…….and the journey begins (part one)

2^nd March 2011, day 7 of my departure from apparent normalcy into something that I really am not sure what I have committed myself to…..ah…c’est la vie.

Seven weeks ago, Richard, my crazy husband, awoke one morning and announced, that yes indeed he felt he was capable of riding his bicycle across the United States of America, (a thought he had been entertaining for 12 months or so). Having sailed his 46ft yacht (aptly named Popeye) single handedly across the Pacific, from New York to Brisbane, Australia last summer, he was now itching for another adventure. The fact that his 64 year old body voiced some strong objections to this new endeavor was immaterial to his driven mind…seems his poor body just had to step up to the plate. My protective instincts were aroused, however, and I felt some form of support crew would probably not go astray and by the golly, it was high time I stepped out on my own with my own adventure of sorts.

I had seven weeks (which included the family coming home for Christmas) to bring my vague idea into fruition. My truck was fitted with a gooseneck hitch for hauling my horse trailer – ooh, so a good starting point may be some sort of recreational vehicle which could be pulled by my 250 Chevy Silverado (alas minus the gun rack). Wow, welcome Diane to the world of RV’s. I soon found that they come in all shapes, styles, floor plans and budgets. The choices were dazzling, expensive and positively overwhelming. Hard information about such matters as construction, longevity and on-going support while on the road, seemed to be incidentals. The earnest salesmen would wave these questions under the carpet in a flurry of inconsequential conversation directed toward the finer interior features of the particular fifth wheel RV I was currently inspecting. Talk about a stressful endeavor as I searched the private and dealer markets. Somewhat in desperation I chose a Heartland Sundance 28.5ft Ultra Light fifth wheel – brand new. At least I had a warranty.

Okay, so now I had a fifth wheel RV and a truck which had a gooseneck hitch. Problem, gooseneck attachments and fifth wheel attachments are like apples and oranges, they just do not work together. I was told that there are fifth wheel hitches on the market which could be fitted over the top of my gooseneck hitch, but "oh no that is not possible with the particular gooseneck hitch on your truck Diane." Undaunted, I learned I could have a gooseneck attachment added to the fifth wheel on the RV – brilliant, problem solved. A quick phone call to the dealer who did some research and yes indeed a gooseneck could be ordered and fitted to the RV before I picked it up for a 5 day trial run to West Palm Beach, Fl. It worked perfectly. I picked up the RV and drove it to West Palm Beach, where I was attending a 5 day workshop. This was to be the trial run before heading out in the general direction of WEST. While doing some quiet reading of the RV manual on one of those nights, I was horrified to read within its pages, in bold letters, "a gooseneck attachment to this fifth wheel trailer will void the warranty"….oh shit!

My plan was to head home with the trailer after the workshop which would give me 2 or 3 weeks to organize and pack what I may need for 6 months into the new toy which Richard had christened "Mandy"…..not sure why, but the name seems to have stuck.

I did, however, have an on board hot water problem. So, instead of heading home after the workshop, I returned Mandy to the dealer where I also had a discussion about warranties! Inevitably, one week later I sold my horse trailer (which had been on the market for sale for the past 18 months). The sale of the horse trailer thereby negated the need for the gooseneck hitch on my truck.

Two weeks later I picked Mandy up with the assurance I had hot water. The challenge now was that I had 3 full days of work between me and departure day, so packing Mandy was a frantic, throw everything in somewhere and hold to the good intentions of finding a home for all the stuff once under way…but the gooseneck had to go.

D-day, Thursday morning Feb 24^th, 2011 - Walker, (the Walker Hound dog) and I backed out of the driveway (this was done not as smoothly as it sounds for there was much frantic direction giving, waving of hands and laughter from the assisting, Barb and JoEllen). The first stop; the Rentz dealer, who would remove the gooseneck and change Mandy back to a fifth wheel. Walker obviously was keying off my moderate stress levels and promptly developed a bad case of leaky bladder syndrome as we waited in the RV for the work to be completed….oh shit! My friend, JoEllen, responded to my call for assistance with not only stuff I had left behind, but also an armful of Depends for Walker. Ever seen a very large (95lbs) hound wearing a diaper – very funny, but effective. Fortunately Walker only suffered this stressful ailment for 24 hours.

The rig hauled beautifully as I headed for the first night camping, which was Canterbury Equestrian Complex just out of Gainesville, where I ended up staying for 10 days – lovely spot with a fenced 30 odd acres of cross country course which Walker and I had all to ourselves for most of the 10 days. Walker ran himself to exhaustion, what a happy dog to be off leash and able to run, run, and run again as I huffed and puffed along behind him.

There was an ulterior motive to camp at the equestrian complex for not only was it cheap, but also my friend Val joined me that weekend, bearing with her all my artwork. We spent the weekend enjoying a Dressage horse show with my paintings and stationery beautifully display for sale under Mandy’s awning. Can’t say we made our fortune, but it was an interesting experience.

My subconscious was doing overtime and daily the list of forgotten things grew longer. I had dropped Richard and his bicycle off in St Augustine, Fl. a week before I departed, so he now was well past me heading for Tallahasse at a great rate. As I was only 2 ½ hours away from home, Walker and I return home the following weekend, leaving Mandy alone in the camp site. This also enabled me to attend a study group, which was very dear to my heart but who meet too infrequently.

Although my truck was bursting at the seams with all the extra, forgotten, paraphernalia, I still managed to leave the back seat clear for the leisure of Walker. He occupied this entire section, sprawled out on his back, head on a pillow with all four legs in the air, waving like young saplings in a gentle breeze. When is people are around, walking, eating and sleeping seemed to be his number one, two and three priorities, in no particular order.

