(Nighttime view of my new and complicated hitch)

I was this close today to turning the rig around and heading back to Seattle. After installing the weight distribution hitch at Camper World, we got back on I-5 heading south. Within miles, the same warning appeared just after I passed my favorite outlet mall on the planet (the one with the Banana Republic). My suspension was failing. Grandma and I stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and took a few minutes to gather our thoughts. I knew I needed to take the Land Rover in for service, but after making a few calls I found there was no dealership to the south until California. So it was 30 miles back to the Portland dealership for a checkup.

If this trip goes off without a hitch (thank you Ty), it will be due to the good folks at Land Rover Portland. They fit me into an already full garage, checked out my LR3, which was fine, and could have left it there and turned me away. But the shop foreman Scott walked down with me to the Airstream (which I had parked illegally in front of a drape shop--much to the freely expressed annoyance of the owner), helped me hook it up, adjusted the hitch, adjusted the weight control bars that had just this morning been installed, and gave me a bunch of other good tips. Scott tows huge trailers and knows his stuff. It was 3:30 before we finally got in the rig, and there was a moment where Grandma and I needed to decide whether to take the exit north and head home for safety or head south and resume the trip. I told her, let's give it a try, we've both put too much in already to just give up, and if we have the problem again we'll turn it around. We were just waiting for the scary beep.

We drove three solid hours, over some serious hills, and through rough construction. Not one beep. Tonight we're in Roseburg, and tomorrow we plan to head out early and make up time. I need to do one last test--fill the water tanks full and see if the Rover can take the weight. We will need to be full of fresh water when we cross the border, and if we can't handle the load we'll need to turn back or figure out something else to adjust.

I want to thank Scott, Ted, Josh, Bjorn and everyone at Land Rover Portland for all their help and the good people at Camper World in Wilsonville for fitting us in first thing in the a.m. Also gotta give props to Grandma for hanging in with me for two tough days. Tomorrow, we hope, will be smooth sailing.

Good night, Bill.