At Spokane, near Ferriday, LA

As planned, we got under way Wednesday forenoon even though thunderstorms had been forcast. There were a vew early morning sprinkles which did delay our start somewhat. We stopped for breakfast near Loretto, TN, then proceeded into Alabama and the Natchez Trace. As usual the ride down the Trace was beautiful and quite peaceful. Most signs of the Tornado that had preceeded us last time was remaing and they were finishing cleaning them up. We stopped at one of the Visitor Centers and some of the Points of Interest. We inspected one of the campgrounds, but as there was no Cell Phone service and we needed to make some calls continued on. When we got to Jackson, MS, we encountered a detour which with the oncoming darkness was somewhat confusing. We had supper and spent the night at the Flying J near Pearl, MS as we planned on dumping, getting water and fuel. Diesel was 2.48/gal there, lowest we had paid in ages.

Thursday morning we took our time doing the chores, getting breakfast, etc. as we were scheduled for arrival at our friends Jim and Pat at about 1400. We had one bit of excitement along the Trace. Loretta felt something touching her neck and looked around to see a large mouse, small rat, or? on her seat looking at her. She leat out a yell and I started to look for a place to pull over. However he got on the back of the rear seat, so she opened the rear window ans shooed him outside. We have no idea how or where he got into our truck. Perhaps when I had doors open sometime, of course he could squeeze under the door even if it was shut probably. Then when we got to the end of the Natchez Trace, we encountered construction and lack of route markings. So we ended up heading the wrong way. We got turned around and crossed the Mississippi river only to encounter the heaviest cloud of Lovebugs I had ever seen. Fortunately they did not cover the windshield enough to interfere with visibility. We tried to call ahead then without luck so followed our instructions to our destination. We waited in the driveway there a short while till Jim came to get us back to their parking space next door. They have 2 fill hookup sites on a contrete pad overlooking Lake St. John. After a visit, we went out to an excellent restaurant nearby.

Yesterday, we unwound some, I walked around tha area and took many pictures. We visited some and went into Ferriday for some shopping and a ride around the area. Supper was leftovers from the day before and still had much to throw out. Had we known the sizes of servings, we would have ordered one dinner and shared. The appetizer was boiled shrimp and there were 2 large containers for each of us containing perhaps 2 dozen each. But they were sure good chilled last night. As of now, we have no plans for today except to relax which we have been doing this morning.

Apparently the change in Loretta's medication has helped as she has already started to get ride of some of the excess weight. Sure hope things work out for her - do keep her in your prayers.

GOD Bless
Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.us

Ready to move on again

Well, we have good news and some not-so-good news.

While in Missouri, we stayed pretty close to Crescent Hill Farm. We did shop in both Harrisonville and Butler and one evening Cliff and Lorraine treated us to supper at Partners Restaurant in the former. We also visited their sons Carl and Richard in Butler and had our larder stocked with fresh vegetables from their garden.

We departed there on Wednesday, 30 August so as to be back in Tennessee for some lab samples to be taken for Loretta. We stopped at the International truck dealership in West Plains, MO to get the truck serviced as it was going on 10,000 miles since Ocala, FL. We continued on to Jonesboro, AR via crooked, hilly roads through the Ozarks. A beautiful ride, but my attention was occupied with the driving. There we ate at the Outback Steak House. By time we finished it was quite late and I was tired so we went to the nearby Wal-Mart where we got permission to park for the night.

On Thursday we headed to West Memphis, AR as the fuel price at the Flying J was the best we had seen - $2.779/gal. Loretta suggested the southern loop around Memphis. However, some markings were confusing and we ended up in the heart of downtown Memphis. So I found Interstate 40 which we usually take and got on that. Then I made an exit at the first US64 exit which took us trough some more city streets. But finally we got on 64 which is partly 4-lane expressway and partly 2-lane crooked/hilly roads. We started looking for a place for lunch too far along the way and were unable to see one till I spotted a sign near Waynesboro. We exited the highway and on our way into town we spotted an old eatery that was established during the Great Depression. We had a good lunch and nice visit then continued on to Circle P Farm near Lynnville, TN (Loretta's family).

Loretta hasn't been feeling too well and gaining a lot of weight. So other than shopping trips and some eating out about all we have done here is church and visits with son Woody next door. I did a few chores around the rig and assisted on a couple around the farm. Last week the 5 month old colt decided to run through a couple of fences doing quite a bit of damage to herself. I helped secure her and load her in the stock trailer for a trip to the vet. Then Saturday, Scott and I took her back for a follow-up visit. She seems to be doing very well, so apparently no serious damage was done.

Last week on Monday, I had a root canal done on a tooth that had been bothering some. I will guarantee that the pain of the operation was much less that the one to my wallet. Loretta had an appointment with the Kidney specialist on Friday, but his uncle had passed away so it was changed to today. Yesterday, I had a permanent filling put in over the root canal. Today I took Loretta to her doctor where she got some rather disappointing news. 6 weeks ago the protein in her urine was down to 75mg which is normal, but this week it is back up to 750. A long way from the 8000 that it was back when her problems started though. They felt that perhaps they had reduced the Prednisone too rapidly, so now she goes back to 100MG every other day for a week, then 80MG for 2 weeks, then 60MG for 4 weeks. That is above the 50MG she had been taking for the past month, but hopefully after next visit she can get back to where we had hoped she would be now.

As we have a Fleetwood Travelcade Club rendezvous scheduled the first part of October, we plan on leaving tomorrow. We intend to visit friends and family in Louisiana and Texas along the way. The doctor said she wanted a blood test in a week, but decided to give Loretta a lab order to have one taken along the road if her condition gets worse (which we Pray won't happen). Her next appointment is on the 31st of October, which gives us 2 weeks to get back from Montgomery, TX. Perhaps we will do some more visiting on the return trip.

So I guess that gets us up to date on happenings. I have already secured some things for travel and plan on doing some more this evening. Hopefully we will get an early start as the pharmacy in Columbia could not provide the full prescription of Prednisone and called the order to Pulaski. Loretta is due to take that tomorrow, and needs to take it with food. So we will get hooked up and head out as early as possible, stopping for the prescription and breakfast.

Guess I have rambled on long enough.
Keep Loretta in your prayers please.

GOD Bless.
Andy and Loretta
Andy@W2UCZ.us