The Show Must Go On

We departed Louisiana and headed toward Auburn, AL where we planned to visit our sons and attend the Auburn University theater company’s play "The Integration of Tuskegee High School".  Our youngest son Chris is majoring in theater and this was his first colligate performance.  Along the way, we spoke to my Mom and decided to visit with her a few days in Tuscaloosa since we had time to kill.  

We enjoyed visiting with Mom and were able to help Daryl (my brother-in-law) expand Mom’s back porch with paving stones.  It was an area that she could not grow grass, so the stones will serve dual functions. 

On one trip between The Bus and her house, I passed an accident scene where a young man had run off the road down into a ravine.  I went back and offered to pull him out.  It took five different winch configurations to get him back on level ground.  The work took its toll on my winch cable, so I ordered a new one and had it sent ahead to our Auburn address. 

New Cable Installed--Ready for Next Pull

When we left for Auburn, we decided not to stay at the higher priced RV parks near the campus and opted instead to stay at the Maxwell AFB Recreation Area on Lake Martin about 40 minutes from Auburn.  This turned out to be a great choice since we could camp right on the lake and I could fish each day.  We visited our sons, picked up our mail and took them out to dinner. 

Lake Martin campsites come with their own dock!

I spent most of my time fishing and made a few friends while doing so.  One fellow was a regular and showed me his favorite spots and let me use his live minnows.  We caught crappie and spotted bass.  I tried to get Pattie involved, but she said she did not find it relaxing our exciting.  Hmmm.  She will read a book all day, but can’t concentrate on fishing? 

"I find this neither relaxing or exciting."

I contacted my cousin Stanley who lives in the area. He and his wife Missy came to visit and have breakfast.  We enjoyed getting caught up with them.  

On Wednesday evening, we attended the play and were impressed by the thoroughness of the background research that went into the production.  It was fun to watch Chris perform and we hope to see him in future productions. 

Artist: Ethel Vaughn

The next day we rolled out headed to Maryland to attend Disaster Recovery recertification training.

Along the way it began to rain and The Bus windshield wipers stopped working.  We pulled off at a Wal-Mart and I bought some Rain-X to apply to the windshield.  I learned about this stuff back in college and how a woman engineer developed it for aircraft windshields where wipers were impractical.  It takes some effort to apply it, but the water will bead up and roll off the windshield.  That got us to our home church in Dunkirk, MD where we camped in the parking lot.  I troubleshot the wiper problem and determined it was a bad wiper motor.  I found the part number and ordered one hoping I could make the repair myself.   After our recertification training, I spent a day trying to get the old motor out and finally gave up.  I called the Tiffin factory and others who all recommended that I take it to Red Bay, AL and let the factory technicians replace the motor.  We talked about it and decided to alter our plans for visiting the northeast and return to Red Bay, AL to get this item and a few other things fixed.  Not real happy about it, but that is the direction we are being led.  I wonder what’s in store for us there?

Thanks for keepingupwiththejonesrv!