The Journey Continues

We left Nashville in a timely manner, heading south on I-65 through Birmingham towards Montgomery.  Sunday mornings are a good time to drive through big cities.   Our stop for the night was outside Prattville, AL in a rustic, hilly campground run by very nice people.  It was a bit off the beaten track, OK, it was a holler back in hills, but everyone had all their teeth so no stereotypic mental pictures apply.

It was in the 40’s, gloomy and a frost predicted for the night so we could de-winterize and put some water in our tank, but we wouldn’t be able to keep the water hooked up.  No problem, though, once we had water in the tank, all should be well, right?

Sadly – no.  We got all the antifreeze out of the lines, and put enough water in the tank for a day or so, but we could not get the hot water lines to run water.  Several hours of troubleshooting, turning valves, reading notes, etc., we went to bed dirty, discouraged and done for the night with still no hot water.  Well, cold is better than nothing.

This morning dawned sunny and still cool and all the ideas generated during sleepless moments were tested and advice from various RV forums considered and we were still no closer to hot water.  Luckily we were close to the bathhouse so we both showered and decided to move on, smelling better but frustrated.

White wine time!

What a difference 170 miles due south makes!  We’re in Florida, the sun is shining and we have windows open in the rig.  It’s about 65 deg. and sunny!  Yippee!  We’re in a nice RV park with good wifi, big sites and lots of amenities near Dufuniak Springs.  Our site is close to the bathhouse and we’ve opened the white wine and are waiting for a call back from the mobile RV repair-person.

Sunshine in FL

One of the blog readers asked if RVing was synonymous with suffering, and I thought a lot about that today while driving.  She was kidding us, but it does make one wonder.  Why drive this mobile money pit all over the country dealing with problem after costly, inconvenient problem?  Some people do give up and quit.  In our worst moments, we haven’t seriously considered that, even when a coolant leak forced us to the shoulder of the road in the Rocky Mountains during our first trip.

There are probably a couple of reasons we do it.  One is that this is still an amazing way to see the country.  Today on our drive out of the holler, a turkey crossed the road in front of us and later we saw a fox playing in a field. We meet people in places we would never get to otherwise.  I mean, how many of you would ever stay in Dufuniak Springs if you didn’t have an RV?  Secondly, we get to travel in our home-away-from-home complete with pets, favorite pillows and other comforts.  We don’t have to deal with the TSA or grimy airports or delays imposed by faceless corporate penny-pinchers.  Finally, there’s a certain satisfaction in problem solving and moving forward.  Granted, it’s usually inconvenient.  It’s frequently expensive but when we figure it out, it’s fun.  There are too few chances in my life to noodle on a problem, think long and hard and finally fix it…or let Robin pay someone to fix it.  So to Midge I say, hey, we’re having fun, really we are, most of the time.

One of our reasons for RVing

The RV repair tech just called, their rate is $290 just to show up, then $150/hour with a one hour minimum.  We going to go without hot water for a bit longer!