January 25, 2012
We left home on Monday, and made our first stop in Waverly, Ohio, at my dad's home. With lots of last minute things to do, we didn't actually get out of the Detroit area until after 2:00 in the afternoon. The drive to Waverly normally takes about 5 hours. However, we had a little mishap on the way (more later).
For almost the entire time, we fought a very high cross wind - the camper and truck were tossed around, and Dan had to continually fight the wheel. When we were just short of Bowling Green, Ohio, a car pulled up beside us with a man pointing frantically at the top of the camper. We pulled off, and Dan went to investigate. When he looked at the top of the camper, he found that our Thule storage 'pod' was totally gone!! The thing is about 8 feet long, streamlined for travel, with claws on the bottom side for grasping the bars installed on the roof.
So, we pulled back into the northbound side of I-75, and started looking. About 3 miles back, we saw it in the median, almost into the north bound side of the road. We never heard it leave the roof - it must have just taken flight! Thank goodness, it apparently didn't hit anyone! And,besides being muddy and a bit beat up, it was intact!
Traffic was very heavy, with that wind I mentioned - we stopped, put hazard lights on, and started slowly backing back down the road until we came even with the pod. Dan managed to dodge traffic, get to the pod, lift it (about 60 pounds, very unwieldy, and did I mention a high wind?), and get back across the road. By this time, a state trooper had stopped behind us with his lights flashing. He very kindly helped Dan (with me holding the back door of the camper open) shove the muddy thing into the camper. Phew!! That's enough of excitement to last us for a while!
We had a nice visit with my dad and his wife, Ida Jo. It is hard to see my dad as his physical abilities shrink - he had a stroke about 3 months ago, which has left him on a walker. But, he continues on - aging ain't for sissies!
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