A year of repairs - feeling like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop
NWescapee said
09:24 AM Apr 4, 2016
A year ago today was our first experience being towed and first major breakdown. Over the weekend I was working on updating some of the tracking / planning for this year and found I had to add a new category to my “places stayed” tracking list, RV Repair LotNope, not happy to have that one on there at all and then as I was going back looking over our last 12 months I realized we’ve been “stuck” for a total of almost 25% of our time.
2 major breakdowns, 1 when the truck engine died at 51,000 miles and another one when the “never lube bearing” failed, then we have had an intermittent hydraulic problem that has had us in the shop 3 times in the month of March, plus one time last July, and we’re still not 100% convinced it’s fully repaired.The 2 major breakdowns both resulted in having to be towed, the second towing incident resulted in damage to the fiberglass on the RV and the bike hitch when we were offloaded, which then resulted in 2 additional repairs.
Our 5th wheel, a 2010 DRV Mobile Suites, which is supposedly a very well built unit and designed for full timers is now 6 years old, our 2012 F450 is now 4 years old with 65K miles on it.Every time we get ready to go down the road, we both have a bit of uneasiness, it’s as if we’re waiting to see what is going to fail next.It’s not fun, and to be honest it’s taken some of the joy and the feeling of freedom out of RV’ing.
We’ve even started wondering if we needed a home base or an alternative place to stay since it appears that we’re in a never ending cycle of breakdown, waiting on parts, getting the repair completed, etc. Each repair required sacrificing vacation days and/or weekends to get all the repairs completed, plus each one played havoc on our work schedules. We love exploring new places, following the weather, but each repair required sacrificing vacation days and/or weekends to get all the repairs completed, plus each one played havoc on my work schedule.
Just wondering how others deal with what sometimes seems like never ending issues, especially when we're not retired and out patience of dealing with this while working is starting to wear very thin.
Someday said
12:17 PM Apr 4, 2016
Ruth,
First and foremost: THANK YOU, for sharing the "other side" of FT RVing life, especially when working and needing to be in certain places at set times and having access to mobile connectivity constantly almost in your case. It's good to read the good, the bad and the ugly for those of us about to jump off the cliff so to speak.
FWIW, I so sympathize with your comments on it eating up your vacation time and weekends during breakdowns. I remember all too well when we purchased our MH - thinking brand new = no issues. Well, within less than 3,000 miles (that included delivery from California to Langley BC and BC to home in AB prior to any vacation), we were towed enroute to Hells Canyon back to Spokane big Workhorse chassis filthy place I recall. Tried to tell us we'd put dirty fuel in it and wanted to charge us almost $300 just for changing the fuel filter and diagnosis. I had receipts from reputable gas stations, called warranty and said if there's dirt in the fuel tank it's there from when you built it to which warranty said "I tend to agree with you based on the low mileage you've also done thus far". Anyway zero charge, managed to get a few more miles under our belt and she died again. This went on for the first almost 2 years on every trip, and we'd just travel overnight when it was cooler as she seemed to die during the heat of the day. We were continually towed and it totally ruined every vacation/trip, which we had limited time being workaholics back then. To say I ended up in tears more than a few times is an understatement, and rued the day we ever bought a MH. No one worked out what the true problem was.
Finally one day we made it about 200kms down to Milk River Alberta, limping in to the FORD regular garage there. He said he couldn't help, but it sounded like a fuel pump issue. The tow call never came out as it was promised, so the next morning we limped over the border praying not to break down until past, finally got to Great Falls Montana, she died at the Traffic Lights and the Fire Brigade blocked the intersection to allow us to limp after a wee while into a gas station, to later on that night we made it to South Dakota and parked outside a service there. Next morning first thing we went in and said "enough is enough", this has totally ruined all our trips for over two years and someone suggested to check the fuel pump. They did, they replaced it (there was a huge pile of defunct fuel pumps in the place!) and apart from a new engine a couple of years ago due to faulty clip failure, we've had zero issues going forwards.
