It's Been a While

I know it’s been months since I’ve posted.  This year has been challenging for us.  Although, as I see all the losses people have suffered from the various hurricane, fire, and earthquake events as well as the Las Vegas shooting it makes our challenges look small.  But the fact is that we have had and are continuing to have challenges that are stressful and costly. 

As you know, John retired in the Fall of 2016 and we spent our first winter in Rockport, TX and fell in love with the place.  Now they are recovering from massive destruction following Hurricane Harvey, so we are going to spend yet another winter in Oklahoma.  Since our decision not to go south we’ve had other issues come up that would have kept us from heading that way anyway. 

We have had to deal with lots of RV problems.  The refrigerator had to have new doors after trying two sets of gaskets, and then the cooling unit died.  We were out of our RV for over a month getting that fixed.  Thank goodness for a wonderful friend who takes us in.  The battery to the RV engine died.  A hydraulic line for the stabilizer jacks broke.  The gasket around the giant windshield is coming off and we don’t know why so we still have that to get fixed and it could be structural issues.  Recently, one of the large slide-outs quit working this fall and it has finally been repaired.  It’s always something and we are thankful for our extended service warranty although most of the repair folks don’t like working with the company ours is from.  It has saved us hundreds of dollars.  The windshield repair, though, will likely cost us hundreds of dollars.

I know some folks wonder why we live this way, but we love it.  Our base is located in the woods in a large RV community where we have a great place to stay.  There is a 200 sq. ft. add-on room, with a canopy over the RV and car as well as a large covered patio and a storm shelter.  What more do we need?  We can either travel in the RV or in our jeep and we don’t have a house that needs maintaining.  It’s a great life.

This summer we had a 10-week trip planned to the northwest to see Glacier and Olympic National Parks as well as the coast of Oregon and my Aunt in Medford, OR.  As we headed out on this long-planned trip we received word that John and his former employer were being sued by a former patient.  Patients sue providers all the time but in John’s 35 years of practice this had never happened to him and now eight months into retirement this happens.  After spending three weeks in Glacier we had to return home to deal with issues related to the lawsuit and never made it to the west coast.  This was a bit of a blow, but we realize that we can head that way again sometime in the future.  Since we’ve been home, John has had his scans checking for any return of his cancer and after being cancer free for five years, the scans have picked up on something.  His case was presented to the tumor board at OU Physicians and a decision has been made to try some different tests in January and see what they show.  The type of tumors he gets grow very slowly and must get to at least 2 cm to even consider trying to remove them.  Because they grow so slowly they don’t respond to chemo or radiation treatments.  This spot is in his liver where they’ve already removed two tumors in 2012.  John is doing well, and we are just trusting in the Lord for a good outcome.

In the meantime, we plan to take a short trip down the Talimena Drive to see the fall colors on November 1^st.  I found a cute B&B in Mena, AR called the Sassafras Inn that allows dogs, so we have a reservation for a night there.  From there we will head to Jenks, OK to see a friend and attend a school play that one of her family members is staring in.  Should be a fun time.  She has a beautiful home and takes us and our dogs in whenever we want to visit.  We also plan to spend Thanksgiving at her home with her and her family and will then stay on to help her out for a few weeks as she is having her knee replaced.  She has two big dogs and a cat, so we will take care of them, her house and her until she is able to handle things on her own.

This Fall has been beautiful so far with sunny warm days and cool mornings and evenings.  We are surrounded by the Chickasaw National Recreation Area and they have a large herd of bison.  Yesterday we took the girls and went for a walk on one of their many trails.  Yesterday’s walk was around the very large area the bison are in and we didn’t get a peek at them at all while circling their area.  That tells you that their area is quite large and yes, our walk was long!  The dogs loved it and came home and slept.

John has made four of his suncatcher windchimes since we’ve been back home, and they are beautiful.  He makes every piece of them from scratch!  He made one with a cross and another with a hummingbird and they both have new owners now.  We still have a dolphin and a macaw which are gorgeous and for sale. 

We’ve never spent winter at our place in this park, but we have spent five winters in our RV.  All of them were at a park near Oklahoma City.  We think we have everything set so we shouldn’t run into any freezing problems.  Our sewer pipes are wrapped as is our water pipe.  The motorhome is fully enclosed and heated so we’ve never had problems with anything freezing in it. 

