East Bound

Last night we saw the flames ripping across the mountain peak south of our location. By this morning the air was thick with smoke and white ash covered everything. The high winds made the situation worse and sections of road were closed due to sand storms and overturned trucks. Time to leave...

We said goodbye to our new found family/friends and promised to come back soon. Palm Springs is pretty cool and, God willing, we'd love to make a return trip.

We headed down "The 10" as the natives call it and skirted up 177 through the Joshua Tree National Park. Spectacular, rugged, jagged peaked. We drove through the desert for 100 miles to Lake Havesu, Nevada and then east on old Route 66 and onto Rte 40. By the time we got to Kingman, Arizona we were ready for food and bed. The mountains look like a mini Grand Canyon and the sunset was brilliant... with no wind and no ash.

Good news from home. Katie is home safe and sound, now older (she had her birthday in Azerbaijan) and wiser (travel will do that to you...). Ryan had his first PT and the latest blood tests show the infection level coming down some. Hallelujah!

Off to bed. Road warriors need a good night sleep ;-)

The Hokie Pokey man

With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person, which almost went unnoticed last week.

Larry LaPrise, the man that wrote 'The Hokie Pokey' died peacefully at the age of 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started.

Shut up. You know it's funny.

April 29th Blog Post

Ryan turned the corner about a week ago. He's crutching around and back at work here and there when doctors appointments allow. It will be a long road back, but we're hopeful and he has the right attitude... ornery. Hard to keep a Foss down.

I flew back to Palm Springs California on Sunday. Connie and I are wrapping things up and headed for Maine for the summer which was our plan all along. My friend Bob and his wife Judy have rented us their lake house in the Belgrade Lakes. Can't thank them enough. We will be close enough to Portland and Bangor to spend time with family and friends. And we will take the time to process the past 6 months and explore what we will do next. We want to explore the Northwest and check out the National Parks for sure.

Now that we have discovered we enjoy RV life so much (who knew Connie would relish such simplicity... "Canyon Connie"...befriending every walk of life in her "trailer park" helping them with daily struggles... guess I should have... she's incredible). We might figure that into the equation. Gotta run the numbers with $4 ($5, $6...) gas. Gordie & Dalonna, thanks again for sharing this beautiful RV with us (and sharing your family. Them Coor's are good people!). We have had a ball.

Katie called us yesterday on her birthday from Azerbaijan. She sounded real good, enjoyed the people and the place. Said they LOVE Americans and treated her like a rock star. Wait! The press says that everyone HATES Americans? Hmmmm...

Sorry for the interrupted blog postings, but there wasn't much worth writing about these past 2 weeks. No fun ...especially for Ryan. Hope this rough patch is behind us. Thanks to everyone (you know who you are) for all your concern and support (especially Wendy, Pete, Gail, Craig).

Took a last hike up the canyon. 95 degrees. Everything is brown and dry and beautiful.

I'll try to keep the blog current and we travel back across the country. See you in Maine...

Friday

A great day. 2 doctors appointments. At the oncology center he received 2 IV infusions and it was like the clouds lifted and the sun shone through. He felt better than he had in 3 weeks. He is scheduled for weekly repeats over the next month (he asked for it daily...). On our way to the orthopedic appointment, he asked to stop and pick up some fried chicken (not on the mega-vitamin nutritional diet regime but...) and ate like a ravenous dog. 

We figured out that his waves of nausea corresponded with the automatic antibiotic infusion that he receives every four hours for an hour for the next 5 weeks from a portable pump that he carries around attached to a PICC line in his arm. He now has anti-nausea medicine that he takes just before these infusions. Hoping that helps his appetite.

The bone doctor x-rayed and was pleased with the alignment. The swollen knee is inflamed tissue, not fluid, which is good. They think he may be ready to begin PT when his overall health improves.

Sitting in the oncology center, a large open room with many recliners and brightly colored walls, surrounded by bald women and men receiving chemotherapy was also an awakening. Surrounded by extreme courage and hope. Neither of us missed the message...