Now hubby wants a newer Tiffin or Entegra DP, and I'm a nervous wreck of changing knowing the intricacies of this puppy nowadays and having gone through what we did at the front end. It truly is a miracle we still love RVing but like I said, "once all the continual breakdowns were behind us", it's been a wonderful lifestyle. Just hoping and wishing it continues that way for many years to come as we start to go into FT. Hubby says he can't believe how much more reserved with all problems, I have become since those earlier days (LOL). My most common saying is "it is what it is, just gotta deal with it and move on". Easier said than done, when this calm on the surface duck is paddling like crazy underneath!
Thanks so much Ruth for all you and so many others share on your journey, it is really appreciated to open our eyes to all aspects and the challenges you have faced. IIRC Cheryl bless her has had a lot of issues at the front end with her unit as well, but don't see her write much here any more, so not sure if she is still FTing it?
Fingers crossed that all these issues are now finally behind you and you can move forwards with none for some time to come! As for whether to commit to a more static homebase, only you can decide what's best for you and Dale in that regards. We are all of different and varying personalities on which straw will break which camel's back so to speak based on pros and cons of the lifestyle.
Safe and happy travels moving forwards for you both,
SD.
Barbaraok said
12:52 PM Apr 4, 2016
Ruth,
Oh do we know what you have been through. I was sure our first year out that I was going to end up living my retirement at repair lots. When the baristas at Starbucks in Elkhardt, IN knew our order when we walked in the door, we definitely had the feeling we had been there waaaaay to long! Some years it is better, some years not. And after 10 years, we have lots of little things that need to be fixed, but we have learned the work arounds and just keep on going.
Barb
NWescapee said
02:50 PM Apr 4, 2016
Barb and SD,
Thanks for the encouragement, I really do appreciate it. I think if we can get through the next few weeks I might have a better perspective on things, but knowing that over the next 3 weeks we've got 1000 miles to travel, with a planned vacation in the middle of that, and an art show in California at the end of the trip is just turning me into a ball of anxiety. My corporate job has been super busy for about 2 months straight so that hasn't helped things.
I know it's a balance and we are truly trying to find the right balance again. Love this life, love discovering new places, but I can definitely say some of the joy has been replaced by frustration.
Thanks again for the encouragement.
kb0zke said
07:44 PM Apr 5, 2016
Reminds me of our $10,000 December. First we got less than two miles from home when the air compressor died. Mobile mechanic came out, aired us up enough to get back home, and set to work. A week later all parts were in, installed, and away we went. Stopped for lunch, and a few miles later temps were climbing. CoachNet towed us to Joplin Freightliner, who decided that they couldn't, after all, fix the problem, so CoachNet had the same tow truck take us to Cabin Diesel in Big Cabin, OK. After three weeks they had everything fixed EXCEPT for the hydraulic pump. Foretravel had taken a standard pump and put in a gear with a longer shaft. No such pumps in existence, and none could be made before March. Fortunately we know a guy who looks upon such things as a challenge, and he got a seal kit for our old pump, checked it out and pronounced it good. He put in the seal kit and sent us on our way. Cabin Diesel put in the rebuilt pump and off we went. We're still using that pump today.
Since then we've not had any major repairs or breakdowns. When we were having our really bad month more than one person told us that things like this happen about every five years, so we have a couple of years to go, I guess.
BiggarView said
07:46 AM Apr 6, 2016
Ruth, while I can't speak to the RV repairs causing you no apparent end of grief, we have certainly had our own share of "when is this going to end" so we can get to the good stuff. Over the last 8 years, Cindi was downsized out of a nice job, and while trying to put a plug in that hole in the dike, we faced hits to our savings, Cindi lost her mother and dealt with the loss and those emergency expenses etc really major car repairs, and our 2014 pitbull assault and the medical and legal dealings with that. Through it we reprioritzed our goals and are back on track financially. Through it all we were like you, wondering what the next shoe to drop would be. We decided not to stay in that mindset as it would surely come to pass and all we'd get from it was vindication we were right and more "crap" was headed our way... proving what? We should live in fear of the unknown? Taking charge of the here and now is a powerful force for living, anything else is just creeping death. You'll get through this rough patch.... believe it and it will come and take each day as it comes and treasure the positive, learn from the negative.... and move on. The beauty of stepping in "poop" ocasionally is that it reminds us to pay attention and, also important, that it washes off.
