Spring Break

The oldest wanted to go to Washington DC to see the museums and have his picture The oldest wanted to go to Washington DC to see the museums and have his picture taken with the Einstein statue so that's where we went instead of the beach and it's probably just as well.

It was a nightmare getting there.

There was a time we weren't certain we would be able to make it because of the infection in Diane's knee. We still weren't certain until the Friday before the Saturday that we left. She had to go back to the doctor and get the "ok" to leave because she'd developed a black spot in the incision. Once we got the go ahead, we left and it was hectic and last minute.



This trip has been one nightmare after another. I think we're about to get it all worked out though. We had a blowout in Jackson TN. When the tread separated it broke the tailpipe so 5 hours later and $750 later with a new tailpipe and 3 new tires, we were back on the road. We ended up spending the night in a Super 8 motel parking lot in a storm. We rocked and rolled all night.

The next day, we start running hot and develop a whistle that I describe as a small tea kettle. Turns out I was right. We had a small hole in the radiator. But, before we had that diagnosed, we pulled into a Shell station in tiny Linden VA to get gas. This is when the starter and alternator burned up. We couldn't get towed all the way into the park we're staying because the tow truck couldn't take all of us so we ended up sending the night in the beautiful Shell station parking lot until early the next morning. We rented a car the next morning and got towed to our spot. There's a great mobile mechanic that's put a new radiator, alternator, starter and fixed a transmission leak for us. The tow truck driver dropped the drive shaft then when we got here said he couldn't put it back on. The mechanic said he'd do that for us.



We were a day late getting here which meant we had to cram getting our marriage license into one day which took almost 5 hours to complete. That blew a day. Then we spent almost a full day with the mechanic at the RV park. Nothing that we had planned went as planned.

We did manage to see a couple of monuments and Max's hero, Einstein. Today we spent almost all day getting to and from the Rabbi that did our very tiny ceremony. This evening, we took the RV out and guess what? It ran hot again. The mechanic is coming tomorrow at 8 AM to look at it. He said don't worry because he thinks (and so do we) that it's a faulty gauge. So, we left and had only one moment of problems. The float stuck in the carb so I had to get out, take the breather cover off and bang on the carb to unstick the float. Didn't do it again. Let me tell you, thick clouds of black smoke from your tailpipe is an eye-opener.


We stopped in a state park just outside of Knoxville for the night. Booger Holler ladies and gentlemen. The park is beautiful and sits on a huge lake. I'd love to go back but being surrounded by Nascar folks after the wonderful RV park in DC was jarring.


We plan to come back when we can just relax and enjoy the trip. We did learn something....this family doesn't get upset with each other when things like this go wrong. We pull together and enjoy each other's company. I love that.