Well this update catches you up on us, so I guess I can wait until after Christmas before signing on again.  I wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas.

April's Fight With Horrible Anxiety

April is a 7 lb. morkie and is a nervous little dog.  A while back her issues started to compound on each other.  Initially, it was thunder storms and riding in the motorhome which is common with dogs.  Then it was the windshield wipers and in the motorhome, those are very large.  When we had to turn them on Bailey would chase them up on the dash while driving down the highway and April would cower and start panting, shivering and breathing heavy.  Then it was the fire in our propane fire pit and then she was bombed by a June Bug and so it was bugs which then turned into flies.  She had gotten to the point where she wouldn’t go out onto the patio in the evenings.

We tried a thunder shirt and pheromone collars but they didn’t work very well.  We did

purchase a set of noise canceling doggy ear muffs and these do seem to help with thunderstorms.  She will actually settle down in my lap with these on and go to sleep during the storms.  So at least one success.

After visiting with the vet, we put her on a course of Prozac for about 3 months as we thought she was going to lose her mind.  The medication takes about a month to really take effect and during this course we noticed that her appetite really decreased which concerned us.  We finally weaned her off the medication and amazingly it seemed like she had a bit of a brain reset.  She was now cautiously coming out on the patio in the evenings and able to look at the fire pit.  Over the course of time she seemed to get more confident.  During June Bug season, however, we don’t sit outside.  Even I hate them.  The wipers don’t seem to bother her much anymore and the valium alone works well for when we are traveling.

All was good with April for some time and then suddenly she has recently become terrified of the indoor flies.  This has progressed to the point that when there are no flies she’s still terrified there might be some.  She’s anxious about being anxious.  We are full-timers in our motorhome and that is all she has known as her home and this was her safe place.  Now she doesn’t even want to be in it.  She retreats to the bedroom or under the dashboard where it’s dark and she can’t see them.  The worst area for her is the living room area and this is where she loved to sit between John’s legs on the recliner.  She normally could spend hours there and won’t have anything to do with this area.  She mainly just wants to be outside.  Here’s the kicker, outside she lays on the ground and the flies land on her and it doesn’t faze her.  Does any of this make sense?

There is very little information out there for dogs being terrified of flies.  How do you desensitize a dog to them?  They are everywhere.  I started her back on the Prozac and initially had to use some of the Valium to get the panting, shaking and shivering under control.  Now we are down to just the Prozac and yes, her appetite has decreased.  I’m boiling chicken breasts which she seems to eat, thank goodness.  My plan is to run this course for a couple of months and see what happens.  After nearly 1 ½ weeks she finally sat in John’s lap two days in a row for about 30 minutes each time – baby steps.  She gets a lot of breaks by going outside when it’s cool enough to just relax or go for walks and we try to take her with us on errands when possible. 

It's great that we have a veterinarian clinic that works with us on this.  Schrag Animal Clinic in south Oklahoma City is awesome.  Of note, when a dog is on these types of medications it’s important that they have some blood studies every month to be sure the meds aren’t having a negative effect.  I plan to report on her progress in a few weeks and pray that it’s good news.

Breakfast at the Historic Izaak Walton Inn

 Yesterday I enjoyed the cool morning in the woods before the heat set in the afternoon.  The afternoons have been getting into the 90's so looking forward to some cooler temps in a few days.  I woke up to the shower being full of water.  Yuk!  Apparently, the gray tank didn’t get left open and it was full.  So, I started my morning out cleaning the shower.  It was a great excuse to head a few miles up the road to this wonderful old, historic hotel called the Izaak Walton Inn for breakfast.  This hotel was originally built in the 1930s to provide housing for the men building the railroad.  There is a switch yard at this location in Essex, MT.  In fact, our RV park is right next to the tracks and there are lots of freight trains that pass through here. Twice a day the Amtrak comes through.  It stops at East and West Glacier as well as at this hotel in Essex.  Apparently they always have two engines running in this yard to assist trains up the climbs in the mountains.

