In this episode of many ramblings, I would like to share with you some of the struggles I have been dealing with. These struggles are real, very real.
The first being this blog. I know I have mentioned it a time or two before but I am going to mention it again. It started out as a journal of our journeys and experiences that we could share with friends and family. After all, not everybody sells all of their belongings and travels the country in an RV. It was fun for us as we explored new places, met new friends and discovered new sights.
Then Covid hit and that kind of sidelined us. We built our barn and cabin. We settled down vowing that one day we would hit the road again. But as we live this new life off the road, we have decided that we do like it here in our Super Secret Undisclosed Virus Free Location. We love the solitude around us as we sit out by a fire. Not having to listen to barking dogs or radios from the campsite next door. No kids running through your campsite. Thinking about that makes me believe that that is better than any campground we have stayed in.
And to be very honest, the magic of traveling has worn off for us. Cudos to the people we have met on the road that are still traveling now. We still follow their blogs and adventures. We said that if traveling is no longer fun, that it was time to quit. That is what happened. Finding places to stay became a hassle and we found ourselves going to places we already have been to because of familiarity.
So since this is no longer a travel blog, posts are going to be few and far between. Unless inspiration hits me. We have a big surprise for next year but you will have to wait to find out about it.
Another struggle that has reared its ugly head lately is warranties. Buying a warranty for anything is always a gamble. Makes me wonder if products these days are just not built that well and the company selling the product knows it. The tool company I worked for sold replacement plans on nearly everything it sold. Do you buy a 5 dollar warranty on a 20 dollar tool now making the 20 dollar tool cost 25 dollars. Then do you hope that it breaks so that you can get a new one?
Don't even get me started on car warranties. This past week I have had two things break. One with a warranty and one without. Both ended up costing me money out of my pocket. The first one was my new eyeglasses. The bow broke and I have not had these for very long. So I bring them to the store and show them to them. They look at them and then tell me that I may have to buy a new frame for $80 because I didn't purchase the $40 warranty when I bought them. Lets see now. Do I spend $120 on an $80 frame? What a scam!
Next item I did buy a warranty for and that is tires. I got the road hazard warranty in case we ran over something and a tire needed to be replaced. Well as luck would have it Lisa ran over a nail and where it was in the tire I new it couldn't be repaired. I took it to the dealer and he looks up and sees that we have a road hazard on the tires. Yes! Finally a warranty is going to pay off. They order the tire and a few days later I go back for installation. "That will be $200 sir". "What?! I have a warranty". Upon further explanation he said that under Biden's economy, the price of the tire has doubled and the warranty only covers the original cost of the tire. Plus it doesn't cover labor, balancing, disposal and other things. But I did save $139 because of the warranty. Bend me over Gladys and get out the vaseline.
Finally the last struggle we have been dealing with is pain. I say "we" because Lisa feels my pain with me. I know everyone knows about my hand fiasco which still continues to this day with no relief so I will not delve into that any more. My newest pain though is in my left hip which also spreads to my right hip. I had x-rays taken and it was confirmed that a total hip replacement was in my future. Surgery was originally scheduled for October 16th but before that could happen I needed a pre-op physical.
During the physical they do an EKG which came back abnormal. Great! The DR. could not sign off on the surgery until they had a heart stress test done. So that was scheduled and completed last week which was interesting. Since I have hip issues, they did the test differently than having me run on a treadmill. It went like this.
They first put in an IV which they injected a syringe of some kind of radio active dye that would show up in a CT scanner. They had me sit for an hour to let that circulate through my body.Once that had time to circulate through my body, I was put into a CT scanner for 15 minutes to get pictures of my heart. Next I was taken to another room where instead of a treadmill, they would inject a drug into me that would simulate the same effect. Soon as I was injected, it was immediate when I started feeling the effects. My breathing became labored, my heart started racing and it really gave me a sense of panic. They had me on a heart monitor to keep tabs on me and the nurse was there to coach me through it. After about 5 minutes it was over. Back to the CT scanner I went. 15 minutes later I was done.
Walking out with Lisa I said nonchalantly "As I was laying there I was thinking, I hope they don't find something else wrong with me". Lisa looked at me like my teeth had just fallen out of my mouth and said "You're just thinking of this now? I've been worried for 2 weeks". My bad. Oops.
Well the test came back normal and the surgery has been re-scheduled for November now. So fingers crossed my dream of becoming more like a terminator will be getting closer.
