Michelle Did It.

You know she did!  How in the world would Jay get into a car accident without her being responsible?

We were sightseeing in Fredericton, NB and Jay was in the turn lane.  "I think you need to go straight", said Michelle.  "I think I need to turn" said Jay.  "No, you need to go straight" said Michelle.

Jay went straight.

But to do so, he had to back up and get out of the turn lane.  But SURPRISE!!  There was a car behind him!

WHACK!  It was Michelle's fault!

Well, let us tell you that having a spare tire hanging on the rear of your Jeep is a good thing.  It really protects you from damage when you do dumb stuff.  It's too bad that the Ford behind us didn't have a spare tire on their hood.

After the police came and did a report, the policeman and the couple that Jay hit did what all good Canadians do.  They wished us a great vacation, and apologized for our inconvenience.

God, we love Canadians.

So on we slogged, and made it to the cottage by 6pm.  We called ahead and asked the fellow who just opened a storage lot in Liverpool (the town next to our cottage) if we could store our RV and truck there.  We explained how "big" we are.  We told him we would pull in and park it and then head to our cottage.

No problem, he said.  But how long will you be there?

About six weeks, we told him.

Well... he said.... That's nothing.  I won't charge you for that.

God, we love Canadians.

We protested and made him accept a payment for our storage.  It is close to our house and is wonderfully convenient.  We parked it and have had an easy transfer of goods into the house.

We are in the cottage (Notre Mer) and our batteries are CHARGING.  This is a very special place for us, and we are happy to be here.

So, in closing we will show you a short video of the view off our deck tonight.  The weather in these parts has been crappy, but it seems that we brought the good weather with us.  How can you not love this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QprT3M97rg

Now that we are settled, I will update the blog on Wednesdays and Sundays.  We hope you will check in on us!

C-ya!

Damn it's Cold

Welcome to New Brunswick!  Bring your woolies!

We arrived at our campsite last night 15 minutes BEFORE our planned ETA.  We must be getting REALLY OLD to be that punctual on a 250 mile trip.

The drive to NB was "mucky" the whole way, marked by intermittent visibilities and a steady drizzle.  With the exception, of course, of our departure.  That little time period, when Jay was out connecting the things that needed to be connected, and disconnecting the things that need to be disconnected.  During that time, it was a downpour.  Of course.  It leads to the claim of authenticity, however.  He's A REAL CAMPER.

Despite the rain and occasional haze, the drive was quite beautiful.  Sorry, no pictures were taken.  But eastern Quebec (Province) is gorgeous farmland and rolling hills, and New Brunswick quickly becomes rugged with wanna-be mountains and bountiful rivers.  (We're not trying to demean the hills here, but they are not really mountains, but they are fairly substantial).

Our "neighbors" in the park are friends/related, and our site sits between their two sites.  They invited us to join them and partake in a Canadian tradition.  We did.

We drank beer.

They come here for weekend get-aways and this is just one of those weekends.  They were quite friendly and colorful in their views of travel and Americans.  Like many Canadians, they enjoy Florida and last year one couple did an extensive RV trip around Florida.  They all work for the power company, and one fellow is a lineman.  He works outside during all kinds of weather.  Yikes.  It's cold here, and it's MAY!  The high today is supposed to be 60.

We will spend the day checking out Fredericton and we plan a leisurely dinner at "home". We depart on Sunday for Notre Mer!  Our Sea!

If you don't know the history of that name, it's what we call the cottage.   Every cottage deserves a name, but we couldn't decide on one.  Everytime we would visit, we would remark that the privacy of the home made us feel like we had "our own ocean" which led to the affectionate term of "Our Ocean".  Eventually Jay's astute cousin Paul offered that "Notre Mer", which means "Our Sea" in French might be a good name for the cottage.  We loved it immediately, and Notre Mer it is.

