We left Okeechobee, Florida on Thursday morning and drove around 14 hours stopping at Bowling Green, Kentucky for the night. We were feeling good about getting two thirds of the way home on the first day and thought the balance of the trip would take about seven hours. Well we were wrong. We woke up Friday to everything being covered with about one quarter inch of ice. We left the hotel at about 9:00 am heading north on I65. We drove about one half hour before being stuck in a three lane traffic jam extending north as far as you could see. We sat roughly in that same spot for the next six and one half hours. We could have been home by the time the wrecks were cleared up and the traffic started moving again. We have never been involved in anything like that before. Once we got moving again we saw buses and trucks off the road and car parts all along the sides of the highway. We ended up getting home at 10:00 pm or so that night. Our plan is to leave Warsaw to head back south on Wednesday next week. We will return with the original furniture that was purchased with the 5th wheel along with the title to the fifth wheel. In the meantime the motorhome we are interested in is being inspected. Yesterday eight new batteries were installed as well as maintenance performed on the Aqua Hot system. One good thing about sitting in a traffic jam for six hours is we talked through some of our concerns about how complex the motorhome is and how little we know about the systems etc. in the motorhome. We choose Tiffin due to the excellent reputation they have in building quality products and their reputation for standing behind the motorhomes they sell. In any event we still had several concerns about our lack of knowledge regarding motorhomes since we have never owned one. While sitting in the traffic jam we then contacted a firm in Tampa that specializes in doing Pre Delivery Inspections (PDI's) on motorhomes. They have personnel that are certified in all of the systems on the motorhome and they will represent us in checking out all of these systems to insure they are in good working order before we take possession of the motorhome. We have contracted their services to perform our PDI with us. We also plan on staying two to three days at the Lazy Days campground in the motorhome to try out all of the features to make sure they work and we are more familiar with them.
Coming back to Indiana in January reinforces our decision to go south for the winter. The cold weather sucks.
Jack
A journal written about life, retirement and our journey throughout the United States in a 5th wheel, along with our two Shih Tzus, Tanner and Syndey. Written not for notoriety but for our sons, family and friends, so they know where we are at any given time. And particularly for ourselves. Finally, we get to slow down and smell the roses and we don't want to forget any of it. You are welcome to join us as we go 'Down the Road a Piece'.
