The Pickle Gets a Vacation

Our granddaughter, Lillian, calls it The Chicken Nugget, in keeping with the Pickle bus’s foody name. I've suggested La Casa Dorada (Golden House in Espanol) in keeping with its factory-given name, Siesta. Or how about The Golden Chariot? Name or no name, Michael and I are driving a different rig this year to take us on our annual winter escape.

Dec. 25, 2017

Old and New

We left the mostly trusty Pickle Bus, our 1977 GMC Motor Coach, in our Ypsilanti driveway last week, and rode off in our new-to-us 2011 Four Winds Siesta.  That was Christmas Day, a couple of days earlier than we'd planned to leave Michigan because first, before our drive to Florida to begin a family vacation in a rental on Anna Maria Island, we needed to drive to Iowa for my mother's funeral. She passed away in her sleep, one month shy of age 99, on December 21st, and her funeral was Wednesday, the 27th. So off we went, bound for Florida, via Wellsburg, Iowa.

Why the change in vehicles? Well, we're hoping the Siesta's Mercedes engine will give us better gas mileage, for one thing. That's an especially important consideration this year since we plan to pile up the miles this winter traveling from Florida west through the southwest, then north to Sacramento, CA, where we will visit Annie in her new house. Then, from June to August we plan to hit the road again from northern Michigan to Alaska.

The Siesta isn't any longer than the Pickle and with its van-type front gives us a bit more maneuverability and ease of driving (Yes, I've driven it - some.) And breakdowns and on the-road repairs? Oh, please, may there be none.

So...

Day One (Dec. 25th): Michigan through northern Indiana to Iowa. High winds and lake effect snow. Rockin' and rollin' in the Siesta. At that point we were asking, how is this any better than the Pickle? (Oh, It WAS warmer on that cold blustery day.)

My family at Mom's funeral

Day Two (Dec. 28th): Iowa (after Mom's funeral) to Hopkinsville, KY. 11 hours of driving, a good but long day, much easier hours than they would have been in the Pickle. Feeling pretty darn satisfied with the Chicken Nugget's performance.

Day Three: Kentucky to. Ocala, Fl. Is there such a thing as "bad gas?" If so, we got it at Jonesboro, GA. The engine stuttered, it sputtered, it missed. How quickly we resumed a what's-wrong-now attitude. Fuel filter? Fuel pump? Leaky hose? Oh, that heart-sinking dread of breakdown that became a little too familiar in the Pickle Bus. First thing to try, of course, was new gas. So, once we had used 1/2 of the tank, we filled up again and…. happy day! That took care of most of the sputtering. We cautiously, slowly, sighed with relief and a dose of glee.  Our still shaky confidence in our new wheels was restored, at least for now.

May the golden Chicken Nugget continue to prove itself!