Samboree - 10/09

From line dance lessons, to friendly vendors, to evening entertainment, good times were had by all. Jo Ann and I met a new lady, Dianna, and we went out to dinner and drove around the town of Canton. I would like to have stayed and experienced First Monday Trade Days but I needed to get back home.

2009 Fall Samboree - Canton, TX

I arrived at the Samboree and the parking crew found me a great spot on the hill right by the building where all our activities would be held. I registered and started checking out the vendors. Even though the Samboree didn't officially start until Thursday they had activities all week.

Mill Creek Ranch RV Resort - Canton, TX

I headed out for the 2009 Fall Samboree (Good Sam Club) in Canton, TX hoping to arrive before they quit parking people at 5:00 pm. When it was almost 4:30 I saw that I was not going to make it in time so I called the lady in charge of registration and she said to come on and she would have someone meet me at 5:15 since that was the time my GPS said I would arrive. A few minutes later she called me back and said they had to quit early and I should find a place to spend the night or I could park at the entrance and be parked in the morning. Having had a very bad experience parking at an entrance waiting for a park to open, I decided to find a nearby RV park. I remembered my friend Jim recommended Mill Creek Ranch RV Park (http://www.millcreekranchresort.com/) so I called them and reserved a site. This is definitely a first class RV park. I was escorted to my site across from their huge clubhouse and next to the lake where they rent paddleboats. There are two pools - the one by the clubhouse is an infinity pool with a waterfall below where they often have weddings. I planned to try out their hot tub but it started to rain so I watched their cable TV and turned in early. The next day they gave me a golf cart tour of the property before I left.

Renegades Anniversary Rally - final

Well, the rally was over much too soon for me. I heard lots of people leaving very early in the morning. I think someone said there were 37 rigs with the group.

My plans for Thursday were to go to Corpus Christi and visit a lady I used to work with at Uncle Bob's Self Storage. I did NOT plan to spend the day in the hospital, but I did. I really didn't feel like driving home anyway so I decided to stay over another day and visit my friend. We had a great visit, she showed me her new business, and I caught up on all the Uncle Bob's news since she just left the company Sept. 15th. We went out to eat and I finally got to try a fried avocado. Yum.....it was fantastic!

Monday I finally felt ready to leave. The trip home was actually much easier than the trip there. I did not have to stop for gas on the way home and made only one potty stop. I would have stopped again if there had been a rest area, but there were none to be found. Tomorrow I get to unload the motorhome and wash it before putting it back in storage.

Renegades Anniversary Rally - con't.

They had another great meal with champagne and cake to celebrate their 30th anniversary. I won a carry bag that will be engraved with my initials. Hey, things are looking up!

I attempted to play Farkle after dinner. It was fun!

Ransom Road RV Park - Aransas Pass, TX

The owners' site complete with a unique and beautiful way to display their names. The palm trees are lighted at night and look very nice. There is a large screened room available for everyone to use and two restroom and laundry areas.

Renegades Anniversary Rally - con't.

The campground was beautiful and I had a great site. Sammy & Jaymie were enjoying going around the park with me on my scooter (I finally felt well enough to unload it). The wind blew a lot when I first got there and it rained some too. Saturday started overcast so we weren't sure what to expect. This was a big day for the club and it started with a catered breakfast. They had eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy, and fruit. My stomach still hadn't recovered so I just had the fruit but it was very good. They had a business meeting after the breakfast and announced the new officers.

