Wagons Ho!

Well, we are on our way!
>>>>>We had a very exciting day last Saturday. It started out way to early for the kids ( and me! ) Hanna asked why I was waking her up in the middle of the night- 7:00a! We went to Camping World by Tampa for some parts and then took David to the airport in Orlando. The kids and I went to IKEA in Orlando for lunch and got stuff to have a Swedish Christmas. ( if you see something at IKEA and you want it you better get it because you won't see it again...) That's why we were shopping for Christmas in Sept... 8^) Then things got exciting.
>>>>>We were driving away from IKEA and the battery light came on on the dashboard. Hmmmmm uh-oh. Then all the lights started flashing like a Christmas tree. UH-OH. Then the car quit. OH NOOOOooooo. I called David, and he said " Your battery isn't charging so you probably have an alternator problem. Try to get home before it gets dark." I start driving and get almost to Lakeland - still around 85 miles to go, and it quits but I am able to limp to the next exit before it completely quits.
>>>>>In Florida, you can call *FHP on the phone and the road rangers will come to your "rescue" if you have something they can help with like a tire, or gas, or battery jump. I called and a ranger came and charged my battery enough to get to a "better" spot to be towed from. Of course, the battery isn't holding a charge so it almost made it to the "better" spot but not quite. By now I am SLIGHTLY freaking out because the temp outside is around 90° and the temp inside the car is higher, maybe 95°. Steadily rising along with the passenger frustration level. Fabulous. Now of course it starts to rain like a solid sheet of water and it's getting dark and we have noticed the emergency flashers are slowing down to almost nothing. ( I can not turn off the lights to save battery life because they are "automatic"- for safety!) So Jake and I decide to turn off the lights and take turns looking in the rear view mirror for lights so we can turn on the flashers. This seems to be working. We notice we are not dead or having heatstroke. I keep telling everyone to drink water so we won't dehydrate, but then Hanna has to GO, if you know what I mean. Great adventure/learning experience...whooooo hoooooo. The tow truck guy gets there after about 2 1/2 hours of waiting and can't put the car in neutral because you need battery life for that. So he jumps the car, gets it up on the truck, and we start out. I told him I was so thankful to him for rescuing us.
>>>>>He tows us to a place called Pep Boys, which is a auto store/mechanic place for them to work on it. But by now it is 45 mins past closing time and I am worried there will be no one there when we arrive. I was worrying for nothing. There are nice people there that calm me down and they have the part in stock and can fix it the next day, Sunday. Great. Now we just have to take a taxi to our house, (camper), $180+tip, sleep, unhook the camper, and drive it the 85 or so miles back to Lakeland the next day, tow the car, drive back home, hook back up and go to sleep!
>>>>>Monday seems like a piece of cake after the weekend! All we had to do was go to the car dealer about 25 miles away and get some keys made and a new clicker. Easy-peasy.
>>>>>Tuesday we took the camper to the Camping World near Tampa. (about an hour away) They had to check out our generator and see why it wasn't working. I think they cleaned the carburetor. I had to order another part and have it sent to Chattanooga, Tenn.
>>>>>Wednesday we left for the Grand Canyon by way of Chattanooga to see David's sister Nancy and her family. We made it to Valdosta, Georgia that night. With no excitement along the way, Thank Goodness!
>>>>>Thursday we thought we would drive straight through to Chattanooga. It is a 4 1/2 hour drive, according to the GPS. HA. Not.
It took us almost 8 1/2 hours because we hit Atlanta at just about the worst time - rush hours! Won't go that way again.. 8^)
>>>>>We were so happy so be here Friday, shucky darn! Louise (Nancy's 21yo daughter) came over and hung out Fri. morning. You have never seen such a happy Hanna! A cousin! and she is sweet and likes to listen and play and talk! Heaven for my girl! We met Ben (Nancy's 24 yo? son) for lunch and saw a little of Chattanooga. We then all went to the coolest grocery store called Greenlife. Like a Whole Foods. Bought taco makings and went on over to Nancy and Mike's after they got off work. Family fun ensued. Hanna is techno girl so had to play Wii tennis with everyone. She could win every time except when she played cousin Ben. Jake played till he won then wanted to quit that game! They danced and played sports till it was late and we had to get some rest.
>>>>>Saturday we got up and went to the Chattanooga Aquarium. So much Fun! It is huge but totally worth the time it took to see it all. We went to lunch at a great Thai place Nancy knew. YUM!
>>>>>Sunday, today, we are taking a home day. Relaxing and catching up. Hanna got some cool stuff at the Toy / Learning store on Fri. and wanted to do a SCIENCE EXPERIMENT so we did that this morning. You can watch the video Jake made on YouTube if you click on it.
That is about all for now. Till next time! Julie

Tow'd!

It took all day waiting at Camping World, but the car is hooked up and tows great. It sort of freaks me out that the front wheels are free to caster when towing but you can see them track when you go around a corner. It must work because there is some trail built into the alignment?




The car is a Saturn wagon and a real good choice for us: four-down towing, small but roomy inside and 6 cylinder (plenty quick, lol).


The hitch is a quick release one that doesn't require exact alignment to hook up - it snaps in place as you pull forward. Really nice. Jake doesn't have any trouble with it.
ALL of the visible car portion is removable without tools (and they didn't even have to cut the air dam). We'll leave the car parts attached just to make it easy.



The majority of the hitch stows on the back of the motorhome.

Dave