Spent our last two days in Milwaukee, Wi.

The first day we were in Milwaukee we visited a place that was on Diners Drive Ins and Dives and found the food to be only so so.  Yesterday we visited the Miller Coors Brewery which was a very good tour and also very informative.  It seems the best beer makers came from Germany since the ancestors of Miller's and Coor's were German.   The tour lasted an hour or so and then they drop you off at the hospitality area were you get to sample some of the product.  While the tour was very good the Bud tour in St Louis was much better.  It is still amazing to see how fast they fill the cans and bottles going down the production line.  The best thing about the tour in my opinion was going under ground to the caves where they used to put ice from the lake to help keep the beer cold in the summer. 

On Wednesday we hit the Harley Davidson Museum.  Saw a lot of old and new motorcycles and movies of how the company was purchased from AMF in 1981 and later to become publicly traded to be the successful company that it is today.  The number of new motorcycles that are very old and on display is amazing.

After the Harley Museum tour we drove around the city in order to see other parts of Milwaukee.  We  had a great time in this city and would like to come back.

The only downside to our stay in Milwaukee was the "dirty" electricity we received at the Jellystone Campground we stayed at.  Our appliances would go off and back on and the ground fault interrupter would kick off.  I went out to turn the breaker on and off and the neighbors ask if we were having problems with our electricity.  I told them we were and they informed us that the people on the site before us were having the same problem.  I called the camp office and they came down and checked the pedestal and said they had 115 volts on each leg.  I told them I think the problem was a short somewhere in their system which they would not be able to detect with just one check of the voltage.  I used to have a surge protector on our motorhome until it fried in Albuquerque, NM.  We had to have it removed and have not replaced yet.  After our experience at Jellystone I ordered a new better surge protector which I will hard wire to the motorhome when we get back to Warsaw. 

Enjoy the pictures for those of you who may still be monitoring the site. 

Thanks  Jack

 Here are the beers that Miller's Coor's produces

 The Miller icon

 In the main cave

 At the Harley Museum now

 Replica of Easy Rider bike

 One of the older bikes I believe this one is a 1933.

 Me on my favorite Harley an Ultra Classic.

A picture of one of the old neighborhoods we drove through

 

This next picture has nothing to do with Milwaukee but is one of our friends Joann and Wally who we plan to see this November on our way to Titusville, Florida where we will be spending the winter, God willing.  This winter we will be closer to them than last year and will be able to see them every so often, hopefully.

 



Our summer get away is winding down.

We left on Monday July 14 and headed north to Traverse City, Michigan and stayed at Timber Ridge RV park for the next three days.  We didn't do a whole lot since we were just glad to get away and chill out.  We had camp fires, which I really like, and did some site seeing around the area.  We had been here before but it was still nice to come back and see things again. 

After Traverse City we headed north across the Mackinaw Bridge to St Ignace, Michigan where we stayed another three days.  While there we took the ferry over to Mackinaw Island and took a carriage ride around the island.  Years ago we had the boys here and we rode bicycles around the island.  Now we enjoyed being pulled around the island by big horses while we sat in the carriage.  We also went up to the Sault Saint Marie locks and watched the boats get raised and lowered the 23 feet when moving between the two lakes while in the locks.

After St Ignace we went to Marquette, Michigan where I spent some time with an old friend and we visited Pictured Rock National Lake Shore.  We took a two hour and forty minute boat ride to see the rocks but we both thought it was over hyped.  We have seen so much better rock formations out west without having to spend almost three hours on a boat.  You see so much advertising for this that you think you have to see it or you are really missing some spectacular scenery.  If you want my opinion you should save your money.

Leaving Marquette we drove to Wisconsin where we stopped at Kewaunee which is about 30 miles east of Green Bay right on lake Michigan.  We stayed at a nice campground except for the crappy tv reception.  We spent one day in Green Bay where we did a tour of Lambeau Field the home of the world champion Green Bay Packer football team.  While I am not a Packer fan we really had a great time seeing the Lambeau complex and having lunch at Curly's bar while we were there.  The city of Green Bay is very under whelming for a city with an NFL francize.  Only 104,000 people live in Green Bay while the stadium holds 80,000 people and there are 104,000 people on the waiting list to get season tickets.  The "Pro Shop" which sells Packer merchandise is the largest selling sports store in either pro or college shops in the entire United States.   Another day we went north to Door county which is said to be the cap cod of the mid west.  We found a small hippy store that we really enjoyed.  I drank a beer while we walked around the grounds admiring the work of some very creative gardeners and sculptors.

