Our Great Adventure in North America is terminated, yet, our daily adventure still goes on. I thought I would have to end our last chapter of the trip journal by telling you “ We have completed our trip and so did Jim as he dropped dead a day later.” The END. There was a heart episode in Phoenix and Jim had to check into the hospital and the doctors didn't let him go until 2 days later. Back in California we were busy trying to get Jim in to see his PCP and Cardiologist. Making an appointment at Kaiser can be an adventure and frustrating depending on how you see things. Here are the scenarios:

Friday 11/14
While being admitted to the hospital in Phoenix, Jim called and left messages for his PCP at Kaiser and his former Cardiologist at the Palo Alto Medical Center.

Monday 11/17
Jim received a phone call from his ex-Cardiologist around 7:30 am. After getting the information about who treated Jim while in Phoenix, the doctor called and talked to Phoenix Cardiologist and then called Jim back with his suggestions and advice. What a great doctor. In the meanwhile, Jim fired off an email to his PCP giving her a brief history of the events in Phoenix. In the afternoon Jim called to make an appointment to see his PCP even though she neither returned his phone call nor responded to his email. He got an appointment to see her the next day.

Tuesday 11/18
Surprise! the doctor he saw was not his PCP. That doctor had no knowledge about Jim's health history nor was she aware of Jim's recent incident. Great. She was,however, really concerned about what happened to Jim and ordered a Stat blood test. He was told that the Cardiologist office would call him today to arrange an appointment for the Cardiologist visit tomorrow. Jim came home felling good that at least one doctor at the Kaiser showed her concern and put him on priority if that what Stat means. The Cardiologist office call didn't happen. Jim waited patiently and called Kaiser at about 5 or 6 p.m. and told them he was supposed to have an appointment to see a Cardiologist tomorrow. Jim was told that “yes, you have an appointment at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow” Wonder when they planned to call and let Jim know he will have that appointment. Golly!!

Wednesday 11/19
Surprise again! Instead of seeing a Cardiologist, the appointment was with a Nurse Practitioner. She didn't have any information about Jim's health history nor the recent incident. So he had to tell the whole story again. Wonder what happen to the communication between the Kaiser team members?

Here is the kicker; Jim made appointments to see the Cardiologist as well as have Stress and Echo tests. Echo and Stress tests must be done one week prior the cardiologist visit. Yet, the appointment to see the Cardiologist was on Dec. 9 and Echo & Stress tests were on Dec 10. Sound logical to you? Dah!! Jim had to tell them that it would not work that way. I think the meaning of “Stat” at Kaiser is that you just wait patiently. In Jim's case, it was just a few days over a one month wait. Jim finally will see the Cardiologist on Dec 18. Knock on wood that nothing will happen with that doctor, so Jim can address his concerns and find out the possible cause of the Phoenix episode.

It is my very first time visiting Kaiser, after seeing Jim's experience with the Kaiser adventure, I could not wait for mine. My appointment was on Nov. 25 for blood tests and mammogram. First thing was blood tests. Very impressive with how fast the line was and I didn't have to wait. While in the blood lab having my blood drawn, I was entertained by one technician who seemed to resent one particular colleague. She made a sarcastic statement and acted like a kid whispering and telling stories. Even a kid could figure out she really disliked her colleague. I was in the lab quite a while as they needed to draw 13 tubes of my blood. I was fortunate that I didn't have her to work on my blood draw. It was entertaining in my opinion, yet, Kaiser needs to train their staff to be more professional.

My mammogram was uneventful, beside, the predictable pain. Will anyone ever invent a painless mammogram machine? I was told that the result would be mailed to me in two weeks.

Tuesday Dec 2
I received a phone call from Kaiser regarding my mammogram. My first instinct was it was not good to receive a phone call earlier than the expected two weeks. The call was not for the result, but I needed to have another mammogram test as two out of four films taken were not clear. Phew! but WHAT! did I just hear I had to do it again. *!!*

Wednesday Dec 3
I checked in at the Radiologist department for my second mammogram. I was told I needed to pay another co-payment. Sweet deal, I had t pay for my pain and for their error. Pass please.

