Baby Mo and Boogie Too

BEST FRIENDS

2010-04-06T12:42:00.000-05:00

(Note: This was written last night to post on my Facebook status, but I was told it was tooooo long, so I decided to post it here.)

Listened to Charles Stanley tonight-he was talking about best friends. You can hear it on intouch.org, just look up audio archives. Anyway, my closest friend is my husband, but I have had a few best friends over the years. I would move, or they would move. Before internet and cell phones, it was either letters or long distance phone calls. A few are on my friends' list now, but so much time has passed, they are now just acquaintances. I miss our friendship and our comaraderie. Then there are those who have just disappeared, and I often wondered if I will ever hear from them again, or if they are even alive. I may never know this side of heaven. Do I have a best friend now? No. I have tried with some, but the interest wasn't returned. Some I could be again, except for time or distance or responsibilities. I miss that friendship. If you have a best friend now, keep track of them. Don't let the friendship die. If you've lost them like I have, maybe you can renew them. Don't lose them. It is too hard to start a new one.

I'VE BEEN GONE....WAY GONE

2010-04-06T12:32:00.000-05:00

I see I have been gone for several months. Right after I wrote last, I went back to my old job. It was not a lot of hours, but the logistics have been difficult to control. Then I had several people hurt me (let's me truthful-my feelings), and with the constant bad weather and "my people" hurting, I got depressed. I have suffered from depression (anxiety and worry) since I was a teenager, but I had felt that God had delivered me from most of it. But I haven't really been in church in a long time, and my "quiet times" have been sporadic, so I know that I can see a change in my attitude toward things. And it stinks. Saying that, I am doing much better, and I have been working on my attitude. I am rearranging my schedule (again!), and I hope to see improvement in many areas. 'Nuff said, onto the post that I had promised.

Negative Opinions

2010-01-13T20:13:00.000-06:00

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you didn't listen to the negative opinions of others. I wonder. I mean some opinions can actually keep you from making decisions that carry serious consequences. But I'm talking about when your life is actually going right, and your systems are in place. Then someone, who sees things differently, says, "Oh no, you can't do that!" about whatever you are doing that is different than what they would do.

So many things in my life have been affected negatively because someone gave a negative opinion. I know I didn't have to follow their advice, or did I intentionally follow their advice. But just the suggestions starts working into your subconscious and you start doing things their way. It wasn't that they were wrong, but their "advice" was wrong for you. And pretty soon you are doing it their way and you have totally messed up what you were doing. And it is very hard to go back.

So as a people, we need to look at someone who is happy, truly happy, with what they are doing in their life, and leave them alone. I was going to write "unless they are hurting themselves or others", but if they are truly happy, they would not be doing that. They are probably just different.

So we need to just leave them alone about it. But that is just my "negative opinion."

FRUSTRATION

2010-01-11T19:17:00.000-06:00

If you know my husband, you know my frustration. Thomas would like to get a house. Well, at least, we need to work out any problems that are affecting our travel.

I like living in the city. I like raising animals, especially small livestock. I like owning property. And I like traveling.

I don't like constantly not knowing what is going on. I told him before this started not to change his mind. We have been working almost three years getting ready for this time. I have given away or lost almost everything I owned. I gave up on my dreams. No, I changed my dreams. I have always wanted to travel, but, in additon to something else.

My husband changes his mind...alot. He is stressed right now about his parents. When they are feeling better, he will feel better. I just have to wait...and pray.

ON A DARK ROAD IN TEXAS

2010-01-10T01:17:00.000-06:00

It didn't last long. You know, our we're-going-to-get-away-from-this-cold-weather trip. Thomas' mom has been in the hospital, and she doesn't show any signs of getting out soon. He felt bad that he was out of state, and he wanted to be there for her. So last night, we decided to come back to Oklahoma. I felt we needed to sit there in Wichita Falls until we knew for sure what we were doing, but we had put too much in the tank already. I knew we would need the gas, for an emergency, so I told him we would go back. We were spending a bit of it anyway driving around looking for wifi and laundromats. So after a very short nap, we hit the road.

I decided to take a different highway to Waurika. I was trying to shorten our mileage and gas consumption, so we took Highway 79 going north. I would have preferred the interstate, but there wasn't one out of town. It was a small, two lane road. After about 20 minutes, I saw flashing lights in my mirror. I was going about 10 miles under the speed limit, so I couldn't imagine why he was pulling me over. My main thought about being pulled over is always the dogs. Bengy had been crankier toward people parking next to us. The chis were acting more nervous. I think they had gotten use to staying in a house. Mom would keep them while we ran errands.

When he walked up to the window, I had my license ready. He said, "How many dogs do you have?" I told him the truth, and showed him the envelope with their papers. He asked where we were going, and told me that he pulled me over because my tag light was out. I told him we were going back to OKC (because of Thomas's sick mom) after spending some time in Wichita Falls. He asked for my license and car insurance. I kept pulling out the wrong papers, and started telling him where we got the van and more information than he probably needed. Anyway, we ran my license, and by the time he came back, I had found the insurance card. He just glanced at it, told me again why I needed to get my tag light fixed, and gave me a written warning. He assured me it wouldn't go on my record. I was glad I had the paper in case I got pulled over again, but then today was upset that I got one. I didn't feel I had done anything to get pulled over, and when we looked, Thomas tapped it and it came back on! He was very nice and I'm sure probably found the whole thing quite humorous.

