Cyndee's surgery went as planned.  She went in on Wednesday morning this week and I brought her home by the afternoon on Thursday.  Doctor's instructions were clear - no lifting, nothing strenuous, no driving, no traveling for two weeks.  She has a follow-up visit scheduled in ten days and we hope the doctor will give us the go-ahead to get on over to Texas.

But Cyndee has not wasted any time in trying to push the limits of doctor's instructions.  She is already stir-crazy and I have had to give her the stink-eye a couple times to keep her from trying to do things she should not.

I have been trying to make good use of the time.  The night before Cyndee's surgery I went over to a friends house and used his stuff to polish the headlights on Putt-Putt (the PT Cruiser).  They had almost become opaque but now, thanks to Chuck, they look great.  I will be taking Putt-Putt to a detailing shop early next week to get it all cleaned and shined up for a trip over to CarMax and a quick sale.  Of all the things we have disposed of, letting the second car go is proving to be the hardest.  Our transportation will soon be totally dependent on a single, large, fuel-hungry truck.

I have also been spending some time out in the "yard" around our camper.  I started noticing blooms laying all over the ground, spread out over a wide area.  Odd, we don't have any flowering shrubs or ornamental trees anywhere near us.  It was a mystery, every morning there would be whole new crop of blooms all over the ground.  Were varmints carrying them in during the night?

But one afternoon I took my mid-afternoon apple break in a lawn chair under the awning and out of the corner of my eye I saw something falling in the general area of where all the blooms gather.  So I got to watching and shortly, from very high above something else fell.  I walked out to where it landed and saw that it was one of the blooms.  It appeared to be coming from a very tall, slender tree but I could not see any blooms in the high branches.  I got out a pair of binoculars and then it was clear that the tree was the source of the blooms.  With the magnification I could see the blooms sprinkled throughout the large crown of the tree.


The tree, I learned, was a Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera ).  And it produces large, thick-leaf green-orange-yellow blooms that fall like rain.  In the photo above the scale is hard to tell but the bottom most branch is at least thirty feet above ground.  The top of the tree is at least another thirty feet above that.  According to the literature, this tree can get as tall as 165 feet with the bottom branches not starting until 60-80 feet off the ground.  So I guess ours is a youngster and has some growing to do.  Tulip Trees are native to this area but in all the years I have lived here I have not recognized one when I saw it.  And this is the first time I have ever seen a bloom.

Reading has also worked its way back into my life.  I used to read voraciously but work and other demands on my life had squeezed out my reading time.  I used to try to get a couple pages of something in at bed time but it never failed that sleep swept over me and I never remembered a word I read.  But since moving into the RV and ultimately retiring, I have again been reading.  I have caught up on stacks of magazines and journals that we subscribe to and I have polished off a 1500 page Clancey novel, three murder mysteries, and a fiction about a 7-year drought in Texas set in the 1950's called "The Time it Never Rained".  I am going to have to find a comedy to read after that last one.  It affected me, I found myself worrying about the characters and what was happening to them when I was not reading about them.  More tragedy than I usually care to read about and without a satisfying (to me) end.  Definitely going to find something light to read next.

We have been having fun organizing our music library too.  I now have the iPhones, PC and iPod synched up, a Motorola Bluetooth device for FM transmitting through the truck radio and an iPod dock with speakers (Bose SoundDock) for setting up outside while we are getting some awning time.  We recently saw a special on PBS that featured a musician by the name of Joe Bonamassa.  His sound intrigued both of us and we bought an album today, "An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House".  He is classified as Blues but there is more to it than that.

T -4 days until departing Georgia (clock stopped and holding)

Time on our hands.

With our departure on hold until after Cyndee recuperates from surgery (which is now scheduled in three days), we are finding we have time to indulge ourselves with a little entertainment.  This Memorial Day weekend we got in a movie (the new Star Trek, we both loved it), a drive to the lake (at it's highest level in the 23 years we have been here), some shopping at the Outlet Mall, and a bar-b-que at our daughter and son-in-law's.  And the holiday weekend still has one day left in it.

Got the missing mudflap on Big Gulp replaced too.  Not entertaining to me but maybe the neighbors got a giggle out of Cyndee and I crawling under and into the wheel well while trying to get that rascal lined up, drilled and bolted in.

