The Latest News About Mary…

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

Sadly Mary is struggling with health issues. To see the latest about her situation, click here

To view past blogs, scroll to the bottom of this page and use the menu.

I’m currently in my 24th year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Thousand Trails RV Resort in Palm Desert, California. I’ll depart here later this morning.

 

 

If you are a regular follower of this blog, you know that my ex-travel partner/companion has not traveled with me since September 2014 and that we remain good friends.

 

You will also know she is dealing with colon cancer issues.

 

Prior to today, this had been her last communique dated March 14th…

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2019/03/14/one-year-ago-today-4/

 

 

Yesterday I received another email which follows below. In a phone conversation yesterday she told me that after her first round of chemo, one tumor had shrunk 53% and the second 70%. Certainly good news!

 

Here’s yesterday’s email sent to family and friends…

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

I’ve signed on with Dr. Cho at the Cal. St. University of Davis, Cancer Center in Sacramento.
I’ve had two appointments with Dr. Cho and she uses a drug called Keytruda, which is, like chemo, not a sure cure, but with continuous treatments over a period of years, it can extend your life, maybe enough to get to a place where immunotherapy using DNA modification is actually available to the general public. IF the Keytruda works? It works for 40 % of people who try it. One infusion every three weeks and no more chemo-which is very hard on older people-Dr. Cho informed me.
Keytruda has many side effects, some are really horrible, but for others they are mild. Or, maybe it just isn’t working for me. I won’t know until my sixth session on Keytruda. It doesn’t kill healthy cells, a great plus. So, after one infusion, I have a bit of nausea and my food doesn’t taste like it is supposed to. It is so little for such a chance to gain so much.
In the meantime, I’ve decided to hire a woman to help me with my genealogy, so it will actually get finished in a timely manner. I’m doing, the Dionnes, the Moores and the Matzeks. All three. And, I enjoy the doing.

So, there you have what I consider good news. Hope is always good news. I’m sure I’m benefiting from all of your prayers.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the message.

Forecast for today is sunny and 86 degrees. Too danged hot for me…time to move on!

New destination forecast is sunny and 64 degrees.

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison

 

 

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” —Mark Twain

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2019

GOING THE DISTANCE.

Yesterday, my daughter and I picked up my sister and took her out to lunch. She is showing pink spots on her scalp where her hair is falling out. She is feeling some loss of energy and tires more easily.  She is in her third week of radiation. Four more days to go.

She nor I are very practiced at chopsticks, so I told her this was a test. She’d better be able to pick up the ginger or we wouldn’t let her eat the rest of her meal. She passed the test.

It was a beautiful day, and she managed to walk quite a bit around the mall. I was impressed and pleased. She has been through a lot and has a walker, but she strives not to use it. I told her I won’t hold your arm and treat you like an old lady. She said, “But, I am an old lady.”  I told her I’d walk close enough so that she could grab me if she felt unsteady.

We went for gellato after our Japanese lunch, and got into story telling on our parents who aren’t here to defend themselves. “Remember at Uncle George’s wedding, when dad got soused and blitz danced everyone around the house?” I brought her a manuscript I had typed up after my visit to the Upper Peninsula and collaborated with Dawn and my oldest brother about the many places we had lived. Too many. Dawn attended 13 different schools while growing up.

When we returned to my daughter’s house, Theo was arranging his food bank stuff. The boys are doing a community service project which is required of them for their upcoming test to reach Black Belt in Karate. Theo prepared a brochure, and canvassed one section of his street for donations. He practiced his spiel on his mom who would come to the door like an angry witch or a grumpy old man, until they giggled too much to continue. Now when he asks for a donation he has to concentrate on being serious. I guess it worked. He still has more territory to cover.

Owen chose to pick up garbage along a section of creek where the city hosts a day camp. His first sweep netted two full garbage bags of junk. He has the opposite bank to clean before he is done with his project.

The spirit of volunteering,  community service and physical fitness is an important thing to teach children, my oldest daughter believes. She and Austin volunteered at the Iron World Championships in Las Vegas. He worked the bike booth and handed out water, Gatorade, gelatin cups, and so on. The Triathlon is a swimming event, a run and a bicycle ride.

Then Austin participated in the IronKids event, which is a 4K run. Pretty nifty.

BAD NEWS RUNS IN THREES.

I popped the tire, had it fixed and my mechanic informed me another tire has a split in it. He wrote on my service tag, do not drive over 50 mph, nor farther than 200 miles.

My brother came to stay for a week and revealed to us that he has cancer.

And, I had a fire from dumping ashes in my compost bin that nearly took out my greenhouse.

When I tried to move pictures from my camera to a file, even though I highlighted all of the pictures, only one picture moved. I erased the rest from the camera and it is still to dark to take new ones. The year 2012 is off to a troublesome start.

Bad news  is said to run in threes. I’ve had my three. Tomorrow will be a better day.