I had thought about taking a nap before leaving town. I had thought about taking a different highway. But I didn't. So I did the what ifs, and didn't stop driving until I got to Waurika on the other side of the border. Thomas tapped the light, and then we drove to Ardmore. I was very tired, but I didn't want to sleep until I got to the Flying J.

Several more police cars passed us, and one even followed us, but we didn't get stopped again. I am use to being followed, and they drive real close, but I just maintain my speed and don't panic. They usually get bored and quit following, especially if I am going under the speed limit. I noticed the Texas officer was reading the side of the van when he walked up. I think we were getting attention looking like a church driving around late on a Friday night.

The temps were going into the single digits last night, so I didn't want to stop for long. I slept for a couple hours at the FJ, then since I got out to go to the restroom, I decided to go on. Bad idea. I was sleepy, so I stopped in Pauls Valley. I pulled into a McDonalds and pulled a blanket over my head. Thomas had the phone, so I didn't know what time it was. It seemed like half an hour later, Bengy let out a warning bark, so I woke up and looked in my side mirror. A man was getting into his car, and I had the impression that he might have approached the van. I left. As soon as I got on the highway, I started getting sleepy again. I was drinking bottles of water to try to stay awake. I made it to Purcell and pulled into Walmart. I pulled the blanket over my head again and tried to get comfortable. My shoulder was really bothering me by then. When I woke again, the sun was coming up. I would only start the van if I was driving, so I left again. I had not had much sleep in 3 days, so I was still having problems staying awake. I drank another bottle of water, but it wasn't helping much. By Norman, I was waking Thomas up again to keep me awake. We made it to Mom's by 9am. After taking the dogs in, she made me a cup of hot tea, and I fell asleep sitting on her couch.

CHILLIN

2010-01-08T16:28:00.000-06:00

It seems the latest topic on everyone's mind has been the weather. It's not raining, snowing, ice, or any of those usually nasty things. It's just cold! And this was when Thomas and I decided to take off on our trip.

Well, the plan was to get in a warmer climate. Don't snowbirds usually go south for the winter?

We were planning to meet up with similar 'birds in Quartzsite, Yuma, or The Slabs. For the uninformed, those are meetups for people who want to travel out of cold weather. They can become overnight cities with tens of thousands of people all there for the same purpose-to be warm and meet with friends. Now, I have not been to any of them yet, but I have read alot about them. They seem like a lot of fun; the weather is nice; but like any city, you still have to exercise caution. They have even had people take walks in the desert and not come back. But the same thing happens on cruises, and people don't quit taking cruises.

But, I digress. Living in a van has many advantages, but also several disadvantages. The biggest one I would say is the weather. In hot weather, you can open the doors and allow a breeze to blow through. The top of the van even provides shade. It is like sitting on your covered porch. But in the winter, you either need some type of added heater (such as a trucker's heater), or you can wind up spending your travel money on heating your van. I will usually wait to run mine. That's what blankets and sleeping bags are for.

We did very well last winter in the Windstar. But we ran the engine alot to heat the van. This van seems to hold the heat better. And with the sun shining in, we have not had to run the van today, even though it is in the 20s. Keep warm!

Wichita Falls

2010-01-07T16:18:00.000-06:00

Ardmore was chilly, dark, and 40 felt like 10. The winds were very high. We were running the heater, and I decided this trip that if I am going to use the gas for heating, I will drive. So we left yesterday evening.

Now I prefer interstate driving, but I also believe in saving money. It was going to take us a lot more miles to go down to Dallas and then go west. That would mean a longer time, even if I was spending the same money each day. But I'm not. The cold was coming. And I wanted to be somewhere warmer. Now I know it is still cold here, but it is not as cold as the central part of Oklahoma. And with the sun today, I am not running the heater.

My travel plan is just drive up to 50 miles a day. That is only 70 dollars a week in gas money. I spent that much in OKC and even more driving to Macomb. I use to spend 140/week in gas, and one month was 1000 dollars! So if I am spending the same amount: why not go and enjoy myself? But....with the cold we are not doing much sightseeing, and I have spent most of the first week's allowance now.

Both of our moms are missing us, and one dear friend is vocalizing her concern for our lunacy, but this is something we have wanted to do for a long time. I like Wichita Falls, but I noticed I like bigger towns. I'm not really a country girl; I just "slept" in the country. I was never home!

Anyway, we left Ardmore, and because we were heading west, I went down a "red road." This is the name for the roads marked in red on a map. I don't want to do that again, but I will have to when we leave here, because there are not any interstates. We are rethinking where we are going, but we may stay here a few days because of the gas usage. We stopped in Waurika last night, and I did not have cell coverage. But I did find wifi! I sent messages to different ones in case we disappeared.

The sun feels good. Safe travels!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

2010-01-06T17:11:00.000-06:00

We're so excited! We are on the road again.

Finishing up our trip to Kansas, Mom's ride didn't work out, so we took her home. We had to do it in a day, because she needed to get back to work. We were going to take it slow, to stretch out our gas money, but she paid for the gas. We got back to OKC, two weeks to the day after leaving.

