The time finally came to travel to Missouri for the month of January.  We had been planning this trip for three or four months and we were anxious to get on the road for a change of scenery.  Although we had sold a ton of stuff at our garage sale back in September when we moved out of our rental house, we still had some stuff that we wanted to hang onto, so we placed it in storage.  Since our plan is to live in our RV for several years, we did not want to rent storage space long-term.  Our solution was to purchase a storage building to place our family country property in Missouri.  So, this trip to Missouri was to not only be a family visit, but also move our storage items.

Robert’s Dad and brother traveled down to Florida to help us drive the UHaul and RV.  It was nice to have them so we could take turns driving.  First thing Wednesday morning, we packed the UHaul and by the afternoon, we were on the road.

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Our travels were pretty uneventful, up until we were only about 180 miles from our destination.  We decided to sleep for a while in Hayti, MO so that we didn’t arrive in Springfield in the middle of the night.  We were at a truck stop resting and woke up about 2 a.m. to get back on the road.  We topped off the fuel tank and took off.  After being on the road a bit, something seemed wrong with the RV.  It wouldn’t accelerate properly and was extremely sluggish.  By the time we arrived in Poplar Bluff, we decided it would be best to pull over.  We saw a 24 hour self-serve diesel station and a Freightliner sign next door.  We thought that would be the best place to pull off and get off the road.  Robert thought the turbo quit working.  He and his dad got out and checked the water separator in the fuel filter.  There was some water that he drained, but then the engine died.  It seemed that we got air in the fuel line.  We had no idea how to prime the system.  We got out our manuals and took to the net.  We really were at a loss as to what to do.  We called our roadside assistance.  It was only 6 a.m. and the service technicians arrived at 7 a.m.  We slept and called them back in an hour.

The roadside assistance technician was helpful in steps to try to prime system by turning the ignition on for two minutes then cranking for a couple of minutes.  It didn’t work, so we decided to have him call a local technician to take a look.  Luckily, the technicians were just walking distance away in the Freightliner service center.  They came out and got all the air out of the line and suggested a new fuel filter.  Since they didn’t have one in stock, instead of waiting until the afternoon for one to arrive, we decided to risk it and be on our way.  We would replace it during our stay in Springfield.

Even though the RV wasn’t acting completely normal, at least it had more power to get up the hills.  We finally made it to Springfield and pulled in my parent’s driveway (our new home for the month) at about noon on Friday. 

We wanted to turn in the UHaul as soon as possible, so first thing Saturday morning, we were off to unload our stuff in our new storage building in Stockton at our family’s country property.  What a beautiful day, sunny and cool to accomplish our task. 

It has been a very busy past few days and today has been so relaxing.  Although we’ll miss our Florida friends, it is so good to be back on our old stomping ground and look forward to seeing our friends and spending more time with family.

The time has finally come and we were off to Missouri.  We had been planning this trip for the past three or four months.  After we had downsized and moved out of our rental house, we still had some things that that we didn’t feel we could part with yet, so we rented a storage building near our RV Park.  One thing that we read over and over on other full-timer blogs is the one regret many have is paying so much money for years of storage of things.  Instead of continuing to rent storage space, we decided to purchase a storage building to put on our family’s farm.   When discussing with my parents who work and enjoy the farm now, they didn’t mind an outbuilding on the property.  It’s more like an investment into the property instead of throwing away rent to a storage facility.  We know that we’ll always have ties in Missouri as that is where our families are, so we feel comfortable in storing our extra stuff in Missouri rather than any other part of the country.

Our trip to Missouri is for two reasons, move our belongings out of the storage unit to our storage building and to have a nice long visit with our friends and family.  We really needed a change of scenery from Florida for a while as we seemed to be getting in a rut and suffering from burn out. 

Our plan was to leave as soon as we packed the U-Haul of the contents from the storage unit on Wednesday.  We had a slight snag, however, as I had was waiting for a FedEx delivery for work that I had to have before we left.  It was supposed to be delivered first thing in the morning, but ended up being mid-afternoon.  I stressed myself out because I felt I was holding things up, but all was good with Robert and he wasn’t concerned on the time we took off, which really made me feel better.

Robert’s Dad and brother came down to help us load up the U-Haul and drive back to Missouri.  It is very nice to have them along for both the help and the company.  My daughter was visiting us for Christmas and will be returning with us as she goes to school in Missouri.  So, in the evenings, it will be quite crowded in the RV when it’s time to rest with five adults and three wiener dogs.  We’ll see how that goes.