Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Headed to Alabama


The time had come to gather phone numbers and email addresses for the ‘family’ we had in Pecan Park RV Park.  It had been a short 7 months there and we had made quiet a few friends, especially the little one.  Luckily the lil one had seen several of the friends move on to new destinations, so the lil one new what to expect; all the “see you later’s” and such.  It wasn’t easy to plan this move as we had all grown very comfortable in spot 521. There were a few tears in my moments of alone time, there was apprehension too, many questions; could we make it? Would the lil one be okay? Could we find work in the new towns? But they all fell back to our new philosophy of ‘Living on Faith’.
     
     It took us a while to get everything arranged, it takes longer when your full timing than when your just on vacation, we were getting better and quicker with every move. Three days after I started putting things in their places we were ready to hook the F350 up to the rig and pull out.  Tears followed of course but we had to keep looking to the future and the reason we had decided to move to the ‘no sticks and bricks’ lifestyle.
      
     Our first stop was in Montgomery, AL to see a few friends and go to a French-Indian war re-enactment, always something along the way to tie in with the home schooling.  It was a great reunion with the friends we hadn’t seen in a few years, the lil one even remembered them; something odd for the lil one but they had made an impression on the lil brain in there.  We spent time watching the squirrels, gophers and birds just outside their window, something the lil one truly enjoys. Soon it was time to go to the re-enactment.
     
     We got there a little late and had no idea which way to go in the park, but it didn’t take long to figure it out.  As we were walking down the road we heard gunshots and cannons. The lil one started running towards the loud bangs, of course, we had to jog to keep up.  The re-enactment was interesting and very entertaining, the lil one had daddy on one side and the friends on the other feeding the brain about the history of the war that happened so many years ago.
     
     Afterwards we all walked to where the rivers met, across an Indian mound and through the woods, picking up momentos along the way, learning and teaching was in every step we took that day. We even got to see a hut set up like in the old days, the lil one learned a lot about the ancestors. We had dinner at our friends, this has come to be the routine while in Montgomery.  After a great weekend with longtime friends it was time to pack up and head to Rogersville, farther north in Bama.
      
     This was to be one of the shortest legs of this journey, and it actually went as planned, amazingly.  When we were making the plans to stay at a family members house I was concerned about the tight corners and turns to get into her yard, but of course the hubby and his gung-ho attitude led us forward, no matter what.  Our first mistake was trying to make a 90˚ turn on tight city streets.  The hubby started with the turn, and there just so happened to be a car coming on the small road too; being as nice as he is, he didn’t make the car back up to make his turn. A few seconds later I watched the fifth wheel bounce a couple times off a telephone pole placed very close to the road. The rig looked okay and we only had a few more blocks to go until we parked, it was going to be okay. After the few blocks down a very skinny road, we were back on a wider two lane county road with only one more turn to make, no problems right?  The hubby got lined up to make this last turn and started it, but halfway thru it another truck came around the turn and made him stop. If you’ve ever pulled anything, you know that once you’ve committed to a turn, you’ve got to continue on the projected path. 
     
     I was on the phone with my mother just griping away about bouncing off the telephone pole at this point and the next thing I see is our rig bouncing off the concrete culvert on the side of their driveway. I was livid as I drove over pieces of plumbing that had gotten broke off as the hubby pulled in. I was literally driving over pieces of our rig that had become our home; it was almost a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was so thankful that this part of the journey was over and we had time to repair what had been broken in the last mile. It was all smiles to see the family but it was also time to set up a temporary home for the next few days.

Until next time……

Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.  ~Rita Mae Brown

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