Exhausted…

It is Monday, August 23rd, 2:51 pm, and I am drained. Yesterday was a mad dash to get the rest of our belongings in the trailer or the RV and say our goodbyes to family and friends. None of it was easy, and by 5 pm, I really was questioning if we were meant to do this since I felt so beaten down. Between the rain, rushing, and just not caring where the leftover pieces of our soon-to-be-old lifestyle even went, we were both exhausted but determined to pull out of the driveway. Rebecca was also plagued by the nervousness of driving the truck with the trailer attached, although by 6 pm when we stopped for fuel for the RV in Lewisburg, Pa., I think she was a little relieved that it wasn’t going to be as hard as she thought. We set our sights on trying to get to Hubbard, Ohio, which is at the state line, but sadly, any ounce of hope we had left went out the window when Rebecca radioed me, telling me that the truck was having troubles. We pulled over, and here the transmission became overheated because the TCM (transmission control module) decided that Rebecca didn’t have fifth gear, so she was driving in 4th. The transmissions in the 2005 Chevy 3500 trucks are weak, but there was no reason for it to get flustered for what we were hauling. Sitting on the side of the highway rushed in a lot of uncertainty of what we should do, and being already exhausted, really made things worse. I wanted to curl up in a ball, but knowing that was not a solution, I decided to have some coffee and recollect my thoughts. I had something similar happen to me a while back where all I did was clear the check engine codes, and I was good to go. Thinking about it this time, I was really questioning why this happened again and the root cause. As we sat waiting for the truck to cool down, Rebecca rattled off thoughts on what we should do. As I listened to her, I also thought about how anyone could even plan for such troubles. I have a big collection of tools, but being fresh in this new lifestyle, I don’t have a tool for every troublesome situation. After collecting our thoughts, the first step was to get ourselves off the highway’s shoulder and onto a shoulder of an exit. I was crossing my fingers that clearing the codes would do the trick, and it did get us 2 miles to the next exit. From there, I decided we had to try to march forward. I did not want to give up and say, oh well…. we tried. At the current moment, I felt the best solution, besides going to bed, was to disconnect the truck from the trailer, test the truck, and pull the trailer with the RV. I know Rebecca was a little apprehensive, but what choice did we have. As I spent another hour swapping everything around, Rebecca found a rest area 4 miles up the road that was calling our names. I believe it was 9 pm by the time we reached it, and even though we made it another 4 miles, it did not help as my mind raced for answers as I tried to fall asleep.

Today, August 23rd is a new day, and we woke up this morning tired. Believe me, waking up exhausted doesn’t start a good day, but it was a new day, with new hope that something would go right. The first agenda was to fix the hitch since I used my quick adjustable hitch last night to get us to the rest area. I always use a weight-distribution hitch, and since the hitch heights are different between the truck and RV, it had to be adjusted to work properly. After getting the hitch all buttoned up, and the dogs walked, we again headed westward. RVs are not the quietest thing to drive, but this drive was quiet and peaceful in its own way. We sit in Hubbard, Ohio, right now at a truck stop with little ambition but with a little more hope. Our plans of going to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky and St. Louis Arch are trashed, but that is ok. There is a lifetime of things to see in this country so we will surely find something. Tomorrow is another day, and with that, I think I’m going to go take a nap…