I know it because I’ve had much more good luck in my life than bad luck.

Some Thoughts On Life Expectancy…

I’m not sure how I got to thinking about this topic a couple of days ago…perhaps it had something to do with my, then upcoming, annual physical examination at Seattle’s VA Hospital which happened two-day ago. Thankfully…no problems.

I think it was also because when you reach my current age (70), you become aware that friends, and friends of other friends your age, are dropping like flies and in the natural progression of things…as far as my family is concerned…I’m next in line.

It got me to thinking, I wonder what the current life expectancy is in the United States…so, I posed the question to my Internet search box and came up with this Wikipedia informational link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

I’m not sure what I expected to find…but I found out the average life expectancy in the United States for males is 75.6 and for females is 80.8. Some how I thought it was longer than that. I was particularly surprised that the United States ranked 36th in the world…once again I thought it would be higher that. What country is number one????…you’ve got to click the link to find out. I never would have guessed it.

I realize these number are averages…and that there are lots of factors involved. In my family, my father died at the age of 65…but he was a welder (inhaling all those welding fumes and asbestos in the shipyards) and a smoker as well. My mother died of cancer (the only cancer victim in our family that I’m aware of) at the age of 84.  A couple of my grandmothers lived until well into their 90’s.

I am very fortunate to have inherited my mother’s good health…for I have never suffered a major illness or broken a bone in my body in my entire life. Every day I wake I am thankful for my good health.

Another thing I really like about myself is that money has never been that important to me. I’m not wealthy…but I’ve enough to live my life the way it makes me happy.

No matter how wealthy a person is, no amount of money can buy you more than your allotted time. I remember many years ago watching the life story of Sam Walton (a man who worked all of his life and seldom took a vacation) die a shriveled-up old man at the age of 74. All of his money couldn’t buy him an extra day.

It’s a well stated fact…stress kills. When I retired at the age of 55 in 1995…my goal was to de-stress my life as much as possible. I have a long-time close friend who has told me…”I’m so envious of you…you have managed to so simplify your life!”

Another way that I have been very lucky is…way back in 1968…in my Dale Carnegie class…they taught me how to live my life one day at a time. In other words…you cannot change your yesterdays and tomorrow will take care of themselves. For 25+years this license plate, which currently is bolted to my Ford Bronco II, has been there to remind me to do just that. In the last 40+ years…I’VE WORRIED ABOUT NOTHING! I truly have peace-of-mind.

So, I guess what I am saying is, that I (barring an unfortunate accident) expect to beat the averages and be around for a long time to come. Another factor is…suppossedly…only the good die young…so that’s also working in my favor! 🙂

So the moral of this story is…

If you find yourself struggling with life…my recommendations are…

1) Buy the Dale Carnegie book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” and use the appropriate principles that apply to your life.

2) Try to eat healthier.

3) Get moderate exercise.

4) Quit smoking if you do.

5) Use alcohol moderately.

I’ve been a full-time RVer and on perpetual vacation for the last 16 years. In my travels, I’ve met many people who have said to me…”God, I envy the way you live!”

I reply…”You can do it too…there are only three easy steps”…

1) Retire as early as you can.

2) Sell everything you own.

3) Bay an RV and hit the road. (Disconnect your TV and bring lots of books along.) And immediately they start to stutter…”Ah, but in my case…dah, dah, dah, etc…

If you really want something bad enough in your life…it can usually be attained…if you are willing to give what it takes. Most folks are not willing to do so. For instance…I wish I could play a guitar like Willie Nelson. Am I willing to practice five hours a day…every day of my life… like he does???? Nope…so needless to say…I do not play a guitar like Willie Nelson.

RVing is essentially a stress-free life. All one needs to be concerned with is obeying basic vehicle laws…other than that… you have little interface with all the rules, regulations and taxes of the world.

Life is very short…each and every day we are given is priceless.

Go Rving! Try it…you’ll like it!

Oh, I forgot to tell you the one goal I have left in my life is…I hope to be the world’s first 100-year-old active RVer!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust

More Photos From The Preserve…

In recent days I’ve shown you a lot of photos from specific areas of my current camping spot at Thousand Trails RV Resort in La Connor, Washington. There are 81 parks in the system which they call preserves because they are working to preserve nature.

Here are some more general views of this beautiful park…

Finally, a memorial to my friend Glenn Burzenski…the manager of this park from August 1978 to June 2004. He passed away at the age of 57 from liver and kidney cancer. He was a real likeable guy.

The last year (2002) that I worked at this park in membership sales, Glenn was threatening to retire. He and I actually went out looking at RV’s for him to consider purchasing. He kept on saying….”I need to save just a little bit more money, maybe in another year.” When I visited in 2003 as a member…same story. When I returned in 2005, I found that he had passed away.

As I travel, I tell anyone who will listen…”Retire as early as you can…A bad day of RVing beats a good day of work!”

Tomorrow…The Big Picture…

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust