This morning when we got up, I told Fabgrandpa I wanted to go over to the house to pretend we lived there for the day. No, the driveway is not fixed yet, and it was not in the works to get fixed today, but I was getting anxious to actually live in my house (or in the back yard). We took the laundry and drove on over. While the clothes were washing, Fabgrandpa scouted out the yard.
He came back in the house and told me he thought he could bypass the unusable driveway and pull the trailer through the yard. I agreed with him that he probably could, but I wanted him to drive the truck over that route first just to make sure there were no mushy spots. He got in the truck and went from the upper driveway, down the road, and turned in the lower driveway, and got the truck stuck in the mud immediately.
While he was sitting there putting the truck into 4 wheel drive mode, a neighbor stopped to see if we needed any help. It turns out that he is related to the guy who owns the grader. He said he would come tomorrow to spread out that pile of slate in the driveway for us, and gave Fabgrandpa his card with his phone number on it, and went on his way. Fabgrandpa then drove the truck up through the yard, and decided that yes, we could pull the trailer in that way.
On the way back to the campground, Fabgrandpa said “I don’t think I’m going to bother with the sway bars and chains for such a short trip.” and I said, “Yes, we will hook up just like we do for a 2,000 mile trip. It’s better to be safe than sorry.” So we did.
We got all the way to the house, and three fourths of the way up the yard to the back of the house, and heard a weird noise, and felt a weird motion. Fabgrandpa stopped the truck, and we got out to investigate. The hitch had broken! We couldn’t believe our eyes! We only bought that Equal-i-zer hitch about two years ago, and paid quite a bit of money for it. There we sat, with a broken hitch, just about 120 feet from our newly installed hookups.
Fabgrandpa decided to call the guy we met this morning, and see if he had a hitch that would work, and he did. Jonathan came right over, and not only loaned us a hitch but helped us get the trailer hooked up again and parked in the spot intended for it. And you better believe I am going to be writing to that hitch company! We have driven thousands of miles between Georgia, Alabama, and Arizona in the not quite two years since we bought that hitch. I am just so so thankful that we were not on an interstate highway going 65 miles an hour when it happened. I am also so thankful that we attached the chains and sway bars today.
Always always always use those chains! Even if you are only going a couple of miles. You never know when something may happen!
