Weight on Vacation

Continuing to get things done, the road trip photos were printed out and put into a book, I bought a thank you for watching our house gift certificate to a local Italian restaurant for Ron and Susan, mailed a present to Michael's sister Debbie then we prepared our ballots for the election on June 8. I have a long list of things to do this morning including buying more groceries in preparation of British Don's arrival on Monday. The housekeepers are due later in the morning, Jeannie will be waiting for me to drive us to rehab class before noon.

Schedules and appointments and things that need attention. Yup. We're home.

We were very careful about what we ate but...sometimes we went overboard a bit. When the two of us were alone on the road, we were able to have full control of what we ate, split every meal, stayed with my foods so, by the time we got home, I had lost weight. (I judge my weight by where my watch fits on my arm, fitting of my smallest clothing and if my rings are loose.) That is good news as I have an appointment with the nutritionist next week. It will be my first meeting with him in almost a year. I specifically made this appointment right after the road trip as it would be in the back of my mind every time I ordered something or chose breakfast at the hotel Breakfast Bar or even thought of dessert. It really helped. I am nervous but feeling confident going into this appointment.

Why don't I weight myself? I found that I can become impulsive and will weigh myself every hour. That will drive a person nuts as weight fluctuates throughout the day. If I do weigh myself and I have lost weight, I will somehow feel I can now eat things I shouldn't eat. If I weigh myself and I have gained weight, I feel horrible, become obsessed and go overboard. It's best that I don't know. It is also odd that I don't have any of these feeling when I weigh-in with the nutritionist. I almost feel that is a check-in point. Having lost the weight over eight years ago to get under the BMI to be seen in the Lung Transplant clinic, the nutritionist told me that I won't gain it back now. Why? He said that I am too used to how my body feels and that I do not like the feeling of gaining even two pounds. I can feel it and spend a couple of days watching every mouthful and every calorie until I feel better. Somehow I have found the balance for me so I can maintain my weight.

Each of us has our weight journeys and have to find what works for both our minds and bodies.

Not Quite Home

Shelley, Mom and Lee

It has been a rough re-entry into life. Lots of work was needed in the gardens, which took two full days. The refrigerator was empty, the guest room sheets needed to be washed and ironed, photos were waiting to be posted on FB and many other chores needed attention. AND, we drove an additional over two hundred miles to Shelley's baby shower, which was lovely.

We have been falling into bed early and sleeping straight through the night. Last evening, I was given a pass to sit out the Irish Fiddling rehearsal, which worked out great because I was snoring by the time they met.

Yesterday was also my return to the rehab class and I was thrilled to do my entire routine. Usually, the return after being away will be at a reduced workout. Not yesterday. I was soaked but felt great afterward. It was good to see everyone and no one died while I was gone so that was good news!

I still am not feeling totally centered and settled from the trip. Tough because British Don arrives Monday and stays with us through Friday. We are looking forward to his visit and it will feel like we are still on vacation when we are with him.

Road Trip #4 The End

Betty and Chip live in a small town with the university where he worked for his PhD program in Atmospheric Physics. Really. They have a house where they feed all the birds and watch about 80 turkey vultures fly overhead into the trees behind them at dusk. Some have even been named! They have three cats, a fish and they lost their bird last year. They have a good life together. The mobile home is taken out about every two weeks during the summer and their boat is used almost as often.

They were dealing with Betty's 99-year old mother finally being put into a care facility. Betty now has to clean out the house and prepare it for sale. It is about 45-minutes from us so we will see them in a couple weeks.

We sat on their front porch and talked. Suddenly, there were clouds. Rain? They hadn't had rain in 55 days. It started! We claimed we brought it with us! Suddenly, hail. Then, marble-size hail. We were a bit concerned about our car! Throughout, lightening was putting a show.


The food treat in their area was at the famous Buckhorn Tavern, which was featured on a Bobby Flay Throwdown for Green Chili Cheeseburgers. Yes, please. They are really the best but I needed Chip to eat my other half. It was so big!

Their little town had a central square, which featured a new memorial to the military and also a rather creepy one:

We bought a beautiful shoulder wrap made by the local Native Americans for mom and some pottery for ourselves. The next day, we enjoyed playing at two casinos. I lost $40.00 and Michael made $60.00 and that was after playing for hours! It was great just talking and hanging out with them for days. At our hotel, anti-bombing training was going on, according to their t-shirts. All the hotels were filled with people receiving this training and we even chatted with a great guy from Jamaica who was just stunned by the beauty of New Mexico.

Sadly, we said our goodbyes and drove through the mountains on Highway 60. We spotted antelope, deer and the VLA - Very Large Array. We found a fantastic restaurant for lunch before leaving New Mexico so Michael could order his Cheese Enchiladas with green chilies, once again. He also ordered sapodillas for dessert. With honey, of course.

Kingman. A good place to stop. We were still so full from lunch that we didn't leave the hotel room and tried to sleep. We had a nine-hour drive home the next day. It was a rather sad day. I could have been on the road so much longer.

Since being home on Thursday night, we have worked in the gardens for hours, drove to Sacramento area for Shelley's baby shower with mom, went through the mail, paid the bills, food shopped and so many other minor things. I still have to wash the sheets as British Don is coming for a week in six days. Let's just say that we are sleeping really well at night.

Road Trip #3

Nashville. 1.2 million people. It was beautiful with tons of hills and trees. It was not at all what I had expected. At the end of our trip, we always name favorites. Nashville was my favorite city. (Michael's was Louisville.) We took a shuttle to Broadway - the downtown honkey-tonk area - which is on a hill heading down to the river. Hills are not my favorite. But, heading downhill we bumped into Robert's Boots and Bar, which is a Nashville landmark for music (and you can still buy a pair of boots, too). It was a Thursday morning and the place was packed. Michael spotted a free tiny table and BOOM. It felt so right. The band playing was excellent and I was immediately enthralled. People were dancing, the server was dancing and I started chatting with the people around us. They were locals! They were there to see the band and they shared the local gossip and some cool information. The string bass player was excellent and they told me he played Elvis' bass player in the movie, "Walk the Line." They also had a very famous, been around, excellent drummer. A good drummer is a rare find. It started to rain, we ordered some food, Michael sipped a beer and we settled it.

It was my most favorite time of the entire trip.

Finally, we decided to meet the shuttle to take us back to the hotel. It was a couple of long blocks uphill. My new breathing device really has been working well and I only coughed twice, very lightly, while hiking up a pretty steep street. William continues to be on tour with a Nashville band, though they are not Country or Western music, so he gave us a list of restaurants he thought we might like. After a quick change of clothes, we went to Pinewood Social. It was so good, reminded us of SF and I think we were the oldest people in the room. Michael had a light meatloaf with a potato "pancake" over gravy while I had the avocado toast appetizer. It was one of the best meals we had on the road. What was ironic was that we bumped into a young couple while dealing with parking, learned they were recent transplants to Nashville from the Russian Hill area of SF. Then, we walked into the restaurant together, the guy at the desk told us he was from Oakland! He came to our table later and we realized we knew some of the same people. Small world.

We hated to leave but we needed to continue heading west.

Memphis. One of our favorite cities was just going to be a drive through this trip. On one of our first road trips, we stopped at the original Corky's BBQ and had real BBQ for the very first time. We thought we would do it again. We were trying to get to Texarkana, TX for the night. No problem. A quick run through Arkansas, cross the border and we are there! Oops. About 20-miles from the hotel, the traffic stopped. I mean really stopped. We sat two hours. Finally moving by the problem, we discovered that there was a major accident and I am sure people were killed. We pull into the hotel exhausted and just wanted to eat and go to bed. We found a "deli-type" restaurant, McAllister's, and bought a couple of pieces of meat and cheeses. Perfect for a very light dinner in a hotel room. We were ready for the drive from Texarkana to Waco to Austin.

Waco. Chip and Joanna Gains. The TV Show Fixer Upper. We thought we would stop by for lunch at their new restaurant or maybe coffee at their cupcake store on our way through town. Found the restaurants. Packed. There were people everywhere. It would take hours to get a table. Seven miles away, we found the silos and the cupcake shop which had, I swear to you, bus loads of people wandering about. We saw the buses! Forget it! We found and had our first Whataburger! It was huge. Michael only was able to eat half of his patty melt. They sell big food in Texas.

Austin. We were tired. After the hotel check-in, we wandered out to find a birthday cake for Betty. We found a bakery but no cakes! They did have a nice variety of cupcakes, so we bought a lot of small ones and four regular sized ones. Near the bakery, there was a Detroit Pizza place. Huge pizzas! Deep dish!! Lots of calories! We ordered a small size of the thinnest crust with light cheese explaining that we were from California. Ahh, they replied. It was delicious and we fell into bed early.

In the morning, we had a ten hour drive to see my brother in New Mexico. We had decided to take Highway 10 along the border and up to his little town. On the road north of San Antonio, we discovered that the area had been settled by people from Germany! Well, we had to stop at a German Bakery! We bought a ring filled with almond paste and raisins covered in a drizzle of frosting. they are going to love it!

We arrived in the evening and enjoyed the time we had together.

Next: New Mexico and Home the final road trip blog.

