As I read your posts regarding your recent misfortune with your RV, I found myself giggling hysterically. I know so well how you feel and took the liberty of posting some of my blogs from last year when I came up with a brilliant plan to buy an inexpensive RV, so we could spend more family time together when d/h was working out of town in the summer. They say misery loves company, so hopefully my misadventures will make you smile. Fasten your seatbelt, this is a very long story. I had to break it up into several posts because of its length. June 22, 2006 OK I am very green to this whole fifth wheel gig. I went to the dealer this morning armed with my pre-delivery checklist. Which was a lifesaver...since when I arrived at the dealer they tried to usher me into the office to sign the paperwork and I said Woah!!!! I have some stuff on the trailer I want to look at before I sign anything, so they looked at me like I was a crazy woman and left me alone while I ran through all the items on my list. I nearly didn't look underneath the trailer thinking, would I know what the heck I am looking for if it came up and bit me? When I told myself I must perform my due diligence and look even if I didn't have a clue what I was looking at. Well there I am on all fours crawling around the perimeter of the trailer with a flashlight, when all of the sudden I spot a big crack in the side of what appeared to be my black tank (since it was under the bathroom and had the bigger drain, I figured thats what it must be) So I went in and announced to the dealer people who were trying to get me to sign stuff, that there was a big problem and I needed someone to come out and help me resolve it. The tech went out and immediately repaired it with some sort of handy dandy stuff and he explained how the mechanics of the RV worked and how to perform the basic necessary functions, installed my hitch and mirrors, adjusted my brakes and he sent me on my way into a lovely thunderstorm. Well I drove about 10 miles down the interstate and the visibility was getting bad due to driving rain and wind so I pulled off at the next exit into a deserted parking lot of a hotel that was no longer in business, where I practiced backing up until things cleared up a bit. I got home and cleaned the living daylights out of it and since my neighbor is an experienced fifth wheeler, I invited him and his wife over for their advice and opinions, he pointed out some tiny little age cracks I missed and suggested that I get new tires pretty soon. So since I didn't spend nearly enough money today, I decided to call my not-so-friendly Walmart store about a half an hour away and see if they would take care of putting new tires on it for me they said sure, so I said I'd be right over. So I grab d/s and d/d ages 3 and 6, Headed out to the truck which I had parked on our dead end lane, when I realized after many attempts that I am not capable of backing the beast up in a straight line, even though I can turn great (even when I am not trying to.) So the kids are getting impatient and obnoxious, I am really starting to lose my cool. Did I mention that the "Screaming Cha-Cha" (Our '87 F250) doesn't have functioning a/c? So after numerous attempts I finally got so PO'ed I gave up and drove the truck and camper in a big circle through the yard. So now my south lawn is a circle drive (did I mention it rained today?) Anywho..I get to my not-so friendly Walmart and announce that I am the lady who called about getting new tires on my fifth wheel and asked where they'd like me to park it. Well the lady says to me Ma'am you have to take the wheels off the trailer before we can put tires on it, and I flipped! I asked "well how in the #$%&#$% am I supposed to do that and ya know that little tidbit of information would have been a lot more useful before I drove my two whiney overheated little kids, the screamin cha-cha and the fifth wheel out here for nothing, not to mention turning my lawn into a crop circle because the blasted thing won't back up in a straight line. Get the store manager down here now!" The poor guy came and I was still fuming so I gave him a blast too. He was really understanding and really felt bad for the aggravation the ding dongs caused and offerred me a $25 gift card for my trouble, which I did appreciate and I started to decompress enough to go shopping for a few other items we needed for our acquisition. I went off and bought some new bedding and other stuff and the whole time d/s was telling me that his tummy hurt and he needed some stomach meds, which I thought was a ploy to get me to buy Rolaids chews which he loves. I was so wrong. We get through the checkout, I pay for our purchases and all the while d/s is getting greener and greener when as we're leaving he begins to spew all over like Mt. Vesuvius and it was bright purple (grape nehi)so we attracted lots of attention. Well we walk out to where the fifth wheel and the screamin cha-cha are parked and d/s has sticky pukey grape nehi all over his flip flops and legs so it seemed really cool that I could put him in the shower of the camper and hose him down, Very nifty!!! So I guess thats one benefit to taking your camper shopping. So to make a long story short, the day has been full of "learning experiences" 1. I learned not to assume that anyone has inspected your trailer and don't take anything for granted prior to signing those papers at the dealer. 2.I learned how to back up while turning. 3. I learned that Walmart is not a good place to get new tires for your fifth wheel unless you are comfortable leaving it up on blocks while you go and get new tires (not my cup of tea) 4. I learned that all you folks here are pretty cool and have helped me a bunch already. Thanks! So RV guru's please share with me, where/how do you get new tires when you need them and how do you back it up in a straight line. Thanks!
