Monday, December 29, 2025 was a move day and it started just like any other move day. We had spent about 2 months in FL near my (Kelly’s) parents and sister. We were on our way to TX to stay with Cori & Greg and get some solar installs done. Along the way we were meeting up with James & Cindy at the Slidell LA Elks Lodge and celebrate New Years Eve together. We had signed up for the party the Elks were having and we were excited. They were on their way to FL for some window repairs and to attend the Tampa RV Show.

The car and truck had full tanks, the trailer had 3 or 4 days worth of water, black and grey tanks were empty. Maintenance had been completed. Callie was comfortable in the back seat of the car in her crate. The route, which was very familiar, was plugged into the GPS. We lifted our jacks and headed out about 9:45am.

When we leave out of Avalon, in order to head north we have to turn right, or south, on the frontage road, then make a U-Turn under the highway at the first traffic light. This allows us to get onto Hwy 19 N, which we did. A few cars managed to get in between us during this time and I could only see the top of the trailer. Maybe a minute later, I noticed smoke. I could not tell where it was coming from but I radio’d Bill to ask if he knew. He told me people were motioning to him to pull over, so he had put his blinker on to move over. As he moved, I could see the truck and I freaked out as I realized he (the underneath of the truck) was on fire! I began screaming into the radio – YOU ARE ON FIRE! I immediately dialed 911 on my phone. I managed to tell the operator that my husbands truck was on fire and where we were. I also moved over to the right and pulled over, keeping a distance between us.

Bill hopped out of the truck and grabbed something out of the back, then laid on the ground and emptied a fire extinguisher onto the fire. He then went back to the trailer, went inside and came out with our other 2 extinguishers and emptied them. A UPS truck stopped and gave him his much larger fire extinguisher, which got emptied on it.

During this time, I was still on the phone with 911, and the fire trucks were heading south, having to make the same U-Turn we did to get onto the northbound lanes. I remember being so afraid. Someone had stopped and was asking me if I was ok; asking me if anyone was in the trailer or truck, if any pets were inside. I remember asking “Who are you?” She was an off duty fire fighter/EMT, and she stayed with me the whole time, explaining what the firemen were doing. Did you know that diesel usually doesn’t explode like gas? Did you know diesel burns hotter than gas and is harder to put out? Did you know they use a foam type fire suppressant on diesel to put it out? The fire fighter lady described it “it will look like Christmas”. I didn’t know any of that then, but I do now. I would have preferred to learn a different way.

Bill did come and check on me but mostly stayed near the firemen, telling them about the lithium batteries we had. He also went back into the trailer to grab stuff out of our safe, like our passports, some cash, jewelry. While I was happy to have those things, I was not very happy that he went back into the trailer.

At some point, the front tires blew – and that’s a noise I never want to hear again. Also around that time, the fuel leaked out completely and puddled under the trailer and that’s when the trailer caught. It was shocking to watch the scene happening; it was like something you watch on the TV news, and you are thinking “Those poor people” but that day Bill and I were those poor people and it was right in front of us, close enough to smell our truck and home burning, close enough to feel the heat and the explosion.

I want you to realize, reading this probably took only slightly less time than real time. It happened so fast, although at the time it felt like forever. Based on my call log, it was 7 minutes from when I called (and wasn’t even pulled over yet), until I hung up because the calvary had arrived and was doing their thing.

What we’ve been asked most often (after “are you and Callie ok?”) is do we know how the fire started. We will never know for sure, but what Bill suspects is that a plastic filter housing cracked and leaked fuel onto the engine compartment. It is a known issue on SOME F350’s, but supposedly not our exact year or VIN. Some had been recalled, but ours had no active recalls.

Since that day, life has been a blur; completely overwhelming at times. Dealing with the insurance, finding a new truck and trailer. Learning how to breathe quietly again. It was one of those events that will define time – stuff before the fire and stuff after.

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about the insurance. We had an “agreed upon amount” full-timers policy with Progressive, which was basically the best we could get after the trailer was 5 years old and we couldn’t have replacement cost anymore. Our agreed upon amount was $48,800. Progressive decided on the amount and I have no idea how they got it, but at the time we felt it was fair so we agreed to it. Also attached to the trailer policy was “emergency funds” of up to $7,500, which covered hotel and food (and car rental if we had needed one) up to the policy amount. There was also an amount for personal effects, $10,000, which was broken down into categories, each category having it’s own limit. Most of our items went under “miscellaneous”. We had full comprehensive and collision on the truck. Also of note, we learned the fire falls under comprehensive so that means our rates will not go up as much as it would have had it been a collision. That’s one small sliver of good news.

