Headed for Arkansas

May 19 – I really don’t know where to start!  The original plan was to leave on the 14^th and meet friends and camp for 3 nights then head on our way from there.  Well, as we all know, “the best laid plans of men” don’t always pan out.  For us it seems very rarely do they pan out when it comes to us and RV travel.  We had taken our RV in for warranty work on April 20 and as we progressed with that project we knew we would not have it back to leave on the 14^th.  So we cancelled that leg of the trip and then I found I needed a crown done.  The soonest it would be complete was the 18^th, so, if everything came together with the RV we could leave the 19^th.  That was such an ordeal! We had to have all of the mechanics of our full wall slide replaced and work done on our bedroom AC.  Fortunately our service writer said he could order the parts and if the warranty didn’t pay, we could.  Oh joy!  But, we needed the parts so he ordered them before the warranty inspector came and did the approval.  Good thing, as they came in on the 13^th and we got to pick it up on the 15^th.  That gave us the weekend and Monday to load her up.

So, we did leave today, just not as early as we had planned.  We slept later than we should and had more to load than we should and then Bill lost a ring he had on and had to go back home looking for it.  No luck there, but I was sure it would turn up.  Once everything was loaded and it was time to go inside and tell my sister goodbye I started smelling what I thought was propane.  Now what?  I went on in and said my teary goodbyes.  It smelled worse when I got back, even Bill could smell it.  I checked the gas to the water heater and it was off.  Well, maybe it was a fluke, ya think?

When we went to hook up the car we couldn’t get any tail lights on the driver side of the car working.  Luckily my brother Kurt came out and tweaked some of the prongs on the connection.  Finally about 11 we pulled out and were on our way.  We were only going to Tallahassee for the night so we really were not in a major hurry.  The smell was not going away so I opened some windows so we didn’t become overwhelmed and pass out.  Finally about an hour down the road I thought about the stove.  Sure enough somehow one burner

You can fix anything with duct tape

was on and as soon as I turned it off the smell quickly evaporated.  What a relief!  At our lunch stop Bill was diligently checking the car and the RV compartments and when he opened the propane compartment, it would not shut back.  CRAP!  Good thing they invented duct tape and zip ties.  He taped the bottom shut with 3 sections of tape and then got under the RV and used several zip ties on the hydraulic arm. 

Tallahassee RV Park

We made it to Tallahassee RV Park at 4:15 and had plenty of time to unload the carload of things I packed for Jean’s thrift store and to rest and get ready for Jean and Paul to pick us up to go to dinner.  We had an excellent meal at an Italian place that’s been in business since 1963.  We always enjoy our time with Jean and Paul and discussed their visit to see us in Arkansas in June.  They dropped us off at 8:45 and we just read and got to bed early.