New shoes and a few more new things...

For many, many years we dealt with what we called “McCrossin Luck.” It generally centered around our vehicles and involved breaking down -- often in inconvenient places with inconvenient passengers. 

There was one standout moment when we were moving from Paw Paw to Alma. It was the last load of the move. I was driving the car with our St. Bernard, Annie, and small mutt dog, Lucy. King was ahead of me in the truck. This move coincided with the time there was construction on the S Curve in Grand Rapids. Traffic was detoured to Wealthy Street and somehow detoured around the S curve and back to US 131. We were on the overpass on Wealthy when my car died. I managed to get to the side of the road. King came and got Annie and I snapped the only “leash” I had onto Lucy’s collar. It was a 15 foot longe-line for horses. No biggie. Now I should mention Lucy was probably a Coydog -- that is part coyote, part dog. Our daughter brought her home after passing a sign in front of a farmhouse advertising “free puppies.”  Lucy had several quirks that we learned to accept, one of them being she simply could not tolerate being on a leash, in fact, we could barely keep a collar on her. She was an extremely timid dog who was deeply attached to me. I managed to get her off the overpass by duck waddling backward, letting out the longe-line, calling her to me, having her leap into my arms, and repeat the process several times over. (The slightest tension on the longe-line and Lucy went into full panic mode, darting out into traffic while I reeled her back to the side of the road like a fish. And as much as she loved me, trying to pick her up and carry her was absolutely out of the question. She could not handle it). But we made it off the overpass and to the waiting truck -- driving the rest of the way to Alma with a St. Bernard, a scared to death coydog, King and I in the cab.

That was a typical day in the life of the McCrossins.

But that was also 20 years ago. Things seem to have changed and we have fewer and fewer mishaps. I suspect it is because I have taken over the maintenance on our vehicles (seeing that it is done, not doing it myself), but King would debate that fact.

So, when it came to our on-going battle over replacing the 17-year-old tires on our trailer, I worked to convince King it was absolutely necessary to have them replaced. Naturally he wouldn't take my word for it but by calling several mechanic friends and tire places the consensus was driving 2000 miles on 17-year-old tires was probably not a good idea. I also learned that not too many places want to replace trailer tires in the fall and I called at least five tire shops before I finally found one that was not only eager to help, but friendly as well.

So this past Tuesday found King and I packing our trailer, disconnecting everything and driving to Gobles to get new tires. We’ve been traveling with a trailer for about three years so we have a system. I back the truck to the hitch and decipher King’s windmill arm motions as to which way to turn and how close I am to the trailer hitch. It’s then our routine that I stow away everything on the inside and King takes care of the outside. New to us this summer is a Dish TV satellite system – receiver the inside, satellite dish on the outside.  You can probably see where this is going.

Even our kids warned us, “Don’t forget to take the dish down before you move the trailer.”

King said he thought about the dish several times while getting the trailer ready. But he never got to it. We debated quite a bit about my asking several times if he needed help since I got things stowed away inside in relatively short order. He was disinclined to accept my offer.

Before we left, I checked to make certain the electric and water were disconnected. We check the lights and turn signals together. That’s our normal routine. I forgot the satellite on the roof (not mounted, just resting comfortably) and evidently so did King.

It wasn’t until we reached the tire place in Gobles that he remembered at one point there had been a satellite dish on our roof. It wasn’t there any longer. All that was left of it was the coax cable running to an empty spot on the roof. No more CNN. No more Gunsmoke. Gone are the Wagon Train re-runs and the wisdom of Ben Cartwright.

Yes. We looked for it. It either broke into a million, trillion pieces, flew deep into the woods somewhere, or someone picked it up and now has a portable satellite dish.

The system had been a gift from a friend who moved out of the country. It hurts to have to buy a new satellite dish when we are so close to leaving and like to have a monetary cushion during our travels. But we decided to bite the bullet, reduce our cushion somewhat, and buy a new dish.

There are those who wrinkle their noses at the thought of television in a camper, but one must remember this is also our HOME. So today had me driving to Holland to buy a new satellite dish. As I write this it is sitting in the backseat of the truck awaiting installation.

King is content to watch Bewitched DVDs for the evening.

 

Down to the wire

 Surprisingly the RV potion of the campground was almost full this past weekend. There were even a few hearty souls who camped in tents. I am assuming the weatherman’s promise of sunny skies and warm weather combined with fall colors starting to peak here in southwest Michigan brought people out.

King and our sons played in their second to last golf scramble on Saturday -- The Turkey Open. Entrance fees were reduced rates plus a frozen turkey to be donated to a food bank. Judging from the food bank lines over the past six months at the Presbyterian Church in South Haven, I am guessing there will continue to be a huge need for assistance for the foreseeable future.  I’m going to make a political comment here: People in Washington – there are still many, many, many Americans who are hurting. Get off your backsides and DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING. Just stop arguing, finger pointing and blaming, ok? (I guess finger pointing and blaming are one in the same).