Monday morning 7^th March we two were up early to take one last run around the cross country course before breaking break camp and heading for Pensacola. A woman, probably in her forties, wandered over to collect my money for the camp site. We chatted in the RV for a while as she plied me with questions about my intended trip. She then casually dropped that she had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, the bad kind, so she thought she would bypass chemo and enjoy her final days traveling around America with her husband in a RV like mine. Wow, that gave me pause for thought and to be just thankful for my health, my family, my friends (two and four legged) and the opportunity to be able to follow my heart.

Arrived uneventfully at Big Lagoon State Park on Perdido Key just west of Pensacola and had a lovely private campsite. By the golly though, these campsites challenge my backing skills with the RV – currently it is taking about 3-5 swings to position the RV squarely into the campsite. There seems to be a tradition, in the State Parks at least, to offer very little swing room to negotiate oneself off the road into one’s designated place. I spent 2 delightful days in this State Park. Travis (my son), who is at UWF in Pensacola, made the drive both evenings to have dinner and we even took in a DVD movie on my HD TV. Caught up with Marylynn, a girlfriend who we had met many years ago when she, her husband and Richard and I were sailing the oceans on our rather small sailing boats. While here, I also invested in a mobile broadband Wifi system which I am now enjoying.

Two days later, Walker and I were up early for our morning walk before breaking camp and heading for a RV service center in Pensacola to address my continued lack of hot water. I knew a rather nasty piece of weather was on its way and had hoped to beat it to the service center, but it was traveling faster than I. I cannot say I much enjoyed trying to find my way in the torrential rain, lightning and thunder that engulfed me. I did, however, make it in one piece and was very grateful to be sitting in the RV, parked inside the service garage, while all hell broke loose outside. Tornadoes were being reported left, right and center, flash floods and car pile ups on the interstate as the rain came down at a rate of 10inches an hour for several hours.

By mid afternoon the bad weather had moved on through, and a new heating element had been installed into Mandy (the original heating element was totally corroded through and had been so for some months apparently). Walker and I gingerly pulled out of the service center and made our way west in the hope of catching Richard just south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi that night.

Richard and I briefly made cell phone contact and he gave me a rough idea of where he was so I could come pick him up and drive to the Paul B. Johnson State Park just south of Hattiesburg. There ensued an interesting, if not frustrating 2 hours as I search the back roads of Mississippi looking for Richard and his bike. Cell phone connection ceased to exist and by night fall Mandy had had enough of the cross country work, Walker desperately needed a pee break and I had a screaming stress headache. Acknowledging Walker’s need (as he had spent most of the day in the truck, due to the weather), I supervised a pee break but was not prepared for his totally lack of desire to return to the truck. I could not blame him. Ever tried manhandling a 95lb, reluctant dog into the back seat of a pick up. Were we having fun yet! Night befell us, still no sign of Richard, so I gave up and headed for the State Park, some 45 minutes away. I knew Richard had a tent, food and water (or so I thought) so I was not too concerned about him. The State Park was obviously unmanned at that hour. The entry to the park was under water and a hand scrawled detour notice suggested one try the back entrance to the park – great. Wandered around the back woods until I found the entrance, then spent another ½ hour trying to find camp site 125. Finally it materialized before me, another challenging back in camp site, but at least I was in for the night and poor Walker was able to stretch his legs and I had HOT HOT water. Meanwhile a passerby stopped to check on Richard, still patiently waiting at the side of the road for his wife to appear. This was now 8pm. He borrowed the guy’s cell phone (which worked) and called to check if I was really still alive. We decided it was not worth me coming back to get him, and his good Samaritan refilled his water bottles, which had long been empty, and suggested he could camp on "that there hill boy, but mind the rattlesnakes".

The morning sunshine showed my campsite to be on the shores of a large lake full of geese, ducks and fish. Walker and I explored the whole area on foot which sure was worth the effort. The plans to rendezvous with Richard in Bogalusa that afternoon went far more smoothly, although, as he had ridden on the next morning from "rattlesnake hill", he was now some 60 miles away from me. He was buggered and very thankful to have a hot meal, warm bed and the following day an off day , just taking it quietly. We are amazed that there is literally nothing but swamps intermingled with farm country on the back roads of Mississippi and Louisiana. Richard is having a hard time replenishing his water supply, finding food and accommodation – few places to camp due to the amount of water lying around after that severe weather. I therefore am following him a little closer than planned. With the truck I obviously have a greater range to search for an appropriate place to put the RV for the night.

I left him alone for 3 days and headed to Baton Rouge to spend a night with friend Stacy and her family (from Epona days). Wonderful evening in her 19^th century Louisiana plantation home with her husband, mother, 5 dogs and 5 horses (…the horses were outside).

The Louisiana roads are truly something else. It is like being in those older style up/ down agitator washing machines that goes on and on and on. Each evening I have to do casualty duty inside Mandy for all the stuff that has been flung around the RV. Walker and I arrived in Chicot State Park last Monday amid another torrential downpour (minus tornadoes). We retired inside Mandy for the afternoon and I just sat and read – how truly wonderful. I picked up Richard on Tuesday, (yesterday) in a little place called Washington, to find him very ragged around the edges. He seemed to be running a mild fever. A pimple on his butt had become infected and was making sitting on the bike quite difficult. Today we decided to visit a local medical center to have it checked out. He two lovely abscesses which had to be lanced and drained and he is now on antibiotics, plus told not to ride to 2 or 3 days….so here we are together in another lovely State Park. A day of reading tomorrow I think – love it.