Headed to Charlottesville!

We were in Goshen about a week, then left for Charlottesville to visit the kids. We haven't seen the baby since April and she is now about 5 months old, but 2 months, xdays adjusted. That's because she was a preemie, born at 28 weeks, so you really can't expect her to look/act like a 5-month old. . . her age is closer to that of a 2-month old. She is doing great and is so cute, just like Ronan. We can't wait to see them both!

We spent a couple days finishing the packing of Jocelyn's stored items. We retrieved the enclosed trailer from my sister's place and got it ready to roll. Terry swapped out the tires for the ones stored inside it, as they looked better for the long haul from Indiana to Virginia. We washed it and loaded it with 22 bins of "stuff."

We took off on Thursday morning and enjoyed a carefree drive to Logan, Ohio. We decided to take US 33 which is a different route for us. Terry wanted me to see the beauty of West Virginia and we never take certain roads there because of the size of Phaeton Place. MinnieMee, our Class B+ is much more suited to making that drive.

At Logan, Ohio, MinnieMee suffered a collapse of sorts. Everything just quit. I steered to the shoulder of the road. Terry got out and found the battery cables loose, so he tightened them and we were on our way. A short distance down the road, it happened again and we knew we were in for some serious diagnostics. As we pulled over once again, we tried and were able to get her running again. We both recalled our Class A Intruder with fuel pump issues and we knew this was probably a similar problem. We had the coach totally checked out and everything that could be changed was just before we started traveling with her. But our mechanic told us he didn't change the fuel filter because it was in the tank. No matter, we probably would not have approved that expense since it was working. . . but not now. We limped, with MinnieMee coughing, sputtering, and protesting all the way into a tire store.

The people at Cherry's Tire could not have been more accommodating. They could not work on her, but they told us where to go and who to call and supplied me with names and phone numbers. We got a wrecker owner to come down the road to us (at least everything we needed was a mile in either direction) and he checked for an external fuel filter. There is none, but he suggested we let it cool down, then we could drive it a short distance. We stayed the night on the tire lot, then drove the next morning to Patton's Truck Service down the road. He diagnosed the fuel pump, ordered the part and said to have it there Monday morning. Not really what we wanted to hear, but certainly the earliest anyone could do anything. We were able to drive to a dumpy campground, the Logan Lake Campground, and stayed there for the weekend nice and cool and cozy inside MinnieMee. Monday morning we drove back to Patton's and they worked their magic. By 3:15 p.m. we were back on the road, four days late, but in good shape.

We drove to Roanoke, West Virginia, to the Stonewall Jackson State Resort Park. It is a lovely park, with a golf course and a lodge with fine dining. There is also a campground which was extremely nice. We got one of the last sites in the camp. We were right on the lake, but it was down a pretty steep cliff, so no walking along the shore! The next morning was so nice and cool I ate breakfast out on the picnic table.


Till next time. . .

Dale