Just got back from a whirlwind trip to south Texas. Drove MinnieMee, my 2004, R-Vision Trail-lite 213, from my home in Florida to Mission Texas, a little over 1300 miles. My daughter went with me and I towed my 6 x 12 enclosed cargo trailer. The purpose of the trip was to empty my place there of stuff I wanted and to try and get a sale going before heading back. Wanted to get back in time for my daughter to drive back to Virginia for Christmas with her family.
We left the day after Thanksgiving and because that was such a bad travel day due to traffic, we took 4 days to get there. MinnieMee did fine and pulled the trailer like nothing was there.
We got there on a Wednesday and started cleaning out the shed, etc. Terry and I had already gotten a lot of stuff out of it so this trip was the golf cart, my patio set and anything else I could haul. By Friday I had the Texas room cleaned, so I put a sign in the yard and within an hour I had lookers. They were steady all day and by evening the first looker called me back and said she wanted it. About 20 minutes later another looker came by to tell me the same. No squabbling on price and a cash deal. Long story short, the deal was made and $$ wired and I started sorting the stuff I wanted to take back with me.
While we waited for paperwork, my daughter and I did some sightseeing. The last time she was there she was 16 and she's 45 now, so I showed her a few sights we could squeeze in and she was able to buy some souvenirs for her kids and husband, etc.
Last Friday, three men friends came and loaded my trailer, cart in first, then everything else. Saturday we started back to Florida. Drove to the east side of Houston the first day amid fierce wind. A road construction sign was blown into my side view mirror which closed the arm in and shattered the glass in the mirror as it hit the driver's window. I did not see it coming. I was not out of my travel lane because it was a construction zone and I had a jersey wall on my left and a line of traffic on my right. Fortunately even though I was startled, I kept my cool and continued on. Once we were able to get to a rest area and get out and inspect, I found the only casualty was the mirror and not a scratch or anything else on MinnieMee. I had a makeup mirror in the bathroom, so my daughter and I taped it on the mirror head and I was back in business. That worked the rest of the first day, but we stopped the next morning at a Wally World and I bought a larger mirror and a fish eye lens and gorilla double stick tape and gorilla vinyl tape, all clear, and fixed a better system which allowed me as much vision as before.
I did forget the one other casualty. The spare tire and mount pulled out of the back wall of the motorhome. Looks like the wall holding the huge screws is crumbly and rotted a bit, although the other part of the wall seems solid. We removed the remaining screws that were holding it on and put the spare in the trailer. We caulked the holes to prevent water leakage and I will have to find someone who can make that repair. If any of you have experienced similar, tell me about your repair.
Sunday and Monday I drove almost 500 miles each day to get home to Polk City. I will never drive that far again in one day, but I really wanted to get back home. We arrived at 5:30 last evening, still light out. My daughter, to whom I am forever indebted for making this trip with me, insisted we unload the trailer last night. We did. By 8:30 we had the top back on the golf cart and took a ride around our park to look at Christmas lights.
The entire trip from Florida to Texas and back was 15 days and over 3000 miles, half with MinnieMee pulling a loaded trailer. She did great, never once overheating or even hinting at it. Trailer pulled straight and true, and although the cart had shifted in the trailer, everything made it through with maybe a scratch or two, but intact. And my place in Texas is sold, $$ in the bank.
I was so glad to get home without any more problems than I had.
This was the last "loose end" I had to tie up since Terry's (Teacher's Pet) death in October 2020. From now on, my trips will all be for pleasure. We had planned to do this trip in October, but my Mom passed away and I spent two months before/after her death in Indiana sorting things out. No way did I think we could get it done between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that was the only time we had due to other commitments.
Safe travels everyone!
Dale
Dale Pace
Widow of Terry (Teacher's Pet)
Traveling with Brendon, my Scottish Terrier
2022 Honda Odyssey
2011 Mazda Miata MX-5
2021 Coach House Platinum III 250DT
Fulltimed for 15 years, now living in Florida
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