The bracket along the top was a sheet metal support.  In a past life I worked sheet metal and knew to wear hand protection but I figured I would be okay for this little job. I figured wrong.  In just one move I lost hide on four fingers.  I found that pair of leather gloves and started over.  But we are legal now, bring on the Texas State Inspection.

The trip to Lake Lanier was eye opening.  There has been so much drought in North Georgia for the past ten years that most of the boat ramps have been closed because the water level was so low.  Suction pipes that were the source point for drinking water for the Atlanta metro area became exposed and had to be extended hundreds of feet to get submerged enough to do their thing.  In 2007/2008 the water level got so low that the Army Corp of Engineers (COE) estimated that it may take 20 years to bring the lake back to normal levels.  But, in September of 2009 there was such a string of rain storms that Lake Lanier returned to full pool in just that month!  However, we returned to drought conditions and levels soon dropped to dangerously low levels again.  Enter the spring of 2013.  It has been a very wet spring.  Not the torrential downpours of September of '09, but frequent and long soaking rains for weeks, with one big one - 6" of rain in 7 hours.  This big one came after the ground was thoroughly saturated and it was localized directly over the watershed basin for Lake Lanier.  Every drop of the rain made its way into the lake.  The lake is at near record levels, above it's summer full pool level.  I don't ever recall that happening in the 23 years we have been here.

These two pictures are of the same swimming beach in the Bald Ridge Creek Campground.  In the top picture you can see (click the picture to enlarge) the red swim buoys laying on dry sand, the depth gauge (tall stick with white markers on the right) does not have water within ten feet of it.  The bottom picture shows a much smaller beach, swim buoys well out in the water and a depth gauge that is barely visible and water up to the bottom branches of the trees on the island opposite the swim beach.  Considering how large this lake is, this change in elevation represents massive amounts water.  I sure hope drought does not return.

T -4 days until departing Georgia (clock stopped and holding)

Working a new plan.

Our change in schedule is starting to take shape.  Cyndee's surgery is now set for next week.  That will put us in Livingston about two and a half weeks later than planned.  I have been working the phones and websites trying to sort out the things I can do in advance of going to Texas.  There are a few and I have started the wheels turning on those.  But there is plenty that you just have to be there in person to do, like get a safety inspection done on the vehicles and taking driver license tests.

Thursday was Cyndee's last day on her job.  When she opened the door and walked in, I shrank.  I could tell by the red, puffy, watery eyes that the water works had been flowing.  And it did not stop with getting home, in fact it probably came up a notch or two.  Nearly burned through a whole box of tissues.  I guess her take on retirement is a little different than the average.

Now with a few extra days, I am making use of them.  We lost a mudflap on the truck while on our trip to South Carolina to take furniture to my cousin.  While studying for the class A driver license I discovered that it is a requirement to have mudflaps on any truck with four or more rear wheels.
So I called the outfit that built my truck and had them send me a matching replacement.  It arrived Frisay.  I will have to figure out a way to drill mounting holes that line up with the existing holes in the wheel well.

But today while waiting on UPS I took the time to do a little domestic engineering.  If you have read some of the earliest posting you saw pictures of the interior of the rig.  Even in those little photos you can see that there is a load of woodwork.  There is oak cabinetry and trim everywhere.  Today, for the second time since acquiring the rig nine months ago I treated all the wood, end to end.  Man, there is a lot of wood in this rig.  It took a little over two hours to get everything rubbed down.  I may have gone a little too long between treatments as some of the cabinets soaked up the Liquid Gold only minutes after getting it on.

T -4 days until departing GA (clock stopped and holding).

Best laid plans.....

As part of the lifestyle of fulltimers there has to be a way to manage medical needs.  We are lining up volunteer positions all over Texas and Arizona that carry us through the next 14 months so there is a bit of a logistics problem to get the routine doctor visits in so that prescriptions can be filled.  We will rarely be anywhere near the same doctor's office at any of the six month intervals required for blood work.  So, we are seeing all doctors, and dentists we need to so that we have the maximum amount of time we can get to find the next doctor's offices that will work with us.

