Little Rock Bust, now back to our condo without our home

Sunday we drove from Fayetteville to Little Rock.  Next to the La Quinta is a Hooters, and Marcia twisted my arm very, very hard and made me go over there and get a "to go order" for us to eat in the room.  After doing the online ordering (oh no!  Hooters now has my email address), I go over there 20 minutes later.  Now many of you know that I was in the Restaurant business from the age of 16 to 31 years of age.  Mothers Day is like "THE BIGGEST DAY OF THE YEAR".  But not at Hooters.  I walk in and see about 10 skimpy girls in orange shirts so tight that I wonder if they are able to breath....and about 50 guys sitting around the bar, at tables...not a female customer in sight.  As the bar girl (lack of any other word comes to mind) gets my order together, a very young "Hooter Girl" comes up behind me waiting to talk to the Bar Girl.  I say to her, "I'll bet Fathers Day is much busier than Mothers Day at a Hooters, huh?"  This young thing looks up at me, smiles a bit, and says, "Gee, I'm new here, I don't have any idea....."  I decide to end the conversation at that, and get the food and leave, giving the place one good look over again.  (This is my second time to a Hooters, never stepping foot into the place until I married Marcia, who FORCED me to go the first time, and then again on Mothers Day....)   :)

Now this is where it gets funny.....  As I walk over to the car, I spot this man, with a young child in his arms, another toddler walking next to "dad", another child, the oldest I'll bet, following them, and then there she is....the mother....walking a good 8 steps behind them all...with her arms swinging like she is very upset....no smile...a big, and I mean very big, frown.   She gets to the door after all the others have gone in, she swings the door open hard and wide, and enters....

Hmmm....make note to myself.....gotta be sure to teach my kids to NEVER pick HOOTERS as the place to take mom (or their children's mother whenever that might take place) for Mothers Day.

Monday I go over to the Cummins place, and it does not go well.  They have to order some parts for a some things that they busted while checking out the motor home.  I go back to the La Quinta and tell Marcia...she and I both feel like that lady entering Hooters the evening before...

We talk about things Monday night, wake up Tuesday and decide that we need to go back to Florida for both of our sanity, especially Marcia's.  A person with MS does not need stress...and this has been very stressful for her.  We go to a Krogers and buy some dry ice, and then to Walmart to get three $5 ice chests, and over to Cummins where I empty out the fridge and freezer, dumping just a small amount of stuff (left overs) in the trash, and get some more clothing and some odds and ends, and off to Florida we go.  Tonight we are at a La Quinta in Dothan Alabama, a 570 mile trip with a late start of 11 am by the time I got everything crammed into the HHR.

I tell the guy at Cummins that once they get it fixed, that I would like them to hold onto it for a couple of days giving it a couple of 10 minute rides each day just to be sure it works...he agrees.  After we are confident that it is fixed, I will come back with the HHR and bring it back to Florida where we are going to regroup and think things out....we currently and contemplating stepping down to a Class C.  I have lost all confidence in driving a Class A that at any moment can loose all power, leaving me driving with no power steering, no way to down shift, and just breaks to stop us.  Imagine doing that on I-80 coming down from Donner Summit?  Or on I-70 coming into Denver from the Rockies.  Oh, the list is endless.....I just don't want to think about it.   We love our American Eagle, it has been a great home for 18 months.  But we both have lost confidence in driving it, especially in a mountainous area....So it is going to be an interesting couple of months ahead of us.