More Medical, Dental Stuff and Phannie Loses a Shiny Thing

At home near Fort Worth...

It was only a few posts ago that I was whining about visits to doctors and dentists for Sandy and me. Sometimes I refer to these appointments--purposely grouped together for those times when we return to our home port between trips--as "people maintenance," not unlike the regular shop visits that Phannie must have in order to keep all her systems in prime working order.

Enduring these medical and dental inquisitions has been a bit sobering, as it has been only in the last few years that I began to realize that reaching senior citizen status has rather significant downsides, like this silly health thing. It seems entirely unfair that--just as you get the gold watch and the blessed freedom that goes with it--you tend to start falling apart!

However, I really shouldn't be whining at all, for our little maladies have, so far, been largely fixable. So many other people have terrible conditions that are are not, so we are thankful to God for sparing us these up to this point.

I'm not going to delve into the details of the doctor/dentist visits, because I have been fairly critical of other bloggers whose posts seem more like recitations of their medical history rather than travel journals.  Hopefully, our appointments winding up this week will be enough to carry us through the summer without the indignities of the prodding, poking and pillaging of the guys and ladies in the white coats.  I'm also not going to do a rant on the government's dismantling of the finest healthcare system in the world; it wouldn't be good for my blood pressure.

In the meantime, we have taken a couple of short trips in Phannie--one to an FMCA rally in Wichita Falls and another to Jellystone in Burleson.  These were fun--especially Jellystone and the delight of being with Tyler, Mindy and the grandsons.

Mason and Pryce and Proud Grandpa

It was during a stop on the Wichita Falls trip that I noticed a hub cover missing from one of Phannie's dual rear wheels. A closer look revealed no other damage, so I suppose the retaining bolt simply became loose and backed off at some point.  A quick call to Freightliner in Wichita Falls located a replacement in stock for the hub cover, and they also ordered me a retaining bolt, which they didn't have in stock. A few days later, all was like new, for a little under $300. Ah, boys, and the price of their toys...