Please STOP the madness!

NO, nothing tragic has happened... ! WHEW! I can hear the collective sigh of relief! :)

But we have been going full steam for 7 full days... with no end in sight!

We left last weekend having purchased our lovely new camper, but still had yet to get a new hitch receiver put onto our van, and ALSO need to replace the hitch and load leveling bars (the hitch BrOkE and the bars BenT!)  Turns out the receiver was an older style, and the pieces that broke during "The Event" were not able to be replaced. In light of that fact, and that we are minus one "metal magic man" who can refashion us some new pieces (not like I would trust them... I am just a sceptic like that...!!) we needed new ones. All of these this needed to happen (Obviously!) before we picked up the new camper. I've never kept a running tally of these purchases... as I have never had to buy them before all of these escapades we find ourselves on. Turns out, these things on the retail market are not only ridiculously expensive, they are usually a special order for the ones we need. WHAT?!?!

We called U-h@ul (@=a ... again!) and they could order us our receiver and have it in time... or so they told us! We wanted it on Friday, and then on Friday they said "We have you scheduled for a pick up and install next Tuesday!" Oh NO you don't! We were not overly impressed with their PR skills already, and this just pushed them over the edge. After we explicitly calmly explained our situation, they offered to have it overnighted for us to be there by Saturday noon... exactly three hours AFTER we had planned to leave for Alabama.  But why not, right? We need to learn how Zambian time works eventually...!! So we delayed our departure, and got the receiver only to be further insulted because the clerk said, "I have given you a discount to reflect our apologies for your inconvenience"... and then charged us the regular price!!

The New Receiver... and Oil Change Day! Those come quite frequently anymore!! 

 WHO CARES at this point! Just get us out of there and take the receiver and RUN!! It is a very pretty receiver, by the way. All shiny and not rust-finished! So unlike anything that has been on a New York vehicle for any amount of time!

So Pretty! And not broken - Bonus! :) 

THEN we still needed the hitch and load leveling bars! Cr@igslist to the RESCUE! Thankfully (Read God-orchestrated event!) only 50 minutes away a man had a set for a fraction of the cost, and that was used only two times! YAY!! He had listed it only a few days before we started looking, and had held onto them for years! God knew we needed them... and WHEN!

We were finally all ready to get the camper! Another post!