The picnic in the park alongside the Susquehanna River was a great success and a day to remember. It was filled with family and fun and kids laughing and playing and a few unexpected surprises too.
Like my nieces. I can’t tell you how thankful I am that they came to see Momma off, to hug her and kiss her one more time.
And like my brothers. John was on our schedule for an evening visit at our RV park but showing up for the picnic was so much better plus he brought Paul and Bradley and Eunice with him.
All in all, I was feeling very happy and very satisfied at having spent such a good day with so many members of my family that I hardly ever get to see.
“Let’s get this cleaned up,” Lori said and with the help of Jasmine, Debby and the girls we got all of the picnic picked up and cleaned up in no time flat.
Hugs were shared and we climbed into our seats, fastened our seatbelts, Lori, behind the wheel, started the engine and we start up the hill, heading out of the park. I see all of the girls standing on the sidewalk waving good-bye and I’m getting my camera ready to take pictures when all of a sudden...
BANG!
KER-THUNK!
CRASH! roll-roll-roll-bump.
“What was that?” Lori asked as I was scrambling to put my camera down and unhook my seatbelt.
“I don’t know,” I said but as I turned in my seat to get up, I look back and see an upper cabinet door was open. “Something came out of the cabinet above the sink.” And I’m thinking coffee pot...toaster...because those things had been stowed up there. As I got to my feet I see a vodka bottle laying on the floor, up against a wall where it had rolled to a stop.
“It was the vodka!” I picked it up. “It’s not broke.” Which is amazing considering it hit the counter on it’s way to the floor.
“It’s a good thing it didn’t hit your mother in the head,” Lori said and that thought not only horrified me but caused ugly pictures in my head. I did a quick calculation glancing between where the vodka had been stored and where Momma was sitting and judged it wasn’t all that close. I offered a quick thank you to our Lord. “Don’t put it back up in there,” Lori added unnecessarily.
“I won’t,” and I stashed it under the kitchen sink. I got back into my seat, fasten my seatbelt and we start up the hill again. I see the girls had made their way to the end of the block. I’m guessing they wondered why we had stopped halfway up the hill and they were on their way to see if we needed help. Once we got going again, they stopped there on the corner and we stopped at a stop sign. I took pictures as Lori cleared traffic.
At this point, Lori and I have been together for almost two weeks. I know that she is a good driver and handles the RV very well. I know that I don’t have to help clear traffic for her like I do for Mike, “Clear right,” I usually call out. Well, only if it’s clear. If there’s traffic I usually say there are two cars or whatever it is, and it’s just a habit with me to help. Lori, just like Mike, always clears the traffic for herself anyway, just in case.
So I am not helping, I’m taking photos of the family waving from the corner.
We were moving again as Lori started to make her right hand turn when all of a sudden…
SCREEEEECH!
CRRRUUUNNNCCCHHH!
Lori stopped immediately. “What was that!”
“You hit the steps,” Momma said from her seat at the table.
I glance back over my shoulder and see the stop sign resting against the side of the RV. “No, we hit the stop sign,” I said. Well, maybe I should have known better than to contradict my mother. Maybe it was just a whole lot of wishful thinking because it wouldn’t have been so bad had we just hit the stop sign.
“I can see the ground,” Momma said but I ignored her as I unfastened the seatbelt and jumped out of the RV.
Yep, there was the stop sign against the side of the RV. Then I looked down. Yep, there was a curb that was like a foot high. Yep, there was the RV right on top of it. Yep, I could see damage to the bottom of the door.
I jumped back in, “We hit the curb.” Understatement of the year.
Lori is an amazing woman. She didn’t get flustered like I would have, she didn’t freak out, like I would have, she calmly puts the RV in reverse and accompanied by a whole lotta grinding and scraping noises, she backed away from the stop sign and off the curb.
“Well...” she says and I’m watching her, not sure how I should act until I see how she’s going to act and I can almost see the gears turning in her head as she decides what to do. She looks left, she looks right, she straightens the wheel and when the traffic’s clear, goes straight through the intersection pulling the RV to the curb on the other side.
I get up and go through the pass-through into the RV and looked at where the steps had been. Yeah, Momma was right. You could see the ground.
“We took out the steps,” I say to Lori as I gain the front.
“Oh, Lord,” she says.
