June 24: Was I nervous, excited, awed? Not sure, but I woke up today before 6:00 a.m. thinking about what lie ahead. Our accident occurred December 28 and we haven’t even seen the motor home since January 3. In fact, we haven’t seen it since it was towed to NIRV in Lawrenceville, Ga. Why you wonder haven’t we been in to check on it? We live in eastern North Carolina so a “little” trip to Lawrenceville just wasn’t possible.
We left Pamlico Beach around 9:00 only stopping twice, once at a rest stop and once to fill up our gas while we were still in South Carolina where gas is considerably cheaper than North Carolina. We had prepared a picnic lunch – doesn’t that sound fancy – it was just a sandwich – so we ate as we traveled. We actually got to our hotel in Augusta around 3:00 and wondered why we hadn’t plan to drive on to Lawrenceville. Well, we probably would have arrived during the worst of traffic so it was probably a good decision.
We rested for a bit and then went to check out the very nearby Gander Mountain/Camping World where we actually bought some bear spray in preparation for our summer trip out west.
Jerry wanted something different for dinner and suggested Thai. We have only eaten Thai a couple of times but we liked it so I went on Yelp and found a restaurant fairly close, Sawasdee. Fortunately, there weren’t many people there when we arrived so the waitress could give us some extra attention and offer suggestions which we sorely needed. I’m not sure what either of us got but I do know both entrees were delicious – and hot, just like we like it. Needless to say we drank a lot of water and fortunately the waitress kept our glasses topped off!
June 25: Again Tuesday morning I was awake before 6:00. After a cup of coffee we stumbled downstairs for the complimentary breakfast, then showers, packing up and on the road to Lawrenceville shortly after 9:00. Were we excited much? Although we got a call saying they were running behind and we could delay our arrival we continued on to the dealership anyway. We were ready to see our RV!
Upon arrival we met with Mike, the paint and body manager, who was working with our coach. He took us to the coach and I can tell you it looked grand! The front is beautiful! We ended up spending three days, four nights at NIRV. They wanted us to stay several nights in case there were any hiccups with the coach and there were some small issues.
Mike got it parked for our overnights and then our work began. Our sheets and towels had been in the coach six months and a lot of that time it was parked outside so our first order of business was getting them washed. Since we didn’t have septic hookup I was hesitant to wash several loads so off to the laundromat we went. We know nothing about laundromats and that quickly became obvious. We saw the machines, a triple load (yes, we could have washed everything in one load had we known) and it had the number “14” on it. We incorrectly assumed that it meant 14 minutes which in retrospect would surely be a short wash cycle. The “14” stood for the 14 quarters needed and Jerry only had $5.00, 20 quarters and of course as usual I had none. Needless to say we didn’t wash much, just the towels and damped dry them. Lesson learned – always have some cash with you!
Afterward, we found a restaurant for dinner and then a grocery store for some coffee! The rest of the evening was spent washing sheets. We only got the bottom sheet washed and dried before we collapsed in the bed pretty tired but glad to be back in our coach.
June 26: They picked it up by 8:00 on Wednesday morning for some more work. After lunch they took our Jeep to install a new base plate for the tow system plus they worked on a few more hiccups. Jerry noticed that the refrigerator was pushed out further than it had been so they addressed that.
The biggest issue seemed to be that we needed two new front tires. What to do? Was it safe to drive home where we knew we could get the tires? Questions, decisions! We had been given the name of someone to call at University Tire. Unfortunately, that gentleman was out for the day and the person Jerry talked to gave him a price of $1800 and said they did not honor the FMCA Michelin program. Ouch. Thus began the process of seeing if we could find a dealer in the area that did honor the program or find someone at home. We did find someone in Lawrenceville with a considerably lower price but we found out on Thursday morning that he could not get the tires. Regroup – Order the tires at home and hope for the best?
At this point I looked at Jerry and said “we need to pray” so right there in the car we bowed our heads and prayed. I asked the Lord for wisdom and to work out our problem the best way possible. If it was ok to drive home on the tires we would but otherwise I prayed that the right door would open.
Jerry then tried once more to call Matt at University Tire. So glad he did. He was able to talk with Matt and found out that they do honor FMCA and they had the tires in stock at a considerably lower price. Answered prayer and yes we did immediately thank the Lord and give Him the honor and the praise!
Although there was a lot of waiting, our time spent at NIRV was not so bad. They were numerous couples in and out waiting for their coaches and we developed quite a camaraderie. Everyone discussed their various travels and we got some good tips for our upcoming trip out west. Kudos to NIRV, namely Todd, Mike, Amanda, Miles, Alex, Justin and Nikki who is the beleaguered receptionist and I’m sure hears many “interesting” stories but always with a smile on her face. I don’t think we have ever done business with a company where everyone was so genuinely pleasant. They always had a smile and the time to listen with an attentive ear. I’m quite sure some of our questions were rather mundane to them but they always answered as though it was the most important question of the day.
June 26: Although Jerry had wanted to get on the road really early I knew that wasn’t going to happen (it rarely does) so it was 8:45 before we were hooked up and on the road. As always we had prayer before pulling out asking for God’s protection for safe and accident-free travel.
Although traffic was heavy it moved along until we ran into construction ahead. On the left was a sign indicating that the left lane was closed. On the right was a sign indicating that the right lane was closed. Really? Were we supposed to fly over? Jerry changed to the left lane only to realize that we needed to be in the right lane so back we went. Needless to say it was a little nerve-wracking to immediately run into traffic issues but Jerry soldiered on with great aplomb.
It was a terribly long day filled with continued construction in numerous places, bumper to bumper traffic in places and then pouring rain in bumper to bumper traffic very reminiscent of conditions when we had our accident. Jerry did a fantastic job but I must admit I was a bad passenger. Lots of gasps, “oh mys” and “watch out”! It continues to amaze me when people suddenly pull in front of us as though we could stop on a dime. Really folks!
We finally arrived in Kinston 11 hours and 501 miles later, very tired and hungry with another hour and half or driving ahead of us to get to our river home. Driving that distance is something we rarely do and for good reason but thankfully we made it safely and the RV is ready for our planned summer trip.
Now to spend July 4th with precious family!