We left Kewaunee after three days and went to Caledonia, Wi.  Caledonia is about 10 miles south of Milwaukee.  The first day we visited the Comet bar in downtown Milwaukee which was a diner on Drive Ins Diners and Dives but the food we had was just so so.  We enjoyed seeing downtown Milwaukee since we had not been there before.  We enjoy the urban areas as much as the wilderness.  Tomorrow we are going back to Milwaukee and doing a tour of the Miller Brewery.  We enjoyed the Budweiser tour in St Louis so much we thought we would try another one.  After we leave Caledonia we are heading back home on Thursday, July 31st so on Friday August 1st we can celebrate Hulio's 61st birthday.  If anyone reads this please wish her a happy bday on Friday August 1st.

We forgot our camera but we did take some pictures with our phone.  Here they are.

 Just chillin by the fire with my buddies

  The tour boat before dropping 23 feet in the locks

 A big picture of one of the smaller Sault Saint Marie Locks

 The tour boat above after dropping

 The Mackinaw Bridge.  It cost us $19 to cross with the motorhome and car.  $15 for the motorhome ($5 per axle) and $4 for the car.  Remember everything with my mind is in dollars and cents.  Some days I'm doing good to remember my name but numbers...no problem.

When we were at Mackinaw there was a sail boat race from Chicago to Mackinaw and the boats were arriving all day long.  Every time a boat would cross the finish line you would hear a horn blow.

Our spot in the Marquette Tourist campground.  No 50 amp no satellite but no problem.  We enjoyed watching those black and white shows that were 60 years old and the temps were in the 50's to 70's so we didn't need air conditioning.

 Pictured Rock National Lake Shore.  Pretty but not $39 per person pretty.  I told you I think in dollars and cents.  I try very hard not to but it doesn't work.

Lambeau Field... Awesome





 This picture reminds me that I out weigh 90% of the Packer players.

 This is the grounds at a shop of what I think are some 70's hippies.  They are very creative and everything around their shop shows it.

Lake Michigan looking out from our table at a restaurant in Kewaunee Michigan.,



I see ceramic tile in my sleep

Our master bath remodel project is proceeding well.  We installed the whirlpool tub and it is now working so we can get into the tub to soak our sore bones after working putting up and grouting the tile.  The people who are installing the granite vanity top,  window sill,  and bench top came today and did a template of the vanity.  I would say we have the bathroom about 80% complete.  We started with 22 cases of tile and only have a few left so I know we are getting close. The floor is done which was a major deal since we had to tear up ceramic in the toilet area of the bathroom before we could install new ceramic tile in that room.  We also painted the walls in the toilet room rather than tiling those walls.  In the rest of the bathroom there was carpet,  (I know most people hate carpet in bathrooms but I actually liked it.)  We removed the old carpet and pad and installed concrete board on the floor before laying the ceramic tile.  Huli wanted me to lay the tile on the floor on the diagonal which really thrilled me.  After thinking about it for a while and making a template it really became easy to do even though I was doing the main bath area and a small room where the toilet sits.  All of the walls around the whirlpool are tiled and grouted so we were able to take off a cover I built to protect the tub from falling tile or tools.  The oak cabinet frame on front of the whirlpool is done and I was able to use three of the doors from the old whirlpool.  We did however have to go to the guy who made our cabinets 15 years ago and buy some stain so the frame I made would match the doors.  It turned out good and all of the whirlpool working parts like the pump and blower are easily accessible through these doors.  We had a glass company come and take away the eight foot by three and a half foot mirror that was over our vanity.  We were going to take it out ourselves and I even had some suction cups to lift it out but the charge to have them do it (with my help)  was not much more than our trash people would have charged us for a special pick up of the mirror.  When the bathroom is done I will post some pictures.  I wish now I would have taken some before and after pictures but didn't.

Motorhome update and summer travel plans

We picked the motorhome up this week and it looks like brand new.  Precision Paint in Bremen, Indiana did an excellent job making the repairs.  When we had the motorhome up to Newmar in May they were surprised we weren't having them do the work.  I said they were 100% over Precision's quote and they didn't include replacing the front wheel and hub cap while Precision's did.  After seeing the motorhome the Newmar person said their quote must have included a lot of extra dollars for hidden damage not shown in the photos.  I really don't think the Newmar person doing the quote knew what he was doing since it took three quotes just for them to get mistakes corrected.  The first quote they sent me had zero charges for labor which was the largest component of getting the repairs made.  I pointed this out and they resent the quote.  I found a couple of other problems with the quote and they corrected and resent again this time for $6,100.  Precision quoted just over $3000 and the actual charges matched their quote.  We actually made money on this wreck.  Go figure.  Several people told me to take it to Precision regardless of the money because they felt they would do a better job than Newmar.

