Fort Worth - Not The Luckiest Place For Me

 Dusty of Dusty's Diesels thinks I can make it to my next stop without any severe engine trouble so I continue on to Fort Worth, Texas. Originally I wasn't planning on going this far south, but cold weather drove me south. Looking into Fort Worth, I was surprised at how much there was to do here.

First up though, I had to get my truck fixed. Again, I called a Chevy dealer, and they were able to get me into the shop in a reasonable amount of time. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when I heard that my DEF heater issue would be covered under warranty thereby avoiding a $1000 bill. I was not too pleased to hear that my coolant fan problem was going to cost me that same $1000. Oh well, it could have been worse. The dealer also did a multipoint inspection where they discovered I had a leaky rear hub seal. I decided to take it to a regular mechanic to get it fixed hoping to save some bucks.

Since I had gone to the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum up in Oklahoma City, how could I not go to the National Cowgirl Museum? It was sort of fun to see that all the statues of horses and dogs were all female. They made a point of it.

Fancy building

A cowgirl ain't nothing without their hat

Or their saddle

Downtown Fort Worth has dug a huge hole in the ground and created the Water Gardens. It would be a lovely place to lunch if you worked downtown.

I was staying at a Corp of Engineers park. I like them, the sites are usually pretty well spaced out and they always have a reservoir of some sort. Since I didn't know how long it was going to take to get my truck fixed, I thought I had better extend my reservation until the end of the year. This meant that I had to change sites. A fellow camper is helping me back into a new spot telling me “left”, “right”. We got so involved with the left and right of it all that we forget about the “UP”. Yup, a tree got me. What is sort of appropriate is that there are signs all over the campground saying 'watch out for the trees'. I scrapped the molding along the edge of my camper all the way down to the wood. Luckily I had some Eternabond that I was able to put up there to stop any water leaks. I made the fellow camper crawl up on my roof because I am not all that comfortable with my feet off the ground. I guess I will have to make another appointment with the manufacturer in Indiana.

Thank goodness for Eternabond

Later that evening, all of a sudden, I had these sharp shooting pains running all across my upper back. It was excruciating. I decided that I had better get to a hospital, maybe I was having a heart attack or something. Heart attacks in women present a lot different than heart attacks in men. When I got to the hospital, the pain had spread to my chest so I was able to say at intake, yes, I have chest pains. I got to avoid the lines for sure. Turns out that I wasn't having a heart attack, I needed to have my gall bladder removed. I don't remember the surgery or anything about it. I know they sent me home the next day. I'm home for a day and I'm having a lot of trouble breathing. Into the ambulance, back to the hospital. They ran every single test that they could think of, so I basically had a major physical. They couldn't find anything wrong, up-down-backwards-forward, the best that they could come up with was a reaction to the anesthesia or perhaps a panic attack. Panic attacks don't usually last for several days and besides that, I'm pretty chill so I'm discounting that. They kept me in the hospital for a couple of days.

My son, Aaron, coordinated everything from Minnesota. He found somebody at the park who was able to come to my camper and feed the animals and take Miko for a walk. Sherry was a lifesaver. My son, Nate, flew down from Colorado to help me out. The decision was made to bring the camper part way up north and store it for a month while I figure things out. Nate drove me back to Minnesota and I was able to spend Christmas Eve with my family, which was lovely. I am so grateful to everybody who helped me out. Getting sick on the road is one of everybody's worse nightmares. The camper is waiting for me in Joplin, MO. I've been home a week now and I'm really missing my home on wheels.  

The Reservoir

Miko

JoggerCat

Last three photos courtesy of Nate