Tag Archives: rv repair

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Coincidence?

I think not.

I left Apalach Saturday night. I didn’t want to leave, but circumstances said otherwise. Or so I thought.

I took my last yoga class (until I go back) and then I headed over to the gallery to paint outside for the town’s art walk. I had a great time and finished the painting for the brother who worked on my alternator.

After dropping that off with a mutual friend as they were out of town, I headed out.

I stopped at the gas station and after I filled up, I needed a jump start. Since this wasn’t unusual before my alternator fix, I didn’t think much of it. About 2 hours and some possessed-like activity in the RV electronics, I had to pull over. There was a McDonald’s and I could park in the back out of the way.

I left the RV running and went inside to order dinner. By the time I came out, the RV was dead, as I feared it would be. The McDonald’s peeps were very nice and let me stay the night. They even sent a guy out to jump start the RV, but I got no more than a couple feet out of the parking spot when it died again.  I was parked rather poorly now and kind of in the way. There was no hope for it.  AAA couldn’t get anyone out to me and it looked like a garage would be open on Sunday.

Ha.

That day I saw a van parked next to me. I thought it was part of the church next door, but I was wrong. It was another traveling soul. Lucky for me, as it will turn out.

I spoke to him a bit that night and he offered to jump the engine Monday morning with his generator so I could get to the garage without towing.

The gennie did not work.  Another gentleman pulled up and offered to get his friend who owns a garage to come help.

Turns out, he couldn’t help either.

So, David, who it turns out is Brother David (and he is apparently one of those rare people who have a direct line to The Man himself), had been praying in the back of his mind and felt bad he couldn’t help. He asked me to let him try with his van. I said sure, but I was doubtful, as is my nature.

Not only did the RV start, it actually made it Ray’s Garage. This included a wrong turn (thanks GPS) and making my way back up a very steep hill.

The men at Ray’s got to work and David gave me some great company for awhile. Eventually, he headed out as angels in disguise are want to do.

Ray’s took very good care of me, changed the alternator, the belt, and finally fixed that leaking transmission fluid that I paid someone to fix back in Kentucky.

I am now 2 hours from home and sitting at Roc’s in Marion.

I just realized I broke down in Marianna and now I have a flat tire in Marion.

Yes, my 3rd flat tire in less than a year. I think I’ll replace the remaining 3 before I hit the road again.

I tried Good Sam roadside this time since I didn’t cancel them after the last fiasco. Not only did they fail to help me this time, but they also wanted to charge me $90 over the cost of the tire I need. Yep. $225 for a tire when I’m in the middle of the interstate (literally) needing to get home to my most likely dying Grandma.

Since I’ve bought 2 others in the last year, I know that isn’t the price. I’ve since been quoted 130-175 plus a service call fee. I’ll probably end up paying the same anyway, but I’d rather give it to an honest person than someone trying to rip me off in my time of need. Someone I’ve already paid.  I didn’t get to see my Grandma today, but even if I had used Good Sam, they would have taken so long to get to me and change the tire (it was an hour wait), I would have made it home too late to see her anyway.

So if you like a little more Jesus with your nomadic adventures, check out Brother David. He’s a really good man and he’s sincerely doing God’s work.

 

The adventure really doesn’t start until something goes wrong.

At least that’s what I tell myself when I cry silently into my pillows at night.

 

On the plus side, it is storming and the dogs will get to sleep with me so their day is aces.

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Alternator, schmalternator

Richard and Michael fixed my alternator! I even learned a thing or two. They wouldn’t take money and when I tried to take them out to lunch they ended up buying me lunch. They also gave me a ride to the Good Will and waited for me instead of just dropping me off at the local thrift store.

They don’t know it yet, but I snuck in a couple of pics of their adorable dog and I’m going to do a painting for them. I’m also going to get them a gift card to the place they eat all the time.

On the art front, I’ve been working on a couple of projects and not getting as far on either one as I would have liked. Starting tomorrow I’m implementing a new schedule and I’m making sure I won’t forget said schedule by putting about a thousand alarms on my phone.  I even forgot happy hour yoga on Friday until 2 hours after it was scheduled to begin. As Sharon rightly questioned, “How do you forget something you do every day?!”

I believe my new schedule will fall right in line with a new NerdFitness challenge.

I have a very big post about Apalach coming if my card reader ever arrives, but I wanted to give a shout out to some amazing soap. There is a soap store where I purchased some awesome soap last year, but I went into a different store for the first time a few weeks ago and became obsessed with Apalachicola Sea Clay Summer House, Handcrafted Natural Soaps. I don’t know how it feels, but it smells heavenly. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and finally broke down today. It is made with mint and spruce. I smell it and my eyes roll back in my head. I may moan inappropriately as well. If you want to check them out, their website is summerhousesoaps.com. Although the site doesn’t have the Apalach soap, you can probably call River Lilly at 850.653.2600 and order some.  It’s a pretty cool store and everything is arranged by colors. It makes me very happy.

Oh, RV living is the life for me…..

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Still Photoless

I met some really cool people today. It doesn’t hurt that they live full-time in an RV with 3 dogs and feel the same way about the normal rat race as I do.  Essentially, they are what I wanted to be when I started out on this nomadic quest. Also, their last name is Snow. That’s cool.

They made me remember how I originally wanted to blog about all the cool places I visit and that I really haven’t been doing much of that.

Gunnar and Beasley have been taking turns having ear infections since August. That’s $150 bucks every time they need to go to the vet. It looks like it is a food allergy. Lucky me, both my heaviest eaters develop a food allergy at the same time. It couldn’t have been Lola who hardly eats a thing. I’m on the hunt for special hypo-allergenic dog food.  I want to try Taste Of The Wild first, but I have to order from Amazon and I don’t know how easy that will be.  Beasley has gotten to the point where he lays in my bed (which is not allowed) and whines almost constantly until I clean out his ears.  He also whines while I’m cleaning out said ears and won’t come to me if I have the cleanser in my hands.  He pretty much just lays in the bed staring forlornly while whining his misery. Unless there is a dog outside, then it’s go time.

I did, in fact, learn what an alternator looks like yesterday. The best part of this RV life is all the people I meet. The day before, I met a gentleman with a very adorable dog. It turns out, my neighbor Randy mentioned my alternator troubles to said gentleman and he can fix it right here. I don’t think my luck has ever been this good. So, boom. The downside is I don’t have an alternator so I can’t take Beasley to the vet.

This is the vet that essentially forced me to buy a gentle leader collar for Gunnar and they let cats roam the office willy-nilly. I’m not a fan. But one must do what one must do for one’s canine companions.

I took Gunnar with me to the grocery store. I put a backpack on him, add some weights and off we go. He barks the entire time I’m in the store so I run like mad to get everything. Then I fill the backpack with the groceries and it is back home.  It’s really nice. I highly recommend everyone getting a dog backpack and making their wild beast earn its keep.