June 23, 2006 (later that same night) You all are the best! Since I pulled in to our dead end lane head first again tonight, I guess I'll give it another go tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get the hang of going straight, since I am doing so well at turning while going backwards, and I go forward real good lol! Thanks for all the compliments on my writing, honestly I wish I had a good enough imagination to make some of this stuff up, but geez louise its just my life. I just hope to heck the neighbors were all at work today when I was trying to back that thing out while screaming like a banshee for the kids to stop whining and be quiet. There have been so many funny things that have happened in our quest for an RV. The most ironic part of our ordeal is that I swear we've probably driven over 2000 miles trying to find the right RV for us and then we go down the road 20 minutes and there she is. Without a doubt the dealer thinks I'm insane (he's right you know) The salesman tried to sell me a whole new hitch complete with new rails, new 7 pin connector and a host of other stuff I didn't need and was quite upset when I told him to take it all off the purchase agreement and then I waited until today purchase only the hitch, since I already had the 7 pin and rails in the truck. I stopped at the dealer last week and asked the owner what kind of towing mirror's they carried, he promptly turns his back on me and says "sir what kind of vehicle will you be driving"? Luckily my hubby realised how incredibly rude the guy was and instructs him that "the wife is capable of answering that question" Then yesterday I had a thought that perhaps I should call the dealer just to confirm our delivery appointment at 10:00 today, and thought heck no! I am not going to give them any excuse to put this off longer since I had waited 10 days already for them to put a new cooling unit in the fridge. I swear 3 minutes later the phone rang and it was the salesman telling me how backed up they were and asking me if I wouldn't mind taking delivery of the RV on Friday instead. Well I am not too fond or trusting of this guy anyway, So I said Oh gee well ya know that just won't work, cause I am gonna be camping Friday in my fifth wheel. I've already made plans and shoot if I don't take delivery of it til Friday, then I can't go camping until Saturday and that just won't work, sorry buh bye. Now I probably would have been a little more accomodating but right on the bulletin board where they schedule RV deliverys is a poster that says... "Lack of planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on our part." So I figure that street runs both ways. When I did show up today the sales dude was no where to be found, so basically I think he was trying to reschedule the delivery because he wasn't going to be there and it really had little to do with the service departments workload. The one redeeming factor is the Technician who I really liked and enjoyed having him handle the majority of the delivery. He was great, told the truth and fixed my problems. My d/h would have gladly subjected himself to this whole ordeal except he is out of town working and can only be home on the weekends for the next several weeks and the dealership doesn't perform deliverys on Saturdays. So unless we wanted to wait until d/h was free on a weekday, then I was the only one available to Git R Done. So on to the next RVing adventure... June 23, 2006 OK I am going to try to back her up again here in a minute. I have no choice since I found a place not too far away that has my tires at a great price and will actually take them off the trailer...and put them back on again, woohoo!!! Now thats customer service, lol! As a safety precaution, I am drinking a cup of coffee before attempting my latest feat of backing in a straight line. I also dropped off the 3 year old at the babysitter so that should cut the whining in about half. On a bright note, my 6 year old is no longer spewing grape nehi and appears to be on the mend, but I have decided to put off our first camping trip until I know he is all clear. June 23, 2006 Well I had another go at backing up this morning. It went better than yesterday but still not too great. I was just so excited I kept it straight for quite a ways before things went out of kilter. Well about the time I was ready to make another crop circle in the yard, the neighbor's son came out and asked me if I might need a little help, which I gladly accepted. He gave great verbal instructions and backing it up and turning around only took about 30 seconds. One of the things I realized is that I was not being nearly aggressive enough when correcting. So it was really a great learning experience that I got a lot out of it. So perhaps I'll try tomorrow, or I may just get a little comedy relief sitting on the front porch watching d/h try to back it up for the first time. ( yes I am evil) BTW I got my new tires today and everything went great. Thanks to all of you for your assistance! June 26, 2006 Well we made it to the campground and spent our first of what we hope to be many nights in our fifth wheel. Looks as though d/h will be working up here in Fort Wayne quite a bit over the next couple of months, and since I like it at this little campground a lot, I don't mind coming up here to join him with the kids. Its very quiet and tranquil. I really like my little 5th wheel, I have to say it has everything we need and more. I am becoming less and less impressed with the dealer we purchased it from though. I asked them how to operate the water heater, they gave me incorrect directions, I asked them where the spare tire was for the trailer and the guy said it didn't have one and I'd have to purchase one myself and have it mounted on the back. Sure glad I didn't, because I found there's already one mounted underneath. When I went to get it licensed at the DMV, they couldn't find a VIN number anyway and since there was a bad accident nearby, the police were too busy to come help to find it. The Lady told me there was no way they would or could license it without it, so I called the dealer and asked them where the VIN could be found to which he replied, Geez I dunno. So obviously if any of you are trailer theives this place would be a great place to unload your stolen goods since they don't bother to verify if the title belongs to the trailer you've sold or traded to them. If a car dealer did that, they'd be crucified. Well I took the trailer back to our town and looked for my favorite local law enforcement official and asked him to please help me find the VIN number. Luckily this fellow is a wonderful human being and he went so far to climb into the back of my truck, which is no small feat when you have a fifth wheel hitched to it, and went all over the pin with steel wool until he rubbed off layers of paint, rust and oxidation and found the numbers stamped deep beneath the yuck and muck. Luckily they matched, because I told the dealer if I was unable to title it, he'd be getting it back. One of the other silly things I was told at the dealership was that I needed to put in a second battery to make the radio work. The guy went so far to draw me a picture of where that battery should go etc... Well when I got the trailer home I was looking around and exploring thinking well, I wonder what will happen if I hit this toggle switch under the radio? Well guess what, it turns it on! Then I decided since the fridge is a 3 way, I would turn it to 12V for the trip here to see how it does. To make a long story short it didn't work on 12V and I have a sneaking suspicion that might be the purpose of that 2nd battery. Someone must have been watching out for us, I don't know how we ended up with a decent trailer, because it is obvious the dealer didn't take a look at it aside from replacing the fridge cooling unit since the previous owner must have told them about it when trading, because they were unaware of the big hole in the black tank, until I spotted it. Its kind of funny because when I picked up the trailer, the owner was telling a customer how they check everything out on the trailers and never sell them as is. How he wouldn't sell a trailer unless he would let his own family use it. A real piece of work eh? But on a positive note. It is a nice trailer the whole family likes it alot. I am really enjoying this campground here in Ft. Wayne. It is so quiet and all you hear are birds chirping. Last night when we checked in, they gave us all the vital info and told us where the dumping station was and told me that I could dump for free or they'd dump it for me for $5.00. OK now I have not camped in an RV since the 80's but I never recalling anyone offering to to dump it for you before. I had this visual image of puuling up to the dump station and some guy emerging in a hazmat suit and emptying the doo doo. Well this whole service piqued my interest, so of course I had to ask. So when a hosty stopped by today to inform me the access codes ( I like the fact they have access codes)have changed on the showerhouse locks, I felt compelled to inquire about this service. She said that a guy in a truck will come to your site and empty the tanks on your trailer for five bucks so you don't have to go and hitch it all back up just to dump. I thought this was way cool, so I told her I wanted to have the guy come down, since at this point who knows how long it had been since this railer had been emptied. So he came out and now she's clean as a whistle. So long story short, I like my trailer, I think we made a great decision, we just have a couple of things that need a little attention on it, but it is great.
