Home and recovering

We arrived at Kelly's and found that Paul was
still in the hospital.  Barbara was home as
were two of her three adult children, Todd and
Janae.

Barbara allowed as how she had dinner all set
and started preparing chicken breasts.  I brought
in the green beans that Alyssum and I had bought
at Trader Joe's and started preparing them.  Janae
set the table and fixed a salad.

I brought in ice cream from the RV for a dessert
treat.  Todd and Janae said they would clean up
so Robert and I excused ourselves and went to the
Van.  Barbara looked exhausted.

The next day, Saturday, again, the word was that Paul
might come home the next day, but his fever was up a
bit.

I took over and fixed dinner the next night so
Barbara could just put her feet up.

On Sunday we decided we'd head for home.  We were
sorry to miss Paul, but hospitals are not a place
Robert should go, if possible.

However, Robert's arm was giving him fits.  He could
find no way to be comfortable and it seemed to be
getting worse.  I began to think maybe it was broken.
We pulled into the Shasta Medical Center/Hospital in
Redding and went to the ER.  Unlike our Florida
experience we didn't have to wait very long before
Robert was taken into a cubicle to be examined. An
X-ray was immediately ordered.  The doctor and nurse
were both so kind and reassuring, they were very
helpful.  The result of the X-ray showed his arm to
be normal.  He was told to give it rest, use the sling
and take as much ibuprofen as needed so that he can
sleep.

All of that was good news so we went on to an RV park
near Gold Run, California.  It was called Dutch Flats.
It was good to be alone again.  We love visiting, but
we do get tired of talking with folks so it was nice
to just be there.

On Monday we continued, spending the night at Wells,
Nevada.

Tuesday, we continued, but Robert was getting little
sleep and climbing out of that bed during the night
with a sore arm is really difficult.  In the meantime
it was clear that Robert was very sick. He'd picked up
my cold and had it big time.  He had the same chills
I had had and he just couldn't get warm.


We also had a warning light telling us that we needed
coolant so we found a place in Salt Lake City that
would sell us some AND put it in.  I could help R.,
but the hood is really heavy and he wasn't sure we
could do it since he only had one arm

We went on to Comfort Inn in Salt Lake City where
we spent the night.  It was wonderful.  We both
took long hot showers and each slept in one of
the Queen beds.  Unheard of for us not to share a
bed, but it seemed wiser since we both needed sleep.

In the morning we had breakfast at the motel, but
Robert didn't eat very much.

We planned to make it home in two days.  I drove
most of the time and when it was clear we were
only 4 hours for home I opted to continue.  We
arrived home about 6 PM...and were we glad to be
here.

Since then Robert's cold has calmed down quite a
bit.  Mine seems to have flared up a bit.  I have
been having trouble sleeping.  Hopefully, tonight
we'll both be able to sleep.

I guess all-in-all the first half of our trip was fun;
the last half, less than half, was hard.

California still...

Aspen playing peek-a-boo with the new blanket from Martha

A view of the coast near Bodega Bay

Alyssum and Aspen admiring the view of the coast

The sun is really bright!

We left Berkeley the morning of the 13th
and headed for the farm near Santa Rosa.
The farm is run by Dan Revallo, Alyssum's
husband.  It is situated on the grounds of
a Waldorf K-12 school.  Dana runs the farm
and teaches there.  He has a big responsibility,
at the same time it is a lovely setting.  All
the vegetables he grows are available to them
to eat.

At present Alyssum is a stay-at-home mom and
busy landscaping their farm house.  The house
is small, but has been remodeled for them.  It
has everything they need although a bathroom
near the upstairs bedrooms would be nice.

We slept in the Van and Robert spent much of
his time there.  We walked everyday which
was helpful.  I visited with Alyssum and
enjoyed Aspen when she was awake.  She is
a very personable little person and very
good natured.  Clearly, she feels totally
secure in her environment and totally
trusting.  Both Alyssum and I were amazed
at one point.  Alyssum and Dana were headed
out for a bike ride; Alyssum carefully said
goodbye to Aspen and explained they were
leaving, but would be back pretty soon.
At 7 months it's unlikely Aspen understood
much of that, but it is still a good habit
to have.  In any case I carried Aspen out
to the front porch and we waved goodbye to
her parents.  She watched them leave with
no comment, not tears, just watched.  When
they were out of sight we went back inside.
She happily played with her current batch
of toys while I happily watched.  At
some point I took her out in the stroller
and she slept part of the time.  She was
sleeping in the stroller when Alyssum
returned I hand motioned that Aspen was
asleep and she, Alyssum, would have time
for a shower.  She leaped to it.

We had planned to leave on Saturday, the
16th, but Robert's arm was bothering him
and I had come down with a cold.  It
started with chills like I have never had
before.  I couldn't get warm!  Finally,
I crawled out of bed and went into the house
wearing my down jacket.  I was shaking
hard.  Alyssum fixed me peppermint tea and
their kitchen was significantly warmer than
the van such that with all my winter clothes
on, I finally stopped shaking.  After that
it was clear I had a cold, but it never
was a bad cold; just started with a bang.

It was hard to leave the farm, Alyssum, Dana
and Aspen.  I felt so comfortable there.

We went on to Paradise, California which is
near Chico. Robert's sister-in-law lives
there and her daughter and family.  We took
a really winding road.  Unfortunately, it
was much slower than we had realized so
we didn't arrive at Priscilla's until almost
6:00 PM.  She had mentioned that she had a
meeting and would have to leave at 6.  When
we were so late, she arranged with her
daughter, Liza, for us to have dinner at
Liza's.  We had about 20 minutes to talk
with Priscilla and catch up on family
doings.  As she left we walked up to Liza's
house which is very near Priscilla's.

The new house is lovely.  It is Wendell's
hobby I could tell.  He works very hard,
but gets 3 days off one week and 4 the
next; that means very long hours in a
building that is not heated in the winter
nor cooled in the summer.  It was 38 F.
the day we arrived so that he was chilled
through.  We had an enjoyable dinner and
short evening.  Both Liza and Wendell have
to leave early in the morning.  Wendell
was off the next day, but he was planning
on just being lazy.  Lucy, their 16-year-
old daughter is lovely.  Clearly, very
bright and very hard working.  She'll do
well in what ever she puts her mind to.

After breakfast with Priscilla and Wendell
we headed for Arcata, Califonia.  Priscilla
was heading for the bay area.

We decided to make it a slow trip and spend
the night somewhere by ourselves.  We ended
up in an RV park in Scotia, California.

When we called the Kelly's to tell them we
were on our way, Barbara said that Paul
was in the hospital with pneumonia.  It
was bacterial and he was being treated
with anti-biotics.  Hopefully, he'd be
home tomorrow.

I'll finish the rest of this tomorrow.
It's nice to be home.