Trailer repairs and Stephanie Update

I realize it has been awhile since our last post.  It seems we have less to tell about while we are sitting in one place rather than traveling down the road.  We have been experiencing mixed weather here in North Carolina.  We have a couple days of pretty nice temps and then the wind blows and the storm comes through and the temperature drops again.  This morning it is 24 degrees after yesterday it got to 6o degrees.  This is the start of the next Arctic blast (not vortex) which will keep us pretty cold for the next few days. We did brave the cold to try and get some pictures of a beautiful moon rise the other evening.  We are still learning to use our new camera but the picture did turn out nice.

  We celebrated Stephanie's Birthday by going to Southern Pines, NC which is only about 20 miles from Raeford. 

We went to a local restaurant and had a delicious meal and then went shopping for some new clothes for Steph.

Stephanie had Pecan encrusted Wahoo (on right) and Bill had Blackened chicken and shrimp

Restaurant where we ate for Stephanie's Birthday

 

  We had the opportunity to meet one of our other great-nieces last weekend.  Alex and her family were down from Ft. Lee Virginia for the weekend.  Her husband, Jake, is in the Army and they had a 4 day weekend so they drove down.  They were a wonderful little family and really enjoyed meeting them.
  We have been fixing all the problems caused by plugging the trailer into the wrong power source back in December.  We replaced the Microwave oven ourselves and had a repairman fix the refrigerator.  Bill will be trying to repair the central vacuum when the weather turns warmer and we still need to deal with the entertainment system but we are starting to get everything working again
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  Stephanie had her appointment with the Orthopedic Surgeon in Durham at Duke University Hospital yesterday. The drive up to Durham is about 2 hours form Raeford and we saw countryside which we have not been through before.

Cape Fear River

  The outcome from the appointment was not as we had hoped.  We thought she was a candidate for arthroscopic surgery of the hip to repair the Labral tear but the doctor found that the Arthritis was to bad in her hip so he referred her to a full hip replacement surgeon.  The doctor was able to secure an appointment for us but we had to be 14 miles away in 20 mins. in a city we don't know anything about.  We entered the address for the new doctor in the GPS and started driving.  We ended up about 5 mins. late but they still fit her in.  After a short examination and a review of her records and xrays they confirmed the need for a new hip joint.  So, Stephanie is scheduled for surgery at Duke Raleigh Hospital on 13 Feb.  I guess this means there won't be any dancing for Valentines day this year.

2013 in review

Well it's a new year.  We, like many others, are starting out a bit on the cold (FRIGID) side.  Yesterday, 7 Jan 2014 never got above 28 degrees but considering it started at 9 degrees for the day I guess that isn't to bad.  Today, 8 Jan, we have run out of fresh water and the pipe outside is still frozen solid.  Spent about 30 minutes outside where the pipe comes out of the ground using a blow dryer to heat it up, Eureka, it worked, water is flowing.  The temperature today should get up to 37 degrees but it is due to fall below freezing for the night.  I think we weathered the 'Artic Vortex' of 2014.  Hopefully it will be the only vortex we experience the rest of the year.

  Enough of cold weather, this post was to be a review of our first year (albeit abbreviated) of full time RV'ing.  One of the nice benefits of the weather being so cold is we stay indoors more.  So I was able to find a way to produce a map that we liked to show where we had been last year.



 

Depiction of our 2013 travels

So, a quick rundown of the highlights of 2013.  First, we said our goodbyes around New Mexico.  In Rio Rancho, Silver City and finally back in Las Cruces.  We knew we would miss everyone but we needed to start this life which we had dreamed of.

Next we saw how really big things are in Texas.

Then we had time with family in Dallas.  Felt a little like we were part of the Adam's Family but it was great to spend time with everyone.

  

 

 

 

 

 



We took a wonderful excursion down to League City, TX and got to know our great niece and nephew a little better and spend time with our family.  We also got introduced to Speculoos waffles.



From this point we were on our own.  We left all of our family behind and struck out to test our new life on the road.  The first stop was at our new 'home' in Livingston in Southeastern TX to pickup mail and see the area first hand.

 Then we were off to Martin Dies State Park near Jasper TX.  We were introduced to some new challenges

but we were rewarded with a truly beautiful area which we still love.

 

Our next stop was just a short one in Lafayette, LA.  then on to Fountainbleau State Park near Mandeville, LA. 

We took a side trip into New Orleans to visit the French Quarter, visited St. Louis Cathedral, Bourbon St. and got life advise from a Court Jester.

Next we spent sometime in LA (Lower Alabama) and ate some wonderful seafood and visited the Beach in Pensacola, FL..

After that it was 2 different state parks in Northern Florida.  Three Rivers State Park where we learned ducks are pretty smart on opening day of Duck Season. 

 

Then Stephen Foster State Park where we saw the Suwanee River.

 

We spent a week near Savannah, GA. and fell in love with it.

Another St. Louis Cathedral

Beautiful old city charm

                                                                                        Best candy to be found

Then another old city, Charleston, SC.

A week on the beach near Myrtle Beach at Huntington Beach State Park.

Fun for everyone on the beach

And finally, a very pleasant and warm Christmas in Raeford, NC

That Certainly takes care of our old year and we hope everyone had a great year and a blessed Christmas.  We also want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and hope we get to see everyone again this year.