On the Road - Finally

I am writing this from the coach parked in our favorite campground outside Maggie Valley, NC. We made it - finally. But it was no small task.

We have been in communication with Blue Ox. At first they told us we'd have to pay for all the new towing equipment plus the shipping of the broken pieces back to them for evaluation. Then they would decide about reimbursement. But after our local "expert", John, talked to them, they softened and paid for everything except the new brake system we had to put on the new car. We think they'll pay for that in the end, but won't know for a couple more weeks - until they can do their own assessment. John took one look at the pieces and stated that it was a bad weld. Definitely a Blue Ox issue, not ours.

So on Thursday of last week, we had John install all the new equipment onto the new Escape and adjust the parts that remained on the coach. Then we towed the car back home (about 30 miles) pretty much with our fingers crossed the whole way. We had no problems, of course. But after what we'd been through...

On Friday, we began the process of loading up the coach all over again. It really seemed to go pretty smoothly. We've since found things we'd forgotten this second time. But it's nothing we can't live without, or replace if it were really necessary.

Saturday morning, we hooked up the car again. In the process, one of the cables fell of the coach in my hands. I wanted to scream! It was minor, however. A screw had come loose and we just had to put it all back in place and tighten it up. No big deal.

We made it to our usual stop in north-eastern South Carolina, without further incident. What a treat this little RV park is! The little old man who runs the place came out to meet us and get us settled into our favorite spot. Before we did much more than pay him (a whopping $17) he was dragging me off to his fig tree to share fresh figs with us. I don't think I've ever had figs (except in Fig Newtons), let alone some picked right off the bush. They were SO good. Very sweet and I loved them. I took a handful back with me to the coach and got to work getting things set up.

He was back in a bit, this time with garlic from his garden. He gave us several cloves, plus one to put in our own garden when we got home. He told Julian how to do it and we'd always have garlic now. We love garlic, so how cool is that!

But he wasn't finished! A little later he came knocking on our door. He had a pan full of figs plus two apples from his tree. I think we got 17 dollars worth of produce from this fellow, so we really made out.

So Sunday we packed up and got back on the road. About half way here, Julian noticed that the monitor to the rear camera wasn't displaying any picture! This is not something anyone who has lost their tow car wants to have happen. We pulled into a truck stop and checked the camera in every way we could think of short of pulling it off the coach. There was nothing to be done, so we just kept on going.

We had some rainy and foggy weather, but otherwise no further issues. We arrived at Creekwood Farm RV Park at around 2pm, pretty much right on schedule. What a relief! We were so glad to be somewhere safe where the weather would be cooler.

We got everything set up and were down by the creek for happy hour around 5pm. We went out to dinner with our friends and had such a nice time. Life is good!

We've since sent the monitor into the manufacturer only to have them tell us that it is working fine and must be the camera. So they are sending the monitor and a new camera back to us - should be here this coming week. We really don't want to travel without that rear-view camera!

We spent a couple days just hanging around. It just seemed like the right thing to do after all the hassles and craziness we'd been through over the past few weeks. And it DID feel good!

We went to the casino on Wednesday. That has really changed in the two years since we've been there. I think the gaming floor has at least doubled in size. We had fun and broke even at the end of the day. That's a win in my book.

On Thursday we went into Waynesville. It's a great town and their downtown area is so fun to walk around. The shops have all kinds of fun and interesting things. We bought over a pound of candies from the Mast General Store. They have all the old-time stuff you can't get just anywhere. We had a great time.

Friday found us in Asheville. Julian's good sandals  needed to be replaced. We found exactly what he wanted at a store at a mall. Then we went looking for the great Latin restaurant we'd eaten at a couple times before. We drove right to it, but it was closed. We were SO bummed! We went looking for other places to eat and, not knowing were to go exactly, we wound up eating at a Bojangles (which was good) just because it was getting late and we were starved.

When we got home, Julian noticed the reviews on the Latin restaurant were still up on the computer screen. When I started reading them (all good), I realized that some were posted within the last couple of weeks. So I called them. They've moved. They have a new and different website from what I'd found. So now I've got the new location and a meal out to look forward to later in our stay!

Today is Saturday and we spent part of the morning at the Mountain Mater Fest in Canton, NC. This is a pretty small festival, so it only took us about a half hour to walk all the booths and buy a few tomatoes. It's a lot of fun, though.

From there, we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and had lunch at the Pisgah Inn. The drive to the Parkway was through lots of hairpin turns and gorgeous scenery. The trees were so dense in places that the satellite radio skipped occasionally.

This picture was taken from the "back porch" of the restaurant where we had lunch. It's not bad, considering the low-hanging clouds that were there most of the time we were eating.

Now I remember why we love coming here so much!

We'll be getting out more and taking more photos as we do. But for now, this is all I've got to share with you. Hopefully, we'll get more into tourist mode and a whole lot less into chasing problems! I think we've had a good week, all in all. I'm starting to feel like I'm on a vacation.