Soon after the arrival it was time to move Theresa's mom, Helen, to an Assisted Living facility in Hemet. It has been a big adjustment for her and for all the family. Hopefully she will get into a pattern and it will feel more like home.
As part of helping Helen adjust to the new facility Theresa, Dorothy, and Kevin moved some of Helen's personal items into the new facility. In addition, Kiehl & Madison came to Hemet for a day and helped get their grandma's room ready for her arrival.
Once Helen had settled into the new facility Kevin and Theresa drove in to LA for Xmas Eve with Kiehl, Madison, and her family, see pictures. In LA the Smit's were able to hike up to a scenic peak in the heart of Brentwood , made Christmas cookies and enjoyed Xmas Eve dinner with Kiehl and Madison's family! Way Fun. Nothing better than family at Christmas.
Theresa's Mom's was able to escape for Xmas day and spent it at her home with Theresa, Kevin, Dorothy (Theresa's sister) and Dorothy's kids and the newest (great) grandson Oliver. See pics here.
The day after Xmas, Theresa and Kevin got a call that Theresa's Mom was on the way to the ER. It was learned that she fell in the bathroom and had a gouge in her head. Kevin and Theresa made it the the ER before Helen was admitted into the system. This gave Dorothy a chance to arrive from her home in Fallbrook, CA to also be there for her mother. Dorothy has been a Nurse her entire adult life and understands the ins and outs of an ER. CAT Scan and X-rays were ordered. Helen remained in the ER hallway as all beds were occupied. Actually Kevin and Theresa counted no less than 6 open beds while Helen lay in the hall way. Cat Scan of her head and Xrays of her hip came back OK and after 3-4 hours in the ER She was moved to a bed long enough to be cleaned up (she was covered with blood from head to toe), and then able to return back to the Assisted Living. Kevin and Theresa drove Helen back to the Assisted living facility. Dorothy spent the evening with Helen in her room to ensure all was good thru the night and into the next day. Helen was bruised from head to toe as if she had participated in a kick boxing contest.
Helen was moving around the next day just fine and even wanted to partake in the morning exercise class. What and ANIMAL. She still has trouble speaking, but can write, read and understand most of what you tell her. She is still going to Speech Therapy so she is hoping for more improvement. “Crossing fingers”. Helen recognizes that what she is communicating is not the words she is hearing in her own head. This continues to frustrate her as she says: “one time good, then not”. or “CRAZY”.
On the RV front ...
The RV was long overdue for a wash & wax (this event also included the Toad (Jeep) as well :). Kevin had been building a repair list of items that needed attention as the couple traveled from east to west across the US. He had made calls to mobile a RV repair company to get on their very busy schedule in Hemet. The repair list continued to grow as one of the slide-outs had both bolts bust somehow when moving the slide in and back out for the washing/waxing and it was not able to slide back in. This was then added to the repair list that included: a drawer that won't close, Awning would not close, Holding tank sensors not working, Satellite TV not working, Front Passenger Tire pressure valve stem leaking.....on and on. After Xmas the mobile RV team came out and took care of most of the items on site. Slide now works, Drawer is fixed, tire valve repaired, awning was adjusted (lesson learned... never fully extend the patio awning), and to Kevin's surprise the suggestion of unplugging the satellite TV, wait 20 min, then plug back in fixed that as well.
These guys get a 5 gold star rating!
In addition, with the lower temps (hovering around freezing at night) the propane needed filled so Zin and Theresa could stay warm! There was a mobile propane service that was called out and within 5 min the tank was filled. LIFE IS GOOD!
On a side note.... Kevin had been noticing the RV was getting hard to start when it sat more than 2 days in a row as it made its way across the US. With this information gnawing at him he attempted to start the RV after two and a half weeks in site 921 in GVP to see how well the RV would start. Wa Wa Wa wa wa w ….ah. Let it rest, try again. Wa Wa wa w...a.
Let it rest, try again. Wa wa w...a. Let it rest, try again. Wa....a. CRAP.
OK try axillary start. This is a BRILLIANT switch that calls into play the 4 house batteries to assist the Two Chasse Batteries to start the RV.
Nnnnn..... NOT.
CRAP!
Kevin's next move was to pull the Jeep up next to the RV and connect jumper cables between the Jeep (the toad) and the RV to see if he could jump start the RV. Positive to positive, Negative to Negative (red to red, black to black). COOL ready to try. With the Jeep running and feeding life giving electrons to the RV, Kevin climbed into the RV. Key was placed into the ignition, Key turned one click, dash board lit up, buzzers began to sound, lights went thru the normal elimination followed by each one slowly going dark. The only lights expected to remain on were: Park Brake, Wait to Start (heating the engine block), Low Air (air brakes and suspension air bags needing to get to proper pressure). Slowly each light darkened. Time to turn the key one more notch. WAA.. WAA.HMMMMMMMMMM. Started! Kevin leaped out of the RV, Diesel purring at 900 rpms. Jumper cables carefully removed to ensure the contacts did not inadvertently touch before all contacts were safely secured. Jeep was moved back into its proper parking spot. RV was left running for 20 minutes, charging chasse batteries.
Kevin will need to seek additional insight into the need for new chasse batteries, or what it might be that is draining 3 yr old batteries. Add this to a New List of repair items. RV = Repair Vortex!
GVP - Golden Village Palms RV Resort, a RVers (mostly Canadian) Vacation Mecca
There is so much to do here and Kevin and Theresa want to partake much more than the previous year! To date only a few facilities have been explored including:
Signed up for a Doors tribute band concert in Jan, attended the welcome reception, played pickleball with Kiehl & Madz, used the jacuzzi a few times as well as the work out room. Walking the park perimeter is 1 mile so that will log about 3K steps on a Fitbit. Most days the 10K goal is met, but with the low temps and other priorities there are some missed days.
Kevin got the bikes off the jeep and got them road worthy. The chains have been sitting out in the elements for over two months and look like they are made from old junk yard iron. Fully Rusted and red as North Carolina Clay. Kevin used all forms of lubrication known to man kind. He was concerned with the effects of mixing multiple flammable oil type lubricants to break the chains free from the frozen state. Finally got to take a 10 mile ride on the mountain bikes pulling Zinfandal(dog) in the dog trailer. That was enough for a bit of a shakedown. Hopefully the miles will expand as the temps increase. The couple had to take two days off to recover from this 10 mile strenuous bicycle ride at a 10 mph pace. Kevin has also located a group that rides from Hemet every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9 am. The group is a no drop style ride, they also have nicknames for each of the riders (sounds like Thorns N Roses). They have a blog that is written after each ride and they post the route and pace of that days ride. The pace of the group is currently a little too aggressive for Kevin and Theresa who have been off of the bicycle and sitting in the comfort of the RV for far too long.
Kevin has located a remote control air field and has pestered a guy in the RV park that works on remote airplanes to get any of the 3 planes he brought with him in the air. Kevin has been practicing on a RC trainer computer program for months now and is anxious to make it real.
He has been seen in the RV park flying his Quad Copter.
Looking forward to 2015
New Years there will be a family gathering as Theresa's sister Mary Jean will be here and hopefully Kiehl and Madz can visit as well.
Consider this blog as the Smit's Christmas card to you as there will be none in the (e)mail this year.
May 2015 be one of Joy, Health, Wealth, Peace and Good Being.
Make a Difference every day.
Thanks for the smiles! Happy 2015 to everyone!
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