Dream Trip Turns Tragic

The last week has been a blur (literally) and I will try to summarize the details as best I can. Ruth and I were wrapping up our stay in the Hill Country of Texas and getting ready to move on to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. I'd call this the start of the heart of our trip and we were really looking forward to the next part. This blog was going to be called "Over the Hill and Far Away".

The trouble started on Friday May 13. I was going to bed and when I looked out of my left eye I noticed a small curtain in the top right corner of my left eye. Figuring it was probably nothing I went to sleep hoping it would be gone the next morning. When I woke up Saturday it was still there but I kept quiet hoping it would go away and we drove from Mason Texas to Ozona Texas. This was our first night in a hotel since we left and I was looking forward to a good dinner out, hot shower, and sleeping in a real bed. We got to the hotel, checked in, and took our bags into the room. The curtain was still there and I decided to tell Ruth what was going on.

After google doctoring I found out the problem was likely a detached retina. We are in the middle of nowhere Texas (sorry Ozona) and there is no one that can diagnose the problem. We found a hospital over 80 miles away that has an ophthalmologist on call so we left the trailer at the hotel and sped up to San Angelo. Here the 75 mile per hour speed limit was very helpful and we got there in a little over an hour.

We got to the hospital, checked in, and they did all the normal test and a CT scan to see if I had a stroke. Everything turned out fine and it is verified that I have a large brain! My blood pressure was a little elevated but due to rushing out and the stress of an eye injury that is to be expected. FINALLY they call the ophthalmologist and he verifies that I have a torn and detached retina in my left eye. He did not see any problems in my right eye. I'm told timing is critical but there is nothing the hospital can do for me. There is a specialist in the area but he doesn't like to work on the weekends, but I MAY be able to schedule an appointment for him to see me on Monday. No guarantee and no guarantee on when he can do the retina repair. We are told it should get much worse if I keep my head upright and the doctor recommends we travel back to Wills Eye Hospital.

Ruth and I decide that is the best course of action and we start the drive back to Philadelphia on Sunday morning. I am still able to drive as I have full vision with both eyes open and we make it to Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia Tuesday morning at 12:30 am. Ruth and I both shared driving duties and we stayed at a hotel and got 6 hours of sleep Sunday night before moving on. The whole way back we are calling retina specialists and hospitals to see if I can get emergency surgery en route. I am repeatedly told "you are not a patient and we can't help you" or "we are not allowed to tell you if we can perform emergency retina attachment surgery, come into our hospital and we can diagnose you". I already know the diagnosis and our mantra became if we are not rolling towards Wills Eye Hospital we are wasting time. The medical system in our Country is definitely flawed and I will rant about that in a later post.

FINALLY at Wills Eye Hospital emergency room and I am seen and told that in addition to a retina tear and detachment in my left eye, I also have some tears in my right eye. They can't do emergency surgery but will set me up to see the ophthalmologist that morning (Tuesday). A THIRD eye exam gives me the same results and I am scheduled for Wednesday morning to retina attachment surgery. I also asked them to repair the tears in my right eye on Tuesday to protect that vision and it is a little painful but they fixed the tears in my right eye using laser surgery.

Surgery went well on Wednesday. I was in surgery for over 2 hours which is an extremely long time for retina attachment surgery. There was a lot of scar tissue that had to be removed, the eye gel (vitreous) that got through the cracks had to be removed, a silicon eye band was placed around my eye, silicon eye was used to fill my eye, and then everything got stitched back up. I elected to do this under general anesthesia and I'm glad I did. They placed an eye patch over my eye and I was instructed to come back the next day.

The next 24 hours I had to keep my head down and move as little as possible. We spent the night in Philadelphia and saw the doctor the next day. Things were looking good and I was sent home and had to lie down on my right side for the next 5 days. Try keeping your face down for 24 hours and lying on one side of your body for 5 days. It is not that easy and you start to get sore no matter how comfortably you start out. Ruth was a HUGE help and had to lead me all over the place as I could not see anything but blurs out of my right eye. I am feeling very blessed to have Ruth in my life and Wills Hospital so close to home.

