Home At Last!

It was still raining when we woke up yesterday morning and the weather map showed that most of Alabama was socked in, and it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. We took advantage of the free breakfast at the Hampton Inn in Dothan and then set out on the last leg of our trip home. We didn’t get far.

Because my rearview mirrors were covered with rain, reducing visibility, it took me a couple of attempts to back across the hotel’s parking lot to get out. Then, within the first mile or so, Terry called to say that I had a flat tire on the cargo trailer. At the same time, another driver pulled up beside me to alert me to the same problem.

Fortunately, there was a closed business with an empty parking lot I could pull into, and I got out to find this.

I was mentally kicking myself for not doing a thorough walk around the truck and trailer before leaving the hotel, something I always do. But I was lazy this time around and wanted to get out of the rain.

When we bought the trailer, we also bought a spare tire, which was in the bed of the pickup. Unfortunately, the four-way lug wrench I had did not fit the trailer’s lug nuts. So we left the truck and trailer there and backtracked in the van a couple of miles to an AutoZone, where I purchased another lug wrench. While I was there, I also bought a can of Fix-a-flat tire sealant, hoping it might do the job. It didn’t.

Using the square wooden jack pads from our RVing days, which we now use under the trailer’s tongue jack, along with some pieces of wood Terry scrounged up in the parking lot, we were able to rig up a ramp to pull the tire on the other axle onto, which raised the flat tire off the ground enough to change it.

In the process, I discovered the reason for the flat, a bolt we picked up somewhere on the highway.

While it was cold, the rain was not coming down too hard at that point and we managed to change the tire and get back on the road before too long.

I sure appreciated the Ram’s heated seats and steering wheel because I was cold and wet as we drove north on US Highway 231. The rain was coming down hard by then and did not let up until we got to Montgomery. Then it slacked off for a while, and as we made our way northwest on US Highway 82, I hoped things would clear up.

That was wishful thinking on my part because about fifty miles from Tuscaloosa, it began pouring. We finally made it to our place in Gordo about 3:35 PM. We carried in my CPAP machine, our suitcase, overnight bag, and our computers, and left the rest in the vehicles. We were too tired and too wet and too cold to do anything else. The rain is supposed to clear out for the next couple of days and we will start unloading then.

But first we just need to rest and recharge our bodies and our minds from the trip from hell. It sure is good to be home at last!

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us. These two signs were in our elevator at the Hampton Inn in Dothan, Alabama. If the load limit is 2,500 pounds, but they only allow five passengers at a time, just how big are their typical guests?

Thought For The Day – If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?