Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - Stuck in the mud

Whew! What a day! Yesterday we worked with a client who flew in from California to meet us in Jacksonville, had an excellent session, she made many breakthroughs! (I love it when that happens!) Set the alarm for 7:45 am, had a good night sleep with the sound of rain regularly pattering on the roof. Once the coffee was made, we packed up, loaded up the horses and were ready to roll by just after 9:00. Problem was, I could only move forward about 3 feet when my wheels started spinning. Apparently, they had had a LOT of rain lately, and no one mentioned we were in a slippery spot. It was practically flat, and we had a good grass and sand base, so it never occurred to us that we would have a problem! First, we tried putting the Z-chains on the van tires, but that didn't help (they work great in ice and snow, however). Then we unloaded the horses, dropped the horse trailer and tried to pull it out using the pickup with the Z-chains on it. That didn't work either. Eventually we concluded we needed a wrecker, so we called around and found one. A few minutes after we called, the horse farm's owner's husband arrived with a dually diesel pickup, so we unhooked the RV, drove the van out, then used his dually to pull the RV out, and that finally worked! Cancelled the wrecker service, hooked up everything, loaded the horses again, and finally, muddy, wet (it had rained again during this event) and tired, we left about two hours late, at 11:00.

Meanwhile, we had an appointment at Miracle Motors for the work on the RV trailer. It was decided we needed new brakes and bearings all around. It was supposed to be at 10:00, we let them know we'd be late, and they said they could still take us, even through we couldn't arrive before noon, which we did. We left the RV and took the rest of the family, first to Waffle House for breakfast (you can imagine how starved we were by this point!), then to a convenient Wal-Mart for shopping. Arrived back at the shop about 3:15, and the RV was parked out front waiting for us. Turns out, despite the fact the RV is six years old and Hubby's never packed the bearings, they were like new, so they weren't replaced. The brakes were another matter, apparently they were down to the barest nub, not working hardly at all, a disaster waiting to happen. I had mentioned to Hubby a few months ago that I thought the brakes needed adjusting, but apparently there isn't an adjustment, they just need to be looked at periodically for wear and then replaced. Surprisingly, the drums were fine, too, which was a surprise to everyone, we all expected they might need turning, but evidently all was well there. So the bill was high, but nowhere near as high as it could have been, and all the work that needed doing was done. Considering the brakes are about the only mechanical device on the trailer, I figured it was well worth it. If you're ever near Jacksonville (Macclenny, FL) and you need mechanical work done, these are the guys!

Made it back by 4:00, but we were so tired by this point we did the bare minimum, got the horses and dogs settled and fed, started cocktail hour, threw a load of laundry in, got ourselves a plate of crackers and cheese and vegged out in front of a movie. In bed by 9:00, lights out by 9:15!