Hello!! Here I am again. Yes, the journey continues. It’s been a long journey, hasn’t it, with several starts and stops and one very long hiatus! I’m sorry about that and I hope I haven’t lost you all by now. Here is my story….and I’m sticking to it, LOL!!

As requested by Dr. Cooper, I started an exercise program at home. Since I still worked, it was next to impossible to find an official pulmonary rehab that I could join without losing too much time from work. Most of them are in the mornings, the most important time for me at work. Therefore, the exercising at home…and it was really only the treadmill and a stationary bike. Not too impressive but I did work out 5 days a week..for a grand total of one hour a day. That certainly wasn’t going to get me anywhere, was it? Unfortunately, I eventually started slacking off the exercise (in February of ’07); we became very busy at work; I was trying to decide just what to do….so I did…NOTHING!

Fast forward to June or so…I started thinking about retirement. Had a lot of sick days coming so I could actually quit working almost 6 months before an “Official Retirement Date”. At the same time, I realized I could no longer take care of the farm the way it needed to be taken care of and the real estate market was softening at a rather alarming rate so I figured I would sell the house while the selling was still good, move into the RV, and hit the road...south....where it’s warmer.

Now I started researching in earnest new places to have the LVRS done (Baylor in Texas and Duke in NC) and finally settled on Duke Medical Center. NC seemed far enough south that the pipes in the RV wouldn’t freeze yet not really too far away from PA (I’m still a PA girl at heart!) I called Dr. Cooper and asked that my records be forwarded to the pulmonary section at Duke. Submitted my retirement letter to the township citing 12/28/07 as my Official Retirement Date in July. In August I received a letter from Duke advising me of the dates and time to report for (1) pulmonary rehabilitation evaluation and (2) pulmonary function evaluation…. January 9th and 10th of 2008. I told about 3 people that the house was for sale…and it sold in 4 days! Good deal. Even better deal was that we could live in it until December 28th (Retirement Date) if we needed to and the new owners would keep the horse, the cats and the pet turkey!! What a relief that was! It took awhile for the township to find a replacement so I didn’t get to actually leave work until the day before Thanksgiving which didn’t leave a lot of time to sort, store, toss, give away, and pack 23 years of living in a 3 bedroom home and barn! Yes, leaving work was hard. I cried.


Let me tell you….when you’re deciding what to take with you in an RV, you always pack too much and don’t put enough in storage. Why I brought all my “office” stuff (I did computer work for several companies) is beyond me. Why I brought 6 heavy sweaters when we plan to stay in semi-warm climes is beyond me. Why I packed “office” clothes since RV’ing is a very informal way of life is beyond me. Why I packed a kitchen full of pots and pans, silverware and glasses when we already had a complete set of everything in the RV is beyond me. Let me tell you, we left quite a lot of stuff at the various campgrounds we stopped at on the way down and we’re still giving stuff away!

But now we’re here in a really nice park (Spring Hill Park) in North Carolina...about 20 minutes from Duke…very quiet, woodsy, etc. Perfect place for us! Found the nearest Walmart, Lowe’s, grocery store, and drug store so we’re set for the duration, LOL.