Road Trip #2

From the bourbon trail in Louisville to an organic garlic field in a small Ohio town, we stayed at a charming hotel and invited our friends to join us for dinner (they nabbed the check, darn it!). We connected years ago on this blog and we met them for the first time during our last road trip. They both looked fantastic, we were given a tour of a really cool garlic operation and they surprised us with gifts of the most outrageous chocolates and wine! We brought them some good California wines and a bottle of Evans Williams bourbon.

These are truly the nicest people on earth. Or, at least in Ohio! It was lovely to spend some hours with them and so wish it could have been longer. Hopefully, we have enticed them to come for a visit with us here in California.

We were stunned when we drove the beautiful highway through West Virginia and Virgina into North Carolina. The beauty of West Virginia was so unexpected and the views were breathtaking. We had no idea. It was a lovely surprise.

After driving day after day since being with British Don, we were so happy to be welcomed into Christien's home near Raleigh, NC. She took care of us. We rested, slept in, Michael did a minor repair for her, we watched all the wild life in her back yard, took drives into surrounding areas, ate out at great places and generally relaxed. We needed it. She worked with me at the school where I got sick and we have been friends for many years. Michael enjoys her and we have fun together.

After several days, we drove a short distance over the Appalachian Mountains to Knoxville, TN to visit Michael's mom, Mary and his sister Debbie, her daughter Valarie, her son Josh and Valarie's boyfriend Josh. It was the reason for the trip. Michael's mom is failing and we soon realized that she was really just waiting to die. Debbie was so good with her, didn't treat her like an old woman or even sick. In their daily life, they laugh and enjoy each other as well as some of the neighbors, who came by to meet us. We discovered that Mary had been sending dinner over to one neighbor, who had lost his wife of 69 years less than a year ago. That is so Mary.

We were staying at a hotel just seven minutes away but we would spend all three days with them inside their house. Everything was said that needed to be said. This clearly was going to be the final time I was going to see Mary and probably Michael's, too. When she and I were alone, we were able to really talk about dying and what lessons we have learned from challenges we have had in our lives. I made her laugh and cry all in the same conversation. I will never forget it. She has always treated me as a dear friend ever since her son married me 45-years ago. I adore her. I admire her. She has had one difficult life but kept moving forward with a focus of simply loving her children - all five of them! Instead of saying goodbye, we smiled, looked each other in the eyes and said, "We will be back next year. See you then!" It made it easier to leave. Still makes me cry thinking about it.

From Knoxville to Chattanooga, we were on a quest. Years ago, I promised my Uncle Bill that we would visit his grave. This would be our fourth and last time. His wife, Alma passed away two years ago and we wanted to see them settle together for the first time. We were dismayed to discover that her family, who live locally, was not keeping the large stone structure clean or even tended. It was sad. We cleaned it but were unable to remove the large, dead bushes. We couldn't leave it that way so we bought some silk flowers for the urns and said our goodbyes. May they rest in peace.

Continuing on to Nashville, we ran into a massive hail storm. It was impressive as was Nashville.

Next: Nashville, a little Memphis, Waco Fixer Upper, Fredericksburg and more.

Road Trip #1

Since I have not been allowed to fly since 2005, we have been taking road trips approximately every two years. This trip was late by a year and I really felt how my health had degraded since our last trip. The first three days were rough as I felt I kept forgetting to do something important in my routine and I just couldn't find everything. It took a bit before I turned into a morning machine. I felt much more confident and was able to get up, dressed and out in a very short period of time. Success!

The first night, we arrived to the hotel exhausted after an eleven hour drive. My portable oxygen system has three lights but the green light kept changing to a blinking yellow light then back to green after a while. Not good.

I was awake for several hours through the night. I went online and read that it had to do with not getting enough oxygen to the system. Were the vents blocked? Nope. Then, I pulled up the manual online only to discover that there was a small, black filter and that this could be dirty and causing the problem. I didn't sleep well worrying about not having oxygen for the rest of the trip.

Finally, Michael woke up and cleaned the filter under water. The next night and thereafter, everything was fine for the rest of the trip. But, on day two, the car began to smell hot. We are waiting for the parts to come in on a recall of the wiring harness. Michael worried that it might be causing the smell. But, nothing developed from it and the car was fine for the rest of the trip.

First 48 hours of a 21-day trip, we were dealing with two major problems. This was not how I wanted it to begin.

We just couldn't pass by Winslow, AZ without swinging by that famous corner from the Eagle's song:

Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona 

And such a fine sight to see

It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed 

Ford slowing' down to take a look at me.