So, in closing, we will show you a logo for an event we have planned at Notre Mer in June.  Michelle and her sisters, and a young quartet from Nashville will all be at the cottage and we are going to have a Feed of Lobster and a Barbershop Harmony night!  And of course, when you mix the two, you get LobsterShop!  If you are in the neighborhood on June 24th - stop by!!

This will probably be the most delicious music ever.

Thanks for coming by!

Day Deux

That's day two, for my Tennessee brethren.

Not much else to report today; we went back into Quebec - into the "Old City".  We wouldn't quite claim to be experts yet, but we did have a little bit of that "I've been here before" swagger as we negotiated the traffic and parking.

Michelle was ADAMANT that she was going to get a photo of Le Chateau Frontenac.  Despite the rain on the ferry ride over, she was out doing her best.

I'll get that dang picture no matter WHAT!

Still not the best shot, but WOW, what a hotel!!

We then strolled the old city and saw this building with the most beautiful painting on the side of it.  Just one of the THOUSANDS of treasures that you stumble across in Quebec.

We had a nice lunch in a French restaurant and then WENT TO WALMART.

Talk about a buzz-killer.

We leave tomorrow in the morning for Fredericton, the Capital city of New Brunswick.  It seems we are hitting all the capitals of each Province!  That wasn't the "plan", but a fun fact that sort of fell out of our itinerary.

Au revoir!

Bonjour Quebec!

Who said the Quebec'ers were unfriendly?  Not the ones we met.

Well, there was that cab driver, but he didn't look like he knew where he was going, so Jay simply used a little initiative.   You know what?  Horn's in French sound just like they do in English!  We understood!

So here are some updates:  We arrived yesterday afternoon around 3pm (just like we planned!) and settled into for a relaxing evening.  They put us waaaaaayy in the back 40.

We're in the back of the park basically alone.

We had a nice morning and headed into Quebec City.  We drove into to this morning, (about a 30 minute drive) and took the Ferry back (about 15 minutes).

Today was pretty special in a few ways.  First of all, we celebrated 26 years of marriage today!  And we did it in a very special place.  We had lunch at Le Chateau Frontenac, the stunning hotel in the center of Quebec City.  Jay's parents spent their Honeymoon there, nearly 61 years ago.  

Not the best shot of this magnificent hotel,
but you get the picture....

We enjoyed a very nice lunch in their Terrace restaurant

This is the most dressed up Jay has
gotten in a month

And then we did a carriage ride through the old city.  We have found that carriage rides are delightful in the way to take tours in tourist cities.  This was no exception.

Then, on the advice of Peggy, we went to the shops "below" the Frontenac (it sits on a huge cliff-type hill).  What a great recommendation this was!

Viewing the lower street areas from the stairways that
lead you down to it.

We felt that a 7 hour test of our dogs bladders was about all the risk we were willing to endure today, and we are happy to report that the test was successful.  These dogs have been very easy to travel with.

The weather forecast for tomorrow suggests that we picked the right day (today) for our outside tourist activities.  If it rains a lot we will seek out some other interesting things to do.  Quebec is a spectacular city.  We could spend weeks here.  It will be a charming city to return to.

Our best wishes to you all!

O Canada

We saw our nation's capital yesterday.

That's right - Ottawa.

Posing at the Capital

It is a very beautiful city, with buildings that can only be described as magnificent.  We are standing in front of the "Peace Tower", which is the centerpiece of the House of Commons.  (Or should I say centrepiece?)

One half of the building....

And in the rear of the House of Commons is the library, which is the only building that survived a fire that destroyed the other original buildings.

Truly magnificent architecture

And when we turned around, this is the view behind us

Wish I knew the name of this river!

Dave and Peggy took us ALL around the city and we walked the streets with trendy pubs and shopping.  It was a holiday on Monday (Victoria Day) so there were a few more folks out than usual, but there is a nice "buzz" to the area all all times, Peggy said.  She is the Director of an association for downtown businesses, so she has all the good scoop.  Dave is a Communications Advisor for various bureaucrats in the government, so he has all the great politico perspective of what is going on in Canada, and how it all works.  It has been a delight to visit with them.

