Our destination for Saturday was Meridian, Mississippi. Having spent Friday night in Shreveport, LA and wanting to be in Charleston, SC for an extended stay (maybe 3 or 4 days) by Tuesday the 27th, our plan was to log three 300 mile days. Charleston is nine hundred miles from Shreveport. 300 + 300 + 300 = 900. Savvy? Clarke Hockwald, a full-time RVer whose blog I've been reading for a few years now, often comments that their plans are 'set in Jell-O' - a reference to the serendipitous, unpredictable nature of the full-timer life style. Absent the need to be in a particular location at a particular time - when interesting, unforeseen and appealing opportunities present themselves, you're free to go for it... or not.
Well, we were hoping to be in Charleston by Tuesday but...
We didn't have to be in Charleston by Tuesday.
As we neared the Louisiana/Mississippi border we saw a sign for Vicksburg. Both Suzanne and I are interested in American history, especially if it has anything to do with the Civil War. My son, Aaron is a history nerd and has an encyclopedic knowledge of practically anything to do with American history - in particular, the American Civil War.
As a sideline, Aaron narrates audiobooks (I'm the recording "engineer"). One of the books we recorded last year is titled The Civil War on the Mississippi (you can listen to a sample and/or download it by clicking on the title/link). It deals extensively with the siege of Vicksburg and the battle for control of the Mississippi River. Vicksburg has been on my to-do list for a while, especially since recording the book!
So... we saw a sign for Vicksburg!
"I didn't realize we'd be going through Vicksburg!", I said.
"Yep.", said Suzanne.
Change of plans.
Suzanne quickly got online in search of an RV park in the Vicksburg area and found the perfect spot - a 'resort' owned and operated by the Ameristar Casino in Vicksburg. It was a very nice park -inexpensive, well maintained, yards from the Mississippi River and just minutes from the Vicksburg Battlefield National Park. After checking in, setting up and playing some ball with Travis, we hopped in the car and headed for the National Park. We watched the orientation movie, wandered around the museum, bought a magnet in the gift shop then, back in the car, dialed up the cell phone audio tour and headed down the "tour road".
It was a fascinating drive. The highlight for me was the USS Cairo - an Ironclad warship built during the Civil War and sunk in the Yazoo River on December 12, 1862. . It was discovered in 1956 and much of it, preserved by the Yazoo River mud, was recovered in the 1960s.
The Cairo holds somewhat of a special meaning for me. While narrating the aforementioned book, Aaron pronounce Cairo as Ki-Row, as in Cairo, Egypt. Come to find out (after having completed the recording of the entire book) it is actually pronounced Kay-Row, as in.... well... as in who knows what. Who the hell ever heard of pronouncing Cairo as Kay-Row? Anyway, as the word Cairo had appeared like a gazillion times throughout the book, it was a very time consuming process editing out the wrong pronunciation and punching in the new one.
Po-tay-tow, po-tah-tow.
USS Cairo
We called Aaron to tell him what we were up to and he informed us that while in Vicksburg, one must eat tamales. I'm not sure how this tradition came about but hey, I like tamales!
Tamales to go at Tamale Place
We took our tamales back to the coach where they were promptly devoured...
The following morning, wanting to make up for the previous day's mileage deficit, we struck out bright and early for Montgomery, Alabama - 288 miles due east of Vicksburg.
About thirty miles from the Alabama state line we passed this exit sign...
Chunky, Mississippi
... and into Alabama...
In Cuba, AL we changed from I-20 to SR-80, a nice, smoothly paved, designated scenic byway through central Alabama. We passed through the center of Selma, following the path of the famous 1965 Selma to Montgomery March.
About fifteen miles east of Selma something bad happened.
***
All of a sudden I smelled the unmistakable smell of burning brake pads. I immediately pulled to the side of the road, got out, laser temperature gun in hand and discovered that the drivers side front hub temp was in the neighborhood of 150 degrees - which is pretty doggone hot for a drivers side front hub - or any hub, for that matter. I called and consulted with the family heavy truck expert, my nephew Nick. Nick has been driving and working on big rigs for quite a while. This isn't the first time I've had to call Nick for roadside advice. I described what had happened and he pretty much nailed the diagnosis. He also suggested a couple of things I could do to get back on the road but, not having the proper tools and knowing AAA (I have the RV card) would tow me to a garage of my choice, I figured I'd better leave well enough alone.
With an aversion to hanging out on the shoulder of a 70mph (although relatively lightly traveled) highway and knowing, by way of Google, there was a Citgo station 1.5 miles further up the road, I creeped along the shoulder at 5mph to the gas station's large gravel parking lot. Once again, I got out to check the status of the offending wheel. It was literally sizzling. I could hear it. We sat, gathering our thoughts for a few minutes. I knew we would have to be towed but had to decide if it was wiser to return to Selma, which was fifteen miles behind us, or continue on to Montgomery, thirty five miles further east. Having determined that Montgomery was a larger city with a greater number of possible repair facilities, we opted for Montgomery. I began searching for and making calls to truck repair shops. It being a Sunday, all I got were voicemails. Finally, a real live person answered at Russell Truck Center! Cliff assured me they could make the necessary repair and that I should have the coach towed to his shop.
I called AAA. About five hours and several phone conversations with AAA and the towing service later (Ugh!), a technician arrived. Rather than towing the coach, the technician removed both front wheels, backed the pads off the rotors with an adjustment screw, removed the air lines to both calipers and inserted a ground-down dime (yep) in each fitting, replaced the lines and I was good to go...
... without front brakes.
The Tow Service Guy
I still had rear brakes, of course, and the engine brake, so I had plenty of stopping power.
I guess it was around 6pm when we finally got back on the road. Feeling like we deserved an evening of leisure and recovery from the day's events, Suzanne had made a reservation at The Woods RV Park in Montgomery. The option was to spend the night in Russell's Truck Repair parking lot. Nope.
A bad air brake chamber...
We spent a restful evening of cocktails and television and at 7:30am the next morning drove 4.5 miles up the road to Russell's where a tech removed the wheel, diagnosed the problem (confirming Nick's assessment) and ordered the part. It'll be here tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 10:30.
We checked back into Wood's RV Park for another night.
Oh! I forgot to post this picture after my Dealey Plaza tour last week... from the gift shop at the book depository. When was the last time you saw these?!
Thanks for checking out the blog!
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