I scoot around my seat and open the door. Lori gets out and comes around the front of the RV and met me on the sidewalk. The first thing we notice is the odor then we see a rivulet and a nugget or two making it’s way down to the corner. Yeah, we were parked on a hill. But I pretty much take it for granted that you would know that because Pennsylvania is pretty hilly and towns were built on hills. However, I take a second to count my blessings. Lori insisted on dumping our tanks every chance we got so there wasn’t much in our tanks.
“How bad is it?” she asks.
“I don’t know,” and I crouched down and looked at the undercarriage. I surveyed the damage and gave Lori a report. “We pushed the steps back into the black tank and broke the line,” I told her.
“Can we still drive it?”
I got down and looked again. “I don’t know, one of the pipes is hanging pretty low.”
Jasmine, Debby, Destini, and Jaiyden had crossed the street and joined us by this time. Debby, bless her heart, she gets down and looks and when she comes back up she says, “I can get a piece of wire and tie that up for you,” she volunteers.
Bless her heart. All I could think about was what she had to crawl through to get there!
I look to Lori. “I better call the rental place,” she said.
Had we known then what we know now, we would have taken Debby up on her offer right then and there and just been done with it!
We left Jasmine and her family on the sidewalk as we went in to find the rental agreement and phone numbers. Lori called the help hotline and got an answering service. The owners were gone and the operator would have to put a call into them and have them call us. When they finally called us back they told us to find a place to repair it on our own. (I won’t even tell you what Lori had to say about that!) “I better call Patti and tell her what’s going on.” She starts scrolling through her phone for Patti’s number.
I got out to give Jasmine and Debby an update. “They told us to find a place to fix it. Jasmine, do you know any place that might come out and look at it for us?” I asked.
“There is a place up the road that might do it,” she said.
“Do you have a phone book?”
“I think so,” and she left to get it.
“I can wire that one pipe up for you,” Debby offers again.
“That is so kind of you to offer but maybe we better wait and see what happens.” I went back in to see what Lori had found out and she was sitting behind the wheel, talking on the phone and scribbling names and numbers on a piece of paper.
I wish Mike did that, I think to myself.
“Did what?” you ask.
Put names with numbers when he writes them down, that’s what. He’s forever asking me, “Who’s this number?”
“Okay, I’ll give’em a try,” Lori says and hangs up the phone.
“Patti got on the internet and found some places,” Lori says even as she is dialing the first number. She listens. “No answer,” she hit the hang-up button. “They’re probably gone for the weekend already.”
“Was Patti upset?” I asked.
“Not really. She went into problem-solving mode.”
“I’m really impressed with the way you’re handling this,” I told Lori. “I’d be like freaking out and probably crying my eyes out!”
Lori laughed. “I used to work with this one guy who use to say, ‘No one’s dead and this can be fixed,’” she chuckled at the memory.
Lori called the next place and after explaining our dilemma she listened. “Okay, do you know any place that could help us?” and she starts writing on her makeshift note pad. “Thanks,” and she hangs up.
“They don’t have any techs on duty right now but she gave me the number of another place.” Lori started dialing again.
“Peggy,” Momma called from where she had been half listening to the goings on as she worked her rosary beads.
I turned to look at her, “What Momma?”
“Maybe Richard can help, he works on heavy equipment.”
Lori was going through her spiel to another garage so I stepped out onto the sidewalk so I wouldn’t bother her. I pulled my phone out and called my cute little redheaded brother. “We’ve hit a curb and Lori is worried about driving it until someone says it’s okay. Can you check it out for us?”
“I can try but I’m on a job more than an hour away,” Richard said.
“Well, thanks anyway,” I told him. “We’ll keep looking and I’ll let you know what’s going on.” I hung up and opened the door of the RV. Lori was finished with her phone call and rather than climb in I just leaned across the seat. “I called Richard. He’s working and more than an hour away so he can’t help,” I told her. “What did you find out?”
“They don’t work on RV’s,” Lori lamented. “I’d better call Patti and give her an update.”
I see Jasmine coming back with three phone books and I go to meet her. “Thank you,” I said and accepted them.
“I can tie that up for you,” Debby offered again.
“Lori’s worried there might be damage we can’t see and she wants someone to come and make sure it’s road worthy, but thanks so much for offering,” and even as I’m turning away Debby is getting back down on the sidewalk, looking up under the RV again.