Maybe more information than you wanted to read, but I want to share the up days. Too many down days lately. Hoping the trend continues...

Sending love and admiration to my honey in an RV park on the west coast... miss my travel buddy.

update

Ryan continues to battle the infection that has knocked him down. Doctors appointments daily; orthopedic, infectious disease, hematologists... specialists all... ah, the US healthcare system (don't get me started...) He is weak, has lost 20 pounds and is anemic. Prayers are welcomed and invited.

This is not the type of message I had hoped to post on this travel blog. Only put it up because those of you who have been following our journey have been emailing and calling. Please forgive my lack of responses. Thanks so much for all your concern and well wished. Gotta catch a break here soon...

down but not out...

Last Wednesday Ryan had his 5th surgery. They flushed, cleaned and scoped his knee attempting to get aggressive with the infection. His cousin Chris got him home on Thursday and I got home late Friday night, He's been on the couch ever since. Lotta pain. He's anemic so feeding him lots of sardines, liver, green leafy veggies, beef. Also following a nutritional/vitamin program that Sayde provided. Thanks to everyone for the love/support. One day at a time...

who said dinosaurs are extinct...

What a monster! Bet he weighed 5 pounds. We hiked to the top to get out a little nervous energy. Ryan is going back into surgery today (#5). They will clean, scope and flush his knee. He's been in a lot of pain since the last one. I'm flying back this weekend to help out. Connie will stay here for now with the RV/dogs/van and we will figure it out as we go along.

It was a great day for a climb, 75 degrees, blue sky, slight breeze. Connie broke a sweat!

Pictures don't show the expanse well nor the 1000 foot vertical drop directly in front of us.

God dances on the mountainside...

back in Maine

This picture was taken in Aroostook County last week. A real old fashion Maine wintah... so glad we missed it....

Great Hiking

Can't get enough of this place. Everything is new to us; plants, bugs, lizards, snakes, birds, animals, weather,geology. Took a 7 mile hike across the mountain ridge. The crows decided to take an up close and personal look. Tucked their wings and dove at my head. I could feel the wind from their wings as they peeled away at the last moment. Tan colored bushy tailed squirrel like rodents scamper across the rocks. Cactus grow out of the cracks.


Waterfalls in the desert... amazing (taken through my binoculars)


All Nature dances.... energy......

saturday morning hike

Right out the back door, bushwacked up the mountainside, ran into two rattlesnakes (when you poke em with a stick thay make that cute little rattle sound...). When I crested the ridge, this is what I saw. Looking down into Talquetz Canyon. The waterfall is off in the distance and the ravens and hawks circle above. Lime green flowers on barrel cactus. Purple flowers on bushes, lizards scampering, amazing rock formations...Magical.

Uncle Larry & Aunt Helene

We spent the morning with our new friends. They are the salt of the earth and we had a great time doing home maintenance projects and swapping family stories. Sam and Lu fell right in love with them... so have we. Thanks for sharing Dalona and Gordon Roy... of course for the RV, but especially for sharing your family. Also thinking of Lorna and Ron... in our thoughts and prayers.

a morning hike up Tahquitz Canyon

Archeologists have dated artifacts in this canyon from the Agua Caliente (Hot Water) Indians from 1600 years ago and legend dates it to over 3000 years. We headed up the trail around 8:00 while the canyon was shadowed and cool. It's 2 miles long and there is a beautiful waterfall at the back of the canyon.
The trail wound up the canyon between the vertical rock face, following a stream, wild flowers in full bloom. It was like we had it all to ourselves, only saw a few hikers in 3 hours. There are many special places, rocks with unique designs, plants and animals to see. Impossible to truly describe...

What an awesome place... I feel like I have used that description too many times in past blogs, but there is truly no other way to describe this phenomenal country of ours. We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to experience it.

(self portraits are tough....I really wasn't choking Connie.... well, maybe just a little.....)