The summer begins!

Who’s that ugly guy that sticks his nose into everything and screws things up at the worst possible moment? Johnson? Nope. Seymore? Nope. Oh yeah…Murphy! Well, Murphy visited me Friday evening. Here I was, sitting in my easy chair, watching the Military Channel on TV (Claudia was out with girlfriends) with a nice hot cup of coffee in my hand. I took the first delicious swig and…OH SHUCKS GOLLY GEE WHIZ DARN! I came straight out of the chair with a pain that felt like someone stuck a six-inch #2 needle in a tooth on the lower left side of my jaw. I immediately suspected something was wrong! Wonderful! What else?…and just before we are scheduled to leave. I slugged down some Ibuprofen and went to bed.

Saturday morning, I called my dentist and he told me to be on his doorstep at 8:00 a.m. Monday morning and to be prepared for a root canal. Never having had one before, but hearing many horror stories, I envisioned him standing on my dentist’s chair with a surgical version of an air-driven jackhammer and me walking out many hours later with an extra-large, double-huge swollen jaw. Not the way I want to start out on a cross-country trip!

Monday morning found me at his office. I would have taken several “calming shots” of my favorite adult beverage except that we had already packed away the scotch for the trip. I entered the office totally sober and full of anxiety. I was soon seated in the chair and he was freezing up a cotton ball to do some “touch tests”. He placed the frozen cotton on the tooth that hurt. I felt nothing. He said “That’s bad” and broke out a needle I thought was much too big for the job he had in mind. Not to bore you with what transpired over the next hour or so, but suffice to say I left with a new “happening” in my diary of life…a root canal.

I returned home and brought the Motorhome to the condo. We got ready to head off on the new adventure, pulling away a little after 11:00, headed for Terrible’s Lakeside RV Resort in Pahrump, NV. We pulled in just after 5:30, set up camp and then headed over to Jerry and Liz Fiske’s house for a reunion and dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. The margarita’s were delicious and greatly appreciated after a long and full day.

The next morning, Neil and Marlene Elkins, friends from our first Alaska trip, came over to the park and we had the buffet breakfast at the RV park casino restaurant. Claudia had me pay the bill and slipped away on her own. I finished paying the bill and met Neil and Marlene. No Claudia! Where oh where would she be in a casino on her own. It didn’t take long to find her. She has some hidden talent to find a certain type of slot machine within one minute of me not holding on to her. I was too late. She had already found the machine of her choice (a penny machine – she’s a real big spender…RIGHT!) and was FIRMLY planted down in front of it, promising to only play $5.00 until it was gone. She hit a few and lost a few when it soon announced “Wheel of Fortune”. She asked the guy seated next to her what to do. He scowled and said “Just hit the button” and pointed to a flashing button on the machine. She pushed the button and the wheel started turning. It settled on the number 250 and the machine started dinging away. It stopped on $67.00 and some change. At my urging, she cashed out immediately. Let’s see, $67 and some change less her original $5 investment and we, strike that, SHE was $62 richer. This, she announced, would be parlayed again when she met Linda in Iowa at their local Indian casino. Why did that not surprise me? We went back to the rig, said our goodbye’s to Neil and Marlene and headed out for a three or four-day trip to Mount Rushmore.

We did 429 miles the first day and wound up overnighting in a Wal-Mart near Payson, UT. The highlight of the trip was sighting a pair of wild burros at the side of the road. I would have taken a picture except that I would have taken at least 5,000 miles off the brake shoes if I had tried to stop in time. One was a really good looking black and gray one. I have no proof of the sighting. You’ll just have to trust me! Tomorrow, we continue on to Mount Rushmore. BTW, my tooth feels great…no pain at all.