And then, we sat there. We had several doctors' appointments, a friend's party, and Christmas, all in Shawnee. We had postponed the first appointment until we got back, moved up the 2nd one, then had to wait till the 31st for the 3rd. In the meantime, we missed having Christmas with children because of the Big Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009. There's a link on Facebook for those who survived. Me? I stayed indoors. I have always hated winter, so if I don't have to go out, I won't. Thomas had to take care of Bengy, our Lab mix. He was the only dog not allowed in the house. We put him in the van when he started getting wet. We tried to set him up a shelter, but he would not go in it. He has never liked dog houses, and he would rather stand in the rain. So we put him in the van, and he was a lot happier. This is the male dog that we have tried to give away. My mom didn't like him, until she met him, but now she says he is a good dog. Here is a couple of his earlier photos. He would love to have a fenced backyard, but we can't find anyone to take him. He is not use to strangers, so he growls at people.

Anyway, after trying twice at home base to get everything taken care of, we were off! Mom tried to get us to stay longer because of the frigid temps, but I was concerned about Thomas and Bengy staying outside without heat. We can't afford to just run the van, though we have anyway. We went to the house to check on it, and Thomas found more stuff he thought we needed before they take the house. But our storage is full, so now we have a bed frame, end boards, and a small table in the van, until we can find someone to take them. This place is still a mess, and I can't get to my bedroom until we find a thrift store to take them. Oh, well, maybe by the time we are in New Mexico, I'll be done.

Right now, we are in Ardmore. We can stay at a truck stop, or I can drive farther tonight. The only way we can do this is if we travel an average of 50 miles a day. This will be a slow trip compared to the last one. But we are headed in the direction of California. Say a prayer for us!

2010-01-02T00:25:00.000-06:00

THANKSGIVING

When we got to Kansas, I was exhausted. I slept 2 hours a night for 2 days, and about 4 hours a day for 3 days. So I actually got 2 nights sleep for 5 days. I looked awful. When we picked up TJ's family, I seemed fine. But after that, my eyes started running, and by the time I got to Kansas, I looked like I had pink eye. And I looked like I was twice my age! I kept telling everyone, I think it is just an allergic reaction. I blamed TJ. I told him the last time I had that problem he was around, then I didn't have a problem while they were gone. Well, it turned out that it was just exhaustion. It took two days for my face to finally come back to normal. I finally got some rest. And I got to spend alot of time with my grandbaby. Everytime I went into the house, they handed me the baby. Which was fine. I took advantage of the next week and spent time with my family. I took them to my brother's house. It was the first time I got to see his house. He had about 15 rooms! It was like two houses in one and a big finished basement. It was huge. We had a very good time while there. It was great to park in the backyard. On Wednesday, my mom and the other grandmother arrived. We had a good dinner and visit. The next few days, Thomas and I explored the southern suburbs of KC. I was looking for Super Walmart's. We went to Overland Park. It was a nice, modern city, but an old Walmart. I didn't find a Super while I was there. We were trying to save on gas too. We didn't have a lot left. I wanted to go back to OK thru Branson, Missouri and Eureka Springs, Arkansas, but I wasn't sure I had the gas for it. I even thought about going thru Talequah. We took a side trip to Lawrence to see my aunt; and discovered HULU. We watched the old Tremors episodes. It was like watching a marathon. And each day we said we were leaving the next day.

2010-01-02T00:12:00.000-06:00

INTO TENNESSEE

It seemed like I was going thru major metropolis during rush hour. We went thru Little Rock at lunch time, and Memphis at dinner. Little Rock was not bad at all, but Memphis was like riding a roller coaster. It was fast; it was curvy; and it was long. It was also dark. But the bridge over the Mississippi was beautiful.

We had stopped at a rest stop between LR and Memphis, but I didn't rest. We were trying to make Nashville by the end of the night, but I was just too wore out by 9pm, so we spent the night at a Sam's Club in Jackson. We were able to pull in among the rvs there. We put up window screens and settled for the night. We drove over 305 miles that day.

We were up and going at 730 the next morning. We drove thru a state park and stopped in Sugar Tree. It was alot of trees and hills, but I hadn't seen the big mountains that TJ had talked about. I drove thru Nashville, and it wasn't bad either. We stopped in Mt. Joliet at Dollar Tree, but pulled out soon after. But before we did, the lock broke on our side door. We have to work at it to unlock the door. I was concerned about anything happening. The van did great, but after it was over with, the armrest on the passenger side broke off. We are getting a lot of wear out of this van too.

We went thru Crossville and Knoxville, and wondered why most of the towns end in "ville." It just seemed unusual. We finally reached Sevierville about 11 that night. It was so good to see my family again after 2 months. My grandbaby had doubled his size. Our final day total was over 400 miles. We had to go get their belongings and pick up some other things. TJ wanted me to see Gatlinburg where he use to work, so I told him we would run thru it before leaving. It was very beautiful in the middle of the night. Thomas and I would like to go back next summer. It looked like an amusement park. TJ told us that bears run thru the town. I didn't see any bears, but the mountain leading up to Knoxville was a little scary at night. I would get dizzy if I tried to turn my head while I was driving. Anyway, I told them we could not spend the night because I didn't want the van to be too cold for the baby. So I decided to basically drive thru to Kansas. But first, we had three and a half states to go in between.

We drove thru Knoxville, Cookville, Clarksville, and Nashville. We did stop in Mt. Juliet, but I liked to point out all the "villes." Kentucky was a hundred mile trip thru a very dark road with few exits. We did stop one place to freshen up, but mainly everyone slept while I drove.