I took the phone books back into the RV where Lori was finishing up her conversation with Patti. “Patti’s worried about your mom,” Lori told me after she hung up. “She has to have a bathroom at night and we aren’t having any luck finding anyone to fix this.”
“Maybe she can stay at Richard’s tonight.” I handed the phone books to Lori and I gave one to Momma and I flipped mine open.
“I already called that one, and that one,” Lori mumbles as we all name off places. After correlating our phone book search and finding a couple of places Lori hadn’t called yet she got back on the phone -- and got more rejections. I went out to give Debby and Jazzi an update. “We can’t find anyone to even come and look at it for us,” I told them.
“I looked at it and I think it’s just that one pipe that’s hanging too low. I don’t see anything else. I can get some wire and wire it up and I think you’ll be okay to drive it,” Debby offered yet again, bless her heart.
Lori came out of the RV and joined us. “Debby says she can wire that pipe up and we should be able to get back to the campground,” I told Lori.
Lori thought about it for a moment. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” She turned to Debby. “You think you can tie that up for us?”
Debby’s face brightened. “Yeah. I can do it.”
“Okay,” Lori stated. Debby, happy to be helping us, went to get the things she needed. “Peg, you call Richard and see if your mom can stay with him until we can get this thing fixed. I’ll call Patti and let her know what we’re doing.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket and Lori went to the open passenger door of the RV and sat sideways on my seat.
I walked a little ways away and flipped my phone open. Richard was the last person I had talked to so all I had to do was hit the redial button.
“Hello,” Richard answered after the first ring.
“Hey Brother. Can Momma stay with you until we can get this fixed?” I asked.
Richard didn’t hesitate. “Sure.”
“Will you come and get her?”
“I have to go home first. I’m driving the company truck and I’m not allowed to have passengers.”
“How long will that take?”
“A couple of hours,” he guessed.
“Okay, I’ll tell Lori,” and Richard and I hung up. I turned around and watched Lori for a moment. She had her elbows on her knees and was chewing her bottom lip as she listened to Patti.
“Okay, let us know,” she replied and hung up. “Patti says Richard’s isn’t a good idea.”
“How come?”
“She says there are too many steps. She thinks Ed’s would be a better option. She’s going to call him.”
Debby came back with a roll of wire and side cutters, laid down on the ground and scooted out of sight under the RV.
“How are we going to get her there?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Patti’s working on that, but we can always rent a car and take her down there if we have to.”
Lori’s phone rang. “Patti,” she says, swipes the screen with her finger, puts the phone to her ear and says, “Hello,” then she listens.
It didn’t take Debby long to wire up the broken pipe and she came out from under the RV. “That’ll hold it,” she said.
Lori, listening to Patti walked a little ways away.
“That is just so sweet of you, Debby. Thank you so much! Did you get anything on you?”
“No, I was able to stay out of it.” Debby just beamed with pride, and I don’t blame her. She really saved our butts!
Lori finished her conversation with Patti and came over to where we were standing and talking. “When Patti was talking to Ed he told her that Paul and John had been here so she called Paul to see how far away he was and found out they were still in the area.” I was surprised to hear that since they had been gone from us for more than an hour now. “They’re going to meet us at the campground,” Lori finished then she turned to Debby. “Were you able to get it wired up?” she asked.
“Yep. It shouldn’t go anywhere,” Debby answered.
“Thank you so much, you’re a lifesaver. I don’t know what we would have done without you!” And she gave Debby a big ole hug. “Now, how do we get out of here?”
“You could go up the hill and turn at the corner,” Jazzi said since we were headed in that direction.
“There’s a big dip at that top of the hill,” Debby said to Jazzi. “They might not be able to clear it. I have a hard time with it in my car and I have to go over it kind of sideways so I don’t scrape.”
“Maybe I should just back out and go the way we came in,” Lori said.
“Okay. We’ll tell you when it’s clear,” Debby said and she and Jasmine headed for the corner.
“You girls stay on the sidewalk,” I heard Jasmine tell Destini and Jaiyden as Lori and I get back into the RV.
Lori started the engine and we buckled our seatbelts as we watched the mirrors for the signal that the traffic was clear. Once the girls starting motioning for us to come on back, Lori backed out into the intersection and Debby followed behind making sure she was clear the whole way around. Then they both stood in the road, one in each lane, and held up the traffic for us until we got going. I am not a good backer-upper so I admire anyone who can do it well and I double admire anyone who can do it with mirrors. Yeah. I double admire Lori! She can and she did! And she even made it look easy to boot!
