Saturday, June 30, 2012

Southern Hospitality


It was extremely late when we landed at the sis’s house in Ttown, our plan was to eat and rest before seeing the destruction of an F5 first hand.  We were so tired I didn’t even check to see if everything survived driving across Louisiana on I20, not a very fifth wheel friendly road to begin with.  After hours of watching the back end of the camper bounce I had envisioned the worst, I wasn’t off by much.  It was an avalanche from every cabinet I have in the rig, but all that would have to wait, there were people who needed the supplies and a strong back to help them back on their feet. 


Driving through Tuscaloosa was a nightmare in parts; I’ve  never been able to understand how a tornado picks and chooses what it takes.  Whole blocks were wiped out with one house remaining, whole communities wiped from the face of the earth it seemed.  We ended up with the sis at Samaritan’s Purse volunteering through them for a day, packing up a sweet couple’s house that was not structurally sound.  In fact it was in pretty good shape considering, but then again it was a very old log cabin that I’m sure has survived worse in its day.  The second day there we went to deliver food and supplies to the survivors. The women would come up to our truck and ‘shop’ in the bins of supplies we had, only taking what they or their neighbor needed, but always thinking of their neighbors too.  Our 5yr old and nephew enjoyed yelling at the top of their lungs “Free Food”, “Hot Food, come and get it”, felt really good to pay forward some of the blessings we have had over the years. Tuscaloosa was devastated but in pretty good shape considering, they still had half their town standing.

On the way up, we took Hwy 43, a very winding and twisting road, up and down hills.  All I could remember as I watched the hubby reach 75mph going downhill and around a curve is that truck drivers do this every day and we have full coverage.  As we were driving up the only stars in sight were directly above us between the towering pines and oaks that were spared.  All of a sudden the sky would open up at what looked like a huge crossroads, only no roads crossing and absolutely no trees left standing on either side of the asphalt.  After a mile or so of more towering trees, the skies would open up again, showing the path Mother Nature decided to cut through the forests.  Even in the dead of night the small towns and surrounding areas seemed like a war zone, and this was 4 weeks after the storms. 
     
 After checking with Army Reserves in Hackleburg we were allowed to continue through the town.  Every which way we looked buildings were demolished, cars and trucks thrown about like children’s toys.   I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer, envisioning what my fellow Alabamians had gone through.  My prayers are still with the survivors, still putting the pieces back together. 
I must stop here and explain why we were so determined to get here anyway, to a town that had nothing left, no infrastructure, running water, electricity, hotels, or restaurants, nothing. You have to remember, in comparison to Tuscaloosa, these smaller towns were ONLY as big as the tornado was. After watching the news and seeing how all the communities and neighbors from all across the state banded together to pick up the pieces themselves, not looking for that handout, we felt as an Alabamian we should be there too, helping. Granted we had volunteers being bussed in from all across the country to help, supplies from all over the USA sent our way, they were people with that same southern hospitality we pride ourselves on. Proud to be from the great state of Alabama!

Thursday, June 28, 2012

An angel in disguise




It all started with that ‘leap of faith’ to abandon the ‘normal’ lifestyle and embrace a whole new one, fulltime RVing.  We began with a little research and whole lot of selling all the crap we thought we just couldn’t live without.  You know, all that stuff you have sitting around you right now that has absolutely no use but as a dust catcher.  The first two months was all about learning our new-to-us rig and getting used to living a stress free life with little to no worries, at least compared to what the worries we had with sticks and bricks around us.  On April 27, 2011, tornadoes ravaged our home state of Alabama. It took us a grueling 3 weeks to get everything in order and collect donations for AL from our wonderful friends from TX.  We knew we needed tires, along with a few other minor things to fully be ready to hit the road, but the tornadoes forced our hand to head out sooner.  With a few prayers and burning sage, we left TX to drop off donations and do volunteer work helping our fellow Alabamians rebuild. 

