As in: home again, home again.
I have to admit, this trip home from the Black Hills wasn't relaxing - I was on high alert with every noise, anticipating that it would mean another trip up on the roof to make more repairs. That didn't happen today.
Rufus is an intuitive boy; he can sense when something's not right... he did some extra lap-sitting today, for both his Mom and Dad.
When in travel mode, it is usually "everything in its place." We had started the gathering process yesterday, so there were baskets and bags out that aren't usually there. Rufus notices. He, too, was on high alert.
Mother Nature gifted us with sunshine and not much wind today; I was grateful. It was pretty much a straight run from the RV park where we spent the night last night to the turn off that takes us to the road to our storage unit. As we get close, we are reminded that we are heading into the Tropical Tip by the palm trees along the Expressway and the blue on the GPS screen showing us that we aren't far from the waters of the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico...
Five miles before getting to the storage unit, we disconnect the Honda and cargo trailer from the motorhome, making it easier for us to get through the gate to the storage unit (our length would put the two tows out on the highway while we open the gate). I really notice how "lively" the coach is without having to haul two more units behind it.
We put the coach in the storage unit and pulled the Honda and cargo trailer close by the door...
There is a lot of stuff that needs to be transferred from the coach to the car or trailer...
That is a very small portion of what needs to come home. The car and the trailer were full, so there will be another trip of "non-essentials."
Rufus was visibly upset as we took the last of the things to the car... I don't know if he thought we were going to leave him behind, or what. I got to repay the "calming" with him sitting on my lap as I drove the Honda home. He calmed down right away.
Once back onto our island, we parked the car and cargo trailer in the driveway and started the unloading and moving back in process. A walk-through in the house showed that it did fine while we were away. Rufus got to walk around, exclaiming "I love our big house! I love my big chair!" I like being in the motorhome, but I have to admit it feels good to be home. Well, it will when all the work of moving back in is done. We made a good dent in it this afternoon.
Joan worked on the inside stuff while I got water turned on, hurricane shutters opened, then went to work on getting the e-bike and e-scooter out of the Honda and into our storage under the house. Then, getting the Vespa and Xmax unstrapped, chocks put away, and the scoots settled into their respective places in their "portable garage."
Whew!
6 comments:
Glad to see that Rufus (and his loyal staff) are back home safely. We had a minor glitch on our trip to Marysville, WA last week. We were about six miles from the Oregon border and the car suddenly flashed a "low tire pressure" warning. Pulling off immediately, yup - it's really flat.
Three different pickup trucks stopped offering to help -- it's the Idaho way -- and I let the young guys in the third one finish the job of putting the donut spare on. We limped a few miles into Ontario, OR and quickly found a tire shop that fixed us up within ~45 minutes. The tire was repairable. Then on to her flute workshops, where Alice had a great time mostly playing her new-ish contra bass flute. It is taller than me and a full octave lower than the bass flute she played at Mark's house.
Hi Earl - Glad to hear you were able to get to Alice's workshops. Nice that you got some help swapping out tires - you don't want to do anything to mess up that shoulder.
Take care,
Jim
Actually the shoulder is doing fine these days, but my NFL quarterbacking career is definitely over! Getting back up off of the ground is a whole 'nother matter. It was easier to loosen lug nuts and jack up the car than it was to get back up to vertical again. After that Herculean effort, I was happy to accept help from strangers. Remember all those things we "usta-could"? Gravity sucks.
I was actually more worried about the tire. One of the implications of full-time AWD is that the tread depths need to match within a narrow range to avoid stressing the drive train. At a certain point, you have to replace all four tires to maintain balanced wear. Replacing only one tire can void the warranty unless the tire shop shaves the new one down to match the other three. You can't make this stuff up....
I feel your "usta-could" pain. Before I get down on the ground or floor, I look around to see what I can use to boost myself up again. Remember when we were younger and you could hop up to a standing position from down on the ground... and no grunting? Yeah, me neither.
Shaving down a tire? So, they charge you for a new tire, then charge you labor to shave it down?
Yeah, but the cost of shaving one new tire to match the others with plenty of remaining tread life left is nothing compared to four new matching tires. I’m not sure that I would choose full-time AWD again knowing that little wrinkle. Our 2004 Chevy Venture van had AWD but did not require that all four tire be balanced as to tread wear. Sometimes these newer computerized cars are a bit too smart for our own good. Yet another reason to fix up “Lumpy” and keep it going.
Hi Earl - look what I learn here. Shaving tires - who knew? We won't be making any immediate changes in vehicles.
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