Tough Day of Travel

After two weeks of baby-sitting our six-month-old granddaughter, we are fast-forwarding three generations and heading to the panhandle of Oklahoma to see our Mothers. We are travelers that usually move the motor home one to two hours to its next location. So this was a huge journey from Independence, Missouri to the panhandle of Oklahoma. What a tough day!

We had the slides in and things packed up the night before, planning for an early departure. We wanted everything to be ready. But in the morning Mark found water pouring out of the bottom of the motor home and the cement underneath completely wet. That wasn't according to plan! 

But before we could look for the source of all that water, it started raining. Now it is wet everywhere, and all we know is that everything in the basement storage is now drenched. What a start to a tough day!

Our long journey started with the drive in Kansas City morning traffic--in the rain. Add some construction and stopped traffic just for fun. What a tough day!

We crossed the Kansas state line, and Denisa didn't even try to take a picture. That's how tough this day has been! Then the winds picked up, and we had some 30-mile-per-hour south winds hitting our tall motor home. Anyone that has ever tried to drive a big vehicle in these conditions knows that Mark was having to work hard to keep us between the lines. What a tough day!

Cold weather is coming our way, and we need tomorrow to winterize the plumbing (after we determine what is leaking). So we pressed on and made the entire seven hour drive with only one stop for fuel. That would mean that we had lunch while rolling down the road. We started the generator so Denisa could warm up some leftovers, and she fed Mark spoon-fulls while he drove. Sorry, no picture, but it would have been a good one. Just imagine Denisa standing between the front captain chairs, spoon-feeding the driver and hoping she didn't drop that plate of food if we hit a sudden bump in the road. What a tough day!

After a long, tough day, we arrived at the ranch outside of Beaver. We're worn out, but glad to have this long boring drive out of the way. The forecast calls for freezing temperatures and even snow almost immediately. So the next job is detective work to find the leak in the plumbing. It looks like this is the culprit--the kitchen sink drain pipe. What a tough day!

Mark unloaded everything in the wet basement storage bins and set them out to dry. That's when we found out the new ranch pup has a chewing problem. She might be cute, but she chewed up our sewer connector and our tow bar cover. What a tough day!

Even with the broken pipe connection, Mark managed to get the pipes filled with anti-freeze to protect them from Oklahoma's cold. What a tough day! So after a tough time getting it here, this is our view of our motor home's parking spot for the holidays. It is our "home, home on the range." Unlike the song, we have heard a few discouraging words as we got through this tough day.