All the flights worked just fine. This must be a miracle for our family at this time of year. What remains is Josh getting back to Rochester and Yechiel and family back to Los Angeles. The in between has been a great family gathering.

Backing up to my departure from Rochester with Yechiel in the navigator seat on December 24 at 1:40 PM. The Perils of Paul set in almost immediately. One of the draw bars on the tow bar was stuck and I could not extend it out to align the car. With Yechiel in the driver seat of the car we maneuvered the car into position to fasten it to the recalcitrant draw bar and used the car to extend it. Since we were not planning to disconnect before reaching Dan and Malena’s and the tow seemed fine, we set off for a two day journey, with the emergency brake still set on the tow’d. It really is teamwork to get this rig on the road and with half the team missing something was bound to be missed. Fortunately I felt the drag and the ugly sounds before we did any damage. Yechiel went back to release the brakes and we started out again.

The drive was uneventful, if you call 5 hours of driving through wind and rain uneventful. We had plenty of fuel and there was no place to stop overnight along the way so between us we made it to the Flying J in Carlisle, PA by about 7, only to find they had no fuel to sell. We went across the street and fueled there (used the Dunkin Donut parking lot to get to the cross street), paying a nickel a gallon surcharge because I refuse to use a debit card (won’t possess one). Crossed the highway again to the Flying J where the lot was almost empty, maybe eight other rigs in there for Christmas Eve. I was able to park along the western edge of the lot and put the living room slide over the curb so I could open it to allow the convertible sofa to open. In the morning we topped off propane and emptied the holding tanks before moving on. The drive to Covesville was even more uneventful as the weather had cleared. Yechiel had his second turn at the wheel and, I suspect enjoyed the opportunity to drive the motorhome.

After setting up in our usual position, I discovered that the door latch was hard to operate. Two issues to deal with. I was not able to retract the extended tow bar arm and had to leave it extended. A call to Jody at Roadmaster tech support yielded instructions for dismantling the bar and freeing it up with a vigorous cleaning to remove rust and road grime from the nose cone. This required dismantling the mechanism on that side and driving the interior bar out. Once it was out I was able to see the cause of the problem, the aforementioned rust and road grime under the split ring collar in the nose cone. Oops, in removing the bar I had lost a spring and pin that are crucial to the function of the tow bar, they are the locking mechanism. Some searching in the gravel and debris yielded the pin, but not the spring. Jody had not mentioned that parts might fly. Another call to him got me the promise of the needed parts. I relaxed and finished cleaning the parts I had and everything went into storage to wait for the the replacement parts. The door got harder and harder to operate.

Being unsure of myself in in fixing the tow bar and not knowing how to deal with the door, I called a local mobile RV mechanic, Ed Stigle, and had a conversation with him. He made himself available if I needed him for the tow bar, but declined to work on the door as he felt he did not have any particular capability with locks. He did suggest lubricating the parts that seemed to be causing a problem. After slapping myself on the forehead several times I applied three sprays of pure silicone lube to the accessible openings in the lock mechanism. Now Carol can open the door herself and I no longer have to climb in through the driver door to open the main door (boy am I happy I have that optional door). When the parts arrived on Friday it was a matter of ten minutes to reassemble the tow bar (with a tarp spread to catch flying parts) which now seems to be ready for service.

All during this time, from December 26th on we have taken several excursions with various groupings of the family. There was an ice skating trip and a trip to Richmond to go to the Science Museum and a trip to Lynchburg to play in the Children’s Museum and several hikes and walks and even days playing around the house. Although this was holiday and vacation time, Dan dealt with calls from work almost every day, Yechiel received a copy of his latest article which needs corrections and a clarification or two before being published and I was in touch with several clients. Miriam’s sister and her two children came for a visit on Sunday and Monday and her father, Les, arrived on Monday. Although they were not sleeping at the house, the added energy sure got things hopping. I think the maximum number we seated for dinner was 15 and the minimum was 11. Oh yes, grandson Josh arrived after Les’ departure and his personality added to the mix made it all even sweeter. We celebrated his 17th birthday a couple of days early and he spent two hours in the kitchen preparing a white chocolate cake from a recipe from his mother. The rest of the meal was steak (for the omnivores) and artichoke and huevos rancheros (for the vegetarians) and salad it was a grand meal.

Malena and Miriam and Carol turned out meal after delicious meal. It is amazing that they were able to keep it all straight between the Kosher Vegetarian, the Vegetarian, the omnivores and a couple of special dietary needs. No one got the wrong food and we all ate very well. Now we are down to merely vegetarian and omnivore. We already miss Yechiel, Miriam, Azriel and Avtalyon who have driven to Arlington to see the Capital and the Mall before flying back to Los Angeles. I am not sure what we will do tomorrow (Monday January 5), Dan is still off work, but the children are back in school and I think the house will be very quiet for an hour or two.