This was our RV trip last week..........
Grab a soda and a box of popcorn..........this is gonna be long....................
It started off as a wonderful trip............Oldest son, his wife, the Spousal Unit, and me. We're going to Gillette, Wyoming, for the Pyrotechnics Guild International convention. Hitching up the Cyclone and going off for a good time! The plan was to leave last Thursday, the 8th after Son and DIL got off of work, so we could get part way and make it in good time on Friday. The goal was a 5 pm departure; they had brought all their clothes and food for the fridge and freezer on Wednesday evening, so all we had to do was hitch up and go. At 5:10 we rolled out of the driveway and about 10:30 pulled into the WalMart campground in Albert Lea, MN.
We left a little after 7 Friday morning (again, so we didn't have to pound the road and could be in Gillette at a reasonable time to get set up, etc. at our site in BoxElder campground at Camp Plex, where the convention was being held. Ivan told Brett he could drive for awhile, so off we went. We got about 3 or 4 miles west of Mitchell, SD on I-90 and the truck had an error code come up and it lost power. (sound familiar, for those of you that read of our travesty on the way home from Texas in April.............??) It was pretty much the same deal, only this time we had enough power to get off the interstate at the next exit and limp our way back to Mitchell, where, luckily, they had a Chevy dealership. Turns out, our turbo was shot. Oh, by the way, turbos are in VERY short supply, we may not be able to get one. Good God................they called around and found a couple of dealerships that had one. Ivan asked,"well, would any of them actually PART with one?" Yes, one would. This is a 2 day job to replace it because they have to take the cab off the truck to even access the turbo. Most excellent engineering, IMHO. As luck (???) would have it, we are still under the 5 year powertrain warranty so it would not be any of our dimes. Good thing............. By this time, Son is totally PO'd, Ivan isn't really happy, and the DIL is totally over-wrought. Me??? I kept my mouth shut and stayed out of it. Yes, I did......We sure wish the mechanic we saw at the dealership in Mendota, IL on our way home in April would have diagnosed it correctly then. Would have saved alot of grief on this trip.
Son wanted to turn around and go back home. The mechanic said how we could reset the beast............it might last till we got home, and it might take a crap before we got on the interstate. We were over halfway there, 6 hours left to get to Gillette. The Chevy dealership did not rent vehicles, but the Dodge dealer in town did. The Chevy dealership owner also had a Ford dealership about 10 blocks away. They had a big lot where we could put the RV and leave it. Whilst son and DIL went to get the rental, Ivan and I started gathering up what we would need for the week. Son and DIL had suitcases...........we had drawers. Sheesh.
I need to back up here and add this..............when we were getting stuff around on Wednesday, Ivan was putting his map book in the back seat, and he asked "do you HAVE to have these (expletives deleted) grocery bags in here??" Umm........well, yes, because you never know when you would need them. He kind of wadded them up and stuck them under the front seat. Ok, back to our original programming............
We had all these clothes to take (well, we all know we take more and put in the drawers) so had to select just WHAT we really needed and what we could leave behind. What are we gonna put this stuff in???? (lightbulb moment..............) I have those (expletives deleted) grocery bags under the front seat of the truck. :>) Perfect. But, we had stuff in the fridge...........DIL brought several packages of steaks. I had 3 batches of dough to make Danish and sell at the park (yes, I asked for permission to do so and it was granted). Wanted to be efficient and have all that made up beforehand; it was in the freezer. 3 batches of fruit for said Danish. I also had a 9x13 pan sized hunk of frozen lasagna we could reheat. DIL had some green beans and little potatoes she had just gotten from her Hello Fresh shipment. WHAT are we gonna do with all that? Cannot leave fridge on for over a week and tossing it was NOT an option. Did the only thing we could; gathered it all up and gave it to the people at the dealership. I hope they enjoyed it all. I asked the lady at the service desk if she baked........Oh, yes, she did. I gave her the frozen dough and told her she could make cinnamon rolls out of it. It was a pretty basic one, with a couple tweaks.
As we are putting stuff OUT of the RV while the other 2 went and got the rental, I told Ivan "if they come back in a little crapbox like we rented when we came home for Christmas, we are in deep excretia. They rolled up in a Chrysler Pacifica minivan. Whew! Besides the 2 suitcases, a couple other "necessary" bags and 4 bag chairs, we were pretty well packed. It was probably close to 2 when we left Mitchell. On the way, DIL called and got us a hotel. DS decided he did not want a semi-dive, he wanted one where we could get breakfast. DIL got on the horn again and we got a room at Day's Inn. Wasn't too bad, as it was only a couple miles from Camp-Plex.
Bad part was we only had 1 vehicle............we had our bicycles in the RV and had intended to bike around while they were at classes, etc. We made it all work, tho some was a mild PITA. Convention was great, I should probably post a couple pix of the fireworks here. I will do that, they are on my phone so will be a separate post. Comes time to pack up...............well..........................DS had purchased about 12 cases of Class C fireworks. He had ordered them from a supplier that was going to be at PGI and the plan to pick them up there was to not have to pay shipping. Because, well, you know, we'd have the RV and LOTS of room for fireworks. He picked the boxes up Friday afternoon and we packed everything we could in the van, just leaving out the couple "necessary" bags. We also had to allow for the 4 bag chairs too, which we needed to watch the Friday night's final show. After packing it all, when we went back later Friday, Son and DIL determined that "hell, yeah, we have room for a few more in there." It wasn't a full case, but 6 individual smaller items. When we got everything in there, we looked like the Clampetts going camping. I did get a picture of the middle portion of the van, but did not get one of the back. That is also on my phone.
Left Gillette at 7 Saturday morning and made it home by midnight. There was some testiness but we got here in one piece. This turned out to be a VERY expensive get-away. Travelling with the Zettles is SUCH an experience...........you should try it. :>)