Rather than type out a blow-by-blow, I’ll just tell you the standout things that I think are important. First, we tried to take a moment to breathe. It was not easy. We knew right away it could have been so much worse. Second, while you do need to notify your insurance right away, it is likely you will be a bit of a mess – I sure was, and Bill wasn’t far behind, but between us, we had enough presence of mind to record conversations with the insurance adjuster. This proved invaluable. I also followed up conversations with emails, in case I misunderstood or misheard, or whatever, giving the adjuster an opportunity to say “no – that isn’t right…” and correct it.

Before we get more into it – best thing to do is be prepared for a claim and just hope you never need it. We got lucky (read back – Bill’s quick action with fire extinguishers and UPS guy with fire extinguisher) that we didn’t loose EVERYTHING. We were able to retrieve a lot of stuff. Some was damaged and not usable, but at least we knew what to claim. PSA – take pics or video of all your stuff or make a list. When going through everything, we are 100% certain there are things we would have forgotten about. Clothes/towels/sheets, etc. weren’t burnt but they had smoke damage. Same for sneakers and hiking shoes and sandals. Some clothes, after soaking and washing were ok, a lot wasn’t. Soot does not come out easily. The only way I was able to save my brand new pillows was I had invested in zippered pillow covers and that kept soot off. Just had to switch pillow covers. Thankfully food in the freezer and refrigerator were fine. Can goods and stuff in containers in the pantry closet were mostly ok, but needed significant cleaning. Bill was able to manually open kitchen slide enough so I could get my pots and dishes. We were able to save our Instapot, food processor, and coffee pot (although they were all soot covered and needed significant washing off). Our Traeger was an unfortunate casualty, as we assume water got in it when firemen opened the basement and sprayed in there. Our camp chairs didn’t make it, they were soot covered then wet and got so hot the metal was singed. A lot of clothes hanging in the closet had to go; they didn’t look bad initially but then when handling them, soot came off onto our hands and we also noticed the hangers (I use the velvet ones with metal hooks) were singed. Clothes in drawers faired better, although some items on top had to go. Items in the laundry baskets had to go, although the baskets themselves were fine after wiping them out. Items in our safe were fine (titles, passports, etc.) but other paperwork that was in a bin didn’t make it after it was soot covered and then wet. What a mess.The pictures in frames on the walls were ok, frames not so much. Some of the girls art-work was untouched, some got yucky. I am very grateful we were able to save anything at all.

In order to file for the emergency funds we had to submit receipts for food and hotel. Progressive made it easy, we just took pics of the receipts and emailed them to our adjuster. The personal property was a little different. We misunderstood initially (remember I told you to record and relisten?) thinking he said we needed receipts for our ruined items when they were purchased, which made no sense. Came to find out he needed pics of items and either a receipt of replacement OR a link to item to show how much it will be to replace. We also had to leave items being claimed with the trailer, which makes sense. They don’t want people claiming stuff then keeping it and using it. In the insurance world they call that fraud and that’s big time frowned upon AND illegal.

You may be wondering about our solar system. Bill was told (in an email) he could remove it since it was added and not part of the initial purchase. Well, the owner of the lot where the truck and trailer was towed to didn’t like him up on the roof. James & Cindy had come for the day to help us out and Bill and James got kicked off the roof, unable to get all the panels or MicroAirs. Thankfully he was able to get our (fairly new) batteries, inverters (yes we had 2), and some other associated solar items. These items were in our generator box, so I guess mostly protected. We were told later by a different person at Progressive none of the solar should have been removed. That person said if we wanted coverage for the solar, we should have itemized it and paid extra for it. Kind of like adding a diamond ring to a home owners. We are still not sure who was right. Lesson from this is if you have anything of significant value – make sure it’s insured as a named item, or be willing to risk losing it.

Immediately after the incident, after the fire department was done, a tow truck came to take the remains of our truck and home away. Needless to say we were in a bit of shock. We followed them to the lot and we were allowed to go inside and get some of our stuff, laptops, pics off the walls, kids artwork, previously mentioned pillows, toiletries and some clothes out of drawers. We decided the next thing to do was rent a storage garage to put as much as we could save into it. Thankfully a lot of client items were in my car and untouched. Some items in my living room were totally fine. Stuff in the truck, including a lot of Bill’s tools, some was ok, some not-so-much. The bins he used to keep the bed of the truck organized melted into the sprayed in bed liner. Tools that were in the basement got wet and rusted. He’s been able to clean some of them up, some have to be replaced.

