Not GOOD NEWS !

This has been SOME week !!!


This is Scott and Ann's place, taken last Sept when we visited. It was just a few days later when the Leukemia was discovered. Its been a LONG HARD 8 months for them.......


As you know we are in Lincoln, Nebraska visiting Son Scott and Ann. Shortly after we got here, it was discovered that the DREADED Cancer was back!!!! We were all devastated, what a shock! Scott has been extremely sick, terrible stomach cramps, diarrhea, and can not keep anything down. Not even his meds. He certainly did not want to have to take any more Chemo. However, that was his only option at this point. Thursday afternoon they began giving him the heavy doses of the drug, plus running several other tests. He will get 4 sessions of treatments that each take 2-4 hours. He was so dehydrated that they had to give him double doses of saline. This chemo, of course, made him even sicker.

Here is Scott's latest post from his Caringbridge web site, posted yesterday:
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*(quote)*
The results came back positive that the cancer has returned. They started me on more chemo almost immediately. The last several days I have been extremely ill with vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. In fact I was so dehydrated they had to give me fluids before they could start my chemo. They tested me for the return of c-def but it came back negative and they are still looking for the cause. I am going through my fifth round of chemo everyday through the weekend at the hospital. I have to be there tonight (Saturday) and then again first thing in the morning (Sunday). I am allowed home at night, thank goodness.The next steps will entail having my brother return from Arizona to donate more cells. Not stem cells this time but more adult cells to assist in eliminating my original immune system and have his take over. We have to wait on the insurance to approve the procedure and once again they have denied it as of late Friday afternoon. The appeal process has been started but obviously it will be at least next week after the long weekend before anything happens. The logistics of getting my brother here on short notice will be difficult and we can’t set anything up until we get the insurance company’s approval. So we wait and have faith.
Scott and Ann
************************************************************************************ I am so glad we are here during this most difficult time and can offer in some way our support and assistance, although I feel TOTALLY helpless in the situation. It's sure hard to watch someone you love so much go through this. With Scott and Ann's strong faith, they will come through it. It's quite a shock since he seemed to be doing so well.

We contacted his older brother in Tucson, AZ yesterday to begin making arrangements for him to return to Omaha for another type of stem cell donation as soon as the doctors are ready.

Please keep them in your prayers!!!

NEXT SATURDAY is the big pancake feed !!! We are expecting hundreds of people and some of these people I have not seen for years and years. Tuesday I went with Larry Johnson, Scott's Uncle, to the University of Nebraska campus and the BIG RED coliseum. Gee, this place has grown since I lived here!!! Man, what money will buy!! We obtained several footballs, volleyballs, basketballs and baseballs from the respective athletic departments that have all been personally signed by the coaches and some star players. These treasures will be auctioned off at the Pancake feed. Larry's daughter, Christy was one of the Volleyball stars here just a few years ago and is now the HEAD Volleyball coach at the University of Iowa. We are all very proud of her. Scott was one of Christy's BIGGEST fans and watched many of the games she played in.

This has also been a terrible week for storms. Tornado's and flooding all around us!! The winds and thunderstorms kept us up 2 nights in a row. The wind blew so hard, it shook this big TETON and blew over our satellite dish. Luckily, it didn't break the dish....just a small crack...so we managed to get it back up and running. Last night, things remained pretty calm but they say we may be in for another round of storms tonight.
Visit Scott's CaringBridge web site and say hi to him at:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall
Keep him and Ann in your prayers. We are so thankful for all our friends support and prayers, that words cannot describe it. THANK YOU !!

Next week is going to be a GREAT WEEK !!!!!!!!

Mike

Boot Hill and Gunsmoke Territory

We have been to Tombstone territory and we are now in Boot Hill territory!!!!

Early afternoon we pulled into the Gunsmoke RV Park in Dodge City, KS. We had been on the road for 3 fairly long days and it was time for a little break, plus we wanted to see the famous BOOT HILL. We also wanted to meet up with the Marshall MATT DILLON. Matt ranked right up there with John Wayne as one of my "idols".

Entrance to the Campground. See the PISTOL and the SMOKE.....

