Scrambling until the last minute, we moved out of our house and into the van. After quick and emotional, “see you laters,” to our loved ones, we were off. We had an appointment in Florida so we plugged along without exploring.

Things were off to a pretty good start until Brunswick, GA. We stopped at the Flying J for fuel and a shower.  Clean and energized to keep trucking south, I turned the key and the fuel pump did not prime as usual…what?? The engine whirled over but would not start. Blanca was running perfectly until now, it was quite a surprise. We broke out the toolbox and tested fuses and relays to determine power was in fact going to the tank. Once certain it was not something I caused, we called Ford roadside service. We had about 5k miles of warranty left but I was not convinced they would honor it, considering I molested so much of the rig.

 They sent us a hook bright and early after a night of camping in the truck stop lot. We landed at the Brunswick ford dealer for opening. They diagnosed the problem as the fuel pump control module. They did not have the parts in stock but would in fact warranty it.  The Brunswick ford dealer employees were champs!  Such a friendly town.

We camped out in the ford dealer’s  parking lot and took advantage of the down time to thin the load. We managed to cram everything we wanted into the van, but damn, we were a can of sardines. A van is quite a tiny house, and that’s without two stanky dogs!  For two days we preceded to load and unload the van at the ford dealer.  I am sure looking like a traveling circus playing a mean game of Tetris. Everything was scrutinized.  What should we thin? In what position can we stack our “stuff” so no precious space is lost?  Affording more room to bring more “stuff”!  After two days we managed to give away a few things and pack a box for Virginia.  We took a deep breath and smiled, we no longer needed the shoe horn to wedge us into the doors

Meanwhile, our 8 year old Great Dane, Rasta, is a rockstar. Everyone wants to meet him, even do a u-turn to inform us that he is the biggest dog they have ever seen and almost always ask, where is his saddle?..How does he fit in the van?..Or the funny guy remark, how big is his poop!?  We all enjoy the opportunity to meet interesting people and have a laugh.

Blanca was up and running once again. We ran the remainder of our errands in Brunswick, grabbed a coffee downtown and headed south.