After Surgery

After one week, it was back to Wills again so they could check on progress. I got great results, the retina is still attached, my eye pressure is back to normal, and I'm healing very well. Vision is still very blurry out of my left eye. They are reducing my drops and want to see me in one month. I was told that it was very evident I kept my head in the position they told me and that is leading to the good results. I'm allowed to start "normal" activities that amount to being able to take walks and not having to keep my head in any particular position. I'm still not out of the woods and have to be very careful for the next month. The oil in my eye should be able to be removed in September or October and then hopefully the vision in my left eye will improve. There is some risk of detachment during the oil removal process but I am very confident of the Wills Eye Hospital surgeons. I'm so grateful for my wonderful wife and the excellent surgeons at Wills.

My advice to everyone is to make sure you are getting a full retina exam during your eye visits. If they are not dilating your eye and looking for tears in your retina you are not getting a full eye exam and this could happen to you. I will be going to an ophthalmologist from now own to make sure my retina is fully checked, I wish I had known as my yearly optometrist visits were not enough.

Ruth and I will overcome this and plan to be back on the road sometime in the future. I'm already planning the next trip! Other plans in the future include finding a way to volunteer to help people that don't have a significant other that can help them through the healing process. I will look into that further after my eye is healed and my vision is better.

Gulf Coast & Welcome Texas

We really enjoyed Florida but I know we are going to pay the price until we get to the west coast. The cost-heat! We are excited to be in Texas and we are staying in 6 different places. Our first stop in Texas was the Cedar Cove RV Park on Galveston Bay. We stayed outside of Galveston in a little town called Baytown. Not a great area for swimming, so we decided to go frisbee golfing in the heat. 

Welcome to Texas

Galveston Bay

What a hot frisbee golfer

I don't find the water in the Gulf all that inviting. It tends to be a bit muddy and there is a lot of debris in the water. We did find fresh shrimp right next to our campsite though. Captain Ron's has a stand right next to the campground and it's literally off the boat into your hands. With a name like Captain Ron's, how can you go wrong? If you haven't seen it, Captain Ron is a silly movie about sailing with a family in the Caribbean. A must watch for any sailor.

Highly Recommended

Shrimp Kabobs Ready for the Grill

Austin was our next highly awaited stop. McKinney Falls State Park was our home and we had about a 20 minute drive to get into Austin. I highly recommend State Parks if you are into camping. Prices are reasonable and the sites are a little more spread out compared to private campgrounds. McKinney Falls had two swimming areas and lots of hiking trails. It was so hot we swam every day.

Austin was very nice and we parked at the Zilker Park and rode our bikes into the City. We took a self tour and had lunch at Stubbs BBQ, the brisket was fantastic! Temperatures were over 100 degrees that day so late in the afternoon we went to the City spring for swimming in 68 degree water. This is a spring that the city has turned into a 3 acre rustic pool area. We went out to dinner and then waited for the bats on the Congress Bridge. Austin is home to millions of Mexican free-tailed bats and they live under the Congress Street Bridge where they raise their young between April and October before going back to Mexico. Unfortunately it wasn't a great night for bats and it became too dark for us to see them. We did manage to see a few leaving but it wasn't what we were hoping for. I understand that August is the best month to see them. What really impressed me about Austin was the infrastructure for bicycles. Austin is rated 7th in the Country for bicycles and with all the dedicated bicycle lanes it is easy to see why.

McKinney Lower Falls

Austin Texas - View from Lady Bird Lake

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Mighty Mississippi

Waiting for the Bats

The Hill Country of Texas is next on our list. 

Good Bye Florida, Hello Mississippi & Louisiana

Last blog were we in Sarasota visiting with Susan and Pat. We had a great time with family and from Sarasota we traveled over 200 miles to O'Leno State Park in northern Florida. This State Park is on the site of an old town called Keno later changed to Leno. There used to be a cotton gin and sawmill there but after the railroad bypassed the town it became a ghost town. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built most of the structures in the park back in the 1930's. It amazes me how much of our national parks the CCC built. O'Leno is made up of sinkholes, hardwood hammocks, swamps and the Santa Fe River runs through the park. The Santa Fe runs into the Swanee River.

