September 4, 2003 - Our our way to NH from TX

FINALLY got our rig out of the shop on Tuesday afternoon.  They were done with in on Friday, but we didn't want to share the road with 33.4 million (according to CNN, who of course, knows everything) over the Labor Day weekend, so we planned on picking up the U-Haul on Tuesday morning, and heading out.  The operative word here is "planned".  As you by now have probably figured out, planning something and then doing it are often two distinct unrelated activities.  It rained like only "Deep East" Texas can rain.  And the TV dripped water on the steering wheel.  And even those of you without RV's probably know it's not supposed to do that!  So, on Tuesday morning, rather than trotting off to the U-Haul place, I trotted off to the service department.  They took us in pretty quickly, and then we drove that loaner van to pick up the trailer.  Only it didn't have current plates on it, so the owner of the shop called another in town, and said to come back in 1/2 hour and he'd have another one for us.  We went back to wait at Foretravel, about 2 or 3 blocks away, and when we went back to the U-Haul place, they were just bringing the new trailer in.  And it had expired plates as well.  And the owner was pulling his hair out!  Told me if I came back at 11 AM, he'd have a trailer there for us if we were willing to take a larger trailer.  Which of course, we were, so long as it was at the smaller trailer price.  OK.  Back to Foretravel.  By then, they'd found the wires from the satellite dish that needed re-sealing, and it was ready to go.  I went back, and picked up the trailer, parked it by the carport where our stuff was, dropped it and moved the van out of the way.  Drove the motorhome over and hooked up the trailer, got all the lights working thanks to a Wal-Mart adapter, safety chains rigged, and proper air pressure in the tires.  By then, Barb had the trailer mostly loaded.  Not much stacking required, as the larger trailer easily accomodated our stuff.  Ate lunch, said our goodbys, and took off.  Got to Vicksburg, MS, in time for dinner at Wal-Mart.  273 pleasant miles.  Sure is fun to drive this thing.  Nice and quiet, comfortable, and easy to run the speed limit regardless of the hills.  Our usually quiet night was real noisy.  Had several trucks nearby with their engines running all night to keep their A/C's going, and one guy pulled in right smack alongside us!  I got up at 1 or so, cranked up our generator so we could get some A/C going ourselves, as my pillow was wet.  I really don't do humidity very well at all.  Shut everything down by 4 AM, and got up again at 7.  By 1:00PM, we'd put some miles on, had enjoyed several big rain storms complete with lightning and thunder, and talked about driving clear to Kodak, TN, and spending the night at the Foretravel place there with full hookups.  By 6 PM I was tired of driving, but since the wipers were stopping and starting on their own in spite of the constant rain, we decided to push on so we could be at the service counter when they opened in the AM.  558 miles and we were there.  Good thing, too, as the wipers would only work intermitedly by then.  They have the parts we need, and will get to us as soon as they can, and then we'll hit the road again.  In the meantime, Barb is working on her needlepoint (about done) and I'm hammering the keyboard.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?