It was about 4:00 PM, just after my last post, when I decided we would leave—immediately! My friend Kathi with the two huge white dogs came over with some yummy things to help me stay awake on the drive home.
The woman I was going to go to dinner with stopped by to finalize our plans, and when I told her I was “outta there!” She was in disbelief!
Then I texted Karen & Bob (the golden retriever Lily’s folks) to tell them I would be hitting the road, they were heartbroken that there wouldn’t be more puppy pal time on the beach...
So, after explaining that nothing was wrong, I just felt like going home after two weeks in a tiny camper with my big dog and lots of cold, rainy days, they understood.
Next, I backed my SUV up to the camper and attached it (sounds MUCH EASIER than it actually is...with all of the backing up and pulling forward until it lines up right). Then I hooked the chains from the camper to the hitch and plugged in the lights.
Lights? What lights? I didn’t see any lights on the sides and rear of the camper!
“That can’t be good, “ I thought, but since I’ve already decided I’m going home I’ll just toss all the remaining things onto the floor of the camper, close it up and drive off...to see Karen and Bob. Since he helped me with my flat tire, surely he would have a suggestion about this.
So off we went with all we owned, and we stopped outside of their campsite and waved at the window, hoping they were home.
Yes, they were, but they were eating dinner! Poor timing for sure. But Bob came out to see what was up, and tried to unplug and plug in my connection from the (newly installed) trailer hitch on my SUV to the camper. No luck.
“Do you have a fuse tester?” He asked. And “Do you know where the fuses are for the camper and for the trailer hitch?”
“Well, I have some fuses under the bed in the closed up camper but the camper is crammed full and it’ll be hard to reach. I’ll open it up and try.”
As I was spinning and stepping around all of the things on the camper floor (this was the situation from my perspective!) Bob went home and found his fuse tester. He explained to me how to use it as I tested each fuse. There was one that seemed dead, so I pulled it out and he retested it. It was still good. So I put it back in and Bob headed off to located the fuse box on the car.
Bob found my car manual, read it carefully to find the line for the “TLR” fuse, opened the hood, located the fuse box, opened it up, and VOILA! We both saw a protruding 30 amp fuse.
We simultaneously shouted, “There it is! That’s it!!” And jubilantly pushed the fuse back into place. As the sun was setting, the trailer lights came on and WE WERE GOOD TO GO!
Four hours later after a pretty smooth drive, it was 10:00 PM and Evie and I arrived in front of our house to find Jim sitting on the front steps, reading a book by headlamp, waiting for us to arrive.
I rolled down my window and called out to Jim, “Hi! We’re home! Great to see you !!” He replied that he was waiting for us to help us get unhooked and unloaded.
Well, at the sound of Jim’s voice Evie stopped her panting and began to jump up and down in her crate on all four paws. She was so excited and elated!
Yes, it was a very happy homecoming for all, just in time for Valentine’s Day. And with that, we walked inside together.
In JOY,
Ronda & Evie
Location:Lylebourne Ct,Apex,United States
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