The hotel has been maintained very well.  We had breakfast in their

small restaurant and wished we had thought to eat out on the front porch.  Oh well, we were by a nice window that looked out.  I had French toast which was slices of huckleberry bread pudding that had been dipped in egg and fried like French toast.  Rich, but yummy.  Our waiter was another of the many young folks that come from overseas for the summer.  He was from Romania. 

What’s really unique about this place is that they not only have

rooms in the hotel and cabins but they have several old train cars -  cabooses, a locomotive and other cars – that they have set around the property and turned into cabins.  Some even have nice decks.  They have full kitchens in them as well.  What a great idea and a unique experience.  The prices are quite reasonable as well.  They are open year-round so if any of you need a getaway you can either drive or take the train and come and experience a few nights in a train car.

Trip to Waterton Lakes National Park - Canada

Waterton Lakes National Park is just north of the Montana border in Alberta, Canada.  From our KOA at St. Mary (east Glacier) it was just a 45-mile drive through beautiful pines and mountain views.  Throughout this area of Montana there are lots of range cattle and they seem to love hanging out on the roads.  You can find mamas standing in the road while their calves are nursing.  It’s probably a good thing that the speed limit on the roads where we have encountered these cattle is only 45 mph and typically rough and bumpy roads.  I do have to wonder, with so many of them being black, how often they get hit at night.  I know nothing about range cattle so I also wonder how the ranchers manage their cattle.  They are all marked but they just wonder wherever and I’m sure they are all mixed up with several ranchers’ cattle.  Hmmmm.

Okay back to our day trip.  The girls, John and I started out for our adventure about 9:30 am.  Crossing into Canada was a breeze.  Just a single woman in a booth who asked us a few questions and reviewed our drivers’ licenses, passports and the dogs’ vaccination certificates.  I also had to roll down the back window so she could see inside where the dogs were.  Our window tint is so dark you cannot see into the vehicle.  We drove into Canada right beside the national park and found the entrance just a few miles down the road. 

The drive in is flat and runs beside a pretty lake as you work your way back into the

mountains.  As we approached the small village of Waterton we found a road that went back to Lake Cameron.  It was about 10 miles and wound its way up and down and around in the mountains.  We saw water falls, babbling creeks, lots of very tall pines and incredible views.  At the end of the road was a small lake surrounded by a mountain that was indescribably beautiful.  It was a very cool day and a bit rainy and we didn’t really dress appropriately or we might have rented one of their paddle boats to spend some time on this lake.  The lakes in all these mountains are crystal clear and look like you could drink straight from them safely.  They are also cold.

After spending some time at Lake Cameron we headed into the village of Waterton which is very quaint.  It is definitely a tourist area but you will not find any name brand hotels, restaurants or fast food as we know it.  We stopped at a Weiners of Waterton for lunch.  They had a big kettle outside with a fire burning in it and picnic tables.  You ordered inside and ate outside.  These were probably the best hot dogs I’ve ever had.  The buns are homemade every day.  I ordered the ¼ lb dog with cheese, onions, a sliced pickle, shredded ginger carrots and their special sweet tomato sauce.  It was yummy!  As we wondered around town in the Jeep we found a great waterfall but it was pouring rain so John couldn’t get a photo with the good camera but I did get one with my phone.  Then

we headed up to the Prince of Wales Hotel that sites up on a hill overlooking the lake and the village.  We were hoping to get a view of everything from the hill but it was raining and the view was completely obscured.  BUT – running across the field outside the hotel was a black bear.  I barely had time to get a shot of it. 

We then headed off to check out the one other road we could drive down and again, the scenery was breathtaking.  Lots of open fields between the mountains full of colorful wild flowers.  The rain had stopped and the colors were glistening and fresh. 

As we returned to the United States the border crossing was a much different experience.  There were two officers and before coming to the booth you drive through an enormous thing that apparently scans the entire vehicle.  While one officer is standing behind the car reading off the plate so it can be run, the officer in the booth is running checks on us and asking us questions.  He was actually quite nice and did ask us about our visit and if we enjoyed ourselves.  It just felt like a more thorough check to get back into the States.