That was going great, until yesterday.  At Cyndee's OB/GYN visit it was discovered that the surgery to repair prolapsed organs this time last year did not "take".  She is now getting appointments arranged for a second surgery.  The doctor has been great, he understands what we are doing and has committed to getting Cyndee in as quickly as possible so that she can start healing up and get on our way.  But at this moment it looks like we will be staying in Georgia for about another month.

While the downside is obvious, my precious bride once again going through this ordeal, the upside is that our new lifestyle is built around being flexible.  We'll either just do everything we were planning to do a little later, skip it or do it some other time.  Hey, maybe we can get in a few more "last lunches" with friends and the kids.

By the way, Kids, if you are reading this; this means you are on the hook for Mom's birthday and Father's Day.  We'll be available for personal appearances. :-))

All the trip planning and campground reservations have been revised.  I was very happy that the private campgrounds that we had reservations for in Mississippi and Shreveport, LA did not charge any penalties or fees.  Both just said to let them know when we were coming through and they would leave a light on for us.  Nice.

Our host here in GA has been equally accommodating.  Even though he has a waiting list of rigs that want in this long-term campground, he did not blink an eye when I said we needed to extend our stay an extra month.  A special thanks to Don at Wesley Oaks RV Lots.

T -4 Days Until Leaving GA  !!Clock Stopped and Holding!!

Taking a shower in our condo on wheels can, on some days, be spectacular and today was one of those days.  Centered directly over our shower is a large, rectangular skylight.  Today, for the first time in awhile, we had a bright blue sky and the 80' plus tall oaks flanking either side of where we are parked have just put on a brand new canopy of leaves.  Looking out the skylight this morning with puffy white clouds drifting by the panorama of blue and green was stunning.  What a great start to great day.  Happy Mother's day to all you moms.

I may have retired last week but I sure have not stopped working.  If any of you folks reading this have been considering buying an RV and a salesman has been telling you that their rig is built in such a way that it is practically maintenance free, RUN!!  If you care about your equipment and want it to look good and last, then there is plenty of maintenance to do no matter how it is built.

A good part of this week was exterior maintenance.  In this case, simply cleaning.  Yeah, its simple but it is not easy.  Like the washing of any vehicle, you start from the top and work your way down.  But when your vehicle is nearly 14' tall the logistics of doing this get a little more involved and include using a ladder - a lot.  The way our lot is sloped, I had to use a ladder just to reach the ladder on the back of the rig.

But in addition to getting a ladder set up, there was more to prep before climbing on the roof.  I had to get out the long-handle brush, wash bucket, car wash soap, expandable water hose and rope.  The rope was for tying onto the bucket so I could lift it and the other stuff after getting on the roof.  No way do I want to try to climb that ladder with my hands full.

At Christmas I had bought myself a present, one of those light-weight, expandable water hoses.  After five months I was now going to see if I got my money's worth.  They were not kidding when they labeled it light-weight.  I think the plastic fittings on each end weighed more than the fifty feet of hose in-between.  And the whole thing coiled up in the bottom quarter of my two-gallon bucket.  Dragging it up to the roof was easy and the cloth outer covering did not mark up the paint.  This hose is not exactly a high flow hose but it proved to be just fine for the work I had to do.

My first 5th wheel had an EPDM (rubber) roof on it.  It had a very pleasant sound when it rained, a soft, mellow drum.  It also provided a good seal within its lifetime.  But it caused wicked black streaks from morning dew run-off and a lifetime that was short by my standards.  And let me tell you, the cost of replacing that rubber roof was painful.  It also took a lot of maintenance, cleaning with special cleaners, and treatment with "rejuvenators".  Quite a few dollars and several times a year.  So this time around I thought I would try out a different technology, fiberglass.  It should be longer life, no black streaks, no special cleaning solutions and no rejuvenators.  I'll need several years before I know if I made a good choice on the durability and easier maintenance but I can tell you right now that there is no soft drum when it rains.  This roof is loud, there is not a volume setting high enough on the TV to be heard over the din of a good rain.

But cleaning was straight-forward enough, just some water, soap and a brush.  The roof was really grungy after sitting under trees and suburban air that warrants official health warnings more often than I care to think about.  8' wide and 37' long, it was a long morning on the roof.

