GPS – The Blind Leading the Blind

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Lynn

Has it really been only two weeks since we were boating down the Colorado River in Arizona?  ComingIMG_1677 home after our “Great Adventure” has left us in a bit of a blue funk.  Laundry is done, the 5th wheel is winterized, we’re getting back to routine at home and we’ve reconnected with family and friends who missed us while we were away.  It’s great to be home, to be sure, but it’s hard not to long for the open road again.

Our last few days driving home from Nevada had not been without its challenges.  For one thing, it seemed like we were the only Snowbirds travelling north!  All the RV traffic we passed (mostly fellow Canadians from B.C. and Alberta) must have thought we were going in the wrong direction…and they would have been right!  Especially when we hit snow in Ely, Nevada I wished we could just make a U-turn and head back the way we had come.  We waved to the southern-bound Snowbirds and continued our trek northward but not without some regrets we were not going in the opposite direction.

Stopping at the Craters to the Moon National Park for lunch enroute to spending the night in Dillon, Montana we mistakenly depended on our GPS to guide our way through unfamiliar territory.  We had discovered throughout our “Great Adventure” that the GPS was a good tool to use at times to help us navigate in the cities but we also discovered that it was not without its quirks.  For one thing, the GPS “lady” insisted on leading us down some routes that contradicted the road signs ahead.  Then when we followed the signs that clearly took us in the right direction, GPS Judy (as I started to name her), would demand that we make a “legal U-turn” until we were ready to strangle her.  There were times that road construction seemed to throw off our GPS and “Judy” would advise us that “guidance could not be given at this time” as we detoured on.  Our GPS didn’t understand the fact that a rig our size needed more than 50 feet to change lanes and turn in the direction she insisted we take.  We’d miss the turn and she would once again hissy-fit at us to “make a legal U-turn” until she could recalculate an obscure route that would circle us back again.  By that time, ignoring her incessant squawking to legally U-turn, we’d usually found our way back on track by following the posted road signs and then she wouldn’t talk to us again, put off that we found a better route than she had intended for us to go.  Many times I thought of our GPS as the blind leading the blind.  (Matthew 15:14)

As the weather was growing more snowy and road conditions started to deteriorate the further north we travelled, we were content to have GPS Judy calmly guide us while we concentrated on the winter driving. Perhaps she decided this was going to be her way to enact revenge on us for all the times we had ignored her advice before, but we were too busy concentrating on icy road conditions to question her choice to go left to Dillon rather than right.  We blindly followed her direction and a few miles later we found ourselves on a snowy, icy, muddy, gravel road going up a mountain pass with no way to turn around.  GPS Judy was silent while I wept.  I feared we would get our 52 foot-long rig stuck or jack-knifed and I cried and prayed and prayed and cried as my husband kept his composure despite a caterwauling wife beside him.  For twenty miles he brilliantly maneuvered our truck and fifth wheel, having more faith in God and his driving ability than I did at the time, and safely got us over the worst road we had ever been on!

“Another lesson learned!” he declared as he washed off two inches of mud, snow and ice caked on the front, sides and back of our trailer at an RV power wash in Dillon a few hours later.  “Never solely trust the GPS,” he said.

Yeah, no kidding.

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Snowbirds

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Lynn

A Snowbird is a term often associated with people who move from colder climates of the northern USAWN1421201_l and Canada and migrate southward in winter to warmer locales such as Florida, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, or elsewhere along the Sun Belt of the southern United States and into Mexico.  Canadians took on the name, “Snowbird” as their own when Anne Murray (Canada’s sweetheart), in 1969 sang her way into all our hearts with the line: “Spread your tiny wings and fly away, and take the snow back with you where it came from on that day…”

I’m being really honest here but I am NOT a fan of snow.  I never took to the snow sports, so I don’t take advantage of the winter weather to do “fun” things.  For me, it’s an endurance to suffer through the snowy seasons until the warm weather returns…and that can sometimes be a very long wait.  In Alberta I have seen snow in all twelve months!  Thank goodness we also have those wonderful Chinook winds that can blow in so temperatures rise from well below 0 C to into double-digit temperatures within hours.  Barometric pressure messes with my head, so it’s migraine time when that happens!