An hour and a half after first hitting the curb, Lori honked the horn and we all waved our gratitude as we headed on up the road.
“I’d better call Richard,” I said remembering Richard was thinking Momma was going to be staying with him. I pulled out my phone and hit the redial button.
“Hello,” Richard answers.
“Hey Brother, it’s been decided that it would be better if Momma stays with Ed,” I told him.
“Alright. Where’re you at?”
“We’re heading back to the campground.”
“I’m close to it, I’ll meet you there. What spot are you in?” he asked.
I lowered the phone, “Lori, what’s our lot number?”
“One-oh-one,” she replied.
It’s a good thing she remembered because I sure didn’t. I repeated it to Richard and hung up saying we’d see him there.
“I don’t know how low we are hanging underneath,” Lori said. “Help me watch for bumps, would ya Peg?”
“Sure,” I said and I helped to scan the road ahead calling out if I spotted a pothole. Most times I’m sure Lori saw them herself but she just wanted an extra set of eyes on the road anyway. It was a little nerve-racking as we made our way back to the campground. With every unavoidable bump we hit we expected to hear crunching or ripping from under the RV, but we were pleased when we arrived at our campground none the worse for wear.
Then things changed.
Lori pulled into the Ben Franklin RV Park and stopped. “Can we get over the speed bumps?”
“I don’t know, I’ll look.” I jumped out and scrutinized the distance between the ground and our now lower hanging steps. Lori had gotten out too and came around to my side of the RV. I stood up. “I don’t know, it’s pretty low.”
“Is there another way around?” Lori wondered. When we checked in we were told to take the second left because the first one was too tight to get around, especially if there was a car parked in the first space after the turn. “I’m going to check it out,” Lori said and she was off.
My phone rang. I looked at the ID. It was Richard. I flipped open my phone, “Hello.”
“Where ya at?”
“We just pulled in the campground and Lori’s afraid to go over the speed bumps. Were are you?”
“I’m in your spot. Hold on, I’ll be right there.”
Lori’s coming back towards me and I walk to meet her. “Richard’s here.”
From across the park (which it isn’t all that big), I hear a truck start up and Lori and I watch as a big ole honkin’ Ford 750 work truck pulls into view and stops. Out steps my cute little red-haired brother.
“Hello!” he greets us with a smile.
“Hi Brother!” and I give him a hug. “This is Patti’s friend Lori,” I introduced.
“I think I met you at the family reunion,” Richard said.
“Probably. It’s nice to see you again.”
“You too. Let’s see how bad it is,” and I led Richard around to the passenger side of the RV. He squats down and looks up under there. Then he straightens up and with a laugh says, “You took out the steps!”
What a smartass. And we laughed at the obvious.
“Do you think we can get over the speed bumps?” Lori asked.
“I think so, but if you go in the way I came out there aren’t any speed bumps.”
“Okay. We’ll meet you at the site then.”
Since Richard was parked in the exit road he had to move his truck first then we took the road less bumpy and made it to our site. Backing in was a little tricky because we were facing the wrong direction but Lori managed with very little trouble at all. She shut off the engine and I jumped out to get us plugged in. Richard, pulling up across our site got out, came over to the RV and laid down in the grass, taking inventory of the damage then went back to his truck for some tools and went to work.
I had just snapped a picture or two when a car and a truck pull up. Out came Paul, Bradley, John, and Eunice. They came over and joined Lori and me at the picnic table.
“How come you’re still here?” I asked with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.
“We went to get something to eat,” John said and the toothpick in his mouth should have been a dead giveaway.
You just ate with us, I almost said but didn’t. Maybe they had been polite and didn’t eat their fill? I don’t know but I dismissed the whole thing when they got a little closer and realized there were adult beverages involved.
I’ll tell you what. My brothers are so awesome! And they have a dynamic relationship that is hard to describe. They put their heads together and talked all of the options through and Richard, bless his heart, Richard, since he was already dirty from his job, did most of the manual work.
“Might as well take the screen door off, it’s not doing any good.”
The screen door came off and was laid to rest in the grass.
“Steps are a mess.”
“We could pound them back in place.”
“Might be dangerous if it weakens them.”
“Take’em out?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
They put their heads together again, looking.
“We can take out the screws here, here and here.”
“Yeah, but we can’t get to the screws over there, the frames in the way.”