Thursday Dec 4
Kaiser called and told me my mammogram was overdue and I should make an appointment to have it done. What happened to the one I just had yesterday. Did it expire already? It was just ONE day old.

That was all our Kaiser adventures. Now Jim will tell you our November adventure.


Nov 1 (1 night, Selma AL USA – Wal Mart Parking Lot)
Heading south today through Alabama. I want to stop in Selma to see the Voting Rights Museum. We found the Wal Mart in Selma, parked, searched for any signs that said “No Parking” and since we did not find any, we un-hooked the Jeep and headed for downtown Selma.

Walked the bridge that was the scene of Bloody Sunday. Went inside the Voting Rights Museum and spent a couple of hours walking around. After the museum we walked down to the old St James Hotel and looked around. Poor Selma is really run down. The downtown area is full of litter, closed businesses and run down streets and buildings.


Nov 2 – 4 (3 nights, Westwego, LA USA – Bayou Segnette State Park)
Drove to Louisiana today. One of our favorite spots was this State Park in Louisiana. It is really close to New Orleans. It cost us only $9. night for water and electric with my Senior Pass. Washer and Dryers are free and so is the WiFi.

Nov 3
Just down the street is a great fresh fish market that sells live crab, fresh shrimp and fresh fish. Naturally the first thing that Sim wanted to do was go buy fresh seafood. We walked to the market and Sim had a hard time resisting the temptation to buy every fish she saw. We walked back with six crabs, a good sized Red fish, and couple pounds of shrimp. It was quite a bit farther than Sim envisioned but we made it OK.

Nov 4
Drove into New Orleans today to look for the Farmers Market in Old Town. We found it and found a place to park without any problem. We got out and went to the parking payment station and tried to use a credit card to buy a couple of hours. I could not get the darn thing to work, but a guy standing behind us gave us a dollar in change and said “Welcome to New Orleans”. We walked the Farmers Market but never found the Farmers. All we found were knick knacks and assorted Flea Market stuff. Found out later the Farmers part of the market is still in the works and should be going by Spring. We are hungary, so we started looking for a place to eat. Sim wanted to eat good jambalaya or gumbo. We walked a few blocks going in and out of restaurants to check their menus. Nothing looked as good as Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and that is where we ended up. I had Jerk chicken while Sim stuck to her plan and ordered jambalaya. We also tried alligator for an appetizer. Sim was done eating the appetizer after her second piece. She said the image of an alligator made it hard to swallow. We liked our food and were pleased with the service. We stopped in the Jimmy Buffett gift shop, but T-Shirts were $30. so we passed.

Nov 5 – 10 (6 nights, Nacogdoches, TX USA – Foretravel Factory Campground)
Got up early today and headed for Texas. It was a long drive but we made it without incident. As we came into view of the factory campground we could see that it was very full. We did find an open spot and pulled in. We found out that the Ladies Driving School was in process for the next 2 days and that is why there were so many coaches here.

Nov 6 – 10
For the next 4 days we cleaned, cleaned and cleaned the coach. We oiled all the wood and dusted and vacuumed and scrubbed and brushed and polished everything. The last day we rented a U-Haul trailer and loaded it up with all our stuff. It took all day long. It rained off and on all day but we finished loading all our stuff. Rudy and Carolyn happened to be in Nacogdoches while we were there. They hosted us when we stopped near Houston last year. We managed to get out to dinner with them one night. Sim also made time to cook chicken satay for lunch for all of us one day. We set up a table outside in the parking lot and ate under the sun. It was great lunch and it was great to spend some time with Rudy and Carolyn again.