O'Leno Campsites, Nice!

Woodie?

The River Sink

The River Sink is where the Santa Fe has 900 million gallons of water a day disappear and appear 3 miles down river. Where the water comes up is called (surprise surprise) the River Rise. The next day we went to Blue Springs State Park for a day trip to swim in the spring.

Blue Springs Swimming Hole

The springs in Florida are beautiful but it was time to travel on to Panacea, Florida for a few days at the Panacea RV Park. The RV park is right on the highway but does quiet down at night. We rode our bicycles and had a late lunch on the water. Great scenery and decent food. We also visited the local aquarium and rode the hell out of our bicycles. A fish jumped out of one of the tanks onto the floor and I got to use my old ski patrol skills to rescue the fish. Panacea is a small town and we were ready to move on after a few days.

Lunch View

Someone is Hungry

Shark Attack

Our las stop in Florida Outback Springs RV Park in Bonifay, Florida. They are Australian and try to bring a aussie vibe to the Park. The Park is very nice but we didn't find too much to do in Bonifay, so we traveled to a local park to look at the tallest waterfall in Florida. There was also a pool and pool table so Ruth and I took two full days to relax here. We tried to ride bikes but were chased by a few loose dogs so we gave up on the idea.

Falling Waters State Park

Tallest Waterfall in Florida, 73 feet

Ruth and I are ready to leave Florida behind. We traveled to the Davis Bayou Campground in Mississippi and then to a private campground near Lafayette, Louisiana. Bike riding took up most of our time in MS with over 5 hours of riding and exploring. Ocean Springs MS is beautiful and I had a great crawfish dinner one night with a new old fashions to wash it all down. Louisiana is a one nighter and from here we travel to Texas.

Crawfish Boil (1/2 eaten already)

Davis Bayou Campground (grateful for some shade)

Message for my Honey

Beachfront Ocean Springs

Florida

We are down in Florida now as far south as we are planning to travel. From Sue and Fran's we traveled to Jacksonville Beach Florida to stay with our good friends Cathy and Joe. I like to give people nicknames and we usually refer to them as JoeCat. After a bit of confusion on which day we were arriving, we made it down to their house on Saturday April 16th. JoeCat were ready for us with a great bike ride to the beach and a homemake lobster roll dinner- yum! We also got to see St. Augustine and spent the rest of the day on Jax Beach. My first swim in the ocean this year.

Flagler College, St. Augustine

Ruth Taking the Shot

One Happy Group

Next stop on our trip was Wekiva Springs State Park. The park is located a little outside of Orlando and is a unique spring fed creek made into a swimming area. The campground is really nice but a little bit noisy from street traffic. We also found a really cool swimming hole on Wekiva Island with a two story bar and food truck serving tacos. This place would really be a zoo on a summer weekend but it was pretty calm during our trip. 

Wekiva Island

Nice Campsites

Local Fauna

Turkeys in the Campground

Liming

Nice Fire

Sarasota Florida is our most southerly stop and we are staying with Ruth's sister Susan and her husband Pat. This is our last stop with family and friends and we are on our own from here on out. We are parked in their driveway and it's camping from now on. Nice dinner on the water and at their house with trips to Siesta Key (number 1 beach in USA), Sarasota open market, and Myakka River for the canopy hike. It's almost 90 degrees down here and the locals are still wearing long pants. Must be cold for them.

Sarasota Market

Wekiva Springs

Myakka Canopy Tour

Gators

We still have a few more stops in Florida and will be heading north Monday. Everything is working well and hopefully all the RV maintenance is behind us. A big shout out of THANKS for family and friends that hosted us during the first leg of our journey.