“Just cut’em off.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Richard laughs. “I have my work truck. I can put a cutting wheel on my angle grinder.”
Even in the mists of disasters, there are blessings. What a blessing it was that Richard had been on his way home from work and had his work truck. He had all of the tools he needed right there. I shudder to think what a job it would have been had they not had the right tools. It would have taken so much longer and been so much harder. In fact, it might not have happened at all.
Richard cut the step box free and John helped take them out of the way.
“Just bypass the batteries.”
“They might need the batteries.”
“They can plug into electric.”
“The batteries might have to be in line to make everything else work.”
“Oh yeah. They might need them to start the generator.”
“I think we can straighten out the battery cage.”
“Hammer?”
“Heck no.” With his brothers watching, Richard goes out to his truck and comes back with a chain winch which is very much like a come-a-long. “Let’s try this.” He lays under the RV looking for a good solid place to attach the end to. After some suggestions from his brothers, he finds a place that suits him, hooks everything up and as he ratchets the handle the lines tighten and slowly pull the battery cage back to where it belongs. Well, at least close enough. Then it was time to put the batteries back in and fortunately, Richard had the foresight to lay out the wires so he knew how to hook them back up again.
“What about the hole in the floor?”
“I’ve got a piece of plywood on the truck,” Richard said and believe it or not, it was just the perfect size to cover the hole. Not too big and not too small. Almost like it had been cut for there.
The boys even worked on the door to make sure it would open and close for us but without steps, it didn’t do us much good.
“I’ve got to get going,” Paul said. “I’ve got to take Mom to Ed’s before I can go home.”
Then it was scramble time as I went to the bedroom to pack for Momma.
“Momma, what do you need for a couple of days with Ed?”
“My nightgown, hairbrush, clothes for church, clean socks, and underwear, my nebulizer, medicines, oxygen, prayer books, jacket.”
“You want your pillow?” I know I always take mine with me.
“Yes!”
“I better get her wheelchair,” Lori said. Yeah, she would need that too. I ran around gathering things up for Momma while Lori got the wheelchair from the cargo hold and we got everything transferred to Paul’s truck.
“You ready to go Momma?” I asked.
“Yep. Where’s my oxygen tank?”
I reached around to the other side of the booth table and got the tank of oxygen I had waiting there for her and she went about the task of transferring from concentrator to oxygen tank. It’s all a process, you know. Turn this on, turn this off, unhook here, hook up there. You just can’t get in too much of a hurry.
Then Momma was ready, got up and made her way to the front and the passenger side door, which is now our new exit from the RV. Lori had the wheelchair waiting and stood outside to help Momma down.
“Dorothy, sit on the seat and come out that way,” Lori said.
My Momma.
My Momma who has always had to be strong no matter what life threw at her. My Momma who had the responsibility of taking care of eleven children on a budget that wouldn’t support a bullfrog.
Wow. Now that I am thinking about it, does that ever bring back memories‽ Let me just pause in my story for a moment here to say that my mother is an awesome woman. There could be no food in the house (that I could see) and yet my mother always put a supper on the table which almost always included a meat, potato, and vegetable as well as bread, butter and milk. There was always enough food. Even if we happened to have unexpected company, an extra plate was set and there was still enough food. It’s like magic! I don’t know how she did it. Sometimes it was just enough, sometimes there were leftovers. We might not have had our favorites all the time but we didn’t go hungry either.
“I don’t like stew,” I complained once as a little girl.
“Why not?” I was asked.
“It’s got cooked carrots and celery in it!”
“Pick them out,” I was told.
I was being stubborn and not at all pleased that I wasn’t getting my way. “I don’t want to!”
“Fine,” my dad said. “You can have something else,” he paused and I thought I had won. “It’s called breakfast. You should be thanking your mother for this good food she put on the table instead of complaining about it.”
Around the ten-foot-long custom-built-by-my-father picnic table, I watched...
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Momma said as I read the story to her. “That isn’t how long the table was.”
“I knew it! It was more like twelve-foot wasn’t it?”
“No! It was eight-foot long.”
“No way!”
“Yes way,” she replied.
“Are you sure?” There I go, questioning my mother again!
“Yes.”
Okay, so...around the eight-foot-long custom-built-by-my-father picnic table, I watched as my brothers dipped thick slices of homemade bread slathered with butter into their stew and ate with gusto.
