ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...

We started off late on our first day with the new setup and didn’t put in many hours of driving.  While the proper hitch was finally installed in the truck, it wasn’t properly installed.  Thank God for Mechanic Man who knows his stuff!   Besides having to redo some of the manual labor to set it in there correctly, there was the new routine of preparing to leave.  In the motorhome, it was simply put things away, pull up the shades, and disconnect the electric, water, and sewer.  With a fifth wheel, there is much more involved!  Of course, there is still the disconnecting of the “utilities,” but there is also the slides to bring in, and the entire unit to hook to the truck … not to mention the arranging of items inside the fifth wheel so that they don’t impede the slides and/or scratch up the walls while in transit.  ;-)  It was a bit odd to “pack” the first-traveling morning after spending the previous four days “settling in.”  Items in closets, drawers, and refrigerator had to be situated in a way for being jarred around.  However, I must have packed well because we had no calamities like those I have heard from others.  Every time we hit a bump, I was envisioning items in the pantry falling over or something scratching the closet walls. Thanks be to God all was fine … let’s pray it’s always the case!

 

"Let's get outta here!"

Traveling was an entire different experience, too.   Humor me here … close your eyes.  Really … go ahead and close them … please?   Imagine driving down a two- or three-lane road with your house behind you.   Your entire house and your belongings are being towed behind your vehicle as you do 50-60 mph down the road.  You know it’s secure, but do you wonder if it will pop off the hitch?  (Yes, I asked that of Mechanic Man!) You have those lead-foot drivers who need to be in front of you, or there’s the pokier person in front of you … and YOU have to PASS that car!  Can you feel your body tense a bit??  Well, that is how I felt this first day.   As always, I attribute my faith in our safety not only to God but to Mechanic Man who has a CDL (commercial driver’s license) and knows how to drive tractor trailers and how the towing process operates.  Yet, I still kept looking in the mirror behind us.   All was well, though.

While we all love the spacious fifth wheel, we all commented on the convenience and comfort of traveling in a motorhome.  Everything is accessible when we are mobile in the motorhome.  Not only that, but the kids can lounge in the back (with their seatbelts on) and have more space to do things while we are on the move.  Traveling with a fifth wheel, they have to actually sit upright in the truck, side by side, looking out the window or sleeping with head hanging back on the seat, like Mechanic Man and I had to travel as kids.  Even the Poodle missed having some mobility in the truck as I held her captive on my lap.   Well, we can’t have it all now; can we?  

 

I have to admit that while the new experience of traveling with our house behind us was definitely different that first day on the road with the huge setup, these were simply observations and not really complaints.   May God continue to be with us and bless us on this trip!  (Oh!  We still were in Texas that first-traveling day yet closer to the eastern border!)