Day two puts a period on our trip.
A little tired, but no worse for wear
First let me say that both Lucia and I are fine. We were not hurt in any way.
But, we’ve had an accident that has put an end to our planned four month trip to Texas. About 2 o’clock this afternoon, as we were heading south on US 29, near Danville, VA I suddenly felt the camper begin to sway behind me. I really wasn’t too concerned at first because we had driven most of yesterday and much of this morning in heavy winds and we had become somewhat used to the feeling.
But, that initial feeling very quickly turned into a violent struggle to try and keep the camper and truck on the road. I lost the battle. The truck ended up in the ditch facing the direction we had just
Oops. Fall down, go boom and scraaaaaaaape
come from with the camper on its side blocking half the road. The hitch did not separate and the rear of the
truck was suspended about three feet off the ground. The left rear tire was blown.
It was immediately apparent that neither Lucia or I was hurt and no one else had become entangled in the accident.
I also knew immediately that our trip to Texas had come to an abrupt end. Within seconds an off-duty deputy sheriff was on the scene, followed by an off-duty EMT.
Both were great and hung in there with us until the State Trooper arrived.
The culprit
Several passersby stopped to make certain we were okay. All departed assuring us they would keep us in their prayers – gestures we very much appreciated.
The trooper and eventually the people from the wrecker service who would upright the camper and haul the truck back to their yard agreed that the accident had been
cause by a tire on the truck that failed. We don’t know why. They are tires with only about 8,000 miles on them.
To make things more interesting, the “tire man” at the wrecker company, could not get my spare tire off truck, even though he tried to free it in the conventional manner as well as with a torch.
Breaking up is hard to do
One of their people gave us ride to a local motel, where we’ll spend the night. He told us to call their company in the morning and they’ll pick us up after they have the spare tire on the truck.
All and all we are very grateful for the way this little” adventure” has turned out. We thank God that we are both okay and that He saw fit to have so many good people available to help us.
Tomorrow, once we get the truck checked-out we’ll pick up a few things out of the camper and head on down to Tommy’s to celebrate Christmas with him and the girls. Then, early next week we’ll rent a U-Haul trailer, unload the camper and head back to Buckwheat Road and a little R&R in the north country.
Upsy-daisy
We’ve been reading lately that if you can put your faith in Jesus, he’ll take care of you. We did and he has.
See everyone soon.
PS:
Mom, we saved your Christmas cookies and will be celebrating our good luck by munching a few as soon as I get this blog posted. So I really have to go.
Day One
Hi everyone,
Lucia and I got on the road at about 12:30 this afternoon. Later than we had hoped but not bad. We never seem to be able to judge how long it will take to do the final packing and this time final packing was a little more involved than usual. I guess when you’re planning to be on the road for almost four months, you need (or think you need) a lot of stuff.
We weren’t sure we were going to get started today. I’ve taken over Lucia cold and was really feeling rotten yesterday. Not too bad today. Then we kept listening to the weather reports south of Syracuse and weren’t sure we wanted to drive into the kind of weather being reported.
As it turns our (so far at least) the worst weather was between Tully and Binghamton. Snowed pretty good, but we didn’t have any problems. The wind picked up at about Cortland and has been strong all the way, so far.
We’ve stopped for the night at a Home Depot parking lot south of Carlisle, PA. The generator wouldn’t start at first, but finally kicked over and Lucia’s heating up leftovers in the microwave.
Tomorrow we’ll probably hit the road early, trying to get to Tommy’s by mid-afternoon.
To all the Dwyer’s . . . we want to say thanks for a great Christmas Day, again. It reminded us of how fortunate we are as a family, that we enjoy our times together. Mom and Dad, a special thanks. It has to be tiring, having so many people (loud people) invade your normally peaceful home. I know you like having everyone there, but wearing nevertheless. Thanks again.
We’ll try to update this blog at least every couple of days, if not every day, so check back often.