Mountain Driving

After cleaning the trailer, disinfecting the storage tank for the first time, filling it, then packing up, we did not get away from Huntington Woods until 3:30pm. Our destination was Erin’s former boarding school, Oakhill Academy, in Virginia. She visited there last Tuesday, and voted there, and they offered us hospitality in turn for a short speech to be given in church tomorrow, Sunday. We did not expect to get there in one day’s trip, and indeed we didn’t. After struggling through rush hour, construction traffic in Detroit, we ultimately pulled up near the Ohio/West Virginia boarder outside of a museum/gift shop/tourist centre.

I spent part of the morning taping my thoughts about Micah and his impact on his community for Janice, Micah’s mother. Later, while still in the van, I did another interview for an internet radio show. The interviewer focused on topics she had picked up from my bio, and various articles she found on the internet. We had a great chat, interrupted only once when we lost cell signal in a rural area. Soon we will be able to tell you where to find both interviews.

It didn’t exactly say “no parking” so we took the liberty of hitching our power cord to the external outlet of the gift shop. So with a full storage tank we were set for water and with a “borrowed” electric power source we did not have to depend on our back-up battery to run Bradley, my nighttime ventilator. We were all set – we thought.

Three things were not exactly in our favour. Unbeknownst to Gabor he had left the black water exhaust valve open when he had emptied the body waste tank at the Flying “J”. Secondly our pad was on a distinct lateral slant. Thirdly, in an effort to level the trailer, Gabor had lowered the trailer legs as usual but one had broken at the tip where the crank is inserted and so he had not been able to get it down fully.

About 3/4 way through our already shortened morning routine a state trouper knocked on our door. He asked us to move on in a very friendly way, and then both he and Gabor discovered the gaff. About the volume of 4 trips to the john had run out onto the pavement. Its presence was made obvious by the green foam which results from the chemical that one puts down the toilet to promote breakdown of solids.

Gabor scrambled apologetically to wash away the dump, and struggled in vain for a good while to get the broken leg retracted. In the meantime the trooper called CAA to see if help could be found and looked around for a vice grip to see if we could turn the broken shaft. Ultimately Erin and Gabor figured out how to get the weight of the leg and then Gabor could be turned by hand and raised into travelling position.

While all this was going on the trooper took an interest in my chair and other things and revealed that he has a 14 year old son with Spina Bifita. We told him about our tour and our blog and he was quite interested.

The rest of the trip went smoothly albeit the driving became more and more challenging as Oakhill Academy is deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. We arrived in time for dinner, and are going to get to bed at a decent hour!

I have been able to share 3 times in 24 hours about inclusion and world peace. Each opportunity arose in an unexpected way. This makes me feel even more certainty that travelling slowly, near people, in a way that allows for personal conversation is indeed a powerful way to get this important message across.

Judith