While King and our sons were golfing I drove to Grand Haven to watch our granddaughters play soccer. I have not been to a soccer game in a long, long time. It is fun to watch, especially the little, little ones who put their heart and soul into play and just a quickly disappear onto the playground when the game is over.

We have another granddaughter who plays on a traveling team. I’d love to watch her play but the league she is in limits attendance to two family members.  Maybe next year, “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise,” as a co-worker from the south was so fond of saying.

As I mentioned earlier, the campground was almost full this past weekend and now, for a Sunday afternoon, there are still a good number of people here in their trailers. This past week the road crew working on I-196 finished their project and pulled out with their trailers and fifth-wheels in tow. That left King and I and one other motor home in the campground until Friday night. Today a goodly number of people left at checkout time, but there are still a number of people camping, and a few more are still pulling in. I’m thinking those who are still here today with children are probably doing virtual learning for school so bugging out on a Sunday is not very necessary. In years past I may have talked to other campers to learn their stories, but most people (myself included) like to keep our distance.

And now for some really good news! We now have a definite date for leaving. I asked King the other day if he could give me one. He looked at me, blinked a few times and then, in his most sarcastic, condescending tone (and I’m perfect, remember), said, “We’ve always said we were leaving November 2.”

No King, we did not. You may have known the date for your last golf outing, but you did not share it with me. Sigh. After 44 years I should have known. But I’m still guessing our daughter’s-in-law are NOT going to be happy with the last golf outing of the year falling on Halloween, so if, indeed, the Halloween outing does happen, the day after the outing will be spent recuperating.

In the meantime I’m still working on getting car and truck tags (which I can do via a 24-7 Kiosk), trailer title transfer (which if I can’t get in early, I still have an appointment with the Secretary of State on November 2) and I’m still battling King about trailer tires. King says he will do whatever our mechanic recommends. I’m wondering if I can pay the mechanic off.

Little by little I’m making progress toward heading West. I do things King does not even realize. Yesterday I set a few extra radio stations on our Sirius Radio in the truck to news stations. It was done in anticipation of King announcing on election day, “Find out the election results.” Now, instead of going through a set-up procedure that requires a degree in Information Technology, I can smugly push a button and there it is.

And King thinks life just happens.

Last month in Michigan

I have a countdown app on my phone. It says it is 26 days until we leave and 28 days until the election. The election, probably, will go on as planned. Our departure is a moving target dependent on the last golf scramble for King and our sons.

Technically there is an outing on Halloween but my daughters-in-law are not too keen on husbands playing golf on Trick or Treat night (depending on social distancing norms – whatever they may be). I can’t say as I blame them. King does not get it. “They will be home before Trick or Treating starts,” he keeps saying. “It’s no big deal.” Well, it IS a big deal. Pulling into the driveway in just enough time to load kids into the car for Trick or Treating is not conducive to family harmony.

So… anyway, our departure date is still up in the air. We have an arrival deadline of November 13 --meaning as long as we leave shortly after the first of November we can take our time traveling out to Carlsbad, California, where our daughter now lives.

The campground is now basically empty. There are five trailers/motorhomes parked at sites. Three possibly four belong to the work crew for the I-196 highway repair. They work during the week and generally leave on Thursday night and return Monday night. So things are fairly quiet here. Target date for construction completion is mid-October and then it will more than likely be just King and I clicking our heels alone. I would think the owners of the campground are anxious to see the place empty so they can begin winterizing. Technically they close October 31^st but we can park without power for a day.

We’ve taken down our front planter and gave it to our son for the winter, removed the birdbath and will give it to our son in Paw Paw and take the little bunny statues (from Grandma McCrossin) and give them to our daughter for her balcony at her new apartment. One truck tune-up and a trip to the secretary of state for a trailer title and we are ready to go. I’m ready.

I will admit traveling amid COVID-19 is a little unsettling. Normally when we stop for gas and bathroom breaks we grab ready-made sandwiches at the gas station (no, they are NOT yummy, they are rather dry and gross even when there is not a pandemic). I will probably make sandwiches in the trailer and use our own facilities. It is always just a little disconcerting for Cindy the first few days of traveling west. When we leave the grassland of the Midwest behind she has a hard time finding just the right spot to relieve herself minus grass. She actually is a private dog. Tall grass is her comfort zone.

As things wind down for the season it’s a good time to reflect.

This summer has been an unusual one, hasn’t it. Everything has been politically charged – from wearing face masks, to tax returns, to conspiracy theories. I think we’ve all grown weary, crabby and mean. We can blame it on social distancing, we can blame the president, we can blame the governor. Fact of the matter is, we are responsible for ourselves. Point your finger at someone else and three more fingers are pointing back at you. That sentiment looks good in writing, but I tend to be pretty politically charged and what should be an easy concept to follow isn’t always so. I’m working on it.  In the meantime, I have un-followed, un-friend, or blocked a few people on social media. Not because their views differ from mine, but because they are mean or name calling.

There is enough icky in the world.