A Big Change of Plans

Some changes were mentioned in our last post, well, here are the changes we spoke of. We still had four more days at Beavertail Hill State Park but need to go somewhere to refill our fresh water tank and our propane tank and empty our others, so, we were on our way to Bretz RV in Missoula to dump and fill the appropriate tanks when Keith got a call from his step-mother, Janet, saying that his dad had fainted several times and was in the hospital with some heart issues. Well, a large part of our reasoning for going mobile in the first place was to be able to be where we needed to be in case of family emergencies etc.

So, we decided that the thing to do was to have Keith head to Tulsa to be there for his dad and step-mother, and have Joanette stay in Montana to meet the commitments that we had there. We had agreed to be at Jaime’s to “babysit” Tyler, James, Roscoe and Juniper. (Roscoe and Juniper are their dogs). Our dog, Goober, had an appointment for a thorough teeth cleaning, which we had to cancel as Goober was going to go with Keith, and “Toad” had an appointment at the Honda service department for some brake issues.

After the dumping and filling evolution, we got back to Beavertail so Joanette could pack her things for a couple of weeks away from “Coach”, while Keith broke camp there to head for Tulsa. We were all set to go our separate ways by about 3:30 pm. We drove along I-90 until Joanette headed South towards Georgetown Lake to Jaime’s and Keith continued on I-90 trying to make it to Billings for the night.

(At this point, since I (Keith) have the laptop I am going to switch to writing in the first person.)

Joanette and Kona made it safely to Jaime’s and Goober and I made it to Billings by about 9:00 pm. I had been to Billings several times as a bus driver for Hot Springs Schools and had always parked in the large parking lot of the Billings Hotel and Convention Center, so he decided to try that again. When I got there the lot was pretty much deserted so he said “what the heck”!

I got up early Tuesday morning, had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and was on the road by 7:00 headed for Ogallala, Nebraska where I found a welcoming Walmart parking lot to stay in. I think it was around 7:00 pm when I got there and found a sign directing Semis and RVs to an unpaved area off of the parking lot, with only one spot left. I parked there and went inside to do a little shopping and on my way out I asked one of the employees if I could move to the corner of the paved parking lot. He told me that I could but just to make sure that if I put out any slides, that they weren’t in the way of anything. Well, I put out the bedroom slides and Goober and I settled in for the evening, early to bed for an early start Wednesday for the long haul to Tulsa.

Well, I drove a little over 10 hours and got to Dad’s about 7:00 pm, just as Janet was getting home from visiting Dad at the hospital. She had spent the day with Dad after he had a pacemaker installed in his chest and was resting comfortably. My stepsister, Robyn and here son Aidan had brought her home and were still there. I hadn’t seen them in several years so it was good to see them.

I went to the hospital around 9:00 am Thursday morning and found Dad in good spirits but anxious to go home. He thought that he would have to spend another night in the hospital, but got his “parole” around 5:00 pm yesterday afternoon. Since Janet doesn’t drive a lot, I get to be the chauffeur! On the way home from the hospital we stopped at Bill and Ruth’s for some takeout, came home and had a leisurely meal and evening at home. Dad sure was glad to be there, and Goober was really glad to have his Granddad home!