This was about half-way down, it took a double pass to get it all.

While the roof was definitely in need of the attention, the slides were off the charts.  The slide's roofs still have to use EPDM as their covering and they seem to attract even more grunge and cling to the junk falling off the trees.

But it is done, the roof is clean.  Instead of it being black and taking on heat, we are back to shiny, reflective white.  Ready to take on summer sun in Texas and Kansas.

T -13 days from departing Georgia.

It has been one heck of a couple of weeks. My last day in the office was Friday, five days ago. Technically, I am on vacation until June but the reality is, I'm done. No more going back to the office, airport security checks, getting on a plane, passing through customs with jet-lag so bad you don't even know what country you are in, and staying in countless hotels. It's over and I will not miss any of the things mentioned, but, and it is a big but, I am having separation anxiety about leaving some really great people behind. The folks I worked with were smart, funny, innovative, dedicated and just genuinely nice people. I am not particularly excited about parting their company, but it has to be. There is a great adventure ahead for Cyndee and I and it begins now.

So, since my last post it has been a plethora of phone calls, cards, emails and personal visits from friends all around the world. The kind words and gestures that have been extended to me has been stunning. I have been at a loss for words repeatedly at everyone's goodbye's. A retirement gift I received that was from a collection taken up at the office was a zoom lens for my camera. Wow!, what a perfect gift. I am going to be in places of great vistas and amazing life, this lens is going to be at the heart of me exploring my artsy-side. I have been practicing on the wildlife visiting our bird feeders. These shots are taken hand-held through tinted, double-paned glass on a completely overcast day. I am super impressed with this lenses' ability to gather light.



Above from left to right we have: Cardinal, male; Downy Woodpecker, female; House Finch; Red-headed Woodpecker. These photos are HTML links to the original file so they display at low resolution.

Below from left to right:
Cardinal, female; Goldfinch; Red-bellied Woodpecker



It is a shame that the image on the blog is so poor. Believe me, on my 22" monitor at full-screen they are gorgeous.

There have been a couple of receptions in honor of my retirement. Both were overwhelming to me. The shear number of people that attended blew me away but even more so when it became obvious that many of these people had traveled from afar, arriving from Chicago, Detroit, Phoenix and Brussels. You know it wasn't just the cake that brought them in.



And speaking of cake, I nearly fell over when I saw the one they made for the cocktail reception. One of the women that work in HR also makes cupcakes and cakes. My (phenomenal) admin assistant had acquired a picture of my rig and the lady making the cake perfectly reproduced the paint scheme. The detail was awesome. The picture does not show it well but even the license plate was perfectly lettered with the word 'Retired'.



While I am basking in the glow of my last days at work, Cyndee is still fully submerged in her job. The end of the school year is a hectic time and she has little time to think of anything but the tasks in front of her. Just a couple more weeks and that will be it for her. While she is still hard at it at work I have begun all the little chores that need to be done to get this rig broke loose from the spot it has been in since last October.

The truck needed new valve stems on the inside duals. It was an hour and fifteen minute drive to get to the folks over at University Tire in Athens, but it was worth it. They are one of the few in the whole of North Georgia that have both the equipment and know-how to handle commercial-size aluminum wheels. Once I got the valve stems it was possible for me to mount the tire pressure monitors. Before I was done I had installed and programmed 8 monitors, two on the truck and 6 on the trailer.

My last oil analysis showed that things were looking really good but that I was getting to the end of life on that oil change, a little over 9,000 miles, so first thing this morning I got the truck down to the only place I know of (outside of the Ford dealer) that has a rack big enough to hold Big Gulp. $268 later I had 15 quarts of oil, oil filter and two fuel filters. I think that is the end of things I have to do that make me get my wallet out.

The rig has gotten pretty grungy sitting here under the trees for the last seven months. At the very least I am going to have to get up top and clean the roof and slides, maybe even wax them. And, if there is a long enough break in the seemingly endless rain we have been having, I would like to wash and coat the front end-cap with some slick stuff that is supposed to make the bugs just slide off. We'll see.

T -17 days until departing Georgia.