Begrudgingly I picked out the yucky things and I found out that bread and butter can go a long way in helping your food taste better as well as to fill your tummy.
My mother. Strong and independent. Used to doing for herself, making decisions for herself, going where she wanted to go, doing what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it, now, all of a sudden is at the mercy and whims of others. It must be frustrating to have no control.
“Dorothy, sit on the seat and come out that way,” Lori had told her.
Momma didn’t listen. She had been climbing in and out of cars long before this young whipper-snapper was born and she could do it just fine! Momma, still slender and pretty spry for the shape she’s in just scooted around the passenger seat and came right out the door, lickety-split, pretty as you please. Once on the ground she turned and sat in the waiting chair and Lori pushed her over to the truck and let Momma just sit for a few minutes. The exertion of getting out of the RV had winded her and she needed to catch her breath.
Paul’s truck is tall! He had to just about pick Momma up to get her in! But got in she did and buckled up and I hugged her and they were off.
“What do you want to do with all this stuff?” John asked.
“The rental company might want it for insurance reasons; maybe we should put it in the back,” Lori said.
John and his wife Eunice picked up the screen door and the steps and stowed them in the back cargo hold.
Richard picked up his tools.
“How did you know how to do all that?” I asked him.
Without missing a beat, with no hesitation at all and not even having to think about it, Richard’s answer surprises me. “It wasn’t just me! I couldn’t have done it without Paul and John’s help,” Richard said making sure credit is given where credit is due. “And Pop too. He was always very hands-on with us boys and he made us do things and figure out how to fix things for ourselves.”
“Well, we’re certainly lucky that you had your work truck and all the tools!”
“Yes we are,” Lori seconded. “Any idea where can we get this fixed?”
“I know there’s a place down in Dover,” John said. “It’s on Carlisle Road.”
“How far is that?” I asked.
“Not far. Seven or eight miles I think.”
It was too late this Friday night to get anyone on the phone. We would try the place in the morning.
“Thank you so much,” Lori said and she was truly grateful.
After the boys were gone Lori and I settled in for the night. Not having a toilet was not a big deal for us. We were both capable and able to use the facilities at the campground.
“Tomorrow we’ll call this place and see if they can help us,” Lori said, “and if they can’t we may have to cut the trip short and head back to Arizona.”
“Okay,” I said. I’m pretty accepting of whatever has to be and don’t cry over spilled milk.
“You and I can use the restrooms at the gas stops. For your mom, we can put a trashcan liner in the toilet and then you just close it up, take it out and throw it in the dumpster.”
“Really‽”
“That’s what we used to do when we went camping after Dad had winterized the camper.”
I did not know about any such thing! How clever is that‽
“Maybe we might have to stay here for a few more days to get it fixed. Oh, I better call the RV park.” Lori called and arranged it with the park that we could stay as long as we needed to. The worse scenario would be that we might have to change sites.
Saturday morning we were supposed to be headed to Maryland to spend a day with my oldest brother Ed and his family before heading west. Instead, we were trying to find a place to fix our broken black water line. Nine o’clock finds Lori on the phone talking with Harbold’s RV Sales and Service. She explains our problem interjecting more humor in the story than was there at the time and asked if they could help.
“Come on down and we’ll see what we can do,” we were told.
Lori and I packed up as fast as we could, put the address in Betsy, Patti’s GPS, and headed out. Betsy was good to us and took us right to their front door.
“All of our repair guys are off for the weekend but let me look at it for you,” Steve, the owner said. He got down on the ground and scooted under the RV on his back. He poked around under there for a few minutes then came back out.
“Whoever did all of this work for you did a good job. The pipes are wired up nice and strong and having the steps out of the way really saves me a lot of time,” then he leaned in a little towards us, “and you a lot of money. To fix it right I’d have to take the tank off and take the dent out of it. The only problem with that is if I crack the tank doing it, you’ll be stuck here until I can get a replacement tank.”
“How long would that take?” Lori asked.
“Maybe two weeks.”
We were crestfallen.
“Here’s what I can do that would be a fairly easy fix and would get you back to Arizona.” We perked up at that. “I can put an end on the broken pipe and you can dump your tanks from there. It would mean you would have to crawl under to hook up the hose but it’ll work.”
“I’ll do it,” I told Lori.
“Okay, let’s do it,” she told him.
