Good News, Bad News

RDB and I are avid cruisers.  Usually for my birthday week, we hop on a Royal Caribbean ship for a 7-day cruise out of Galveston, but with the coronavirus pandemic, and the cruising industry being at a standstill, we took our normal "spring break" a little later in the month, and took off on a week long camping trip.

Darn. ;-)

We're taking the longer timeframe to head to a few places we've not been before - and will even be able to catch up with a few friends that are just getting into RV-camping as well. 

Our first leg north took us back to the DFW area - the Arlington KOA to be specific.  Though we don't think of KOAs as a "destination," we sure do appreciate how conveniently located they are to the things we want to do, and along the roads we travel to get to where we're going.  This KOA was seriously impressive with it's mature trees between sites, and amenities like the swimming pool, corn hole boards, horse shoes, and community fire pit.  We were in too late on Saturday night to get to enjoy the s'mores, but I was seriously considering walking over to the pancake breakfast Sunday morning.  

We spent the better part of Sunday afternoon at Dad and Bunny's - with Grandma G, too!  I had texted them Saturday afternoon on our way up, asking if they would be ok with us bringing over fried chicken for lunch (I know how to bribe - no cooking, no dishes? Instant yes!). It was SO GREAT to be able to see the three of them and, since they're all vaccinated now, to give them hugs for the first time in over a year.   

It was wonderful to be able to hug G-ma G and spend time chatting with her.  She and I have become pen-pals during this last year, I told her: RDB typically brings the mail in, and when her cards arrive, it's "Grandma Mail Day!" and we sit down and read her letters together.  RDB and I brought her an Easter "goodie bag" with few 6-packs of her favorite beer, a new puzzle, some chocolates and other fun things.  She returned back the basket we had left on her front door from last Thanksgiving, when we did the same.  I'll be honest, ya'll, I think her hug, 94 years young and all, was the most intense and strongest of them all.  I'm so blessed to have had her as a part of my life for so long, and so grateful that she lives right next door to Dad. 

All too soon, my phone was reminding me that I needed to take another dose of pain meds - which I had left back at the camper.  We said (hugged) our good byes and spent the rest of the evening back at the KOA.  We were glad to have been able to take Diesel over to Dad's with us, and grateful that the KOAs have fenced dog parks (Kamp K9) where he can have some off-leash time.  We liked the the Arlington KOA had a separated small-dog and large-dog park - though each time we went over it was just us and Diesel playing around.

So, tons of good news this weekend - from a week off work to camp and refresh, to seeing family, getting to hug my G-ma G, a great place to stay over the weekend and good times for Diesel dog.  But you might have noticed the line above about pain meds - and that's the bad news: we had to cut our last camping trip short by a day to get in for an MRI early Monday morning and the results are in: I have a torn rotator cuff and subsequently, since the muscles have atrophied, a winged scapula.  At this point, it's non-surgical (good news!) but it means I'll have to go thru physical therapy for about 6-8 weeks (bad news).  The pain meds definitely help make it bearable (good news!) but they have side effects of their own (bad news).  I had my first PT appointment Friday before we left and met Dale (hi, Dale!) who is also an avid RV'er (good news!) but happens to be retiring next week (bad news - for me at least: he was kind, knowledgable, and really put me at ease about my prognosis).  Thankfully, the exercises he assigned are all things I can easily do while we camp (good news!) but they tucker me out pretty quickly (bad news.)

One final good thing - Dale instructed me to ice my shoulder often (why hadn't I thought of this?!) and it really helps!  I was able to get an ice pack shoulder wrap off Amazon before this trip, and have worn it in the truck as we take off for the next spot; totally worth it!

We were in site #324 at the Arlington (Texas) KOA.  Pull thru site, relatively level, and full hook-ups.  We got a call from the front desk right at noon on our check out day (we were running a few minutes behind) and texts from them before we arrived at the park - lots of great communication, we appreciated that!  We were impressed by the mature trees, all the amenities, and the numerous cabins and tent camping areas.  It's a little oasis in the middle of the metroplex, and we could certainly see using it as a home base when we come back to visit family again.  And get more hugs. ;-)