Carolinas

One of the things I really love about the East Coast is the history. Next on our stops was New Bern and Carolina Beach in North Carolina. New Bern is one of the Towns I have thought about moving to but the hurricanes and flooding have changed my mind. However, it is still stunning with lots of Civil War History. We stayed at the New Bern KOA over the bridge and took the trolly tour in New Bern. They escort you to your site in a KOA and they had lots of staff and a very clean campground. So far we are liking KOA campgrounds.

Sunset from the Campground

Beautiful Gardens

My Favorite House in New Bern

After the trolley tour, Ruth and I went back to some of our favorite spots for a closer look. We were especially excited to go see the oldest Mulberry Tree in New Bern and they built a house in a "U" shape around the tree to preserve it. Much to our surprise, when we rounded the corner to see the tree it had been cut down! Apparently Mulberry Trees don't grow well down here. 

Carolina Beach State Park

Out Riding Bikes

Micro Brew and Frisbee Golf

After North Carolina we stayed at the Santee Coastal Reserve and then our friends house in Sun City, South Carolina. Santee was our first true boondocking experience but the mosquitos were so bad that Ruth would not venture out of the camper. I didn't want to sleep turtled again so I braved the mosquitos and put one end of the camper down so we had a decent place to sleep. I then doused myself in bug spray and went for a quick walk.

Santee Coastal Reserve Entrance Road

Santee

Someone's Watching!

Our friends Susan and Fran Herman live in Sun City in Beaufort County, South Carolina. There is also a Beaufort North Carolina and they are pronounced differently. NC is like "Bofort" and SC is like "Bufort". You can remember this by saying "Beautiful Beaufort by the Sea". Quite a few films have been made here including a large portion of Forest Gump. They even turned one of the estuaries into the Mississippi River and filmed the running scene over the Mississippi River here. They love Tom Hanks here but are not too fond of Barbara Streisand, you will have to take the tour yourself to find out why. We took a horse drawn carriage tour of the Town of Beaufort and had a great couple of days with Sue and Fran. The elevation is only 14-16 feet above sea level down here and the area is called the "Low Country".

Beaufort Docks

Ruth Enjoying a Late Lunch

Beautiful Beaches

Next stop for us is Florida.

Heading Down the East Coast

Trip has been everything Ruth and I have hoped for. A few minor travel trailer fixes and I think I finally have stopped that pesky window leak. So far we have traveled 143 miles to Cape Henlopen State Park. We really liked this park and it was clean and well maintained. The sites are a little close but there is a lot to do in this area. We rode bikes to the beach and then toured Lewes, DE in the afternoon.

Cape Henlopen Camping Site

Beautiful View of the Delaware Bay

Lewes Delaware

Our next stop was First Landing State Park just outside Virginia Beach. We got to travel over the Bay Bridge Tunnel which is always an exciting experience. This is a beautiful State Park with sites well spaced although the bath houses are a bit more rustic than Cape Henlopen. We ride bicycles down to the landing and visited Cape Henry. First Landing gets it name from being the first place english settlers landed back in 1607. Ruth and I really liked this Park and would definitely come back.

Sunset Over the Chesapeake Bay

First Landing Swamps

Tuesday April 5th we took up camp and traveled to Oregon Inlet Campground on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Extremely windy that day with wind gusts forecasted to be 50 miles per hour plus overnight. Ruth and I decided to go "turtle" our first night. Turtle is when you don't put the hybrid ends out on the trailer to protect the canvas from high winds. The trailer rocked all night long and we slept on the couch and dining area. Not too bad but I wanted want to sleep this way every night. The next two days were beautiful and we enjoyed a long walk on the beach one day and exploring Nags Head the second day. We enjoyed watching dolphins feeding inside the shore break, pelicans swooping along the top of the waves, and even played some mini-golf. A great stop on our way down south.

Exposed Camping on the Outer Banks

Pelicans Flying

Bodie Lighthouse

Ruth and I are doing well living in such tight quarters. You have to be patient and wait for someone to finish what they are doing to get around them inside our trailer. Waiting for warmer weather when we can hang outside more. Internet coverage is very spotty so I will be posting updates on instagram and getting to the blog when we are connected to the outside world.

Ruth in Her Bunk

Ruth did approve posting this picture.