Finally, we made it to Illinois. We stopped at one really interesting truckstop. Illinois was scary. The roads were dark with no exits, except state park roads. I pulled off at one exit that had two gas stations that said, "Hunters welcome" and "Trucks NOT". Well, you get the idea. It was a little scary in the middle of the night. I said, "I don't think so." TJ told me later that he heard me. I mean, if they don't accept trucks, I'm not comfortable there. When I did find a truckstop, it was like a redneck truckstop. The bathroom stall was all ridged steel. It was like being in a room full of mirrows. Our last stop in Illinois was in Nashville at a McDonald's. It was 430 in the morning, and there were trucks (finally found my trucks) in the back parking lot. I took a little nap, then my daughter in law and I bought breakfast. And we hit the road again. We left by 630am, just in time to hit St. Louis at the 730 rush hour.

Ah, St. Louis... I don't know which was worse to go thru during rush hour: St. Louis or Memphis. I think St. Louis was scarier. We drove over 25 miles before we started to leave the city. We kept driving thru suburbs. Then I was driving back and forth looking for gas. On this trip, I had the hardest time finding gas stations at Walmart's. I found one Sam's Club that would sell me gas, and after Oklahoma, all the gas was ethanol. Very disappointed, but the van did alright with it. I tried to keep the tank over half full. By Missouri, I was going farther before stopping. I was trying to get there in a hurry. It took me from Monday afternoon to late Wednesday night to get to eastern Tennessee, but it didn't take two whole days to get to Kansas City. We were going thru Kansas City during (you guessed it) rush hour. Finally mileage for Friday was: 434 miles. The trip total was: 1,853 miles. Seven states in 5 days. I was exhausted.

Arkansas

2009-12-23T17:44:00.000-06:00

I thought I better get back on here and finish this trip report, because too many things have been happening since then.

After Checotah, we stopped in Sallisaw and Roland. The scenery was pretty flat and boring part of the way, and when we finally got into Arkansas, it was pretty much the same thing. I thought I was in a suburb of Fort Smith when I got off in Roland, but we still had a ways to go. We stopped at a Wendy's/Pilot combo. I found wifi and sat for about half an hour, before we decided to go on. It was after 9:30 pm when we got to Roland. We had driven 176 miles from Shawnee.

When we crossed the Arkansas border, about 10 that night, I was the only car (I thought) on the freeway. I slowed down to read the "Welcome to Arkansas" signs. They also had a sign that said, "Speed Limits strictly enforced." I was probably doing 40-45. I saw a highway patrolcar as I passed the signs. He pulled out behind me, but after a mile I noticed he wasn't there anymore. Whew! I wasn't sure what I'd done wrong.

We stopped at Clarksville to look for a Walmart, then went on to Russellville. It was a dark night, and right before we got to Clarksville, we saw a beautiful, lit, white cross perched on top of a mountain. Thomas called my mom, who let him know she was trying to sleep.

When we got to Russellville, we spent the night at the Flying J. I could see the mountains surrounding the area. It looked interesting even in the dark. The next morning was wet and foggy, but I still found the area beautiful. We wanted to look for Walmart, so we drove thru the town. It had all the chain stores you would expect to see in a city, but still looked charming with the mountains rising up around it. I would like more time to explore Russellville later.

The BIG TRIP

2009-12-08T04:25:00.000-06:00

On Nov. 12th, Mom and I were going to a Fiber Artist's meeting. I had started looking at what the local libraries were offering, and I had thought about signing up for a genealogy workshop that one was offering. Whenever I get on a computer and start looking up ancestors, I cannot stop. It is like an addiction to me. Anyway, I was making plans to do things while waiting to leave. I knew I had to be doing something. I had also been praying, asking God why we were still here after planning for 2 1/2 years. No answer. Well, that Thursday night, while driving to the meeting, my youngest son and daughter kept trying to call me. Thomas was at the house with our phone, and Mom didn't have very many minutes. When I called him back, he said I needed to wait. I said something about him saying it was an emergency, why was he making me wait, and he said, "You told me to call you the next time police were talking to me". Seems the police officer was standing there, while he talked to me. It surprised me that he actually let him. The people my son was staying with assaulted him, and because he said a cuss word, they called the police. The police officer was not happy with them, told them they had to give my son seven days to get out, but nicely found a motel for my son and his family to stay in at a reduced rate. My son was calling me while this was happening.

They did not have money to find another place; my son had just been laid off (no business); and they hadn't been there long enough to make the kind of friends you could turn to. They negotiated to stay at their house a few more days, while on our end, my entire family was trying to come up with a way to help them. The best thing to me was bus tickets for them to go somewhere else. Remember, I wasn't able to leave yet. And we didn't have the funds to help them. Well, after lots of prayer on everyone's part, our church donated the amount we would need whether we sent bus fare or went there ourselves. We thought it would be enough, but turns out it wasn't. But before we left, we ran into my daughter-in-law's aunt, and she handed us almost what the church did. Between the two, we had enough for us to go. We got everything ready and took off!

