RV Slide Woes & A Total Change in Plans

“When life throws you a curve ball, learn to hit a good slam off it” Anonymous

"The Beast" goes into the shop

There are a bunch of classic quotes centered around the life and curveball theme, but they all got one thing in common.  Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned and so you gotta learn to play the game differently. 

That pretty much summed up what went through my mind after we’d spent 2 full days (that would be 48 hours for those counting) sitting at the RV repair shop only to hear the tech tell us “I’ve tried everything I can think of and I just can’t fix it”.

Bummer!

I can definitely recommend these guys

The thing is, I really believed him. This shop (Humphrey’s RV) in Grand Junction came highly recommended and our experience, apart from the fact that we couldn’t get our problem fixed, had been excellent. The customer service was friendly, the tech and mechanics up-front and honest. They let us stay overnight (with 30Amp) on-site and ended up only charging us for 4 hours of labor (!!) because they felt bad they couldn’t fix the issue. Honestly, I would recommend them wholeheartedly and had nothing (at all) to complain about.

Hanging out at Humphrey's RV

But that still left us with the situation of a broken slide. You know the story of the leak and bend from our “incident” in the mountains, but turns out our slide problem was much more serious than that (and *not* by the way related to the “incident”). Over the past year of RVing the whole slide seems to have somehow gone out of alignment and the back corner was “catching” the side of the RV everytime it came in , bending the RV wall and causing a “pop” on release (yikes!) 

Our free camping spot for the night at Humphrey's

We’d made a note of it about a month ago and thought it could be fixed by a simple alignment. But ohhhhh, nooooo…..the slide was fully aligned, fiddled, checked, taken apart, put together, even had a shimmy put under the back (to raise it 1/4″), but nothing worked. After spending several hours with Monaco on the phone and trying everything they could it looks like we might need a total slide re-build.

OK…not what I had planned…hmmm, what now?

My new "do"...it's been a while

The manufacturer of our coach is in Oregon and looks like that’s the logical next step. That means Idaho is out the window and Oregon in. After feeling rather depressed and decidedly “non-Zen” for an evening, we found some bright spots in the whole ordeal:

• Weather: The weather in Oregon seems fabulous right now. Idaho (at least the southern part which was our plan) is roasting. Ass in the sand and feet in the ocean…oh yeah, I can dig that!
• Hair: The 2 days we spent at the RV shop gave me time to get a haircut of which I was in dire need (my last professional cut being over a year ago). Hairdressers worldwide are rejoicing at my transformation.
• Time: Paul’s got a couple of weeks on his own next month (while I go to Denmark for a family reunion) which will be fruitfully spent getting repairs. Time-wise it’s kinda perfect.
• Money: We have an extended warranty which covers the slide, so it’s not like the financial concern is there.
• Why Not? We’re mobile and fancy free, so why not make the drive?

So all in all we’ve decided run with this curveball and take it where it goes. That means a TOTAL change of driving plans which we’ll be working on over the next 2 days. In any case, Oregon here we come….

Houston, We Have a Problem

It all started innocently enough...

Having allowed a few days between “the incident” and the present, I am now in a sufficiently recovered state to relate the story in all it’s gory details. So, here we go:

It was one of those days. You know, the type that nags at you from the beginning that something isn’t quite right. In my eternal optimism I’d shrugged it off. After all the sun was shining, birds were singing and we were heading up to a gorgeous spot at ~9,000 feet. Honestly, what could possibly go wrong?

Enter Scene Chocolate

The Instigator...

All started well. The drive was pretty, the weather (albeit a little wet) was cooperating and the scenery was fantastic. Having arrived happily at our lovely campsite in the mountains, I had the brilliant idea to make a cup of hot chocolate.

“Look honey, the pressure difference has popped up the top of the cocoa can”

Hahahaha….mirth all around. Even the dog had a good giggle. Only the cats were indifferent.

“Poooufffff”

As Nina unleashes the can a mushroom cloud of cocoa powder spreads in a finely artistic layer all over Paul and the sofa. I mention the mushroom shape merely to give you a detailed visual of the pressurized explosion. The scene became eerily quiet, so much so that all you could hear was crickets. Given that we were ~200 miles from the nearest gryllus assimilis that gives you a full and complete appreciation of the moment.

Strike ONE

An hour or so later, having meticulously cleaned the chocolate (to the mild enjoyment of the cats), I snuggled down to a hot chocolate and a book. “Aaaahhhhh” The sweet pitter-patter of rain was on the roof creating a cozy and romantic environment. All was good…

Enter Scene Water

The Enabler...

“Plop”

The sound was unexpected, coming as it was from the inside of the RV. A moment of panic followed with the words

“Honey, there’s water coming out the side of the slide”

“Oh, sh……..t!” was the harmonized answer

We’d  been having minor issues with the kitchen slide for some time, but this fell into the category of most definitely “not good”.

So, out with the ladder to have a look at the slide and try to de-bug the situation. It stopped raining for just enough time to let us appreciate the fact that we had no frikkin’ idea how to fix this. Not to be deterred, we went inside and decided to forget about it for the moment. After all there was not much we could do about it right now.

Strike TWO

Now at this point, a more superstitious person might have decided to pack to all up and go to bed, but I am more of the stubborn breed. I settled down with my book and proceeded doggedly with my plan to enjoy the evening. We’d had a few hiccups no doubt, but this was going to be a good day…damn it.

Enter Scene Ladder

The destroyer...

Having once more nestled in and made myself comfortable it started raining again, this time with increased vigor. A few moments later water came dripping out from the slide ceiling light.

“We’d better bring in the slide” said I wisely, and proceeded with said action

“Crunch, crack….sproooong”

“Oh, sh……t” was really the only reasonable response

The Result...

If you’ve followed the narrative closely thus far you might have remembered the ladder that was left outside in Scene II. In a great demonstration of stubbornness (and general lack of concern for its owners, I might add) it had defied movement and managed to get caught in the edge of the slide, thus producing the aforementioned sound effects. The ladder was entirely unharmed, but had produced a perfectly arched bend on the slide corner. The “sprooong”, by the way, was a rivet being ripped off the slide. Despite our combined horror at the situation, I had to give it credit for stamina.  Either way, this was most definitely Strike THREE. By this point the cats were thoroughly amused and we were thoroughly defeated.

Let's frame that moment, shall we?

Now, there are two universal truths that apply to every life circumstance such as this:

1/ At some point, somewhere you will do something utterly brainless, completely idiotic and it will be entirely your fault.

2/ How you proceed to handle said situation is entirely up to you.

And indeed it was. After some ritualistic cursing and general mutual slapping of foreheads, we decided to let it go. These are only “things” after all. We’re keeping the slide in for now and have made an appointment at the RV doctor inGrand Junctionin 2 weeks time. The cats have had their entertainment, we’ve had our lesson and life goes on. It’s going be another beautiful day tomorrow and until then…well, we’ll just have to see.