We enjoyed watching a Hockey game (on TV) last night, as Dave watched his Boston Bruins win game 5 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals.  Nothing like watching Hockey with someone who actually understands it!

We leave today for a 6 hour drive to a little town outside of Quebec City, for a few days of playing tourist.  We will stay until Friday, when we pull up stakes and drive for two days to Liverpool and land at our cottage.

We hope this finds you well!  Be good!

New Vehicle for the Neighborhood

This may have raised a few eyebrows:

Big Blue at rest.

We arrived in Ottawa about 3 pm and parked in front of Dave and Peggy's house.  We quickly determined that this rig wasn't going to fit in their driveway - even split apart, so we parked up on the grass in front of his house.  All's well that ends well.

We then enjoyed a leisurely afternoon on the back deck.  Jay and Dave caught up on all the cousin talk, and then we transitioned into great steaks and libations.  Kathy MacGillivray and her son Jack are here too, getting Jack set up for the summer.  She will leave this afternoon, and Jack will stay to work in Ottawa.  He is such a great kid - going places for sure.

Dave and Jay. I know.  Handsome.

Our Border crossing was, on balance, a non-event.  We pulled up to the truck lane, and the Agent asked where we were going, and why.  He asked how long we would be in Canada, and if we would taking everything we brought in back out when we left.  (Yup, I told him).

He asked if we had anything to declare.  I told him of the inventory of wine we had recently purchased (at Costco.... Oh look at the good prices!.....).  He wrote it down on a pad of paper and sent us into "Door 2" to pay our duty.  The verdict?  We had to pay $201 in duty on 14 bottles of wine/liquor!!  OUCH!!!  That Costco wine isn't so cheap after all!

And that was the only pain.  No boarding of the truck, no inspection of the RV.  No discussion about the dogs.   I guess they thought anyone who is dumb enough to declare 14 bottles of liquor is too dumb to break the law.

We will visit with Dave and Peggy for a few days, and depart for Quebec on Tuesday.

All for now.  Life is good!

Expensive Air

Silly Jay.  He thought that air was one of the last things that was still free.

We packed up the RV.  We battened down the hatches.  Jay tried to start Big Blue.

No joy.

This is never a good sign.

Jay applied his cursory skills at fixing large diesel engines.

No joy.  

Time to call a friend.  (Jay has a friend in Nashville that is a crack expert at such things).  Here's how that went:

JW -  "Check the starter connections".

Jay - "Already did that".

JW - "Tap the starter with a hammer".

Jay - "Already did that".

JW - "Call a mechanic".

Ok, Jay did that.

Ok, this is NEVER a good sign.

The FIRST mobile guy tried to jump it.  No help; the batteries were fine.  With that experiment exhausting the scope of his skills, we called another mobile guy, who specializes in big trucks.

The SECOND mobile guy by-passed the starter solenoid and confirmed that the starter works.  In fact, when he got it to turn, the truck lurched.  What?  It's not in neutral?  

Turn out that this fancy-schmancy automatic transmission (Sissy Transmission, say the truckers) needs compressed air to move it into gear, and into neutral.  And when Jay moved it "just a few feet" the day before, he shut the truck off before it could build up enough air pressure to put itself back into neutral when he turned if off.

So now it sat, stuck in gear, and it won't start in gear.  And it can't build up air pressure until it is started.  But it can't start, cuz it's in gear.   But it can't get out of gear, cuz it needs air.  You see the dilemma.

So Mr. Repairman number two calls Mr. Repairman number three to come with the BIG truck that has an air compressor.  And they filled the truck full of Expensive Air.  And then the transmission was happy.  Then the starter was happy.  Then the repairman was happy.

Jay had mixed emotions on the whole deal.  Learning how to be a Super Trucker sure is expensive.