Thomas couldn't drive, so I had to do all the driving. On one o'clock Monday afternoon, we left Shawnee, OK. Our first stop, Okemah Love's store. We wanted to stop there, because this was our exit every week, when I worked in Wetumka once a week. It was a "nostalgia" stop. My plan was to stop every 50 miles or so. People kept asking why are you stopping so much? I wanted my van to rest (this was normal driving for me), and my bladder doesn't go much farther than that. I was drinking fluids almost the whole time. When we got back on the highway, I told Thomas this was new territory we were riding together.

I was going to stop in Henryetta, but decided to push on to Checotah. I was tired. I didn't get any sleep the night before, and we left the house in Macomb about 530 that morning. I got to see my oldest before I left. He was already at work when I called him. Anyway, in Checotah, I went to Walmart to get a couple of things and I rented a movie. We went to the Flying J across the highway. The plan was for me to sleep a couple of hours, while Thomas watched the movie. I place my laptop on the dash, when we watch movies, and instead of going to bed, I leaned back in my seat. Well, the movie was "Shadowheart", and it's a little hard to sleep, while a western (gunfighting) is playing less than two feet from your face. But I was OK; I felt better when it was over. It was 330 pm when we got to Checotah; and it was about 830pm when we got back on the highway.

It seemed like a lot of time spent, and we were only about 85 miles from our starting point, but I wasn't done yet. A sidenote: Besides stopping every 50 miles, I was also doing it my "Walmart way". I have a 2010 atlas that lists all the Walmart. My theory on traveling is to stick to the Walmart's. If you are used to strange Walmarts, like I am, than you always feel at home. That was something we noticed on our trip. In every town almost, we found the same stores we were use to. And the people looked and sounded like people we would meet at home. People move around so much, that you won't meet many that have been somewhere all their lives. My husband's family is one of the few. My family is scattered everywhere. I was born in California, and my mom is from back east. Both my parents' families moved all over the place. But I digress. Another thing about the trip was that we were very comfortable staying at the Flying J. We were use to it, because we would spend nights at one in Ardmore. Well, it's almost 530am right now, so I will continue this in my next blog. Goodnight. Or good morning.

Mom's

2009-11-26T23:18:00.000-06:00

It has been over a month since I wrote last, and it has been a very busy month. At the end of October, we were out of funds, food, and gas. We have been adjusting downward, learning to live on just my husband's disability. It pays the main bills and gas. Nothing left for food or those other extras. Ha ha. Anyway, Mom invited us to stay with her for a "visit." "Bring the dogs; it will be fine." Well, we invaded and gradually took over. Just kidding. But she did start staying up later with us, as we started watching more TV and watching movies every night. She had a nice wooden fenced yard, and we were able to take Bengy with us. He was the only thing keeping us at the house every night. And we only needed to go to Shawnee once a week, which took almost a week's gas allowance to go to do business and collect the mail. But we were able to keep expenses down, and she fed us, which made Thomas happy. Seems he thinks I'm starving him.

The problem I had was that I felt like I was losing myself and sight of what we were doing. We were suppose to be getting ready to go, but we were becoming comfortable just sitting at Mom's. The dogs were comfortable; we were comfortable; and Mom was getting used to us being there. My van became not our home, but just a vehicle that I drove. We rarely went to it, except to get something. I wasn't able to walk anymore, or use the computer like I use to. Mom had dialup, and sometimes it wasn't worth the time it took to do very much. We were losing sight of our dream......our purpose......

Leaving

2009-10-25T21:06:00.000-05:00

We are drawing close to going now that the pups have new homes. But Thomas has been sick, and he may need to see his doctors before we go. I've got a few things to still get out of the house, and pick up the yard again since the dogs aren't there to drag things up. I need to put curtains up, and get a portapotty, unless I want to keep a bathroom close by! I wanted to get a tuneup first, but our finances can't afford that right now, but the mechanic said everything looked good. What else? The real estate agent said someone looked at our land yesterday. That's another yeaaa! Things are getting done, and we hope to be on the road soon, Lord willing. Thomas has been having problems with the really cold temps now. We are hoping to stay between 50 and 70. May God bless you all!

Praise and disappointments

2009-10-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

Praise! To God Almighty! Someone took the pups! Yeaaaa! We still have Bengy if anyone is interested. Ha ha ha.

Disappointment-Talked to a lot of people today that I have given my blog address to. Their usual comment: "I thought you were gone!" I would ask: "Did you read my blog?" Everyone's answer: "Nope!" Oh, well.

Frustration

2009-10-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

Then I came to use my computer before heading back to the house. I am trying to stay out there more, because Thomas and I are trying to learn how to live off just his check. There was just too much month left. When my kids moved out of state, and I wasn't driving them anymore, my gas consumption cut in half. I only spend 10 dollars a day now. That is what I am figuring on spending when we travel. That is about 60 miles a day. Well, if I stay at the house, I am only driving 10 miles a day (to the country store and back). I saved some spending the night.

Anyway, my frustration tonight was when I was trying to look for somewhere online to take these puppies. The rescues want only full-blood dogs, and one even asked for 75. apiece. Shoot, I could probably offer that in the paper, and get all kinds of takers. But I know there is a reason we still have them. They are beautiful, healthy dogs, but no one even wants to look at them! It is one of the main reasons we are still here. I spent over an hour looking online. What was funny yesterday? We were given a person's name, and then we saw him on the front page of the newspaper. He had just picked up 153 dogs from a puppy mill! Well, I thought, he's not going to want my 4. But then he adopted out almost every one of them today! People were lining up at the newspaper office to get one! He said if he had 500 small dogs, he could have given them all away. Maybe he does have room for my 4. :) Do you?

