Friday, December 28, 2007

The Mis-Adventures of Fulltiming!

I think I am going to rename the blog: “The Mis-Adventures of Fulltiming!"

We have only been on the road 3 days and we seem to have something go wrong every day. So far this has NOT been a relaxing way of life! :-)

The mis-adventures of fulltiming day 1!

It took us about three hours to hitch up Wednesday morning in a very cold very strong wind. We used a checklist to make sure we didn't forget anything. The trip down to Paso Robles was about three hours; there was a lot of traffic but, we only actually came to a stop a couple of times early in the trip. We had a strong tail wind the whole way. Since we need to leave so early for our appointment at the dealers; we didn't want to unhitch so we got perfectly into the spot, put the slides out, chocked the wheels, run down the jacks. Then I find out that I am 2 feet short of the power pole. We had to run in the slides etc. and then drive around the club house to get closer to the pole. I think it took us 2 hours from the time we arrived until we were all setup!

The mis-adventures of fulltiming day 2!

The dealer only needed about 3 hours to fix everything. Well most things; they didn't have a hydraulic hose and it will take two weeks to get one. The leak is very small so I will wait until Arizona to have it fixed. While they had the trailer we had breakfast, got diesel for the truck, walked Raider and read a little.

Problem 1. I lifted the trailer too high and blew the fuse to the motor that runs the jacks. When picking up the trailer at the dealers.

Problem 2. I pulled out of the dealer when I shouldn't have, cut the turn too tight and the right side of the trailer ran off the driveway and through a drainage ditch. When we got back to the RV Park and opened up the trailer almost EVERYTHING was on the floor and half of the dishes were broken! Oddly none of the glasses or cups got broken. It took us more than two hours to clean up the mess.

The mis-adventures of fulltiming day 3!

It took us until 10 AM to be all hitched up a ready to leave this morning. I always check the tires on the trailer before pulling out. One of the tires was down 12 pounds in two days. I called our dealer who referred us to a tire store. We went there to a very busy parking lot on a very busy street. I pulled in the wrong way and blocked the exit with my 55 feet of truck and trailer. Someone came to tell me that I needed to go to the truck entrance around back. I could try to slalom this monster through a overcrowded parking lot with cars and trucks double park and then make a tight turn onto a small street with cars parked everywhere. Or I could back out the way I came onto the very busy street and then try to drive around the block. My backing skills being what they are, I opted to do the slalom. If those people knew how little skill I have at this stuff they would have been running each other down trying to get their cars out of the way. It took them about half an hour to get to us. The problem turned out to be a leaking valve stem so they replaced it with a metal valve stem. This thing looks so much better than the original valve stem, I asked if they would change all of the stems. They said they could but, not today they where backlogged. So, off we went with only the one stem replaced and 2 hours behind schedule. Today was about 230 miles, skirting the northern part of Los Angles. Traffic on 101 was heavy the whole way down and since we were 2 hours later than planned we got some of the Friday afternoon rush hour traffic. It was a long day and when we got here to Acton it was cold and windy. We are staying at the edge of the desert at 3000 feet.

Isn't it warm anywhere in this state?

PS Yes, I know all of these things could have been a lot worse and no I am NOT losing hope. :-)

4 comments:

  1. Grant, we all have days like that, I guess you just got them all out of the way at once! Sorry you had to deal with all of that so soon. Let's hope for smooth sailing now!

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  2. Time to go and buy an "extension" cord for your rig! Camping World has them.....And an extra long water hose.... And an extra long sewer hose. You will surely need them at some point in your travels.

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  3. Grant - these aren't mis-adventures; it's just a NORMAL day.

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  4. get all the bad stuff over with to start..and then it will be smooth sailing!!

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