Steve took the RV into a work bay of the garage, Lori went into the store and I took my phone and my camera and went walking. Next door to this place was some interesting looking junk.
My phone rang. “Hello?”
“Peg, it’s Jasmine.”
“Hi, Jasmine.”
“My mom said she could bring Chuck up to see Granny today.”
“Okay, we’re getting the RV fixed right now. Can I get back with you?”
“Sure,” she said.
I hung up and went into the store to find Lori. “Jasmine called. She said Debby can bring Chuck up to see Mom today.”
Lori thought about it for a minute. “It looks like we are going to get this fixed. Let’s see if someone can bring her back up.”
I called Paul but he had plans and couldn’t bring Mom back to Pennsylvania and there was no one else who could do it.
“We’ll just go get her then,” Lori said.
Steve had us fixed up in no time. We put Ed’s address into Betsy and we were off to Maryland.
Now Betsy is a good friend to have. She always knows how to get us where we are going. Nine times out of ten anyway. Betsy, the GPS, decided it would be faster, or more direct, to take a parallel road to the highway rather than to take the highway.
“Let’s just go how she says,” Lori said. And heck, I was game. Lots of times there are more interesting things to see on two-lane roads as opposed to highways anyway.
So we are driving down these two-lane roads and as we near a small town we hear sirens going off.
“What is that?” Lori asked.
“I think it’s a fire alarm.”
Lori is watching for emergency vehicles and in another minute or two we do see fire trucks pulling out of a fire station and onto the road ahead of us, taking off in the direction we are headed. Down the road a ways we see a sad sight. Someone’s house on fire.
Not much further down the road, we see another site neither one of us wants to see.
“What’s that, Peg?” you ask.
A low underpass.
“That looks pretty low,” Lori said. “The sign says ten foot eleven inches. How tall are we?”
“I don’t know.”
Lori, who had stopped in the road, decided to find a place to pull off and just short of the underpass found a parking lot. We pulled all the paperwork out for the RV but couldn’t find the overall height on any of it.
“I’ll call Patti,” Lori said.
Patti didn’t know our height but would find out and get back with us. As Lori and I sat there talking and waiting Lori decided we would just go back and get on the highway. It was only seven or eight miles back and it would be better to take the time and miles to go around rather than risk opening the top of the RV like a sardine can. Decision made we went back and got on the highway. Then Patti calls.
“Ten foot ten,” was the answer.
“We could have made it with an inch to spare!”
Yeah, an inch. It’s not much and honestly, I’m glad we didn’t try it. I’d have been a nervous wreck!
Back on the highway and well on the way to Maryland, I called Jasmine back and arranged a time to meet.
Traffic on the Beltway was horrible.
“Doesn’t anyone stay home anymore?” we wondered.
But other than that we made it to Ed’s house with no trouble at all. I didn’t have much of chance to visit with Ed and his family but this trip wasn’t about me, it was about Momma and she got to spend time with them and that’s all that counts.
“I’m sorry we can’t stay,” I told my oldest brother. “But if Momma is going to see Charles we have to get her back up to the campground.”
“I understand,” Ed said.
“Momma, you ready to go?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Get my stuff from the bedroom.” My sister-in-law Barb went with me and helped to gather Momma’s things. “Don’t forget my pillow!” she called.
Lori and I carried things to the RV and decided we would sit tight for a few minutes and give Momma a chance to say her good-bye’s but it wasn’t very long at all until Ed and his sons come out of the house, one of the boy’s pushing Momma, and Barb bringing up the rear.
We got Momma loaded and it was at this point, the point where we are opening the back storage bay to stow the wheelchair, that we realized there was a fly in the ointment. The only reason the steps and screen door fit in was because the wheelchair wasn’t in there. Now that we needed to put the wheelchair in, there wasn’t any room!
Lori and I stood there looking. “Maybe we could put the wheelchair in the bedroom?” I suggested.
“Just take that stuff out,” Ed said. “It’s no good. They won’t be able to reuse it and they won’t want it back. They’re just going to throw it away anyway.”
“What will you do with it?” I wondered.
“We’ll just put it out with our trash,” Ed said.
We didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter. We needed the wheelchair. Putting it inside created a whole new set of problems and besides, Ed was right. His boys pulled the mangled steps and screen door from the bay and tossed them into the yard and loaded the wheelchair in for us.
“Take’em around back,” Ed said hitching his thumb towards the back of the house. The boys each picked up a piece and off they went.