Stay strong.
FWIW, Brian
Camper Chronicles said
08:17 AM Apr 6, 2016
Hi sweetie,
I really appreciate your doing the math and figuring out its been 25 percent. That's important for people to know. It seems like it is more a quality of life issue than a financial once thankfully, since you didn't mention out-of-pocket costs but rather time. Quality of life is a significant issue though because that's the reason most of us choose this lifestyle, to improve the overall quality of life. You've been doing this long enough to know every moment isn't perfect...the question I think is how does your current life compare to your old one overall. I know you are a list maker like me 😄 so if you take the pros and cons pre-full timing versus the last year how does it match up. Obviously you can assume this was an anomalous year, but what if it wasn't?? In this "worst case scenario" year were you and Dale happier than when you lived in a house?
If the answer is yes we were happier despite the problems...easy decision. If the answer is no, it gets a little tougher. Do you give the lifestyle a chance to self correct and improve, or start thinking about an exit strategy?? Either way the good news is you have lots of choices. And once you continue forward based on choice...I know you can live with it.
Just remember you have a right to be happy, no matter what that looks like. It really is the whole point. Thinking of you and wish you all the best!!
TRace
NWescapee said
09:47 AM Apr 6, 2016
Thanks for the feedback.
Still processing through all of this as we plan for the future. Are we happier on the road than being stationary? Yes, but to be perfectly honest, when balancing the repairs and our work, it's actually been more stressful. I need to figure out a better way to balance that in the future and probably just move into a hotel sooner and be prepared to stay longer when it appears the repairs are going to really disrupt my work schedule.
Financially we're still saving more living on the road than when we had a house, most of the repairs were covered by warranty, but we did choose to replace both axles and all the bearings when one failed so we wouldn't have to worry about the next failure. Our assumption after a bit of research was that the second one would fail and we decided we didn't want to continue down the road with a ticking time bomb. Overall we've spent about 4K on unplanned repairs this past year which was higher than our budget, but we were fortunate to have the money in savings and our contingency funds.
Just hoping we have this year behind and can continue down the road with a bit less time being stuck unexpectedly where we didn't plan or necessarily want to be. We had a wonderful evening earlier this week with friends who have just bought a house in Tucson, going from FT to PT after 4 years. As we visited their new home base it made us realize we're not ready for that. I don't want to think about buying furniture, decorating, etc. Through our conversation we were reminded of so many reasons we didn't want a house at this time and left happy for our friends, but still not being ready to make a commitment to a house again.
Someday said
11:24 AM Apr 6, 2016
Just a thought Ruth, as a maybe "middle of the road" compromise for a year or two to see how it goes and bearing in mind your still working for a few more years but what about ........ setting up in certain areas for 3 or 4 months at a time (maybe even 6 months) based on seasonal needs for Art and your Work (solid cheaper internet connection) as well as climate. Then when you plan on moving down the road, allowing yourself some wiggle room on time frame to get to your other destination "just in case". At least that would give you the cheaper RV rental rate versus a SnB rental or purchase tie up and maintenance, plus solid internet connectivity and maybe be a lot lot less stressful or worrying. Then to attend shows etc maybe it would work out just as cheap to load everything in your vehicle without towing the rig, and stay at a local motel/hotel close by.
I guess it all depends on how long you see you and Dale needing to work as you are currently committed, but maybe that could be feasible as a win-win compromise for a while??? For sure it's not quite the "footloose and fancy free" idea with RVing you initially might have planned on but maybe it could work????
Just a thought that came to me as a middle of the road maybe compromise that might suit your concerns for balance, and trying to think a little outside of the box so to speak.
SD
NWescapee said
03:45 PM Apr 25, 2016
We were celebrating last night, finally made the move between AZ to Northern CA without a mishap!!! After the truck engine dying a year ago when we were making the same trip and then the reverse trip last Fall with a bearing failure, and the ongoing hydraulic issues this spring, we were a little concerned about this last move.
