All’s Well - Home Again

When we got word that the RV was fixed, we purchased tickets to fly and pick it up. Since we had emptied the RV, not knowing if we’d see it again, we had to pack some basic items needed to bring it home! That meant a lot of weight re-thinking! The suitcase we decided to pay for was limited to 40 lbs. Ours weighed 40.5!! Besides that, we had 2 personal items. We needed bedding, towels, silverware (2 spoons, 2 forks, 1 knife), plates, etc! (plus a few clothes!)

A dear friend drove us to the airport with her 3 young children. Traffic was terrific – with the rain and the long weekend, it took 3x the usual amount of time. However, we did arrive and were able to catch our flight.

To save $1000, we spent a night in the Denver airport. We were not the only ones – and it was quite comfortable. When we landed at midnight, we had to sit on the plane almost an hour before being released through an out-of-doors ramp. The air was refreshing and cool. (It had been 100 degrees.)

Another dear friend picked us up in St Louis, MO, and drove us to our RV, about 100 miles. We had a pleasant drive. How exciting to see our RV ready and waiting for us! Quickly loading it, we left as soon as possible. The repair shop had stayed open just so we could get the RV!

We drove about 5 miles when the check engine light came on. Roger called the repair shop and they told us to return. The mechanic was able to connect a vacuum hose and all seemed well. The next time the light came on we were about 100 miles away and decided to keep going, assuming it was the same issue. No other indication of trouble was showing. We had no further engine mishaps. However, about ½ way home, the passenger seat refused to snap into place, so every time we stopped or accelerated, the seat and its occupant moved, too! (The seat belt worked fine.)

Saturday night we spent at Walmart in Kansas City, KS. The next morning we found a close church and attended Sunday School and church. Then, they had a potluck dinner for Father’s Day!! How blessed can you get?

That night we got to Mitchell, SD – home of the corn palace! The weather was very cooperative and our a/c worked well.

Monday found us at Alan’s house. The generator gave up the ghost and so we had no electricity on board. But we enjoyed time with the 2 grandkids, playing a few games. We all went to bed early.

Tuesday morning we stopped by Scarlett’s place on our way out of town. Then continued on to Butte, MT. Traffic was almost non-existent. Weather beautiful. If the generator had gone out sooner, we would have been miserably hot. But, as it was, the weather cooled and we were fine.

The next day we got to Moses Lake, where we found a Wednesday night service – a revival. The speaker was super good! We could have parked there, but the traveling evangelist had the RV spot!

Our final day was short. Since we had had two 1 hour time changes in a few days, we were up early and ready to go. The last leg of the trip got us home by 10:30am. That gave Heather lots of time to prepare and teach her Zoom Good News Club.

God is good! Home is sweet.

Our "new" car/van

Let me tell you about our “new” van – it’s a very unique car. When we took it on our test drive, we accidentally got on a highway that took us about 40 miles round trip (no exits). So, we really had a good taste of it before purchasing. The car lot said they had taken it in trade a week or so previous, and hadn’t done any work on it – so, buy as is.

The car lot was walking distance from our broken down R.V., so that right there was a good thing for us. The price tag on the van was also do-able (they dropped the price). Also, the rear seats all folded completely underneath, so we had lots of open space for filling with all the RV stuff!!

Right off we realized the speedometer was intermittent, which means the cruise doesn’t work. When it does work, it dings – sometimes 4 or 5 times as it randomly turns on and off. The driver’s side mirror looks like it had been in a fire. The “warning too close” sensors are overly sensitive and randomly “dinging”. The passenger door lock doesn’t work – it has to be manually depressed to lock and opened from the inside door handle. The windshield wipers randomly start on their own, go the regular speed and then suddenly speed up & slow down as they wish! Many sensors light and stay lit – like the tire pressure light, check engine light, oil pressure light, low battery light, etc. We realized there was nothing wrong with those things as far as we could determine – except the sensors were off. Another thing we learned quickly; when you start the engine, you have to immediately engage the gearstick or it won’t budge. (Is that a child-safety feature?) That means you turn the engine off, restart and put it into gear! Only 1 FOB works, so we have to guard it!! The other one looks the same, but even new batteries didn’t help it.

You are probably wondering how much they paid us to take this thing off their hands!! Actually, the car runs well with lots of power; good mileage (we used the mile markers to come up with a fairly accurate mpg); solid brakes; a/c puts out – nice temperature controls for each side; no oil burning; cd player works; bright headlights; all the things that make for safe driving.

Driving on the highway, we learned to follow a truck or car to help maintain our speed. Also, we took our own GPS along, and it tracks our speed. (How did we ever drive without cruise???)

One evening at dusk, we were finishing a long day of driving. Heather was driving a mountain pass in ID, when the rear driver’s side window opened of its own accord! I scolded Roger for messing with the windows (although he was on the other side of the car!!). He assured me he wasn’t doing anything. I raised the window back up, but the next time I turned a right turn, it went down again. It was a little spooky!! After about the 4^th time, Roger suggested that maybe something in the back had shifted and was putting pressure on the window switch. We didn’t even know where it was – the car was totally loaded with everything out of the R.V. (When we left the R.V., we didn’t know if it could be fixed and we’d see it again, so we took almost everything out of it and loaded it into the car.)

Turns out, he was right. When we stopped, we noticed a tray close to the door, and situated just where it needed to be to open the window when the back items pushed against it on tight right turns!

BTW – it’s a red 2011 Town and Country with no body damage, but we will probably sell it rather than fix the electrical issues.

Home!

We spent Memorial weekend with Josh, Alan and families. Our hotel had a pool, so the kids were over every day. They love the water!

On Sunday morning Alan and family went to a church of their choice with us. We had dinner together. Then we drove out to Storybook Land – a fun place for all of us!

In the evening, Roger and I went to the church that we often visit when in town. They had a special program, so we invited the g’kids to go with us. Wyatt, 5, accepted. It was over 1.5 hours long, but he was well behaved and even paid attention to the speaker. We were very impressed!! The music, speaker and program were inspiring and refreshing.

We booked the room over Tuesday, so we would be there on a work day. Roger called about the R.V., hoping we could return to get it. However, it wasn’t ready. Tuesday evening he went to the new Top Gun movie with Alan and Galina and I stayed to babysit – the kids were in the pool, so it was an easy job! (When Wyatt realized we didn’t have the R.V. and there were no toys in the hotel room, he announced that he would bring some toys next time he came!!)

Wednesday morning we left Rapid City for home. We drove a long day and ended up in Post Falls, ID. The next day home was a much shorter drive.

Badlands

On our way to Rapid City, we decided to drive through the Badlands National Park.

 The rocks there are so amazing – colorful and uniquely shaped.

 It’s an easy place to worship God – His creation speaks of His greatness.