It’s September Already!

We said goodbye to Drue September 4th after Perry had his neck and lung CT scans. She never got to see Husky but he showed up the 5th when Perry got the call from one of our doctors with the scan results. The neck looked good but the sarcoma had metastasized to his lungs. 

We went back to a couple of vineyards after that and found another new one.

Rag Apple Lassie Cafe

Rag Apple Lassie Tasting Room

Rag Apple Lassie is named after a boy’s pet calf. The tasting room was in a metal barn and the wines were quite good.


We met with Dr. Savage on the 10th and he said he would work with any doctor in Florida who would be willing to do chemo his way. To stay in NC and have it done would have required a week stay in the hospital. Medicare would pay for that, using the same pump/port and drug 24/7. They wouldn’t pay for it to be done on an outpatient basis…go figure! Through our friend, Patti, we learned NYS Health Insurance has a Cancer Resource Center which works with Cancer Centers of Excellence. I had been in contact with a chemo doctor from Moffitt asking if he would follow Dr. Savage’s protocol and he said another doctor in the practice would! Our wonderful Dr. Panea orchestrated Moffitt and Wake Forest’s faxing 180 pages of records and disks of CT scans. 

Before we left, our friends Don and Georgia (former boss and wife) came to visit on the 11th. They took us to Sweet Pea’s in Lexington for dinner and then came back to the coach for a glass of wine. It was an enjoyable evening, but way too short!

So, on September 14th we had our final fling for this year at Childress. Husky also made a visit!

View from D33

Our Site for Almost 4 Months!

The morning we left, Husky came for his food and then went off chasing squirrels. He would have been very unhappy traveling in an RV and being confined inside. Hopefully he will be there when we return in May 2014.

We stayed one night at the Thousand Trails campground in Yemassee, SC and two nights at the Stephen Foster Cultural Center State Park, White Springs, FL.  http://www.floridastateparks.org/stephenfoster/ That is one park we WILL be visiting again. We had a beautiful site and the museum was wonderfully done. The dioramas depicting scenes of his songs were awesome!

Stephen Foster Museum

Paul Von Janko' Keyboard

Stephen Foster Has Not Been Forgotten!

Desk where Way Down Upon the Swanee Ribber was Written

Diorama Depicting Swanee River

Other Half of Diorama

The carillon tower was also a museum. It just amazes us that people can create such spectacular mechanisms. We thoroughly enjoyed the music throughout the day in the campground.

Mini Replica of the Tower

The Gears that Play the Bells

The Carillon Tower

We left there and arrived at Lazydays the 18th for warranty repairs on the RV. While we were here, it rained a few days outside and inside! Water loves to find paths to travel. It was coming in through the top of the passenger window frame. Hopefully that is fixed...we'll find out the next time it rains! Tomorrow Perry meets with the chemo doctor for a consultation and then we will leave for our favorite place in all the world…Ft. Wilderness Campground at Disney. It’s the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot and our 44th anniversary. Do you think I’ll blog about that? Stay tuned….

It Was a Wild and Crazy Adventure

Where did I leave off? Ah, yes…May 31 at Childress and nothing since. There’s a reason. Our planned trip to New York State, Massachusetts and Maine came to a screeching halt. No, nothing wrong with our new RV…well actually there was one serious problem with it but more about that later.

My husband, Perry, discovered a small lump on his neck May 23 while we were in SC. We iced it for a couple of days but the swelling only increased. May 27 he went to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital Urgent Care in Mocksville, NC. Little did we know where our adventure would head from there! We met a wonderful woman, Dr. Oana Panea, who has since become our friend and medical advocate. She is truly a servant as Jesus calls His followers to be.

At that time, she said there was nothing she could do for us. Her “nothing” was setting up a CT scan for May 29 and getting the results the next day! Not only that, she had scheduled an appointment with the head doctor at WFBH Otolaryngology Department in Winston-Salem for June 1. Dr. Browne was another wonderful doctor who did an aspiration and the pathology report results on June 6 showed suspicious cells. Dr. Browne was going on a mission trip for three weeks and didn’t want Perry to wait that long. Dr. Sullivan, his colleague, performed the excision June 13 and the diagnosis was an aggressive malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor. It was on a major blood vessel and because of that, he could not get it all. Thus, 33 radiation treatments for a total of 6600 rads were scheduled.

Staff members at WFBH were all wonderful. When a patient is done, they are given a certificate and have a bell ringing "ceremony".  We miss Erin and Steve but not the radiation! Our RV trip turned into a daily 50 mile car trip which was equivalent to the number of miles to Maine! 

Prior to radiation, we had to move to a shady site at the campground and when we went to put the slides in, the passenger front slide would not budge…the motor just turned and turned. Fortunately, there was an RV repair shop 10 miles away and they came to our aid. They had it fixed within 1/2 hour, helped us move, got the coach level and made sure the slide went in and out before they left. If you are ever in the Mocksville/Advance area and need service, call Trent at Camperz RV.