At this point, I want to tell you about how fast information can spread. There were a couple of things -while we were on the side of the road and the fire was still active, my phone rang. It was our campground, the one we had just left out of. I guess it was force of habit, but I answered. It was Pam, the campground manager, wanting to know if we were ok. I told her not really, but how did she know? She had been driving by and saw us. She offered to help in any way she could. As grateful as I was, there wasn’t anything she could do, but I thanked her for calling.

Second thing was after we had finished at the tow lot. I was just looking at my phone and had a notification that someone we knew through Fantasy had messaged me. They were asking if we were ok. I replied we were and how did they know? They weren’t currently online so I didn’t get an answer right away. Neither of us had posted anything or called anyone, so I couldn’t understand it. I checked Facebook and there was a post by Clearwater Fire & Rescue about the fire that included pics. Someone from a Heartland page (our Landmark is a Heartland) saw it and reposted. Bill and I are somewhat active on that page, so we got some messages from people there. Someone saw that post and recognized our rig (partly from our Fantasy RV Tours Ambassador sticker) an reposted to their page and to a Fantasy page. Another someone from Fantasy reposted to their page. Then Kara, our “boss” at Fantasy, saw it and emailed me with “Fire?” in the subject, asking if it was us and were we ok. She relayed her phone and email were “blowing up” because people saw the Ambassador sticker and wanted to make sure we were ok, asking if there was any help they could provide. Keep in mind, we only knew the one guy, we hadn’t met any of the others, all they knew about us was we were Ambassadors and Heartland owners. Needless to say, as emotional as I was, I was in tears.

At this point, we were already on our way to my Moms. I was going to just wait until we got there to tell them but I changed my mind and called then because I didn’t want her to see it on Facebook first. I also called my kids.

While Facebook can be an excellent tool for keeping in touch, especially for those of us who don’t stay still in one place for long, it can also be a bit of a nuisance. While most peoples comments on the above mentioned posts, and later my own post, were kind and caring and seemed genuinely upset for us, there were also the snarks. Can I say it out loud? – there is a special place in hell for snarky people. They are basically the know-it-alls, or rather they THINK they know it all. In truth, they know nothing. Questions like “why didn’t they disconnect?” or comments like “I would have… differently” are typed by snarky people trying to make themselves seem smarter than they actually are. Let me be clear – there was no way we could have disconnected. Even if the truck hadn’t stalled due to no fuel reaching the engine, the truck was ON FIRE. Why anyone thinks it would be a good idea to be INSIDE the truck to attempt to move it at that time is beyond me and they are an idiot. Maybe that’s mean of me to say, but too bad. How do they think a question or comment like that is helpful? For the record – it isn’t. In case it isn’t obvious, when someone is experiencing one of the worse days of their lives, don’t be a snark – be KIND. As far as what you (the snark) thinks you would have done differently – thanks for your Monday morning quarterbacking, but again – it’s not helpful. You weren’t there and you know nothing. There were several people who reached out and asked what caused the fire and genuinely wanted to know how it happened in order to maybe better prepare themselves for the possibility it could happen to them, and I am more than happy to talk to those people.

Over the next few days, especially after I posted my own pics on my page(s), my phone blew up with texts, PM’s, and voice mails. At first I couldn’t answer them. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. Bill and I had so much to do to get stuff out of the trailer and decide what we would try to salvage and what to just let go. After a few nights at my parents, and learning the emergency money (up to $7,500) covered hotel costs, we moved into a Home2Suites. We choose it because of it’s location, hot breakfast everyday and small kitchenette in the room (with microwave, induction burner, and apartment size refrigerator.) Callie stayed with my Mom, I didn’t want to confuse her with another new place, especially since it wouldn’t be a permanent new place.

It became clear the $10,000 for personal property was not as much as we thought it was. I have already bumped up that amount on our current policy because if we had a total loss on contents $10,000 wouldn’t be near enough. Even considering all we saved we still reached the max.

My PSA (public service announcement) after all this is: BUY FIRE EXTINGUISHERS! Keep them handy. I 100% believe that the ONLY reason we didn’t have a 100% loss of EVERYTHING is because we had multiple fire extinguishers (and the one from the UPS guy) and Bill’s quick thinking to use them. We already have 4 in our new home and one in the truck. I’ll get one for the car when we get back to FL.

While dealing with the insurance company and all our stuff, we also started looking at trucks and 5th wheels. I was asked at one point if we would be staying out on the road or settling down now. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the thought did cross my mind. We decided we just aren’t ready to settle down fully yet. Between the money we got from insurance and what we took out of our “house fund” that we spent on the new-to-us combo, we could have bought a small house. It’s just not time yet.

