Focht Family Blog

On the way back to Pennsylvania from Vermont we had our first and hopefully last tire blowout. I was driving and we were almost out of Vermont. A car passed me and motioned for me to pull over. I pulled over and when we got out to find out what was wrong we found that there was no tire on the left rear of the truck. I had obviously lost the tire a few miles back and had ruined the rim as well. I am lucky that I didn’t blow up the truck and my mom’s camper since I am sure it had been sparking down the road. You can see the groove I was making in the road with the hot rim. Here is what was left…

A semi truck pulled over behind us and told us that he had been trying to get my attention for 15 miles or so. I am hoping he meant he noticed a flat or the tire starting to come off and not that I was driving on the rim that long. I never felt a difference from the RV. I guess I was just looking ahead and not paying attention to the mirrors. Now I am being careful to adjust the mirrors when I am driving so I can see the tires so at least I  might notice chunks of tire flying off if it were to happen again. We called AAA and they called the police and a service truck for us since I was blocking a lane of traffic. The police never showed and Nathan already had the spare off when the truck came. The truck was able to park behind us at an angle so that Nathan was protected to change the tire and the driver helped him get the spare back on so we could get back on the road quicker. It looks like we are now looking at having to get 4 new tires, a rim, and an alignment for the truck. Nathan also mentioned that the boots were torn on the caliper so I am hoping he has the tools to fix that to save us some money. At least no one was hurt. Here is another picture I took of the rim when I was putting it in the back seat of the truck…

The dogs were being so cute the other day so I had to take some pictures. Here is Dory in one of her new favorite places to lay down…

And here is Tinkerbell and Dory cuddling together on their doggy beds…

I am so proud of both of them. They have finally figured out where to go potty and what NOT to chew on. We haven’t had either of them in a crate for over two weeks now. I threw Tinkerbell’s crate out while we were in Vermont because the door was broken anyway. We think Tinkerbell is a year old now. The information we received from the Humane Society says that they thought she was born in September last year. They found her in a ditch with her brother at about 5 weeks old but that is just the vet’s best guess as to how old she was when she was found, so…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINK!!!

While Nathan was at work the kids were at play! :) We were actually getting a lot of schoolwork done but after school was done each day the kids wanted to go to the pool. Here is a view of Lake Champlain from the pool…

The kids were all over the place so this is the best picture I got with all three of them in the same frame…

Samantha and Timmy were determined to figure out how to do a hand stand in the water. This was the best that I could get of Samantha. She isn’t having a lot of luck figuring it out because she is trying to do it one handed so she can plug her nose with the other hand…

Timmy was having a bit more success…

One of the wonders of nature that Timmy found going to the pool one day was a snake. We still aren’t sure where his home was although Timmy did later find a small hole near the back of our RV…

I don’t think it was poisonous at least. Samantha and I studied plants in science this week so we were also able to find examples of each of the types of plants we studied while walking throughout the campground. It is so nice to be able to show her what we learn about because it really reinforces the lessons. :)

We spent the night on Monday in New Hampshire so Tuesday morning we decided to take a tour of Anheuser Busch in Merrimack on our way back to Vermont. The grounds were full of gorgeous flowers. Here are Samantha and Timmy on our way in to the tour…

All of the kids were enjoying making faces in the shiny tables because they could see their reflections. We tried to get a picture….

The beginning of the tour shows a garden of hops…

Next I got a nice picture of the main building before we went inside…

Once inside you can take whatever pictures you want but I wasn’t able to get any good ones. All of the tanks are just too BIG! :) Here is a side bin they had set up to show you the beechwood chips that they use in the bottom of the tanks to flavor the beer. The chips are used, cleaned, used once more, and then they are used for mulch around the grounds.

After the tour we walked to the stables to see the horses. Here is Samantha and Timmy standing by one of the wagons on display…

Here is a side view of the wagon…

And one last picture of the kids by the flowers in the middle of the stable area…

Sunday night I was able to visit with a friend of mine from high school days. She had moved near to where my mom’s camper was being worked on so that was wonderful. Her name is Kim and she does reenactments of the French and Indian War so we are going to try to go to one of the reenactments next year so the kids can watch and learn. :)

Monday morning we picked up my mom’s camper. It is better than new. They fortified the area that broke with steel and also the other side so it wouldn’t happen again. Here is a picture of the same area that was broken…

The gentleman who was working on the repairs also noticed that my mom had a large gap where her water heater is instead of the compartment being flush with the camper so he repaired that as well…

After we picked it up we were back on the road again. We drove through Rhode Island on the way back to Vermont so we could check off another state and we had ice cream for dinner at Kimball’s! :) LOVE that ice cream!!