We didn’t let this hiccup stop us from enjoying family who visited. Our daughter and friend drove down from upstate NY for a weekend in August. They fell in love with Childress Vineyard.

They treated us to dinner at LaCava Restaurant in Salisbury, NC. That was quite the experience! The food was delicious but we would not go back again.

Mr. Red Neck!

Girlie's Gene!

Our Girlie!

We also had a guardian angel cat who came to visit on days when we got bad news. He was a lap cat and we are hoping his owners returned to the campground to reclaim his love. We named him Husky because he  reminded us of one!

At the end of August, Perry’s sister, Drue, came for a visit. We had fun introducing her to Childress as well as other wonderful NC vineyards.

The views were spectacular at Raffaldini!

Below is Laurel Grey where they had the most interesting bottled sauces. This was our fave!

We stopped at Dobbins Creek but the sky was not clear so the mountain range did not show up too well with the iPhone camera, but still it was breath taking. 

Their wines were excellent! The tasting room was beautifully done.

Drue, Perry and Karen

Loved the stone and pine at Dobbins Creek!

Drue and Perry at Windsor Run Tasting Room

At Windsor Run we had the most delicious apple wine which we bought and paired with Ina Garten’s marinated pork tenderloin. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/herb-marinated-pork-tenderloins-recipe/index.html We followed the marinade recipe (marinated 24 hours) but double wrapped it in foil and grilled it for 12-15 minutes at 400 degrees and let it rest for 10 minutes. The pork was done to perfection!


Shadow Springs Vineyard had a great chocolate wine named Dark Shadow (think chocolate covered cherry!) and gorgeous property.

We had a great morning and afternoon and below is the fruit of our labor!

That's all for now folks...tune in tomorrow!

Everything Childress...and then some!

Today was such an enjoyable day. We started out on back roads and passed by a winery. I know it’s hard to believe, but we were on a mission and it WAS ONLY 11 A.M. We were headed to a store which specializes in hummingbirds in his paintings and art work. It’s called Dempsey’s Place, located in Welcome, NC. I’ll tell you, the people who live in NC do make you feel welcome.

From there we went to RCR Racing Museum. Richard Childress spared no expense to make this an interesting museum. I may have to switch my allegiance from Jimmy Johnson to anyone from Childress racing. Perry has no favorite, he just enjoys a good race. I refuse to give up my Rusty Wallace shirt and memorabilia though. We were the only ones in the place so I got to take lots of shots and we could take our time to read the plaques.

We have friends who are Peter Max collectors and I’m sure Ken would love to have this in his garage!

The gas can was hard to lift and it had no gas in it. I don’t know how they can lift this and fill the car so fast.

We followed a transporter home one time from a Loudon race but seeing one in an enclosed building astounded us. It looked HUGE and it has to be to carry two cars, parts, etc.

I knew Richard was a hunter and fisherman but I didn’t realize how much so. The museum housed a number of taxidermists’ dreams.

He also had a small section of signed guitars…one was signed by the Eagles and another by Neil Diamond. We are fans of both. Brooks & Dunn aren’t bad either!

The NRA display was a great one. PETA people would not be happy with the movie that plays though!

The General Mills car had a timeline of interesting facts from the company’s inception in 1928 thru 2008.

This piggy is for Gerri who likes pigs as much as we do!

Richard’s trophy room was awesome. He had a special section dedicated to Neil Bonnet. Some trophies were almost as tall as me!

We then went to the Childress Sprint car shop and got to see Kevin Harvick’s 29 car that will be going to Pocono in a couple of weeks.

Funny thing on the way home, we HAD to go by Childress Vineyard. We had been there for lunch on Monday, a wine tour on Tuesday but we were having withdrawal symptoms so we stopped for linner or would it be dunch? No matter what you call it, call it delicious!

Scallops Putanessca minus the olives!

Crab Fettucine with Artichoke Hearts, Shaved Aparagus and Lemon Butter Breadcrumbs

We were able to sit out in the gazebo and finish off our bottle of Sangiovese.

We didn’ t see any robins at the Childress Vineyard, but in the gazebo we had this little friend visit us.

Yesterday morning Perry photographed this sight outside our window.

Because the awning will close automatically, Perry went out and removed the nest. It’s amazing how quickly they built it and even used a plastic straw cover.

This morning, they were at it again and I captured this picture. Mama had cozied herself in but flew out when she saw my reflection. We knew it had to be removed quickly. We now have closed the awning so they can’t start again tomorrow morning.

Birds of a feather flock together, so it is imperative that we return to Childress Vineyard tomorrow for a jazz fest, wine and food, hoping to meet new friends. If you want to see all our pics, travel here...https://picasaweb.google.com/118013797467047077954/ChildressBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOynbSX6oz-ZA Hopefully that works. Ciao!