On the road again -- Florida to Louisiana

Before we hit the road for real, we had to stop at Cummins for our annual oil/filter change (a mere $600!). We were also at year 5 on our motorhome tires- and even though we were under the recommended mileage for a tire change, we were at the 5 year term limit. John worked out a great deal with Michelin based on some weather-checking on our existing tires. With some wrangling, we were able to replace all of our tires for ½ off! (It was still $2000!!) So, with new oil/filters and tires, we were off to Louisiana.

We stopped in Mobile to break up the drive to Louisiana. Chloe loved the lake at the campgrounds – and the ducks and geese. On our way out of the campground, John looked in his mirrors and noticed something funny on the VW. We stopped in the driveway on the way out and found a completely flat tire on our VW. While we were grateful to have noticed it before we hit the highway, it wasn’t exactly the best way to start our road trip. We pulled out the VW manual and learned how to change a tire on the Jetta. Then, it was off to try to find a place to repair the tire in Mobile. With tire repair places on every corner, we had to stop at several of them before we found anyone with the time (or the tools) to deal with us. At the Firestone dealer, we learned that 1- the tire was not repairable and 2-no one in the entire city carried this particular brand of tire. So, we headed out on the road to Louisiana – with no spare tire.

We arrived at John and Brenda’s house to find John’s shed in the midst of a tear-down and a huge addition on his motorhome garage. While it was great to be back with our wonderful Cajun friends, we were absolutely exhausted after a week of maintenance and problems. We spent the time before the Crawfish Rally getting a new tire for the VW (entailing a trip to New Orleans).