We hit the road, about 6 hours later than intended and drove until the wee hours.  It is at times like this that we have slight pangs of affection for Walmart, who allow vagrant RV'ers to park overnight in their vast parking lots.  We reached the northern edges of Baltimore, found a Walmart and grabbed some sleep.  Off to New York State we went in the morning.

We found an interesting campground about an hour south of the Canadian border, and had a nice evening here.  Upstate New York is really quite beautiful.  Very rustic, beautiful vistas of farms, and huge tree-lined gorges.  Our campground did require finesse to squeeze into our site, and will require equal finesse to extract ourselves when we leave.  We pray for no bumps into things when we leave.

We will soon find out what it is like to go through customs with a big rig.  We weren't thinking when we stocked the wine cabinet earlier this week.... we will certainly have to pay some duty on our stash.  We'll let you know how that goes.

So we are now off to see Peggy and David!  Jay's cousin Kathy MacGillivray and her son Jack (a student at Cornell) are visiting Dave and Peggy this weekend too, so it will be quite festive!

And may your air be free.

Birthplace of Pepsi

Yep.  That's what New Bern is.

Yesterday Michelle and I had lunch in a very charming restaurant called Morgan's in downtown New Bern.  Here it is:

The downtown historic area of New Bern
is as charming as any you will find.

And I decided to order a Coke.

Bad, bad, man.

You see, Pepsi was invented in New Bern!  No Coke for you, gringo!  (Not from these parts, are ya, Fella?)  Bev and Arnie quickly informed me that this is a PEPSI TOWN.

I suggested it was perhaps better described as the birthplace of the imitation of Coke.

I didn't get a lot of laughs.  I guess people in New Bern just don't have a funny bone.

Later, Bev and Arnie took us to the actual drugstore
where Pepsi was invented - just down the street from
our restaurant.

And here is the drugstore.  If I was really good, I'd recall
the name of the drugstore.  Bradbury?  Bad case of CRS.

But back to the restaurant.  It was really a pleasant experience, and made even more so by our server Winnie.  Now, how many Winnie's have YOU met?   We decided she was our first, and what a sweetie.   She was even sport enough to have her photo taken with "Dee-Dee the Dinosaur", the ball and chain that Michelle is required to take with her on our trip.

Winnie had no idea why she was doing
this, but she's a good sport!

We ended our afternoon with happy hour on Bev and Arnie's sailboat.  It's a 42' Catalina and they have sailed it to the Bahama's 4 times so far (and that doesn't include trips in their old boat).  Bev and Arnie have been our inspiration for "chasing your dreams", as they made the decision to sail while they could, and they retired early to do it.  They have made so many wonderful memories, they can't recall them all.  Hmm.  Wait a minute.  Does that make them memories?  Oh, forget it.

We carefully photographed the two
nicest people in New Bern. 

Jay is doing his best Pirate Squint.  Or maybe it's just the lack
of sunglasses

Wednesday will be our last day in New Bern.  If the morning holds up we may just raise the sails and split some waves.  Then - Northward!  On to the Motherland of Canada.

Hope you're having a great week!

Good Morning, New Bern!

I'm feeling a bit guilty about not reporting in and providing some level of update on our visits in New Bern, NC.

We are staying in a KOA, about 15 minutes from our friends house.  It is a REALLY nice campground, and they had a nice 112 ft pull-through site for us.  It made life very easy for us to arrive.  We agree that this "rig" set-up is a dream to drive on the interstates; it is a dream to "hang out in" once you get it parked and set-up; but driving it in tight quarters is like walking through your house while carrying a canoe.  Yes, it can be done, but you must be verrrry careful.  I guess it's the price you pay for those other advantages.

Behind me is the path that leads to the river

Just a short walk away is a dock area that lead to the river, which (duh) will take you to the ocean.  We drove to the Outer Banks last night and met Bonnie and Joe, two work acquaintances from Reno over 25 years ago.  Jay and Michelle both worked with Bonnie in the Harrah's Steakhouse.  Those work relationships seem to have endured the test of time; it's amazing how you just pick right up with some folks!  We had a fun dinner at a beachside restaurant, caught up on the last 20-some years,  and went for a windy walk on the pier.  Sorry, no pics... we can't seem to remember to take pictures of all this stuff!

