What a beginning!

We set off on the road today for our nearly 6 month tour. Everyone and their families gathered at our home and we said a prayer together, wished mothers a good day, and said good bye for now. Then we loaded in the van and RV, trailers in tow, and took off. 40 minutes later I get a call across the radio from Nick and James. There is a white haze or smoke coming from the back of the van. We pulled off the road and discovered the seal on the differential (which I had had changed just two days earlier) had blown out and oil was everywhere under the RV. Fortunately the people who put the seal in are a 7 day a week place and they sent three mechanics. The seal they brought didn't match but after another trip to the parts place the right seal was gotten and installed. We were now 5 hours behind our schedule. We left early enough that it ultimately won't hurt the over all schedule...show wise.

Every gas and pee stop we checked out the new seal and it looked great. Dry as a bone. We will keep an eye on it just in case for a few days. I loved the service we got from the mechanics. We taped much of the ordeal and will post a nice video blog in a few days.

Our adventure didn't end there. We ran into high winds with gusts of upto 50 mph while cross the Mojave. It loosened the awning on the Rv so we had to stop twice to lock 'er down. Finally we grabbed some rope and tied it off. I saw another RV having similar troubles a while later. The wind was not only strong it was cold and cut right to the bone. While I was tying it off at one point I could barely feel my fingers. I held myself on the ladder with an arm hook as the wind pushed at me. My face stung and legs shook. Lucas, clown and roadie in training, told me he had never been in wind like this. Then he said, "I guess it could be colder!" I asked him if he was being a smarta**. He was serious...I was frozen.

Since we were running late we missed our target of Needles and ended up in Barstow. We had to cancel our RV res in Needles and settle for a hotel in Barstow. But it wasn't the hotel I thought it was. Seems hotels in Barstow and Lenwood change their brands so often you never know where you are really booking. But it ended up no having any place for a big van pulling a trailer or an TV pulling a trailer. Such is life. I will tell you how we dealt with that tomorrow. For tonight though as everyone sleeps in the hotel me and the animals are sleeping in our Rock-a bye RV with the wind rocking us to sleep.

What a beginning! I hope we have gotten all this crazy stuff out of our system now!