Car trouble

2009-10-22T19:59:00.000-05:00

Well, we have been hanging out at the ole homestead since Saturday. But Tuesday night, we discovered we were leaking antifreeze. We came into town Wednesday, and had our good :) friend Jeff check it out for us. It was leaking at the back on the engine. It was late afternoon, so they couldn't do anything for us last night. By then it was leaking pretty good, so we couldn't go back to the house. We stayed in town at Thomas' parents' old place (the neighbors know our van), and left out early this morning. I had to move all my stuff out of the front seat, so they could get the "doghouse" off. He found the leak; it was a small split in the side of a small metal pipe. The new pipe from the dealer wouldn't be available till late Friday afternoon, so the mechanic put JVWeld on it. The only problem was we had to sit there for 4 hours. I had asked him when I came in if he knew we lived in our van, and he said, yes, that Jeff had told him. Anyway, we watched a movie on the laptop, played with the dogs, and just listened to music. He also checked my fuses to see why I don't have power ports and lights. It wasn't a fuse; he said it was probably a short. Anyway, the leak is fixed, and he didn't charge me anything! He just said, "Have a nice trip!"

I have always freaked out anytime I have had car trouble. I couldn't be without a car when I was working all over the state. But Jeff has always helped me keep on the road. He always got my car right into the shop, and loaned me a car to get to work. I guess I got spoiled. But then their shop closed down, and the dogs started going with me, so I found out how the real world has to deal with it. But not really. I've had a lot of people tell me how blessed I have been by my church, because they are always there to make sure I stay on the road. They have blessed me over and over by helping with my car repairs. I know they were being used by God, but they are great people! I'm told not every church is like that! I just wish I could take them with me. But this week, when my car started messing up, God said He was not punishing me (my usual reaction of panic), that he was going to take care of it. Thank You, Lord!

Our Other Companions (part one)

2009-10-17T21:24:00.000-05:00

When Thomas said we were going to start traveling, we were just going to take Boogie. Then as Weenie got bigger, I decided to take her too. We found homes for the other puppies, and we needed to find homes for Peanut, Blanca, and Daisy. But we also had a cockatiel and a herd of goats. I told Thomas that I was not getting rid of my goats until we were leaving the driveway!

We weren't sure what to do with Pete, our cockatiel. I was finding out that people travel with a lot of different animals, but we didn't know if we should take him. They live to be very old, and it is suggested that you put them in your will. Two months later, we found him dead in his cage! We had had him over 5 years, and there was nothing wrong with him.

Then Blanca went in heat, but my son said "We're not doing this again!" so he ran Peanut back to his ex-wife's. Too late! The end of August, she had her second litter of pups. She had 4: one little boy and 3 beautiful girls. I got requests early. A couple were for out of state, so I was hanging on to them until we left. I thought we were leaving soon. They became Pepper (or Lil Boy), Pumpkin, Freckles, and Bingo.

Clinton called me at work one day, and told me that he found Blanca paralyzed. He put her and the pups in the bathtub so they would stay all together. The puppies were 4 weeks old. We had the van by then, so since I was so busy with work, I fixed a bed for her and put her in the van with the puppies in their plastic tub. I had to feed the puppies myself, because she wasn't able to nurse. It took a lot of work. Two days later, Blanca is up and back to normal, and looking at me like, "Hey, you got them, I'm done!" Do you think maybe she was faking it? Nah, I know she wasn't.

Remember, during the summer, besides working, I was also taking Thomas to OKC for physical therapy 3 times a week. OKC was over 70 miles from our house. Then we would travel down 35 to get any stores I had south of Norman. We were very busy. And it was getting harder for Thomas to help me with the goats. I wanted to keep them; they were my babies. But then I started thinking they were the reason we were still there. My not letting them go was the reason we were still there. I had 3 registered pygmies, and the offspring from them and 2 other females I had. I was up to twelve. I paid 700. for my registered pygmies and had traded my boer goats for their transportation. I didn't want to lose them if we weren't leaving. And I didn't want to sell the herd for less than a thousand. I could have gotten that if I had advertised on the internet, but I didn't have the time or the computer. People around here wouldn't give more than 50 a head. And they were all pregnant. I sold them for less than half of that, and gave away a lot of goat "stuff" with them. Then I found out one died in childbirth, and the rest were sold. I was very upset, but thought that was what I needed to do to leave.

Pictures

2009-10-17T20:56:00.000-05:00

As I am able to load pictures onto my computer, I will add them to some former entries. I am adding some to "baby mo" and "boogie too", so check those out.

Weenie

2009-10-12T21:16:00.001-05:00

Ok, she didn't change everything, but she did help me through a very hard time.

When Boogie came into our lives was right before Thomas said we would be traveling. She was going with us at the time to keep Thomas company. Remember, we just had a Toyota at the time. But during the time Boogie came to live with us, Blanca (our white chihuahua) had puppies. She had 5: three black and white, a tan and white, and one white one. One of the black and whites didn't make it.

My ex daughter in law was moving into an apartment, and she could not take her male chihuahua. My son thought it would be great if Blanca got pregnant and we could sell puppies.

