Bellevue camping

We took the trailer out for it's first "official" camping trip, other than our own campground to Bellevue, which is on the east side of the state along the Mississippi River. The Conversation Board Director there used to be the park ranger at our park, so we thought we would go visit. It was a nice campground in a great location. He saved three spots for us that were right on the river. We didn't pull in until almost dark and it took 4 people telling Al which way to go to back it in. To be fair to Al, though, there was mature trees about 3 feet away from the trailer on both sides, and it was almost dark, so it was a bit hard.

Being right on the river, Al was pretty sure he would just fish all weekend. He did. The trouble was the only thing he caught that was of any size was this lovely CARP!

We did go to a small (very small) pond that the county is going to drain and re-line that was full of 12" rainbow trout. It was fed by a spring and full of grass and moss, but all you had to do was put a small worm under a bobber and throw it out and catch all you wanted. They are going to make it into a child's fishing pond, which will be great. It was still fun (although not real sporting!).

The rest of the weekend we just sat, read and enjoyed the quiet.  Even the dogs were good. (never mind the foot in the picture!)

I think one of the best things was the sunrise in the morning and just being able to sit out along the river and watch the geese go by and an occasional barge and read or whatever without a plan.

Although most of you by now know what we have been doing all week (either sitting in the hospital with Al or dealing with him at home), you can tell by this picture that it had already started in Bellevue.

This picture is from Saturday. Today he can't even sit or stand, he is only comfortable laying on his right side. A a quick update for those that don't know: Al has a herniated disc in his back. He didn't do anything in particular, it just started hurting a week ago last Thursday. By Monday night he was down for the count and hasn't been right since. They have had him on all manner of pain killers trying to find the right one with no real relief from any of them. They finally admitted him to the hospital yesterday after two trips to the ER and two MRI's and gave him a steroid injection this afternoon. But the Dr. said that the disc (or a piece of it that may have broken off) is blocking the canal and she didn't feel real good that he was going to get any relief from it because she couldn't get all the medicine in. We will be off (more than likely anyway) to see a surgeon next week. It really is the wrong time of year to have this happen, but there is not much that can be done. We just hope that whatever they decide to do gets done soon and hope that it works! Keep your fingers crossed! It's been a very long week and we are both looking forward to a return to normal.

Oh! and one more thing! Sarah and Craig have started their own blog: http://craigsarahandfamily.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

TTFN