Our Trip to Georgia 2005 Part 6 (and Final) 

 

Hi,

I am writing this to let you know how I am doing after my devastating loss of Betty last Monday, as well as  to complete the log of our trip.

Sunday, Apr. 10
We left Rivers Edge RV Park fairly early and started driving west.  We managed to make 475 miles through parts of 5 states, ending in Orange, TX, about 7 miles inside Texas.

Betty was having problems with her speech patterns during the drive, first insisting that it was caused by a medication given her by her doctor with the warning that it could cause hallucinations, and she clearly told me that is what was happening.
 

This is Memorial Hermann Baptist Orange Hospital where I took Betty.

At Orange we went into the hospital, where after a lengthy period with the emergency doctors, they admitted her.  As you know, she then continued to decline and passed away mid-day on Monday, Apr. 11.

Monday, Apr. 11
After talking to Dave and Debbie, Dave decided to fly out to Texas and assist with any arrangements that needed to be made here, then accompany me home in the motorhome.  I spent time talking to the hospital chaplain.  He was very helpful, both from a spiritual level and from a practical level.  He told me about the local funeral homes, what the Texas legal procedures were in a case like this, offered me the use of his phone, and just made himself available to me in any capacity I might need.

A little while later, he came out to my motorhome again and got me.  The Justice of the Peace was there and wanted to talk to me.  In Texas, the JP has the authority to release the body, request an autopsy, or call for more investigation.  We chatted a little, I gave him a rundown of events since her fall, especially the last day's travel and her actions and symptoms.  He then approved her removal.  Until that time, the hospital was not allowed to touch anything.  Even the oxygen was still running.

Tuesday, Apr. 12
I overslept from my first sleep in about 38 hours, and had to call and slip my appointment with the funeral home in Orange.  I arranged for them to cremate Betty and return the ashes to me.  The only other item I bought was a number of certified death certificates for future legal needs.  When I asked about timing he said that if the Justice of the Peace would OK an expedited cremation (less than 48 hours), he thought he could have them for me the next morning!  I was astounded!

I was lucky and enough cars that were parked around me left the hospital lot and I was able to pull the motorhome out in mid-day.  I hooked up the Honda and moved about 30 miles to a park named Boomtown, which I had selected for its location to the airport, the hospital, and the funeral home.  It was a mistake!  This was a very narrow park right on I-10 and backing up to a small lake.  There was a train nearby (VERY nearby as it turned out!).  Also, the park was located right in the middle of a long construction project on I-10 with most of the on and off ramps closed.  That combined with the Texas system of using frontage roads on each side for local access made getting into and out of the park very "interesting".

I headed over to the Jefferson County Airport in mid-afternoon and waited for David's plane.  It was actually early!  I am glad he is here, he is a great comfort!

Wednesday, Apr. 13
I called the funeral home about 9 to see if they had any knowledge of the timing yet.  The director said he would call the crematory and call me right back.  When he called he stated the ashes were already on the way to them, and that he would call as soon as they arrived.  About 30 seconds later he called stating they just arrived.

I made a number of calls and scheduled the memorial services with the two churches.

David and I drove over and picked up Betty's ashes.  On the way back we drove by the hospital so he could see it.  We then returned to the park, made the motorhome ready for travel and left the park before we had to spend another night there.  We made about 250 miles to a Super Wal-mart in Seguin, TX.

Thursday, Apr 14
This was a much better location than the previous night!  It was $20 less expensive, and it was quiet!

We again headed west after making a number of additional calls and went about 325 miles to Fort Stockton, TX.  Suitable stopping places in this part of western Texas are hard to find!  The non-super Walmart was much smaller than last night's.  I parked out in the corner of their lot and went in to ask the manager's permission to park there.  She said "No problem" and told me where I parked was perfect.

I should say something about our navigational systems.  On the trip from Florida to Texas, I set up my laptop computer on the dash and hooked it up to my GPS so I would have real-time map displays and computer navigation.  If I stray from my marked route, a man's voice tells me I am off route, and where to turn to get back.  It is quite amusing really, and could be very helpful if you should really get lost.

David was very interested in this setup, and as he has the same program on his laptop, Street Atlas 2005, and he brought his new GPS with him, he duplicated my setup.  His computer voice was Microsoft Mary and mine was LH Michael.  It really got amusing at times when it sounded like Mary and Michael were arguing.  Other times they would say the exact same words, sometimes one would start then the other, but because one was faster the late one would catch up and then get ahead.  It was great amusement!  It also looks like a very practical setup for traveling.  This system duplicates or exceeds the performance and features of dedicated GPS navigation systems costing several thousand dollars.  However, I do think that duplicate systems operating at the same time might just be a slight overkill!

Friday, Apr 15
Happy Tax Day!

This location was even quieter than last night's!

David and I left fairly early this morning for a planned 450 mile trip to Bowie, AZ.  Finally after a couple hours driving this morning we made it out of Texas!  About .3 miles before entering NM, we stopped at a Flying J and filled up.  We had driven 892 miles on this tank - a new personal record!.

