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. 

Friends Helping Friends

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged.  We arrived back at home base in Sulphur, OK on April 2^nd and spent 2 ½ weeks there.  Our home base is a large lot that we own in a private RV park.  The place seemed to have survived what winter they had quite well.  We dug up some old shrubs and planted new ones, decorated a bit with some fun items we purchased in Rockport, TX, mowed and took care of other odd jobs.  At some point, we do need to paint the outside of our add-on room, our shed and the large wood posts that hold up our metal canopy over our RV and room.  I had hoped to get started on that project while we were home but it’s not looking like that is going to happen until fall.  

On Thursday, April 20^th we dropped off the RV at Camping World in Oklahoma City to get our refrigerator looked at and repaired, have the oil changed, and get the roof checked and caulked where needed.  By the following Monday, they had done the oil and roof and determined that we needed a new valve for the fridge that allows the propane to turn on when disconnected from power.  I was pretty sure something was wrong as all it did was heat up while traveling so the propane couldn’t have been working.  The hose that runs water to the icemaker was broken so that needs replacing and the unit seems to struggle to stay cool when the RV itself starts to get warm on hot days.  The door gaskets have been replaced twice with no change and the doors just don’t seem to be closing very tightly.  So, new doors are needed as well.  Starting on Tuesday, April 25^th they started pricing items so they could do battle with the extended warranty folks to get the work paid for.  Pricing took over a week!  Crazy, isn’t it?  The warranty battle started about May 2^nd and parts were finally ordered May 4^th or so.  Today is Sunday, May 7^th and we have no idea when the parts will arrive.  It should only take a day for the work to actually get done but that’s in my ideal world!!  At this point we are hoping to be back in our home in time to head out on our 10-week summer trek starting June 19^th.

Some folks wonder if being full-timers is really worth it when the home has to go to the shop, and if we didn’t have good friends to take us in, we would definitely have to come up with another option as a month in a hotel is too costly.  It just boggles my mind that the work should take so long to get done but then again, the RV service places are busy.  Just check out their lots sometime and see how many units are going in and out.

Wouldn’t it be nice if they would offer the full-timers or those who are traveling and not at home when they need service, a travel trailer to stay in at their lot or a campground nearby?  We’ve thought about adding onto our room at our place in Sulphur so we could have a bathroom and place to sleep.  Since we cook with a grill, microwave and induction unit, we could survive in our little place like that OR we could pick up a little travel trailer to stay in when needed or to use with guests and just store it in one of those storage places.

In the meantime, we have a good friend who takes us in and in turn we try to help her out when she needs it.  We’ve stayed at her place when she has traveled to take care of her pets as well as helped her out following a surgery and this time around we are helping her pack up her house to move.  She has purchased a home in another town and is needing to get her current home on the market to sell.  John has been a big help in fixing some electrical issues and he removed a ceiling fan that wasn’t working and replaced it with a ceiling light.  Painters are coming next week so we’re cleaning out the areas that need painting and we’ve been packing up things as we go.  Her brother took a large trailer with a full load and dropped it at her new home and there’s probably enough packed to fill up another trailer at this point.  

So, the timing of our repairs and her needing to move is working out quite nicely but I still wish the repairs weren’t taking so long.  All in God’s timing though and He knows how this all needs to work out much better than we do.  I’m selfishly hoping that we get to stay at her new home sometime as it backs up to a pond and walking track in the neighborhood.  There is a gate in her back fence that opens right to the walking track.  She also has a living area, bedrooms and bath on the second floor which is very nice for guests.  

John has been working on his stained glass and wind chimes and sold his first one a couple of weeks ago.  He has two more in the works and may have a buyer for one of them as well.  The two he’s working on are a lighthouse and hummingbird and are very pretty.  I must say, though, that with the time it takes him to make these and our costs in supplies, at some point I think the price is going to have to go up.  He seems to be enjoying making them and is always finding ways to do a better job and better ways to get the job done.  The one thing he doesn’t want to get into, however, is taking orders as that takes the fun out of it. His is plan is to work on them at his own pace and to make the designs he wants to make.  We also plan to have some of his sunset and sunrise photos put on metal and see if folks might be interested in purchasing some of them as well.  

We are going to be dog sitting for some friends for a week starting tomorrow and yes, our friend that we are staying with has told us to just have that dog join our two at her house!  Ours are only 7 and 8 lbs and the one coming is about 5 lbs.  She’s a huge animal lover and has three of her own; two large dogs and a large cat.  

Well that catches folks up on what we’re up to these days.  You should hear a lot more once we head out across the northwestern United States and some of Canada for the summer.