Nov 11 (1 night, Bastrop, TX USA – Days Inn)
It is a bittersweet day for us. We are leaving our coach after living in it for the last two years. We are exiting our great adventure on the road and embarking on the next chapter of Jim and Sim's Great Adventure; in Southeast Asia. We dropped off the coach after filling it up with diesel and propane. First, it is going into the shop at Xtreme Paint and Graphics to get some touch up and minor fiberglass repair, then Xtreme will take it over to Motorhomes of Texas where it will have some minor repairs done before it get placed on consignment with them.

We headed off the the Jeep with the U-Haul in tow. It is raining really hard today. Our first stop on the was back to California is Bastrop, TX. We have arranged to meet up with Joe and Margaret, the couple we met in Alaska, for dinner. After settling into our motel for the night, Joe and Margaret came by and we went out and had a nice dinner in town. It really hit us tonight that we missed our own bed and pillows.

Nov 12 (1 night, Van Horn, TX USA – Days Inn)
We headed out of town early. We are driving to Van Horn TX today. Right after we stopped for lunch we headed out and about 15 miles out of town I realized we were low on fuel. Sim checked the map and the next big town was about 80 miles away. I don't think we can make it. We are getting really low, the light is on when I spot a gas station on the left. We pull off the freeway and get to the station only to find out it is closed and out of gas. A big rig pulls in and I went over to ask him where the nearest fuel station is. He does not know, he is new to this route. On we drive. I see a sign with a big H. Ahha, a Hospital. Where there is a hospital there must be fuel. We head off towards the hospital. I spot a business on the side of the road, stop and ask them to be sure. Yes, a town is only 18 miles up the road. Our low fuel light has been on for 8 miles now. I can make it, maybe. We drove 45 just to conserve fuel and pull into the gas station. We are in Iraan, a mining community only 30 miles out of our way but we did not run out of fuel. Phew!!

Nov 13 - 15 (3 nights, Phoenix, AZ USA – Maryvale Hospital & Holiday Inn)
We are checked into Motel 6 for the night. It is Thursday and Survivor is on TV tonight. Sim took a shower before the show started and I planned to take a shower after the show. As soon as the show was over I jumped up and went into the bathroom, closed the door and felt really dizzy all of a sudden. The next thing I knew, I was waking up on the bathroom floor with blood coming out the back of my head. I called for Sim and she came running in. While I held a towel on my head, Sim called the front desk and asked them to call 911. A short time later the Phoenix FD EMT guys arrived. They transported me to the hospital so I could get the 10 staples in my head to close the wound. Next we tried to find out why I passed out. EKG, Echo Test, Carotid Doppler, Blood Tests and more that I cannot remember. We also did an interrogation on my ICD and found that my heart had gone into tachy arrhythmia and my defibrillator had fired 3 times. It had to be when I was unconscious because I did not feel any of the shocks to my heart. I finally met with a Cardiologist and he wanted to change my meds and do a catheter procedure to check for blockages. No one was really sure what caused the heart malfunction. So we asked to be released on Saturday morning promising that I would see my Cardiologist when we got to California.

Called U-haul customer service today to try to get an extension on the trailer rental. I was assured someone would return my call within two hours. Never heard a word back from them.

Nov 16 – 30, Anaheim, CA USA – Brother Bill's House
While I was in the hospital, I called my brother who flew out to Phoenix on Saturday night. In the morning Brother Bill drove us to California. I am not supposed to drive for 30 days according to Arizona law. Back in California, we stopped at my son's house to see him, Golden, his wife, and our granddaughter Angelina. We spent a few hours with Joel, dropped off some of our camping gear that we are not taking to Thailand, then headed off to Anaheim, my brothers house.

Nov 17
Drove to Los Angeles to the shipping company that will ship our stuff to Thailand. Traffic going to LA was just awful and we had to go all the way to North Hollywood. We got everything unloaded and were on our way back to Orange County, when I called U-Haul to find out if we could drop off the trailer somewhere in LA instead of hauling back to OC. U-Haul wanted to charge me for changing the drop off location. I asked to speak to a Supervisor, but got voice mail instead. I left a message and asked for a call back and headed towards OC. We never got a call back and we ended up dropping the trailer off at the original drop off location, who by the way, had no place to put it because they were so full.