Don't do that! We had tried that years earlier with Dachsunds years earlier, and we lost money. And we told him that. Anyway, she got pregnant. There was one female I liked. I called her Beatoven, because she looked like a St. Bernard. And one I thought was kind of ugly. I took them both to show, when I had a buyer. She picked Beathoven. I thought, "What am I going to do with you?" to the other.

This was my Weenie. She was built like her daddy, Peanut. She had pencil-thin legs that looked like they would break easily. She was very tiny. When she was about six months old, she started going with us too.

She was feisty. Boogie was only two months older, so they were growing up together. When they were very young pups, Boogie had already outgrown her. I would come home from work, and want to know why Weenie had small cuts on her neck. Then I discovered Boog had cuts on her nose. Boogie was grabbing her around the neck, and she was hanging from Boogie's nose! We had to put a stop to their roughhousing.

Weenie would sit in my lap whenever we would stop. She would growl at the other pups to tell them I was hands off! When we would stop at truckstops, she would be the one that would yap at the big trucks that went by. She was always quiet, until one day, when we first got the van, she got knocked out the door by a small fan. We were parked, and a man was walking by. She jumped up, and started barking at him, like she thought he had pulled her out. We had problems with her barking after that.

We have multiple pet names for our dogs. They know them all, and they know what names go with what dogs. All our dogs have "B" names, even the ones that don't. Weenie's was "Binky." Thomas said he named her that after "Binky and the Brain." We said, that's "Pinky." My name for her was "Grasshopper." She just reminded me of one when she would stand up on her hind legs and wave her arms.

Weenie is not with us anymore. On Sept. 9, 2008, Weenie ran out under a neighbor's truck as he flew by. She knew not to be in the street. It was a cold morning, and though a usually leash the dogs even in our yard, I didn't that morning. I let them out of the van to go to the bathroom and ran to the porch to call them in. Weenie looked at me, then I saw Bengy run for the road. I heard the truck and called Thomas who was in the house. Bengy stopped, and I saw Weenie wag her tail, and drop to the ground. Thomas went to get her, and the way he held her, she looked like her neck was broken. But she didn't have a mark on her. We think she ran under the truck, and had a heart attack or died of shock. I found a picture of her later, where she was happy and playing, and she had the same expression. She died doing something she loved.

But I was heartbroken. I kept blaming myself, but people who knew her said it was bound to eventually happen. I missed her terribly. It took a while for me to bury her. I couldn't do it. And I told Thomas I couldn't move yet, and leave her there. We didn't want to live there, and I didn't want to leave her there. My daughter couldn't understand why I was so upset. She'd say, "Mom, you don't even like dogs." And later that week, she called to say that she was pregnant! I said, "If it's a girl, would you like to call her Weenie?" She said, "Mom, I am not naming my baby after your dog."

Teaser

2009-10-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

Read tomorrow and find out who this is, and how she changed my life.

Baby Mo

2009-10-09T00:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, I get a lot of strange looks when I tell people the name of my blog. Baby Mo is what I called my red 97 Windstar minivan. Thomas and I had been wanting to travel for 7 months when we bought the minivan. We had traveled on my job within 70 miles in the Toyota, and we had taken our dog with us. She was starting to take up the back seat, and the Toyota had passed 220K miles, so we started looking at vans. We bought the minivan from a couple at church whose kids had grown. We took out the middle seats. I put curtains in it. We put in an icechest, pantry box, and a box for my paperwork. We were so excited. We called it "Baby Mo" for motorhome. I was going to put letters on the back window that said, "I want to be a motorhome when I grow up!" We put 70K miles on that van in a year and a half. The front end finally gave up on it. But not until we had traveled all over the southern half of Oklahoma. We totally enjoyed it.

Technically, our big blue van, is Baby Mo II. It is a 97 Ford 350 Econoline 15 psg. former church van. It has a v10 engine. I didn't know they went higher than a v8. It used to say on the van "Heritage Church-A Home for your heart-Shawnee, Oklahoma." Well, we couldn't keep advertising it as a church van, so I had to take off some letters. Now it says, "A Home for our Heart-Oklahoma." I get a lot of strange looks now, and even some hostility it seems, especially when a dog pops up in the window. I am thinking about taking off the rest of the letters, because some people still mistake it for a church van. I am going to be doing some more renovations to it, but it is still in the planning stage. I will post pictures later.

Missing family

2009-10-06T22:52:00.000-05:00

My son and his wife moved out of state 3 weeks ago. They took my youngest grandbaby. I volunteered to keep him for them. :)- But they wouldn't go for it. I watched him (ahem, I mean them) get on that bus for a 16 hour trip. They wanted me join them soon, but I don't know when I will get to leave.

Now they are going through a rough time with illnesses and possibly losing another baby, and I can't be there with them. I miss them lots, lots, lots. Hope to see them soon. Hope they know we love them ( even my lovely daughter in law). She told me tonight that she loved us and missed us. I hope she is feeling better, and they are in my prayers.

I love you kids.

Profile

2009-10-04T22:54:00.000-05:00

Taking a break from the gloomy side.

Wrote out my profile and interests. I know my family shares most of my interests, but who else is out there? Let me know.

Detours

2009-10-03T22:03:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a break from thinking so hard. My brain is in overload.

We are a little disappointed that we didn't get to leave this weekend. Thursday was the big day to take off. But in every plan that we make without making sure that it's Him and not us, we have to wait. Did that make sense?

