Friday morning we got up early, had a fine breakfast and looked forward to getting on the road early (that is, before 9). When I went to lock the door, I found that the key spun gaily, with no effect at all! This was disturbing on several levels. I am too much a city boy to be real comfortable not locking my doors when I have valuables inside. Also, the Airstream people design this trailer with "suicide" doors, just like a '48 Lincoln. So, if the door comes loose, the wind of passage will rip it off. Rats! Not what I had in mind. So, after 45 minutes of furious machine design (Can I do this? No. What about this? No, not that either....), I finally was able to drill a 3/16" hole through a plastic stop and set a padlock between the grab handle and the door. Then we duct taped it within an inch of its life. (Use the tape, young Skywalker :) )
So off we went, a mere hour and a half late, with Toledo Ohio as our destination. We made good time and, in the early evening, pulled into one of the nicer KOA"s we have seen. The facilities were decent, but not exceptional. But the staff were just so nice that we felt at home. We ended up staying the weekend and jury-rigging the door so that we could travel with confidence. I also rehung the gas piping under the trailer so that we could use the stove (it works great, btw). It was make and mend day at the old trailer and we had a fine time. We grilled and relaxed and had a bonfire On Sunday, we worshipped with the faith community at St. John's Lutheran in Stoney Ridge, Ohio. The liturgy was just familiar enough to be comforting but different enough to be unique. We enjoyed it very much.
Sunday night, I located an Airstream dealer in Joliet, Illinois, just 20 miles off of our route. I called him Monday morning and he said to bring the trailer in and they could probably fix it while we waited. I then made a reservation for a campsite in Union Illinois, just north of Chicago and south of Rockford. We made good time to Joliet, only to discover that the Airstream guy had not been paying attention when I told him it was a 1979 Sovereign Land Yacht. He not only did not have the parts but he could not get the parts. I will end up having to get them on Ebay or from the Airstream user group. So we left Joliet, following the directions on our GPS, headed for Union, Illinois. The GPS took us right through the heart of Chicago suburban rush hour traffic. A snarl of lights and Yankees. The right rear brake caliper locked up, the truck (and brakes) overheated and burned out the ABS sensor on the locked up caliper. I lost most of my braking capability and ended up pulling over in front of the Public Works office in Hanover Park, a suburb of Chicago. No brakes, hot and sweaty, AAA refused to help because the Illinois branch does not recognize trucks, while the VA branch does (which, incidentally, is how they talked us into a premium membership), frustrated nearly out of my mind, bemused about how to deal with this latest problem, generally under full attack by the forces of Darkness. But Satan's got nothing God can't handle. We could not afford a tow truck, but there turned out to be a repair facility close enough to limp the truck into it, once it had cooled off. And, on the following day, the repair ended up being $100 less than the estimate. So now I have new brakes and all is better. I still have a problem with the thermostat, I think. But that should be fairly easy to fix.
So we ended up spending an extra day outside of Chicago, shopping for organizational aids (the trailer is slowly becoming homey) fixing the odd shelf or cabinet and waiting for the truck repairs. We rolled out early yesterday and made it all the way to Chippawa Falls, Wisconsin, where we came to rest at a lovely AmericInn motel for a night off. Today we made an easy run to Moorehead, Minnesota, right outside of Fargo North Dakota.
Tomorrow, we will leave the Lower 48 and cross into Canada. It is cool tonight. Rain is falling intermittently. The temperature is going down to the mid 60's. Should be good sleeping weather I am very glad to be here. God is good. He has brought us through every adversity and has kept our humor and our faith intact.
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