Even When You Are "IN" Safe and Sound

With all the problems that plagued us almost daily on our recent cross country run, we were mighty happy and feeling fine to back in to the site at Thousand Trails in Hershey and shut the engine off. Whew! Made it. No more problems- at least for a while. But that feeling assumed there would be no problems without the engine running and the wheels turning. You do know what happens when you "ASS U ME" too much, don't you?

So I guess I really should not have been all that surprised when I hooked up the city water supply, turned on the spigot, and the inlet valve on the side of coach exploded in my face and sent water shooting everywhere. Without that inlet valve- no water, no shower, no dishes, no anything water related. The valve contains a back-flow preventer or check valve, so it was not even possible to access the water in the holding tank, what little we had been traveling with. So after 9 hours of driving, we phoned around to find a part and off we went to fetch it- a ride which required another three hours on the road. Then home to lay on the wet ground in the dark and make the repair.

Now if that would have been the extent of the situation, I guess I would have been laughing in short order instead of crying. But I still faced figuring out what had been the problem with the basement doors, which had popped open a total of thirteen times on the crossing. That was lucky 13 because the doors did not get clipped or ripped off; unlucky though because I couldn't seem to stop it from happening again and again. I rigged them with small bungees as each in turn became a problem en route. Latch adjustments. Latch hold adjustments. Door adjustments. Lock adjustments. Nothing stopped the problem. And while over the last two weeks I have worked on those doors repeatedly and put redundant safety mechanisms in place- I really won't know until we roll again whether my "fixes" were fixes at all, or just me spending some quality time with my basement doors.

When I have not been working on things at the coach, we have been fixing things at the home of my mother which is about an hour (each way) from the campground. So while the coach hasn't moved in two weeks, the same cannot be said for the van. Fuel prices here are hovering up and down around the four dollar level. Could be worse I suppose. But sure wish it were better.

Tomorrow we will move the coach to Krumsville where we will be parked for one month. I will still be working on the coach I assume....and doing chores at the house. Marilyn will be traveling "the world" with her sisters. There must be a Ya Ya Sisterhood post or two in there somewhere. But a bit more of that in June, and then hopefully I will have a "guest blogger" late in the month.

Today I checked all fluids. A special brand of paranoia is driving me hard right now! I fixed the safety catch on the rear sliding closet doors. I also picked up a new potable water hose as the one we have been using decided that it too would spring a pin hole leak and super soak the ground under the water compartment. I could go on and on, but right now I'm not seeing the point, so I'll stop.

My high school class, the class of 66, will also be holding its 45th reunion next week. This will be the first one I have ever attended. It may just be the last too. If that is true, I hope it is because I choose not to attend any more....and not because I can't! A lot of the class of 66 have passed into the next life, so I guess there is merit in touching bases with those that are still here.

Rolling June 1. Go, coach, go!