SoCal to Florida and Back

Now begins and adventure. At first, like Bilbo Baggins, I was reluctant. A three-thousand mile journey in a Ford F350 with soaring gas prices (especially California). But, the purchase had been made, and the Lutes needed to find its way to its new home. 

All was well until I jinxed it by saying, "Ya know, I have never gone cross-country without something bad happening in El Paso." Well, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy when the truck began having acceleration trouble near Las Cruces. Worse, it was a Friday evening and there were no mechanics who would help us. We limped into El Paso and found someone who would. We were stuck in Hell Paso for 3-days doing nothing but sitting in Carl's Jr cruising the internet and trying not to overstuff on carbs. (we had no transportation to go anywhere else)

Carl's Jr. had a blessed AC with record heat outside.

We were finally back on the road after the cryptic diesel engine issue was resolved. I was in prayer most of the way and, by New Orleans, I was confident we would be able to go the distance. We stayed at with some relatives in Florida where we could catch our breath. We then met up with Chris and did the final details for payment and transfer.

Myself, my brother, and Chris

We had to hunker down at my relatives place for several days because tropical storm, Claudette was tearing across our path home. We were comfortable and even spent a day with some Florida friends.

A long drive ahead of us, with a long drive train!

Back on the road, there was still remnants of Claudette giving us grief.

We stayed with friends along the way which was quite enjoyable and a time to catch our breath. One of our parked locations was so beautiful, it pained us to leave.

The trip was not without its damage to the Lutes. Somewhere along the line, something sideswiped the side of the trailer, damaging the hinges of both doors, gouging in the back portion, and almost pulling off one of the bumperettes. 😥.  To not lose it, I had to bend it back and duct tape it onto its mount.

It will take a lot of body work to get the side back to normal. It could have been much worse!

In Texas, we did a side trip to meet with vintage trailer guru, Tim Heintz, who helped us install a stabilizer unit and do a safety check of our hitch system.

Once we got home, we immediately parked it in a local storage facility to await its (hopefully) resting place in our backyard.