At first I thought being in FL would be an awesome thing for looking for a new to us rig. I was asked if we would be buying new again and we knew that was not an option. We didn’t think it was necessary. We knew early on we would be looking at Landmarks, DRV’s, maybe Riverstones, maybe a Pinnacle. After viewing a few at a Camping World and also a General RV, we quickly narrowed it down to a well cared for newer Landmark (2018-2023) or DRV Mobile Suites same years. Bill has a lot of “insider knowledge” due to the solar business and we put that to good use.

Once we narrowed down the search parameters, it made it both easier and more difficult at the same time. Early on, we saw a 2021 DRV Mobile Suites 36RKSB and we really liked it a lot. It became the one to beat. We also knew we liked the Landmark OshKosh. We knew we weren’t fans of the center hall, or walk-through bathroom (where the shower is open and there is a separate water closet – sometimes with a sink, sometimes not, sometimes sink in actual bedroom). We knew we wanted to stay at or under 40′. I preferred to find something that had lighter wood, as our Landmark was very dark. I also wanted a totally different floorplan, if possible, from our Landmark. That narrows it down a lot believe it or not. We love the Landmark Newport, which was the original front bathroom floorplan, (and there were a lot of those for sale) but they are over 42′ and we just didn’t want to do it.

Reaching out to friends and DRV owners Les & Sue was next on our to do list. We wanted their experienced review and we knew they would be honest about the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding DRV’s. The told us all about what they loved and where the weak spots were in their (and other DRV owner friends) home. Thanks again Les & Sue for all your help and support!

We knew both Camping World and General RV had not-so-good reputations and we didn’t prefer to buy from them, but we also knew they would have the largest selections. We visited quite a few within an hour and a half drive. We fell in love with the DRV I mentioned above, but there was floor damage inside in the kitchen area and also on 3 of the 4 slide floors. We tried to get them to say they would fix it but they wanted money and we said no. We explained we liked the trailer but would not make an offer until it was fixed. (as of this writing almost a month later, the price has been dropped over $10,000 but it is still for sale at General RV in Ocala – I’m willing to bet money they are still trying to sell it without fixing it)

Bill knew he wanted to stay with a Ford truck. We didn’t want too many miles, but we also didn’t want too few miles. Like our first truck, we didn’t feel the need for the crew cab option, an extended or super cab would be fine. Lariat trim line preferred. Bill did a lot of research on dealers and picked two within a half hours drive to focus on. He found us a perfect for us truck at Karl Flammer Ford in Tarpon Springs. It is a small, family owned dealership. Our salesman Jordan, was equal parts knowledge and relaxed. He never pressured us at all, instead letting the truck speak for itself. The price was good so we didn’t feel the need to haggle; the only thing we asked for was new tires. Well, the truck had brand new tires, but we didn’t want knobby off-road tires. Bill insisted on Michelins and after a quickly fixed snafu, we left with 6 brand new Michelin LTX AT tires. Highly recommend this dealership – how often can you say that?

Along with my sister, we took a day off to go with James & Cindy to the Tampa RV show. They invited us back to their RV, which was parked nearby at the Brandon Elks Lodge, and we spent some time there visiting. James pulled up the website of one of the best known and the premier DRV dealership in the county, Rolling Retreats. They had a 2020 36RKSB on their website. We discussed the excellent reputation they had and we read all their online reviews. The owner, Alicia, has her own DRV Facebook page, and I asked to join it. We talked about how far away they (1400+ miles in Elk City OK) were but how if we didn’t find anything closer, we should consider it. Later that night, after being accepted into the group, I started reading posts. I liked Alicia. She seemed honest. I liked how she didn’t take any s*** from anyone, but said it with a smile. Someone had said something implying her husband Slade had lied to them, and she let them have it – politely but firmly. I decided to send her a PM. I briefly explained about the fire, how we were full-timers for 11 years and needed a new home. I said we were focusing on DRV’s under 40′. I immediately saw the avatar pic and typing bubbles. It was then that I realized it was after 10pm (9PM her time) She said she had a 36RKSB on her lot and she told me a price, which was less than the price on her website. I also received a link to the ad, plus a link to a video her daughter created. A list of all the things they’ve done to it already was next. They had added a lifetime roof to it, had replaced 3 of 4 slide floors (water intrusion was common on slide floors for certain years), etc. etc. etc.

