When we left for the winter last year, we had a bad surprise
when our leveling jacks didn’t work at our first RV stop. Without being level we were unable to put out
the 4 slides that turn the tunnel into reasonable living space. In addition, our water system had frozen and
once thawed it leaked so badly that we couldn’t hook up to the RV park water system
and had to work off our fresh water tank which meant showering in the various
parks’ bathhouses until we got it fixed.
Eventually the Navigator got really good at eyeballing level sites and
we lived without jacks all winter but all in all, It was not a comfortable start
to last year and we vowed this year would be different.
 |
| Nortie holding down the dash |
Chuck (the RV) spend most of this past summer up in Wausau,
WI at a dealer, getting the jacks and various other things fixed. As we brought it home we made vague plans to
get out for at least a weekend before we left for the winter so that we’d find
and fix any issues before the long trip.
Of course, life interfered and Chuck spent the remainder of the summer
in storage until about a week ago when we brought it home and started loading
it up. The good news – the jacks
worked. So yesterday we were ready to
go. Except of course for that pile of
stuff in the hallway that constituted the final 6 trips out to the rig. Which of course scared the cats enough that
they disappeared into that maze we call a basement. Finally, cats corralled, house locked, cars
moved, we turned the key and Chuck fired right up. The Navigator was in position, I shifted into
Reverse, released the airbrake and alarms started beeping hysterically. Oh yeah, those pesky jacks were still firmly
anchored to the ground preventing movement.
Oops. Reboot. Jacks up and but now the rig wasn’t airing up
and was sitting on its chassis instead of on the inflated airbags. 10 minutes of pumping the brakes and now we
were ready to go and we maneuvered out the driveway. Time to hook up the car, except do we really
remember how the auxiliary brake attaches?????
Several (6 or 8) tries later, that was working. Except did that tire look low? Get out that fancy digital gauge we bought 4
years ago and have never used. Oops,
dead battery in the gauge. We sat in
Chuck for 15 minutes debating the options starting with putting a “For Sale”
sign in the window and dropping it off at the RV dealer and driving to Tucson in
the car. Finally we got out and looked
and the tire looked better so we drove to the local truck stop for a possible
air fill. It looked even better so we
eschewed professional help and hit the highway. 5 hours later we were settled in Springfield, IL at the
basic, but inexpensive Illinois State Fairgrounds RV park for the night. After a good night’s sleep we were back on
the road today to St. Robert, MO. It was
a blessedly uneventful day’s drive and we are now comfortable ensconced at the
Magnuson Motel and RV park. Stay tuned,
we have another 119 days to go.
 |
| Magnuson Hotel and RV Park - Glamorous Living |
Another small oops -- lots of noise suddenly erupting from the mid section of the coach as we were speeding down the expressway -- one of the upper doors on our residential fridge (bigger than the one in Katie's home kitchen) had flown open; fortunately one of us was able to sidle back there & close & secure the door with velcro straps (while the other continued driving) before any foodstuffs spewed out all over the floor.
ReplyDeleteA lot of "excepts" and "opps" but you are on your way. Here come four wonderful months of events you can never get at home. Enjoy them and thanks for keeping us posted.
ReplyDelete