On the Road Once More, With a Glitch

2013 September 3

On the Road Once More, With a Glitch

Our stay at Lazy Days Campsites in Mooers Forks, NY came to an end on September 3. We had stayed five weeks, and to be honest, it felt much longer. But, it was a great help in getting our budget back on track, because even factoring in the $60 electric bill, our out of pocket cost for five weeks was only $340. And because of the location, I got to take day trips into Canada to meet two long time online friends. Of course, there were at least three other long time Canadian friends I didn't get to meet, but perhaps another time. We also made lots of day trips to Vermont and into the Adirondack Mountains. And because our little car gets such fantastic mileage, we only spent $100 on car gas. 

On Labor Day evening, a fierce storm moved through the area, with torrential rains and gusting winds. We pulled our awning in to avoid any mishaps. Raymond feels that our next problem may have been caused by lots of water on the awning backwashing onto the roof. Anyway, we had a leak, or rather a number of dripping leaks, mostly in area of the cabinet containing the electronics, above the sofa, and along a seam above the loft space over the cab. We spared the electronics by covering everything with a rain poncho and towels. The loft area, however got pretty wet before we even noticed the dripping.

After awhile the dripping ceased and we were able to sleep without worrying too much. In the morning, before we left, everything looked OK, so maybe Raymond's theory was accurate.

We had managed to get everything cleaned and organized during the weekend, and had planned to be on the road by 9 AM. As we were hitching up the car to the motorhome, we stopped to chat with our next door neighbor, Cindy, from Memphis. 

We headed out, only a little bit off our planned departure time, on our way to Shelburne, New Hampshire. As we started down the dirt and gravel road exiting the campground, Ray questioned what all the noise was. I poo pooed him by saying that we had been parked for 5 weeks and he simply forgot all the squeaks and squawks the motorhome makes, especially on bumpy dirt roads. Raymond, I am so sorry I didn't take your observations more seriously.

We made two turns and were on Rt 11, heading north, through the town. Now, I was hearing something. It was a high pitched whine. I thought one of the loft windows was open, but they weren't. In town, stopped at an intersection, where I needed to make another turn, I asked Raymond to close the vent above our heads, thinking that somehow that was the source of the whine. He closed it, we made the turn, still on Rt 11 N, which thankfully has a speed limit of 30 mph and very wide shoulders. The whine continued. I pulled over onto the shoulder and walked back behind the motorhome toward the car, when I saw black stains behind the wheel on the drivers side of the car. My heart lurched. I touched the tire. It was extremely hot. When I opened the driver's door and sat down, I realized to my horror that the steering column was locked! The source of the whine was the locked wheel on the driver's side! 

Apparently, I had a brain fart while hooking up the tow bar, and preparing the car to be towed. Instead of leaving the key in the ignition and turning it to accessory, as described in the owner's manual, I had removed the key, causing the wheel to lock. I cannot begin to describe how stupid I felt! We looked the tire over and couldn't see any defects. So, we decided to just sit and wait for the tire temperature to drop closer to the temperature of the other three tires before moving.

The entire way to New Hampshire, I continued to beat myself up for being so stupid, and for not listening to Raymond, as we started from our campsite. When we got to New Hampshire, we checked the tire again, and saw no problems. I suppose it helps that we had only driven about thee miles before we pulled over, and that we were only traveling at 30 mph. But, I am convinced that we have a guardian angel.