It Ain’t All Fun and Games

We are one month into our trip so I thought this would be a good time to give a dose of reality to those that might be thinking that we are having all of this fun with no effort. I haven’t touched on this before because I don’t like to ruin a good story with bad news. But, as in all of nature there is a balance, natural dualities—e.g. light and dark, male and female, high and low, hot and cold and in our case fun and not so fun.

I have been sharing the fun parts so let me temper that with the not so fun parts. They can be divided into four categories: mechanical failures, driving frustrations, foiled agendas and being unplugged. Wrap all of that up into a learning curve that has a few loop-d-loo’s in it and it begins to rival (or balance) the fun part.

MECHANICAL FAILURES

The rig is 13 years old so we expected a certain amount of maintenance. Although we tried to “fix” as much as we could before the trip, we arrived at our first campsite discovering the water pump and one of the 4 levelers were not working. So, we spent the first few days a little wonky and had to fetch water from the communal water spigot.

Then, the door to the RV started having issues opening and closing. Since that is the only way to enter or exit the vehicle, it was kind of important. Turns out it was falling off.

A few days later at a rest stop we noticed part of the covering to the RV was peeling off of the bottom. This was continued a few days later when we found the rest of it peeling off of the bottom.

Then, the transmission started acting up. When we took it in to be serviced, we asked them to also turn one of the new tires around because it had been put on backwards. This would come back to haunt us the next day when I heard a metal scrapping sound which turned out to be the wheel cover falling off because it was also put on wrong when they turned the wheel around.

A leak then developed under the kitchen faucet and the buffeting winds we encountered on the highway also cracked a piece to one of the mechanical compartments.

I’ll stop there because it gives one an idea of the challenges. Thankfully, the Hippygeek is quite handy and everything has been remedied.

right: Driving over Sylvan Pass in a snow storm.

DRIVING FRUSTRATIONS

The driving frustrations are similar to normal driving frustrations like rush hour traffic jams, road construction, missed turns, poor directions, bad weather and nail biting mountain passes except that one has to magnify it by driving 60ft. of vehicle(bus + tow car + bike rack). Which also means no U turns, limited parking and no access to low tunnels and bridges.

FOILED AGENDAS

We don’t have a specific agenda. We wanted to leave our schedule open to changes. Unfortunately, one cannot make plans at the last minute and expect them to always work out, campgrounds fill-up and events sell out. Yet when we try to plan in advance to avoid these issues it seems to jinx us. Twice we have had to cancel reservations because an issue arose that prevented us from making it to our destination.

BEING UNPLUGGED

Primitive camping is great except you have no access to power or phone/internet service. Which, of course, is the whole point. I have covered this topic before (see: I am a Junkie). But, basically everything comes to a standstill The generator will give you power but many places will not let you run your generator after 8pm. Then you are on battery power which isn’t very robust and, if you forget to switch the refrigerator to gas, you will drain your batteries and the refrigerator won’t run. Then, you have to use your tow car to jump the RV in the morning and make a trip to the grocery store to replace all of the spoiled food in the fridge.

right: This how I feel when I’m unplugged, belly up and a little crazy.

THE LEARNING CURVE

All of this is wrapped up in a learning curve which isn’t a curve at all. A curve gives one the feeling of a gentle upward slope in which knowledge is gained at a steady satisfying rate eventually leading one to some sort of enlightenment. This learning situation resembles one of those new high tech roller coasters in which you are suddenly thrust forward and before you can adjust to the speed it flips you over, leaves you hanging upside down but, only for a moment before you plunge down the other side. You then begin to get your bearings and say “hey, I get it” only to be thrown into a spiral loop-d-loo and on it goes. You finally reach the end. You think. But, tomorrow is another day and a new situation and the learning “curve” starts all over again.

above: What else is there to do when the RV is in the shop but to spin and have a little fun.

Of course, a side effect of character building experiences is the development of a sense of humor. It’s nature at work again trying to create a balance. I will keep you posted as to how our sense of humor develops. Right now, I’m thinking we should be pretty funny by the end of the year.

“A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life.” William Arthur Ward