June 28, 2006 We are staying at the Johnny Appleseed campground. It is owned by the City of Ft. Wayne right behind the Coliseum on Coliseum Blvd. Its surrounded by lots of things for me and the kids to do in town, but has a very rustic atmosphere right next to the river and the host's couldn't be nicer. I haven't heard a peep from any of my fellow campers unless it was to say hello. OK yesterday was a very drippy day, literally... I was running the A/C and noticed it started to drip inside. Then I turned it off and thought I'd go down to the hosty's and ask them where to get it fixed in town. Well as I walked past the outside of the trailer I looked down and noticed that my gray tank was dripping from up above. So I got the names and numbers of two RV places from the hostys and I called them but the were booked up and couldn't help me. I remembered reading a troubleshooting post from someone with a similar A/C problem so I decided to do it myself. This is where it gets a little comical. I do not have a ladder on my fifth wheel. I only have an escape hatch to climb out from the bedroom on to the roof. I am only about 5'2 and definitely not a petite waif. I was too short to climb out of the hole so I have a portable electric cooler thats about 2 feet tall so I put that on the bed and used that to boost me high enough that I could climb out of the little hole. Well I got out there and the kids were playing below in front of the camper and my 6 year old looked up to see me and they said woah mom get down yer freakin me out! So I am up there in my stocking feet with my flourescent pink girly screwdriver loosening all the screws on the A/C shroud. There were sure alot of screws...but I got it off and found several wasps nests, dead bugs, pine needles and schmutz blocking the holes on the drip pan, so I cleared it out and Voila! Problem solved! The only thing I could think of is that the gray tank must have a crack/hole up high so I needed to drain some water out, and that I needed some extra capacity, since it had only been one day since they'd been emptied, so off I ran to the RV store and picked up one of those tanks on wheels and it worked great. So I'll get it looked at and fixed when we return back home. Oh yeah and on my way back from the RV I got pulled over by the police and ticketed for running a red turn light (which I personally think was bogus,) but I am not sure how I'll attack that problem. It was definitely not a great day, but could have been worse. As soon as d/h got home from work (back to the camper) we all piled in the car and went to the el cheapo movie for 50 cents and saw Ice Age. It was a nice way to end a bad day. Luckily today was much better! June 30, 2006 Well yesterday was a pretty good day as far as camping goes. I did catch the late comedy show, which consisted of watching d/h wrestle the poopy snake into submission, sneaky little bugger nearly got away from him in mid-dump. Yup we had to drain the tanks again because they started to drip once more. Speaking of poopy snakes, our first poopy snake met with a very premature and untimely demise. Its really very sad and poor d/h learned the hard way, that no matter how new or what kind of condition you may think it is in, you can never drop your guard when handling the poopy snake or things can turn to crap very quickly. One of the parting gifts we recieved from our RV Dealer was a brand spanking new poopy snake. Keep in mind that I had not camped in an RV since the late 70's or very early 80's as a teen. Well I looked over the poopy snake thinking, WOW! these have really changed. They are so much more lightweight and the diameter seems so much smaller. Well you know, technology seems to have permeated even the world of poopy snakes. When we first discovered that our tanks were starting to leak a bit, I did my wifely duty and "suggested" to d/h that he better get out there and drain those things before we had a big stinky mess. So I presented him with the highly coveted brand spanking new poopy snake and of course went out to observe (supervise) this operation. Well d/h proceeded to hook the poopy snake to all the appropriate connections on the portable dump tank. He then released the valve and let er rip, literally. I swear that stinkin hose was like swiss cheese. it sprung more leaks than Buckingham Fountain. Of course, we both jumped to shut the valve immediately and thankfully I found an old poopy snake hiding in the bumper. So we hooked it up and uneventfully finished the job. Yesterday I was going through the cabinets looking for an item I put away and had since become lost and something caught my eye. I was looking at the duct work for the furnace and it is like a very lightweight, transparent plastic tubing and the similarity between it and our original short lived poopy snake was striking and remarkable...I am beginning to wonder what I might have done to pi$$ off the RV dealer, hmmm.... hard to pin point exactly. Anyway I am really getting sick and tired of having to empty these things every other day, so late yesterday I called the RV Dealership to share my feelings. Well the sales guy wasn't there, nor was the owner, so I was transferred to the technician, so basically since I lack the tact and patience of our Dear Miss Patty, I gave him a blast and ran through a laundry list of their failures, to which he replied..."Well Darlin (big mistake in word choice here) I don't know what to tell ya, I don't have time to check these things over. We're busy here ya know. I fixed everything you told me to fix" I told him that the things I told him to fix should have been caught before I even came to look at it and there is no way that a fist sized hole in the black tank should have been left undiscovered until the day I was to take delivery of the RV and only after I found it. To make a long story even longer he passed the buck and basically said that he was not given sufficient time to do everything thing necessary to meet my expectations and suggested that I call back and speak to the owner who was not currently available, but who might be in later if I want to call back later. Mind you, they had 10 days to prep this camper for delivery. So I called back later and got the owner on the phone. I detailed everything out for him and told him what I thought about it. I nearly fainted when he agreed with me! He told me to come back in after July 4th and he'd fix the problems with the holding tanks. He apologized for the issues we had, explaining they were just covered up trying to get things pushed out before the holiday and that he had been pushing the techs way too hard and I was so in shock. I was amazed. He asked for the opportunity to regain our trust. So hopefully we can put this behind us and get our tanks fixed and be done with it. So on to the next adventure, I can barely wait to see what awaits us today. I am so very afraid! July 2, 2006 Well our trip has come to an end. Upon reflection, we certainly have had a fun and at times challenging adventure. Did you ever wonder how the early settlers survived their journies into the wilderness without an RV. All they had when they arrived are a few items they could bring with them on a ship. No roads, no motorhomes, or campers of any kind. Amazing isn't it? The only tragedy we witnessed during this trip was when our neighbor was in the process of hitching up his 5'er he forgot to make sure the pin was locked and dropped his fifth wheel on to the bed of his beautiful old mint condition Ford pick up truck. This old truck looked as though it was just driven off the showroom floor, even though it had to be about 20 years old. Unfortunately, the bed now resembles a canoe. I was at a loss to say anything to the poor guy, since I had no idea what to say. The only positive that came out of that sad event, was that you could sense that everyone who was hitching up their fifth wheel to leave yesterday was being hyper-vigilant when hitching up. I know we double and triple checked everything before we took off and it paid off since nothing catastrophic happened. When we arrived back at home d/h was greeted by all the manly men in the neighborhood patting him on the back due to his prowess behind the wheel. They all rated his ability to take the turn from the main road onto our little lane a perfect 10.0 If you could have seen the gleam in my dear Husband's eye, you would have sworn that in his testosterone induced haze, there were crowds lining the lane, cheering him on, tickertape flying in the breeze as he safely brought the 5'er in for a landing. Mission accomplished!
