HOME!

We finally made it home last night.  The vacation and the anniversary celebration were great, but we had a couple of "wrenches in the works" before we got home. 
I had been telling 'tP' that I could hear a "funny noise" from the front of the truck, but he (of course) could not.  But by Saturday - we were driving up to the "party site" (the private park where we had the "doings" was quite large) - he finally heard it.  Earlier I told him I thought it had sounded like a bad U-joint, but since he could not hear it at the earlier time, and since then he had all my brothers, my dad, some nephews & nephew-in-laws to consult my suggestion was forgotten, LOL.  The bottom line was that they all figured it was U-joint problems and said he should probably have it checked.  Now it was Saturday afternoon and he hurried away to see if anyone was still open - we were supposed to leave the next day.  TOO LATE, the shop techs were all gone & would not be back until Monday at 8.  Thus, we called our respective places of employment and let them know we would be late back to work.  We did get it repaired on Monday - & YES, it needed a new U-joint - so were able to leave that evening.  It's a long drive back home so we stopped at my folk's home and stayed the night, leaving early on Tuesday and getting home in th evening.  Unfortunately, the turn into my folk's driveway is very sharp and there is an edge of a culvert pipe under the drive very close to the entry.  One of the wheels of the RV caught on the culvert edge and the rim was bent so the tire bead was broken & we got a flat.  As we left we took the flat tire to the local Les Schwab; we had to replace the rim, but the tire was still good.  Just another thing to slow us down in the end. 
But, all-in-all it was a wonderful time and such a loving tribute to my parents.  I just have to say that I love all of my BIG family!