In August we filed an insurance claim to
replace our roof. Finally, the claim was
approved and we scheduled the work to be done starting the 14th of
Nov.
We made a hotel reservation for a week, but of course, the
job did not get finished, which carried us into the week of Thanksgiving. It was going to be a short week and the
chances of getting our home out of the shop by Thursday were decreasing rapidly.
Brian had planned to stay with us in the RV, but now it
looked like the 3 of us might have to spend Thanksgiving in a hotel room.
However, our heavenly father knows our needs before we do
and in this case, he provided a way we could spend Thanksgiving in a much more
comfortable situation.
Some friends of Chris and Angie said they were going out of
town for the week and we could stay at their house while they were gone.
It couldn’t have worked out better. We had a great Thanksgiving, everyone had a
place to sleep and the house was wonderful.
5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms plus a theater room, game room (with Ping Pong
table) and a huge dining room where we enjoyed Jane’s wonderful Thanksgiving
lunch. 
Christmas was also unlike any we had had previously. We had a new roof and after getting a new set
of axles, the house was set up in our “home” city of Livingston, TX. It’s where our mail forwarding service is
located, 70 miles northeast of Houston, in the piney woods of east Texas.
Chris, Angie and the kids spent Christmas Day with Chris’
family, 90 miles to the south. Brian
came to spend a couple days and the 7 of us slept at our house on Christmas
night. For 7 people to sleep in our
house on wheels was a record that will probably never be broken, at least we
hope so.
We had a great Christmas celebration on the 26th and the
weather was nice enough that we ate Jane’s fantastic Christmas lunch outside,
under the awning.
Brian went back home
to resume work, but the six of us spent the next few days going to the park,
playing with new toys and games and just enjoying meals and being
together. Caleb rode his new bike in the
park and we shot rockets while Hannah painted, danced and sang songs.
While the rest of humanity was getting ready to count down
to 2017, we were on the road again, headed west on I-10. We made it to Junction, TX and then drove on
New Year’s Day to Las Cruces, NM. We had
300 miles left and made it 299.25 before our right rear wheel on the RV fell
off, tearing up the side of the RV.
Seems the guy who put our wheels back on, when we had the axles
replaced, forgot to put the cotter pin back in the spindle.
Some people would say that we were lucky that the wheel fell
off less than a mile from our destination.
We were lucky that it didn’t happen 30 seconds sooner, when we were
going 65 mph on I-10. We were lucky that
the wheel didn’t hit another car and hurt someone. I prefer to believe that we have a loving
heavenly father who is able to protect us from harm. We drove 1129 miles, mostly on the interstate
at 65 mph and the wheel fell off when we were making a turn at 5 mph. Thank you Lord.
A good Samaritan in a pickup truck behind us stopped and
picked up our wheel for us. We agreed
that he would go home (a short distance away) and come back with a ratchet and
chain. Another passerby stopped and
called the Sheriff’s department to send a squad car to assist. I used my 2.5 ton floor jack to raise the
axle up off the street and we were able to limp in to the RV resort to a
temporary site.
In spite of having to get estimates, schedule the work,
countless emails with the company that caused the damage, and then getting the
work done, we managed to get involved in the activities of the park. I started playing pickleball, Jane went to
line dancing and together we took a class in ballroom dancing, learned the
foxtrot (sort of) went to a couple of concerts and several dances and tried to
do the things we were expecting to do when we arrived. We got to see the people we had met last time
we were in Tucson and made new friends.
Jane took a beginner pickleball lesson and played games with beginners.
(We all know that I am not athletic……so this has been quite a stretch! Jane)
Part II follows.
