STRIKING DISTANCE

First I'll say that we had a late start in our departure from Red Top Mountain State Park. The conversation & company was just so good with Lynetta and the kids that it was hard to leave. As we were saying our final goodbyes, standing between the Airstreams, Tim carefully leaned toward me, as if I had the plague, slowly grabbed my hand and pulled me forward saying I needed to move forward NOW. As this was happening everyone else began screaming  and running away from me. I'm thinking the bees aren't that bad ... No need to be that scared. Possibly a bear? It was totally one of those slow motion moments in life.  Little did I know that a copperhead rattle snake had slithered up behind me and was a foot away ... Maybe less but you know me I'm not one to exaggerate. Since I didn't have on my snake proof flip flops it was a good thing I move fast & that they all saw it because the snake could have very easily struck me or I could have taken a step backwards onto it. That could have brought this trip to a screeching halt. Phewwww ... Tim saved the day. 

At around eleven we finally pulled out of the campsite. But due to onsite construction we had to go to the far end of the campground to get turned around. Then we had to wait for the workers to get a tractor loaded and finally we were on our way. Then it happened ... denial. Just about 45 minutes north on I-75 ... BOOM. It sounded like a shot gun went off. Uhhhhh! Was that us? Nah. The truck was riding just fine. OK I think you better pull over anyway just to double check. Yup! That was us. The right rear tire on the Airstream had blown. We were lucky that is wasn't on the other side next to the lane of traffic. And we also had sustained some very minor damage to the Airstream from the blow. So much for that expensive tire monitoring system that never alarmed us. Tim got us back on the road in about thirty minutes while a really nice State Trooper sat behind us for a few minutes with his lights on. It was very scary having all that traffic blowing by so close and so fast. 

Tim and I have safely settled at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington for the night. This is the horse capital of the world! Tomorrow we will land at the Mothership and will look into a new spare tire once we get there. Our five hour drive today had turned into eight long hours. I cant believe I'm saying that 61* is cold here. The low is 45* tonight. Oh yeah ... no AC tonight. For now we have had just about enough fun for the day.