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Full-time RV travels in the United States and Canada
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April 2005 Happy April Fools Day! It is still pouring rain and the wind is blowing. We didn't hook up the car, because we planned on getting gas at the truck stop at the end of Water World Road where we would get back on I-10. As we were starting to drive out of our site, a camp host came and told us that the road was starting to flood and he didn't know if we would be able to get out or not. We decided to try it. We left the park, went down the hill from the park, went over the second hill and along a bit of a flat, marshy area, up another bit of a hill, and when we started down the other side, OH, OH! Can't do that. The road was flooded to about 2 feet deep in the gully of the road, already. The water was coming down off of I-10 like water over Niagara Falls. There was an Emergency Response truck about a 100 feet on up the road from us, on the other side of the flood and the driver said that the road was washing away underneath on the north side. Doug thought that we would be able to get across with the coach, but the car was another matter. If the car had been hooked up, we would have been okay, but we decided to stay until the water went down, and it was safer. Doug had to back the coach up about 1/2 a mile, until he was able to find an area that was safe enough to turn around. We went back to the site we had just vacated and waited. It was still pouring rain. If anyone has ever been in a building with a tin roof, in a major rain storm, you know what it was like for everyone in the park. The rain just kept pounding down. We received over 12 inches of rain in 24 hours. Finally, the rain stopped. By this time we still couldn't leave because the Styx River was now flooding and had flooded the road even closer to the park. I kept walking out to check on which way it was going. All day Friday the water kept rising. 
The river was about to consume the road, the water from I-10 had already consumed further up the road. The Styx River Resort is at the top of the hill, behind the trees. We were lucky the park is on high ground. On Saturday the road was completely under water. You can see a white colored pick-up truck that had drove off of the road sometime Friday night. At the point this photo was taken the water was already starting to recede. I could only see the top of the cab of the white truck, when the water was at its highest point, which was 18 feet above flood level. Just before 6 p.m. on Saturday, we decide to make our escape. We drove the coach out to the area where the light colored car is parked, in the top photo, and brought the car up behind, and hooked it up. At 6 p.m. on Saturday night, we started fording the river, that was still flooding across the road. We pushed water with the bumper of our coach, for at least a half of a mile. After we got through the first low area, we went up the small hill, which is around the corner, past where the white truck was, and met several bikers that were trying to get across to attend a bike rally, further east on the road from the campground. The area west of the first hill was now water free. The water had stopped flowing off of I-10, so this section of the road was now dry. The road was still washed out, under the pavement, so we made sure that we stayed well left on the road. We were across the problem area in seconds. What a relief to have that behind us. We stopped at the truck stop and filled the coach with gas. We were on I-10 heading west to 59 in no time. North on 59 and we were on our way home for the summer. We stopped at a rest area just south of Montgomery, AL for the balance of the night and were back on the road first thing Sunday morning. We stopped for more gas at the Flying J, in Birmingham, AL. We were on I-65 by then. We just got a few miles north of Birmingham, when we heard a large BOOM, I also felt something hit the floor, under my feet. We pulled over and walked around the coach. The first trip around, we didn't really see anything wrong, but I could smell rubber burning. We took a closer look and found that we had a flat on the inside, driver's dual. We were also missing the fender cap over the dual. We went back into the coach and I called CAA. We had RV coverage, just for this type of emergency. The CAA emergency number bumped to the USA AAA Road Service. I explained the problem, and she said she would call me back with a time when road service would be out. She called back a couple more times, then called again and told me that AAA didn't change tires, and we would have to look to our own devices (her words) to get the tire changed, and to submit the invoice to CAA when we got home. We had bought the CAA RV for this very reason, so that we could have peace of mind, and not have to worry if we had a problem. I had asked if they changed tires and the answer was "yes" when I purchased the membership. How things change! (More to follow on this subject) I