Ch. 4 - Don’t Cry for me Indiana
The fear in the air was palatable; everyone was tense with anticipation of the unseen tornado. Well more accurately, Rosie and Rinni were tense. Jasper, meanwhile, was enjoying the extra cuddles and barely managing to stay awake. Perhaps his doggy senses were picking up on something they were missing. The minutes ticked by on the Tornado Warning and the promised funnel of doom never emerged out of the darkness. The line of cars sheltering near the underpass one by one began filtering back onto the highway. Rosie merged into the fast moving traffic stream and - for the first time in this rig - floored it. Not willing to stop to pee, eat, or seemingly breathe, they made it to the RV park 15 miles from Michigan City.
A couple deep breaths later and they were ready to hook up the RV, just happy to be alive. Anybody wondering about those power issues they started the trip with? Don’t worry we are circling back!
In attempting to hook up the electric, power from the pedestal cut out twice. Why? Problem with the campground? Problem with the rig?? User Error??? Couldn’t tell ya. What I can tell you is that once connected the power draw was still higher than what they considered normal. It seemed the mechanic at Walmart isn’t the hero of this story after all. Again they started their search for an RV mechanic. They found an RV repair shop near their Uncle Mike’s house with an opening in about a week. Time to lean on some family support and call in a professional. They went to sleep that night feeling disappointed that they needed to adjust their plans, but grateful to have family in the area willing to take them in. As the resignation settled in and sleep drifted closer, at precisely midnight, the fridge shut off and began blinking an error message. Another night of failed troubleshooting and they moved all the food in the fridge into the freezer and hoped the ice would keep it all cool enough until morning. The ice cream, sadly, did not make it.
The next morning they doubled back (away from Michigan City and their childhood dreams) towards Chicago (family support and a mechanic). For anyone keeping score, they had been on the road for exactly one week.
Rosie and Rinni’s aunt and uncle live on a lake halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. To get there, one must drive through Chicago, right up to the city center, practically hit the loop, and head out of town on the north side. This is big city driving and it’s time for Rosie to put on her big girl pants and get in line with the city commuters and cross country truckers. Everything was going pretty hunky dory. Google maps was doing a fine job directing Rosie through the many “Exit Right”, “Merge Left”, “Stay Straight” commands. She had just obeyed a “Prepare to Exit Left”, masterfully wedging herself into the far left lane, when a sign popped up (out of no where) reading “All Trucks Exit RIGHT - NOW”. Pause to panic. “Do we count as a Truck?!” Rosie and Rinni wondered / shouted aloud. Is NO TRUCKS a suggestion or is this road about to go under a low lying bridge or narrow tunnel? They tried to follow the trucks, to cut across several lanes of traffic and make the exit. But they couldn’t. Up to this point, they had been chugging along surrounded by the comforting hum of eighteen wheelers (nice tall and wide trucks that say ‘Don’t worry, if I can make it down this road, so can you’). Instantly they all disappeared. They were a behemoth in a sea of tonka toys. They had no choice to drive forward, toward the next exit, and worry desperately about the unknown clearance of the rapidly approaching overpass…
Will the RV make it through Chicago with it’s roof in place? Will Rosie and Rinni ever make it to family? Are their RV dreams melting away like a broken fridge’s ice cream? Tune in next week to find out!
