Home Sweet Home

Today is Friday, July 26, and we pulled into our driveway around 1:30 this afternoon. Simon is doing really well and we will be taking him to our veterinarian early next week to get checked over and have a few tests done.

So, now it's time to unload the motorhome, give Simon some time to get healthy and then regroup and decide whether we will be able to take off on some other adventure with the motorhome in a few weeks.

Thanks for following along with us~

Gerry, Pete, Rosey and Simon

On our way home…

 

On Sunday morning, July 21, we departed Wisconsin for our journey home. Simon has had no problems traveling in the motorhome, in fact, he has slept most of the time that we have been on the road. He has not had any more seizures but is still experiencing some side effects from his medication. He is no longer craving water but continues to be unsteady on his back legs. Hopefully he will regain this stability as his body adjusts to the medication.

Today is Tuesday, July 23, and we arrived in Westfield, New York, this afternoon. We are at a campground that is just a few hundred feet from Lake Erie. We expect to be home on Friday, July 26.

Simon is back with us

Simon was released to us late this afternoon, (July 18). He is doing so much better than he was when we saw him yesterday. He was very happy to be with us and whined and cried all the way back to the motorhome. The whining has stopped but he is doing a lot of pacing back and forth. He is on a pill form of medication to prevent his seizures and the medication is making him very thirsty. It was recommended that we ration his water because he will drink too much and have bladder control issues. Simon had his evening dose of medication and right now he is asleep on the floor by my feet. Hopefully, the rest of tonight and tomorrow will go well.

The vet hospital even had a spotted bandage for Simon's leg.

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Simon resting comfortably next to Pete's feet.

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Cross-country trip postponed!

            On Tuesday, July 16, we woke up at 4:00 AM to find Simon having a really bad seizure. It lasted less than two minutes and he seemed to be OK after it was over. Needless to say, it shook us up. By 8:30 AM when we were leaving our campground in Oakdale, WI, Simon still appeared to be OK. Shortly after we began our traveling for the day, he had a mini seizure and within a short time a couple more mini seizures and he began foaming at the mouth. We got off the next exit and found a local veterinarian who took Simon in immediately. Simon was getting progressively worse. While at the veterinary clinic, Simon had more mini seizures and eventually another that the vet characterized as a Grand Mal seizure. Simon was also drooling profusely. The vet stabilized Simon as he attempted to determine the cause of the seizures. By late afternoon it was apparent that Simon needed more attention than what this vet could offer and he recommended that we take Simon to the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Care facility in Madison, WI. The vet contacted the university to make all of the arrangements, sedated Simon and we made the almost 2 ½ hour trip to Madison. The good news is that Simon is getting better but we still don’t know what caused this. He has not had any more seizures since he was stabilized at the UW Veterinary Care facility. Today, July 17, he went through a myriad of tests and everything has come back normal. The doctors are calling his condition Idiopathic Epilepsy and he is being administered medication to prevent any more seizures. He may need to be on medication for the rest of his life. If he continues to make progress he might be released tomorrow, Thursday, July 18. We will stay at a campground just north of Madison for a couple more days until we are confident that he is able to travel safely. We have decided to end our trip and travel back home. It won’t be a disappointment if Simon is well on his way to recovery. Once we get home we will give Simon time to get healthy again and perhaps in September and October we can take off in the motorhome for a different adventure than what we had planned.

 

We encountered so many kind and caring people during this ordeal. The vet that we first took Simon to yesterday called today to get an update on how he was doing and wants us to give him another update tomorrow. The campground where we had originally set up camp didn’t charge us when we had to suddenly pack up and drive to Madison. The veterinary facility in Madison had someone waiting outside when we arrived to help us park the RV and car and then they also offered to let us stay the night in their parking lot. They also had a doctor and an assistant come out to the motorhome with a gurney to get Simon. The campground we are staying at (KOA)in the Madison, WI area has been very flexible and is holding the site we are on for several days and we just need to let them know on a daily basis if we are going to stay another night. Life is good!

 

Hopefully I will have time to post again as we head home. Otherwise, I will let everyone know when we get home.

Simon the Lap Dog

He loved sitting on my lap as we traveled.

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Greetings from Michigan,

We arrived in Traverse City, Michigan on Tuesday, July 9. This area is known as the cherry capital of the U.S.  Approximately 70% of the U.S. sour cherries are grown in this region. They also grow several varieties of sweet cherries.  We’ve eaten some great cherry pie, chocolate covered cherries, dried cherries, cherry salsa, cherry BBQ sauce, cherry butter, cherry ice cream, cherry preserves and cherry wine.  What we didn’t realize until we arrived in Traverse City is that it has also become a wine producing area. A couple of years ago (remember that March when we had 80+ degrees for a couple of days) farmers is Michigan lost 90% of the cherry crop due to higher than normal temperatures in that same year. The cherry trees began budding prematurely. When temperatures returned to normal (read: freezing), the buds were damaged and the trees didn’t produce any cherries that year. The farmers who were growing grapes for several local wineries didn’t experience any change in the grape crop that year. So…now a number of cherry growers are reinventing themselves by turning their cherry orchards into vineyards. We went on a wine tasting tour of the area and were surprised at the number of wines, both red and white, produced here.

 

A Peddle Pub in downtown Traverse City

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One Room School House turned into a wine tasting room.

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Chalkboard at the One Room Schoolhouse

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We departed Traverse City and headed for Dearborn, Michigan on Friday, July 12. The next day we went to The Henry Ford, a complex that includes the Henry Ford Museum, Greenfield Village, an IMAX theater, a Factory tour and the Ford Research Center. We opted to go to the museum, Greenfield Village and a show at the IMAX theatre.