hooked my cell phone to the computer and was on the net, looking for the closest Flying J phone number. It was the one we had just left. I disconnected everything and called the Flying J. They gave me the number of a Tire business. I called, he said he would be out soon. Within the hour, he was there. Within two hours we were back on the road again. We had to find a new tire, but the tire guy said they didn't have any the size we needed. He did tell us where to go, just a bit further north on I-65. We stopped in exit 304. The tire shop was named Colham, I think, and it was also a truck stop. They were very co-operative and told us they could have the new tires the next day by noon. We decided to replace all four of the rear tires. We had already replaced the front tires, and should have replaced all of them at the same time. Now we would have six new tires. Do you know that the year of manufacture is imprinted on the tire along with the size, manufacture, and PSI? We learn something new all the time. RV tires should be replaced every four years, no matter what. The side walls become weak from all the sitting and that is usually where they blow. There was about an eight inch tear on the side wall of our blown tire. The face of the tires still looked new. We parked over on the side of the truck parking lot. Trucks pulled in around us, and parked for the night. They seemed to help muffle the noise of the coming and going of the other trucks. We had a good nights sleep. We were up, had our breakfast and were ready for the new tires. They came in a bit earlier then planned, so the tires were changed and we were back on the road by noon. We planned on staying somewhere in Kentucky for the night. We knew that we wouldn't get much further that that. We were in no hurry, and the past three days had been quite eventful. There was a Passport America campground in the Cave City, Kentucky area called Singing Springs RV. I called and she had one pull-thru left. We said we would be there shortly. She said she would hold the site for us. When we got to the exit, we turned off I-65 and headed west. We had a large hill to climb and the highway was quite narrow. Up we went, around the corners, and up some more. The campground is a 1860's farm that has been converted to a campground. The house and barn was still there. They were re-modeling/re-storing the house.
We hope that they continue on, until the house is completely restored. What a beautiful place it will be. Even at this stage, you can see the character of the house. What a historical treasure. We had a good driving day. We were slowed down in stop and go traffic in Indianapolis, but that was the only place. We arrived at ACI Lakeshore, in Davison, Michigan, well before dark. Lakeshore is one of our home parks. We are here for the next four nights. This park feels like our home. We always enjoy our stay here. While at this park, we went on up to Auburn to visit our cousins, Pat and Charlie. We had a nice visit with them. The four days went by quickly and it is time to go back to Ontario. We crossed back into Ontario on April 9th at Port Huron/Sarnia. We crossed the Blue Water Bridge, declared our merchandise and sailed through Customs. Soon we were signing in to our AOR ($6/night) site at Rock Glen in Arkona, Ontario. It is the off season, so we can stay here for three weeks. The weather is a lot cooler here. Both furnaces worked hard to keep us warm. Then it started. That dreaded four letter word-SNOW-what happened? It is supposed to be spring. 
We weren't the only ones in the snow. After the snow quit and the sun came out, it was a beautiful day. The snow was only around for two days and then it started to warm up again. Mother Nature had to give us one blast of winter. Now that we are back in Ontario, we have numerous things to do. We went and visited our cousin Russell in a little town called Thedford, which is just north of Arkona. It would be a toss-up as to which town was smaller. Russell was doing fine, and we had a nice visit with him. We went and visited other family members and some old friends, in Blenheim and Chatham. They were all happy to see us back in town. On April 21st we went to Windsor to see Doug's eye doctor. He is a Ophthalmologist. An excellent doctor. He saved the site in Doug's right eye last December, with the laser treatments. According to Doctor Curran, Doug's eye was a bloody mess. Thank goodness we were referred to this Doctor, and he was able to stop the bleeding. Doug had to have more laser treatments on both eyes and also a cataract removed from the right eye. Doug calls it a Cadillac. I guess he feels better with a large car parked in his eye, rather then a cataract. ;} The treatments start in June and the cataract will be removed and a lens implanted on June 24th. We moved to an excellent place to park on April 27th. This is home. We will be in our son's driveway until our seasonal park opens on May 5th. Family time is always a fine time. Nothing compares.
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