And Then The Wheels Came Off

After staying in Capay for 9 months, it was time to move on to Hillman, Michigan, back to the Thunder Bay Golf & RV resort to work and golf for the next 5 months. Of course getting there was going to take some doing, pulling a trailer 2500 miles across the country is no small feat. We are never in a hurry when we get back on the road. A travel day for us is usually somewhere around 300 miles, give or take, and we like to be off the road no later than 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. We left Capay on May 15th, giving ourselves 10 days to get to Hillman. This included time in Kansas for routine maintenance on our 5th wheel at the Nu-Wa factory, and a two day stop in Grand Junction, Colorado to visit with friends.

 

Everything was going along as planned, and on May 24th we were driving through Indianapolis, Indiana, planning on one more stopover before arriving on Hillman the next day. And that's when the wheels came off…literally…well, just one wheel, but a very important one! Driving down the freeway on the outskirts of Indianapolis at 65 mph, we lost one entire tire with wheel, and irreparably damaged the brake drum and axle from our 5th wheel trailer. The strangest thing was, we didn't initially realize it, as nothing changed in how the truck and trailer were moving along. A motorist who witnessed the tire come off was able to flag us over to the side of the road and tell us what happened, and thank goodness for that, thank goodness for him. The tire bounced across four lanes of traffic, jumped the median wall, and bounced across four more lanes of oncoming traffic before disappearing altogether. It was some kind of miracle that no one was impacted by this runaway tire, including us.

 

We ended up sitting on the side of the freeway for 6 hours waiting for roadside assistance. This was a Thursday, the eve of the Memorial Day weekend, definitely not a good time to break down anywhere, but especially not in Indianapolis as the entire town gears up for the Indy 500 race. But eventually help did arrive, and we were escorted off the freeway into a Sears parking lot in a shopping mall. The repairs were extensive, and could not be completed that day. We ended up staying the night in the parking lot, with permission granted by mall security, and the next day we were back up and running by mid-afternoon. We drove out of the parking lot and just down the road to a nearby RV Park that amazingly wasn't already full, stayed one night, and arrived in Hillman the next day.

 

When I think about how much worse this could have been, how somehow we, and nobody else, was hurt, how no structural damage to our or anyone else's vehicles occurred, I am just totally amazed and grateful. Speaking of grateful, there were so many people who helped us over the course of those two days that I really cannot thank enough. First of all, the motorist who made sure we got safely off the road; the Department of Transportation workers who kept checking on us while we waited for road service to arrive (and, who actually took two trips up and down the highway looking for our tire); the roadside service crew who helped us off the road and eventually made the repairs (although they were well compensated…); and the mall security for allowing us to stay overnight in their parking lot and offered to help us with food and water had we needed it (one good thing about breaking down with your home attached, you pretty much have everything you need). Like I said, things could have been worse, and if money is all we are out when all this was said and done, that is a small price to pay.

 

Below are some pictures of the trailer before and during the repair.

 

Capay, California in The Spring

Before I knew it, our nine months at Capay Open Space Park in Yolo County had come to an end. Although I initially dreaded the thought of staying there for so long, over time I came to really appreciate our little private park (or so it seemed to us most of the time), the surrounding farmlands, the little town of Esparto, and most of all the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. When we arrived at Capay in September everything was brown and dry and windswept (see pictures here). By the time we left in May, Spring had arrived, and a whole other landscape was painted. Below are some pictures of how Capay looked when we left on May 15, 2012.

Grandkids (Soccer, Basketball, Wrestling, Acting)

During the 9 months we stayed in Capay, we took every opportunity to we could to attend the extra curricular activities of the grandkids. It is such joy to watch them as they play soccer, basketball, wrestle, and act in theater productions. Below are pictures of Hannah playing soccer, Colton playing basketball, Atticus wrestling, and Madeline singing in a play.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland, Oregon)

I can't even count how many times I've driven through Ashland, Oregon over the years, yet never made it a point to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This past April Dan and I finally made this a destination, and spent a couple of days in Ashland, not only attending a couple of plays, but also enjoying the town itself, scenically set on the beautiful Rogue River . The festival has been in existence since 1935, and has an 8 ½ month season of 11 plays in 3 theaters. We saw a production of Romeo and Juliet, reconfigured for an 1840's Alta California setting, and Animal Crackers, the classic Marx Brothers slapstick madcap musical replete with zany songs and lavish dance numbers. I'm glad we made this trip. Ashland is a charming town, albeit a bit too touristy for a long term stay, and the plays were well worth the price of admission. Below are some pictures of our visit. 

 

 

Bicycling at Treasure Island

In all the years I lived in Sacramento, and all the trips I made to San Francisco and the surrounding area, April 2012 was my very first visit to Treasure Island. Dan and I, along with my sister Nancy, her husband Ron, and my nephew Kyle spent the day riding our bikes around Treasure Island, taking in the sites, sampling wine at a couple of wineries, and picnicking. An artificial island in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland, Treasure Island is connected by a small isthmus to Yerba Buena Island, and was created in 1936 from fill dredged from the bay. The Island is named after the novel "Treasure Island", by Robert Louis Stevenson who lived in San Francisco from 1879 to 1880. The island has had various incarnations over the years, but now it serves as a popular tourist destination, is a favorite scenic view of the locals and photographers, and a popular place to watch the sunset. The day we were there was just warm enough, with a light breeze, perfect weather for being outdoors on the San Francisco Bay.