Possible light at the end...

We were sitting at the Hotel, waiting for my mom's shuttle to arrive from the airport and eating breakfast, when my phone rang. It was a representative from Thor, who offered to pay for us to drive to Indiana, and put us in a hotel, while the reconstruct the entire coach and fix all of the things and make better all of the stuff and make it like new again. They wanted us to come beach week, but I told them we'd roll out there the first week in August.  Sooooo, perhaps we'll be back on the road and rolling smoothly on the last few months of our adventure.

We picked up the RV and things seemed to be all better, optimism abounded. Mom joined us and we headed to Seymour Johnson AFB, where we stayed for two nights. We headed to Cape Lookout and junior ranger badge #22. We took the ferry to the lighthouse and beach, and a beautiful view of a lovely part of NC. The recent shark attacks off the coast have ensured that the kids were smart, and stayed in the shallows for the most part, but we all had a really lovely time.

We also found a place to stay in greater Virginia Beach for the rest of the week, at a brand new park in Chesapeake, VA at the Naval Support Annex, and booked five nights for the holiday weekend.

Only, when we went to leave the Air Force Base, the mega slide that runs the length of the driver's side of the car, would not close. I cycled it off and on over and over to no avail. Ended up calling Thor, and then calling a mobile tech, who, in conjunction with a group of Air Force guys and civilians, disconnected the motor and manually pushed the slide in. )sigh( So much for being able to travel in peace and comfort. Once the slide was in, we cannot open it back open until after we return from Indiana, which means we all scrunch in and deal until after beach week.

We finally hit the road, late, in time to drive up to Chesapeake, VA just in time for the evening rains. Which were hard rains, which of course meant that the windshield wipers stopped working. Which of course meant missed turns, and long, slow windy roads to get to our destination. In the rain. With the wipers working only sporadically.  It was a blast. Again. And, of course upon arrival, we cannot open the slide and the kids, who would normally be able to run and splash in the puddles, cannot because there is no where to dry off and spread out and have any space to breathe in the house. So they were cranky and we were cranky and it was generally a bad day. Early to bed because the next day has got to be better, right?

I mean, after all, my most favorite girly had a fifth birthday to celebrate!

Cake, balloons, presents and her favorite foods, pancakes and sausage for breakfast, steak and green beans for supper, ice cream and junk food in between, made for a pretty perfect day. We ended the evening driving around looking for fireworks, but again, the rains took over and we ended up missing them, because they held them early due to the rains.

On the fourth, we headed to Maryland to visit our cousin Tracey before she moves to Florida. We're hoping the rain holds off and that we are able to watch fireworks tonight, perhaps from our hotel room. The window looks to be in the right direction. Who knows?