We were starving, so we headed over to the best Mexican restaurant in Orange County, Taco Mesa. Located on 19th St., Taco Mesa has been my favorite restaurant for 20 years.

Nov 18
Today I have a Doctors appointment over at Kaiser. We got there on time and when the Dr. came in to see me it was not my PCP. OK. I told this new doctor the whole story starting in 2005 with the heart attack. (I had emailed my PCP and told her the whole story previous to this appointment.) The new doctor orders blood tests and suggests I meet with a Cardiologist. Yes, that is the idea. So I get a stat order for a blood draw and off I go. Later in the afternoon, the doctors assistant calls and says the blood results are OK, and I don't need to be admitted to the hospital. She also says that I will get a call today from the Cardiology Dept. to set up an appointment.

The call from Cardiology never comes, so I end up calling them. I find out I do have an appointment tomorrow at 2:30. Great. Now we will be talking to the right person.

Nov 19
Thought I was seeing a cardiologist today. Got to the office only to find out that I am not seeing a Cardiologist, but a Nurse Practitioner instead. So, now she has to be told the whole story again, starting in 2005 to the present including all the details of the Phoenix episode. I guess they don't bother reading charts, files and patient history before seeing patients. At least after we are done seeing the Practitioner, we finally have and appointment to see a Cardiologist. There are other tests she wants it to be done however before I see the Cardiologist. I have to schedule these and it turns out that mid December is the first opening for the tests, so I have to reschedule the appointment with the Cardiologist to 10 days after the other tests. Wow. It will be over a month after my Phoenix episode before I finally get to talk to a Cardiologist.

Nov 20
No appointments today. Instead we got some exercise in by cleaning brother Bill's house for him. We worked around the house all day.

Nov 21
Cleaned house again today in the morning. We drove down to Laguna Niguel to see my sister Judy and her husband Tag around noon. They took us up to Saddleback Church for lunch. Judy works at the church and she got us the employee lunch discount. They had great raspberry chocolate chip ice cream too. After lunch we got a great tour of the church grounds. Quite impressive. We are going down on Dec 4th to see their Christmas Show.

Nov 22



Today we went over to the house on 19th St. to work on the patio cover. The termites had eaten up some of the 2 x 2s that are nailed on top. Sim and I started taking the rotted ones done. By the end of the day, we had taken down all the rotted 2 x 2s, gone to the local lumber store, bought replacement wood and a gallon of matched Cranberry paint to start repainting the patio cover. Sim painted the new wood and I started on the the cover. It is going to take us several days to get this thing done.




Nov 23
We are taking the day off today. We are going over to our friends house for dinner later. About 3:00 we headed to Huntington Beach to the Wilder house. We had a great dinner with David, Larp at David's Mom's house. David and I are supposed to play golf the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to whipping him handily on the golf course.

Nov 24
We attacked the painting of the patio cover at the house today. We worked on it all day. This cover is about 20'x30' square and has about 100 2x2s on top.

Nov 25
Sim has a Dr.'s appointment this morning and I have one in the afternoon. In between we are going to try to get some more painting down today. We started painting and then ran out of paint. We went to Home Depot to buy another gallon of paint. We took one of the brushes with dried paint on it to get a match. We matched a color chip, bought the paint and came back to the house. When I put some paint on the patio cover, it looked awful and did not match at all. Had to go back to Home Depot and exchange that paint for another gallon that matched better.

Sim wanted to go some place different for lunch today. She is getting a little tired of Taco Mesa, so we went to Souplantation. This is probably Sim's favorite place to eat lunch. With all the salads, soups and muffins they have. It is a great place for all you can eat soup and salad lunches. It looked like rain was coming so we called it a day.

Nov 26
I finally got some satisfaction from U-Haul today. I had sent in a feedback form on their website, detailing the whole story about the unreturned phone calls. They are sending me some credit vouchers that I can use at any of their locations. Too bad I am not going to need their services ever again.