We took a week's vacation so we could enjoy a couple of stops, including the Grand Canyon, made a couple of other stops along the way, choosing our driving days on the days that were forecasted to be the least windy days and ended up getting in a day early just to avoid driving on a day with wind warnings. And now we're "settled" for 5 weeks, first time in 6 months we've been anywhere for that length of time and thankful to be here.
For now we have decided against any kind of "home base", just not ready for that, but we are starting to replan our travel / repositioning days. Most of the year our moves are short, but we have 3 to 4 major repositioning moves each year of 800-1000 miles due to the art show schedule so we're starting to rethink that schedule for 2017.
Life is good and we're happy to be living it mobile!
aussiesteve said
04:57 AM Apr 26, 2016
Giday,
I love being a regular reader on this forum but I don't often get a chance to join in the dialogue as cultural RV differences don't allow. Everything is bigger and better in the USA. But being a parent to an RV seems to be an international phenomena.
My dear brother and sister in law own one of the biggest RV repair businesses in Australia. Don't get carried away it's not that big. Everything is bigger and better in the USA. I help them out from time to time and at least 1/4 of their income is what we call warranty work.
They and their employees are often rushed into the ER to bring back to life a new born RV which has been delivered straight from the factory womb into the hands of it's loving but inexperienced parents. It matters not if it was the cheap first time budget baby RV, or the Ivy League, Country club, all our hopes rest on you for our social standing baby RV. They nearly always end up in the ER. Our beloved babies will do as they do, poop at the wrong time, refuse to smile for Great Grandma at Thanksgiving ,come home late from her first REALLY date, just to spite us. Damn RV.
Then as we gather at the RV mothers club for ' Sundowners' we discover we are not the only RV parents that have thought ourselves mad to embark on the uncharted road of RV parenthood. We are relieved to discover that all the other parents (who like us have developed a little to fond a reliance on alcohol to survive the stress) have struggled through the RV's childhood where their love was tested, their wallets drained , even their sanity questioned by close friends. Then when we can love RV no more and we reluctantly agree that adoption is the only course, RV provides us with that parental experience we have always hoped for. Should they accept Harvard or Yale? We are going to be Grandparents! At long last they are moving out of the basement. Frustration, disappointment, even swear words are forgotten as we embrace RV. All the frustration sinks like the sun at dusk.
Then after a long romantic dinner, overlooking the vista of the Grand Canyon, while RV snuggles quietly asleep we whisper to each other with childish giggles "lets have another one shall we"
Lets never forget RVing is a love story only RV parents can understand.
Lots of love from that little Island down under,
AussieSteve
-- Edited by aussiesteve on Tuesday 26th of April 2016 04:58:47 AM
BiggarView said
08:18 AM Apr 26, 2016
Aussiesteve, a deliciously funny perspective and reminder to not take ourselves too seriously, it will make us even more crazy than we sometimes already are.
Terry and Jo said
11:51 AM Apr 26, 2016
Steve,
Loved that little explanation of ourselves, even though our "baby" has been little trouble. That's probably because we don't move ours much.
Ruth and Dale,
Glad to see things are going better for you. Jo and I are now parked and working in the Grants Pass area. Should you be headed up this way on I-5, the retreat we are working at is on Jumpoff Joe Creek Road at Exit 66 and to the right. While there's little space here at the retreat for large RV's, there is a KOA about 1/2 mile east of the Exit 66/Hugo interchange. Then the retreat is about 1 1/2 miles on East of the KOA.
A year ago today was our first experience being towed and first major breakdown. Over the weekend I was working on updating some of the tracking / planning for this year and found I had to add a new category to my “places stayed” tracking list, RV Repair Lot
Nope, not happy to have that one on there at all and then as I was going back looking over our last 12 months I realized we’ve been “stuck” for a total of almost 25% of our time.
2 major breakdowns, 1 when the truck engine died at 51,000 miles and another one when the “never lube bearing” failed, then we have had an intermittent hydraulic problem that has had us in the shop 3 times in the month of March, plus one time last July, and we’re still not 100% convinced it’s fully repaired. The 2 major breakdowns both resulted in having to be towed, the second towing incident resulted in damage to the fiberglass on the RV and the bike hitch when we were offloaded, which then resulted in 2 additional repairs.