John and I were so glad that we took the time to check this place out on our last day on the east side of Glacier.  We weren’t able to make it to Banff on this trip because of our RV repairs which got us off schedule and we hope someday to make it there but after this trip, even without Banff, we will be on scenery overload.

We finished off the day by treating ourselves to a great steak dinner at Cattle Barons 

Supper Club in Babb, Montana.  Babb is a blink and miss it town in northern Montana but they have this great little supper club.  Inside it’s all built in a log theme.  The bar stools have big red cushioned seats and if you want to dine at a table you go up a winding log staircase to the loft area that circles around the downstairs area with a balcony so you can look down onto the lower level.  All the tables are by windows and very nice.  We split the T-bone dinner, which was huge, and added a side salad.  There was enough meat to feed three!  You could cut this steak with a feather and the flavor was unbelievable.  I can honestly say that this T-bone and the smoked ribeye at Smokin Joes in Davis, OK are the best steaks I’ve ever had.

Tomorrow we move to Glacier Haven RV Park near Essex, MT on the southwest side of Glacier for a few nights before moving up to the west side of Glacier.  The east side of Glacier is so beautiful and I highly recommend seeing it.  There are several places to stay from tent and RV camping to cabins and a lodge.  There are shuttles that can get you around the area and in the park they are free.  There are miles and miles of hiking but you cannot take your dogs on the trails.  The only down side is that there are no big towns nearby so the prices are very high.  Gas was nearly $0.75/gallon higher and over $6 for a box of Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuit crackers!  $2.29 for a can of Cream of Chicken soup!  Yep – those are high prices but for a vacation to see all that God created here, it's worth it.  And you have to try the huckleberry ice cream – YUM!

What Is All That Beeping???

It was Sunday of the July 4th holiday weekend and we were traveling from Billings, MT to East Glacier.  In Montana there are miles and miles and miles and miles of nothing but open range and mountains with very few cars, people, towns, anything around.  Maggie was driving and we were out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly something up by the driver's seat is beeping. Maggie is looking everywhere for something that tells her what is beeping and cannot see it and then it stops. Hmmm, well ok, it's stopped and we keep going.  Shortly it starts in again and this time she sees it. The leveling system that controls the stabilizer jacks is showing the jacks are down.  Well that can't be.  We would have felt that.

At that point we see a small town just ahead like it came out of nowhere with a big area to pull over right at the point we enter the town.  John gets out and goes to where the workings for the jacks are and when we try to raise or lower them, nothing happens.  He shuts the system down and plugs it back in and we try again - nothing.  When he looks under the RV he can see that the jacks are up where they should be.  Then he walks to the back and sees fluid everywhere and he realizes that, for whatever reason, we've lost the fluid for them.  At this point there is nothing we can do but unplug the system and keep going.

We were supposed to drive to East Glacier but the next biggest town was Great Falls so we contacted Dick's RV Park and on a holiday weekend they were able to make space for us.  Not only that, but before we arrived they thought to find the most level spot they could since we couldn't level with our jacks.  Thank goodness we had our plastic blocks with us that we can drive up onto to help level. These folks also encouraged us to book for a few nights, noting that they would refund our money if we left earlier.  The also recommended Fleet Maintenance Services to us.  I have to tell you that walking around in the RV without the leveling jacks down makes you feel a bit like you're drunk.  There's a lot more wobbling without the jacks.

Once we were settled into our site we checked out the back of the motorhome and found that the fluid from the leveling system had sprayed every last inch of the entire backside of the rig.  That explained why I was finding it more and more challenging to see behind us through the camera while driving. The entire front and driver's side of the jeep was also covered as was the underside of the RV.  The fluid is transmission fluid and, let me tell you, it is thick and gooey and horrible to get off.  Even taking the jeep through an automatic car wash didn't do the trick.  Also, stick-on decals start lifting up when coated in this stuff.  What a mess! I did find that warm, soapy water followed by spraying with glass cleaner did the trick.

John drove over to Fleet the following morning at 8:00 am to see if they could help us out.  The plan was for him to call me if they could so I could get us packed up while he came back to get us.  Well lo and behold, he called me about 30 minutes after he left and said pack it up!  This place had another motorhome pull in when John got there that also needed help while passing through town so they fixed them up first and then immediately got to work on our rig.  This mean't pulling some of their mechanics off other jobs which was greatly appreciated.

