What’s Next for 2024?

Indeed, we are now into 2024, which means we have been on this retirement journey for 9 years! (and the motorhome is now 20 years old … good deal).  And there is nothing on the calendar for the year!  So what new adventures are ahead for us?  Let’s find out.

When we last posted, we had just finished a short trip to Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains.  Fun time in the fall.  Just before that we returned to Alaska to explore all the way north to Denali in search of bears and other wildlife.  I have just finished up a video of that adventure and posted it to our YouTube channel.  Check it out: Back to Alaska

So the rest of October was a two week camping trip back to St. Andrews State Park in Panama City, Florida – a tough spot to get a reservation but a favorite location for us.  The motorhome was packed up and ready to roll, so off we went, south around Atlanta and on to Columbus toward Alabama.  We usually stop for one night in Eufaula to break up the trip.  

Well, as we were motoring along the interstate outside Columbus on a sunny, clear day, Jeep in tow, I heard a loud “bang” from the back of the motorhome.  I gripped the wheel, looked in my sideview mirrors and ran through thoughts of a blown tire or generator explosion, since it looked like something happened on the rear driver’s side.  I eased off the gas, gently applied the brakes, and looked for an opening to pull off the road.  Best spot was to move left and into the shoulder of the median, without fishtailing or making things worse.  I noticed a small pickup a bit behind me that looked to be doing the same thing.  Mind you, this all happened pretty quickly.

Once stopped, I hopped out to check the tire, but it was fine.  However, the entire side of the motorhome was a mess from there on back.  The Jeep was fine, but the doors to the generator, water and electric service were crumpled, ripped and smeared with black.  What the heck was all this??  The pickup had stopped on the shoulder back behind me, so I ran to it and noticed the front right side was all crumpled as well.  “What happened?” I asked the driver and passenger.  Did you have a blowout?  Their tire was flat, so I figured maybe it blew and caused them to hit my back quarter.

All I got from them was that the two vehicles came together and hit, suggesting I had swerved or fishtailed into their truck.  Nah, not possible.  Plus, I was well under the speed limit with cruise control and not weaving in lanes at all.  That’s not how I drive.  Well, we called 911, a local sheriff arrived who then called in the state patrol.  Trooper took statements from us both and concluded that he couldn’t find who was at fault and left it at that.  I have my own ideas about how I got rammed in the back, but it remains undetermined.  

Well, since our electric and water hookups were now pretty much unavailable, I took some rope, did my best to tie down the bent and broken doors and we turned around to head back home.  It wasn’t certain we could connect to water and electricity and I wasn’t sure they were safely functional either.  Two weeks at the beach were aborted, we called to cancel the reservation and nervously made our way back along the interstate, around Atlanta and back into the driveway.  A bit shook up the whole time, scratching our heads over how this all went so wrong so quickly and making the phone call to our insurance.

The next steps, over the rest of the fall, were:

• Get an estimate on damage from local RV repair shop
• Wait a month for them to even look at it
• Get a preliminary estimate/payment from insurance adjuster
• Finally get a complete estimate from repair shop (3 times original estimate)
• Go to RV shop to drain water and winterize (since we have had many days of freezing temps – go figure)
• Repair shop orders parts (over holidays, so it will be 6-8 week wait)
• Wait for parts to arrive … still waiting at this point
• Hope the repairs are done in time to enjoy some camping in April

It’s now February and despite a rather gloomy outlook for getting the motorhome back, plus needing brakes and tires checked and running a full 100,000 mile engine checkup, we went ahead and planned a late April/May three-week adventure.  We have all the reservations set at parks in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia and Tennessee for a trip dubbed our “Bourbon Trail.”  There are plenty of distilleries we want to visit, plus lots of caves, hiking trails, waterfalls and Churchill Downs (yes, we will be in Louisville during Derby Week). Stay tuned for stories about the trip.

Oh, and on the rest of the maintenance schedule is some flooring repair and replacement.  When we were packing up to leave Pigeon Forge the living room slide got caught on the carpet and ripped a strip off.  Now this is a 20 year old carpet, so it wasn’t a total shame, but it does mean we have to figure out how to replace the floor for the main section of the motorhome.  Summer project, I guess.  By now you are probably saying “no thanks, I don’t want a motorhome,” but you would be wrong to think that.  We have had so many great adventures that would not have been possible without this trusty van.  It’s just part of the deal – like owning a home that always needs a little TLC.

Anyhow, thanks for coming along with us.  Sign up for notifications so you don’t miss our next adventure.