This is the dock/river behind our RV.  Not the best picture,
but heck, it's all I have right now!

We had a great dinner with Bev and Arnie on Sunday night, and will be getting together a few more times before we head out on Thursday.   Jay and Bev worked together in Kansas City in 1993 - she was the first employee he hired there!  Although thousands more followed afterward, she was always his favorite.  Well, she's a great Canadian, from Montreal!  He nicked-named her Frenchie, and it still makes her smile.   Well, we really stay in touch because this lady can cook!

The weather is a bit iffy for our last two days of visiting here, so although golf and sailing are in the general plans, we will play it by ear.  No matter, we are having a wonderful time visiting with dear friends.  We do plan to hit the road Thursday morning, with Canada as our goal.  We will find someplace convenient to stop Thursday and Friday nights, and plan to arrive in Ottawa, Ontario Saturday at noon.

Cheers for now!

Damn Canadians

Well, the good news is, it hasn't gotten worse.


But it started out pretty bad.


You see, we are parked across from a Canadian.


And here is HIS set up:

This guy is in a camper that the park rents

And the park told me to disconnect
Big Blue and park it next to him.

You can see our fifth wheel
behind our truck, across the
road

So here's what happened.  When we arrived here last Friday in Myrtle Beach, we arrived in a downpour.  I asked the nice woman at the registration desk if I would be able to stay connected when I parked (truck + RV).  She said "You should be able too... except the LAST guy in your group who checked in didn't tell us when he reserved THAT HE WAS 70' LONG!!".

"Well," I told her, "I'm 72".

She scurried around and then informed me that the park was making a "special consideration" for us HDT'ers, and we could disconnect and park across the "road" in the space across from our RV.  She even gave me an official parking tag for the camping spot my truck was to go into.  We parked, unhitched and put Big Blue where we were instructed to.

The next morning I woke up all anxious to check out the campground, and I saw one member of our group talking to a man in front of Big Blue.  Certain that there was an exchange of admiration occurring, I decided to hustle out there to participate.

I approached a seemingly gracious discussion between Bill B., a fellow HDT'er from Michigan and a small fellow with a mysterious accent.  European, I suspected.  Bill introduced me as the fellow who owned the rig.

"It is quite remarkable!" exclaimed the little fellow.

"Thanks", I replied.

"But" he confided, "It cannot be parked here.  They have a place for these things... down in the corner of the park.  But it cannot be parked here".

I immediately surmised that he was a grounds keeper at the park.  I was surprised by this instruction, as I was told to park it there by the registration lady.  I told him so. 

"Oh no," My little friend replied confidently, "The man who told you that was incorrect.  It cannot stay here".

"Ok" I said. "Where do you want me to park it again?"

"It is not ME", he replied.  "It is the PARK".

I was stunned.  "You don't work here?"

"No" he said.  "I am parked next to you.  This is not a truck stop.  I came here to camp".

I told him that I would do whatever park required, but I was told to park there.  I wished him a good morning and left.  He scurried away in the direction of the park office.  As I walked back to my RV, I noticed the license plates on his minivan.

Quebec.  Oh mon Dieu!

Moments later, he returned.  "Well" he lamented, "The park is aware of your truck, and they will allow it to stay parked here.  So it is up to you".

I asked him to explain his displeasure, and he could only keep referring to the campground as "not a truck stop".  "It is blocking my view" he said.  "But how is that different from a camper?" I asked.  He wouldn't answer.  So I left it.  We have had a cold war for the week.

But, on to more fun news, here is a picture of the park at 6am.  That's when Keji puts his cold nose to my feet to inform me that his enormous bladder is reaching capacity.

You can see a number of open spots, indicating that peak
camping season here is just ending.  The ocean is
right at the end of this row.

