There’s the Good News and then There’s the Bad News

June 8-19, 2016                                                                                    Most Recent Posts:
Laurel, Maryland, I 64 between                                                 Hiking in and Near Charlottesville
Charlottesville and New Market                                 Three Weeks in May: Memories, Maintenance, and Festivals

 

GOOD NEWS!!

 

The whole purpose of our visit back to Virginia was to be here for the birth of our granddaughter Celia Claire and to spend some time with her.  After her birth on May 19th, the new family had only a week to spend together before Matthew had to go back to work since our country has such absolutely horrible family leave policies unlike most other western countries.  Both Carrie, who works for the Federal Court of Veteran’s Appeals” and Matthew, who works for a private company, had to take their vacation time for this or rather I should say they were “permitted” to take their vacation time. 

So in early June I traveled to up to Laurel Maryland to spend some time with and hopefully help the new family.  Carrie and Celia were home together, Matthew joined us in the evenings.  We took walks and rides and had hugs and kisses and just enjoyed being together.   Celia has a bit of colic it seems and especially around the dinner hour is uncomfortable and makes some very worried faces. Poor thing. We were busy so I didn’t take a lot of pictures of much of anything but the baby, of course.

 

Like many babies, riding in a stroller or the car puts her right to sleep.

 

She can change attitudes faster than you can snap your fingers.  Look at that coy look and then, not so happy.

 

Sweet Little Celia has long legs.  She’ll really like that when she’s a teen or at least I would have loved havin those legs.  On her feet are little booties crocheted by her Great, Great, Great Aunt Carrie whom I wrote about in my previous post on memories.   Sure wish Aunt Carrie could enjoy her wearing those in person.

 

 

The pacifier is exactly that.  We think she has a bit of colic particularly around the witching hour of 6:00.  She doesnt’ much like to be on her back and doesn’t sleep well that way but the doctors say it’s important for babies not to be on their stomachs for fear of SIDS.   I guess we didn’t know as much about it when her mama was a baby because she slept on her stomach.

 

Happy Mama and her sleeping sweetie.  Notice those Mary Janes her Grandma brought for her.  Too cute!

 

I think she looks great in hats and she has a variety of looks.

 

 

I was pretty surprised to see her looking so intently at the mobiles over her swing.  Three weeks old seems early for that.

 

Can you hold a sleeping baby and read a book at the same time.  You betcha!  These are my two favorite activities at the moment.

 

Ok, I know, enough grand baby.  Reluctantly I leave on Saturday and give the little family their week-end alone.

After experiencing a few days in the 90’s we know it is time to head north so we set out for Niagara Falls with a couple of stops on the way.  This summer we’ll be in upstate New York, Vermont, the Delaware Water Gap and Assateague National Seashore which coincidentally is in the same state as Celia so we hope she might come visit us there.  We’re on a circular trip of coolness before returning to see our little sweetheart in the fall.

 

BAD NEWS

 

Sunday June 19 is our departure date.  We start out and get about 50 miles down the road when all of a sudden we hear a loud
BANG. 

I know right away it has to be the tow dolly and sure enough, when we pull over on I-64 to take a look, the dolly has had a major blow out that destroyed the tire, the fender and the wiring.   Notice that the plastic fender is disintigrated and the solid steel plate behind it is bent at 90% and embedded in the tire.

Of course it is Sunday and Father’s Day and most tire stores are closed.  Note to self, DO NOT drive on Week-ends. We are along the edge of Interstate 64 headed west.  We can not stay here but we also cannot move the dolly without getting another tire so I start searching – thank goodness for mobile internet, solar panels for electricity and generator for AC in the 90+ degree heat.

No one around has the tire we need which is a ST205/75R 14”.  They have 12” and 13” and even 15”.  No 14”.  We found 4 years ago when we replaced these tires that locating 14” tires was amazingly difficult.  One place has a 75D which is a bias tire not a radial.  This is not what we want but it is all we can get in order to get the dolly moving and off of the interstate.

 

The main difference between a radial ply and a bias ply tire is how the tire is constructed. The cords inside a bias ply tire run at a 32 degree angle to the direction of travel, and the cords on a radial tire run at a 90 degree angle to the direction of travel, or across the tire from wheel lip to wheel lip.

A radial tire flexes more than a bias tire, giving it better ground contact, traction, stability, and tread wear.  A radial tire will normally run cooler than a bias ply tire, especially when the tire is under a load. A tire that runs cooler will last longer.  A bias ply tire has a stiffer sidewall than a radial,

Luckily nothing else has been damaged so we take Ruby off the dolly and with less than enthusiasm but feeling like we have no choice, David heads to the Waynesboro Tractor Supply and to pick up the tire and rim right before they close.

 

 

I stay with Winnona and the dolly.   When David returns, we get out our faithful bottle jack, something I think every RVer should have, and use it to jack up the dolly. We mount the tire, tighten the lugs and are on our way.

 

 

Without the fender, the right side of the dolly has no brake light or turn signal so I don’t feel safe putting the car on it.  I drive Ruby, David drives Winnona pulling the dolly and we move along trying to make it to our campsite before dark.

I had called Endless Caverns Campground in New Market Virginia when the blow out first happened and it wasn’t clear whether we could even make our reservation.  The woman on the phone was wonderful assuring me that they would move our reservation to a later date or we could come in after hours.  Not to worry.  

I had thought since the trip was such a short one that we would be there easily in time to tour the caverns.  When we arrive it has taken us 5 hours to drive that 80 miles.  I am SO glad it is always my policy when leaving Virginia to do a 100 miles or less on the first night.

They kindly put us in an easy pull through and we collapse leaving the replacement problems for another day.  We head for Shawnee  State Park in Pennsylvania tomorrow assuming no more catastrophes.