We Did it!

Our first foray into long haul camping is a success. We’re in Bethel Pa tonight, Buchanan Va tomorrow. I don’t want to get overconfident, but travel went well today. Once we got on the road things went smoothly. The days preceding not so much. Let I me tell you about that.

A few days before departure it snowed. 3 inches of slushy snow. Fun. Wednesday, I read an article that said if your camper tires are more than 5 years old, they’re no good. It doesn’t matter how they look they need to be replaced. I checked the date on our tires, 6-7 years old. I had visions of a blowout on the highway with us careening wildly off the side of the road. As soon as Steve walked through the door, I told him “WE HAVE TO REPLACE THE TRAILER TIRES!” He was thrilled. We had talked about replacing the tires months ago and both agreed they look fine. Now I’m in full panic mode. “Call the tire place, see if they can do it right away” I screeched. Steve’s a good guy so he went to the tire shop, ordered new tires and made an appointment for Friday. When he went to the shop Friday they had neglected to order the tires. Oh well. I guess the tires are fine.

Saturday we were busily packing. When the time came to load our nifty foldable E-bikes, I couldn’t find my key. I thought I had my key, but it didn’t fit. I had a mystery key. I always put keys in a small basket on the kitchen counter. Why isn’t my bike key there and what the heck is this brand new key that doesn’t fit anything? Now I go into frustrated panic mode. I don’t know where to look because I always put keys in the same place. You know, so I won’t lose them. I call locksmiths. They can’t make a key for an e-bike.  I contact the company. There’s nothing they can do. Steve figured it out. I had dropped my bike key in the box for the bike lock. I mistakenly picked up the bike lock key and put it in the basket on the counter. What made him look in the bike lock box? I don’t know, but I’m glad he did. He’s pretty smart. We finished packing in cold drizzle.

Finally, the time came to hit the road. Sunday morning, we pull out of the driveway and travel 100 yards when we realize we don’t have the road atlas. Do we need the atlas? Not really. We have an RV GPS and our phones. We like the atlas, sometimes it’s handy to look at a paper map. So, Steve pulled over and I trotted back to the house. I discovered that we had left the garage door open so it’s just as well.

When we finally made it out of town, everything went fine. Only had to turn around once. We’ll get the hang of this camping thing. Chattanooga Tn is in our near future.

Thanks for following along on our adventure.

I can’t seem to upload photos. Tech issues. Photos at a later date.