Crazy Happy Lifestyle: Day 28 - The Long Way Home

Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Posted from: Wolfie’s Family Campground - Zanesville, OH
Miles driven: 351
Total miles: 4,399

Today was one of those moments in a marriage where you really have to on the exact same page or abort the mission. My brain could not comprehend that we would spend a month traveling out east and not enter one of the states. West Virginia. There was simply no easy logical way to get to this state based on the route we were taking. We came close early in the trip, but not close enough to make sense.

We have three days to get home and we plan to use them all, though we could easily do it in two days. Driving through West Virginia would add a total of three hours to our three day trip home.

But the driver had to be on board. And without really saying anything it was just understood that this was the route we would take home. We did not want a replay of the North Dakota scandal of 2016. You may have noticed that North Dakota is a giant white rectangle on our map. Oh the agony! Matt wanted to try to go on our two month vacation, but it would have added an extra day that we just didn’t have. Thus the giant white space. Not this time.

So we started out. It was noted that whoever put this "Pet Area" sign at this rest stop is not a big fan of pets...or their owners. It is hard to see in this picture, but the road behind the sign is the interstate. There was maybe 15 feet between the sign and the 70 mph interstate. Sorry Fluffy.

So we finally arrive in West Virginia. We needed fuel, so we pulled off to fill up at what Google considered a truck stop. Picture the smallest gas station in your hometown. Yup. Here we are. The diesel was an old separate pump. We should have known better. We are smarter than this. Aren’t we?

Next door was a Pizza Hut. Below is a picture of the parking lot of said Pizza Hut. We actually were smarter than this. We decided our lunch meat sandwiches sounded better.

So we fill up and try to pull back out. The only way to do this was to block traffic momentarily until the light turned green. This really pissed people off. Honking and yelling ensued. Not kidding. Matt just tipped his hat. It took all of 15 seconds for us to wait at the light and move through the intersection.

As if the warm West Virginia welcome wasn’t enough, about 20 miles later the truck went into limp-mode. Matt was immediately sure it was bad fuel. Ugh.

As luck would have it, there was an exit one mile ahead with a large abandoned Kmart parking lot that appeared to be used as an unofficial truck stop. With the four-ways on and running at about 25 mph, we got off the interstate. (Limp mode means it won’t accelerate much or shift. It is designed to protect the motor and transmission when something goes wrong, but still allow you to get off the road.)

We had plenty of space to swap in a new fuel filter. (Matt always travels with two for just such an occasion.) So all hands were on deck to get Dad what he needed. Step stools, cups, trash bags, paper towels, water, moral support, prayers, etc.

The truck started up and the engine seemed to rev up just fine. Back in the truck. Back on the road. It ran like a dream. Whew. That could have been much worse.

And speaking of much worse...we saw this guy. It appeared this trailer had met up with some sort of giant can opener. Several possible scenarios were tossed around, but the most likely was that this trailer was hauling Oreo cookies and tipped over. The Jaws-of-Life had to be used to save the cookies. Probably.

What our camper map would look like if we chose the short way home...It gives me anxiety just looking at it. I mean, North Dakota is bad enough, am I right? To do it once is forgivable, but twice?