Here we go again!

After a wonderful time in Moab, we headed off once again!  We are almost to Oregon, which is our goal!  That will begin the Pacific Northwest adventure!!

The trailer was repaired at the Airstream dealership, and off we went to Elko, Nevada (our first stop in between Moab and Oregon).  It was a relaxing night for us since we now had the peace that all was well with the truck and the trailer – no more flat tires…no more water tank issues…

But then came a new day!! Yep! This time, the issue was with our hitch that connects the trailer to the truck!

We have a hitch called the Hensley Hitch – an anti-sway hitch so that I can also drive and feel assured as I do.  As Leonard was preparing the hitch to hook the trailer up to our truck, he noticed an “extra” piece of metal inside the hitch!  A piece that he has never noticed before! After grabbing pliers, he pulled it out and was shocked to see something he had never seen before!

Although it didn’t look like it went with our hitch, no one wants to have a large piece of metal missing from the main connection between our trailer and truck!  And we had a five hour drive ahead of us!!

It was Saturday morning, so the Hensley manufacturing company was closed, which meant Leonard could not contact anyone until Monday to ask about this bizarre piece of metal!!

The only Hensley “expert” he knew of was a GOOD friend, Todd Abraham, who also has the Hensley Hitch!

Even though it was Saturday, Todd could still be called! Haha

They chatted about the issue, and both of them looked over these hitches and tried to figure out what the piece could be!! To no avail…

They determined that the big metal piece was most likely NOT a piece that is part of the hitch.  Todd, being an amazing friend, even went to his own trailer, got a piece of cardboard, laid on it and examined his Hensley hitch over and over to see if he could identify the problem piece!   THANK YOU TODD!!!!  He didn’t see that piece anywhere either!

We hooked up the trailer to the truck and off we went to Sparks, Nevada! We had prayed before we left (as we do on each leg of our journeys) and asked God to guide us safely to the next town.  I will admit that both of us were a bit nervous and unsure, even though the hitch seemed just as connected and secure as always!

We made it to Sparks!!! Thank God we were going to be there for two nights, and Leonard could call Hensley Monday morning before we headed off on a LONG day to Oregon!!! (WE’RE ALMOST THERE!)

Leonard had been pro-active (it’s SO him!) and emailed the Hensley company, telling them the issue and sending two photos of the metal piece!  When he reached THE Hensley technical expert (he has talked to him before) the conversation went something like this:

“Hi, this is Leonard Casson.  I had emailed you over the weekend, and sent photos of a metal piece that I found inside our hitch”

“Yes, I see that email and I looked at the photos”

“I was shocked to see this when I went to prepare the hitch for our drive today…and I knew that you would be the ones to help me and tell me what to do”

“Mr. Casson, I have to tell you that in all my years at Hensley, I have NEVER seen a part that looks like that…it is not a part of the Hensley hitch!”

“I was so surprised when I saw it, because I have had this hitch for four years and had never seen it either…but was hesitant about driving to our next destination if it was something important…”

“Mr. Casson, you are safe to continue driving!”

As we started our almost NINE hour drive to Oregon, Leonard and I kept talking about this piece and what it could be…at the Airstream dealership, they had to use a special adapter on our trailer to move it because of the Hensley hitch, which most people do not have! Lucky us! Haha

Leonard said maybe we should call the dealership and ask if they are missing a piece on that adapter. SO WE DID!  After sending them the picture of the metal piece, they responded and said the following:

“I spoke to my technician and that piece is used for backing up the trailers with the Hensley hitch, but he can make another one – thank you for letting us know you found it, though”!!!!!

May I tell you that I have NEVER been more relieved about something! That was the best news we could have heard!  It had NOTHING to do with our truck, trailer or hitch!  Thank You, God!  At that moment we didn’t even care that we had to drive for NINE hours! Haha.

We are praying that this is the LAST situation we will have where something goes wrong!  We are way too far from home for this!

WE ARE THE BLUE DOT!

Before I sign off, I DO want to share some photos and videos with you of what we did in Sparks, Nevada!  It was a great day and a half!

First, the day started off with a DELICIOUS breakfast at a place called Pine Street Biscuits – we had seen it on YouTube (of course)!  After that, we went to check out a bakery that our son, Andrew, had told us about – he has been out in this area several times training with the Navy. We could not eat another thing, but got something to go – surprise, surprise!

After breakfast we headed over to Lake Tahoe – the drive was gorgeous! We were going to explore the area, walking a lakeside trail and also riding an aerial tram to the top of a mountain at a ski resort in Tahoe City.

And we finished off the day having dinner at In-N-Out burgers!  We love that place and hadn’t been in years!  Bob and Bobbi had never been so it was fun to take them there!  I will just show it all to you with pictures and photos!

 

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It was a fun day, even though we had that nagging feeling that something might be wrong with our hitch!

Thanks for reading about our latest “issue”  – I pray it’s the last one I have to share with you!    Next stop, THE COAST OF OREGON!!!!!  This is what this trip is all about for us, and I am excited to share it with you all!  Thanks for reading and coming along with us!

OH…ONE MORE THING  – LOOK AT THE TOWN WE DROVE THROUGH ON THE WAY !

 

UNTIL NEXT TIME…