On the Move

We left Beaver Dam on Thursday, yesterday, and are now moving south through Illinois and Indiana on our way to an appointment with Newmar -- the people that built our coach. We won't be back through Indiana for more than a year in all likelihood, and there are a couple small items that need attention under warranty.

Both Dar and I grew up in Beaver Dam and our parents and other family members are still there, so we had a wonderful 3 weeks visiting and putting some extra deposits in the "hug-bank" for later withdrawals as we're traveling the South this winter. We left with mixed emotions -- an emptiness from knowing we won't see these good people for 8 or 10 months, but excitement to get on with our journey.

As is typical in this part of the country, the weather made a dramatic change the last few days from upper 80's and high dew points to more normal high temps in the 50's and low 60's and much lower humidity. But the winds that brought the change were incessant for almost three days and calmed down a little yesterday which helped make our drive a little easier.

Speaking of driving, Dar drove one leg of our trip yesterday -- about 30 miles. Unfortunately, there were a number of construction areas with narrow and shifted lanes. Driving the bus demands your attention most of the time, but when the traffic lane is only 10 feet wide and the bus is almost 9 feet wide and there's only 6 inches on either side and you're going 50 mpg... it get's very exciting for even the most experienced. For a new driver it's nearly "panics-ville". But she survived the experience and can now tell her grandchildren about what it was like "back in the old days" when she'd drive the bus through places no one would believe. It did take a few minutes to get my fingers unwrapped from the armrest of my seat when we stopped. I, too, will survive.

T