Adventures in Traveling

Well, as you know, we travel from show to show. Currently we have been on the road for 2 months. In those two months we can tell some pretty funny and hair-raising stories regarding adventures in traveling. Please don't get me wrong, traveling is great, but with traveling comes challenges and adventures. No matter how hard you strive to avoid the adventures or challenges, they will find you... You need to keep a positive attitude and good things will come out of the challenges.

By definition, traveling is an adventure. If there were no adventures in traveling, then people would not venture forth from their homes. Heck, Christopher Columbus probably would not have chosen to sail the ocean blue. I warn you about traveling because in the event you believe we have traveled without mishap, you are woefully mistaken. Each mishap though is an adventure in and of itself. Some of the challenges we were presented with this trip could have caused some to just throw up their hands in resignation, but, if you take the challenge in the right perspective, there is a lot to learn and there can be a lot of fun to be had.

The key is to take each wrinkle in your travels as a mini-adventure. If you start thinking about all the problems you may have encountered when you traveled, you will not enjoy your trip much at all. Traveling is never easy, no matter how prepared you may be. You just need to know that your travels will not always go as planned, and you basically need to plan for the unexpected. That is part of the allure of traveling, experiencing the unexpected. The best thing about traveling is discovering how many people will rise to the occasion.

Keeping those thoughts in mind, our travels this time around were interesting at best. Our first adventure in traveling occurred during Run for the Wall. One of the hubs on our trailer failed as we were heading towards Jackson Harley Davidson. Thankfully, since we were caravaning, the people behind us notified us that the trailer wheel didn't look right. The tire was removed and the caravan continued onto Jackson Harley-Davidson for the Run for the Wall festivities and participation in the Trail of Honor. What could have ruined the day, turned into an awesome situation. All Steve had to do was to notify T-Bo that he had a problem, T-Bo made a few phone calls, and BAM, someone was out at the Harley-Davidson shop repairing and replacing the burned up hub. So, by the time the riders were ready to leave Jackson Harley-Davidson, Steve, the motorhome and the trailer were all ready to leave too. It was awesome how T-Bo was able to get help on such a short notice, and the help he got was excellent.

A month later, as we were driving away from a rally, suddenly our motor home engine begin overheating, going immediately to red-line. We pulled over to the side of the road only to discover that the fan belt to our diesel motor home broke. This could have also been a terrible experience, but our insurance company took great care of us, even calling back first to notify us that someone was on their way and then calling back to verify that we were being helped. Even though we had to have the motor home towed to a repair facility, the guys that towed the motor home and trailer were great to talk with. I learned a lot about the local history, flora and fauna as we drove the 30 miles to the repair facility. At the repair shop, the guys took time away from their regular tasks to quickly re-install a fan belt. What could have been a several day event (from the towing to waiting for someone to actually install the fan belt) turned only into a half a day affair. It could have been so much worse than it really was.

Lastly, (you can only take so many adventures in traveling...) as we were leaving Kentucky, were checking the trailer tire pressure (we check all the tires on a very regular basis) Steve noticed that one wheel seemed particularly loose. The other wheels did not appear as loose, so we went on-line and started calling around to trailer repair facilities to ask how loose a wheel should be before it becomes dangerous. We called Stephenville Trailers & Truck Accessories (http://www.stephenvilletrailers.com/) for their advice. They said the wheel should not be loose, and they recommended that we remove the loose wheel and bring the trailer down to them. They couldn't guarantee getting us fixed that day, since they were extremely busy, but they would at least look to see if our trailer was safe to take home. Once we got there, they discovered that the bearings were shot and needed to be replaced. Instead of telling us we had to wait until another day, they had one of their guys replace the bearings. Better yet, since that bearing was so bad, the guy (whose name I forgot to get...sorry...) checked the remaining 3 wheels to be sure we were safe. He found that the remaining 2 of 3 wheels also needed the bearings replaced, which he did. We were so impressed by the excellent service by Stephenville Trailers & Truck Accessories, that we would like to recommend them to anyone remotely near the Stephenville, TX area.

On a side note, as we were waiting for the trailer to be repaired, Wes recommended that we look at some of the trailers they had for sale. MAN!!! Were those trailers really neat. Now I think our next purchase (when we wear out the motor home) is going to be one of those trailers. They are NICE!!!! You gotta go down there to see them...

So, even though we had some challenges on the road, which anyone who travels will have challenges, you really discover that there are great people all over this country who are willing to go the extra mile to help a traveler in distress. This is where you meet the greatest people in this wonderful country of ours. When you go out on your travels, expect the unexpected, and enjoy it. Then you too will have your own adventures in traveling that you can retell. It makes your trip so much more memorable.

Until tomorrow...