Five Hours closer to Home!

Beaumont, Texas September 18^th, 2015 Day 111

Over the past week we have been in contact with our friends the Cormiers – hoping to meet up with them for a few days before we all got home.  We started the trip together back in May, and we were almost continuously 10 days apart throughout the trip.

 There are so many variables when you travel in a motorhome – stopping for scheduled service,  un-planned break-downs, not to mention different interests could take you in separate directions.  Our going to Boston then back home to Florida certainly complicated things.

We were so pleased to discover that here we are, 111 days into the trip and we are celebrating the unlikely!  We are both to be in Beaumont, Texas on the same night!  They were coming south from Austin, we were coming east from San Antonio!

An uneventful trip - 285 miles- from San Antonio to Beaumont, Texas

When we arrived, the skies opened up flooding the campground. I was so worried that the windshield would continue to leak possibly causing  irreparable damage to the dashboard days before we were about to sell the RV!  We “waded” our way to check-in at Gulf Coast RV Resort, then waited for the rain to let up a little before we opened the slides and hook up the power.

After the rain slowed to merely a “down-pour” we went to our friend’s large RV and enjoyed visiting with them that evening, learning the details of their trip.

We woke in the morning to much nicer weather; however the campground was still under 6-8 inches of water.  While Norm was outside unhooking the electrical ( which I cannot imagine is a safe thing to do in standing water ) he learned that the painfully biting Fire ant that is so feared in the South, can swim!  Dozens of these  little pests with the jaws of a Barracuda and the venom ( for some ) of a rattlesnake, managed to swim to the safety of Norm’s ankles and calves then feast on his tender flesh!

Image of dreaded fire ant

Norm is such a tough guy - just mentioning his bites in passing.  I didn’t think much of it until later when I happened to look down at his swollen feet and red angry welts! 

We finished breaking camp and headed off to New Orleans where we would meet up again with the Cormiers. 

As the day wore on, the swelling on Norm’s feet increased to a point where he was feeling quite uncomfortable.  The welts had turned to blisters and began to weep.  Since this could affect his ability to drive the RV,  I did what was necessary to keep him driving. We needed to get home!  I purchased some Benadryl antihistamine.  Fearing it might alter his driving ability, Norm bared the pain and only took the Benadryl after we stopped for the day.  It did bring him some relief ( during the night, anyway ).  It did, however, take many days for the swelling and redness of the foot and ankle to subside.  I watched it carefully to make sure it didn’t go further up his leg, which thankfully, it didn’t.