“That Was Easy”

Well, my zig zag journey from Okefenokee NWR to Tamarac NWR hasn’t exactly been without incidents, but at least it hasn’t been too traumatic.  After the shock to my wallet with the new tires, and other maintenance and repairs, I wandered around Arkansas for over a week. 

While there, the windshield wiper incident happened, and I ended up waiting out a strong snow/rain storm for four days.  Then it was on to Missouri.  Had a nice couple of days in Carthage, and headed out to just north of Kansas City.

I planned to do just one night at the Basswood RV Resort in Platte City.  I thought perhaps it was the place that fellow bloggers, Kenny and Angela, reside.  I emailed them about my arrival and the possibility of sharing a pizza on Wednesday evening.  That didn’t work out.  I never heard back from them, and the folks at Basswood would not confirm their living there.

After getting the slides in and levelers up on Thursday morning, I stepped outside to unhook the electric.  That’s when a neighbor asked if I was planning to head north on I-29.  I said yes, so he told me I might want to forget it.  Seems there was an awful accident on 29N, and the road was closed.  With two people killed and nine more injured, the investigation and cleanup were expected to go on until the afternoon.  I don’t like just heading out in the afternoon, so I paid for another night and just sat tight.  Too bad since it was an excellent traveling day.

This morning, I finally headed out, but the north winds began to blow and I battled a fairly strong headwind all day.  After driving through the construction and lumpy roads around Council Bluffs, I checked my passenger’s side rearview mirror once again and noticed a little air space on the back arm of my automatic awning.  It appeared to slightly bow in and out from the side of the rig.  Egad!  My mind could just conjure up the whole awning flying out and getting ripped to shreds.

I slowed way down and limped to a nearby rest area while constantly checking the mirror.  When I got out of the rig, sure enough, the back arm was cocked out about two inches.  I tried opening it and closing it again several times, but it still remained not fully in.  What next?  I decided to try helping it get all the way in using my collapsible pole I have for my trucker’s antenna.  All that accomplished were some scratches on the awning arm.

I’m sure it kind of looked like a Chinese fire drill.  I’d open the awning, then hit the retract button, grab the pole, and run to the back to try to help push the thing up with the pole.  I did that a couple of times with no progress.  Next try?  Unpack and haul out the collapsible ladder.  I had to climb to the second step from the top to finally reach high enough, but after pushing and hammering the thing with the heel of my hand I finally heard it click into place.  Victory!

I closed up the ladder, packed it back away, and headed into the rig to…

…hit my easy button!  The few bucks I paid for this button were sure worth it.  It puts a smile on my face, and helps calm my nerves after a stressful situation. 

Tonight, I’m ensconced in a KOA right along I-29 near North Sioux City, SD.  I rarely stay at a KOA because I think they grossly overcharge for a campsite ($47!), but after 270 miles and the awning snafu I’m pooped and needed an easy off-easy on stop for the night.  I guess when I was in Carthage, I stood under that crap duster a little too long! 

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy