You Think You've Got Problems, Bunky?

In this computer age, the best way to keep in touch with friends and family you don’t see often is through the Internet. That’s why we use this blog.

We’ve been following the blogs of other RVers to see what they are doing, where they are going. Friend Nick has a daily blog that is part of our morning routine. He’s been talking about tire and wheel problems that are deviling him, and now problems with reservations through a camping system we both use. Nick is very vocal about customer service. When it’s good, he brags to us (and hundreds of other readers) about it. When it’s bad, he’s just as vocal about that.

We have just come up against a number of problems (or, as we prefer to call them, opportunities) just since we left The Caverns Saturday and moved back to Benson.

1. One of our hydraulic jacks on the motorhome refuses to fully retract. (For our non-RVer readers, the jacks are used to level the motorhome when we park.) The left front jack retracts very slowly, and now stops about 2 inches from where it should. While that gives us plenty of driving clearance, it’s irritating to hear a warning beep from the hydraulic system all the time we are driving!

2. This morning our heat pump failed to turn on when I upped the thermostat. That has happened before, but all I’ve had to do was to reset a circuit breaker to get it back in service. This morning that didn’t do the job.

3. We picked up our forwarded mail this weekend and found that several organizations still haven’t accepted the change of address we gave them months ago! We’re still getting their mail through a final wrap-up program our former mail forwarder uses, but that’s about to expire. In the future, mail addressed to our old address will just be returned to sender or dumped in the garbage can.

4. We’ve discovered that critters have moved in under our casita! There were a couple of access holes we had tried to close with concrete chunks, but the critters have dug in around and beneath them. The typical critters that do that in this park are rats and rattlesnakes. We don’t know which we have, but we have called a pest control service to come out and help us.

5. Our Suzuki SUV has a brake light at the top of the rear window. Lots of cars do. Ours happens to be hanging by two wires and swinging free. That’s not good. We are able to duct tape it into position as a temporary fix, but that has to be done daily, as sunlight destroys the tape’s adhesive property.

While all of these opportunities can and must be addressed, what makes them particularly awkward is that today is Tuesday, next Monday we are hitting the road for probably six months, and this week is already just about full of appointments and preparations for the trip.

What do we plan to do?

The heat pump may not seem to be critical, since the weather is warming up and we have a gas furnace also. However, the heat pump is also our air conditioner and we’re heading for OKLAHOMA and ARKANSAS for the SUMMER! We’ve got to get that fixed. RV service facilities typically have a three-week waiting list to get an appointment, so we may have to plan ahead and arrange for service in Amarillo or somewhere on our route.

We’ll call the manufacturer of the leveler. Maybe they can next-day deliver a new set of heavier springs. We know of others who have done that to their satisfaction.

We’ll make a lot of phone calls on the address change problems and try to sweet-talk the robots on the other end.

Wednesday we’ll take the car to the Suzuki dealership in Sierra Vista, 35 miles away, for the brake light problem.

So we have our hands full and our hearts high, because, as every RVer knows, it’s all part of the adventure. We won’t let these little “opportunities” to discourage us on … Our Life on Wheels.