About 30 miles west of Deming, NM, I had the first ever trip delaying mechanical failure of the Foretravel. (A tire blow-out doesn't count does it?)  As I was driving, all of a sudden it felt like the steering locked up and I could not turn it!  I quickly discovered that I could truly turn it, but it was very hard to turn.  I pulled off onto the shoulder and stopped.  Opening the engine compartment I saw the belt driving the hydraulic pump was in shreds.

David logged onto the Internet and looked up the nearest couple of NAPA stores.  I called the one in Deming and they did not have the belt.  They called another local parts store for me and found it in stock.

I un-hooked the Honda and drove the 30 miles back to Deming.  Upon returning, the belt went on in about 5 minutes and we continued on, losing about 1 1/2 hours for the process.

We pulled into a Passport America park in Bowie and paid our $10 for the night.  The great part is THEY HAVE FREE HIGH SPEED WIFI INTERNET SERVICE.  The not-so-great part is the train runs even closer to this park than the one at Boomtown! 

Saturday, Apr. 16
We slept well in spite of the trains, which seemed much less obnoxious than the ones at Boomtown.  After getting on the Internet a final time on this wonderful connection we headed out.  Today will be a long day, although we only will drive a moderate number of miles.  We plan to stop in Tucson at the Pima Air Museum.  David wants to see the SR-71 Blackbird!  He has been jealous every time I write about visiting a museum that has one.  There have been several!

After getting a later-than-planned start, we arrived at the museum and checked in just in time for the 10:00 tram tour of the outdoor exhibits.  Our driver was very good.  He knew every plane and talked extensively about their history and use in various military actions.  He showed us planes that were closely related to other planes that he also showed us.  One of the B-52's we saw had been the "mother ship" for the X-15 rocket plane.  We saw one of the planes that made many hundreds of airlift runs during the Berlin blockade.  We saw most of the military planes used since the start of the 2nd World War, some civilian ones, and many helicopters.
 

This is a very small portion of the aircraft displayed outdoors.

Inside were a number of the smaller, mostly civilian aircraft.  I rode my 2nd "action ride" of the trip in a simulator in which you were the "Rookie" flying a high performance jet following your instructor maneuvering around the bends of Devil's Canyon below the walls, some very low level terrain following flight, and the landing onto what looked like a very smooth runway, but which felt very rough.  It was fun!

Dave decided not to go, and while he was watching it from the outside, one of the museum volunteers asked if he had a child on the ride. He said, "No, it's my dad".  "That works too" was her reply. 

We walked around the display of presidential aircraft, actually boarding and walking through the last "Air Force One" with reciprocating engines, a Douglas VC228A Liftmaster, that was used by Kennedy and Johnson.  It was flown by the same pilot, but is not the plane that carried the president's body back to Washington after his assassination, that one was a jet, and is on display at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. 

Air Force One is not a specific airplane.  It is the designation given to any Air Force plane which is carrying the president.  (There are also Army One, Navy One and Marine One designations when he occasionally rides on one of their aircraft.)

Did you know that Air Force One made one more take-off than landing?  When President Nixon resigned, the resignation took effect at noon.  His flight home took off at about 10 AM, so he was still president.  The plane took off as Air Force One.  At noon, still in flight, the aircraft designation reverted to the normal tail numbers, and it landed as that aircraft, not Air Force One.
 

This is the plane that served as Air Force One for Kennedy and Johnson.
The SR-71 Blackbird is a most impressive airplane!

We then did a close up walk around the SR-71.  It is an amazing airplane!  It flew at mach 3 at 80,000 feet.  The Russians knew about it and tried a number of times, unsuccessfully, to shoot it down.  They never publicly acknowledged it.  If they could not shoot it down, it must not exist!

Another interesting fact:  Due to the extreme temperatures caused by its high speed, the entire exterior had to be made of titanium.  We did not have adequate supplies of titanium, so we purchased supplies of it from the Russians!

We left the museum and headed for home.  We made one more fuel stop to keep the tank as full as possible until my next time out and proceeded to Prescott.  It was really amusing to hear Microsoft Mary and LH Michael argue when we took the new Fain Road bypass, which is not on the mapping program!

We arrived home safely and parked both vehicles.

We saw a number of my neighbors, all of whom were very saddened by our loss of Betty.  They said they had already made their plans of who would feed me what, and in what order!  I have great neighbors!

This trip certainly did not end as planned, but up to her hospitalization, we had a great time!  We enjoyed the wonderful company of Fred and Judy Pfafman for several weeks in Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida and through several states in between.  We had a lot of fun at the FMCA Convention.  We explored many areas and saw many sights, including Epcot Center which Betty especially wanted to see, and enjoyed immensely . 

Betty (and I) really enjoyed the trip! 

In all, we traveled 6162 miles, including our trip to Escondido at the start, from which we headed directly East.

We drove through or stopped in 12 states: (In order of first encounter) - Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. 

Thank you so much for traveling with us, for sharing my tears, and for providing me with such wonderful support when I needed it the most.  We shall all miss Betty terribly, but at least she died doing what she loved best - traveling in our motorhome!

Dick
http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 

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Dick Mason, Prescott, AZ 3/3/05