 

We began our day in Greenfield Village with a ride on a steam locomotive that gave us a perspective of what we could do and see while in the village. Model A cars transported people around the village, musicians played antique instruments on stages and in a bandstand, homes that belonged to Robert Frost, Thomas Edison, Noah Webster and others lined the streets, Edison’s Menlo Park facilities were recreated and some original artifacts of his were on display (Edison and Ford collaborated on a number of projects together), formal flower gardens and vegetable gardens were tended by people in period clothing. Children were able to play on the village green with toys from earlier decades like the hoop and stick, stilts, ball and cup, and a lawn bowling game. When it began to get really warm outside, we decided it was time to sit down and cool off in the IMAX theatre watching the Rocky Mountain Express. Many of the views of the Canadian Rockies reminded us of our previous trip to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper in Alberta, Canada which we will be revisiting in just a couple of weeks. After the movie, it was time to visit the museum.

 

Transportation at Greenfield Village

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Where Thomas Edison invented the light bulb

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The Henry Ford Museum is divided into many different areas. In With Liberty and Justice for All we saw an exhibit about Rosa Parks, including the bus she rode on when she refused to give up her seat. Next, there was the chair Abraham Lincoln sat in at Ford’s Theater when he was assassinated. An exhibit about Women’s Suffrage used a timeline to document the movement that finally gave women the right to vote.

http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/liberty/

 

            In Heroes of the Sky, there was information about early aviators as well as actual aircraft on display.

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/heroes/home.asp

 

            The Presidential Limousines exhibit had many vehicles that had been used by former Presidents. There was the limousine used by John F. Kennedy when he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas and even a carriage pulled by horses that had been used as a presidential vehicle.

http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/limousines.aspx

 

            The Made in America exhibit had many items such as furniture and other household items that were made from the 1800s and up. It was interesting to see many items that had been made in New England.

http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/america.aspx

 

            Some of the other things we saw while at the museum were exhibits about clocks, transportation (including the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile), the Dymaxion House built in 1945 by inventor and architect Buckminster Fuller (futuristic, round and made of aluminum), trains, and agricultural machinery.

 

Transportation exhibit at Henry Ford Museum

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VW camper van

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Oscar Mayer Weinermobile

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            The Henry Ford was a fun and educational experience that I wanted to do for a long time, but somehow in our travels over the years, we were never in that area. That’s one thing I can now check off on my bucket list!

 

            We plan to visit our friends, Marsha and Art, in Illinois as we make our way to the Badlands.

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Hot and hazy Saturday, July 6, brought us to downtown Ottawa and a walking tour of Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the Women are Persons Monument and the National War Memorial. Simon, our one year old Dalmatian, made his debut as our U.S. Dalmatian Ambassador spreading friendship with his constantly wagging tail and kindness with his licks and kisses. Rosey, our nine year old Dalmatian, stayed back at the campground in the comfort of the air conditioned motorhome.

Simon and Pete at Parliament

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As we walked around the Parliament grounds we admired the Modern Gothic Revival architecture of the Parliament building and the ornate wrought iron fencing and gates. Buildings as ornate as these seem to be a thing of the past. We were pleased to see that there is a huge restoration project in progress to preserve these buildings.

 

Ornate wrought iron gates in front of Parliament

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At the Rideau Canal (http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/rideau/natcul.aspx) we watched pleasure boats move through the locks as water rose and workers used hand cranks to open the locks to allow the boats to move up the canal. This is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America. It is 202 km long and its route can take you from Ottawa all the way to Kingston. It takes about 1.5 hours for a boat to complete the short span of about five locks in the heart of Ottawa.

Hand cranks used to open the lock

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Lock opening to let boats pass through

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The Women are Persons Monument (http://www.museevirtuel-virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/expositions-exhibitions/tresors-treasures/?page_id=2562&lang=en) was a popular attraction when compared to the many other statues located throughout the Parliament Hill grounds. This monument commemorates the lives of five women who fought to be recognized by the Canadian government as persons during the 1920s and therefore be allowed to run for public office.

 

Statues at Women are Persons Monument

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We watched the Canadian ceremonial guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which lies at the foot of the National War Memorial.  The National War Memorial was originally erected as a tribute to Canadians who served during the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War. Eventually it was rededicated to represent all Canadians who have served during war.

 

National War Memorial and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

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With tired and hot feet, we headed back to our campground and called it a day.

Over the next couple of days, we will be traveling through Canada and heading back into the U.S. to make a couple of stops in Michigan.

The adventure continues…

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

On Wednesday, July 3, we drove to Montreal, Canada. We were in line at the Canadian border crossing for over an hour. The border patrol people are spending quite a bit of time "chatting" with everyone coming into the country. Although a bit inconvenient, it was nice to know they are being thorough and checking everybody out.

It was definitely drier in Montreal than it was in Vermont and we lucked out when Pete found a very nice campground for us. We had a brick patio, table with a glass tabletop and four chairs, a two-person porch swing and a nice stone fireplace. Each site was landscaped with plants and shade trees. There were many seasonal sites that people had taken a lot of time and effort to landscape, add screen houses, planters, etc.

La Cle des Champs RV Resort

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On Thursday, July 4, we visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens and were in awe of their Mosaicultures Internationales 2013 exhibit. (http://calendrier.espacepourlavie.ca/mosaicultures-internationalesr-en) Horticulturist-artists from 25 countries created 50 larger than life sculptures with live plants. I was like a little kid, eager to find the next sculpture, as we made our way through the gardens and found one after the other of these spectacular works of art. Unfortunately, it was really hazy and overcast for most of the day and my pictures don’t capture the true colors of these massive wonders. Click on any of the images for a larger view.

 

The Bird Tree

 

 Mother Earth

The Man Who Planted Trees

 

 

 

Next stop...Ottawa, Ontario, Canada