03-01-2019 Changing it up a bit in Jacksonville

Current Location:  Pelican Roost RV Park, Mayport Naval Station, Jacksonville, Florida

Cloudy and 63 Degrees F at 11PM, and no, I can’t sleep

Today was Mo’s birthday, and we celebrated it quietly with early cards and messages, then a morning at the NEX salon for a pedicure, an afternoon walk on the beach, some homemade enchiladas, and an evening movie in the DVD player. We have been here at Mayport Naval Station for a few days now, and it is low-key enough that the days are beginning to run together in my memory.  But getting here was a different story.  Since I don’t have a lot of photos of that crazy day, I’ll slip in a few images of some of what we have enjoyed in the last few days here in Mayport as I write about last Sunday.

Great view from our site at Pelican Roost Mayport Naval Station

After our gorgeous day kayaking the Ichetucknee River, we were completely happy with our week at Oleno State Park.  We woke up Sunday to a somewhat dreary day, but quite warm and humid.  Mo’s knee wasn’t any worse that morning, but her calf muscle had been  giving her trouble all night long with a deep pain that was worrisome to both of us.  With a full week since her injury, it was hard to pinpoint the problem.  Concerned bloggers mentioned a few options, but when Janna (a nurse for many years) brought up the possibility of a blood clot in her leg, we got worried.

Sunrise through the morning fog and the laundry room at Mayport right behind our site

Oleno State Park is a long way from anything of consequence, with the little town of High Springs a few miles south, but Gainesville or Ocala are both more than 50 miles distant.  We didn’t want to waste another day dealing with trying to get into another emergency room by going backwards.  We had one more night at Oleno, and the next day were scheduled to travel the 95 miles or so north and east to Jacksonville.  After a few more comments from friends and bloggers, including some nice mentions of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, we called the hospital to discuss it a bit.  The nurse at the emergency room was emphatic.  Don’t wait until tomorrow, come now.  Well then.  Knowing our night parking might be a problem, we hoped there would be some kind of free parking available at either a Walmart or a Cracker Barrel somewhere in the vicinity of where we had to go.

Lots of activity here in the channel of the St John River

We packed up the MoHo in fairly record time and hit the road, heading through the quietly beautiful countryside of northern Florida back roads toward the big city of Jacksonville.  Mo’s leg made it hard for her to sit, and as we approached the city, she had to stand as I navigated the somewhat crazy freeways through downtown Jacksonville toward the eastern side of the city where the clinic was located.  It was a spooky drive, with google telling me what lane to be in and Mo asking from the back if everything was Ok as I switched lanes and dealt with the traffic.  Thank goodness it was a Sunday afternoon!  It was bad enough as it was.

As always, Mattie loves a sandy beach

We arrived at the clinic before noon, and were greeted warmly and within a reasonable time were taken to a receiving room where a charming nurse regaled us with stories of his desire to move to Oregon.  He hung around for half an hour or so, assuring us that someone would come to check on Mo shortly.  Shortly turned out to be about a total of 4 hours before we finally gave up and left the hospital.  The doctor who saw Mo about 2 hours after we arrived, said she didn’t think it was a clot but she wanted to order an ultrasound anyway to be sure to rule out the possibility.  After another two hours, there were many apologies about the delay, but for this reason or that reason there wasn’t an ultrasound machine or an ultrasound tech available. 

It was getting late, and the skies were darkening.  We had nowhere to go for the night, and the Mayport office was closed so we couldn’t reach anyone to see if there was a place for us to be on that Sunday night.  The AllStays app assured us that there were several Walmart’s in the vicinity that were “ask to park” stores, but when I called and asked, I was told the laws had changed and that was no longer true.  The security officer at the Mayo Clinic was adamant as well that we would not be allowed to remain in the RV parking area of the hospital overnight.  He offered us several campground options, at very high prices.  We weren’t interested.

With a bit of hassle, and some moments where we almost just walked out of the hospital, the doctor returned and finally let us go, saying to be sure to take lots of ibuprofen, and use hot compresses, and to return if Mo’s leg got hot or swollen.  I must say the the Mayo Clinic got some seriously failing grades compared to the quick and efficient care we received at Ocala Regional.  It was frustrating, but also a good thing to have the doctor say she didn’t think Mo needed to worry too much about a blood clot.  The pain was just from some kind of torn muscle or ligament.  She also insisted that an MRI wasn’t something that would be done as an emergency procedure, but would have to happen back home with our regular care providers. 

Reflections on the MoHo as we are settled in at Cracker Barrel next to I-95

With the light fading along with our parking options, I searched for a Cracker Barrel and sure enough, found a store within half an hour of our location.  I was seriously relieved when I called and was told, of course you can park here, come on in!  Whew.  When we arrived at 6 on a Sunday evening the store was jammed and busy, but there was plenty of room for the rig along the side of the parking lot, and it was even level.  No slide out, of course, so we settled in for a cozy evening all buttoned up.  I’m glad our rig is built so that we can get around inside and open doors and drawers and such with the slide closed.

Neither of us wanted to deal with a busy inside restaurant meal, so picking up a to-go supper from the restaurant was an easy choice.  Some chicken and vegetables were a perfectly fine end to the day.  I hate to admit it, but gravy is a serious comfort food for me and I bought a container of good country gravy to add to my dinner.  Better stress antidote than even Jack Daniels for me. 

Even right next to I-95, the night was quiet, and we had no company in the parking lot.  We both slept fairly well, and woke up in a lot better frame of mind than we had been in the previous night. 

Parking lot entirely to ourselves on this early Monday morning at Cracker Barrel

It was a lovely slow morning since we couldn’t check in to Mayport until 11AM and the park was less than half an hour away from us at our Cracker Barrel campsite. Mayport Naval Station is on the east side of Jacksonville, right at the point where the huge St John River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a lovely park, with big grassy sites, level concrete RV pads, and plenty of space between sites.

I made sure to choose a waterfront site when I made our reservations last year.  We have full hookups, including sewer and even cable TV, and best of all, free laundry.  I immediately set about washing and drying our damp and clammy bedding and washed a couple of weeks of accumulated laundry.  There are five new machines in the laundry room, but it does take a bit of effort to time the chore so that  machines are available.  As can be expected, the laundry room here is popular.  I found it easier to just take over one machine and do my loads sequentially, but some people just loaded up all the machines at once and I had to wait about an hour to get one.

Our time here has been pleasant, and as I said in the beginning, a bit low key.  The weather has been a bit cool, sometimes cloudy, sometimes warm and cloudy, but not nearly as hot and humid as it was last week in the more interior parts of Northern Florida.  We have had some beach time, some island time, some good food, and a truly impressive thunderstorm this afternoon. Friends and readers will also be happy to know that on our second day here we found a Discount Tire that had our size tire in stock, and we took the MoHo in for her last new shoe.  Now, all six tires on the rig are brand new and ready for the long trip back west.

Next up I’ll share our visits to Atlantic Beach, Dutton Preserve, Amelia Island, and Fort Clinch.

02-18-2019 Emergency Room on the way to Oleno State Park

Current Location: Oleno State Park, High Springs, Florida

Cloudy, dark and 71 Degrees F at 5AM

I have no photos to go with the words that follow.  As you read, you will understand why. Instead, I’ll just add a few random photos to let you know that all is almost well now, 6 days later.

When we went to bed on Sunday night, we were both happy that Mo’s knee injury had been just a momentary blip, and everything seemed to be fine.  It didn’t stay fine.  Sometime in the middle of the night, Mo turned in her sleep and somehow her knee was once again in horrible pain.  She couldn’t stand or walk and nothing seemed to help.  We waited, hoping that maybe it would go away as it had the previous day on the river, but no such luck.  Her knee began to swell, and was hot to the touch.

By morning, we knew we needed to get her to a doctor, but weren’t sure exactly how to go about doing that.  We were in a part of Florida with small towns, and they no doubt had Urgent Care facilities, but we were also just 18 miles from Ocala, where there was a trauma emergency care facility at the Ocala Regional Medical Center.

It was our day to move to Oleno State Park, and the night before we had laughed at our “big” move of just 70 miles northeast.  On this morning we were quite happy that the move was a short one because it gave us enough time to make a side trip to the emergency room in Ocala.

Now, when I tell this silly story, please don’t roll your eyes.  Yes, I realized later that I should have parked the rig in the lot and unhooked the car to take Mo to the hospital, but with the stress of doing everything and trying to get us there, I didn’t even think of that option. In fairness, unhooking the car with one person can be done, but I am not as good at that as Mo is, and Mo was basically incapacitated.

