Fred, I am sitting here laughing as I read your experience on traveling. Not laughing at you, but with you. Hubby and I own a 37 ft 5th wheel travel trailer and have encountered many such experiences on our travels. To narrow roads, trees to close together to be able to back into a site, water and sewer hookups not in the right spots, and now with slideouts not enough room to use them. We have experienced water pumps going out, transmission trouble and sometimes almost running out of gas looking for the lowest price. We hardly ever make reservations anymore as we never know where we might decide to stop. The one to top it off was when I directed hubby on a blacktop road--yes, you guessed it--just recently oiled, and spent the next few days trying to get the blacktop off of the camper and truck!! I have yet to live that one down!! Hopefully your eye will get better and be back on the road once again. A year from now when you tell this story you will laugh about it, but for now it isn't so funny. Just think - it has to get better, and when it does you can again see the world with TWO eyes. (not to mention the road). Enjoy the rest of your travels will be thinking about you. Phyllis > Diesel on the PA Extension of the turnpike was $1.47. I figured I'd > wait til I get off and go ter cheaper Petro truckstop on rt 80 & X-36 > as always used to be the case. Wonder of wonders; there it was > $1.57. They also stopped taking Exxon and Mobil credit cards. > > I'm presently sitting in the neighbourhood of Ashland, OH at a > campground called Hickory Lakes in West Salem. I had planned to > be in Hannibal, MO tomorrow. Things turned ugly when, in a last > minute task and the engine running before I took off from home, a > bee stung me in the right eyebrow. I just wanted to move the > wheelbarrow which was still sitting next to a small pile of compost > with a pitchfork in it. As I pulled the pitchfork, I must have disturbed > a hive under the pile and one came straight at me like a stuka > divebomber and went for my face. I tried to brush him off but his > stinger was first. > > So I just moved the wheelborrow into the garage and took off. > Yesterday the area around the eye started to swell up but I was > fine and arrived in OH at 5:45PM. We laft at 9:30 AM from Beverly, > NJ > > The idea was to get as close as possible to Columbus, OH on the > first leg of our trip and we were pulling off I71 to spend the night at > a truckstop. There was a sign right there for Hickory Lakes > campground: 7.6 miles straight ahead. I decided on the > campground because it was still early and our granddaughter would > enjoy it there a little more then among a bunch of trucks. The > straight ahead road lead to a T. Wonderful! I chose the wrong turn > as usual and made a left. This took us into Ashland where I pulled > into a service station. They pointed us back in the other direction. > he question was can I make the u-turn? My wife says, "Sure!". I > wasn't so sure and as we all know, there is no backup in a turn and > in the middle of Rt 250. It's the telephone poles at the street > corners which usually present the problem. I made it with 6 inches > to spare. > > So we now look for the campground. My wife finds it in the 1999 > Trailer Life book. I was looking in the 2001 version and couldn't find > it. There it was under Rosebaugh, OH in the old book and with 50 > amps. Well, they must handle larger rigs. So, we felt secure and > moved on looking for a sign. There it was leading us on a 90 degree > sharp turn onto a one lane road with signs on each corner. I had to > thread the needle to make the turn. Eventually there came another > sign to make a right at another one lane road. Take two such > things and cross them and you get trouble with the turn with a 45 > footer with a car behind. The rear wheels sunk into the soft grass > and the rig bounced through with plenty of pressure to the pedal. If > you go to slow you're stuck. The car bounced behind us and we > made it. Now we are faced with a farm road with trees hanging low > and wonder were fate is taking us. Eventually the entrance sign to > the campground appears. Holy moly I'll never make the turn into > their driveway. I park the rig in the street with flashers on and walk > over to the building where on registers. There were about 10 people > in there watching me or better the rig sitting at the bottom of the > driveway. I'll skip all the comments but it was plain that something > that big had never been here before. Yes they had a spot and yes it > had 50 amps. If I can unhook I should be able to make it, they say. > I walk back and by now there are a bunch of cars on both sides of > us trying to use the road. I didn'tthink 'anybody' used that road. > You have trouble passing each other without driving into the ditch. > There also was this bridge with a weight capacity of 30 tons which > was not much wider then my 102 inches. > > So we make it and settle into a nice spot and settled down etc etc. > The park population made the rounds inspecting what had pulled > into their life. There are all kinds of campers here for father's day I > guess. Trents, trailers, 5th wheels and smaller class As. Mostly > the locals are here and many have their mobile homes set up in the > park. The campfires smelled wonderful and the whole place > reminded me of times gone past when our kids were young and we > did the tenting scene. > > This morning I woke up with my entire right side of my face looking > like that of the elephant man. My eye was completely shut and > there was no way I could open it. We decided to stay the day and > called Hannibal to change our arrival. I took a sudafed and later > some benedryls and put an ice pack on my face and rested. It's > not going away and I was starting to get worried as to how long this > swelling might last. The folks at the office here suggested I go to > the emergency room and get a shot. One guy there claimed to > have bee sting allergy and that the shot made to swelling go away > in one day. So we're off to the emergency ward and we find it as we > wind our way along a whole series of (H) hospital signs. Should > have taken a map with us. The emergency room asks all the > pertinent qestions and gives me a full physical. I tried to explain > that all I wanted was a shot of something to make the swelling go > down. No dice. Eventually the doctor shows up for a full 10 > seconds aand tells me that he's going to prescribe some pills and > some salve for my infected eye. Didn't know I had an infected eye. > > Half an hour later the nurse comes into my little curtained cubicle > and describes all the medication I have to take. Three different pills > and the salve. Like this stuff will take up to 7 days to go away > because that's how long I have to take the pills on different > schedules. > > I rest some more as these things make you sleepy but eventually > wander over to the payphone where they had a modem jack > installed int it. That is outside without a table or anythng but at > least they had a jack. I picked up 195 messages and decided to > respond to this one without my glasses on and with my face about > three inches from the screen and keyboard. I hope I didn't make > too many mistakes but at least you can be part of my 'adventure'. > > We'll see what the morning will bring but if my eye isn't available for > us yet, I brought some tape with me and simply tape it open. I > drove the jeep to and back from the hospital and one can drive with > one eye but I'd rather have a little extra to get a better fix on > distances which is important with a behomoth. > > Fred >