25/26OCT08 - Livingston, TX & Kinder, LA (no pictures)

As we normally do, we took two days to drive from Sharon & Tim’s to Houma, LA. 1st stop was the world headquarters of the Escapees RV Club, which we are members of. For complete details on Escapees see the following BLOG entry:

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/27mar-02apr08-livingston-tx-we-werent.html

2nd stop was the Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA. As usual we were not lucky playing the games of chance. But it turns out that we were there on the one day a month that they “celebrate” all the birthdays in that month. We won’t say whose birthday it was or how young that person was, but we were treated to a free brunch buffet and several chances at drawings for birthday people only. As we all know there are no free lunches; and the Casino was the real winner as usual. For more info on the Casino:

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/03apr08-kinder-la.html

05-24OCT08 - Kerrville, TX

After our five day dash from the Pacific NW to the Hill Country of Texas we set up camp at the Dan’s sister Sharon & husband Tim Tompkins’ in Kerrville, TX. For those of you who have followed this BLOG for some time you know that we usually visit with them (and Dan Sr) at least twice a year; usually enroute or returning from Washington State. Obviously the next order of business was to visit Dan Sr at the medical facility and check on his condition.

Dan Sr’s diagnosis is that he has a metastatic cancer in his lungs that either originated in his lungs or somewhere else. The Doctors do not have a definitive diagnosis because Dan Sr refuses further tests or treatment. Dan’s dad is now in a Skilled Nursing Facility where they try to make him as comfortable as possible while encouraging him to participate in therapy to improve his strength. As a result of their efforts his overall health has improved.

We settled into a routine of daily visits with dad, catching up on routine maintenance on the RV, family dinner and card games. In addition we found time to do some sightseeing such as a Hot Rod show at the local Harley Davidson dealer in Boerne; and the always required visit to that place “where everybody is somebody” - Luckenbach.

http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/

Since Dan Sr’s health had improved, we decided to head to Houma, LA, to assist Rebecca and Raymond make repairs to their house, which received roof damage during hurricane Gustav.

30SEP-04OCT08 - Various, USA (no pictures)

Needing to proceed as quickly as possible to check on Dan Sr's health, we made the approximately 2300 mile trip to Kerrville, TX in five days. We won't bore you with the monotonous details of the drive, but here are the places we stopped enroute:

30SEP - Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA; see our 19JUN08 BLOG for more info on Fairchild AFB & Spokane.

01OCT - Butte, MT; while here we noted many locals leaving the check-in office with brown paper bags of varying sizes. Turns out owners of RV park also fry up some of the best fried chicken, and fish and chips we have run across!

02OCT - Sheridan, WY; dry camped in the same Wal-mart parking lot discussed in our BLOG of 14JUN08.

03OCT - Colorado Springs, CO.

04OCT - Lubbock, TX.