Our 5th wheel, a 2010 DRV Mobile Suites, which is supposedly a very well built unit and designed for full timers is now 6 years old, our 2012 F450 is now 4 years old with 65K miles on it. Every time we get ready to go down the road, we both have a bit of uneasiness, it’s as if we’re waiting to see what is going to fail next. It’s not fun, and to be honest it’s taken some of the joy and the feeling of freedom out of RV’ing.
We’ve even started wondering if we needed a home base or an alternative place to stay since it appears that we’re in a never ending cycle of breakdown, waiting on parts, getting the repair completed, etc. Each repair required sacrificing vacation days and/or weekends to get all the repairs completed, plus each one played havoc on our work schedules. We love exploring new places, following the weather, but each repair required sacrificing vacation days and/or weekends to get all the repairs completed, plus each one played havoc on my work schedule.
Just wondering how others deal with what sometimes seems like never ending issues, especially when we're not retired and out patience of dealing with this while working is starting to wear very thin.
First and foremost: THANK YOU, for sharing the "other side" of FT RVing life, especially when working and needing to be in certain places at set times and having access to mobile connectivity constantly almost in your case. It's good to read the good, the bad and the ugly for those of us about to jump off the cliff so to speak.
FWIW, I so sympathize with your comments on it eating up your vacation time and weekends during breakdowns. I remember all too well when we purchased our MH - thinking brand new = no issues. Well, within less than 3,000 miles (that included delivery from California to Langley BC and BC to home in AB prior to any vacation), we were towed enroute to Hells Canyon back to Spokane big Workhorse chassis filthy place I recall. Tried to tell us we'd put dirty fuel in it and wanted to charge us almost $300 just for changing the fuel filter and diagnosis. I had receipts from reputable gas stations, called warranty and said if there's dirt in the fuel tank it's there from when you built it to which warranty said "I tend to agree with you based on the low mileage you've also done thus far". Anyway zero charge, managed to get a few more miles under our belt and she died again. This went on for the first almost 2 years on every trip, and we'd just travel overnight when it was cooler as she seemed to die during the heat of the day. We were continually towed and it totally ruined every vacation/trip, which we had limited time being workaholics back then. To say I ended up in tears more than a few times is an understatement, and rued the day we ever bought a MH. No one worked out what the true problem was.
Finally one day we made it about 200kms down to Milk River Alberta, limping in to the FORD regular garage there. He said he couldn't help, but it sounded like a fuel pump issue. The tow call never came out as it was promised, so the next morning we limped over the border praying not to break down until past, finally got to Great Falls Montana, she died at the Traffic Lights and the Fire Brigade blocked the intersection to allow us to limp after a wee while into a gas station, to later on that night we made it to South Dakota and parked outside a service there. Next morning first thing we went in and said "enough is enough", this has totally ruined all our trips for over two years and someone suggested to check the fuel pump. They did, they replaced it (there was a huge pile of defunct fuel pumps in the place!) and apart from a new engine a couple of years ago due to faulty clip failure, we've had zero issues going forwards.
Now hubby wants a newer Tiffin or Entegra DP, and I'm a nervous wreck of changing knowing the intricacies of this puppy nowadays and having gone through what we did at the front end. It truly is a miracle we still love RVing but like I said, "once all the continual breakdowns were behind us", it's been a wonderful lifestyle. Just hoping and wishing it continues that way for many years to come as we start to go into FT. Hubby says he can't believe how much more reserved with all problems, I have become since those earlier days (LOL). My most common saying is "it is what it is, just gotta deal with it and move on". Easier said than done, when this calm on the surface duck is paddling like crazy underneath!
Thanks so much Ruth for all you and so many others share on your journey, it is really appreciated to open our eyes to all aspects and the challenges you have faced. IIRC Cheryl bless her has had a lot of issues at the front end with her unit as well, but don't see her write much here any more, so not sure if she is still FTing it?
