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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Journey Home


Well folks.. it's been one strange vacation for sure.  So much more than I can share...  Mom would like to keep the details private of her dealing with returning back home to Florida. Some people can be pretty horrible.  And some people are very kind.  But honestly, I should write a book!~  It would be a tv movie for sure.  hahahaha

We sadly said our good-byes and headed out on Sunday morning.  It was very very hard to leave Mom.  She will be fine. We know.  But I feel deep inside that I need to be there with her and help her yet. Torn .. oh so torn.  We even tried to convince her to come north with us and relocate in Chilton, near us.  We could sell her house now if she wants to, because it's all spruced up and ready.  All she has to do is say the word.  We will see.  In the meantime, she has her sister nearby, her church, her friends, her crafts and most of all, the internet now that we can Skype...  and my sister and  I keep in contact with her via the internet multiple times a day.

Auntie Lois came over the nigh before and stocked us up with her wonderful peanut butter cookies!  She baked all day in a hot steamy humid kitchen to make these for us!  One container to eat right away, one to eat on our route home, and one to take to our family Easter gathering in Waupaca next week!   What a lady!



We woke up early and did our undoing of the motorhome hookups and prepared our road-worthiness to travel inside the rig.

Then it was time for one last cup of coffee with Mom around her table. It was soooo hard, but we drove away.

Mom just learned to use a new fangled WIFI camera that she can snap a pic and automatically send it to her facebook right from the camera.  Here is what she took of us as we left.



I am so proud of her! 

I took one of her standing on her side deck....

"Bye, Da Momma, see you soon" 


Our trip home has been somewhat stressful.....

Turns out that the alternator Steve replaced isn't the problem, it must be in the wiring somewhere else. So he has made a set of jumper lines between the four deep cycle camper batteries and the two big driving batteries for the diesel electronic engine (does the shifting and fuel systems while driving).  Our solar keeps them charged up pretty well.   We have had some pretty hot stretches so we also ran the generator to operate our roof AC unit.  That sends a charge through too.  All in all, that is okay.

Now... the other problem is that there seems to be a leak in the seal of our water pump where it meets the engine housing.  OH MY!   Steve tightened up one of the two bolts.  The other he can not reach without first tearing off the air conditioning pump.   It leaked about a gallon the first day. We picked up extra jugs of distilled water.  We considered adding some stop leak but hesitate to have that gunk in our very expensive-to-replace and difficult-to-replace radiator.  Instead, we opted to watch the engine temp on the computer readout... and keep adding water.  About every 100 miles we are stopping to add water.

Through Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and now Wisconsin, we have been stopping and adding water.  It's up to about 3 gallons now per stop.  The total capacity is about 11 gallons, so we are keeping on it. Yup... for 1,300+ miles we are the Watering Wanderers!  LOL

We have been overnighting stops at Walmarts along the way, putting on 300-400 miles a day.  It is now Tuesday,  and we have just crossed into Wisconsin!  We have about 75 more miles to limp home....

Sadly, tomorrow we have a funeral to go to.  Steve's favorite Uncle Gordy passed away and we are going to make it in time for the funeral down near Milwaukee

Also on another sad note, today is the birthday of our son, who passed away in 2006.  The most horrible day in our lives.  Happy Birthday in Heaven, our dear Mike. We love you and miss you.





Good thing we are making it home today. This is our weather forecast for tomorrow:
... Wind Advisory in effect from 10 am to 10 PM CDT Wednesday... 

The National Weather Service in Green Bay has issued a Wind
Advisory... which is in effect from 10 am to 10 PM CDT Wednesday. 

* Timing... very strong west winds will develop Wednesday morning
  and continue into Wednesday evening.

* Winds... sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph... with gusts to 45 mph
  are possible.

* Impacts... high-profile vehicles may experience difficult driving
  conditions. Any unsecured outdoor objects may get blown around
  by these gusty winds.
 plus of course cold rain changing over to ***S*N*O*W***


As I write this, we are in the last leg of our journey, less than an hour from home. We just drove through a huge rainstorm.  Look how Wisconsin has welcomed us back!




Now.. I ask you this...
What are the chances of  TWO full rainbows within an hour? 

30 miles down the road from that last rainbow,
It has been raining again, just pouring. 
It suddenly lightened up and now, 

one more 
FULL RAINBOW! 

We are 
DOUBLY BLESSED! 


3,113 miles
Lots of smiles
Lots of tears

We are
 HOME 


6 comments:

  1. A hard trip through some hard times. May you receive more blessings along the way.

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  2. Praying the Lord will comfort you and give His strength as you walk this road of healing from the loss of your momma. Glad you are home safe and sound. And Maybe momma will decided to come live nearer to you.

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  3. So sorry to read about your son. We lost our son who was 38, lasr spring. He was a water bombe pilot, killed fighting a forest fire.

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  4. So glad you made it home safely. I bet it was really hard to leave your mom Maybe if given the time to think over things she will decide to sell and move closer to you.

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  5. Glad to hear you are home safe. I read you all the time but rarely comment due to the fact we don't have Internet. Once I get someplace that has it I try to catch up.

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  6. Wow, you have and had your plate full. You have not posted for awhile so I hope you are resting and taking care of you.

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