Instead, we navigated our way to Ocala and the emergency room.  This isn’t a small feat, since Ocala Regional is right near the center of town, and has small streets all around it.  I managed OK with my remembered visits to the hospital when my friend Bel was here in 2013, but what I hadn’t counted on was all the construction going on.  It was a huge mess, and I am driving the MoHo and the car, and as I try to get to the emergency door, I am waved off by men with flags telling me to back up.  I CAN”T BACK UP, PEOPLE, I AM PULLING A CAR!

The security cops wave me on, and then another guy tells me to go park in the parking garage.  WHAT?  I am 11 feet tall and I am pulling a car?!  I can’t do that.  Another guy comes up, a very nice guy, and tells me to just go around, make a u turn, and he will have a wheel chair waiting for Mo when I come back through.  By the time I get down to where I am supposed to make a u turn, another bunch of guys tells me I absolutely cannot return back up the one way street that the other guy told me to follow.  Another guy tells me to go in the parking garage.  Ok then.

I managed to find my way out of the orange netting maze to the street, and made my way back to the emergency entrance.  Here we go again!!!  But this time, the nice security guy and another security woman were ready for us, and they let me park long enough to get Mo into the wheelchair and whisk her away.

Then it was just a matter of parking.  I knew that about half a mile away was the Popeye Chicken with a nice big parking lot, so headed out of the maze and in that direction.  As I turned onto some of the more narrow streets near the hospital, I passed a large Catholic Church and a Knights of Columbus facility with a huge parking lot.  Seeing many open, unused double parking spaces, I quickly turned in and parked the rig!  Whew!

Turns out there was a pathway across the storm water drainage area and some stairs that led back to the hospital, and after getting Mattie settled in with all the fans running for the hot day, I headed back over to Emergency.

We were only there about 3 hours, and both of us were impressed with the intake procedure, the care Mo received, and the amount of time it took for us to get through the whole process.  Mo’s knee was X-rayed, and after some time we received the go ahead that there was no bone injury or break.  That didn’t help much, though, because the doctor said she would need an MRI to determine if there was any damage to cartilage, meniscus, or other knee parts. 

The problem with this, however, is that you need a primary care doctor to order the MRI!  What??  He suggested that we return home to get that taken care of.  Ok then, it is only about 3200 miles back to home, and we weren’t ready to give up on our winter plans just yet.

He said, in lieu of an MRI, we could just do a “wait and see” kind of thing, and he provided Mo with an immobilization device to keep her leg straight out and stiff.  Imagine for a moment if you can, trying to sit in an RV bathroom with a long straight immovable leg.  It would have been funny if Mo hadn’t been hurting so badly.

No pain meds were offered, and none were requested, but I did think it interesting that they didn’t even ask.  Lots of Advil, and after 24 hours, no more cold but heat was the recommendation.  Ok then.  Everyone at the hospital was really nice, and wonderfully helpful.

As I was walking mid visit back to the rig to check on the dog and be sure the fans were keeping her cool, the security captain asked where I was going.  I told him our story and he said, “Have them call the captain when your friend is ready to go.  I will take care of it.”  He did just that, and when Mo was released, we wheeled her out the door to the waiting shuttle cart driven by the captain, who then drove us all the way to the waiting MoHo.  Pretty darn good service, I would say.

Mo was still hurting and terribly uncomfortable, but for now we had done all that could be done and would just have to wait it out to see if her knee healed up on its own and if it would get better or worse.

The drive from Ocala was just a little bit over an hour to Oleno, and we settled into our site by late afternoon.  It had been a difficult day for both of us, mostly for Mo, but I was a bit of a mess myself to say the least. We had no idea what the following days would bring.  But one thing was pretty well settled when Mo said emphatically, “We aren’t going home!”

As the days have passed, Mo’s knee is still swollen and not working well, and the pain is moving around to muscles and tendons rather than the knee.  We have no idea what that means, and with getting an MRI requiring such complexity, aren’t exactly sure what to do next.  Mo is still taking Advil, and hobbling about as best she can, but of course there are no long walks, or even very many short walks on our agenda. 

The good news is that she managed to get into her kayak yesterday, (Saturday the 23rd), and was able to sit long enough to paddle both up and down the Ichetucknee River.  Sitting sometimes is the hardest, with strange muscle cramps that ensue if she sits too long.  Our week at Oleno State Park ends today and we will continue east toward Jacksonville and the Mayport Naval Station tomorrow morning.

Now that the knee explanation is taken care of, I can take a bit of time to write about some of the lovely parts of where we have been this week, including a beautiful wetland preserve in Gainesville, the trails and history here at Oleno, and of course, our kayak on the Ichetucknee River.