We are currently planning on heading out to somewhere in mid July and plan on traveling for about a month.  At least that is the plan as of now.  By then I am hoping our bathroom remodel project will be completed.  Yesterday we finished installing and the whirlpool tub.  Now we need to complete tiling the walls and whirlpool deck and getting a new vanity top installed.  So far it looks nice.

Mid Summer Season Update

Hello everyone,

Just thought I would give you an update on what has been going on since we got home the first of April.  Well this is the year of updating some things around the house.  First we got new tile in our foyer, kitchen, pantry and utility room.  We then replaced the carpet in the upstairs and the stairs leading to the basement.  We are really pleased with the change since we have had the other tile and carpet since we built the house 15 years ago.  Another project we are doing on our own is updating our master bathroom. We got rid of a corner whirlpool tub that we didn't use much and are in the process of replacing it with a deep one person whirlpool tub.  The new tub has many new features the old one didn't have and it should be installed by the end of the week.  In addition, we have installed new ceramic tile on the floor and we are in the process of installing tile on the walls.  Huli and I are doing the work so it may take some time since we aren't in any hurry.  We originally tried to get a contractor to do the work but it seems they are so busy it was hard just getting them to give us a quote on the job.  Oh well since I am feeling really good I enjoy doing the work myself anyway.

My health update.  As I mentioned I have been feeling really good lately but that hasn't always been the case since we have been home.  After getting home after a week or so in April I felt a stomach pain that wouldn't go away.  After researching several doctors I finally got into a Gastro interologist who scheduled me for another cat scan since he suspected I still had diverticulitis.  Sure enough I still had diverticulitis.  He  put me on two oral antibiotics for two weeks and that cleared it up.  He told me they probably never fully got rid of it when I was in the hospital in Fort Myers, Florida.  Anyway I feel great now and work or golf every day.  My foot from the surgery in January has not fully recovered but feels better every day.  It takes one year to fully recover from Haglund's deformity surgery so I feel pretty good about my progress.

The motorhome was taken to Precision Painting in Bremen, Indiana a couple of weeks ago to have the damage fixed from where we were hit going around Atlanta last November,.  We go and pick it up tomorrow.  Hope it looks like new.   We also had the motorhome up to Newmar to have some issues repaired and they treated us very well.  They took care of all of our issues as if they we under warranty even though a couple of the problems were out of warranty.  We are hoping the new "break in"  issues we have been experiencing are behind us but we will see.  I replaced the microwave/convection oven myself after we got home in April.  Our microwave in the basement kitchen stopped working so I took the Frigidaire microwave/convection oven out of the motorhome and put it in the basement and then got a new GE convection/microwave for the motorhome.  There is no comparison between the two.  The convection part of the Frigidaire is a piece of junk while the GE is fantastic.  We had a GE convection oven in our 5th wheel and it worked great.  I have also added a couple of square 5 inch by 5 inch plastic tubes to the underside of the motorhome to carry our sewer hose and our fold up step ladder.  These should be great additions to make things more convenient and sanitary for storing these items.

We are looking forward to our youngest son getting married in  August and some of the activities may mean our trip this summer may be shorter than last year but that's ok.  We have never seen the upper part of Michigan so we may be heading north any day now for a week or two.

Not much else to report.

Have a great summer.

Jack

Update on my five plus day hospital stay.

In my last post I told you I was going to the Walk in Clinic on Monday and ask that they order a cat scan to see in fact if I have Diverticulitis.  They found a place to do a cat scan that day which was just down the street at Lee Memorial Health Park Hospital.  After the cat scan was read they told me to go across the street to the emergency room.  The emergency room reminded me of what you would find in downtown Chicago, New York, or LA.  There were probably 75 people in the waiting rooms and hall ways.  Some on gurneys and some in wheel chairs holding barf buckets.  Some covered with blankets etc. trying to stay as comfortable as possible.  When I finally got called to be admitted which took about an hour I was told the wait to see a triage person would be not longer than another four hours.  We went over to the emergency room at 4:30 pm.  At 10:30 I was put on a gurney and since there were no rooms open in the hospital and no open rooms available in the emergency room I was parked in the hall of the emergency room where they started administering antibiotics intravenously at 11:00 pm.  Around 2:00 am or so they moved me to what I thought was a room but it wasn't.  It must have been just a room and not an actual hospital room.  I found this out when a housekeeping person came in the morning and we were talking and as she was leaving she asked me if I was going to get a room?  I then figured out that the room I was in was not an actual room.  Later in the day they moved me to the Penthouse room on the eighth floor. They must have felt bad on how they treated me the night before because the room on the eighth floor was a private room with a view facing west of a large lake and a condo complex and then in the distance you could see the hotels on the beach.  It was very nice if you have to be in a hospital.  Every body would come in the room just to check out the view out the window.  Whenever I would close the drapes so the sun didn't glare on the tv some body would want to open them back up until I told them I couldn't see the television at certain times of the day when the drapes were open.



