Travels With Miranda

WOW.

That’s all I can say about the massive thunderstorm that just passed through here, Petersburg, where the rig is parked. I was trying to do some computer work, but my inverter kept cutting out, so I shut down to let the computer charge for a bit and ran out to Walmart. While I was at the checkout, the sky just exploded. The thunder was so loud that I swear I felt the building shake. I’d planned to grab some Subway for lunch (I could eat Subway every day and it is TONS cheaper in the US!) and would have eaten there to let the storm abate except for one tiny detail: all my windows and roof hatches are open.

The hatch in the kitchen doesn’t have a cover, so I came home to a pretty soggy sink (no big deal). But my biggest concern was the windows in the study, especially the one by the desk. Luckily, nothing important got soaked. The rain is still coming down hard. Hopefully, it’ll take some of the mugginess with it.

As for the inverter, it keeps giving me an E01 error reading which means that I’m trying to run something (my laptop) with a bigger wattage than what the inverter is rated for. I’m pricing higher wattage inverters, but am afraid to buy anything right now with everything being so uncertain.

By the way, the inverter claimed that my batteries were at 12.8 volts, the solar controller said 14.2 volts, and the batteries themselves said 13.1. So I definitely had a full charge.

I’m not doing anything exciting again today. My friend’s health is poor, so I expected that we’d get, sum total, four or five really good long days together to go explore. For the rest of the time, I’d be parked in her yard and we could see each other a little during the day or go out for a meal, with me occasionally running out and doing touristy stuff on my own. So everything is going pretty much as planned except that I’m afraid to spend any money.

I’ll probably be heading back out to the hotel tonight and will pick some inexpensive touristy thing that’s open on a Sunday in the area of Norfolk. One thing that I am doing for sure in the next few days is getting to the coast so I can have a picture of my feet in all three oceans during the biggest adventure of my life.

I don’t really need to be back in Canada till the 18th (having decided to accept the advice about not worrying about customs) and if I have to, I could get there in one really long day, but I really want to do it in two. So I have to be pulling out of here by the 17th at the absolute latest so I can arrive on the 18th by late day. That gives me all of next week, plus three days of the following week. So if I want to get to Canada on time, I need to start the work on the rig by Thursday of this week. So if I don’t have an answer from the insurance by Wednesday, I’ll need to start the work and be prepared to pay out of pocket.

It would actually be easier to get back to Canada from my current location than from my friend’s. From there, I’d be taking the Eastern Shore route through Maryland and Delaware, then have to cut westward to avoid Philly and NYC, adding heaps more mileage.

From here, I can take I-95 to just shy of DC, by-pass on I-66 to I-81 in West Virginia, take I-88 at Binhampton to Albany, and then from Albany it’s a straight shot north on I-87, which becomes autoroute 15 in Quebec. This sounds like a crazy detour, but it’s less than 60 extra miles and all the way to Binghampton will be very familiar. I haven’t done the bit between Binghampton and Albany, and I haven’t been to Albany in years, but I know the region. So I’d be looking at an easier and less stressful drive.

Well, it looks like the storm has passed because the sky is getting a blue tinge. It feels heaps cooler and there is a breeze.

I just got in from fetching the rental car. My insurance company is definitely paying for five days, not ‘two or three at the most’ as they said they would. I am very happy about that! So I have the car and motel for sure until Monday morning and then we’ll see what happens. I can renew both, with the car being out of pocket, but at least I’m squared away from the weekend.

My rental car is a four-door Accent, but it’s not as nice as mine as it doesn’t have power doors, mirrors, and locks. Or a manual transmission. I’m used to driving Miranda as an automatic, but I get flustered driving an automatic car. I haven’t yet done the ‘step on the brake and the gas at the same time thing’ when I try to stop that I am guaranteed to do at some point.

The mechanic just came by to touch base, saying he was upset that I didn’t have my rental car yet. I explained that it took a while, but I got it by the time I needed it, so that is fine. You’ll never guess what he said next! He asked me if I needed to borrow a generator so I could leave the AC running for the kitties since he knew I’m heading out overnight! But it has not been nearly that warm and with roof hatches, open windows, and ice water in their bowl they will be just fine. But isn’t that thoughtful?

He also thinks the appraiser is going to go to bat for me and is fine with my sitting tight until we get the go ahead to get going. I have a few more things to do here, then I’m heading out around four. Unless I get word from the adjuster, I am hoping to have 24 stress-free hours. Keep all your appendages crossed for me!