We are very used to snow, we Canadians.  We have to be!  When snow is on the ground on an average of eight months a year, we learn to live with the white stuff.  We are very spoiled where we live with the views of the Rockies, and the snow on their peaks make them even more beautiful!  That’s about the only benefit I see with having snow in our vicinity.  I love looking at the mountains!

Enroute back home from Las Vegas, we spent the night in Ely, Nevada and woke up to snow this morning!  In fact, we are the cold spot in the U.S. this morning!  I knew I was going home to snow in Alberta, but I sure did not expect snow in Nevada!  I reluctantly retired my tank top, shorts and sandals and put on my jeans and sweater.  I am in a woe-is-me mode this morning lamenting the fact we are leaving summer behind the farther north we travel.

Our “Great Adventure” continues as we travel north.  God uses the weather to teach me along the way.  As much as I love the summer weather we have experienced the last four weeks, the reality is that there will be days of bad weather…and snow!

We travel with God through all seasons of life.  We love the fair weather, but certainly there are far more lessons learned through cold, snowy months.  Those are the times we hunker down and just try to stay warm and connected with God.  So today, I’m looking out the RV window and I’m seeing a ray of sunlight peak over the snow-covered peaks here in Ely and I can’t help but smile.  This Snowbird is almost home.

“He Who forms the mountains, Who creates the wind, and Who reveals His thoughts to mankind,
Who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth—the Lord God Almighty is His name..” Amos 4:13

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On the Road Again

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Lynn

rv_there_yet_shower_curtainAn interesting week in Las Vegas to be sure.  As we plan on rolling up the awning of our 5th wheel and start heading for home, we take with us countless memories (and pictures) of our “Great Adventure”.  Being away more than a month, it almost seems like we’ve been away a year…we’ve seen and done so much!  However, we can’t put off going back to reality although the temptation to go further south is definitely there!  Now that we’ve experienced what retirement may look like as full-time RV’ers, I’m not nearly as trepidatious about traveling and living in our little home-away-from-home long-term.

Still, there were some ups and downs along the way.  I had a little tumble down some steps coming out of a restaurant in Cannon Beach, Oregon.  Twisted my right ankle and my derriere suffered some colourful bruising.  I was so worried that my little fall would mean a trip home earlier than expected, but except for the bruising I was up and walking the next day.

Last Monday here in Vegas, my left leg started to swell, then throb and although I hoped it was just muscle soreness my husband insisted I go get it looked at.  My “Spidey Senses” were tingling, hoping it would not be true, but having experienced one years before, I had an inkling it was a blood clot.  Sure enough, it was confirmed by an ultrasound: a clot just below the knee to the ankle.  Good thing we had it checked out and thank goodness for Traveller’s Insurance especially when we had to fill the blood thinner prescription!  For those of you Snowbirds from Canada, who are planning to travel to the States or anywhere, do NOT leave home without medical/traveller’s insurance.  We were shocked by the cost of the prescription: $1000.00 US!  Not to mention the cost of the emergency room visit and the medical tests which we estimated to be nearly $3,000.00.  That’s quite a hit if you don’t have insurance.

Many of you may be asking what caused the clot?  The doctor suspected it was sitting too long while travelling.  Even though we would stop and stretch our legs when we were driving, they suggested that with my blood clotting history, I need to get out and walk every 1-2 hours to get circulation in my legs.  It also means that although I might like to travel more, I need to go home to my family doctor and I’ll be “grounded” from travel for a few months anyway.  I’ll be investing in some compression stockings before we head back on the road.  It will take over a week to get back to Alberta and there will be lots of stops along the way…more now with my having to stretch the legs.  Take note, fellow RV’ers, I am giving you advice learned through experience 🙂

We texted the kids and they started praying for my recovery to be speedy.  Between the prayers and the blood thinners, I’m happy to say, my leg showed almost immediate improvement and didn’t slow me down too much so I could take in a few more beautiful sites in and around the Las Vegas area before heading home.

This past weekend, we met up with some dear friends who are now full-time RVers and yesterday we took in the NHRA Toyota National Drag Racing championships here.  For car enthusiasts, like my husband, it’s a must-see event to see Top Fuel dragsters hit over 300 mph in 3 seconds!  It’s an experience I will never forget either.

So, would appreciate journey mercy prayers as we travel back home over the week.  Not looking forward to the snow we’re going back home to, but I’m ready to winterize the rig and already counting down the days until we’re RV’ing again next year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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