And here are the two canine alarm clocks, happy to be "empty".  Toby insists on running to every bush and post, leaving his mark across the campground.  Keji, on the other hand, stands in one place, stretches out, and does his best imitation of Secretariat.  Is there a contest somewhere we can enter him in?

How do you take a picture of a black dog???

And here is a recent addition to the camping gear; two "folding" bicycles.  Michelle insisted on a slight upgrade to hers.  Can you tell which one is hers?

I'm not saying a WORD, not a word.

And finally, a cute little gas Weber grill.

Jay fired up this gas grill on Thursday night for some
steaks.  The bad news?  He turned it off SATURDAY morning!

And that, folks, is about as complicated as our lives were this week.

Michelle shot down to Atlanta for the weekend to practice with her quartet, and Jay will load up the rig for an early departure on Sunday am (Picking her up at the Myrtle Beach airport in the full set-up!).  We head to New Bern, NC to visit friends, and then to Ottawa to see Dave and Peggy!

Happy Camping!

And for the record.... Jay's a Canadian too... just kidding about the damn Canadians...

They have Hooters, We have Dicks

Well, that's what the T-shirt says anyway.

Last night the ECR group (East Coast Rally) went to Dick's Last Resort, a chain of restaurants that celebrates grumpy waitstaff.  Where was this gig when we were working through college?  It's every waiters dream!  Click on the Youtube link to see our dinner, and I've added some pictures of the event as well.  The waiter made us all hats - and well, you'll just have to forgive some of the things he wrote!

http://youtu.be/EwOG6TtrriQ

Her hat says "I've been on my knees more
times than the Virgin Mary

If one comes to Nashville, our daughter Danielle is a shoo-in.

Her's says "This won't be the last time I have
a bag on my head!"

The RV group here are really nice folks.  One guy is an International Freight Pilot (so that was fun for Jay to learn about); one couple OUR AGE are retired from the government and full-timing in their RV; one couple is from Michigan and he graduated from Michigan Tech just like Jay's sister.  Another couple is a MD/Anesthesiologist;, one guy is an entrepreneur that specializes in numerous trades, and a young couple is here and the gal works for Marriott.  It's been fun to have an instant commonality of interest, and its all about enjoying life.  Nice.

Her's says "I've had more balls in my face
than a Circus Seal!"

Michelle's: "I like sex, just not with ---> HIM!"
Jay's: "My package is so small, not even UPS can
 find it"

His says "The only time I get a little
ass is when my finger rips the
toilet paper!"

Hey, we didn't write that stuff - we're only reporting!!

Michelle and I actually did a jog/walk this morning.   This beach is GREAT for long walks.

That's about all folks!  The big demands of the day are a trip to Camperworld and a group outing to the Boo-Fay (buffet) tonight.  Jay has seen enough Boo-Fay's to last a lifetime, but heck, it's a group thing.

That's all for now!  See ya!

Simple Life, Simple Update

You might say that this is the first week and days that we have been able to truly relax.  For the last few days, we started out the day with a long walk with the dogs on the beach:

Michelle and the pretty dog

Jay and the good dog

We have come to the realization that when you spend all of your time with your dogs, and must have them on a leash at all time, that you become very familiar with their poop.  It might be one of the early indicators of things that you miss at home - which is a big yard that you don't have to go clean up after them!

The group here is going to a bar called Dick's Last Resort this afternoon, where the servers apparently insult you as they serve you.   We're not so sure what's unusual about that...  It seems that most institutions are that way!  We plan to join them, and we hear it's fun.

Jay is still fooling with his technology (iPhone and MacBook).  It's hard for a Windows user to get it all set up to do everything they are used to.  It's good that we have some "slow time" to dedicate to it all.

Ok.  Simple day, simple update. We will play a little golf this week and head to New Bern, NC on Sunday. 

See ya!

Myrtle, Blessed, Beach

Our arrival was uneventful.
Our first day was uneventful.
Praise the Lord.