I thought that Six Shooter was NEAT!!! The campsite was plenty large enough for our rig and made it easy to pull in. We had a PressurePro system to pack up and get to the post office, so we took care of that first thing. http://www.pressureprosystem.com/ Then we came back and settled in to get a little R&R so we would be ready for BOOT HILL tomorrow. The wind was blowing like crazy, so it was good to be off the road!

BOOTHILL is right downtown Dodge City and you can walk through the graveyard and read the headstones (made of wood) of all the BAD guys and other unfortunate ones that didn't survive the early day lawlessness and were gunned down back in the 1870s/1880s.

Back in my younger days, I hung out in lots of bars, but I always wanted to make this one!! THE FAMOUS LONGBRANCH SALOON!! The bartender even gave us a "shot" on the house!!!! NEAT !!

This is the rest of Front Street in Dodge City. You can browse through all the old stores and businesses that were reproduced to an exact duplicate of the originals.....FIREARM's are not allowed in this area, as per Wyatt Earp!!!! So we had to "check our guns".

For more pictures that I took of the area go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/wb4pdo/DodgeCityKSGunsmoke

For more info about the area go to:

http://www.skyways.org/orgs/fordco/dodgecity.html

We were crushed to find out that Matt Dillon was just a "fictional" TV character!!!! Wyatt Earp and "Bat" Masterson were the guys that organized a "Peace Commission" and introduced some Law and Order to the area. Very interesting stuff!!! I probably wouldn't have survived back in those days!!! I surely would have been SHOT or HANGED!!!! :-(

The following day we continued on and finished our trip in to Lincoln, NE where Son Scott and his wife Ann live. We were very anxious to see them....and we are now busy helping them catch up on some chores that needed to be done. As most of you know, Scott was diagnosed with Leukemia in Oct, 07. It has been an extremely hard winter for both of them. He is doing well, but MAN, I was surprised to see how much he has changed. He has lost over 60 lbs, all his hair and is very pale. He is coming along OK, but still has quite a ways to go and fights continuous ongoing problems daily! He is very weak and unsteady on his feet, has no appetite and is nauseous a lot of the time. We went with him Friday to the hospital where he received 2 units of blood, which took a total of 4 hours. This is normal stuff to him; he has been struggling with this for 7-1/2 months!!! It really has to be overwhelming and tiring for him. Ann had to leave her work and be at his side almost continually as they do not want him to be left alone at any time.

Their strong faith and dedication, along with everyone's support and prayers is what has kept them going......and continues to do so.....PLEASE KEEP IT UP!!!!!!! We thank you very much!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

We are glad to be here and hope we can help the kids a little.......

Just 2 weeks until the Pancake feed!!!!!! Please come!

Take care and travel safe...

Mike

On the ROAD again!!!!

We finally got everything put away and ready to head North for the summer. But first, one last ride in the desert with our GREAT friends and neighbors, Paul and Nancy Wilson. What a nice ride!! Paul and Nancy know the BLM desert surrounding North Ranch quite well. It's always such a treat to go with the "pro's". They have been around the ranch for around 10 + - years.


This is the "Fearsome Foursome". Taken just after we completed our last ride for the season. We are all a little dusty, thirsty and tired. We will sure miss these fine folks!!!

Yesterday morning we departed North Ranch at 8:30 am, headed North and East. Destination: Lincoln, Nebraska where Son Scott and daughter-in-law Ann live. It was a nice day and the wind wasn't blowing untill we hit Flagstaff. Surprisingly, it was blowing just the way we were going!!! That doesn't happen much. The BIG ole' Volvo just purred along. I set the cruise on 63 mph and it maintained that speed in easy fashion. Traffic was the usual Interstate BUSY, but it was moving nicely. About 8 hours and 400 miles later, we decided the Bar "S" RV park in Grants, NM would be our home for the night.


This is the office of Bar "S" RV Park. It's a nice, clean park and the young gentleman that greeted us was very friendly and my type of guy. The sights were large and the roads were wide. They advertise that they are "BIG RIG FRIENDLY" and they REALLY ARE!!! Many say "no RV is too big for us". Well, we always call them and warn them of our size. We find it better to warn them than to SURPRISE them!! However, it seems to be a challenge with these RV parks and they normally all say "sure we can handle you, come on in!!!! "

The sites are gravel and they are LONG!! We didn't even have to unhook the Honda. We just shut it off, plugged in the electric, put out 2 of the 3 slides and turned on the computers. Then we sat back and took care of business... Pat had received 2 orders for PressurePro systems as we drove down the road. She wrote them up and I prepared them for shipping. Plus, there was a bunch of email questions. First thing you know, it was 9 pm. I was BEAT!!!

