Whew..made to Arkansas yesterday (April 28) with many hours of driving.  Seems like whatever highway I was on there was wind...not just a breeze but WIND.  Driving through Texas and Oklahoma was interesting but pretty flat with some rolling hills.  At least this type of driving made filling up at the gas pump a little less frequent.  I stayed at the Flying J in Oklahoma City which made for an easy departure the next morning.  I had planned to leave early but the folks next to me left around 3 A.M. waking me up with their diseil engine and I couldn't get back to sleep so I finally got up and was on the road by 5:00 A.M leaving much earlier than planned. I had forgotten about the two hour time change so it probably a good thing I left early.  

The drive to Mountain View was uneventful, and with the thought that I had left early enough to arrive and the camp ground before dark was comforting and I made several stops along the way including a stop at the visitor center in Arkansas.  Here, I asked questions about what was the best road to take to Mountain View.  The assistant definitely recommended that I not take Highway 9 which looked to be the shortest route, but that I take Highway 65 and then catch 9. This turned out to be very good advise.  Highway 9 was really narrow, very windy with steep down and up grades.  Memories of California Highway 4 invaded my brain as I drove.  To complicate matters there were several oversized truck loads that lugged up the mountain at 5 mph.  So much for getting to Sylamore  campground early.  However, I did managed to get there before dark. 

Several WIN members were already here and helped me pick out a beautiful site down by the river.  Later I was told there was a possibility of flood advisories so I ended up moving on the upper level, which turned out to be a good thing.  John, one of the WINs, bless his heart, realized how tired and hungry I was and cooked me a wonderful dinner of shrimp and scallops. Yummm.  He can cook for me any day.  

This place is amazing.  First of all, I never realized there were mountains in Arkansas.  Believe me, after that hairy drive over the mountains, Arkansas has some hills that rival Nevada and California.  There is a lot to do here.  There is hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, good fishing, "mudding" (4 wheeling) and best of all lots of folk music. They have jam sessions almost every night in Mountain View.  Tonight several of us went into "town" and sat on the porch of a B&B and listened to a group of  four guitars players who sang country songs.  There must have been 20 or 30 people crammed on the porch because it was raining.  I very fun night and free too!

I am really looking forward to Kayaking the white river.  There is a creek at the campground where we can put in and then connect with river.  With the threat of thunder and lightening we will have to wait until the weather clears...hopefully soon.  Even as I write this, the rain is pouring.  Poor Sadie is freaking out with all of the noise.  

Good bye house.  Saturday I loaded up the Born Free and finally headed out.  I'm only two weeks behind schedule.  My plan was to make it to Kingman, but somewhere along the way I ended up taking a wrong turn or missing my turn and ended up in Needles.  It was very late so I camped at the KOA that I have camped at before.  OMG have the prices gone up.  Last year it was $20.00.  Now its $35.00 unless you have a rewards card.  The drive down US 95 was awful because it was very, very windy. 

 

This morning I headed out pretty early and managed to make it Grants, New Mexico which is about 80 miles west of Albuquerque. I decided to stay at a Good Sam's campground which is very nice for $13.00. The most enjoyable part of the drive was going through the mountains around Flagstaff. One could spend a month exploring I-40 and Route 66.  There are so many things you can see and do.  I need to be in Arkansas by the 28th to catch up with the WINS so I must drive on.  

Tomorrow I need to find a Camping World in Alburquerque to replace the cable connection that goes between the Jeep and the RV to make the signal lights work.  I came disconnected and drug on the ground for I don't know how many miles. I hope they have what I need and that I won't have to drive all over town searching for it.  Thank goodness for the Garmin Nuvi.  What a treasure. 

Good news!  I met with Dr. Z this morning and reviewed the MRI. The good news is that the discs look OK except for some degeneration.  The bad news is that if my symptoms don't go away I should think about "the shot" and he will give me a referral. So far the pain has subsided quite a bit, maybe more now that I know I'm a candidate for "the shot".  I really, really, don't want a needle in my back. I've walked for an hour the past two days and attended a gentle Yoga session with no adverse effects.  The pain in my groin is still evident but not on the scale it was before.  The numbness in my shin hasn't retreated but it is not bothering me except at night.  So, I'm taking a positive and conservative approach that if the symptoms have declined this much in 2 1/2 weeks they should disappear at least by another 2 weeks or so.

Now my plans are to head towards Arkansas and catch up with the WINS.  I'll probably not leave until Saturday and should be able to meet up with them near Hot Springs before they leave for Mt. View.  I am so000 looking forward to getting back on the road.  

Today I am getting a batwing antenna installed so I can get better TV reception.  My old delta system doesn't have the range the the batwing is suppose to have.  Hope it works.  I really can't justify signing up for Dish or Direct TV and all of the hardware expenses that go along with a subscription.  I did add a feature to my Verizon which allows me to use my cell phone as a modem for only $30.00 It works very well and is pretty fast and beats paying $60.00 plus purchasing the data hardware, plus there is no long term contract and I can suspend it as needed.   

This was suppose to be the week that I would be hitting the road.  I packed up, boxed up, storaged up more stuff than one person should be allowed to have.  I managed to fill one large storage unit (8X10) to the brim.. ie barely enough room to close the door...and that did not include the furniture or the tools in the garage.  I even managed to sell some stuff on Craig's List. I guess when I'm in Reno I'll be spending my time sorting stuff and listing it on Craig's List.  The tenants have moved  in and love the place.  They wanted a long lease, but I think a month to month is just fine.  Can't rush into this too fast you know.  

Two weeks ago, I walked Sadie (it was a beautiful spring morning) in the hills up the street and washed the car and rv in preparation for the big day when I would be going full time.  That evening I was a little tired and sore, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Monday morning brought huge pain to my back, hip, and leg and I was having a really hard time moving around.  Tuesday was worse and I was forced to call the doctor.  My hip was killing me and my leg from my knee to my ankle was numb.  Pretty scary.  Basically the doctor said I pinched a nerve and gave me drugs and told be to call if I didn't feel better.  I explained I had an artificial hip and was worried I did something to it.  The doc was sure it wasn't my hip. I was sure it was my hip and worried that the cap had worn more and would need replacing sooner than later.  

I called Doctor Z (the orthopedic and hip doc) and was told I wouldn't be able to get an appointment until the following week.  What a long week.  Tuesday came and the appointment was moved to Thursday.  Thursday finally arrived and I told my story to Doc Z.  X Rays were taken and nothing showed up involving the hip.  That was a relief. I was sure I had a stress fracture.  I still have to have the cap replaced  at some point. Doctor Z felt it was more important  to find out why I was in so much pain  first before replacing the cap.  So he ordered an MRI.  I had the MRI done today.  Never had one before.  What a trip that was. Lots of noise. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.  Anyway, the results won't be ready for the Doc until Monday or Tuesday and the Doc can't see me until Thursday anyway. Hope, there is a cancelation so he can see me sooner. It is going to be hard sitting around waiting especially when I really can't do anything. 

So life goes on.  I'm still not back on the road.  Had to cancel my volunteer trip to Chaco, which is a real bummer.  I'm feeling not quite so sore today, but I still can't walk for more than a few blocks without bad pain.  Sadie is really suffering because she hasn't gotten her daily walks.  However, she has had the luxury of rolling around in the grass in Jason's yard.  Today we are at Justin's house dog sitting and house sitting while Justin attends the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey.  He entered several competitions and I hope he does well. Justin's backyard is huge and grassy so Sadie has more grass to lounge around it, although she would much prefer to roll around in the snow up on Mt Rose. 

To be continued.