On to Dayton

 

We had originally planned to continue the trip just like we motored down the Natchez Trace. We wanted to spend a couple of days in the Nashville area and then slowly work our way through Dayton and end up in Elkhart for our new chair appointment on the 4th of May.

 

As I had mentioned the car was dead and needed to be looked at. When we arrived in Nashville our daughter called and said that an important package had arrived at her place in Richardson from the IRS. OK so much for meandering. We decided that the best action was to get to near our friends in the Dayton area as quickly as possible; then get car appointments and have Leigh send the documents to us there overnight.

 

We hit the Interstate and knocked out the 325 miles to the Dayton area fairly quickly and easily except for getting through Cincinnati which was an hour creeping with the traffic. We checked into the Wright-Patterson AFB Fam Camp next to Fairborn on the Monday the 27th. 

 

 

Check-in at the Fam Camp is always pretty casual. We had called in a reservation but didn't know which site so as no one is around very often we just picked a site and when someone showed up they said OK. Another arriving camper there said, "I assume we are on our own here." Yup. Let's see, beautiful place on the lake, 18 bucks a night, quiet, in the heart of the base, military security guards, barbed wire fence, military dogs training next to us ... quirky check-in is OK.

Got the car over to Valentine's GMC in Fairborn and the extremely professional and efficient folks there said that there was nothing wrong with the car once they got it charged up fully. Once I got the car back and re-read the owner's manual several times about towing, I realized that I had been pulling the wrong fuse to disable the electronics ... huge operator error! We also were able to receive and return the IRS paperwork which was a long standing issue with them and they had ruled in our favor. All of this took several days and we were glad to be stable for a bit.

We also were able to visit with our long time friends Greg and Char and have them act as our Fed Ex center point. Greg retired from Air Force civilian service last summer and they have had their house on the market since then .... and all of us hope it sells as soon as possible and they are able to move to Texas as is their plan.