July 10, 2006 Well, tomorrow will be one week since we dropped the 5'er off at the dealer to be worked on. They said they thought they might get to it by the beginning of this week. I dropped by there today to grab a couple of things I forgot I had left in the trailer, and to just make sure that it was secure and all was well. I thought I'd wait until tomorrow to pester them and ask "are you through yet?" D/H is working back in Ft. Wayne this week and the kids are really missing him. I would love to just throw the kids in the truck and head up there for a couple of days to camp with d/h, especially since it looks as though d/h may be back up there next week too. D/h is from Canada and his parents immigrated there from Belgium in 1970, so there's still quite a few relatives in Europe, so several of them are up in Canada for a visit this month. We wanted to go up so we could see them while they were there, but since the house is so full with company visiting we thought we might just bring the trailer up and stop for a couple of days on the way at a nice Jellystone Park in northern Indiana, so we can have some fun with the kiddo's in the waterpark type facilities. Then we can head up to a campground in Ontario about 20 minutes from where d/h's folks live. That way we're close by, but not too close and we're not all trying to pile into their bathroom in the morning or sleeping in the basement. It will be nice too because the campground we're staying at has lots of activities to help the kids blow off some steam. Oh forgot to mention that The Screamin Cha-Cha was leaking oil and acting like she didn't feel well at all, so I took her to the shop and the mechanic gives me an estimate of a half a buzillion different seals and gaskets we could replace, some of which require the transmission to be dropped, hiking the total amount of the proposed charges to $900+, and he said he wasn't sure even then if that would fix the problem. I looked at it and it listed a part called a PCV valve for $4.25. So I asked the mechanic to change my oil and put a new PCV valve in and then I ran down to Autozone and picked up a new air filter for her, and guess what... It seems to have fixed the majority of the Screamin Cha-Cha's complaints. Not bad for $33.00! She's purring like a kitten at the moment. Let's hope she hangs in there a while. I'll pop in tomorrow and give a full report of how the 5'er is doing at the RV dealership. I just hope they fix it soon, because I have places to go and people to see. July 16, 2006 am very tired but thought I'd touch base and share our latest adventures. I went to pick up the 5'er last week after the dealer finished fixing the leaky tanks. The technicians and I hitched the trailer up to the truck. One of the guys who works in the dealership's shop closed my tailgate and gave me the all clear to go. I pull it out of the bay and turn out into the parking lot and I hear crunch, crunch and some guy yelling for me to stop. I stop the truck and see the problem... when the guy closed my tailgate, he never checked to see if it was latched. So it fell open and basically ripped a hole about 4 feet wide into the front of the trailer. I was so PO'd, I thought my head was going to explode. Everyone came out to survey the damage and while everyone who worked for the dealership felt real bad about the damage. No one had a plan with regard to how it was going to get fixed. So I went in and informed the owner what had happened and he hummed and hawed for a while, saying he didn't know who was responsible and how he didn't have any idea what should be done etc... When I asked him point blank, do you think this is my problem? I was starting to get a little twitchy and the vein in the middle of my forehead was starting to throb, as I got a little louder and started seeing red, and the other people in the showroom who I knew, started to ask me why I was so upset, he finally said that he'd probably have to fix it. I made some comment about how it was very nice of him to do the right thing.... finally! I had camping plans for the weekend so I left with the camper and brought it home to make a sort of make shift temporary covering of the massive gash, until I can bring it back at a later date for repair. Later all the neighbor guys came home from work and helped me screw the temporary cover on. They were very nice and made me feel so much better. I think I just needed to vent to someone since d/h was out of town all week. Well I found a campground that sounded kind of nice down by Bloomington, IN and my plan was to pick the kids up from the sitter about 2:00 p.m. and be on my way Thursday (this is after cancelling my plans to join d/h in Ft. Wayne Wednesday because of all the problems with the damage to the camper on Tuesday and some bad weather that came through the area.) So I get in the truck and to get underway when I turned the key in the ignition, nothing happened. not even a click. So I am standing there feeling like everything I touch is doomed to turn to crap and I start swearing a blue streak. I go and get my car and drive it through the yard to get on the other side of the truck to try to jump start the truck thinking the kids probably left an interior light on and ran the battery down or some other likely scenario. After unsuccessfully attempting to jump the truck for nearly an hour and a half in the hot mid-day blazing sun I was ready to spontaneously combust into a pile of ashes, I got out a pair of channel lock pliers and gave the booster clamp, battery terminal and post a squeeze with all my might and it finally made contact and the truck started. So basically the the whole cable and terminal on the positive side was bad. By the time I figured all this out it was about 4:00 so I unhitched the trailer and drove the truck down to the auto repair place and they took one look at me in my frazzled state of heat exhaustion and fixed it on the spot with no question and sent me on my way. I then drove back home, hitched the stinkin trailer back up again and picked up the kids up at the sitter by 5:00. We arrived at the campground by 8:00 p.m. I was unhitched, set up and had dinner on the table by 9:00 and the kids were asleep by 10:00. d/h arrived at 8:00 p.m. the next night and for the most part we had a pretty nice relaxing weekend. The only other catastrophic events were when our new water hose blew up due to some excessively crazy water pressure at the campground. Luckily we had one of those doodads that control the pressure on our RV but the hose was DOA. Our neighbors to the west also had a blowout on their hose too. I also realized that even though the dealer did fix some of the leaks in our tanks, there are still more. But I was able to go 3 days without dumping this time, before it started to drip. So it appears even though they are baby steps, we are making progress(I am not sure if this is really progress, maybe I am just exchanging one annoyance for another) none the less it is something, right? I thought d/h would be working again in Ft. Wayne this week, but those plans fell through, so tomorrow I will call the dealer and see if they'll fix the gaping hole and the remaining leaks. Aside from that everything is just peachy :\ Stay tuned, next week we're headed to Canada...I am sure it will be full of adventures for your entertainment pleasure. I need a cocktail!
July 17, 2006 I have an anxiety attack everytime I cross the border back into the U.S. I have never had a problem entering Canada though. D/h is a Canadian Citizen and we go up there at least 4 times a year. However, this will be our first trip out of Indiana and Illinois with the 5'er. We always take our passports and of course d/h brings his green card. Fortunately, the children have never been addressed by the officers and I have no idea what they'd say if they did. Up until now we've simply told the kids to sit nicely in their seats and say nothing... or else! I am sure you're all wondering why I have anxiety attacks everytime we leave Canada and re-enter the U.S. Well since you asked... When d/h and I met, he was living in Canada and I was in Illinois. We spent every weekend taking turns driving to see each other and finally decided to get married in 1997. So that June we married and d/h moved down to the U.S. so we could be together forever. We drove up north to Canada, spent a couple days visiting his family and then flew out of Toronto to the Dominican Republic for our Honeymoon. It was a lovely getaway and when it was over, we flew back to Toronto. We spent a few more days with d/h's family and decided to head back to Illinois. So we go to cross the border and the officer will not let d/h back into the U.S. claiming we didn't have the proper documents and rattled off a string of numbered documents that we needed to fill out to get poor d/h back into the country. Well I cannot tell you how disappointing and frustrating it is to be a newlywed and have to leave your new hubby in a foreign country with his parents following your romantic honeymoon and dreams of spending the rest of your lives together. I took off after dropping d/h off and headed home alone. I stopped by the house to find all of the documents I had sent registered mail to the INS prior to leaving on our trip had been marked "return to sender" and was unopened and had been sitting in my mailbox for quite some time. I was fit to be tied and gathered the envelope and showed up on the doorstep of my U.S. Congressman at 8:00 a.m. like a raving lunatic about how I had to leave d/h in Canada and the INS refused all the docs I sent them. Luckily there was an angelic woman working there who had actually assisted me previously in filling out all this paperwork to begin with, before we even got married and she calmed me down and told me not to worry, she said she was on her way to Chicago and would hand deliver my stuff to them and do everything in her power to get d/h back to the U.S. To make this long saga a bit shorter, by 4:30 p.m. she called and told me that d/h was now cleared to enter the U.S. and that the supervisor at the border would be handling our situation with great care and that I could go get my new husband, and I could even keep him this time. So that is my border crossing story. You can bet that we would not dare to do anything to keep us from crossing unencumbered. Speaking of which, do you know if we can cross with the food in our fridge like if we had say like steak or hamburger, fruit etc... because I know there are signs at the border telling you not to cross with that sort of stuff but I've never heard of them raiding RV fridges. Inquiring minds want to know. July 31, 2006 Lets see, we've owned the 5'er about 5-6 weeks now. I estimate we've pulled it well over 1500 miles and have spent well over a dozen nights in it. My confidence has slowly been growing as time has marched on. A week ago Saturday we left for our trip to Canada. As we left town we stopped at the local gas station to top off the gas tanks and get something to drink for the road. For some reason I caught myself humming the theme to Gilligan's Island as I walked out to the truck. When I climbed inside, I sang quietly to myself "a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour" Was this a sign? Of course not, right? We drove a while and I thought about how nice this trip was going. The kids were behaving, d/h and I we're enjoying each other's company. We were all in good moods and relaxed. We passed Indy, and the traffic was not too bad as we continued north. We decided to take a little break and stop in the parking lot of an outlet mall to have a potty break and whip up a spot of lunch, 25 minutes later we're back on the road again smiling as we drive along in our blissful ignorance, unaware of what lays ahead of us. About 40 miles down they road a couple pulls up next to us and they are waving their hands wildly at us, their eyes are as big as saucers. I tell d/h maybe they are going to try to mug us and perhaps we should just keep driving and ignore them. So d/h and I start looking around trying to figure out whether we should be alarmed or not when the look on d/h's face is struck in absolute terror, reminiscent of seeing a deer in the headlights and he abruptly pulls over and stops on the shoulder of the Interstate. The couple who was flagging us down stopped ahead of us and ran back to help. I got out of the truck to see what the problem was, and found smoke billowing out from the camper around the wheels. I ran and got the fire extinguisher. Eventually it stopped smoking and I gathered my wits and called Good Sam ERS. I have always heard great things about them, but to be very honest, I was not overly impressed by them this time. I was on hold for quite a while waiting to talk to a live body. Then I get a young man on the phone who tells me he'll call the police and a tow truck for me but I needed to make a decision on whether I wanted to have it towed to the nearest campground 40 miles away or to our actual destination 100 miles away where they had an RV service center that was actually open on Sunday, however I would be responsible for the charge for the additional 60 miles of charges. The young man said he'd call me back after he got the pricing. Well here we are sitting and waiting. I was getting very nervous sitting on the side of the Interstate without the police and flashing lights there to keep us from getting hit. So I asked d/h to call the police directly to get someone out there. A little while later a State Trooper showed up and he was very patient and kind. He said he'd stick around with us until he knew we were safely on our way. He was very friendly and he really helped to make a stressful situation a little more bearable. I waited at least an hour and never heard back from the guy at Good Sam so I called back and explained the problem to a young lady, who then connected me to the young man who was supposed to be calling me back. He said he was still waiting for the tow company to call him back... I wondered hmmm how long would he have left us there on the side of the road waiting for a call back, before he called a different tow company? I told him that we were in a very unsafe situation and the State Police wants us off the Interstate, so if they are not capable of getting us towed, then we'll call our own tow truck and send them the reciept for reimbursement for 40 miles to which he agreed. The State Trooper called the Tow truck company for us and they were there within a half an hour. This older fellow with wild white hair and a long scruffy beard climbs out of the flat bed tow truck and tells me he is going to jack up the side of the camper, take off the offending wheel (he also correctly diagnosed our problem as a bad wheel bearing)then we were going to pull the 3 wheeled trailer 3 miles down the road to a closed rest area, where they'd put our 5'er on the flatbed. I thought he must have been stoned... But since I didn't have a better plan, I better keep my mouth shut and go with the flow. So I watched him jack it up and I immediately realized how bad this situation could have been, when he gave the still attached wheel a good yank and it came off in his hands. Wow, thank goodness that didn't happen while we were going 65 mph down the road. We then start our convoy with the tow truck leading the way and the police car bringing up the rear, as we inched at a snails pace down the shoulder of the highway. We finally arrived at the closed rest area and Sam the tow truck man did his magic. It occured to me that I had never seen a 5'er on a flat bed before (do ya think there might be a reason for this?) Sam was a master of the art of towing, you could tell he had it down to a science. He crafted a ramp out of planks of wood to keep the back from dragging as he winched it up at a steep angle. He measured it over and over to ensure the height and width were OK. Somehow he got it up there securely. We thanked our police escort profusely and he left, as I think he stayed with us well after his shift was over. D/h and I piled back into the truck and commenced back down the road toward our destination. I had to laugh as I looked at our two lovely children who have been know to be a bit whiney at times over little piddly stuff. They sat quietly in our hot non-air conditioned truck for hours until help came and I swear they never complained once. They sang songs, drew pictures, talked to each other and let us attend to the problem at hand. I was amazed! They must have sensed that this was not the time to turn into demanding whiners. I cannot tell you how strange it is to see the trailer you normally pull behind you, in front of you on a flat bed truck, floating down the highway.
I called the Jellystone Park in Fremont, IN to advise them of the situation and to let them know we'd be bringing the camper in on a flatbed and we were hoping to get it repaired at the service center. Annette who answered the phone could not have been more helpful. When we arrived she had a Ranger waiting for us and he assisted Sam in unloading it from the flatbed in to their parking lot which was yet another feat of magic. I was so relieved to be there since we were rapidly running out of daylight. I gave Sam a hug and big glass of ice water and mucho thanks as he left. We re-hitched the trailer to the truck and pulled our crippled fiver back to our campsite (thank goodness for a pull through site) where we ate supper and slept the sleep of the dead while I dreamed of selling our cursed camper on eBay all night long). The next morning was Sunday I awoke early made breakfast and checked out the park while I waited for the service center to open at 10:00 a.m. I walked into the service department at 10:00 on the dot, the fellow was very helpful and told me I was in the right place since they were very close to Elkhart, they could most likely get the parts I needed with few problems. I said great. He told me that he did not have anything in stock to help me though, so the next morning they'd send a technician to our campsite to get the part number and vital info so they could get the part I need and get me on my way. I figured hey what the heck lets have some fun, we're in a great RV park, lets go and enjoy our time here rather than sitting around festering over something we can't change anyway. So we all put our swimsuits on and hit the pool and splash area. We had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed our day. I think we had too much fun because I was sick all night and did not sleep well at all. I think it might have been heat exhaustion. The next morning I made my way down to talk to the service guy about 11:00 to see if they had ordered the parts and get a guesstimate of repair costs. The fellow working was not the guy I spoke to the day before and he was not as helpful but he and I came to an understanding that I wasn't going away. He then called the manufacturer to get us a new axle. Luckily the company was still in business, and though they didn't have it in stock, they said they'd make a new one for us which would take a week. So it should be there today. I don't know if I have told any of you, but D/H is a wonderful person with a heart of gold. We decided that we would leave the 5'er for repair while we continued on to Canada. D/H volunteered to drive the Screamin Cha Cha back home and bring back one of our cars that has a/c, the koolatron to put the food from the fridge. Its about a nine hour roundtrip drive so he's officially qualified for sainthood. He returned that night with our Toyota and the next morning we left our camper behind to be serviced as we continued on to Canada. We were to stay at a campground not far from where d/h's family lives. When I found out we were going to be delayed I called them and explained our situation. they said they had cabins available so we opted for that. When we arrived at our "cabin" we found what resembled a toolshed with three matresses on plywood platforms. There was a window in the door with a ripped screen and it smelled a bit like an outhouse, no running water, stove, toilet or fridge. I tried to be as nice as possible when I explained that we would not be staying there. So we drove back into the city and opted for a hotel room, which seemed like the lap of luxury compared to the "cabin" We got home late Saturday and Dorothy was right... "There's no place like home” August 2, 2006 The plot has thickened. I called again today to check on the part, well it still hasn't come in. I ask the parts guy if he is going to call and check on it or if I will have to? He replies "well if you want to make a big stink about it then go ahead and call" So I called. Guess what, the part was never ordered. Evidently the parts guy was supposed to get some measurements off the trailer and then call the axle company back to order it and he never did (this is info I got directly from the axle company) To make a long story short I was not happy at all and called the parts guy to voice my displeasure. This guy has the nerve to put his boss on the phone who tells me that if I don't like the way they do business then I can take my business elsewhere. He also states that he knows that the parts guy did order the part because he was there when he called, which I found fascinating because I was standing right there in the office when the call was made to the axle company and when I shared that little tidbit with him, he recanted and then revised his statement to say that he was somewhere in the building at the time the call was made. (I am sure he used his bionic woman hearing aid and six million dollar man x-ray vision to observe the whole dialogue.) and there was only one call made that day to the axle company regarding my camper. I called everywhere to find a tow company that would move the camper to another place to get it fixed and none of them would do it because of the height factor. I knew Sam our original tow truck guy was wonderful but I didn't realize until now how lucky we were to get it towed the first time. Somehow I found an RV Dealer near to where the camper is and the owner bent over backwards trying to brainstorm and help me to find a solution to my problem, regardless of whether or not it benefitted him (super nice guy, definitely a candidate for our next RV purchase). As a last ditch effort he gave me a name and number of a towing company nearby that had already turned him down and told me to just pick their brains and see what could be done. Well he told me he didn't have any ideas and I thanked him for trying and hung up. About an hour later my phone rang and it was the fellow at the towing company. He called to tell me he had thought of a guy he knew who would come to my camper and fix it on the spot, rather than towing it somewhere. I am going to have this on the spot repair guy's phone number permanently tatooed somewhere. Because someone like him is worth his weight in gold. Had I known about him in the first place I could have paid to have him fix the camper for about what it cost to tow it 100 miles. Isn't amazing how some people will go out of their way to try to help someone in need, while others go out of their way to try and complicate your life for no good reason. I just don't get it. I just cannot wrap my mind around the fact that some folks get their jollies from being jerks and creating hardships. I got ahold of the fellow the towing company referred me to and he is on a fishing trip in Michigan's U.P. right now and he said he'd be back this weekend so I figure I'll go up Friday and pick up the camper and pull it a few miles away to a nearby campground and have this fellow fix it on Monday after we've camped this weekend. He also offerred to go and pickup the axle on his way which I thought was super nice. I just want it fixed, minus all the drama and I have had my fill of the drama queen RV parts guy trying to hold me hostage by seeing me swing in the wind due to his latest power trip. The campground we'll be staying at has Internet, so I'll log in and let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck. Oh by the way, who should I call if I need bail money? I don't think Good Sam ERS covers that does it?
August 6, 2006 Mission accomplished! I called the RV place to tell them that I had decided that since I didn't really care for the way they did business I would take their suggestion and I was going to take my business and my camper elsewhere. The gal I spoke to on the phone said that she was pretty sure that my parts had come in so that could be a problem. However she must have thought I had just fallen off the turnip truck, because I had just called the axle factory and my part would not even be finished being made until later that day. The kids and I didn't get out of the house until after 11:00 a.m. We had to stop by the vets in the next town over and drop of my very old sickly half blind cat, since I was afraid that leaving her home alone or taking her camping would likely finish her off once and for all. I also stopped along the way and dropped off a payment to the insurance guy since he was near the vets office and by noon we were finally underway. DD = a/k/a Little Miss Peanut Bladder would begin to threaten to wet her pants every 30 minutes so I had to stop for a potty break in just about every town along the way or suffer the consequences of a potential flood. Oh yeah remember that trafic ticket I got last month in Ft. Wayne? Well since it was kind of on the way I figured I had better get it cared for and pay the piper or I would really be calling the you guys to bail me out of jail. I swear the temperature must have soared while we were there. I thought we were going to just melt, then dry up and blow away. So of course I did what any good mother would do and get the kids each a quart of Gatorade to keep them from dehydrating before we begin the last 35 -40 minutes of our trek. Of course its nearly 5:00 when we exit the Interstate to go pick up the camper and of course after a quart of Gatorade both kids bladder's are`ready to explode so there's no way we're going to make it to pick up the RV without at least one more pit stop. So I stop at the gas station hot, sweaty and tired from our journey and the kids were feeling it too. I've seen slugs move faster than the three of us did. We finally got to the RV place at about 5:30. We drove into the parking lot and they were closed, which was kind of a blessing since I really wasn't in the mood to deal with them anyway. So I backed up to the camper and hitched her up. Unfortunately, the ground was pretty soft on one side and the tire on that side of the trailer had sunk into the ground, which made it impossible to retract the landing gear on one side since the weight of the trailer was still on it and it had been cranked up as far as it would go so about that time d/h had met up with us and had arrived from his week working in Ft. Wayne and so he put boards under the landing gear for it to slide on while I pulled the camper forward until it was on a little more level ground where we could put the landing gear up on that side. I had d/h follow behind me in his car with his blinkers on to our campground nearby. We were received warmly and found our time so far to be wonderfully relaxing. We have a large group of younger folks with kids around the same age as our children camping across from us and have really enjoyed them as neighbors. They've been spoiling our kids rotten with popsicles and glow sticks. I will definitely return here again. This is my kind of place! Monday the repair fellow is coming to fix our axle and then I'll take the camper to Ft. Wayne until Friday so we can spend the week with him. Then we'll only have one more week before the kids go back to school (I am so depressed) I think the week of the 14th which is the last week before school we'll go down to Lake Rudolph and Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN. It is a very nice place and I think that will be a nice way to say goodbye to summer. So for now thats the scoop on the poop, say a little prayer that the repairs go well Monday. I am crossing my fingers! August 8, 2006 I have to say I am so impressed by the fellow who replaced my axle. He picked up my axle for me at the factory in Elkhart and showed up at my campsite with all of his gear and was extremely personable and professional. He went to work and he was done in just a few hours and repacked all the bearings on the existing axle. He was a super nice guy and if any of you need frame or axle work and happen to be in the midwest let me know and I'll gladly share his contact info. I was hoping this would be the end of my streak of bad luck and once the axle was replaced things would start to smooth out. I had been noticing the strong smell of gasoline around the Screaming Cha Cha lately so I got up early this morning, got the kids up and dressed and took them into a small town near where we were camping to an auto repair shop to get it checked out, while we grabbed a bite of breakfast across the street. I sat down and ordered breakfast just as the mechanic drove it into the garage. He worked on it for about 4 minutes and then drove it back out and parked it on the street. When we finished eating we walked back over and the verdict was that I had a leak in a fuel line. It was pretty easy for them to find and to fix it quickly. So I climb into the Screamin Cha Cha filled with confidence that my trip home would be very uneventful since I had taken care of all my mechanical "issues". I slowly started down the street when I noticed the accelerator felt different under my foot. I pushed it down and it resisted the pressure and so I really pushed it hard, and before I knew it I was going 55 mph in a 30 mph zone through the middle of town and even though I took my foot off the accelerator it just kept accelerating. I threw in into neutral which slowed it down but the engine was racing like mad so I slammed my foot onto the accelerator again to idle it back down and it returned to normal while I crept through a parking lot at a snails pace to return to the repair shop. Well I got back there and explained what had just transpired and the young man looks at me like I am nuts and said Ma'am I only replace a hose, thats all...see? and pointed to his handiwork. I told him I wasn't upset with him, but we needed to figure out what was going on and then his boss walks over and realized there was collar of sorts that sits atop the breather of the carb and under the air filter and it was out of kilter and put pressure on the doo-dad that moves when you press on the accelerator, causing it to stick. Mystery solved. So we chug on back to the campground and I start tearing stuff down and getting ready to head for home. I am still feeling pretty good about things in spite of the earlier excitement. I get hitched up, strap the kids into their seat belt harnesses and head down to dump the tanks and it was a peice of cake... no problems (sorry, no poopy stories to share this time) I take a minute to adjust my mirrors and hit the road. The first 100 miles go off without a hitch. The weather is beautiful and the kids and I are having a great day. Then we get just to about the same place where we were previously stranded a couple of weeks earlier with the bad wheel bearing, except we were heading in the opposite direction this time and all I see are cars ahead of me backed up for miles. I AM CURSED by mile marker 48 on I-69!!!!!!!!!! All of the sudden it seems stiflingly hot and humid. The kids are starting to whine and annoy each other and complain endlessly. We sat on the highway for nearly an hour and a half inching along occasionally when we finally came to an exit with a state road that would get me pretty close to home eventually and moving once again even if it was a route I wouldn't generally take. I'm cruising along for a minute or so at a good clip when I look down at the dash and notice I have two service alarm lights glaring at me... one says BRAKES, the other says REAR ABS. I deduce with my above average intelligence (I am joking about the above average intelligence)that something is wrong with my brakes. I then pull into a service station where the mechanics tell me they are sure I have a broken doo-dad on my brakes and that they might get around to fixing it in the next couple of days, then one of them looks under the truck and says hey its not a doo-dad, its a thingamajig. I explain to them that I live on the opposite side of the state and would really like to go home and not camp out with two tired whiney kids in the parking lot of the service station for a couple of days... I then asked them if they know anything about RV brakes and why I couldn't just use the RV brakes to stop the rig rather than relying on the truck brakes. the guy then tells me that they'll need to fix those too... based on what, I don't know. Especially since at least the ones on the rear axle were only a day old. Again I exercise my above average intelligence to deduce that if I am going to get ripped off by someone, I'd like it be someone local from my own hometown, so their ill gotten gains can at least infuse my cash into my own local economy, and I can stick around long enough to torture them and make them regret it. So I hit the road once more and drove very cautiously, crosssing my fingers trying to catch only green lights and on the occasions I had to stop, I kept my fingers crossed and said a little prayer as I sailed through the intersections...just kidding. I just used the manual controls on the trailer brakes and as long as I gave myself extra room they did just fine and I made it home. This is normally a 4 hour trip, and we made it in just about 7 hours today.
Its funny, when we first brought the Screamin Cha Cha home, the kids would beg us to let them ride in it, and even though its been less than 2 months since we bought her, things are starting to change. Tonight when we got home the kids asked if they could go out for pizza, but only if they didn't have to go in the Screamin Cha Cha, LOL! Stay tuned...tomorrow we see if I turn our local automotive service center into a drive through, because I have no idea if I have any brakes left on the truck once I unhook the 5'er. Wish me luck! August 15, 2006 Just thought I'd pop in for yet another quick update. I took the Cha Cha to the local mechanic for a brake check up, he drove it around the block and told me my brakes were fine and I just needed a new sensor and there was really no need to remove all eight lug nuts from each tire. I guess I was happy because he told me what I wanted to hear, but I just didn't feel right about it. Since I feel as though there is more to a thorough brake inspection than just taking it around the block for a spin. (I also brought the Screamin' Cha Cha to these guys for a thorough inspection when we first purchased it in June) I thought I had better get a second opinion, so the next morning I took it over to the neighboring town in Illinois to the guys who service my Dad's brakes and mufflers. They put it up on the rack and removed all 32 lug nuts and conducted a thorough inspection. They took me out to the shop to survey the damage they discovered. Both brake shoes on the rear were cracked in several places, the springs were shot and the ones on the right were extremely worn. The calipers on the right front were frozen and needed replaced. Meanwhile, a local police officer pulled into the parking lot (thank goodness he wasn't there looking for me) and explained a really bad storm was on the way and could be packing winds up to 70mph and told them to make sure they and their customer (that would be me) had a safe place to take shelter in the event of the worst case scenario since the whole front of the building was nothing but glass windows and they all looked at me and started to laugh. The manager explained there was only one room we could take shelter in and that was the bathroom, which was pretty disgusting on a good day and he wanted to know how I felt about sharing the men's room with 5 or 6 sweaty and grease covered mechanics during a severe weather emergency. Evidently my reaction to his question was hysterical since the guys all started cracking up. Luckily the worst of the storm missed us and within an hour I was on my way without the scenic tour of the men's room with my burly, manly escorts. So $420 later, all was well. That night I went out to get the trailer ready for a trip down to southern Indiana this past Friday. I was wiping down the counter and needed to run a little water, so I turned on the water pump only to hear water running beneath the sink, which was an unusual sound. I opened the cabinet to find a waterline sprouting a fountain. So I turned off the water pump and water was still leaking out so I unhooked the fitting and slid an empty gallon jug over the leaker, then ran into the house and grabbed a shampoo hose thingy that fits on the bathtub spigot and took the sprayer off the other end of it so I could get the water that was still running out to drain into a container and not onto the carpet or floor. The next morning I had to run down to the RV Dealer that sold me the trailer in the first place to buy a new waterline...The guy made the mistake of asking me how I liked my newly acquired camper. What an idiot! He soon realized his error, when my eye started to twitch and the vein in the middle of my forehead threatened to burst as I listed the fact that the holding tanks he personally was to have repaired on two different occasions were still leaking, the wheel bearings had not seen grease in years, my camper nearly caught fire when we toasted the wheel bearing that he did not inspect, I had a 100+ mile tow bill due to that issue, I had to go to hades and back to get a new axle put on and the icing on the cake is that the blasted thing is now springing leaks in the water lines! Oh yeah baby, I am so loving it!!!! Thanks so much for selling me this little gem! Now can you please give me a poke in the eye with a sharp stick? Anyway, I know things probably aren't looking so good at the moment, but stay tuned, things do get better. I go home and effortlessly install the new waterline. I packed the camper, mowed the yard, tried to get the house in order before I go. My plan was to pick up the kids from the sitter, and take a long weekend at Holiday World (have I told you how much I love Holiday World? It rocks!). I emailed directions to d/h and when he finishes teaching in Ft. Wayne that night he will drive down to join us. You'll never guess what happened on this trip... Absolutely nothing!!!!!!!! I am so happy to announce that we had a wonderful time, there were no mechanical issues, no breakdowns, everything went like clockwork! We had a great time with the kids. This was to be our "last fling" so to speak, before they go back to school. So far, it was our best trip. We did cut it short and came home today instead of tomorrow simply because yesterday morning it rained like mad for about an hour then last night it rained like mad all night leaving the campground looking as though a mudslide had hit. By the time d/h and I finished packing everything up, we looked as though we'd been rolling in hog slop. But hey we're camping right? The people I felt sorry for, were the real pioneers that were roughing it in tents. there was no possible way they could have stayed dry with the torrential downpours, not to mention the thunder and lightening crashing around them all night long. I have a theory about the Cha Cha and our 5'er, without a doubt they are both southern ladies and like it down south. They have aversions to the north and throw fits everytime we take them there. Cha Cha came from Kentucky and the 5'er was built in Alabama, and I find it a strange coincidence that the only two trips we have been spared problems on were when we have headed south. All the other trips to the north there was one debaucle after another and the further north we were headed the more catastrophic the problem. Honestly I like it in the south too, especially as the weather grows colder, maybe we can strike a compromise and work out a deal that we'll take a few more southern trips if they'll get us to our northern destinations with a few less hiccups. Sounds like a deal to me!
LOL, sounds liek me to the T, yes we are laughing about it. I haven't let it get me down, can't don't have time if you know what I mean....
