Out for Adventure

Whether on the road or at home, life can be full of adventure. But once we head out in the RV, I always feel as though we are headed out for adventures.

After spending a week or so with Evelyn and Gene, the incoming bad weather had us stowing our stuff and trying to get out early. When I opened the RV door Friday morning, I knew it was time to go. Amarillo is a dry climate zone. But Friday, it was like walking out in Austin or on the coast - the air was laden with moisture. You could feel and smell it. While the precipitation was not forecast until the afternoon . . . it was already starting. I could see snow in the air along with the mist.

We said our good-byes and went back to the RV to hit the road . . . . uh . . . we need to leave quickly . . . uh . . . the RV is NOT starting. This is not a good sign. It had only happened once before - on the day we were heading home from our last trip. It had seemed a fluke, because it had started up every time since. My brother-in-law, Walter, got it started, but warned us he had not fixed anything.

Our plan was to head south and to move as quickly as possible out of the freezing zone. That part of the plan worked. The road south of Amarillo were not bad, but Mary told us Amarillo had already started icing up. Sure enough by the time we reached Lubbock we were out of freezing temperatures. By the time we hit I-10 we had some sunshine and blue sky.

Fearing problems, we did not turn the engine off when we got gas . . . yes, a risk of fire . . . but since it is not a habit, it seemed the wise thing to do today. We made it to our planned destination . . . the El Paso area and shut down for the night.

We got up the next morning and had a leisurely start with breakfast and coffee. We weren't worried because Walter had shown us how he had started the car. We figured we would make it to my convention and then head over to a car dealership in Thousand Oaks and get the repair work done. Sigh . . . WRONG! Henry had been working through the problem - trying to juggle the gear shift to make the neutral safety switch let the key start the ignition. When all of a sudden the key switch moved freely . . . no stops . . . free spin, we knew we had a new problem.

In almost 5 years of RV ownership, we've never had to be towed in . . . . until now. AAA RV Plus is a very good thing. They came and got us, found us a place that would take the RV for repair on a Saturday morning, and delivered us there. I liked our mechanic - he went right to work to determine the problem so that perhaps he could get the parts before the parts places closed at noon . . . . sigh . . . three or four dealerships, but no one had our part in stock. The part will be ordered Monday. Hopefully, it will come in on Tuesday around noon. Five hours of labor later, it should be ready to travel. But I've got to be in Palm Springs by noon Wednesday. So, I'll finish up the things I need to print for my portfolio and leave Monday.

Now granted, car trouble is no fun. But . . . we made the choice to buy an older RV. We've heard tales that even new RV's can have mechanical problems. So far, we've always been able to take the jeep and make it to our events in spite of car trouble. Hopefully this will not be the exception. But we've learned to try to get places a day or so early to allow time for these kinds of things.

I made it to Phoenix today (Monday). If I get up early enough in the morning, I should be in Palm Springs by mid afternoon. Should our trusty jeep fail me . . .my plan C is to rent a car. Hopefully my next post will be from the Motel 6 in Palm Springs.