They found a hole in one of the hoses caused by it rubbing on the frame of the rig.  They allowed us to keep our generator running since they worked on it in the parking lot.  That way we didn't have to empty our refrigerator, which was great.  We ran some errands and then got some lunch and took the dogs to a park by the Missouri River that runs through town and hung out there for a while.  About 1 pm we returned and found that not only had they fixed the problem, they also got it approved and paid for by our extended service agreement so it only cost us $100 - our deductible.

Our Good Sam Extended Service Agreement has been worked to the bone lately with all the repairs on our refrigerator and now the jacks.  We're just glad we have it even if they can be persnickety to work with.

We've decided to spend a total of 4 nights in Great Falls and check the area out before heading up to East Glacier where we will spend a total of 19 nights between East, South and West Glacier.  We've decided to forego a trip into Canada.  We've had a lot of stress with several problems in the past couple of weeks and decided not to try to deal with taking our home across the border.  There are a lot of regulations and we just don't want to deal with it on this trip.  So Banff will have to be seen at another time.  We are looking forward to our time at Glacier.

Finally Headed to the Northwestern USA!

 Today is June 29^th and after a lot of unfortunate events, we were finally able to hit the road on June 26^th for our long-planned trip across the northwest USA.  The refrigerator is fixed after 6 months of dealing with it.  Bailey is healthy again after two infections and possibly ingesting some of my medications, and John’s floater in his eye did not involve a retinal tear.  I, however, am nursing a nasty pulled back muscle but hopefully it will resolve itself soon.  Fortunately, I have some muscle relaxers, pain patches and a few back braces to pick from thanks to John being an orthotist!  I also have a 60 minute massage scheduled in Billings, MT.

Our first night was in Salina, Kansas in a nice KOA.  A small storm passed over that evening with some pretty good wind but nothing to worry about.  Then the tornado warnings went off telling us to take cover.  We quickly checked our weather apps and listened to the weather radio to find that a tornado had been spotted but it was just SE of us and headed away from us.  Thank goodness.  I guess the big gusts of wind we had just experienced were part of that storm.

Our second night was in Ogallala, NE in a small RV park next to the interstate.  Although quite small, it was very clean and well kept.  They even had storm shelters in the restrooms.  The owner was very nice.  That evening more severe storms were headed our way and thankfully the worst of them went north of us.  God has been good to us with weather.

We are now in Casper, WY and stopped for two nights to get a break.  With my back problems, John has done all the driving for the past two days and done a great job.  We traveled for about six hours each of those days and he hung in there very well.  He needs the break too!

The scenery, while driving, was pretty.  There was so much farm land with lots of different colors of  golden browns and various shades of green.  As we approached the foothills of the mountains there were interesting rock formations rising out of the ground and eventually the bigger mountains appeared in the distance.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell if what we are seeing are mountains or cloud formations on the horizon.  I love the mountains.

Today we checked out Caspar Mountain County Park and Garden Creek Waterfall just outside Casper.  The park was way up in Caspar Mountain and very pretty.  It was full of tall pines and the view was fabulous.  You could see for miles.  The waterfall was also very pretty.  It involved a short walk up to a viewing area.  There were lots of hiking trails in that area as well but with my back problems it wasn’t a good idea to spend time on them.

Tomorrow we pull out and head north to Billings, MT.

Camping World - NO MORE --- Happy Trails RV Repair - NO MORE --- Leisure Time RV - YES

I'm going to start by singing praises for Leisure Time RV of OKC!  What a world of difference in our experience with them versus Camping World of OKC.  As most of you know, we've been dealing with refrigerator problems for 6 months and it turns out there were several issues going on with it.  They started while we were in Texas with temperature swings that caused us to have to use a cooler at times.  In the course of diagnosing the problem, we found the hose to the ice maker had broken and the LP was not turning on when disconnected from power.  The company in Rockport, TX - Happy Trails RV Repair - was a disaster.  They replaced the door gaskets after we had already done that and they were all wrinkled - not smooth like they needed to be.  They looked at the other problems over the course of 3 visits to us and then just never came back or called.  They left parts out that John had to put back, so our confidence in them went down the tubes.  We were, frankly, glad they never returned.  We strongly encourage folks NOT to use this company.  Nice folks but completely inept at repairs.

