We have had a great 2 weeks on the road. The only mishap was Graham losing his retainers, but other than that we had a great time at Disney, the kids had a great time at Beach Camp, and we all had a wonderful time on the Dennie family trip.
We woke up this morning a few minutes earlier than our alarms. While Robby finished getting ready, I started shoving our bags into the hallway. He then went to get the kids up and check their rooms while I finished getting ready.
We said our goodbyes and all climbed into the van with half of our stuff. Robby and I wisely had taken a load of things to the camper last night, but Whitman and I still had bags under our feet on the way to the camper this morning.
Once we arrived, we unloaded a few things from the car, but mainly we left most things in the car. We hooked up the car and headed to pick up Bentley. I think that she had a good time-she was happy to see us. We weren't overly impressed with where she stayed, but she is a dog after all.
Our first stop this morning was just a bit down the road at Buccees. We did all get out and buy the traditional Buccees items-slushies, cokes, nuts, chocolate candy, a chicken sandwich, and some pork tenderloin. Yep, you read that right. Graham came up to us with his snack-a package of pork tenderloin. He did use some bbq sauce in the camper with it, but he said it was pretty good.
There was one other stop for gas. When we were there, Robby tried to do some work, but he didn't have any internet so that is why he is now catching up on work right now (after midnight). We were just plugging along through Pine Bluff when we heard Robby's tire pressure thing start beeping.
We have traveled a lot. We have been many places and on many trips. And some trips just aren't perfect. Robby and I even talk about some trips being "the trip from hell." For the most part, we are pretty relaxed people and don't let many things phase us. This trip though had been so great, so I hated to end it on a sour note.
I can't really be too sour though: the tire pressure system worked, a gas station was about 1/4 of a mile down the road, we were safe, had plenty of food, and were in the air conditioner and still made it home just a little after 10 (about 2.5 hours later than planned.)
We have now had a bit of tire problems on the camper-more than I think should be normal. I'm not relaxed when it comes to the tires-it all terrifies me. Though I do feel fairly confident on changing the tires. Before Robby had even gotten out of the car, I had pulled out the jack and lug nut thing aroo.
The flat tire was on the inside which meant that Robby did have to use the jack. However, his jack wasn't quite tall enough to lift the camper so he had to put it on something. He first tried to use his leveling blocks.
For Robby to jack up the camper, he had to be under the camper. I'm not a car expert, but getting under something being jacked up seems to be a big no-no to me. Of course this made me super nervous, but Anderson was just as worried as I was.
The blocks that he had the jack on were plastic so they would start to cave in causing the camper to move slightly. After two attempts, Robby called AAA. (What we should have done was take the van off, and him go and get two paver stones at Walmart right down the road.)
After about an hour and half, the tow truck man arrived. He then told Robby that they weren't allowed to work on campers. Robby's jack was also bigger than the other man's jack (That last sentence doesn't sound too nice!) Anyway, the man did have two bricks which Robby used to jack up the camper, and then take off the two tires and replace the inside tire. (If you look closely at the picture, you see Robby working and the man watching. He was nice and all, but what are we paying AAA for. He is going to reassess having AAA for the camper this next week.)
Within 15 minutes of the camper being jacked up, we were back on the road. The last 5 minutes that the kids and I were outside, we got ate up by mosquitoes. I guess that we got in their nest or something, but we all were spraying ourselves with bug spray as Robby finished with the tire.
The kids were great during all of this. They walked around in the gas station. They came outside when we asked. They even pulled out the football and played ball. Anderson was right there trying to help in any way he could. No one complained when they certainly could have. They did better than Robby and I for sure. Robby was just a bit stressed-he's so worried about us that he couldn't relax. I handled it all well because I just hold all my anxiety in and was a nervous wreck on the way home. My chest is still a little tight! (Kidding, but not really.)
We were delayed about 2 and a half hours due to all of this, but again we can't really complain. I am pretty sure that these last few hours of this trip will still not put it in "a trip from hell" category. No, I am sure that it won't. As we unpacked the kids were already talking about next year's Dennie family trip.
When we did get home, the kids all needed showers due to the mosquitoes. First though they had to help us unpack the camper. They did a bit, and then Robby and I did some more. It is still a mess in there, and inside, but things are getting better.
It was pretty late when all of the kids did get into bed. The day after us picking up the camp kids, we went to a Goodwill, and I bought a magnet toy for Whitman. He and Keaton were playing with it at midnight tonight. Hopefully, they all catch up on their sleep some tonight since tomorrow and this next week are going to be busy.
Tomorrow, Campbell has a doctor's appointment, Robby will deal with the tire, and 4 kids need to pack for mission trips.
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