The appraiser just left. He was very kind. He walked around Miranda and documented all the existing damage and made me list all her options, including the solar panel. He couldn’t tell me anything, only that he will make his report and recommendation to the adjuster. He looked at the invoice for the brake service and agreed that I wasn’t anywhere due for that kind of work again. I told him that I won’t let the mechanic start until there is an okay from the insurance company because I am not going to pay for this work even if it means having to sue. I am through being a pushover.

I will confess that I’ve been holding it together since this happened, but I lost it with him. I didn’t realise just how worried I was that, because of Miranda’s age, the insurance company might decide to just write her off. The way the guy was talking and asking me questions and hemming and hawing, the fear just became too much. I was absolutely mortified, but that was enough to push him to reassure me that he saw no evidence for that and that the rig will easily be road worthy again.

The rental car situation is approaching resolution and I’m hoping to get the car by noonish. I can’t check into the hotel till four (they are booked solid), so I’d like to be on the road by three. I’ll shower, have a nap, and then pick up my friend around 7. So the day might not be a total write-off after all.

I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep there, then spend the afternoon with my friend. Her mom is making dinner for me Friday night and you have no idea how much I will appreciate a home cooked meal. I have barely eaten anything since the car wreck. Part of it is nerves, part of it is that there is so much stuff crammed into the front of the rig that cooking just isn’t pleasant. Thank goodness that I can pretty much live off peanut butter sandwiches and that they are a reasonably healthy meal.

Right now, the big concern is that I need to leave Virginia on May 12th to make it back to Canada on the 15th at a reasonable pace. I can get to Canada on the 18th and still make my deadline there, but I told US Customs that I would be out on the 15th. I don’t know if that’s something that can be stretched with a phone call due to extraordinary circumstances, but I have a full week to worry about that.

I’m off to try the car rental company again. For some reason (probably my area code), my insurance adjuster’s request got routed to Bismarck, ND, so now the folks down the street here need to get hold of the folks in Bismarck to get all the information. It’ll be fine; I’m just glad I got the ball rolling yesterday. Enterprise car rental has never let me down.

I spoke to Aviva this morning. They have authorized me up to $1,000 (up to $100 per day) for a hotel room. Intact is letting me have a car for a few days, but they haven’t decided yet for how long. I have to pay for the hotel out of pocket and wait to be reimbursed, so I only booked until Monday morning because money is suddenly very, very, very tight.

The adjuster for Aviva says that even if the damage is a result of the accident, they may rule against me because I drove without having the rig properly inspected and may have made more damage. I am going to play the ‘look at how much free advertising you guys get from me’ card, especially since the repairs aren’t going to be that much from their perspective. I mean, the hotel amount is ‘just $1,000.’

I have certain things to do today and into tomorrow that require my undivided attention. I hope to leave for the hotel late tomorrow afternoon, freshen up (a shower is going to feel so nice!), then meet up with my friend for our evening. I will sleep at the hotel on Thursday night, but will probably just use it during the day over the weekend.

What. A. Nightmare.

It’s still much too earlier to get a hold of the insurance companies today and I was given the go ahead to leave Beckley, so I’m leaving. Web reviews for Glen’s Towing, who got my car off the turnpike, are very negative. All I can say is that they don’t seem very organized and their towing prices seem crazy, but they have absolutely no problem with my taking off without paying the towing bill and without having heard from my insurance company. I imagine that’s probably because they have some rights to my car now and could recoup that way, but I appreciate them not being hard asses about this. Paying that towing bill wouldn’t kill me, but since I won’t ultimately have to worry about it, why pay now only to get reimbursed later?

Jody reminded me to grab the license plate off the car so I don’t have to pay for a new one. I don’t know if my new toad will be plated in Alberta or not, but it’ll be nice to have that plate if I do reregister in Alberta.

My plate registrations are due this month. Guess I’m saving on the car, huh?

One thing I forgot to ask the adjuster is if I should be contacting BMO, which holds the loan on the car, regarding the crash. I imagine that any monies I get from the insurance would go to BMO first to clear the loan and I’d get whatever is left over, if anything. One thing that is in my favour is that the car is in great shape and has low mileage on the odometer, so there is a chance that it will get appraised on the higher end of the scale.

Well, I’m off to see if I’m right that traveling without a toad will be a lot less stressful