Nov 27
Happy Thanksgiving you all. My sister is not doing turkey this year. They are feeding hungry people at their church.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner with Webmaster Dennis and his lovely wife Katherine again this year. Jerry and Faye are coming over again so we are sure to have a great time.

Nov 28
We are going to finish the patio cover today. Brother Bill called to ask if we needed his help. It was not needed when he called. Then I found out the electric saw I brought with could not even cut butter. So, I called Bill and asked him to bring me over a good saw. With Bill's help, the project finished faster than it would have with just me up there nailing up boards. Ah.. we have a patio cover that will be good for another 25 years. We headed off for lunch. Can you guess where we were going? Taco Mesa of course. After lunch we arrived home to find Joel, Golden and Angelina sitting at the front porch waiting for us. We hung out at the house all afternoon and played with my Granddaughter. Joel called Jeff, his twin, to stop over for dinner. Sim cooked big batch of stir fried noodles.

Nov 29 - 30
It is the weekend and Brother Bill is home. We are just hanging out doing household chores and running errands. Today Sim introduced Bill to bar-b-q pork buns and he liked them. I think it is Sim's mission to have Bill experience out of ordinary food he is not used to eating. She made a list of what Bill likes and what he dislikes. Sim believes that you have to try three times before you make the decision that you don't really like the dish. So, she said she will cook the dishes Bill didn't like once more. Poor Bill.



Jim and Sim's Great Adventure Epilogue
We thought it appropriate to give our faithful readers some fun facts and figures about Jim and Sim's Great Adventure, so here are some fun facts for your reading pleasure.

We traveled 38,964 miles.
We were on the road for 712 days.

Most miles traveled in one day = 432 miles from Burlington, VT to Niagara Falls, NY.
Least miles traveled in one day = 12 miles, from Kenai, AK to Soldotna, AK.
The average miles traveled per day was 181 miles.

We stayed overnight in 216 different locations.
The longest stay in one place was in Hurricane, UT for 17 days.
The shortest stay in one place was Piapot, SK where we stayed for 3 hours.
The average stay in one place was 3 days.

We spent more nights in California than any other state with 94 nights.
We only spent 1 night in Nebraska.
The average nights in each state was 10.

We spent 576 nights in the USA
We spent 61 nights in Canada
We spent 74 nights in Mexico

The most we paid to camp was $60/night in Jersey City, NJ.
The least expensive camping was $9./night at Bayou Segnette State Park, LA
The average night campground fee was $28.00
We boondocked for 162 nights and that of course was $0.00/night except for the shopping at Wal-Mart.

For the 38,964 miles we traveled, we figure we spent about $19,000.00 on diesel fuel.
The most we paid for fuel was in Canada late in 2008 and it was about $5.25/gal.
The least we paid for fuel was in Texas at the very end of this trip. $1.91/gal.
The average price was $3.90/gal.
The coach has a 200 gallon tank and it gets 8 (town) – 10 (freeway) mpg.

We figure we spent about $14,000 on food
We figure we spent about $10,000 on maintenance.
We also spent $25,000 in upgrades to the coach.
We will spend another $15,000 to sell the coach figuring in repairs, paint touch up and commission to the seller.

To be able to see the country the way we saw was worth every penny we spent.

We are often asked “What was the prettiest place, or most fun” We agree that Alaska was the prettiest of all the states. The scenery is just spectacular. All of the places we went had their own special beauty however.

Our least favorite state was New Jersey. The roads we encountered near and in Jersey City were the worst we saw. The green headed flies in southern New Jersey bite so hard they draw blood, and the toll for going across the George Washington Bridge from the New Jersey side was $35.

We took over 10,000 pictures on our Sony DSC-V3. The best of those 10K are up on PicasaWeb.

We want to thank all of you that encouraged us and supported us along the way. A special thanks to webmaster Dennis for all the time he took maintaining our website, providing the timely updates, suggestions and corrections.