Arkansas
Oh Arkansas.
You were suppose to be a blip.
Just a uneventful trip across the state on our way to Memphis, a mere 5 1/2 hours away.
Maybe we’d stop halfway to break the trip into two really short days or maybe we’d go all the way.
But no.
We got all the way from Tulsa to Fort Smith, Arkansas.
For those unfamiliar with Fort Smith, it is the first town you come to when you enter Arkansas on I-40, a mere 2 hours from Tulsa.
That’s all the driving we got done that day.
Yep.
Apparently the heavens decided to open up right when we started driving. Not only was there torrential downpour, but the wind gusts were pushing us all over the road.
Now I know Justin has driven us across the country and over those awful mountains, but I thought he would forget to slow down and take his time unless I reminded him…a couple of times.
You know, just in case he forgot how to drive all of a sudden.
I think he really appreciated my input. You don’t have to ask him though, you can just take my word on it.
He probably really appreciated me taking this picture while he is thinking the transmission is going out.
But then I feel the RV sputter a little and Justin say very seriously, “Oh noooo. No. No. No. No. No.”
In case you were wondering, this is just what you want to hear on the interstate in the pouring rain.
“What, what is it?”
“Ummmm…I think the transmission might be going out.”
Are you kidding me? We’ve come all this way. Had no problems whatsoever. And now on the back end, literally the last day of serious travel, when Tennessee is only one state away, the RV is going to konk out on us?
Well, that’s not good.
Fortunately the RV seemed to recover and we were able to pull off at the next exit.
Justin did some research and found a car store a few exits up.
We made it there and after a stop there, a stop at Lowes, another trip to the car parts store, Justin figured out the problem
Due to all the rain and flooding, water was getting into the air filter or something like that. If you really care about auto stuff, ask him for the specific details, because I really don’t know. I just know water got into a filter of some sort, caused it to falter, and then Justin fixed it because he can fix anything.
The kids found ways to entertain themselves while Justin worked on the camper.
And if you think I’m just saying that, message me so I can remedy that thought.
By this time, we were done. The whole two hours of driving had been stressful. We’d lost so much time figuring out the problem (and by we I mean he. See above about me not understanding the problem at all.) So we decided to backtrack a little and go to a nice campground on the river.
So really, all said and done, we only made it an hour forty this day.
But…Justin fixed the problem, the RV was working again the way it should, the kids got to swim, I got to do laundry, and we were all happy tired.
Tomorrow would be better.
We had started the trip with friends, and tomorrow, we would end the trip with friends.