 We pulled into Amarillo, Texas on day 2 and had a ball at the famous Big Texan. It is where one can take the challenge of eating 72 ounces of meat along with all the sides in an hour. The place was packed but we had fun.

Nor could we pass up New Mexico Green Chilies. Every time we got even close to New Mexico, we searched out those fantastic chili peppers.

Day 3 found us in Oklahoma City with British Don. We were able to see his huge apartment, his favorite restaurants and the famous bars owned by his friends. The visit to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial was very touching. We had a wonderful three day with him.

From Don's we went to get our last stamp on the Bourbon Trail Passports in Louisville. What a gorgeous city. It was the first time we had been there. Clean, lots of building and updating and nice people. After we went to Evan William Distillery, we turned the passports in at the Chamber of Commerce. They awarded us with two bourbon glasses declaring that we had complete the trail then we ordered two t-shirts with the list of the distilleries on the sleeve. Very cool.

Next: From Kentucky to Southern Ohio and beyond.

HOME

We are home! What an amazing trip, all 7,022.7 miles of it! Give me a day to gather the photos but know that there was some drama with my portable oxygen system on the very first night and the car began to smell hot. Not a good way to begin a trip! It all worked out and I will explain soon. But for now, here are two photos, one of Michael at the Route 66 casino near Albuquerque and the other is the pile of mail awaiting our return.

Hit the Road

This is it. My last blog until we return in three weeks. I will have lots of photos with stories to tell. It has been wild just getting out the door but we are ready to leave pre-dawn tomorrow morning. Here is my to-do list from Monday through tomorrow. It has been an E ticket ride.

What is amazing is the amount of stuff we need now, so much more than when we were younger! A whole extra bag for things like probiotics and anti-acid chews. Ah, the joys of getting older!

So, off we go. We pray that it is a safe trip, that Anna and Doug enjoy the house while we are gone and we all return home with adventures under our belts.

Stay healthy.

Ticking Down

Even though I missed rehab class this week, my calves hurt and I am stiff! Must be all the work in the yards. Everything is done except the grass and watering, which will happen tomorrow. Yesterday, fresh soil was delivered and Michael shoveled it all into the large stone container between Ron and us. When it was all in, Ron planted tomato plants and will take care of them while we are gone. Our first crop!

Soil. It is one of the triggers that can cause my disease, Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis. The rumor on the streets is that it can also be the cause of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis. It still is not confirmed but is high on the list of possible causes. I stay away from soil and mulch. I panic at the smell of mold or the sight of fungus. All of these are triggers for my disease. So, while he was out with his precious organic soil, I stayed in the house until the driveway was washed down and the plants were watered.

I can't believe tomorrow night is our last one in our bed for three weeks. In a way, it came quickly and I still don't feel totally ready. Today, that should change. Once the housekeepers leave this morning, we will pack and set things out for Anna and Doug. Friday, I will be at the eye doctor with mom then we will do all the final preparations.

Connective Tissue Disease/Lung Disease

When I first had a conversation about lung transplants, there had better not be other issues. If one had an additional disease, they were not considered for the program. Period. Something changed in the years between appointments. I have a feeling it had more to do with not enough people qualifying for transplants that brought about the change. Suddenly, they were accepting all comers except for cancer survivors. They had to be 5-years cancer free to be part of the program.

While I am on the road trip, my ILD support group is featuring the head of the rheumatology clinic who is going to discuss connective tissue-related interstitial lung diseases. About 20-25% of ILD diseases seen at my university hospital are due to an underlying connective tissue disease such as rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, lupus, myositis and many more. I am sorry I am going to miss this discussion.

In my rehab class, both of the recent recipients of new lungs had a connective tissue disease. They are both doing so well, traveling and living life to its fullest but also very grateful to their donors and the donor's families.

In other news, Natalie and her family are leaving me. They realized that their life is over the pass. School, Junior Olympic Gymnastics and work are all a long commute away. They are looking for a house in a sweet area closer to their life. I will miss them here on the coastside. My dream was to have them in a house in my area but, alas, life happened. It is a smart move for them. We plan to see each other during the summer break.

This and That

Details! So many detail! Today, mom is hosting a goodbye breakfast on The Avenue for us. It is a great little place with lots of organic foods, well prepared in a sweet setting. Her appointment with the eye doctor went better than expected yesterday and I made it back to the coast in time for my hair appointment. Another check off my list.

My total focus is on the trip, not on my health or my niece's shower when we return or really anything else other than what I need to do to get us out of here on Saturday. Next on the list? After our lovely breakfast, I plan to clean the guest rooms and wipe down the kitchen cabinets. We are down to the last of our food with salmon, rice and asparagus for dinner tonight and tomorrow. The cupboards are bare.