Thursday, Feb.07
Another overcast day, no rain. Instead we have a very light dusting of snow, a surprise after last night’s thunderstorm. We’re headed for Richmond, Virginia.
A farewell to our friends and we carefully back out onto the main road to proceed up the hill to a fork in the road to turn this rig around. Beep, beep as we pass by the house again and we’re off – to the nearest gas station of course. Weather and gas prices are favourite topics of conversation, so I’ll inlcude the latter here: yesterday’s prices were $3.24 to $3.19. Today is $3.17, beating Rich’s suggested station at $3.23. Lady luck is with us or so we think.
Just as we mistakenly go through the EZ pass toll road entrance with no pass or ticket, my‘purse’ rings. An unfamiliar Connecticut number is displayed. No record on my Palm either. Half an hour later phone rings again. Sure enough it’s Rich wanting to know if the hitch is still attached to the trailer. I jest of course. He wants to know how it’s all working out.
Well, Hensley is doing well. On one 4-lane section we had tractor trailers passing us on both sides producing little push/pull/sway although the cube vans seem to have special powers. On a nice stretch of highway Al declared, “Look, I’m doing 110kph. Never did that with the other hitch.”
Here comes the Baltimore bridge. Wait the sign says no propane tanks. Quick reaction and we take the last exit before the toll station. (BTW, we’ve spent roughly $40 in tolls so far today.) Round the bend, hang a left where a sign indicates the route for RV’s etc. Pay $6 and we enter a tunnel??? Gives new meaning to the No HAZMATS sign; you know the one that caused us not to use the bridge.
Not longer after I realize we are no longer on the correct highway (according to MS S&T), but running parallel to it. I carefully inspect the map, give ‘orders’ and we’re back on track. But wait a minute – this is a parkway taking us directly into Washington’s centre. Another set of off/on’s and we’re on 495, the city’s ring road. We breathe a sigh of relief unfortunately too quickly; the Ford gives out a ‘low fuel’ bleep. Three warnings later we manage to find a gas station.
Back on the road again we admit ‘defeat’ and conclude that we will not be able to keep up with MS S&T schedule. As the light is beginning to fade, Al asks if I can see the trailer console’s green, ‘all OK’ light. Not to be seen! Hence, no trailer lights, but more importantly no trailer brakes as well. A quick pit stop reveals the worst – we’ve lost the electrical cable extension between trailer and car. It is a tense 30 minutes as we continue down the highway to the nearest exit. No need to ask what we will be doing tomorrow morning.