JUNE 18 WED Last minute packing

I had planned to leave on Wed but the the T3 trailer place didn' t have the new luggage rack done until closing so I packed and arranged and rearranged late into the night with every intent of leaving early in the morning .

JUNE 19 THUR Panic sets in

Well all that remained was to unplug the Casita, roll up the cord, batten down all the hatches and say goodbye to Barney. HOWEVER.... As I reviewed my last minute checklist I found my grade her that's the refrigerator did not revert to propane when unplugged so now I would have not only no stove but no refrigeration.

I frantically called my RV fix-it guy ,I'm sure with desperation in my voice, and told him of my plight and that I was planning to leave today ! As he had dealt with this before he said ” It probably only has air in the lines I have a big project today but I'll get over there as soon as I can.” Unbeknownst to be "Aw Sheet' arranged this so that I would have time to go back into town and pick up my forgotten dry cleaning and rectify a major problem. The Spare tire apparently had not been properly secured after welding the new luggage rack onto the back bumper of the Casita so it proceeded to pop off. Thankfully  on a street in Brenham rather than on the freeway. So I wrestled it up into the backseat of my car and headed for the trailer fixit place. They apologized for the inconvenience and potential catastrophe but also expressed some concern about the luggage rack positioning.” It will probably be just fine. We reinforced it with a metal plate but just keep an  eye on it “  Great advice until you realize you can’t see the luggage carrier from the driver’s  seat.

I still had time so I are you rearranged things in the Casita to get more weight in the front to off set the generator in the back. Sheba desperately needed a hair cut and shampoo but between my lack of barber skill and her constant wiggling she turned out to have a very stylish patchwork mohawk . She doesn’t seem to be embarrassed but  it didn’t help her already over the top wimpyness. 

Bless his heart!.Brandon showed  up after a very long day about 7:30 pm and was indeed able to get the fridge to work on propane so I could restock the fridge. The part for the stove never did show up in time but I will get a little propane camp stove  or learn to like cold coffee. 

JUNE 20 Friday Finally lift off

 So after only a few more delays Friday morning I headed off to Austin to pick up my new foldable ,baby blue, electric bike with a Sheba carrier on the back and a helmet that has a head light and turning signals .  I got a wild hair  and bought a cheap  little e- bike on E bay that I thought would be great for exploring parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.  Well, after spending half a day unpacking , assembling and  figuring out how to use the thing I found that the more you peddled the more it would lurch ahead  and impossible to keep at a nice steady, safe speed.   While I was in Austin to pick up the luggage rack from Tim I went by the ModBike company to ask if they could tell  me what I was doing wrong on my new bike. The gentle smirk on the salesman’s face said it all. Yes, I had bought a piece of Chinese junk that had no way to adjust speed control, no way of getting maintenance  or advice  and yes I would be likely to kill myself and others on it.  To sweeten the deal I could get a $600 rebate from the City of Austin because it was so eco friendly.  Only problem now  is how to send the Ebay bike back but that’s another story .

Although  getting a late start I thought all was well until on the way to Austin I got a bit heavy footed  and all or a sudden felt the car lurching and looking out the side mirror I saw the Casita flailing from from one side to the other like a wagging tail. A very scary sight to say the least. I braked and got it under control rapidly but found that only if I stayed under 60 could I keep it steady. The irony of the whole situation was that I had been advised to get a load leveler  hitch to prevent the wear on my tires and shocks due to to much tongue weight , only to find that moving the weight to the back caused a an even greater and more dangerous problem of  fish tailing .

So now plans to visit family and friends along the way are all scuttled as I have 18 hours of driving and want to be in Hillsdale College in Mi by 3:00 Sunday to get the Casita plugged in and time to try to get semicivilized before the welcoming dinner at 6:00pm.for my 5 day course on the Constitution .  So set the cruise control to 57 mph and  put Audible on to Bill Bryson’s  “  A  liitle bit about just about everything “    

All seemed to be going well until that evening when a trucker pulled along side me  flashing his lights and hooking his horn, pointing down with a  repetitive circular motion. There  was no place to pull off for a bout another block. When I could safely get off the pavement and open the door to get out I found that the 5 gallon gas can that had been to securely 

ratchet strapped to the generator and the luggage carrier had somehow loosened enough that it had been bouncing along the pavement, broke a hole in the plastic and was spurring  gas  all over the place . Awsheet had made sure there were no sparks around so another catastrophe was averted. The problem however was that  I couldn’t get the ratchet mechanism open to detach the can.  She had  also arranged that this happen just before an exit to a little town that happened to have an auto zone open.   The owner ,a big burly guy, came out to see what I was talking about .  He was finally able to get the ratchet mechanism open and release the tape so I could strap down a new can. I had over filled the spool on the racket mechanism with tape so although tight it couldn’t lock and finally worked itself loose.  I got a lesson on how to work the ratchet devise and he sent me on my way.   About 2 miles further on a Cracker Barrel sprang up which couldn’t have been a better way to end an adventure packed day. A homemade meat loaf dinner and a safe place to bed down for the night.