Trip Cancelled. We're Home Again!
Here is a photo of our motorhome waiting to be put into storage.
It was Fourth-of-July weekend. We were enroute to the Life on Wheels Conference in Lewiston, ID. Two days and some 800 miles into our journey we received a telephone call informing us that Vicki's 93-year old father had been taken to the hospital. Information was sketchy but sufficient for us to know we had better head for home. The immediate question was whether we should fly or drive. We made a U-turn and a few phone calls later determined that it would not be necessary to fly.
It is a week later and, today, Vicki's dad is being transferred to a skilled nursing center. He has a serious infection in his right leg and foot. The responding paramedics also observed an abnormal heartbeat. Vicki has been busy acting as his patient advocate (strongly suggested for any hospital stay), dealing with all the inquiries from family and friends, and researching skilled nursing facilities. It may take a little time but, barring complications, Vicki's dad should eventually be back on both feet.
This is not the first time we have had to respond to an emergency call from home. Experience has taught us how to plan for these events. Most important of all, our family knows how to reach us. They have our travel itinerary; even if it is a sketchy one. They know approximately where we will be on any given day. They have our cellphone numbers, e-mail address, and telephone numbers of the friends we will visit, places we will be working and, when we know, the RV parks where we will be staying.
We have discovered that campground and RV park operators are especially accommodating when their customers have an emergency situation. On more than one occasion the campground operator has had us park our RV within sight of the office and their residence and only charged us for the electricity our rig used while we were absent.
And, we learned a long time ago that it is a good idea to have at least one piece of carry-on luggage stashed somewhere in our RV (in turn, the luggage usually has a seldom-used item stashed inside it).
We are sorry we missed the opportunity to present seminars at Life on Wheels. Even more sorry that we didn't get to visit with our fellow instructors; many of whom are our best friends. The good news, though, is that the weather here in Huntington Beach, CA remains mild with temps in the mid-70s.
Return to RV Know How
=========================================