We chit-chatted for a few minutes, exchanging hugs and loves. I got a great big hug from Ed, a hug from Barb and the boys, who were back by then, gave me hugs too. Then it was time to hit the road again.
“Did you enjoy your visit?” I asked Momma.
“Yes, but I had to sleep on the couch.”
“You did‽ Why?”
“Because the bed was too tall. I couldn’t get into it by myself and if I were to get up to pee in the middle of the night there wouldn’t be anyone to help me get back into bed.”
And I laughed.
“But I’ll tell you what I really did enjoy,” she said.
“What was that?”
“My visit with Paul.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes. We had a nice visit on the ride down to Ed’s. I don’t think I’ve ever before had a visit quite like that with Paul. He really opened up and talked more than I’ve ever heard him talk before.”
We get back to our campsite in the Ben Franklin RV Park just about the time we thought we would and it wasn’t long until a little car pulls up. Debby was there and so was Charles.
“Momma, are you going outside?” I asked her when the car pulled up.
“Yes, if it’s not too cold.”
“I don’t think it is, but take your jacket,” I said handing it to her.
“Thank you,” she said and put it on.
“And Momma, would you do me a favor?” I asked.
“I’ll try,” she said.
“When you get out of the RV would you sit down in the seat and turn around and get out that way?” I asked. “I worry about you and I don’t want anything to happen to you and I just really think it’s safer and I don’t want you to fall.”
“I won’t fall!” she poo-pooed my concerns away.
“I know but it would just make me feel better. Would you do it that way for me? Please?”
She paused and studied my face for a moment. I have no idea what she saw there, but she agreed. “Alright. For you.”
She loves me!
Momma got up from her seat at the booth table and holding onto things made her way to the front and the passenger seat flopped her bottom down, swung her legs around and climbed out of the cab.
“There!” she said when her feet were on the ground.
She did it with a little attitude but she did it the way I asked her to.
I smiled. “Thank you.”
Lori had camp chairs set up and waiting.
“Hi Ma,” Charles greeted her and my mother had the most glorious smile on her beautiful face! I’m sure she had resigned herself to not seeing him before she left this part of the country and now that she was seeing him, her joy was shining through.
“Hi sweetheart,” she said and held her arms out for a hug.
Charles hugged her, albeit sheepishly, but he hugged her. I let Momma visit with her fourth born child. And I fluttered around capturing moments, snippets of time.
“I have perfect attendance at work and I didn’t want to mess it up by taking the day off yesterday,” I heard Charles tell Momma.
And that led to a discussion on the goings on at Momma’s old workplace.
“How about so-and-so?” she would ask after people she used to know. “What happened to him?”
I drifted away.
Destini and Jaiyden had come along with their grandparents (one from each side of the family) and were sporting the new clothes and accessories from Rosemary.
Lori visited with Debby and told her how impressed the RV repair guy was with the job she had done wiring up the pipes under the RV.
“Peg, where’s that pie your cousin sent along?” Lori asked.
The pie!
Oh my goodness! I totally forgot about the pie that Rosemary sent. It was the perfect time to get it out. I quickly put my camera down and went to get the things we would need. Pie, a knife for cutting and serving, paper plates, plastic forks, napkins and in two trips I had everything out to the picnic table.
“This is the best lemon meringue pie EVER!” I told everyone.
“I don’t like it,” Destini said.
“Me neither,” Jaiyden chimed in.
“Won’t you even try it?” I asked.
They both shook their little heads no.
“That’s okay,” Charles said finishing off his piece in like four bites. “It’s that much more for the rest of us!”
“The rest of us” already had all the pie we needed so we gave the girls share of the pie to Charles.
All too soon it was time for them to go. “Well, Ma, we better git goin’,” Charles said looking at his watch. “I got things to do.”
“Alright,” Momma said and she got up and hugged Charles for so long I wasn’t sure she would ever let him go. Then she hugged Debby and thanked her for bringing Charles up to see her. (I think I saw a tear in her eye.)
It was truly a priceless gift.
<<<<<>>>>>
"Peg, how can you remember all this stuff?" you ask.And there is just one answer.
Only by the grace of God
If you enjoyed this story do me a favor, would ya? Read the next line out loud.
Dear Lord, help Peggy remember the rest of the story. She is old and it has been a long time since this adventure took place and she doesn't think she can do this without Your help. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Thank you.
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