I'm Just An Old Stick in the Mud

Our day, Wednesday June 11, did not start out to be muddy.  But then, what day usually does?

We had to have the TOAD's battery and electrical system checked out by a Honda dealer since we were continuing to drain the battery as we drove.  This time, SUCCESS! AND we met the nicest people at Terry Lee Honda of Avon, Indiana, just west of Indianapolis.

First was Deb, the receptionist.  After the first dealer I'd called said no Honda dealer in the metroplex could see me in only one day Deb told me right off, "Of course we'll get you in. It's an emergency, isn't it?"

Willie was our Tech and he was really great too.

Next was Sharon our service manager, shown to the right with Mona. From the time she took to find ways to get things done instead of how not to, to the NO CHARGE bill she gave us since all they did was charge the battery, to the free car wash coupon we needed for our very dirty TOAD (rain for hours each driving day makes a mess of any car, but a TOAD!)  Then, she was the last person in the shop, 15 minutes after closing, and we NEEDED, yet again, another answer to our problem, and she had already clocked OUT. But she came to the car and manually led me through the drill to get the car drivable by showing me the SECRET Compartment where a key goes to allow the gear lever to go into neutral without the ignition key being left in the ON position all the time.  YEA SHARON!

And we cannot forget Tina! Tina shuttled Mona to the laundry while the car was being worked on and ended up friending us on Facebook after a tour of the coach. She thought our retirement plans were neat. Then she watched what happened next.

All I had to do was turn QUO around so we could re-hitch TOAD. But the pavement was shorter than I felt I could turn in and the huge, at least 20 acre, field beckoned.

Except that the previous evening Avon had 2" of rain and I think all of it fell in this field.  For the umpteenth time Good Sam Service came through and a giant tow truck arrived. With minor effort she pulled Quo out of the muck.  The coach lost one mudflap but perhaps that can be replaced when we get the bodywork from the curb attack back at the Exeter WAWA (oh, you thought I said I hit the curb? NOoo!  It jumped right up and...).

But all was not stress and foolishness today. We had our first Steak & Shake milkshakes, after our daughter Jenn said we HAD to try them.  Of course, she pouted with envy when she saw this pic on Facebook >

< And when we topped off the tank with a 1/4 fill of  diesel at a round $100.00 we parked in a lot of about 40 trucks.  Perspectives change when viewed from different angles. I found out Quo and Toad are not exactly the biggest fish in that sea.

As darkness was falling we found a KOA that let us fill our 110 gallon fresh water tank for $5.00.  We had last filled it at the house at 100 Holly, Douglassville, Saturday. Then we laid on another two hours of driving to Highland, Illinois, where we arrived at 11:00 pm.  Or midnight, really, since we'd crossed into the Central Time Zone at the Illinois border.

It's 1 am now on the Illinois plains, just 30 miles east of St. Louis, Mo. We are 10 miles from one of the largest Indian cities of the North American Continent, the remains of the Mound Builders Cahokia. The sky is clear, the moon is full and we are settling down under the protective steeple of, guess what... HOPE CHURCH of  HIGHLAND.

Amazing!  Yes, God, you are.


-Ken

PS:  In case anyone asks after we leave, we did NOT detach the steeple and place it on the roof of QUO to get a better internet signal!!!!!