Upon our return to Oklahoma in April we took the RV into Camping World of OKC, where we purchased the unit.  They had it a month!  Yep - They spent 1-2 days diagnosing and doing some other maintenance things we wanted but it took them nearly 3 1/2 weeks just to price parts, get what approvals they could from our extended service agreement folks and order parts.  During that month, they worked on the coach about a total of 3 days.  We could have taken it home while waiting on parts.  We weren't too upset with being out of it a month, because we were able to provide help to a friend that entire time to get her house ready to sell.  When we picked up the RV our ice maker was fixed, the propane valve was fixed and we had brand new doors, which we had to pay for ourselves.  So I have issues with the Good Sam Extended Warranty folks as well as they had no business telling us we needed to replace the door gaskets yet a 3rd time and the manufacturer of the refrigerator also said they wouldn't send more gaskets as the doors needed to be replaced.  Anyway, the unit worked great for 3 1/2 weeks and then crashed.  The temperature swings started in again only they were worse and the unit was not usable as food would spoil.  UGH!  

We are supposed to leave on a 10-week trip we have had planned for well over a year on June 20th.  After much prayer, we gave it all to the Lord to show us what to do.  We felt led to make an appointment with Leisure Time RV of OKC as they had good reviews and lots of new repair bays.  They had also treated us right by getting us an expensive part we needed that they weren't going to be installing and didn't mark it up.  Camping World wanted to mark it up $300!  They scheduled us for June 12th and told us they would do their very best to have us diagnosed and a plan in place in one day.  They were aware we were full-timers and of this trip.  Upon return to their business at 4 pm the day we dropped it off we were told what the problem was.  Because John was so familiar with the fridge and the fact that he spent a lot of time looking in the back of the unit through the outside panels, we knew immediately that Camping World had put the unit back into its slot incorrectly and that it was not a manufacturing error.  No heat is supposed to get down the sides of it so there is some structure that is supposed to be in the bay it slides into with insulation to keep this from happening.  All the hot air is to flow over the top of the unit and then out the back panels.  John had noticed when he had been looking in there this past week that he could see insulation that he had never seen before.  Well Camping World failed to put that structure back in there that the insulation sits behind so hot air was getting down the sides of the unit.  Additionally, they had put a new drainage hose on it and instead of cutting it short so it hangs down and out the vent they just left it long and coiled up so the water wasn't draining.  This also caused big temperature problems.  Needless to say, our cooling unit is now dying and that's a $2,500 fix!

It was late in the day so we decided to leave the RV there until the next day and before we could arrive at the place we were staying for the night, Leisure Time called us and informed us that they had gotten approval from Good Sam to pay for the repairs and the parts were ordered and would be in in 3-5 days!  WOW is all I can say.  One day to diagnose, get repair approval, price and order!!!  

We will pick up the RV and return to Sulphur until the parts arrive and then return for the 1-day repair.  We may still actually get started on this trip on time although we were perfectly willing to have to modify the trip and forego it altogether if that was the way the Lord seemed to be leading us.  

We do plan to let Camping World know what occurred and that we will no longer be using their facility but we have no intention of getting into any type of inappropriate exchange or ask them for anything.  We're sure they will deny any errors and will likely say that it must have been an manufacturing error.  HOWEVER, Leisure Time noticed immediately the parts were missing and if it was a manufacturing error, then Camping World should have noticed this as well and fixed it!  Either way, they were in the wrong.  If Camping World had put it back together correctly we wouldn't be having to get this fixed again as the original cooling problem we're fairly certain was the doors that weren't sealing tightly.  

John strongly encourages those with RVs to document all the areas of the unit that you can see or see into with pictures.  He has pictures of all kinds of things and has always tried to get pics if we've had to open up or uncover something to get to it.  If he had actually taken a picture of the back of the fridge he could have proven that it wasn't put back together properly.

