We left Misty Mountain excited about our trip to Washington, DC, but decided to make a stop at an RV Service Center to have our axle checked. We bought some new wheel blocks to try to stabilize ourselves a little when parked and the blocks didn't fit on the side where the blow out occurred - so we thought maybe something was damaged. We drove into Richmond and paid a mechanic to take a look at our springs, axle and bearings. He determined that the problem was the "cheap" tire we had put on after the blow out... he called it a "Chinese bomb" because they blow out so much. So we had him switch it out with the spare (which was the same as the rest of the tires) and thought our problems were solved.
We head to Washington a little later than we had hoped, but relieved that our tires were in good shape. The drive was very challenging as there was a lot of traffic and Maryland drivers are absolutely insane. When we were about 11 miles from our RV park a car swerves in front of us and slams on her brakes. Peg manages some how to stop our 17,000 pounds of inertia without slamming into the back of her, miraculously. We wait for her to continue to pull over or something, but she is just sitting there in the middle of the freeway talking on her cell phone while cars are honking and getting around us. We were terrified that we were going to be hit so Peg manages to back up enough so we can get around her and she backs up too! Peg then gets out of the car to find out what is going on and the woman proceeds to scream "you hit me". Peg says no I stopped in time. And she just keeps repeating that we hit her. We now believe we are being scammed so Peg jumps back in the car and manages to maneuver around her - she steps in front of the car even putting both hands on the hood trying to stop Peg from moving forward! Peg leans on the horn screaming at the woman to get out of the way, she finally does running back to her car. I get on the phone with 911 to report a crazy woman and here she comes again weaving through traffic and cuts us off again with the brake slamming thing but this time we are in the fast lane. The police say to stay put and they are on the way. The longest 20 minutes of our lives - we are so scared. Luckily there was a large shoulder to the left of the fast lane and everyone behind us used the shoulder to move around us. A very nice state policeman arrives and takes our statements and inspects the cars. It turns out she is claiming that we hit her changing lanes and there is a little scratch on her front fender and a matching scratch on our rig. We know that if we had hit her changing lanes with our massive vehicle that her car would have spun out of control so we are pretty sure this is a scam and she turned into us from the next lane after we had changed lanes! Well sure enough... she went straight to an attorney because we received a letter claiming injury four days later. Unbelievable! Our insurance company took our statement and the two insurance companies are going to duke it out.
We make it safely the rest of the way to our RV park with a sigh of relief that we don't have to drive anywhere for a few days. The Metro Bus Service has a stop right in the park that stops at the nearest Metro Subway station, very convenient and easy way to the city. They also have a dog walker! We setup Sandy the dog-walker for three days so we could spend full days seeing everything DC has to offer. We used our first day to take the open air big bus tour that drove by all of the monuments, museums and even out to Arlington. We got off at the Vietnam Memorial so Peg could find her dad's best friend on the wall - Captain Michael Ross! We also stopped at the Lincoln Memorial, it was great to read his Gettysburg Address and 2nd Inaugural Speech after seeping ourselves in all of the Civil War History. We also got a start on the Smithsonian Natural History museum which we knew was going to take a long time. We ended the day with a pedi-cab ride (a very special treat) to Harry's Bar for some chili cheese fries and local brewski's.
The Capitol Building
Washington Monument being repaired after 2011 earthquake
Lincoln Memorial
Vietnam Memorial - Thank you Veterans!
White House as close as you can get
We devoted our second day to the Holocaust Museum. Everyone should be forced to go to the Holocaust Museum. It is an amazing experience beyond words. I was shocked to learn that in addition to the 6 million Jews that were massacred, there were 5 million other people massacred as well.... Gypsies, disabled, and political adversaries etc... Hitler was responsible for killing 11 million people! As many as in World War I. Also heartbreaking was the lack of US response to the horror stories. I did love reading about the heroes of the time that put their lives at risk to help those in danger. The two most memorable rooms are one filled with the shoes that had been taken from Jews and a room filled with pictures from a little Polish village where every one of the 6,000 Jews were massacred. Again I say, this museum is a must see.
No pictures allowed in museum, but these are my Holocaust Jammies
Notice I am not smiling...no laughing matter
We took our Saturday to drive out to Columbia to visit with Peg's Aunt Anne and her family. Both of her kids Kate and Thomas came over with their families for a BBQ. It was great to see everyone. Uncle Eric even went out to get us Maryland crab cakes which were delicious. Peg really enjoyed seeing her two cousins after 26 years and meeting their children for the first time. Great parents raising fabulous kids.
We used our last day to finish touring the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum. The dinosaur fossils at the NHS were amazing. We loved the Amelia Earheart and the Wright brothers exhibits at the AS. It was a great day and we were both exhausted.
Ancient Turtle Skeleton
Prehistoric Zoe
We packed up ready for a week in the West Virginia Mountains for some much needed R and R. We were both a little nervous about getting back on the crazy Maryland highway with the rig. One exit up I see smoke billowing out from the tire we just replaced. I pull to the shoulder and call Good Sam roadside assistance once again. The smoke is coming from the brake drum around the bearings. Good Sam asks us to limp to the next exit to a Safeway parking lot so there will be room for the repair man. I made it to the exit smoking like crazy, pull into a very busy parking lot looking for a place to park. When I made a turn I heard a noise I look in the rear view mirror to see our tire, rim and all laying in the road! Our entire wheel fell off! OMG. Some very nice young men had followed us into the lot and were picking up our tire and smoking brakes out of the road. We wait four hours for a tow truck that is unable to tow us because the trailer is leaning to far over and putting too much pressure on the remaining tire on that side. He chains up the axle and I limp around to the back of the buildings so as to get us out of traffic. We call Good Sam back to get a mobile mechanic out who arrives at 5 pm (this started at 10:45a.m.) when all of the parts stores are closed. Dave from Vinny's Towing is great though and pulls everything apart and takes all of the parts with him so he can round up all of the correct parts the next morning. The good news is the axle is undamaged - another miracle. We spend the night in the sketchy parking lot without incident. Dave comes back at 11:45 the next day and gets us all fixed up. New bearings and brakes on both wheels on the back axle. And we hit the road at 3:30 just in time for the crazy Maryland traffic.... oh and I forgot to mention it is pouring rain. Five hours later we arrive safely to Parsons, West Virginia!
No tire, no brakes, no bearings, no problem!
Coming Soon..... Parsons, WV and hopefully no more drama!
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