Cornersville, TN to Greenfield, IN

Tuesday, June 3, 2014 Both of us were awake at 5:30 anticipating the phone calls we would have to make to track down a new axle for the trailer, find a place to install it, buy a new tire, and rearrange campground reservations. As soon as the business day opened, Bob was busy on the phone. He bought us a new axle from the original manufacturer who can also install it. They considered ours “an emergency situation” so they fit us into their schedule for repair. Miraculously, they are located in Goshen, IN east of South Bend. Unfortunately, it takes us a little out of the way and we lose almost 2 days of time, but in the scheme of things, that’s a lot better than the original prediction of 4-6 weeks to order and install the axel from other sources. We were planning to pull out of the campground at 8:30 and would make the necessary phone calls on the road. Oh, the miracle of cell phones! To add insult to injury, it started to rain as we made our final preparations to leave. Luckily, it stopped by the time we reached our first stop at a nearby Walmart to buy a new tire in case the added wear and tear from the bent axel on the rear tires caused a blowout. Bob was in and out of Walmart in no time, but our credit card was declined. There was a security hold placed on our credit card because of charges in multiple states. Bob had to pay cash for the tire and we’ll have to make a call to get it cleared. One more thing……! Back on the road by 9:30, we passed through Nashville without a problem and the sun finally came out.

Every time we hit a bump or a hole in the road, we cringed a little to think about the axel and the tires getting a real workout. While Bob drove, I was busy on the phone canceling our reservation in Effingham, IL for tonight and checking on openings at the KOA campground near Indianapolis. I had to make a few other calls to clear up the credit card issue at the bank, check with the post office on our forwarded mail, and to let Anne know we were arriving a day and a half later than expected. It was a busy, busy morning! We continued to stop periodically to check on the condition of the tires which slowed our progress, but gave us peace of mind. The thought of a major blowout while on the move made us very nervous. We crossed over into Kentucky and enjoyed the partly sunny skies and smooth roads for awhile.

As we approached Louisville, we were engulfed by semis all around us. The highway was filled with them. We’ve never seen so many on the highway all at once. I tried to get a glimpse of Churchill Downs from the highway, but no such luck. We crossed over the Ohio River after Louisville. It was an awesome bridge!

Things were going pretty well until we hit construction in Indiana and wasted at least 45 minutes in slow-moving traffic. After the construction, we hit some rain to add more stress to an already stressful day. Good thing it didn’t last long. The roads were horrible on I-65 through the northern part of Kentucky and into Indiana….one pothole after another. I didn’t know how much more I could take. It was very nerve-wracking. We FINALLY arrived at our KOA campground at 6:00.

What a long day it has been! All 3 of us were very anxious to get out of the truck and relax in the shade. The temperature was perfect and there was a nice breeze blowing at our campsite. The campers in the site next to ours are from Montana. Yesterday our camping neighbors were from South Dakota. I take that as a good omen!

We enjoyed a cocktail before having a late dinner and Auggie had an exhilarating roll in the grass. I made dinner tonight to give Bob a break. He deserved it! We enjoyed some TV before getting a good night’s sleep.