Unexpected interruption or a tractor beam?

We left Venice yesterday afternoon and went to a campground in Kissimmee to stage ourselves for our appointment at Josam Truck Alignment shop in Orlando at 0700.  All went fine, we got in right at 0700 and by 0715 they informed us we had a serious problem.  The drag link, the part of the chassis responsible for connecting the steering wheel to the front wheels, was shot.  I went down into the pit to take a look and wow, did it ever wiggle around!  No good!  Then we found out that not only is the part unique to our chassis, it is proprietary, expensive, and since it is a special order, it would take up to 3 weeks to get it.  Put quite a dent in our plans!  By 0800, our ride height had been adjusted and our alignment including a road test was complete.  The coach was then moved over to another bay to have all new Koni shocks installed, the front hubs converted to oil bath and the bearings checked, and the dessicant cartridge replaced.  Josam is a very good place.  Clean, competent, fair priced, and friendly.

The drag link has to be ordered straight from Monaco which has been done.  Now we wait.  In the meantime we are returning to Venice, restarted our electric, newspaper, and notified the campground we are returning.

We just can't escape......  Feeling the beam...pulling us back, pulling us back:-)

Maybe we'll do the awning conversion now??

Counting down.......

We are on the last few hours of our countdown to leave!  We've had quite a week.  Had a nice farewell dinner with Ray and April before they left for Maine and Vermont.  Had a nice farewell lunch with Dick and Ann as they settle in for the hot summer.  Had to get a final blood test to release me and check my meds to head out.  All good, by the way.

We managed to bring in torrential rain since we had the motorhome washed and waxed on Friday.  Then on Saturday we helped Jason move into his new digs.  A great day to move, only 90 degrees with 95% humidity coupled with the fact he is moving into a second story condo up a stair with a 180 degree turn, well, let me put it this way, we all thought we were going to pass out by the end of Saturday.  We all, including the young, at least relatively, Jason, looked like zombies as we ate Chinese take out for dinner and all went to bed by 8:30pm that night.  Helped him get a few more things done Sunday, returned the rental truck, and now he just has to finish unpacking and setting up shop.

We've only got a few more things to do this morning, get the mail, turn in the post office key, load the kayak and bikes, and we are out of here!  All the way to Orlando :-)  We are spending the night at a KOA in Kissimmee just south of Josam's, so we are in place for our  0700am appointment Tuesday morning to have our new shocks installed, our ride height checked, and alignment done, and our front hubs checked out....... Then we will be heading out of Florida.  Hope we remember how to do it.....   Yeehaaaa!