During the first week of October, 2010, I got the call ... the paperwork is ready, ICPC approved, when can I go meet my new son? Wow. It wasn't expected to happen until Dec., at the earliest, so I was completely unprepared: financially and otherwise. A week later, the RV was packed up and we were on the road to Texas, a 30 hour drive to be done in 4 days. First stop: San Antonio. We stopped in VA to rest at a McDonald's and run around in the playplace. I was on the phone with my new son's worker and tried to get into the McDonald's quickly to rustle up the kids and get back on the road but I locked the keys in the RV. For an hour we tried to use a coat hanger to open a door, a screwdriver to open a window, and even tried to get in through the unlocked trunk and closet floor. We couldn't, so we ended up busting through the back of the bathroom wall and pushed my smallest son through the hole. Mental note: need a spare key hidden somewhere. We got to visit friends in AR, ever so briefly, unfortunately. Once in TX, I turned the RV off in Austin to fuel up for the last time before arriving in San Antonio. It wouldn't start. Turns out, the alternator belt had broken somewhere along the way and the battery was dead. We slept at that gas station for the night and were towed the next morning. We got it fixed ($400 later, ugh) and were back on the road, without any house lights, fridge, generator, or any other appliance that requires battery or electricity to function, and a day of visiting time lost. =[
Once in San Antonio, we were able to visit with 3 of my boys' adult siblings and their families. It's always nice to spend time with them, even though we only had 2 hours together. We had a picnic and tossed the football around while the littles rode their scooters. We spent the second day visiting younger siblings, adopted by their foster parents, after a night of sleeping next to the train tracks, where trains actually ride by, tooting their horn ... all night long. lol. Plus, some extended family apparently likes to blast their DJ music at 11pm while they bathe the baby. We almost went back to the local Walmart to sleep in peace and quiet but were too tired to move. Spending the better part of the day with them was well-worth the all night train horns and dance music.
On day 3, I met my new son: a 14 year old. What a cutie. We had a 2 hour visit the first day, a longer visit the second day where we went out to a Chinese buffet. On the third day I picked him up for the long weekend. We spent the weekend plugged in at Lake Whitney and Joe Pool Lake in TX. It was the first time we had ever plugged in. I learned that my 9 year old had turned every switch on that could be turned on. Thus, when the alternator was fixed it wasn't able to charge the house battery. Once we plugged in for a few hours, turned everything off, and recharged everything, we didn't have any other problems ... with that, anyway. It was a bit chilly one day but otherwise great. We chased a tornado on our way but stopped to sleep at a rest stop when we started to feel rain and wind. At the campgrounds, we fished, played basketball and football, and had picnics. The littles played miniature golf. They all had HW to do. I learned from another RVer that the switch under my stearing wheel (which doesn't seem to do anything at all when I turn it on or off) may be to start the RV on another battery if one is dead ... uh, start the RV if one battery is dead? ugh. Well, we live and learn, don't we?
On the last day, we had a visit with my new son's 10 year old brother. It was an awsome visit. We are still hoping he can join the family soon. Once we left that visit, my new son went back to his foster home to get ready to move and we started driving home. I had the same 4 days to drive the 25 hours back home. We stopped to visit some friends in TN along the way, and stayed longer than we should have but it was a great time. I overslept until almost noon the day after we left and also hit the time zone change so I lost a lot of driving time that day and had to wake up extra early the last day in order to make it home before my new son arrived with his worker by plane. They made it to the house about 5 minutes before we did!!!! It was a stressful drive home but I did learn a lot about my RV on this trip. I had built a full size bunk in the back but I think I need to redo that to make 2 single bunks, leaving more space in the middle for people to walk to the bathroom and reach their cubbies. I can't wait to take another trip that's more leisurely. I was tempted to go someplace this weekend, since it's a long weekend for us, but I still haven't cleaned and reorganized the RV from the last trip! Maybe tomorrow?
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