I was diagnosed with Diverticulitis with a developing abscess.  I was being seen by at least seven different doctors.  Half of the doctors I still have no idea what they did.  I had a generalist who was kind of overseeing my overall care but there were also surgeons who thought they would need to do exploratory surgery, and there was one doctor who was a specialist of infectious diseases who prescribed my antibiotics.  The others I am not sure what they did.  Maybe they were there just to get paid because to my knowledge they did nothing in my actual treatment. 

My treatment consisted of giving me one powerful dose of antibiotics intravenously every 24 hours.  I was given nothing to eat until Thursday when I was put on a clear liquid diet.  Since I wasn't eating they had me on a sugar water IV.  Other than that it was the usual having your vitals checked every three hours and blood drawn for one thing or another once a day or so.  I went through three 1000ml IV bags of sugar water every day. I had chest x-rays and another cat scan on Wednesday that showed little change from the one I had on Monday.  They changed my antibiotics on Tuesday and they finally kicked in late on Wednesday and my fever went down and never returned.  My white blood cell count was also very high when I was first examined.  It was 20 and is supposed to be 10.  By late Wednesday early Thursday they had it back down to 10.  So I layed around in bed in my private room with the great view and watched the NCAA basketball games all day Thursday until Saturday when I was released.  Before they released me they installed what they called a pick line which is a more permanent IV line that is threaded from your bicep in your arm through the main artery with the line ending just before it enters your heart.  When they thread the line in they have a chest x-ray taken to make sure it is in the correct position.


I got released from the hospital at about 4:00pm Saturday after receiving my antibiotic treatment for the day.  The next day Sunday, which was earlier this morning, a home health care nurse came to our motorhome and taught Huli how to administer my antibiotics intravenously through my pick line.  Huli did fantastic.  The main thing is all about sterility and cleanliness and keeping the two pick lines flushed out with saline and heparin before and after administering the antibiotic.  We need to do daily doses until Thursday when I go to the infectious disease doctor who will remove the pick line so we can start home on Saturday.  I told them Friday but we now plan on leaving Saturday and plan on being home on Monday.

When we get home I will need to get a gastroenterologist to see what will need to be done going forward.  The doctors here don't want anybody doing anything to me for six weeks until my colon "cools" down.   My problems were many that got me into the hospital.  First, I thought I had food poisoning since I have never had diverticulitis ever before. I waited about a week and one half before going to the doctor.  I have never been one to run to the doctor or hospital when I get sick.  I usually kind of wait it out to see if I get better or if things get worse which normally takes a week or two.  My next problem was going to the Walk in Clinic even though I called the hospital and asked them where I should go since I did not have a primary physician in Fort Myers and this is where they referred me to.  ( Many nurses in the hospital said never go back there.  They said come straight to the emergency room.  I explained I didn't want to be one of the people you hear about on tv using the emergency room for every ailment that comes up and clogging the system up.  They said don't worry about it go straight to the emergency room the next time.)  My next problem was the Walk in Clinic prescribed me an oral antibiotic that was not right for the stage my illness was in.  On Wednesday when Janet called them telling them I was getting worse every time I took another dose of the medication they said stop taking it and come in next Monday for my appointment.  They should have had me come back in immediately but that is as much my fault for not insisting to get in asap rather than waiting another five days for my appointment.

On the bright side I have lost 23 pounds and haven't had any alcoholic beverages in over two weeks.  I jokingly told the doctors and nurses in the hospital that this probably contributed to me getting this god awful illness.  They laughed and assured me there was no correlation between the two.

For me personally 2014 really, really sucks.  I have was first layed up for my surgery for the first couple of months, secondly I was walking in front on the patio of our motor home bare footed and cut the bottom of my foot on two protruding broken off screws.   That had me hobbling around for about a week.  Then in March I get this.  I would like to have a do over for this first quarter.  Oh well, I look around and see many people who have real problems compared to my inconsequential ones.