Well, I did stick out a little further than the others,,,,,,,,,,,,maybe "quite" a little!!!! But there was plenty of road left for vehicles to pass.

I knew this place looked "familiar" as we pulled in. Finally, when we got settled in I remembered it. As soon as I heard the first TRAIN blow it's whistle,,,,,,,,,ah, yes, I remember this place!!! BOY, that train is close!! We stayed here 5-6 years ago. So if trains and whistles all night long bother you, this place is NOT where you want to stop. But we were quite tired and it didn't shake us at all!!! We would stop here again.... it's easy to get at and the price with our SKP (Escapee) discount was $14.08. Not bad!!!


We will be up and OUT of here tomorrow morning around 8am. We are 75 miles West of Albuquerque. We'll go through there about 9-10am, so it shouldn't be busy. We plan on going on East to Tucumcari. Thats about 300 miles; plus, we have to fuel up at the Flying J in Tucumcari. UGH,,,,,,don't enjoy that!!! It's well over $4.00 per gal,,,,and I need right at 150-160 gal.:-(

We should be in Lincoln by Wednesday or Thursday. I'll see you all again next week. Thanks for stopping by....

Its was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!!

Mike

If you care to follow our daily travels, along with a map of our trail, I put it on this web site:

Where we are.

North Ranch is EMPTY!!

I do believe we are about the only ones still here.


For you that have been here to North Ranch RV Park near Congress, AZ., you will recognize this campground. This is about as empty as I've ever seen it. Just a week or so ago, it was FULL to the brim.

Folks have sure begun to head for their Summer places. Some a little early maybe,,,,,,,like those in Rapid City, SD right now, where they got 12" + of SNOW last week end. From what I hear it was quite a blizzard! Blowing, blinding snow, I-90 was CLOSED. Big snow drifts all over the place.......... NO THANKS!!!! We have been enjoying 50-60 deg nights and 75-85 days. Now why would anyone want to leave that??? That's near perfect weather....

We will be here about another week. Lots to do before we leave. It's quite a job getting things all buttoned up before we can hit the road. More than you would think. For the first 5-6 years of our RV'ing, we could pick up and leave any place in a heart beat! But when you have a lot, with a storage shed, an extra refrigerator to clean out, things including an ATV to prepare for storage, it takes a while. Of course, we don't move as fast as we used to!!! Wonder why that is??

We're anxious to get to Scott and Ann's place in Lincoln, NE. It will be so GOOD to see them and help with some of the spring work they have. They have had a tough winter!!!! Scott's a real trooper or he wouldn't have made it. He is still having problems with the battle that Leukemia dealt him. But he keeps up the long, hard fight. It's been over 7 months now that his world was shattered. His life has been totally changed. It suddenly became a fight to survive. He took it on day by day and with his great companion and loving wife Ann, they have come a long, long way. I know it's been a long and tough battle. Not over yet, but I am real proud of the progress he has made.

Keep up with Scott's progress at this Caringbridge web site:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/smcfall

Help us keep cheering him on,,,leave him a note. Tell him I sent you!!! Did I mention I am VERY proud of him!!!! There will be a Pancake feed in his Honor in Lincoln on May 31st. I'll be there flippin' cakes!!! If you in the area, please come!!! (Unitarian Church)

Next week we may see you from out on the road,,,somewhere. Thanks for dropping by, stop back again!!!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

Mike


Friends and family of Scott and Ann invite you to a fundraiser......Saturday morning, May 31st from 7 am to 12 pm: Unitarian Church located at 6300 A Street, Lincoln. We will be hosting a pancake feed with a free will donation and silent auction to help Scott and Ann with expenses. Scott was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia on October 4th, 2007. He received a bone marrow [stem cell] transplant from his oldest brother in early February. The medical expenses continue to grow at a staggering rate.
We hope Scott will feel up to joining us to meet and greet. Any questions or if you would like to help, contact Jean [Scotts' mom] at phone 402-489-2553, cell 402-440-5048 or vjkrull@neb.rr.com http://donate2scott.pm-webworx.com/