And, So It Begins

Once again that old adage (it’s always something) has reared its ugly head. But at least this time, it wasn’t a BIG thing.

We were packed and ready to pull out of our site on Wednesday when I noticed that the steps had not retracted. Whaaaa??? Were they tired from not being used for 6 weeks?

Julian tried to get them up. When that failed he called the dealer for advice. Best he could offer was to disconnect the motor, pry them up, then wrap them till we could get the coach in to the shop. This was NOT an easy task, but we did get it done eventually.

It turned out to be a dislodged magnet. The steps didn’t know the door was closed, so wouldn’t retract. The dealer fixed that and we headed off… only to receive a call from the dealer saying that someone there noticed that our steps were not all the way up when we left. Whaaaa??

So we turned around – very fun in a 33’ coach pulling a car. Before returning to the shop, we saw decently priced gas and stopped to fill up first. Our various in and out of the coach caused the steps to retract properly. But not EVERY time. So we got to the shop and he says he doesn’t know what’s causing it and we should watch it closely. If they won’t retract, use another magnet to see if that will get them up. Not the most warm and fuzzy response. But it is something we can watch and hopefully keep ourselves out of trouble.

So instead of leaving at 8:30am, it was closer to 11am before we got on the road to start our big adventure.

We stopped a couple hours later, near Gainesville, for lunch. I took Heidi out for a much deserved walk. On my way back into the coach, I noticed that the rubber molding around the outside of the door was hanging down all across the top. As I tried to push it back into it’s track, Julian told me that the NuWave (our primary method of cooking) was not working… at all! This is all on top of suspicions that our ice maker is on the fritz. When it rains it pours.

So duct tape was installed to hold the molding in place till we can do it right. The sandwiches were heated in the microwave instead, leaving them a bit on the soggy side. And off we went.

The rest of the day’s trip was pretty uneventful, other than the constant head-wind across I-10. We arrived at our destination around 4:30 CDT. (We were glad to have the extra hour with all we’d been through.) The NuWave worked again, once on shore power rather than generator power used at lunch-time.

The park we stayed in  has a small restaurant – small in size but big on customers. We enjoyed a great meal for a very reasonable price. Then it was time for a good night’s rest.

Thursday morning dawned on the chilly side, around 40 degrees. But the sun was out and we were on the road by about 8:30am. It was an uneventful drive and we arrived in Pass Christian, MS, around 1:30pm.

Setting up proved to be a challenge. There was a constant drip in the water line, no matter what Julian did. In the end, we drove to a Home Depot and got a couple new parts for the water line. Once that was installed, it’s all good. But it took a couple hours to get there.

We got cleaned up and headed to the casino. After all, that’s why we planned the stop here. :-) We were home for dinner and a quiet evening of TV and early to bed.

It hasn’t been smooth so far, but we’re planning on much better days ahead.

Happy trails!