We are home!

What an amazing journey. It ended with a little difficulty. We left Pendleton and planned to be home at about noon. We were driving along and listening to the final two discs of our story. We were less than 100 miles from home. (I had passed a car with a flat tire and thought how lucky we had been not to have any problems along the way. As soon as I thought it I wondered if thinking it would jinx us as it does when I say it. I didn't say it, but too late.)

Suddenly Bob rolled down his window as a car was passing us. I could see a hand out of the passenger window as the car with trailer cruised by. I asked Bob who it was. He said that they had indicated some sort of problem. We wanted to pull over and look, but this was part of I-84 where we were right next to the Columbia River, the roads were very windy and there was almost no shoulder. Bob finally found a very short spot with a wide enough shouder and we pulled off. At first we did not see anything wrong. Then we saw that one of the passenger side tires on the trailer was gone. It was not just flat, the entire tire was gone. We were riding on the rim.

We got into the pickup and started looking for the emergency phone number fom our insurance. We reached them and they indicated that our emergency coverage had lapsed over ten years ago. This was crazy because we did not even have insurance with this company ten years ago. But they were willing to send someone out if we paid almost $200. There we were on the freeway with cars whizzing by and causing the pickup and the trailer to shake every single time. The wind was very strong and it was scary to even get out of the pickup. I didn't have much choice so I gave her the credit card number and figured we would fight it out with the insurance company when we were home and safe.

It took about an hour for the tow truck to get there. The guy was wonderful. He knew just what to do. He didn't use a jack but rather boards and had Bob pull the other trailer wheel onto the board and that lifted the trailer enough for him to take off the wheel and replace it with the spare. He also found out what had caused the problem. There was a small piece of metal that was hanging behind and between the two tires. It had scored the other tire and had obviously scored the missing one so much that it just disintegrated. Thank heaven the other car warned us and we were able to stop safely. It could have been a disaster.

We started up again with all tires working. It is amazing how vulnerable we both felt after this. But by now, we were both hungry. We stopped at a wonderful restaurant in The Dalles. (It was obvious that the woman on the emergency phone was not from Oregon. When I told her that we were near The Dalles I had to repeat it about five times and finally spell it out including the space. I love Oregon.) We were able to collect ourselves and Bob was already planning his speech to the manufacturer about this being caused by a manufacturing defect.

It took another 1 1/2 hours to get home. I must say that we did not see any place in the entire five months that was more beautiful than the Columbia Gorge. We both kept seeing things that we had never noticed before along the way. What a wonderful way to end the trip!!

We have pulled Honey into the drive and I have started emptying it and doing laundry. I am having a hard time remembering where things are in my own house. I am sure that it will not take long to get back into the swing.

So here is what I will take away from the trek.

1. The USA is beautiful and there are so many more places to go and see that we did not have a chance to visit, even on a five month trip.
2. There is no place like home for me. There was no place that I would rather live than here in Portland Oregon. It has the right weather, the right scenery, the right pace of life, etc.
3. I missed my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson more than I thought I would.
4. It takes a lot of work for two people to be together 24/7. I am amazed that we are still talking to each other.
5. My favorite places were, Kartchner Caverns, Galveston Beach, Henderson Beach Florida, St. Augustine, Washington DC, Hershey Pennsylvania, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Mt. Rushmore, the Rocky Mountains, and the Columbia Gorge.
6. Bob's favorites were, Kartchner Caverns, City of Rocks in New Mexico, Fredericksburg Texas, Henderson Beach, Watkins Glen New York, Burlington Vermont, Cape Cod, Maumee Bay Ohio, and Mt. Rushmore.
7. Neither one of us has any desire to do such a long trip again, but we will do shorter ones.

Thanks to everyone who read this and let me know that they liked it. It has been a joy.