Bill and I decided to take the risk and put a deposit on it and take our new truck to go see it. We couldn’t go until insurance was settled, but once we left the deposit, Alicia said don’t worry about it, take our time. We received our money on a Friday and planned to leave Saturday, but that was when the south was getting snow dumped on it. We headed out on Monday. Fully expecting to buy it, we loaded up and towed a UHaul trailer with a lot of our belongings in it. It took 4 days to get out there.

Since this is getting so long, I’ll cut to the chase – we absolutely loved it and it is now our new to us home on wheels! The trailer was everything Alicia promised and more. We stayed in it nearby for 4 nights, finding a few small things that they easily fixed for us. We also ended up buying a used TrailerSaver hitch from them, which they installed in the truck for us. We took that time to empty the UHaul and try to figure out where things could go. The floorplan is so different (which we wanted and love) but it makes it somewhat harder to decide where stuff should go.

Interesting side note: The day we signed the papers to buy the trailer was exactly month to the day from the date of the fire.

Our claim has been closed for about 2 weeks now. I submitted and got paid for the last of our emergency funds. We didn’t need all the $7500 allowed by the policy but we got all we submitted. I can see how it could get used up if we had taken longer to find our perfect home.

The most important things we are grateful for is that no one was hurt – physically anyway. Emotionally is another story. Lots of people asked about Callie and she is fine. She travels in my car so she was safe the whole time.( PSA – this is just one reason why it is a bad idea to allow a pet to travel in the trailer)

We are also grateful we didn’t lose more than we did. I was able to retrieve the family pics and artwork from the girls. That makes me happy, as they are now hanging in my new home.

Now – I want to call out some special people.

First – The UPS guy who stopped and gave us his fire extinguisher. I am 100% sure we would have lost a lot more things if he hadn’t stopped. BTW – I didn’t get his name, but I did reach out to UPS and told them about what he did. I asked he not get in trouble for giving away a fire extinguisher that probably wasn’t his to give, that he saved my stuff.

Second – Clearwater Fire & Rescue. They came as fast as they could and got the fire out. Bill and I brought muffins and cookies to the 2 stations that responded. They were awesome!

Third – the off-duty fire fighter that stopped and stayed with me. Again, I didn’t get her name, but I did describe her to the people in charge at the 2 stations and they said they would let her know we stopped by to express our thanks.

Fourth – my parents. Not only did they let us stay, they said we could have stayed as long as needed. That turned out to be about a week until we got a hotel. While we appreciate their offer to stay longer, the insurance covered the hotel and my parents are still doing the most important thing taking care of Callie.

Fifth – my sister, who came down on her day off to (twice) to help us move stuff; and offer support.

Sixth – James & Cindy who helped us empty the trailer and also opened their home and yard to us and helped Bill put the initial solar on our new-to-us home-on-wheels. Their kindness and generosity brings tears to my eyes.

Seventh – Linda & Howard who reached out to offer their newly empty home to stay in (they were getting it ready to sell).

Eighth – all the other people who reached out – asking if we were ok, asking if they could do anything, just making sure we felt the love and cared for. All our friends. All the Heartland people. All the Fantasy people. All the strangers on the internet that had kind words.

Ninth – Jordan and the people at Karl Flammer Ford. They were awesome. There was a misunderstanding and they made good on it. Sometimes when in that situation it isn’t about all going perfectly – its about how they handle a conflict – and this dealership is the real deal.

Tenth – Alicia, Dell, Slade, and all the Rolling Retreats people. I cannot express enough our gratitude for their kindness, for their professionalism, and their care. How many dealerships do you know that would buy new sheets, pillows, and a comforter – launder them! – and make the bed so you can sleep your first night in your new home? Best I can do for them is just say thank you and tell everyone I meet to go buy their DRV from them. Even if you don’t want a DRV, you can get a new lifetime warranty sprayed on roof. I can hardly believe I’m saying this but it was 100% worth the 1,400 mile drive to get our new home.

We are now at The Center for Mental Wellness with Cori & Greg. As always we are grateful for them too! Life is slowly returning to the new normal. Except we still don’t have Callie with us. My Mom is taking excellent care of her. I miss her pretty bad. We are still adjusting to the truck and trailer. Sleep is finally getting back to normal. Bill is catching up with installs.

I guess I should mention, we are also grateful for our clients that were very understanding when we couldn’t make it to TX for their scheduled installs. Thankfully one was local so he was very flexible, the other 2 we managed to reschedule. We have awesome clients!

Who wants to see pics of our new-to-us truck and home-on-wheels?

I thought you might.

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