Trip Diary: (only land travel) for May, 2009

Apologies for the slow updates, but as noted below, the month did not evolve as planned.

May 1-9; Lafayette, IN: After driving to Indy Friday morning for Lola's mammogram, we shopped before continuing to Sandy and Klaus' new 5th wheel that is permanently parked at a private campground south of Bloomington, IN.  Following Sandy's fine brunch Saturday morning, we returned to West Lafayette.  On Sunday we enjoyed the opportunity to participate in the annual meeting of the FUMC Foundation following the 11 AM church service.  Monday-Friday were devoted to semi-annual doctor visits which involved 3 trips to Indy.  Activities at Purdue included setting up medical insurance, etc. for Larry's final, complete retirement from all university duties effective June 30.  Daughter Judy and her husband Glen Mitchell arrived Friday evening as part of a plan for family and friends to gather in Noblesville, IN Saturday in celebration of grandson Chris Leitem's graduation from IUPUI's Mechanical Engineering Technology program the next day. It was a delight to have brother David and his wife Darlene and sister Sharon and her husband George come over from Decatur, IL.  Son John also attended, but Leslie's recent surgery prevented her from traveling.  That date also afforded an opportunity to celebrate Lola's birthday with the entire family present. Sharon and George returned to spend the night in W. Lafayette thereby enabling Larry to install software on her new computer.  30-min. after going to bed at midnight, Larry awoke with stomach cramps and vomiting.

May 10-12; A Mother's Day surprise: We had planned to attend Chris' graduation at 3 PM Sunday and leave that ceremony to spend 4 days at Liz and Bob Staggs', Second Wind, condo on Emerald Isle, NC with 3 additional looper couples.  However, Larry still was having major stomach pains, so at 9 AM Lola took him to Clarion-Arnett's Urgent Care.  Upon a cursory exam, the doctor concluded he must have food poisoning and prescribed nausea medicine plus a general-purpose antibiotic.  Sharon and George left just before noon with Larry concluding he would be unable to attend the Indy graduation and then drive on toward NC.  By 8 PM with little let-up in pain, Lola drove Larry to Lafayette's new Clarion-Arnett Emergency Center.  An abdominal CAT-scan showed appendicitis!  In retrospect, the "intestinal flu" he experienced Apr. 26 was almost certainly milder appendicitis.  Son John and grandson Tyler came to the hospital to be with us overnight while we awaited Monday's arrival of a surgeon.  He came in about 8:30 AM to concur with the evening's diagnosis and to schedule an operating room for a 2 PM laparoscopic appendectomy.  Revs. Berger and Klinger both visited Larry before surgery. He was discharged at 11 AM Tuesday.

May 13-27; Recuperation: By Wednesday Larry was able to move gingerly with little discomfort, but neither the solid or liquid waste disposal systems were yet functioning normally.  The only doctor imposed restrictions were: no driving for 3-5 days, soft diet for a week and lifting no more than 15 lbs. for 2 weeks.  Thursday-Sunday provided steady improvement to the bowel function, but the bladder needed to empty every 30 min., a significant negative for nighttime rest.  However, Larry was up to going to church Sunday.  The scheduled Monday post-op visit with the surgeon released him; any follow-up for bladder function would need to be with his internist.  With little improvement by Tuesday, Larry made an internist appointment for Thursday morning.  He prescribed a general-purpose antibiotic and scheduled a follow-up appointment one week later; the delay returning to the boat would now extend to at least two weeks.  Upon finding a flat tire Friday morning, we switched cars for a 100 mi. drive to New Buffalo, MI for boating supplies before a noon meeting with Keith and Sharon Hawks at Redamaks, home of the "Hamburger" that made New Buffalo, MI famous.  We concur they have the world's best hamburgers; this was our only opportunity to enjoy them this year!  We returned via Lighthouse Place in Michigan City to Christmas shop.  As she has for the past 2 weeks, Lola done all the driving.  Arriving back for a 4 PM appointment allowed Larry time to next contact Garmin support to report our GPSmap 478 had died and to arrange a warranty replacement (the 4th unit of that model to fail!).  Saturday morning was devoted to repairing the car's flat tire (punctured by a screw).  Afternoon temps reached 89; it was almost like summer.  The afternoon and evening were spent updating a month's gap in this web diary.  It was nice Sunday, after missing church the past two weeks despite being in W. Lafayette, to attend the 11 AM service at FUMC.  Monday-Wednesday were spent completing numerous business matters in anticipation of being able to finally return to the boat later in the week.

Thursday, May 28: Following Larry's release by the doctor to return to the boat we departed at 9:45 AM for Nashville, TN.  With the need for frequent stops, we arrived at Bob and Ann Levine's, Sandpiper, new condo at 3:45 PM.  We then enjoyed fine dinners at Finezza Italian Bistro before touring some of the special parts of Nashville.

Friday, May 29: After a leisurely breakfast, we departed Levine's for Knoxville to visit with granddaughter Samantha.  She was between Maymester and the June summer session.  This allowed an especially relaxed visit capped with a fine dinner at Calhoun's on the river.

Saturday, May 30: Following 8 AM breakfast with Sam at Pete's we departed for the boat, anxious to get back on the water.  We reached MYBC at 4:45 PM, completing 4,800 mi. of road travel in 6 weeks.  The early return left plenty of daylight to slowly begin the large task of unloading the packed car.  The boat's condition's was excellent; a great relief after the major brush fires that had occurred earlier in the month about 8 mi. south of the marina.

Sunday, May 31: We pre-arranged to meet Wayne and Judy Skaggs at the 11 AM Seaside UMC service.  After seafood lunches at our favorite area restaurant, Ella's of Calabash, we spent a relaxed afternoon in their vacation home on Sea Trail Golf Resort at Sunset Beach, NC. The evening was devoted to the continued deliberate transferring of things from the car to the boat and updating files in anticipation of departing later in the week.

Water miles traveled to date: 3,125; this month: 0

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