 

Update on my foot and other things

Yesterday I went to the Orthopedic surgeon for the last time.  It's been two months since my surgery.  I went to the visit wearing Crocs which I thought may irritate the doctor but he didn't say a word about the absence of the boot.  The physician's assistant came in first and checked me over and asked me to press my foot against his hand.  He asked how I was doing and I told him I have been doing well and would have had the surgery years ago if I knew it was going to go like this.  I said I thought it would take months to be able to walk without the aid of a stroller or cane.  He said I am where it takes many people six months to get to. He said I am doing very well to be walking like I am without the boot at eight weeks.  I didn't tell him but the boot has been under the motorhome bed for almost a month. 
I still have discomfort after I walk a certain distance which they said is very normal and will subside over time.  I told them the pain doesn't increase but just stays at the same level.  We always park at the farthest parking places at Walmart or other stores.  Earlier I would stop at one of the shopping cart corrals and get a shopping cart to lean on which would help significantly.  Over time I didn't need to get the shopping cart on the way in at all so I know I am making progress. 

My next health calamity.  We went to the Farmers Market two weeks ago and I ate a breakfast bagel sandwich at about 11:00 am. That evening I had a pain in my lower left side and the worst flu like symptoms you can imagine.  I thought  I must have contracted food poisoning so I just sucked it up and was sicker than hell over the weekend.  On Monday the flu symptoms went away for the most part but I still had a pain in my lower left abdomen but not near as intense as on the weekend.  I did my normal internet self diagnosis, which by the way I apparently misdiagnosed the first time around,  and I am now sure I have Diverticulitis.  So I ate light and the pain subsided.  Then I would eat a little more and the pain came back.  After a week of this I went to a walk in clinic and they agreed I had Diverticulitis which I now understand is very common, especially with people over 60.  They gave me an antibiotic and told me to come back in a week.  On Wednesday Janet called them and said I continued to get sicker and sicker by the day.  At first I thought it was just the side effects of the medication but the doctor said to stop taking the medication immediately.  Oh by the way,  I lost 20 pounds from Monday to Friday.  It's amazing how much you lose when you just stop eating  all together.  Only 30 pounds away from my goal.  That isn't that big of a deal when you have the pounds to lose I do.   Now that I will be able to walk without pain I am planning on losing  weight.  In fact I no longer do tequila shots or shots of any kind.  I have not had much to drink from an alcohol standpoint since March first.  Maybe that is why I got diverticulitis since the alcohol kept me in balance (just kidding).  I am feeling better since I quit taking the medicine but I still have a lingering low level pain in my lower left abdomen.  I go back to the doctor on Monday and will probably ask to have a cat scan to see if they can tell for sure that it is diverticulitis.

 Huli and the dogs are doing good except for Huli getting tore up by no see ums.  About three days ago in the evening she was over talking to a neighbor and got about 50 bites on her legs.  The neighbor didn't get one bite.  There is something about Huli's composition that attracts the no see ums.  The other thing that really has bothered nurse Huli is she wants me to go to the doctor immediately when I have something wrong from a health standpoint.  That is not in my nature unless I think it is something very serious.  This infuriates her.

We are leaving the park on March 29th and will be heading up to Ocala to see Joann and Wally for a couple of days.  We then plan on heading over to Gulf State Park for a few days and will then head back to Indiana.  We need to be home by the middle of April since Huli has an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon the following week.  She has had a hitch in her knee for some time so she wants to find out what is wrong and what can be done to repair it.  We know it is a little early to be heading home but we have several things we want to get done this summer.  We have to get warranty work done on the motorhome in May and the collision damage fixed June 2nd.   Precision Painting is doing the work.  Very professional in the quoting process and extremely detailed whereas Newmar was the opposite.  The first quote I got from Newmar included zero labor.   I had to point out mistakes and omissions on Newmar's quote four different times before I got what was the final quote of $5700. The  check from the other person's insurance company is $4600 which should cover everything at Precision.  The damage to the motorhome is very superficial with two small scrapes and one small fiber glass piece missing and one scratch above the step and a scratched rim.  I think I was in the wrong line of work.  We also have a few house projects we want to do.  I am looking forward to getting home this year for some reason.  Probably because I have been either crippled or sick since the first of the year. 


Sorry for the rambling.  Hope you can translate it so it makes sense.