Fingers crossed that all these issues are now finally behind you and you can move forwards with none for some time to come! As for whether to commit to a more static homebase, only you can decide what's best for you and Dale in that regards. We are all of different and varying personalities on which straw will break which camel's back so to speak based on pros and cons of the lifestyle.
Safe and happy travels moving forwards for you both,
SD.
Oh do we know what you have been through. I was sure our first year out that I was going to end up living my retirement at repair lots. When the baristas at Starbucks in Elkhardt, IN knew our order when we walked in the door, we definitely had the feeling we had been there waaaaay to long! Some years it is better, some years not. And after 10 years, we have lots of little things that need to be fixed, but we have learned the work arounds and just keep on going.
Barb
Thanks for the encouragement, I really do appreciate it. I think if we can get through the next few weeks I might have a better perspective on things, but knowing that over the next 3 weeks we've got 1000 miles to travel, with a planned vacation in the middle of that, and an art show in California at the end of the trip is just turning me into a ball of anxiety. My corporate job has been super busy for about 2 months straight so that hasn't helped things.
I know it's a balance and we are truly trying to find the right balance again. Love this life, love discovering new places, but I can definitely say some of the joy has been replaced by frustration.
Thanks again for the encouragement.
Since then we've not had any major repairs or breakdowns. When we were having our really bad month more than one person told us that things like this happen about every five years, so we have a couple of years to go, I guess.
Ruth, while I can't speak to the RV repairs causing you no apparent end of grief, we have certainly had our own share of "when is this going to end" so we can get to the good stuff. Over the last 8 years, Cindi was downsized out of a nice job, and while trying to put a plug in that hole in the dike, we faced hits to our savings, Cindi lost her mother and dealt with the loss and those emergency expenses etc really major car repairs, and our 2014 pitbull assault and the medical and legal dealings with that. Through it we reprioritzed our goals and are back on track financially. Through it all we were like you, wondering what the next shoe to drop would be. We decided not to stay in that mindset as it would surely come to pass and all we'd get from it was vindication we were right and more "crap" was headed our way... proving what? We should live in fear of the unknown? Taking charge of the here and now is a powerful force for living, anything else is just creeping death. You'll get through this rough patch.... believe it and it will come and take each day as it comes and treasure the positive, learn from the negative.... and move on. The beauty of stepping in "poop" ocasionally is that it reminds us to pay attention and, also important, that it washes off.
Stay strong.
FWIW, Brian
I really appreciate your doing the math and figuring out its been 25 percent. That's important for people to know. It seems like it is more a quality of life issue than a financial once thankfully, since you didn't mention out-of-pocket costs but rather time. Quality of life is a significant issue though because that's the reason most of us choose this lifestyle, to improve the overall quality of life. You've been doing this long enough to know every moment isn't perfect...the question I think is how does your current life compare to your old one overall. I know you are a list maker like me 😄 so if you take the pros and cons pre-full timing versus the last year how does it match up. Obviously you can assume this was an anomalous year, but what if it wasn't?? In this "worst case scenario" year were you and Dale happier than when you lived in a house?
If the answer is yes we were happier despite the problems...easy decision. If the answer is no, it gets a little tougher. Do you give the lifestyle a chance to self correct and improve, or start thinking about an exit strategy?? Either way the good news is you have lots of choices. And once you continue forward based on choice...I know you can live with it.
Just remember you have a right to be happy, no matter what that looks like. It really is the whole point. Thinking of you and wish you all the best!!
TRace
Still processing through all of this as we plan for the future. Are we happier on the road than being stationary? Yes, but to be perfectly honest, when balancing the repairs and our work, it's actually been more stressful. I need to figure out a better way to balance that in the future and probably just move into a hotel sooner and be prepared to stay longer when it appears the repairs are going to really disrupt my work schedule.
Financially we're still saving more living on the road than when we had a house, most of the repairs were covered by warranty, but we did choose to replace both axles and all the bearings when one failed so we wouldn't have to worry about the next failure. Our assumption after a bit of research was that the second one would fail and we decided we didn't want to continue down the road with a ticking time bomb. Overall we've spent about 4K on unplanned repairs this past year which was higher than our budget, but we were fortunate to have the money in savings and our contingency funds.
