RV Blog--Life in a Box. This just ain't 'camping' any more....

So finally, they got the blasted thing ordered and in and we took off on Saturday. Did I mention that I-75 is rough as the proverbial cob? But the trip went well, we stopped off to see friends in KY, drove through some serious rain and finally made it back here last Wednesday--just in time to take the kids and make Family Nite supper at the Elks. Connor took his wooden snake and scared the waitress.... Friday we went to Connor's ballgame, where he hit a double and then got a run. Saturday we crawled out at 5 AM and did the garage sale at Lana's. Then Keith had to take me to the clinic to have my ear examined (no, not the whole head, just the ear!) Seems the combined pollen from who-knows-what, plus the mothballs in the storage trailer, and the cottonwood fluff and the blooming honeysuckle at Lana's had taken their toll and caused fluid to build up. I was getting some cheap "highs" from that, every time I bent down or looked up or tilted my head--the world went a spinning! Ugh.

Today Jared enticed his dad out to do "tractor things" and I spent the day shlepping boxes OUT of the garage and into the new trailer, sorted and washed and found places for much of the contents! The pile dwindled a bit, but there's plenty more boxes to be dealt with! But I have my good pots and pans and cutlery and such--and the George Foreman grill!!! :) The cabinets are beginning to bulge at the seams! Came across the boxes of Longaberger baskets that I had scattered all over the old trailer and discovered that they're going to have to make their way onto eBay, 'cause there's no room for them here!!!

DID I MENTION THAT I HATE MOVING?

NOW, we're back in our little spot in Florida--finally!!! Got to the dealership on Friday and didn't get outa there til noon today!!! Bless 'em, they hadn't started doing the stuff they were supposed t! Heck, they hadn't even ordered the things they needed to do it WITH! ARGGGG! We'll have to arrange our trip back North around a stop back at the dealership for them to install our Mt. Rushmore decalf. :(

But, hey! We're in our new "high-end 'box'" and all's well with our world.....

Let's see....the trip up went well. Picked up the tractor and kept on coming this way. Stopped North of Ocala in a little place called McIntosh--which we later learned is the town where the movie "Doc Hollywood" ( I think that's the name of it...), starring Michael J. Fox, was filmed. Beautiful victorian houses! Great campground too--except they had mosquitos that hum in basso profundo! LOL! Huge skeeters, worthy of the huge frogs along the edge of the lake/marsh.

Wednesday we chugged our way clear through the state of Georgia and landed in Madisonville, TN for the nite--in our friend Lester's driveway. :) "Camp among friends--cheap!" is our motto! LOL!

Thursday we got out on I-75, realized we were near Suzi and met her at the truckstop for breakfast. Then crawled around Knoxville at an asphalt-eating 2 MPH, and headed North some more. Uuuuuuup and down we went, with the truck groaning and Keith cussing his malfunctioning dual-speed axle, all the way to Louisville. Spent a great evening there with Bill & Pam, and at least 14 dogs! :)

Friday, the weather was starting to get hot--Florida style. Ugh. But we loaded Pam's dead JD lawn tractor on behind Keith's big shiny tractor and made it to the 'farm' in good time. :) Once #1 son got home from work, they unloaded the tractor, pulled the big RV out from under it's pole barn roof and we collapsed, ate our leftovers from the great Italian restaurant the nite before and slept where we sat!

Saturday was 'boxing' day. Ugh. The kids fetched a couple of young missionaries to do the toting and we got most of our 'stuff' stacked up in temporary piles out of the weather. All that remains is to get that little pop-up lifted off the truck, drag the last of the 'stuff' out of here, do some cleanup, batten down the hatches, rest all day tomorrow, and hit the road again! WE ARE NOT EXCITED ABOUT ANY KIND OF ROADS!!! Going to try the I-65 option this trip, to see if it's any better.... By Friday, God willing, we'll be moving into the new digs and Saturday will be back in our quiet little campground--exhausted! Not going to move from there for DAYS!!! (Gotta get that axle-thingy cured before we head north again!)

OKAY READERS--YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW! Have yourselves a great day and be kind to all the mothers in your lives! I'm going to go find some Tylenol and put my feet up and watch Charles Osgood......

