Finne's Follies

It's not always clear how to move forward after a major disaster hits your life. Mark and I have had a few conversations about where we go from here. As Christians, we want to be sensitive to God's leading in our lives, but as every Christian knows, God's leading is also not always clear.

Shortly after the crash, we went to the wrecking yard and cleaned out the car because we believe they will probably total it as well. There was some pretty serious damage done to the frame.

On Tuesday, we returned to the RV and unloaded the fridge and freezer into our big cooler and brought it back to the hotel room, which has a full-size refrigerator. We were surprised to find most of the meat was still frozen. The internal temperature of the freezer was still at 30 degrees, and the fridge was at about 55 degrees. We tossed a few things, especially leftovers and half used up bottles & jars. Surprisingly, nothing inside the fridge was damaged, though there was some spillage.

Then we put together some pots and pans, dishware, cooking and eating utensils, the coffee pot (which also survived--it was stored in the sink), and some other miscellaneous items to take back to the hotel with us.

How to proceed over the next days and weeks has been the main topic of discussion between Mark and me. It became clear early on that we would have to move out of the RV, regardless of whether it would be repaired (unlikely) or scrapped. With that in mind, we talked about how to store our personal goods in the meantime. We thought about Pods (moving/storing), but with this option it may be difficult or inconvenient to get to our stuff if we needed to access it before actually moving into another place. We also considered renting a U-Haul truck and hauling our stuff to Valdosta, Georgia, where the Hoffmans (Mark's daughter and her family) live. That option turned out costing more than we really wanted to spend.

Conch House in Key Largo

Lunch break at the
Conch House

In the end, the Hoffmans offered to loan us their enclosed trailer and a vehicle. Thank God for families-- especially families with resources! Mark would fly to Valdosta to pick them up and drive them back down here to Miami, where we are staying while we wrap up loose ends.

Now we had a plan. Mark got busy and booked a one-way flight from Miami to Valdosta with Delta, and in the process discovered he had built up enough "SkyMile" points with them to pay the entire cost of the flight. That surprised both of us since we haven't really flown anywhere in a while.

So in preparation for moving out, we made another trip to the RV on Thursday to start the laborious task of packing up our belongings. It took us the better part of the day to get about half the job done--on the inside, that is. The rest will have to wait until moving day.

Until you have to move out of a place you don't realize how much stuff you have, even after you've gotten rid of everything except what you believe you "can't live without." I wonder if we couldn't easily live without a good many more of the things we have squirreled away in all the nooks and crannies of that motorhome that we think we "need."

Extra-tiny kitchen cooking
in our hotel room

Friday morning we put Mark on a plane to Valdosta. Today, Saturday, he is driving back to Miami. And Sunday we'll turn in the rental car and load up the trailer. Mark was able to employ the two sons of the wrecking yard owner to help with loading the basement items into the trailer. That task shouldn't take more than an hour or two with three men tackling it. While they're doing that, I will finish packing up the inside into boxes, and between the two of us, we should be able to get everything else done by the end of the day.

We received confirmation this week that the motorhome will indeed be scrapped. No word yet on the car. Monday we'll depart Miami and return to Valdosta where we'll stay until we decide on a new home.

I trust God to supply our needs, but what we need more than anything right now is a clear sense of His will for us. Please help us pray for guidance as we move forward into the dark unknown.

With God, the future is ALWAYS bright!
...even when it seems dark.

Leaving Sunshine Key RV Resort

Where to begin?...

If you follow our Facebook pages, you've already heard all about this, so please bear with me as I tell the story again for those who don't.

When we returned from our cruise at the end of January, we said goodbye to our family in Gainesville, and headed down to the Florida Keys where we had a reservation in an Encore Park on Ohio Key (which they renamed "Sunshine Key"). The park was newly rebuilt after it was virtually destroyed two years ago by Hurricane Irma (I believe it was Irma). Sunshine Key is such a popular destination that we were only able to get four days during the time frame we needed. But four days was better than nothing, and we enjoyed our time there. We went back to Key West, which was only an hour's drive, and spent most of a day there. The rest of the time, we hung out at our campsite and just enjoyed the warm weather. Little did we know it would be the last campground we'd visit in our "Follymobile"-- our home on wheels for the past year and a half.

You can see the debris strewn all the way back to the firetrucks

On Monday, February 4, we departed Sunshine Key on our way to Orlando where we planned to camp for two weeks. As we were driving north on the Overseas Highway (U.S. 1), somewhere around eleven o'clock in the morning, we were nailed by a heavy-duty septic tank truck that had slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting the car in front of him. The truck slid sideways on the road right into our lane. Mark tried to swerve onto the shoulder, but couldn't get over far enough and sideswiped the front of his cab. The impact sent us over on two wheels, but Mark (with the help of that guardian angel that must have been with us) managed to keep us upright and out of the ditch-- bless him! We were traveling about 45 mph when we hit so by the time we came to a stop, we'd traveled a little distance down the road. I can't imagine how this story might have ended had we gone over on our side... or, had I been wandering around in the coach at the time instead of buckled into my seat.

