Focht Family Blog

We are still stuck in Columbus, Ohio. The engine is totaled on the RV. We found out a few days into this ordeal that the engine had a recall on it for doing this exact thing. We got lucky that it didn’t blow through the coach or damge the transmission. The new engine is supposed to be here on Monday and the earliest we will be out of here is Friday but they are thinking it will be a little later than that. We took the kids to the Science Museum today. I will post more on that with pictures tomorrow. Spartan is going to give us some money to cover the extra eating out and the rental car. We have been able to visit with my mom’s cousins a couple of times while we have been here. They live near Dayton and that is only an hour away. Mom’s trailer is supposed to be fixed tomorrow. The tow company owner is coming to fix it and he is also going to move us a few feet into a different site at the park we are at that is available as long as we need it. Things could be much worse. We have a place to stay and food to eat. Everyone is healthy and well.

By Mr. Toad I mean the singing stuffed frog in mom’s trailer. Yesterday was another adventurous day in the life of the traveling Focht family. We were making our way from Indiana towards Pennsylvania. In Ohio, about 20 minutes east of Dayton I felt a small bump while driving and then an alarm started sounding and the engine shut off. I looked in the mirrors and saw smoke billowing out of the coach. I coasted to a stop on the side of the road and Nathan jumped out to see what happened. I had the kids at the door to get out because I was thinking fire. However, it was oil everywhere and the smoke was from the oil on the hot engine.

We called Spartan and they sent a tow truck. We called Good Sams and they sent a tow truck for the trailer. I called a cab and had them pick me up on the highway and drive me back to Dayton where I picked up a rental minivan and I came back just as the tow trucks were ready to leave. I put the kids, mom and the dogs in the minivan with me and we followed the trailer. Nathan rode in the truck with the RV. About 15-20 miles down the road I am driving behind the tow truck. He is going 64 in a 55 driving in the left lane. All of a sudden sparks are flying out of the trailer and then the trailer runs off the road and into the median heading for oncoming traffic. I should mention at this point that the tow truck was still traveling straight on the highway. Apparently he had not hooked it up correctly and he didn’t even feel it when he lost it. Just as the trailer is about two feet from going into oncoming traffic, the trailer started turning back in because of the embankment. It came to a stop in the middle of the median. It is amazing that it didn’t flip. There was some damage but it looks like it was only about $500 worth and the tow truck company is going to fix it.

Unfortunately the RV isn’t so lucky. Looks like it has major damage and they said it will probably be at least five days before they know the extent of the damage. Spartan will cover the costs but it leaves us stranded in Ohio and we are all staying cramped in the trailer. We extended the rental of the minivan for a week and the camping for a week and I am hoping Spartan will cover those costs as well as some costs for all of the meals we are now having to eat out because there isn’t enough room to cook and feed 6 in the trailer.

I guess life is never boring….. My take on it is nothing flipped, nothing caught fire, and everyone is safe and okay. Everything else is just inconveniences! :)

I wish I had more pictures for this post but unfortunately, the chocolate factory and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame did not allow pictures. So… we left Indiana on Tuesday morning and took the tour at DeBrand Chocolates. Here is the front of the building.

Once inside they show you a video of how the company got started and tell you about how they ship their orders from their catalog. Next they take you into a hallway that has multiple windows looking into the kitchens. The first stop was the kitchen that made the fillings. They then hand out samples of some of the fillings (think sugar overload). There was a soft caramel, fresh raspberry, dark chocolate truffle (my favorite), and a passion fruit filling that goes into one of their specialty chocolates. The next window showed some of the chocolates they make for special occasions and shows. They handed out samples of two of their unique flavored specialty candies. One was a dark chocolate ganache covered in dark chocolate accented with real gold (so dark it was slightly bitter). The next one was a chai flavored dark chocolate (I was on chocolate overload at this point so I didn’t taste it). The final tasting was of their low fat raspberry ice cream. I ended up with three spoons of it because the kids didn’t like theirs. At the end they show you where they package all of the finished products. You then get a choice of a finished dark chocolate raspberry or a chocolate covered pretzel. They then put you out into their shop where you can turn your tickets in for $5 off. Needless to say I spent LOTS of money.

We then left Indiana and headed for Ohio to meet up with Nathan’s parents near Cleveland. They had our niece Alex in their RV so the girls could spend some time together. We arrived ahead of Nathan’s parents and had our camp set up by the time they arrived. The girls had fun playing together and Samantha and Timmy spent the night at Grandma and Poppa’s (mom and I enjoyed having more room in our beds). The next morning we left around 11:00 to drive to Cleveland to meet Nathan’s sister Vicki and her husband Jim to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. We stopped and had lunch at Olive Garden (Samantha’s birthday choice) because Vicki was running behind. Samantha loved her lunch and loved having everyone sing to her. We had to park separate from everyone else since we were oversized so this is when we finally met up with Vicki.

Sorry the picture was dark… anyways in the Hall of Fame there were lots of opportunities to listen to music on headphones and they had many outfits from different singers on display. I wanted to take a picture of the kids dancing with headphones on but no photography was allowed. Definitely for a select viewing audience but I guess at least we can say that we were there and the kids have key-chains from there. I am trying to buy the kids something little from everywhere we go so at the end of our travels they will each have a trinket box.

We then went back to camp and had dinner. After dinner we took out Samantha’s birthday cake (strawberry) and sat around the table and had cake and opened presents. She got a Nintendo DS (her first game system) and received two games, Dogz and Ratatouille. She is busy playing as I type.

We are headed to Lexington, KY for the night and then on to Atlanta Friday…..