We were going to Bartlesville this weekend to see the Fur Trader's Rendezvous. It is similar to a Mountain Man's Retreat that we went to in Tecumseh and enjoyed. Just a different time period and area. Thomas and I are very much into historical type things. I relate them to my family history, and Thomas just likes old stuff. We have collected quite a few antiques over the years just because we like them. Nothing expensive, just authentic country type things. We like wood furniture and log houses. We enjoy the outdoors (ok, the weather has to be NICE for me to be in it), and I loved my goats! I still miss them.

Anyway, we still have the lab puppies and Benjy to find homes for, so we couldn't leave them. I was going to leave the house unfinished, but we have gotten everything out we wanted. I just had to make sure I got all my photos and albums and books out. We still find stuff. And anything in the old house is ruined. I can't find two baby books, and I hope they are in storage. Plus, now the van has a little indigestion which I need to check out. Plus we would like to get the dogs' papers in order. Still so much to do!

I am scheduled to work two jobs in Texas in mid October, but I probably better cancel those, and reset our leave date. Then we may just head straight out for Tennessee and South Carolina. I am so anxious.

We moved the seat in the van, and now, I have two rooms, plus my office! My office still needs a little organization, but I have a real living room and bedroom! Now to cover all those windows!

Our Trials (part 2)

2009-10-02T18:39:00.000-05:00

The picture I put on today is of Thomas when we first got the Windstar. I put curtains up.

I feel I got distracted yesterday. When I was talking about things going wrong, I was referring to what happened after we decided to travel. I was still working 2 jobs. Thomas had not worked in several years, because of his physical problems. He broke his hip when he was 38. That caused him problems, but he was mainly dealing with his neuropathy in his arms and legs. The neuropathy is caused by cervical stenosis, which means his neckbones are bent in the middle and pointing into his spinal cord. This is caused from Klippel-Feil Syndrome (a congenital deformity of his neckbones being fused together in 2 places). We did not find out about any of this until the late 90s.

Then within one month of him saying we were traveling, he went paralyzed in one hand and arm. Two days later, it was the other arm. The prognosis: radial nerve palsy. The doctors sent him to physical therapy 3 times a week. I was working 2 jobs, driving him to his appointments, and taking care of him physically, plus everything else at home! I quit American Greetings. Clinton, our oldest, used to roll his cigarettes for him, but after me feeding him oatmeal twice, he learned how to feed himself!

Our Trials

2009-10-01T22:52:00.000-05:00

I don't want anyone to think that this was a simple journey to get to this point. It never is. I can tell you, that when we decided to do this, all hell broke loose. Oops! Can I say hell here? It is a place; a point of reference. Like when I say I have been married almost 28 years, and the first 15 were hell (usually spoken in a hushed voice). I mentioned that Thomas is "bipolar." I put this in quotations because this was not his original diagnosis; it is just one that people have heard. Thomas use to be so bad, that he would sleep 22 out of 24 hours, and when he was awake, we would wish he would go back to bed!

But he got better. We started a bait shop, that we ran out of our barn. It became so popular, that the shop in town decided to retire. We did it for 3 summers, and Thomas became more sociable. But then a drunk tripped on our flooring, and we decided we better quit, before something bad happened.

We have had our share of things happen to us, as I'm sure most have. This started out as a travelouge, and I am sure I am not going to uncover our deepest darkest secrets (at least, I hope I don't go there), but I realize there are a variety of people here that have no idea what we are doing, and several that have thought that we have lost our minds! Well, maybe that's why they call me "Willie Wonka"!

Our vehicles

2009-09-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

When Thomas announced that we would be traveling, I was driving a Toyota Corolla. It was an older car, but it got 36 mpg. I was paid mileage on my job, and I actually made money driving it. It had gotten over 220K miles on it, so when I paid it off, I bought a minivan from someone at church. I had put over 50K miles on the Toyota in the year I had it, so I knew I needed something with low miles. The Windstar had over 150K on it, but I figured it would be ok. In a year and a half, I put 70,000 miles on it and the engine was still going. But I knocked the axles out. Then I borrowed the church's van, and after 10.000 miles in 3 months, I knew I needed to buy it.

Now this was not without problems. I went from 38 miles a gallon to 18. And with the Ford 350, I am doing about 12. Plus there have been other difficulties which I will explain later.

What Brought Us Here

2009-09-29T18:54:00.000-05:00

Thomas and I had been in Macomb for over 20 years. I had quit my job as administrative assistant and hiring manager for the local McDonald's stores, and I had reentered the field of merchandising. I was a book vendor when I started at McDonald's, and I worked both jobs and homeschooled for a year after starting there. I was and always have been a workaholic.

Two and a half years ago, besides my working two jobs (market research and American Greetings), we were also trying to farm our acreage, Wisdom Acres. WA was not going anywhere, because I was never home and Thomas couldn't do the work that needed to be done while I was gone.

I told him one day that he needed to pray as long as it took, and then tell me what we needed to be doing. The next day, he came to me and said, "We are suppose to sell everything and travel." What!? I knew this must be God, because this was not MY husband! My husband wanted to be buried where we lived. He would never leave his house, his land, his home, the county, the state, etc. Thomas would not leave! So I said, OK, but then I kept waiting for him to change his mind (which was something else he would do frequently. Thomas is "bipolar.")

But he never did.