We did have some weather on the way up here. It was actually a good data point for us, as the big debate among people who RV is whether or not a Class A (bus) is better than a Fifth Wheel.  You many know that we have had a Class A for over 15 years, and recently went to a fifth wheel.  One of the big differences is the hassle of "setting up" a fifth wheel in the rain.  Well, I am no longer a virgin.

Here was our drive the WHOLE way up here, for 5.5 hours:

It RAINED for 5 straight hours

When we arrived to the campground, we set up at our site in the rain and got the full experience of "doin' it in the rain".  It wasn't that bad, really.  After all, we DO have dry clothes in the RV.

So here is the entrance of the Myrtle Beach Travel Park.  It is a mature park, with many amenities and hundreds of spots for R.V.'s.  We are about 300 yards from the ocean, and the beach is very nice.

We are here to join up with other (weird) folks who have large trucks and R.V.'s.  There are 8 of us here; last year there were 20, I'm told.  The big rally in October, held in Kansas usually draws over 60.  It has been nice to meet a few of the folks that I have only met before on the internet.  Michelle and I are both enjoying them and our shared interests.

 By the way, in case you didn't know, here is our "rig"

Yep.  72' long and a dream to drive.

We had a happy hour tonight, in memory of "Cinco de Mayo", which we all missed.  Michelle made her famous 7 layer dip, which was warmly received by all.

See?  There are other weird folks like us!

The other good news is that Jay actually figured out the cable TV hook up, and we are watching mindless programs in the comfort of our RV. 

We will be here until Sunday, May 15th, and then we leave for New Bern, NC to visit Jay's old assistant from Kansas City (Bev) and her husband Arnie.  We will join them for a "raft up" on their sailboat, which is a huge happy hour among friends with boats.  We are VERY mindful that it is MUCH BETTER to have friends with boats than to own a boat.

Life is good.  Our best to you!

Savannah, $avannah

Many people visit Savannah and leave with memories of beautiful boulevards and Live Oak Trees... sumptuous seafood... warm people...

We think we will remember it as the place where we left a handsome sum of money to get our rig repaired so we could leave.

So heres the deal:  Remember the "Road Gator" that "moved" the axle?  Well, the axle issue was likely NOT related to something as simple as a truck tire remnant in the road... the axle issue was much more serious.  As it turns out, the leaf springs that are attached to the axle are attached to the trailer frame.  (Or they used to be).  Our little incident turned out to be a big deal where a section of the FRAME was ripped off (as part of the leaf springs) and every point of attachment (for all three axles) needed to be re-welded and braced.   Yes, Houston, we had a problem.

This bracket should be connected to the frame

So we found a local fabricator/repair guy and have significantly added to the local economy.  Since he has a "day job", his repairs to our RV occurred in the evening.... and into the late evening... making Jay and Michelle the most popular people in the campground.  (Think loud generators, impact wrenches, welding and a work crew that banters amongst themselves like Bart Simpson).

This shows it tacked into place:

And while this fellow didn't leave the pretty welds that J.W. Morgan from back home would do, he did get the job done in time for us to leave today, which was greatly appreciated.

And this is the completed repair with angle iron added

But not all was lost.  Jay and Michelle had fun exploring $avannah by first checking the beach next to the campground.

Keji and Toby think the ocean is fun

And afterward we did a Segway tour of $avannah:

Yes, Michelle could stay on without falling!

And yes, that IS a stuffed animal with Michelle.  That is "Dee-Dee the Dinosaur" and Michelle is ordered to take it with her everywhere by the Tune Town Chorus.  Lord help us.

The Live Oak Tree-lined streets are gorgeous

Dinner consisted of Crawfish, Oysters and fish tacos.  It was so good, it took some of the sting out of $avannah.

And that about wraps up our $avannah visit!  We are going to hook up the rig and head to Myrtle beach.  We hope it will be (ahem) less adventurous.

Our best to you!