Just hoping we have this year behind and can continue down the road with a bit less time being stuck unexpectedly where we didn't plan or necessarily want to be. We had a wonderful evening earlier this week with friends who have just bought a house in Tucson, going from FT to PT after 4 years. As we visited their new home base it made us realize we're not ready for that. I don't want to think about buying furniture, decorating, etc. Through our conversation we were reminded of so many reasons we didn't want a house at this time and left happy for our friends, but still not being ready to make a commitment to a house again.
I guess it all depends on how long you see you and Dale needing to work as you are currently committed, but maybe that could be feasible as a win-win compromise for a while??? For sure it's not quite the "footloose and fancy free" idea with RVing you initially might have planned on but maybe it could work????
Just a thought that came to me as a middle of the road maybe compromise that might suit your concerns for balance, and trying to think a little outside of the box so to speak.
SD
We took a week's vacation so we could enjoy a couple of stops, including the Grand Canyon, made a couple of other stops along the way, choosing our driving days on the days that were forecasted to be the least windy days and ended up getting in a day early just to avoid driving on a day with wind warnings. And now we're "settled" for 5 weeks, first time in 6 months we've been anywhere for that length of time and thankful to be here.
For now we have decided against any kind of "home base", just not ready for that, but we are starting to replan our travel / repositioning days. Most of the year our moves are short, but we have 3 to 4 major repositioning moves each year of 800-1000 miles due to the art show schedule so we're starting to rethink that schedule for 2017.
Life is good and we're happy to be living it mobile!
Giday,
I love being a regular reader on this forum but I don't often get a chance to join in the dialogue as cultural RV differences don't allow. Everything is bigger and better in the USA. But being a parent to an RV seems to be an international phenomena.
My dear brother and sister in law own one of the biggest RV repair businesses in Australia. Don't get carried away it's not that big. Everything is bigger and better in the USA. I help them out from time to time and at least 1/4 of their income is what we call warranty work.
They and their employees are often rushed into the ER to bring back to life a new born RV which has been delivered straight from the factory womb into the hands of it's loving but inexperienced parents. It matters not if it was the cheap first time budget baby RV, or the Ivy League, Country club, all our hopes rest on you for our social standing baby RV. They nearly always end up in the ER. Our beloved babies will do as they do, poop at the wrong time, refuse to smile for Great Grandma at Thanksgiving ,come home late from her first REALLY date, just to spite us. Damn RV.
Then as we gather at the RV mothers club for ' Sundowners' we discover we are not the only RV parents that have thought ourselves mad to embark on the uncharted road of RV parenthood. We are relieved to discover that all the other parents (who like us have developed a little to fond a reliance on alcohol to survive the stress) have struggled through the RV's childhood where their love was tested, their wallets drained , even their sanity questioned by close friends. Then when we can love RV no more and we reluctantly agree that adoption is the only course, RV provides us with that parental experience we have always hoped for. Should they accept Harvard or Yale? We are going to be Grandparents! At long last they are moving out of the basement. Frustration, disappointment, even swear words are forgotten as we embrace RV. All the frustration sinks like the sun at dusk.
Then after a long romantic dinner, overlooking the vista of the Grand Canyon, while RV snuggles quietly asleep we whisper to each other with childish giggles "lets have another one shall we"
Lets never forget RVing is a love story only RV parents can understand.
Lots of love from that little Island down under,
AussieSteve
-- Edited by aussiesteve on Tuesday 26th of April 2016 04:58:47 AM
Steve,
Loved that little explanation of ourselves, even though our "baby" has been little trouble. That's probably because we don't move ours much.
Ruth and Dale,
Glad to see things are going better for you. Jo and I are now parked and working in the Grants Pass area. Should you be headed up this way on I-5, the retreat we are working at is on Jumpoff Joe Creek Road at Exit 66 and to the right. While there's little space here at the retreat for large RV's, there is a KOA about 1/2 mile east of the Exit 66/Hugo interchange. Then the retreat is about 1 1/2 miles on East of the KOA.
Terry