10/19/13 and 10/20/13 - Away We Go

Saturday, October 19, 2013 

And Away We Go. . . 

It's finally time to hit the road!   Donna, Sue and Earl came to Elgin to see us off and after one small glitch (Lesson Learned #2- See Below), we were off!

Goodbye Chicago!

We drove to Greenburg, Indiana where we spent the night in the Walmart parking lot.  Most Walmarts allow RV's to spend the night as long as they ask the manager for permission.   They know if you go in the store you will spend money so it's a win-win on both sides.   Since we parked in the front of the lot by a fence, we were able to put one slide out, the couch side, which made it a little roomier.   We had no heat or electricity so I read my Kindle and Marty listened to Podcasts and it was an early night.

    

The view from our rig in the Walmart Parking Lot

 Lesson Learned #2

CLUNK!

Always listen for two clicks before pulling the truck and trailer.  The second  click is confirmation that the trailer is connected to the truck.  The sound of the 5th wheel hitting the rails of the truck is something we never want to hear again!  We were almost "de-railed" before we got started.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

We were on the road by 9:30, after breakfast at the Waffle House and a quick grocery run at Walmart. 

Before we left Chicago, we bought the Rand McNally RV GPS and it seems to be working well.   It is supposed to route us the most "RV friendly" way.  We drove thru Indiana and Ohio on interstates and then crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky.   

We had a nice ride in Kentucky until we got low on fuel and weren't passing any gas stations. Marty stays calm and I worry enough for the both of us.  Luckily we have the Gas Buddy app and found a Marathon station that had a large enough area to maneuver in.   Technology sure makes this life easier.    We arrived in West Liberty, KY for our Habitat for Humanity build at 2:30 and got settled in.

Around 5:30 our H4H team gathered around a campfire where we all introduced ourselves and learned about habitat.org and what we would be doing.   This build is a "disaster response" build due to a tornado that hit the town in March of 2012.  A disaster build differs from a regular build in that the recipients of the homes do not have to help with the building of their new home.   In a regular build a couple is required  to put in 500 hours and a single person needs 250 hours.  These hours can be working on the house or taking classes on how to take care of a house once they get it (home repair, finances, etc.).   Habitat's motto is "Habitat is a Hand Up - Not a Hand Out".      

We have 13 people working on the build - 5 couples and 3 single people.   2 of the other couples are full-timers and we hope to "pick their brains" while we're here.