San Francisco (12/05/2004)

This week we made it to California. It's odd but the closer we got to the California border the sunnier it got. Rain, rain, rain in Washington and Oregon and sun and traffic in California. On Sunday, when we were traveling between Rogue River and Red Bluff we were rear ended. There was a big traffic jam and the white van behind us did not stop when we did. After we were hit we pulled over but the van did not. So we got back into traffic too. Later on we pulled over and took a look at the rear of the fifth wheel. We could not see any damage so we figure that is why the other car did not stop. Unfortunately we were both wrong. The truck ran OK at freeway speed but jerked and stalled at stops, etc.
We finished the drive to Red Bluff and limped into the RV Park. At that point the other shoe dropped. The accident had damaged the hitch and we were unable to separate the truck from the fifth wheel. That night we left the two together but on Monday we had to have someone come out with a crowbar to get them apart. He said the hitch was actually part way open and we were lucky we had not lost the fifth wheel on the way to the park.
After we got the two vehicles unhitched, we had the Ford Dealer come and tow the truck to the dealer. Then we sat and waited. The park was nice and there was a KFC, Burger King, and Grocery Store within walking distance but after a two days we were getting pretty antsy. On Friday, the dealer gave us a loaner car and we drove to the San Francisco Bay area to spend the weekend with Rich’s brother Ken, and their mother Georgia.