Things only break when you use them, or need them, or…. ok really whenever! What could possibly have gone wrong now you ask? Well, the latest problems come in two parts; let me tell you how it all went down.
Frist I would like to share some of our favorite pictures we took before we left beautiful Grand Isle State Park.
As we were loading up to leave our isle of paradise, I was getting the dogs stuff together, papa was doing a second round to make sure we didn’t forget anything and Mitch was raising the front of the trailer with our automatic jack so we could hook it up to the truck when all of the sudden; WHAM! The whole thing gave way and the front of the trailer came down with huge force. Thankfully no one was hurt. Mitch, being so prepared and wise in his forward thinking had gotten a bottle jack before we left and with some finagling he got the trailer lifted. Now, I needed to find someone to work on it before we get to our next destination. Seriously, we have spent more time with mechanics and such since we’ve left than anyone else along our travels. We found a place on the north side of New Orleans, squeezed our way into their shop and 30 minutes later they say, you’re gonna need a new one, we don’t have one and that’ll be $60.00.
We ended up loading up all the parts and driving off searching for a parts store. As we merge onto I-10 Mitch see’s that the trailer brake control says “WARNING: OVERLOAD: NO BRAKES”.
There we are, our first time in New Orleans during rush hour traffic, surrounded by beautiful buildings, a historic culture that I have longed to experience and in the distance I see a steep bridge. My body instantly starts to react to the panic that I am feeling, tears begin to build in my eyes, my throat feels as if I just swallowed a handful of cotton balls and my fear is racing faster than my mind can process. Is this it? Are we going to die? Can the truck handle stopping the load on it’s own going down this hill? What about all the people on the road with us? Oh dear Lord, I am not afraid of dying, it’s experiencing pain and I just don’t want to be done living yet! Yes, I over reacted, we are still alive, we made it to our next destination safely, but for the duration of the drive, tears stained the pavement (ok, I exaggerate). I tried to remind myself of a movie I saw the other day about how fear is caused by the imagination of what is to possibly happen and if you just experience life as it comes there is no fear. I think Will Smith is in it and he fights aliens. I can’t remember the name of the movie though. It didn’t work, I was still afraid. I am the queen of mental dramatics when it comes to fleeting thoughts of impending death! (Hi its Mitch and I am proofreading this and I really want to say that I totally agree, my wife’s drama thoughts of impending death is an understatement!! Unless she re-reads this she won’t know that I slipped it in :)) Yes, of course it could be worse, things can always be worse. Looking at the bright side, through my snot clogged nose I tell the guys I would rather be miserably petrified in this moment with them, than to not have them in my life. Of course the wording isn’t exact of what was said, but my heart was sincere and I redirected my perspective once we began traveling on level ground.
We made it to our destination, which will be our home for the next month here at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. We are staying at Bay Hide Away RV Park and Campground. It is my most favorite park we have stayed at yet, and I am not the only one, they are voted #1 favorite RV park in North America!
Wonderful people, great place and best of all, papa can metal detect!! We had to stay attached the first night because we still needed our jack to be fixed and were referred to Advanced Mobile Home and RV Supply in Gulfport, Mississippi. The previous mechanic and the RV Park said they were really good. Yesterday morning, Wednesday Dec. 4th we arrived before they opened and as they drove up to work, they didn’t even go inside. They came right over to us and got to work! It was really wonderful the attention they gave to us once we told them of our situation.
They installed the new automatic jack and found that our brake system wires had never been set up properly. The mechanic said it was amazing that we ever had trailer breaks. The wires were supposed to be hooked up directly to the batteries but someone had actually routed them a different way. Another miracle we were experiencing and didn’t even know it!
We got settled into our new spot yesterday, made some new friends while unloading and went to the lighting of the Christmas tree at the gathering spot last night here at RV Park.
We have gotten to know our neighbors here better in two days, than most places we’ve lived in for years! The people remind me of the characters on the movie Steel Magnolia’s. Their welcoming attitude, love of life, laughter, fun, their laid back disposition and of course all the different accents. It’s wonderful to be a part of this little community of people.
Today papa went metal detecting and has already found 12 cents, some weights and a couple toy cars and that was only right out in front of our trailer. He’s got acres to cover!
Our plan is to stay here for a month, actually experience New Orleans (0nly 40 miles from where we are staying), visit some of the historic site in the area, learn more about this part of the country and explore Mississippi while we are here.
oh, by the way… that movie I was referring to was “After Earth”. I just looked it up.
Goin' Road Trippin' 