KAELA OUR LOVABLE POOCH

Kaela, our wonderful dog, passed away last Saturday night. She passed away at 17 years old, in her sleep, after having a stroke. She died at home with Brian and I hugging her. She never seemed in pain or scared, she seemed ready and peaceful.
We love you baby girl.

Link to a little vid I made to remember her by

Woop Woop has a little sister :-)

Brian and I bought back our beloved Buttercup, a Casita 17 Spirit Delux. Though we love big Woop Woop, Buttercup will allow us to explore the nooks and crannies. This summer we are taking her ( buttercup) up into the Wind River Mountains in Wyoming. We will still have Woop Woop, she will serve as a home while we replenish our cruising/roaming fund.

Below, Buttercup, back in the Family :-)

I Fell Down The Rabbit Hole

I fell down the rabbit hole :-)
Well, can't believe how long it's been and how much has happened since our last post. I'll try to catch you up without boring you to death :-).Summer 2012 Brian and I went land roaming. My doctors said I needed time to "heal" ( I had brain surgery for those just tuning in :-)). So we headed north, camped in the great Wind River mountains of Wyoming, explored the miles and miles of deserted beaches of Lake Superior. We then headed towards the east coast to John Hopkins Hospital for some more medical tests. My health was not improving, in fact, I was deteriorating. John Hopkins was able to DX a CSF leak. Cerebral Spinal leaks will cause all sorts off issues. This leak was caused or occurred because of the brain surgery. There are few specialists who have success finding and repairing leaks of this nature. Cedar Sanai in Los Angeles, California specializes in CSF leaks. So off to LA we went. Thankfully, we have a friend who lives 9 miles from Cedars :-). Thanks Chris!! Plus my mom flew out to help Brian while I was in the hospital. At no point was I alone, mom or Brian was always with me.
The surgery was major, but it has completely cured me. No more light sensitivity, no more sound sensitivity, and no more head Pain! Wahoo!
On the flip side. My poor brain and body have been through the ringer, so lots of Physical therapy to get my strength back. Through out all this crazy ride, my hubby Brian has been wonderful. Our families unbelievably supportive. It funny how many great times we have had while battling my health issues.

We are selling our sailboat Rain Dog to do some land exploring and charter a catamaran in the Caribbean :-). We think a cat or tri will be our next boat if we cruise the shallow waters of the Caribbean. We also might have the opportunity to take care of an island off the tip of South America :-) We are very much nomads, so who knows what we will be doing! I do know we will be having fun and deliriously happy because we are together.

Below: Brian and I before my last surgery, which cured me :-). I start aquatic therapy Monday :-)
the next picture is of Brian and Chris, our friend in LA. The christmas tree was a gift from Chris ( instead of flowers, pretty cool) we had fun decorating it with pictures of family and friends. The last photo is a pic of my mom with one of my amazing Nurses, my poor mom has had no sleep.

Copper Harbor, Michigan

We are at Copper Harbor, Michigan. Weather is great, breezy, cool and not too buggy :-).

We a staying at Fort Wilkins State Park sandwiched between Lake Fanny Hooe and Lake Superior.



Lake Fanny Hooe is warm and beautiful! Lots of good rock hunting and about fifty feet from our campsite.



Lake superior is about 100 yards from our site. Brian and I took a drive to the very tip of the peninsula to a cove called Agate Beach :-). The drive was hard back road driving and quite an adventure.

Below, a fallen tree across the road.


Below, beautiful flora





The beach was very remote and we only saw four or five cars the entire day, three of which were work trucks. The area is known for black bears so we brought our bear spray.




The water is much colder than Lake Fanny Hooe but still nice.



Ahhh, Agate Beach, we are sure to find some cool rocks here!




And the cool rocks below...





Below, the grey stone is called a pudding stone, the first rock I found on the beach :-)





We will hit the local rock shop to get more books for identifying these rocks and minerals. I think I have at least one Agate and two or three agate chips...proper photos will follow as soon as I confirm my agate is what my keen rock hunting instincts tells me and not just a hunk of limestone( I'm good at finding limestone)

Below, my rock hunting spot on Lake Fanny Hooe. Quiet, secluded, felt like the end of the earth...sweet :-)


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Minnesota

Minnesota was a blast. Mom and dad are staying at uncle Lenard's and Aunt Jan's, and were kind enough to make room for us too. We could only stay a 8 days, but hopefully next time we will get stay longer.

Below, telling tall tales around the supper table. :-)



Wish we could of stayed longer! Miss my momma already!





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Bones, Bones, or just old Rocks

No Internet, or at least not enough to blog with until now :-). Will try to catch up.
back in.....awe heck, I have trouble with time, let's just say a few weeks ago ( what month is it anyways?).




Was at the Buffalo Gap National Grassland South Dakota and came across some really cool stuff. As an OR nurse I've handle a lot of raw bone and well these rocks looked just like bone to me!
I took a piece(s) back to the RV before I realized that 1.) they were possibly fossils 2.) it was illegal to take fossils from a National Grassland. Drats! did I want to keep this beautiful fossil. It looked just like a bone but was a rock! It sounds so simple, but I'd never handled anything like it....fascinating




So the next day we trekked back to the site and put it back. That is when I realized that when I originally picked up that one weathered bone the day before ( the one you see in the photo below), there was another sitting right next to it that I never even noticed! Boy, my powers of observation were so focused on that one bone. I had never expected to see anything so fascinating, let alone another sitting pretty right next to it. Frankly, I thought I was being punked by the locals, it was just too perfect.
Below: putting back the bone. The ground still had a perfect indentation so I knew just where to put it :-). Of course, that's when I noticed the other bone




Anyways, we put everything we thought was bone back. I emailed the Forestry Department with pictures of what we saw with latitude and longitude.








Below: Lousy picture, but interesting jumble of stuff.




Below, some of the bone with petrified wood and some cool rocks. Again, the bone went back to it's home!




Below, our second trip to the "bone" site. Felt kinda weird just putting all that cool stuff back on the ground, but that is what the forestry says to do and I didn't want to start my first foray into amateur paleontology as a poacher( is that what you call em?). Hopefully they get to it before the next rain washes it away.




I know there was much more to be discovered, but I can only hunt for about an hour then it's time for a/c and rest. I can't wait to be fully recovered from my "ordeal" so much fun to be had, I could of stayed out there all day! Brian was happy as a clam, but kaela, our 16 1/2 year old dog just wanted to hang in the truck.




So this is what I had left, lots of petrified wood, cool rocks, some I think might be agates.




RV site near the Grasslands. Next we head for Minnesota to visit mom and dad, then on to Copper Harbor for some real rock hunting fun :-) and some one on one with the great Lake Superior.




Below, neat-o picture. Guess what it is?




Grains of sand... now those are cool little rocks :-)
Cheers,
Erika and Brian
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Quick shout out to Rodney

It's been one Year since my Brain surgery where they removed "Rodney the stowaway" and friends.
Hey Rodney, kiss my grits :-).





Erika


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