Adventure for 2013

hi family and friends,
 Lots of news, now that we have a moment to breathe.  We left home at 5:30 on Monday morning.  We went south on rt 125 and then 495 and shortly after exiting onto 290 in Mass we heard a bang, and lost power. Tires were fine but I found that the air cooler hose on the turbo had blown off.  We limped off the highway and I reinstalled it. We didn't even make it back on the highway and it blew again. I reinstalled it once more and really tightened it .   We made it a few miles and it blew again.  When it blows we lose all the power and can only go about 15 mph at best.  We then found that our GPS didn't have Mass in it.  I had just updated it, a few days before we left home, and no northern US states even showed. Thank goodness that Linda had her IPAD and she found a Herb Chambers Ford dealer within 7 miles. We limped there and explained our problem. Our service person, Liz Shuman was great. She pulled the diesel mechanic off a job and he tried to quick fix it but no go so we disconnected the trailer in their lot and he proceeded to diagnose the issue. He said that the hose was beyond using and they searched all over for one but the closest one was coming from RI in the AM.  We called our old standby Brian and Suzy , as well as another pal Steve.  They all offered to come the 2 1/2 hours to get us and return us the next day, but after flailing for a while we decided to get a hotel room for the nite. Why not use the camper ,you ask. well it was fully winterized and so flush water was an issue.  the dealer shuttle took us to a hotel we had found online and we sat around watching tv. It was only 10 am and soon we got bored so walked up the road to Walmart and browsed around for a while. There were no chairs outside at the hotel so we found a bench in front of wally world and sat in the sun and watched the "people of Walmart for a couple of hours. There was a nice looking bar/restaurant next to the hotel so we went there for supper. not bad, but more of a sports bar and you all know that Linda and I are not really into sports unless it the quilting or woodworking type, which this wasn't.  back to the hotel and a good nites sleep. we called the ford place at 9am and they said it was almost done so we didn't want to wait an hour for their shuttle so we gathered the suitcase, computer, satchel and something else we had with us and walked back to the dealer. Truck was done, no charge due to it was covered by warranty. Great!!! hooked backup and got under way about 10.  we made it into and over the huge hills as you come into Pensylvainia. just about to the top of a goodsized hill it blew again. Needless to say I was upset.  I got out and reattached it and away we went, expecting it to let go again. We made it to Hershey,PA about 5pm and now we could breathe. got into the campground and hooked up and I started the GPS update process, finding that the last update had only installed the lower 1/2 of the USA and all of Mexico. confounded contraption!! I got it cleaned up and started the 90 minute download/update and we headed to Tim's ( Linda's son)  we got to see the grandkids and Jaime, but Tim was coaching his highschool basketball team and wasn't around.  Had fun with the kids and swapped Xmas gifts. got back to the camper around 10 and settled in for the nite of freezing rain. got up and went to Napa auto and got some heavy duty clamps just in case it blows again. got on the road about 9am and made it to Staunton,VA to meet our friends at Crackerbarrel at 2pm. It was great to see Ron and Rosie! We hadn't seen them in two years and it was a great luncheon reunion.  Made it here to the Walnut Hills KOA campground. They were so nice and gave us their new Special Overlook site. Great site overlooking their pond, but it was straight up hill and we held our breath in hopes of making it to the top without truck issues. We have actually hooked up water so we don't have to climb down the hill to the restrooms in the middle of the nite. The office says expect freezing temps tonite, but it's still raining as it has been all day. 46 degrees right now at almost 6pm. if all goes as planned we will head out and  get into South Carolina for tomorrow nites stay. Ron and Rosie are praying for us and I do appreciate all the help we can get, as it's getting hard to hold my breath on all these hills.   Love and hugs to all.