May-June'06

Well—this update & pics will be short. Things haven’t gotten much better, as you will see (read).

We drove straight thru from SC to Metropolis, Il and spent the night in the parking lot of the Harrah’s Casino. I slept and Kay went to the casino. She did OK, nothing great.

Next morning we headed to Harrisburg, Il to check on the tire. Roger looked and said he would get a replacement ordered in. Then we went on to Effingham.

While we were in Fl, one of Kay’s cousins was in Champaign, Il on business and had a heart attack. He had open heart surgery and when he was feeling better he flew back home to the northeast. He had to leave his jeep in Champaign at his motel. So when we made our appointment to get the truck window fixed in Champaign, we agreed to bring his jeep back down to Effingham til he could come and get it. Truck was fixed under warranty, picked up the jeep and back to Eff.

  While in Eff we also replaced the awning springs ($270). One end had broke and we decided to replace both at one time. I worked with the mobile RV repair guy and I feel I can do it next time if needed. The only bad problem is the springs. If you are not careful, you could break or lose a finger or worse.

Took one day and drove back to Harrisburg to get the tire replaced, then came right back.

  End of May we headed to Rantoul (Prairie Pines Campground) for a few days.

Our appt at the Monaco factory to have the slide seals replaced and windshield reset was for June 6. We headed there on mon the 5^th. Got there and when we started to unhook the truck—no truck brakes! Finally found a dealer that would get it in right away and they towed it away. The next day (tues) they looked underneath and ordered some hoses to be delivered the next day. On wed they put the truck on a lift to do the repairs and found extensive damage. It looks like my breakaway switch cable got snagged on something and activated the breakaway which applied the brakes. I could not feel a thing in MH and our remote alarm did not go off. They had to replace the whole front brake system. Needed to order more parts to arrive the next day (thur). On thur they replaced everything but had received 2 rt side brake hoses and had to reorder to get the left side one to be delivered on fri. They finished up on fri about 4:30pm to the tune of $3000. BUT—insurance covered it and said we had to replace our auxillary brake system with a new one or they would not cover the truck if it happened again.

Now while this was going on, Kay’s brother, John, on tues had gone in for a local biopsy and ended up in intensive care. Rest of that week was touch and go for him. Kay’s sister, Clara, came up from Savannah to help out. Meanwhile, we are up in Elkhart, In area waiting for the truck to be done. Each day we had been told it would be done the next day so we didn’t rent a car or just drive the MH back to Eff., expecting to be able to head out any time. When we got the truck back on fri pm, we hooked up and headed straight to Eff arriving about 2am. About 7am sat Kay went to hosp to visit John and I finished hooking up. About noon, Kay, Clara, and John’s wife, Linda, came out and said they were taking John to the hosp in Springfield, Il as they didn’t have the necessary people/equipment to take care of him any longer. And off they went. For 3 weeks!  I stayed back to take care of the house and our dog.

I spent the time waxing the MH and doing a little maintenance.

While they were up there, Kay’s Aunt Norma, (her mom’s sister), passed away. I picked up Kay’s dad and took him to the services as the others were still in Springfield. They were taking turns staying with John around the clock as he had serious problems. Heart, lungs, kidneys—all were shutting down on him. And the biopsy they took earlier was thyroid cancer. At the end of the 3 weeks the Drs. sent him home as there was nothing they could do for him. He was too weak for surgery to try and correct the problems and couldn’t build up any strength. They figured he might last a few months. We got John settled in at home, set up a home health care nurse for him. Second day home they ended up calling Hospice and on thur July 6, (less than a week later) John passed away.

This has NOT been a good 4 month period!!!!

It is now thur, July 13^th and we will stay here until next Tuesday when we plan on heading to Tacoma, Wa for my nephew’s wedding. After helping Clara with her husband back at the beginning of the year til Mar, and then with John, Kay is ready to be on the road. And I agree—she needs to relax.

 Later                                            PICTURES