Sunday, Ken and I brought Wilbur to our apartment, packed for our trip to Houston and by 3:30 AM on Monday morning we were in a large parking lot hooking up our CRV for the trip. We realized that the courtesy lights on the left side of Wilbur were not functioning. We were on our way by 3:45 knowing we wanted to cover a lot of miles the 1st day and we did - 775 miles to be exact which got us very close to Birmingham AL. We arrived at the hotel at 6 with the time change and were very ready to call it a day. We could not stay in Wilbur during the trip because we had unloaded everything and all the tanks were empty and clean as well as the inside and the outside storage areas.
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| The "Road Warrior" is on a mission! |
Tuesday morning we were on our way again by 6:30 and heading into Mississippi. It was another very long day of driving, 585 miles, but within 150 miles of Houston, our destination for selling Wilbur. Originally had an 11:00 appointment on Friday at PPL, the consignment place in Texas that only sells used RV's and they have been doing it for over 30 years. They have an excellent "track record" and we know numerous folks who have had great success selling their units in a relatively short time for a good price! That is why we decided to make this road trip! Because the drive was going well, we called and changed the appointment to 4:00 PM on Wednesday. We had to get Wilbur weighed and stop at an inspection station near PPL in Houston before we got there to do the paperwork.
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| Not very clear because taken while driving, but a huge barge in the water in Mississippi! |
Just a side note. When we got to our motel on Tuesday evening, we were not able to get around in their parking lot and when we are towing the CRV you can't back-up. So, we had to disconnect the car. Turns out that was a good thing, because in the morning we realized there was a Love's Service Center only 15 miles up the road, so I followed Ken there and we were able to get Wilbur weighed. At that point we hooked up the CRV and were on our way.
Wednesday at 6:30 we were off again, got Wilbur weighed and then headed into downtown Houston - what a crazy and busy traffic area. We arrived at the inspection station and they were extremely busy, but the very nice owner said he would stop what he was doing and complete the inspection for us - wow! Ken told him Wilbur's courtesy lights were not working and would he be able to fix them because they would be necessary to pass inspection. He said he did not have the time, but PPL would be able to do it. It was amazing, but when he checked all the lights he asked Ken which ones weren't working and when Ken pointed to the left side, they were on. God had a plan! We were in the parking lot of a shopping center, so it was a great place to disconnect and remove the hitch and tow bar from Wilbur, a requirement of PPL. Well, Ken was a bit concerned that he would have trouble removing it, because one of the connectors was bent and all the pieces had been on Wilbur a long time. After trying to loosen it with no avail, I remembered that we had picked up a pliers that was laying right in front of Wilbur between his 2 front tires when we had been at a Rest Stop. We put it in Wilbur not giving it much thought. What a hallelujah! The pliers was the necessary tool - we had taken all our tools out of Wilbur when we emptied him completely! No doubt that God was watching over us and we have miracles to prove it!
PPL was only 2 miles from the inspection station, so off we went, arriving there by 11:15. Remember, we had a 4:00 appointment. Sandy, the gal who was going to work with us, was not busy at that time, and came right out to Wilbur to check him out. He passed with flying colors! We headed inside to complete the paperwork (Ken had filled our most of it at home and had brought along everything else they needed - what a guy!). By 12:30 we were finished and able to leave. We said our goodbyes to Wilbur and before leaving the parking lot decided we would change our plans for today. We were going to spend the night at a nearby hotel and leave in the morning, but now it was early afternoon and we were so anxious to get out of Houston. So, we decided to go back the 150 miles to the same area we had stayed the night before - we chose a different motel because last night's was rather "marginal"! This whole day God was in control!
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| We opened the slides on Wilbur so he could be "checked out" by Sandy at PPL! |
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| Sandy made sure everything was as we had told them! |
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| We certainly got to see a lot of the US in Wilbur! We only put on the state sticker if we camped there at least one night. Mississippi must feel a bit neglected. We passed through there several times, but just in the little part of the very southern tip - never got to camp there! |
On our way down to Houston, I had said to Ken that it would be nice to make one little side trip to see something when doing all this driving. So, knowing how much I loved Elvis, he suggested we go to Graceland - how nice of him! So Thursday morning at 4:15 I stirred and Ken had already been awake for about an hour, so he suggested we leave and that way we could tour Graceland that afternoon when it was less crowded and be on our way again 1st thing Friday morning. I agreed so he started loading the car while I got ready. Change of plans. When he returned to the room I told him we needed to talk. I was feeling emotional and "spent". Releasing Wilbur was a lot harder than I anticipated, a lot like when you take your child to college and a new chapter of your life begins. I am ready for this next chapter but all the memories and good time just made it hard to let go. Also, I realized how much I dislike staying in hotels when traveling, especially moving every night. Makes me so thankful that we were able to do all our traveling cross country in Wilbur. It is just such a better way for me to enjoy the wonderful adventures.
I got over the emotional part rather quickly, but we did decide to just head home - both of us were ready for this trip to be done and going to Graceland would have added another 150 miles! So, off we went and traveled another 710 miles to Cleveland TN for the night and arrived there at 7:30 east coast time. By now we were exhausted and so ready to be home.
Friday we were on our way again by 6:45 and arrived back home at 6:15. I must say that we were blessed with fantastic weather this entire trip, extremely hot but no rain. So, we traveled 3,000 miles in 5 days and I only did about 2 1/2 hours of driving. Ken is definitely a road warrior! I can't begin to explain to you how tired we were after unloading the CRV. Obviously we were in bed extremely early and feeling so thankful and blessed to be back home.
When I think back over the last month, we have done more in that time than oftens happens in a year. We drove to Port Charlotte Florida and settled on the condo on June 5, left there after 2 weeks for Pensacola for a US Navy retirement celebration for 2 days, drove back home, Ken went to Nashville, and now we returned from another long trip - it is crazy! These adventures have been amazing and we are so thankful that we had no problems on any of the trips!
By getting home on Friday, we were able to attend the league swim meet for Bria and Cali today. It was extremely hot, but fortunately we were able to sit in the shade and every once in a while there was a breeze! It was a fantastic meet for the girls with Bria getting one 1st and a 2nd and Cali getting 1st place in her 2 events. Both relay teams that the girls were a part of took 1st place. It was great that we could be there!
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| Cali did a great job at the meet taking 1st in her age group for butterfly, backstroke, and as part of her relay! |
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