OH to WV to VA, 3 week update, and emergency laser treatment

Wednesday 10/3/2012

Americamps/KOA

Ashland, VA

Well… it’s been a bit more than three weeks since our last post.  We’ve been keeping busy… but not toooo busy.

Sunday, 9/9, we left Alton RV Park near Columbus, OH, and headed southeast towards Charleston, WV, and the dreaded WV Turnpike.  Our decision to travel this route was due to the fact that I was having trouble finding a good stopping point in northwest Maryland.  I really, really did NOT want to take the turnpike because of the rough road and the tolls, but we did anyway.  To our amazement, the turnpike seemed to be smoother than in the past.  Perhaps some higher up government official had to take the toll road and realized its condition, so they finally allocated some funds for road repairs.

We arrived at our destination, Summer Wind RV Park,

near Dawson, WV, about 5:30PM.  We stayed there last year on our way west from Virginia.  We both really liked it and were looking forward to stopping there again.  It’s a small little park with just one 50 Amp site with full hookups,

and several 30 Amp, full hookup sites.  The camp host is very friendly and welcoming.  The park offers a 15% Escapee discount which we took advantage of.  I took this picture very early Monday morning…

 

from right outside our door.

Monday, 9/10, we left Summer Wind and headed east to the Americamps/KOA near Ashland, VA.

This was where we spent just over five months last year before we hit the road headed to South Dakota.  We’re back here for a month to visit friends and former coworkers, get the truck and car serviced, get our taxes done, dentist appointments, and do some site seeing.  We’re parked in site B6 in the new section.  The park is under new management, and they’re doing a great job sprucing the place up.  I’ll cover that in another post with pictures.

We’ve visited with our friends Russ, Sheri, and Barbara.

Here’s a picture of Terri and Sheri.

Terri also went out for lunch with our friends Valerie and Vicki.

We went over to Will and Vicki’s house for pizza and a nice evening of visiting too.

Terri and Vicki…   and Mike and Will

This past Monday Terri spent nearly the entire day at her former workplace visiting with her old work buddies.  I’ll be going to my former workplace soon for a visit also.

Richmond and the surrounding area has extensive Civil War history, so we’ve spent a couple of days visiting battle sites and forts in the area.  Here’s a small collage of just a sampling of what we saw.

There’s so much to see in this area, including forts, earthworks, and battlefields.  We also stopped at Osborne Landing along the James River.

One of our favorite places to visit is Pole Green Produce.  When we lived here in our sticks-and-bricks we frequently stopped here for fruits and veggies.  They usually have quite a selection of produce.

Tuesday, 10/2, Terri informed me that she was having a problem with her left eye.  She had been seeing some “floaters” and flashing lights occasionally.  We decided she needed to get examined, so she called her eye doctor and they instructed her to come in right away.  So off we went to Mechanicsville for an exam.  They determined that she had a slight tear in her retina, and we were instructed to go to another location to see a retina specialist.  After his exam, he determined that she should immediately have laser treatment to repair the tear.  Amazingly, the procedure actually only took a couple of minutes to perform.  She didn’t/isn’t experiencing any pain or discomfort, and the doctor said she was under no restrictions.  A VERY stressed-out Terri asked the doctor if she could have a gin and tonic when we got home, and he said “have two!”   She needs to go back for a follow up appointment on Friday, 10/12.  Our original plan was to leave here on Wednesday, 10/10.  Time to get out that big eraser and change our plans again!