Monday went well. Finished up and were ready to hit the road on Tuesday morning. Which we did. :) Tuesday went well. Put in a big day and made great time! Made it to the Sweetwater Valley KOA, south of Knoxville. Beautiful campground! Out of sight of the Interstate, in the woods. In fact, it's one of those rare campgrounds where you wouldn't mind hanging out for a few days--if there were time...

Yeah, so yesterday we noticed this little bitty antifreeze leak, bought a bottle of Stop Leak and before we hit the road this morning, Keith added it and a little water to the radiator and away we went...

Uh, so to backtrack a bit, just before we began this oddessy, it occured to me that our Good Sam membership had expired, so I went online, re-joined, and as soon as they'd given me a membership #, I called their affiliated Emergency Roadside Assistance and bought road insurance. :) Those of you who know me well, know my views on the entire "Insurance Industry"--but I did it anyhoo.

Back to today's adventures: 10 miles down the Interstate, just as we blew past the Athens, TN exit, huge clouds began to billow forth from our truck. HUGE clouds! Long story shorter--the radiator basically puked up it's entire contents, right there with traffic roaring past, rocking our 'boat' almost constantly! Not a happy event, but *very big grin*, I dialed up the Good Sam ERA #, and a nice lady took down all our info and after a short wait, a tow truck pulled up, hooked onto our incapacitated bigass truck--still with 36' 5th wheel in tow--and dragged the whole works to a campground, where we unhooked the trailer and then away went the bigass truck and Keith, to the radiator shop which was expecting it. :) No charge for that tow service, by the way! :) Eventually the radiator guy brought Keith back and now we wait until the new radiator arrives in a big brown truck tomorrow.....and is installed. And we should be good to go about noon tomorrow. Methinks we might have to reschedule the 'pickup time' on our new rig....

Meanwhile, here we sit in a lovely wooded campground, overlooking a mountain stream and within walking distance of Wendy's, Applebee's, Lowe's, a convenience store, and, right up the street....Wally World. It's cloudy and a light rain is falling, off and on. Keith and the dogs are snoozing.... Life is Good.

I was thinking about my old station wagon yesterday....wouldn't it be a hoot to put a "Free Car" sign in the window, a signed title on the front seat, park it next to the road and see what happens? LOL! I wonder how long it would take before anyone actually stopped? And how much longer before someone actually got in and drove it away? LOL! Think of the photo ops! Or, maybe leave it in a parking lot all day and watch.... :) If I didn't already know 2 different people who could really use it and would like to have it for free, I'd do it!!!

Today is the day for packing up the little "Box" and getting it ready to pull to the dealership when we get back to Florida--so we can have our NEW HOME! :) This involves the usual, mundane things, like defrosting the fridge, shampoo-ing the carpet, putting away the the loose things.... When we get it to the dealership, they will direct us to our new unit, park the old one next to it, and we'll have to transfer our "stuff" and say goodbye to our little winter home. And goodbye to tripping over our own feet trying to navigate amongst our pack of puppies and turn sideways to get into and out of the bathroom!!! LOL!

We've come up against an unexpected annoyance in the midst of all this organized chaos. Kizzee, the 'high-strung' rat terrier, has freeked out. Totally gone nutso on us. Terrified we're going to leave her, I guess. At first I thought she was being vindictive by soaking our bed when we leave them alone for any length of time, but all the experts claim there is no such thing as a vindictive dog??? Which leaves us with "hysterical" behaviour. The second time she soaked our down comforter, featherbed and sheets, I was pretty sure I could wring her skinny little neck, but I guess the thing to do is haul her to the vet today and get some anti-anxiety meds.... Tried the herbal stuff, and got no visible results already. *sigh* I know she'll be calmer once we're on the road--she understands that, and travels well. Molly B is staying here with our friends--becasue she is content wherever she is, if there is food, a place to run and someone to pat her head and tell her she's wonderful. :) The scruffy little puppy is the unknown, but he rides well in the car, so he's going along--since he cries a lot when we leave him behind. We really wanted to be able to farm the lot of them out while we make this run, but kennels suck and there's only so much we'll ask our friends to do!!! LOL!

And now, with no further adieu, I'm off to commence to begin...