if the tides and the good luck are with us we’ll load the Butterfly on a ferry over to the other side island.  They say they only load big rigs like we will be if all things are right.  Kinda adventureous Huh!

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Wednesday March 25 2009 by Leland.

After most of Cathy’s recovery at Summerdale I went down to the open grass area on the North West edge of the property with my model.  I went flying several days in a row.  On this day traveling friends Bill Boyce and Shirley were in Summerdale and Bill came along and took this series of photos.

Getting ready to fly.  Mostly this is a process of getting up the courage to take off.

On an overhead pass.  One day I put the flying camera on the plane and took aerial photos of the RV park.  Can you see the camera in this photo?  Trick question.  It wasn’t on this flight.

Making a perfect landing.  Sometimes they are good and sometimes they bounce.

Bill took this as we were hitched and headed on down the road. Shirley and their rig in the background.

We went from here to Biloxi!

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Monday March 23 2009 by Leland.

Ever see the movie “Cars”?  One of my favorite characters in this animated movie is Mater, the wrecker.

Well on the side road between Foley and the Summerdale Escapees park was this wrecker truck, on a little bit of a display platform next to the road. 

Who knew that the character lived in Alabama.  The movie setting was along old route 66 in Arizona but obviously Mater had to have come from somewhere!

This must have been after his movie career because he has his hood back on.  He found it at the end of the movie but then lost it in a sneeze. 

If you are ever near Foley and Summerdale, hunt up Mater.  He wasn’t too talkative the day we took these photos.  I think he has had a rough time of it out along the road but he’s still tops in my book.

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Sunday March 22 2009 by Leland.

Being out of the hospital and home has been great.  We have been getting better every day.  Today we went for a ride in the car.  We did a short loop drive and stopped for lunch at Quiznoz.  We ordered take out and at in the car.   It was great to not eat my own cooking for a change.

In the hospital Eunice sent us a bouquet.  Here is a link to the photo of it.   .

  Eunice’s Flowers

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Wednesday March 18 2009 by Leland.

Today’s weather was great.  It rained for the last two days and nights.  Nice to not be reminded of Oregon where we were last winter - It rained almost every day there.  There have been two great sunsets here.  I have a photo or two but will put them here another day.

Cathy is doing better.  It will be a long while yet but we have a bit of a routine down now.  She is bored and tired of being inside but I am a tough care giver and she will only get to do things I say she is ready for.  Too bad.  (sound tough don’t I)

I cooked fried chicken and baked potatoes tonight - for her.  I got some towels done in the laundry and the dishes done.  I told her half the women in camp would fall down stairs if they knew how good she had it now.  OF COURSE I was ducking as I went out the door saying that.

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Sunday March 15 2009 by Leland.

Cathy and I are the process of finding out what works for her ribs and pain and what doesn’t.  Unfortunately both take some trial and error.  We’ve learned a great way to get up and down from chairs and the sofa.  We have learned how to sit down and swivle around to lay down on the couch.  We’ve found just the right angle on the pillows and found a board for under the mattress.  We found a timer for the computer that goes off every 20 minutes to signal that it’s time to do more deep breathing exercise to keep out the pneumonia.  With all this learning you’d think we had it figured out but there is so much more to the process. 

Keeping high spirits is one of the challenges.  Being in pain and being cheerful aren’t easy.  My Kitten is doing her dead level best and is really doing well.  Being cheerful when you know your sweetie is hurting isn’t easy but I am trying real hard and we are good!

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Friday March 13 2009 by Leland.

Tonight at about 8 p.m. we arrived back at our motor home.  Home at last.  Hospitals are not places to get well but they sure did us a good job.  The staff was very attentive and the whole process was good, although long.  We had quite an ordeal today but that’s a tale for another day.  Tonight, we are home, had the meds and are going to sleep.  Goodnight.

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Thursday March 12 2009 by Leland.

This morning when I came in Kitten was in pretty good shape. She has been doing her stuff as needed and slept well. The surgeon, one of her three docs came in and stated that he is sure she is going home today. YEAH. Looks like she will have two meds, one for pain and one for muscle relax. It will be at least a month till the pain goes down enough for that not to be a focal point in our world but that’s fine. We expect to stay here in Summerdale till she is comfortable with movement of the motor home and then we will wander on. This time will keep us close to the medical facility in case something doesn’t go right and it will give me time to do some of the little maintenance things I should be doing more often on the car and the motor home. LIFE IS GOOD!

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Wednesday March 11 2009 by Leland.

It’s Wednesday and we are still in the hospital at Foley. Kitten is better andd gettting cranky about being here. Last night was a LONG night. Breathing treatments every 2 hours, Blood tests every 4 and bed checks in between. The ribs and bones hurt when she lays still and they hurt when she moves. She is tired! The final final count of broke spots is 7. Her lungs started to get mad about the whole thing which is why the breathing treatmentss. I am ready to take her home. I am betting that we will get out today. Sure hope so.
Cinnamon is really upset with this routine of me leaving early, stopping in at lunch and then not coming home till after dark. She gets a walk and attention at each visit but this morning when we went out to go for a walk, she didn’t want to walk. She piddled and then went and stood by the car door - wouldn’t budge. She wanted to go wherever it was that mom was.

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