Karen & Collins Great RV Adventure

Karen & Collins Great RV Adventure

It is not the Destination, but the Journey

Monday, August 6, 2018

OH MY GOSH ! The year is half over. Winter/Spring 2018


My dear friends, if you think we forgot about keeping up our blog, you’re absolutely right.  We haven’t done much in the way of excitement in the past 6 months, so I just sort of forgot.
View from our balcony



We continued our usual winter tradition of renting a condo in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic for Jan, Feb & Mar.  












Sunset from our balcony


Our Tues night Happy Hour


Most of our usual winter friends were there.  


















A couple we'd met in Punta Cana, Steve & Brenda Horan, decided to check out Juan Dolio this year.  It was nice to see them








Dinner with Marlene & Nelson 



We also made new friends.

























Snuggles finally decided Sue was ok


And of course, my friend, Sue Hollingsworth came for a couple weeks.
















It was much rainier this year.  We had more rain this year than we’ve had in all the years we’ve been going there.  Luckily, we have our great balcony looking out over the beach & the water, so we spent a lot of time there. 




They started this building the winter of 2016.  It's been interesting watching them build it.  The building & safety codes are nothing like they are in the US.  I wonder how much will be done when we return.








Unfortunately, Collins felt horrible almost the whole time we were there.  Almost every muscle in his body hurt all the time & some days he could hardly hold his cup of coffee.  He went to a rheumatologist as soon as we returned to IL.  Come to find out, he has polymyalgia rheumaticia.  It’s a form of arthritis that attacks the muscles.  The Dr put him on prednisone & he literally felt better the next day.  We aren’t sure how long he’ll have to take it, but they are lowering the dosage each month.  I can’t tell you how thankful we were to find out what was wrong & to have a medication to make it better.


I had a knee replacement done the beginning of April.  There’s no place in IL to park an RV anywhere near where we needed to be until the beginning of May, so we left it in storage.  My brother Rob, & his wife, Lisa, were gracious enough to let us stay with them for about 2 weeks.  They have mostly one floor living, which helped immensely.  It’s been about 4 months since the surgery & I would say, I’m moving really well.  Still a little swelling, but other than that, I have no complaints. 










We left the RV in storage in KY this past year, so we made a trip there the end of April to pick it up.  While we were there, we had a chance to visit with my mom.




After that, we went to an RV Rally in Indiana, where we met up with the Canadian friends we met on our European Tour last summer.  It was so great to see Shelagh & Ron.  We just fell back in step & shared a lot of laughs for a week.  We were sorry to say good bye, but hope to cross paths again in the future.










At that point, we returned to IL.  We had decided to sell 2 of our townhouses, so we had some rehabbing to do.  For almost 2 months we cleaned, painted & did all sorts of repairs, getting the properties ready for sale.  I was so happy the day we finally put them on the market.  One is under contract, which makes us even happier.



We also had two high school graduations during this time.  Our granddaughter, Lexi, lives in FL so we made a trip for her graduation & party.










Image may contain: Brittany Gast, Lexi Gast and Collina Friedel Gast, people smiling, people standing, hat and outdoor
Granddaughter Brittany, Granddaughter Lexi, Daughter Collina

Karen, Lexi & Collins








Our son, Doug, decided to make a surprise visit for Lexi's graduation.  









Image may contain: 2 people, including Brittany Gast, people smiling, people standing
Granddaughter Brittany & Great Grandson Blake





And we had a chance to visit with our great grandson, Blake.  Hard to believe he's 8.  


















Image may contain: 5 people, including Lexi Gast, people smiling
Mike proposes to Collina







We weren't there when it happened, but our daughter, Collina, got engaged the night of the graduation party.




We also had a chance to visit Collins' good friend from high school, Pete & his wife Linda 















The following weekend, we had our grandson, Ryan's, graduation back in IL.












Karen, Ryan & Collins





My mom came to IL before we went to my neice, Kelly's wedding.  She spent a week at Paula's house.








Paula & Mom snuggle on the couch


Granddaughter Becca & Collins showed up in the same shirts
Tim & Kelly






We made a trip to Iowa for our neice, Kelly's wedding.  It was nice seeing all the family again.












Karen & Kelly
Granddaughter Becca, Daughter Paula & Karen



















My Mom






















All my brothers & sisters were at the wedding

Also during this time, Collins had cataract surgery on one eye, so that kept around awhile longer.
On July 13th, Collins had his last eye appointment & we finally left IL.  We were off to an RV Rally in Gillette, WY for a week then about 6 weeks in the Yellowstone & Teton areas.  Unfortunately, we have to be back in IL by mid Sept.  Poor Collins has to have a lot of dental work, so I guess we’ll be stuck in IL again for awhile.

I’ll keep you posted on our Yellowstone & Teton trip.

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