Renegades Anniversary Rally

On Oct. 7th I was to go to a meeting and leave for my next RV adventure. The day felt a little off but I threw everything in the motorhome and headed for Aransas Pass, TX. The wind was blowing and it was a long trip down. Hwy. 59 and Hwy. 77 South don't have but one rest stop that I saw. It took 5 hours of driving to get there (about half of it in the rain) and I stopped for gas at -1/2 tank before arriving. The Rally was the 30th Anniversary Rally for the South Texas Renegades FMCA chapter. It was held at Ransom Road RV Park. Even though the Office had closed an hour earlier the Manager opened up to check me in. I was presented with a Welcome bag of goodies with several very nice items including a very nice embroidered light blanket. I had a great site close to the rally room (thanks to a conversation with the Manager a few days earlier). Someone invited me to dinner in the rally room but I needed to set up first. Several people were there to help and since it had gotten dark, I appreciated the help. I took the dogs out and could tell I was really dragging so we had a short walk and I went inside to put things away and make up my bed so I could be rested for tomorrow. It took me a while to put things away and it was 10:00 when I started to make my bed. By that time I really didn't feel well and I had to lay down on the sofa to rest (with my new blanket wrapped around me). I would sleep for a couple of hours then get up and put on a sheet, then get dizzy and need to rest again. It was 5:00 AM before I finally got my bed made up and I crawled in with my clothes on because I felt so bad. The next morning I felt worse and was running a fever of 101°. The owners of the park were across from me and they were wonderful. They came over to check on me and wanted to call an ambulance. I said I would drive myself and they told me where the local clinic was located. Three phone calls back to the park later I finally found the clinic and it was closed for the Columbus Day weekend. Fortunately the North Bay Hospital was next door so I went to the Emergency Room and checked myself in (about noon). I am so glad I was in a small town - only one person ahead of me. My temperature was 102.4° by the time they checked me in. They did all kinds of tests and kept asking me about the flu (no symptoms). They started an IV and every time they left I would fall asleep. I know the did blood tests, x-rays, and made me pee in a cup. They asked lots of questions, poked and prodded some more, and disappeared to do something with my information. About 6 - 7 hours after checking in I started to shake. I asked for a blanket and after I finally got someone to bring me one a cruel nurse (not really) took it away and said my fever had gone very high and I needed to take some more Tylenol. My hands were shaking so badly that I could not get the tablets. They finally had to put them in my mouth one at a time. That was so scary!!! My body hurt from the trembling and I was still cold. The nurse did finally cover me with a sheet and after 15 minutes I stopped shaking. They told me I had a bad bladder infection and they wanted to keep me overnight. All I could think of was my poor dogs shut up inside since morning and I told them I couldn't stay. It was after 9:00 PM when I finally rolled (in a wheelchair) out of there. They didn't want me to drive home but I was by myself and who else was going to drive me? I was still very groggy and swerved all over the road trying to get back to the park. As I drove into the park I saw a familiar looking dog - Sammy. He was being walked by the owner of the park and one of the younger employees had Jaymie. They didn't know what had happened to me but the motorhome was unlocked (unusual for me but I couldn't find the keys when I left) so the got the dogs out and had walked them earlier and were walking them again before they went to bed. That was so considerate and I was so grateful!!!

The next day I made it to the local Wal-Mart thanks to my GPS. I got my prescriptions filled and bought lots of Cranberry juice. I had missed all the rally activities so I headed over to finally get my first dinner. The food was catered and it was good. The people were nice and sang karaoke and played games after dinner. I didn't feel like staying for everything and when I left it was raining. I got chilled walking to my motorhome and when I got back my temperature was over 102° again.

Thousand Trails Lake Tawakoni

My site here backed up to the lake. The sunsets were beautiful. As you can see, Sammy & Jaymie enjoyed it too.

FMCA Six-State Rally

The FMCA Six-State Rally was held in Shawnee, Oklahoma. My chapter, the Thousand Trails of Texas FMCA, was one of the host chapters so we got to park in the volunteer section. We had very nice campsites with full hookups. There were Trams (gasoline powered golf carts) to pick us up and take us to the functions. There were vendor booths and many seminars for us to attend (see the picture of the one on fire safety). On Friday my FMCA number was drawn to win a prize - a folding chair! Lots of food, fellowship, and entertainment here.

Thousand Trails Lake Texoma

My site at Thousand Trails Lake Texoma was across from a nice pond with a picnic table and a big fire pit in the center. They had two great swimming pools here and a hot tub for enjoyment - I made it in all of them.

Lake Somerville State Park

The Camping Friends group had a good campout at Lake Somerville State Park. We were in the group area surrounding a rally building where wonderful food was served and games were played.