The Snake-Bit Tour of Texas

Yep, that’s the title of this portion of the trip.  The mirror was last seen hanging by its wires in San Antonio.  The dentist and his wife shared their insurance info with us and told us they arranged to have a serviceman order the part on Monday and come to us to fix it wherever we were whenever it came it.  So, on Monday we called the serviceman only to learn that the dentist, after hearing it could be a $700-1500 repair, had decided to file a claim with his insurance company and the service guy could do nothing until the insurance company, which shall remain nameless but is represented by an evil Gecko, took action.  Thus started 4 days of insurance hell as the Gecko delayed, obfuscated and obstructed.  Many calls to RV repair places and truck places found no help for the mirror or even a temporary fix.

Meanwhile, our friend Sandy was meeting us in Austin Monday afternoon and we had reservations at Blanco State Park so we had to move.  So Sunday, after checking several truck stops to no avail, we drove 45 miles to Camping World to try to find a temporary mirror of some sort.   $13 got us a small, convex mirror on a plastic arm.  After a roll of duct tape and some careful engineering by the Navigator we had it secured to the window frame.  Good enough for a short trip.

$13 and a roll of duct tape and the poor stub from the big mirror

We carefully cut the wires holding the big mirror, stashed it in the wine cellar bay and we rolled out on Monday, heading 50 miles up the road to Blanco State Park.

The always-interesting bridge to our campsite

 We love this park and we got the same site as last year.  A quick setup and then we were off to pick up Sandy.  After a grocery stop for some fresh fish we came back to Chuck, opened the door and discovered, to our horror, a pile of broken glass.  Somehow a safety glass panel in the inner screen door had shattered and pieces were lying on the rig steps and hanging on by shreds in the door.  We spent several hours picking glass up and out before finally making dinner and calling it a day.  We’re still not sure what caused the break, but surmise that over-exuberant cat play bounced the inner panel against a knob and caused the damage.  The real bummer is that we can’t use the screen door now to let air into the rig because the cats would escape.  We have plans for more duct tape fixes soon.

Tuesday brought more phone calls to the evil lizard’s company, more delays, more cell phone minutes wasted talking to snotty, unhelpful employees of the Lizard.  I have to give the Navigator credit for showing great patience when dealing with these folks.  They don’t make it easy.  Taking matters into our own hands, we went off to the nearest Tiffin dealer/repair shop for advice.  They agreed to order the part for us but couldn’t get us in for a repair until May.  We arranged for the part to be ordered and spent the rest of the day touring the hill country with Sandy.  The highlight for me was a return to the best kitchen store in North America in Fredericksburg, The Kuchen Laden.  I showed admirable restraint and spent less than $50 but thoroughly enjoyed the shopping.  You got to love a store that plays old b&w Julie Child shows continuously on a TV in the store.

Wednesday was more touring, shopping (including the 2^nd best kitchen store in North America) wine tasting, eating and phoning.

The 2nd best kitchen store in Wimberly, TX

Not much progress was made on the repair front but we tried.  But, while wine tasting, I saw across the road, hanging on the wall at an art gallery, a very cool vulture art piece.  I think vultures are nature’s perfect creatures and this just spoke to me.

Art gallery - note Ace Vultura upper left

We went across the road and guess what?  There was a different piece that spoke to the Navigator (no, not a vulture) that she bought, and then she bought me the vulture.  Ace Vultura is being shipped home and I can’t wait to show it to all of you. 

Then finally, today, is seems our luck is changing.  We found a mobile repair tech who will come to us on Tuesday afternoon.  We ate in a fun, funky spot in Austin and took Sandy to the airport.  The new mirror came in and we drove the 100 miles to pick it up.  An insurance adjuster finally called and she’s coming out first thing tomorrow morning to look at the damage.  We’re moving only 50 miles tomorrow and then we’ll be in one place for FIVE nights.  Yippee.  With any luck our luck has changesd and we’ll be heading north towards home on Wednesday.  If you’re the praying type, please say a prayer for poor Chuck.  If not a prayer, at least cross your fingers.  We’ll keep you posted.