We're so excited to hopefully have this refrigerator finally fixed although that still remains to be seen.  When we get it back and have had it for a month, I'll let you know if it really is working right.  

Thanks for reading.  Hope you are enjoying my posts.

RV Repairs and Preparing for a Long Trip

We arrived back at our place at Cedar Blue RV Park in Sulphur, OK a week ago Wednesday.  On Thursday night we had storms with wind and small hail roll in and drop 2” on us.  The following evening the storms rolled in again.  Only this time they came with tornadoes.  We, along with some neighbors, climbed into our shelter and spent about 45 minutes in our cellar.  Thank goodness the tornadoes were south of us and I don’t think they ever touched down.  We had more wind and hail and this time we had 4 ½” of rain come down.  Needless to say, Lake Arbuckle is flooding a bit and there’s lots of debris in it.  This week we are also dog sitting our friend’s dog, Munchkin, again.  We just had her about 1 ½ weeks ago so I think her parents are getting in some of their vacations while we are still in the area.  She’s a breeze to keep. 

Now back to our RV repairs.  Our refrigerator doors are closing and sealing much better now and everything is working.  So now I’m going to do battle with the extended service agreement folks who seem to think they can better diagnose the problems from Florida then the RV techs are able to do.  They wouldn’t approve coverage for anything more than yet another set of door gaskets, which would have made 3 sets.  Even the manufacturer said another set of gaskets wouldn’t work nor would they even send them and that new doors was the only fix.  So, we paid for new doors and will try to get reimbursed for them. 

One thing we did find out from Camping World was next time they would pull our unit in to diagnose and then, if it’s usable, we can pay the part of the bill and head out while they get parts ordered and in and then return for hopefully just a 1-2 day repair.  That sounds much better than a month out of it and all but 3 days of that was it sitting in their lot.

While the RV was in the shop, they found that the gasket along the top of our windshield was in bad shape and leaking.  They plugged the hole but didn’t offer us much for pulling and resetting the windshield with a new gasket.  I tried to find somebody in the area that could help but the problem that kept getting in the way was what to do if the windshield broke during the course of the pull.  The local companies would have to order a windshield which meant the RV would be without one for about a week and they wouldn’t let us leave our coach inside their garage.  I’ve lost a lot of sleep over this but finally found a place along our summer trip route in Oregon that can help!!  They are called RV Glass Solutions so that’s what they do – RV windows - and their main plant is in Oregon.  They have several windshields that should fit our unit but will have to order a gasket from the dealer.  They have a large indoor facility and provide electric hookups for rigs outside so we can spend a night in their lot if needed.  So even if they break a windshield, they have them in stock on site!  I’ve sent them pics of the bad gasket and am waiting for suggestions to reinforce it so we hopefully won’t have problems until we arrive there in early August.  Of course, if the windshield was broken none of this would be an issue as insurance would cover it all, parts would be ordered and it would all be fixed in a few hours.  I even had a company suggest that we break the windshield!  Unfortunately, I just couldn’t bring myself to do that.

We are leaving for our big trip to the NW on June 20^th and last night I was reviewing things to know for going into Canada.  I found out that we should have insurance verification from our companies that insure the RV and Jeep that show we are covered in Canada.  Sure glad I found this as it has to be requested and mailed from the insurance companies and can take a bit to get.  At least we have 3 ½ weeks to get this.  Hopefully, it will show up before we leave.  I also found a recommendation that we purchase international medical travel insurance as our medical insurance will likely not work in Canada.   I found that online as well and it was reasonably priced.  It also provides medical evacuation to home, if needed, in addition to trip interruption coverage and medical and/or emergency care.

There’s a lot to know about driving into Canada with an RV and pets.  In addition to the usual passports, we need shot verification documents for the dogs, the Canadian insurance verification, and then we have to look at what food we have on board.  Dog food and all prescriptions must be in their original containers.  We had to find a place to store our guns as only the shotgun could go with us but we’re checking that as well.  Thankfully, an RV park we are spending time in on the US side said they would store these for us. 

I think we are close to being ready to head out across the US this summer and pray for God to protect us and guide us to all the beautiful things He created.  We look forward to getting some great photos to share with everybody and just enjoy His creations.