What A Trip Home

 Sunday we pulled out of Red Bay Acres in Alabama heading to Vicksburg, MS.  

We had an uneventful trip to Ameristar Casino Campground.  We stayed there several years ago and the park looks better than what I remember.

We continued on Monday, crossing the mighty Mississippi River, and entered Louisiana.  It was near Monroe while I was talking to Kristin, there was a loud crack that sounded like a shot!  It scared the heck out of all three of us.  We guess it was a rock that hit the driver’s side window.  It cracked into a kaleidoscope of small pieces but just hung there.  We determined it was the outer pane broke and the inner pane was intact.  Our intention was to drive to the upcoming rest area and  tape it when Whoosh! It all went flying behind us and broke a lady’s windshield.  We pulled in at a truck stop and exchanged info.  Ted used a whisk broom to sweep the pieces that hung in the edges, sweeping them up so no one would ruin a tire.  Then we  headed out again.  The lower left hand window is the one that lost its outside pane.  However, it is all one unit so the entire thing will be replaced.

It wasn’t too long and the windshield wiper on my side went to the right, past the edge of the window, and stayed there.  We stopped again and determined it was a stripped shaft and just hoped the rain wouldn’t start up again.  Ted’s was working but a broken one, flailing around, could be dangerous.  So we stopped at a Freightliner dealer in Shreveport and they removed it all and sent us on our way.  No charge!

We continued on to Carthage where we had a reservation and stay often.  We didn’t want to unhook the car so we just ate in and went to bed after a trying day.  The next morning we headed to Woodlands Lake for two nights.

I spent the rest of the day and the next day, emptying out and cleaning the inside of the coach.  Ted washed the outside which is a big job.  When we finished, there was lots of stuff to put away at home and laundry to do.  

We also spent a lot of time talking to our insurance company, their glass people, repair facilities, and Newmar.  I think it is falling into place to get the ball rolling.  The window unit has to be manufactured and it will be 4-6 weeks.  That leaves our October San Antonio trip up in the air.  The past two years we have not stayed at my brother’s banker’s Air BnB but we may this year!  It is a nice place but far from the shooting complex so we chose to stay in the trailer closer to the complex but if the RV is not ready, we will join them once again.  

Thursday morning we went to the campground and got ready to put the RV away.  I followed Ted to storage and we backed it in with no trouble.  He said I do a terrific job directing him.  There isn’t a lot of room for error with only two feet on either side. And the huge mirrors stick out pretty far so you have to account for them to get past the poles.  It is clean inside and out.  But now we wait the 4-6 weeks until the window and wiper components arrive from Newmar to be installed.

I stopped at Nancy’s for our packages and mail and to give her a gift and a thank you gift card,  She has all our important things right in the front of the box so it was easy to renew Ted’s driver’s license, activate our new EZ passes, reminded us to get the Expedition inspected to renew its plate, filed our two titles that had arrived, filed some stock quarterly reports, etc.  There is actually very little “important” mail anymore.   Lots of ads and magazines.  What used to take me days to go through only takes an hour or so now.

I will be busy for another day or two getting what we brought back home into the right spot.  I hung our clothes up in the closet but I need to get it sorted by item and color and hung all together.  Then there are the meds and toiletries.  That took a bit of sorting but I got it done.  There is still stuff on my desk that will get tackled on Friday.  I expect by the beginning of the holiday weekend, things will be back to normal.