            As luck would have it, everything fell into place, for us to head to Tuscaloosa, except the new trailer tires.  What MapQuest called an 800mi/12hr trip seemed simple enough, except in the RV world 12 hours is easily 16+ when you look at the slower rate of speed you just HAVE to travel at, one of the hardest things for us to get used to.  After only 30min on the road, the F350 started running hot.  We had changed out the thermostat only a month ago, so it couldn’t be anything wrong with that, right?  Wrong, little did we know when the gasket was replaced the weep hole had gotten covered up, being first time diesel owners; this was all new to us.  We changed that gasket 3 times before we finally figured it out! The truck was all fixed, we thought, but 30miles down the road it was running hot AGAIN.  This time a truck driver stopped and gave us some advice that it may be the hose on the bottom of the radiator, so that was our next fix.  Ready to go again, but the truck is still overheating and we had only went about 40 miles in two days from our starting point.  On Mother’s Day we found ourselves in an Advanced Auto parking lot changing out the water pump, 110˚F and no shade in sight, except under the truck and rig.  At this point I was really starting to get down and out about our luck and on my special day too.  This grandmotherly woman came up and asked if we needed any help, of course we did, we didn’t have the right tools to do the job, and she got on the phone and had the tool on the way in minutes.  While we were waiting, she asked me why I was down and out, I started telling my sob story but she interrupted me with some very wise words I’ll never forget.  She said “Look at me, I’m deaf, can’t talk plainly, have no teeth and I’m old, I have nothing to be depressed over and you shouldn’t either . You have your health, hearing and especially your family.”  That woman was an angel in disguise. 

            After a few more hours on the road (more on the side than on it) we decided it would be best to land somewhere for a few days to de-stress and work on the truck.  The whole water system had been replaced at this point, except the radiator.   Looking at the map I realized it had taken us all of three days to go 1 hour away from home, was this really the lifestyle I wanted?  Of course it is.  At this campground we met some great horses and their trainer, got a few hours of fishing in and just rested.  Daddy took the radiator off and traveled 20 miles back the way we had come to have it boiled out.  After this, the truck ran like a dream and we hit the road headed to Tuscaloosa, AL.

 Wouldn’t you know it; a flat tire would then delay us for only a few hours, by now we’re experts at delays.  The thing here is, it wasn’t one of the camper tires that were extremely dry rotted, it was on the trailer I was pulling that had good tires on it (the small one with our storage stuff, more material things I felt I wouldn’t be complete without).  At this point I was counting my blessings that it wasn’t the camper that was carrying about 500lbs of donations.  Back on the road and a lot of boring hours driving behind the camper, we made it to Tuscaloosa, FINALLY!  I have to only think that there was a reason all those camper tires held up on the blazing TX and LA roads.

To be continued….





A last thought

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt





Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A bit about us


I have wanted to start a blog for as long as we’ve been traveling, since March of 2011, I’ve just never known exactly what to say to the world.  I think this first one will be a little bit about us and our new lifestyle of freedom.  After relocating to TX for a job and getting laid off, we slowly started sinking in bills.  We took a leap of faith, sold everything we owned but didn’t need and bought a fifth wheel camper to travel with work.  In all honesty, making this move was probably the best decision we could have made.  So far we have helped out with the tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, AL, spent a winter in Jacksonville, FL, spent time with family in Alabama and have went as far west as Rapid City, SD. 

On our maiden voyage, the F350 was not cooperating and it took a week to get to our first destination in AL.  After mastering the skills of changing out the complete water system on the truck, we hit the road again heading east.  We delivered some much needed supplies to the tornado victims all across AL and spent time with the family.  When we left AL we knew we needed tires but ignored them, they made it across the TX highways in the heat of the day, surely they would make it at night to FL, right? 

On this trip we started out wrong with light and battery problems but ignored those signs, once again.  We made it thirty minutes out of town and had our first blow out, followed by 5, yep I said FIVE more tires going bad.  What was going to be a 12 hour trip turned into 36 hours quickly.  After mastering the changing of tires, we finally made it to Jacksonville, FL and stayed for the next 7 months, enjoying the warm winter and ugrading the fifth wheel.  After enjoying the wonderful neighbors of Pecan Park RV Park, we sadly had to head north as the weather warmed up. 

          Our trip to Sioux Falls, SD was peaceful, in comparison to our past tries.  After exploring Falls Park and downtown it was time to pack up and head to Rapid City, SD.  Upon arriving in Rapid City, we chose the perfect campground, the one on top of a hill with a view.  After a month of exploring Custer State Park, Crazyhorse, Mt. Rushmore and the Blackhills National Forest, it was time to rest and relax for a bit. The resting was short lived as the hubby got the fulltime job he had been looking for and we had to get back into our routine for a few weeks before heading west.  


                                                         Lazy J RV Park, Rapid City, SD

As luck would have it, work would carry us east, back to Sioux Falls for a month. It was not the direction we wanted to go in but when you’re traveling with the winds, you tend to go whichever way they blow you……

Until next time we are

Enjoying every day

And having fun along the way

Loving Life