Sunday .......it all worked out in the end!

Sunday, Aug 19

A long days drive on Saturday by RV standards, which started out with the slalom course leaving the mountains, and I was in no mood to hurry or push on Sunday morning!   I told Clem we should take our time, and make one more stop before home, and he agreed.  That resulted in a leisurely morning of watching Sunday Morning on TV, making us a nice breakfast of my favorite omelet with sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, and greek olives, and of course catching up on the blog!  

Pretty wet out there from last night's storm.

I had hoped when we pulled in that puddle at the end of the site would be dried up by morning, but is now bigger, and accompanied by several large puddles on either side! The one on the left is more like a little pond! 

Clem  researched some camp sites, and made a call, and we left just before the 11:00 check out time, with a 4 hour drive to go.  We hit one of those southern downpours about 2 hours in, where you can barely see through the windshield, and traffic is crawling and the flashers on the guy in front of you is about all you can see!   I was about ready for a break and some lunch anyway, and conveniently a rest area was a few miles ahead, so we pulled off when we got to it, and made lunch.  It had passed by the time we were finished and we went upon our way.  

Having lunch at the rest stop with the coach still closed up, and as the rain passes. 

We had noticed Loki riding up front, tucked in the corner between the cabinet , chair, and stowed  ottoman,  abandoning his corner on the bed, so I had of course put a towel down to make it more comfy for him, and it has now become a regular spot for him to ride.  Totally relaxed, head upside down, ready to go.  :-)

We crossed the border into Georgia, and then into Florida, reminiscing about the first trip we made across country with the rented coach, and how elated we were to see the Florida line.  It was so much fun, and we had made it!  We had stopped at the welcome center and I took a photo of Clem by the Florida sign for my very first blog.  Great memories.

Around Jacksonville, the traffic came to a sudden halt, and I told him to hold on, but luckily was able to stop without sending anyone or anything sliding!  A load of what looked like mostly cardboard was strewn on the highway across two lanes, and everyone was trying to get into the left lane to avoid it.  What a mess!  At least one car was amazingly courteous to allow me to merge in, and I got over for the most part.  I wondered afterward if I had gotten all of the car over, or if we were dragging anything, as I saw bits of cardboard here and there deposited along the road for some miles ahead.  

Traffic was heavy and I didn’t think much more about it, when, as we were about 20 miles from our destination, some cars came whizzing by, flagging me down and over.  Uh oh....Something’s wrong.  I pulled over to the shoulder immediately, and went out to inspect, and found a tire on the car completely shredded away, and down to the rim!  Oh yay.  

This truck moved over, but many drivers did not, and we were rocking and rolling!  1 mile to next exit. 

We debated our options, and I refused to drive it farther, even though there was an exit a mile away, to spare the rim, in case it was still ok.  I also refused to have us change the tire, as it was the left back, and we were on a narrow shoulder.  We have a service, and a call to them assured us they could be there within the hour to change it for us, so we unhooked it and waited for them in the AC in the coach.  Let me just say, most people did not pull over, as you are requested to do, and we rocked and rolled to the point that I was nearly motion sick as especially the big trucks whizzed by!  Our relief arrived in good time, less than an hour, and put the “donut” on, which instructions say not to drive more than 50 mph or for more than 70 miles.  The repairman assured us there was little tread on the thing, and it would blow if we did not follow directions!  So we decided to tag team down the highway, with Clem driving the car, and both of us with  blinkers flashing away in the right lane at 47mph, while the traffic moved by on the left.  I  felt like I was standing still, and the 20 miles to our destination seemed an eternity!  At one point it occurred to me that he should have flags on the car, and a big banner warning “wide load”!  We were on our cell phones to stay in touch, and I shared my thought with him, and we got a much needed chuckle!   But we were all good, and pulled safely into our campsite for the night, ready to deal with it on Monday, when things would be open for business.  We will never know if the debris on the roadway was the cause, or if we had picked something up earlier and had a slow leak.  I do know that if we had been driving it, we would have known we had low pressure, or a flat, but towing it, I never felt a thing!   At any rate, I felt a  nice glass of wine was definitely in order! As well as a big thanks to the good samaritans who flagged me down.  

 We saw this BBQ place as we limped by on the way to our campsite, and Clem decided we could drive on the donut enough to go for dinner after our wine!

So here I am Monday morning, and Clem  is at a local tire store, who after saying we would be lucky to find the right tire, actually found one in their warehouse!  It is being mounted as I type this, and it is only 10:30 AM, so we will be able to leave today as planned and head to Johnathan Dickenson State Park, where our adventure began, and plug in and unload with the benefit of the AC.