There were two other vehicles involved-- a little Toyota Rav4 that was rear-ended by the septic truck and a pickup truck. I'm still not sure how the pickup truck fit in, but when we get the full accident report, it will probably clarify that for us. The miracle is that no one was injured. God's mercy was abounding on that day!

All our sewer hoses in the street

When it was all over, the highway was littered with debris from our rig, northbound traffic was creeping by on the shoulder, and southbound traffic was detoured through a parking lot. It took almost three hours to clear all the vehicles off the road and get the traffic moving again.

I am reminded how much we all take for granted the normalcy of our lives. We expect every day to be just like the day before, and more or less the way we planned it to be. But the reality is that anything can happen at any moment to turn our world upside down. We don't plan for calamity.

After our rig came to a stop, we took that first moment to thank God for keeping us safe. Then Mark called 911 and reported the accident. Before we could exit the coach, a gentleman was banging on our door to make sure we were okay. Mark got out and assured everyone we were uninjured, though shaken up. When I looked back at the inside of the motorhome, I couldn't believe the mess I saw--broken glass and dishes strewn everywhere, smashed coffee cups in the sink, books tossed from the book rack. The inside was a disaster. I was heartsick.

Then I went outside and saw the rest of the damage!

After I'd finished perusing the damage to the outside of the coach, Mark informed me the car had also been hit. The back driver's side was crushed. We were able to start the engine and back it off the trailer (which managed to sustain no damage), but the car was eventually declared undriveable because the rear tire was rubbing on the body. It would have to be towed as well.

The realization slowly began to dawn on me that we had lost everything.

This lovely lady, Nancy, came over to me when I emerged
from the coach, put her arms around me and gave me a
big hug. She is from a business across the street and offered
us shelter if we needed it-- water, restrooms, etc.

The fire department EMTs were the first to arrive on the scene. They blocked the road and rerouted traffic until the Highway Patrol arrived. The first order of business was to make sure all the people involved were cared for. As I mentioned, no one was injured and they all declined hospital assessment, including us. Because we were belted in, and because there was no significant jolt (more like a grinding scrape) and we came to a gradual stop, neither of us had so much as a sore muscle.

The officers from the Florida Highway Patrol were wonderful! I don't know how wonderful they were to the truck driver...but they were wonderful to us. Officer Roca kept us informed of the process and made himself available until the very end in case we had any questions.

Getting ready to tow to the wrecking yard

Clearing the road was the next critical task. It took quite a while to get everyone's vehicle towed out of the road-- ours was the last one. Once that was done, Mark got on the phone to the insurance company, and I got on the phone to rent a car. We decided to call Enterprise because they would come and pick us up, saving us a taxi fare.

By this time it was about 2:30 in the afternoon. While we were renting our car and eating lunch, our vehicles were towed to a wrecking yard where they would sit until our insurance company decided what to do with them.

And now we needed to find a hotel. The Keys have some beautiful hotels, but they are unacceptably pricey. In order to find "budget" accommodations we had to go almost an hour away to South Miami where we were able to get a week at an extended stay hotel, Woodspring Suites. We have a very nice room with a small kitchenette, immaculately clean and spacious enough to meet our temporary needs.

Wrecking your rig, especially when it's your one and only home, is every RVer's nightmare. As soon as you take it out on the road, you run that risk. When it happens, it's nothing less than devastating. But, frankly, losing your home can happen to anyone. Some people with beautiful brick and mortar homes lose them to fire. Some are lost to hurricanes or tornadoes. Some are lost to earthquakes. Loss is loss whether your home is on wheels or a foundation. It's important to keep things in perspective. All any RVer can do is manage that risk by keeping adequate insurance and by attentive and cautious driving.

So, what now?

Our home was insured. We will be able to replace it. We have an opportunity to get something better, or different. Mark has been talking about switching from trailering our car to flat-towing. Now we may be able to consider it. In short, as traumatic as it is to be involved in a crash, all is not lost. It is only temporarily disrupted. I don't know what God has for us next, but I know He is good. Everything we have we got from Him in the first place. And He has promised to meet our needs when we trust and depend on Him.

Matthew 6:25-34"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

I'll try to post an update in the next day or two to follow up on what we've been doing since Monday. In the meantime, here are some more pictures of our "adventure"...