Trip to Illinois

[Mike P]

Hi guys, figured I’d let you know what’s going on in my world. Mom is 90 now and still lives alone at home out in the country in Illinois. My brother and sister both live close by and do a fantastic job of looking after her. .Mom developed n eye infection a few weeks back and it looked like there was a possibility of her losing an eye or at least the sight in it. I talked to my brother and Sister about coming back to stay with mom full time for a while, but as she had started to respond to treatment we decided that they could handle it for now. That was until last Sunday when my sister’s husband fell backward down a set of cellar stairs. He cracked 2 ribs, broke his wrist and shattered his elbow. He originally had surgery scheduled for his arm set for nextTuesday so I decided to come back here to take care of mom for a while so Sis could concentrate on taking care of her husband.

I brought the Ram 50 because it has the better heater and hard bed cover. I wanted to leave sooner, but I had come down with the flue and wasn’t able start loading the truck till Wednesday. I got the suitcases and 300 pounds of sand (for the sandblaster If I don’t use it getting unstuck somewhere ) and got out of Arizona early Thursday morning.

I stopped for the night about 40 miles west of Oklahoma City. When I listened to the local weather and I found out about the predicted Ice storm. I had I feeling I might be stuck there for a day or three……but when I woke up about 2AM I found out storm had been moving slower than predicted. After a lot of internal debate I decided to chance making the Kansas border ahead of the main storm. I ran into some freezing drizzle and a then a little freezing rain just short of the Kansas line but made it thru without running off the road and got to moms on Friday night.

They are predicting freezing rain here on Monday, but hopefully it won’t amount to much. Both Moms’ and my Sisters’ house have backup generators just in case.

By the way this trip is a good reminder of why I live in AZ. Yesterday both where I live and where I’m staying in Illinois were under winter storm warnings. AZ was for snow above 6000 feet (I live at 4500 foot) and 52 degrees. Il warning was for sleet, freezing rain and snow and 20 degrees.

Anyway I hope all in the path of the storm are safe and warm.

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[34_40]

Hope Mom continues to heal and is happy that you're there.

Take care of yourself too, stay warm!

[CR55]

Sorry to hear the bad news about your family..hope everything works out for the best..I lived in Kansas for a while and you just missed a horrible ice storm..living now in northern Illinois so welcome to the freeze state!! I sometimes question myself why I live here!.. Lol

[Bob Parmenter]

Life can sure be interesting at times, eh Mike?

[cffisher]

This is not the time to travel Glad you and your family are going to be OK. I'll pray for you and your family

[40FordDeluxe]

I'm sorry to hear about your mother and brother in law. I hope all get well and recover soon. You really got lucky on your travels too. Luckily here it is warmer than they expected so hopefully that travels your way in Illinois. Stay warm and watch for those shiny spots!

[Mike P]

I got back home last Sunday. I had really been hoping to stop by Ryan's to visit for a while but the timing on my leaving just didn't work out to do it. Mom's eye is healing (slowly) but is getting better, and my brother in Law's surgery went well but he has a lot of healing to do too. Anyway things were pretty much back to normal by the time I left.

The little Ram 50 did great and I was glad to have taken it rather than the El Camino....although I hate to take anything back there this time of year with all the salt on the roads. The first stop Monday (after unloading the 300 pounds of sand I carried in the back of the truck into the sand blaster) was the car wash and the most time was spent on washing the underside of the truck

Anyway it's good to be back and warm again and thanks to all for their prayers and thoughts.


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[40FordDeluxe]

glad to hear everyone is healing and you made it home safely!