The RV learning curve-It's not what they tell you

January 4th, 2018

So this is the day we have been waiting for. We're back in Missouri.  Our trailer which we have now named, "Our Happy Place," is ready to be picked up from the dealership so we can begin loading and getting ready for our longest trip, January through April. 

Let me back up a little. We purchased the RV at Olathe RV in Gardner. They claimed to be oh so wonderful and so grateful to have us as a customer. I wasn't born yesterday and I've read thousands of the blogs and videos about driving them off the lot and they forget you ever existed. But what else can you do? You have to buy it from somewhere. We heard more negative things about Camping World so we thought we'd try Olathe. We dropped the RV off November 10th. Yes I said November 10th. We figured that would give them almost 2 months to get everything done. There were numerous things we wanted done: 

1. Do the annual inspection on everything
2. Give me a price on automatic leveling and possibly do it
3. Instal a new, more secure door lock
1. 
4. Give me a price and possibly install the new and improved permanent stairs
1.  
5. Do a detail wash on it including detailing the inside
6. Fix the few warranty items needing repair, ie. one of the propane burners on the stove didn't work, the propane plug on the outside kitchen didn't work, fix the satellite connection so we could hook directly into satellite from the outside instead of threading the cable through the storage bin, fix the screen door

Long list but plenty of time to  get it done. We emphasized that we didn't want it rushed, we wanted it done right. I saw him write on the ticket "no rush." I did however want a rush on the estimates so I would know what I would be dealing with cost wise. By December I still had not heard from "Steve," so I called him. I had to leave my number. 3 days in a row I called and left a number. The 4th day when the receptionist asked me to leave a message I said, "no I've left numerous messages, I need to speak to someone in service that can help me." She actually transferred me to the service manager who said I'd get a call back directly. Sure enough "Steve" called back in 10 minutes. He of course apologized and said they were short handed. Being a previous manager I was very understanding. I explained that I needed to get the estimate so I would know what I was looking at for next month. I reminded him that we were picking it up the first week in January because we were headed out of town. He acted completely shocked. He said "oh I thought you weren't picking it up until March or April. No, I reminded him that we were headed out of town in January with it. He said he would get back with me. I waited another week and began calling. Right before Christmas I finally got through to him and said I had been waiting over a month and I needed to know what the cost was because IF we decided to do the extras I didn't want to come to pick it up and them tell me they had to order parts. The estimate on the leveler was $4600 so we instantly scratched that. The stairs came in at $500 and I said we probably would have that done. He said he would have to order it because they had never done one so they didn't have one in stock. I said, "What, you have never done one. No forget it, I don't want to be the first one you've ever done." He said ok. I wasn't impressed with them so far so I didn't want them to do something and mess the stairs up. That was something I figured I couldn't live without. I'm not too good at jumping up or down 4 feet!! I said I'd see him on January 4th when we pick it up. I reviewed the rest of the list that I did want done.

On January 3rd I called him to make sure it was ready to pick up. He said the warranty things were done, the wheel bearings were redone (we had agreed to do them), they had repaired a couple of things on the roof and it was ready to go. I said did it get washed and detailed? He said, "oh no we didn't get to that but we could get to that next week." I was now on the verge of getting pissed. I said forget it we'll pick it up in the morning. 

So we went to pick it up. He had indeed done the roof to the tune of $300 and the wheel bearings for $350. and done all the warranty repairs (we would have liked to go through the trailer to see but it was parked out in a field). No new lock, very dirty and this girl was very disappointed and angry. Needless to say they have lost our business. To make matters worse, WE had to drive out to the field to get it. I would have expected it to be on the parking lot ready to hook up and drive off. But that is life right. There are worse things to be upset about. Olathe is an hour from our house. There is another RV center, TransWest that is 10 minutes from our house and we have found out that they are Keystone dealers but we had heard they are more expensive. So be it!! We'll try them out next year. 

Ok, that was just getting the RV to our house. We brought it home and hooked it up. I opened it up and started filling it up as I had removed everything in case it froze while we were in Rhode Island. We were scheduled to leave on the 12th but when we heard that a freeze was coming in we decided to leave on the 11th.  We wanted to hook up the generators to see if they would work while we were traveling. Richard came in and said, "I can't get them to work." I went out and we looked over everything and tried it again. He was so disappointed  I went in and googled hooking up generators. I heard one blurb that stuck in my head, "the surge protectors are a floating field so they are not needed." I really don't know what a floating field is but after he hooked again unsuccessfully,  I said, "try it without the surge protector." WALAA....it started right up. So now we could be at a truck stop, Walmart, country road anywhere and we would have full electric hook up. YIPPEE.

We were packed. We de-winterized and filled the fresh water tank and were ready to close her up and take off. Richard came in with one of those looks on his face. He said, "I can't close the bedroom slide." I went out and sure enough everything else was in but when you pushed the retract button to close the bedroom slide NOTHING, NADA, ZIPPO. Well now what do you do? He called Olathe. They gave him a couple things to check. Nothing. They said to bring it in and they could get to it next week. The problem with that is that you can't move it on the road with a slide out. They said we would have to call a special tow to pick it up. Who pays for that? WE do!! It was going from bad to worse. I kept telling him, "it could be worse, we could be on the road at a Walmart and not be able to get it in and also be in a strange town." WE were getting a bit depressed though. I called the Park in Florida and pushed the reservations back 2 weeks. I figured we were stuck here. We also called the Keystone people and they were no help at all. We did call a mobile RV repair person and he made an appointment to come out the next day. If anyone wants to get into a lucrative field, go into mobile RV repair. The trip charge is $75.00 and then $120 an hour with a guaranteed 2 hours. If you want them out the same day or at night it is a $300 trip charge and then guaranteed 2 hours. Oh well we just wanted it fixed and we couldn't pull it anywhere. Then I remembered we had "Good Sam Travel Assistance" and they would come no matter where we broke down. I called them and they would get someone there in one hour. They would pay the trip charge and we would pay the repair. I called Keystone and they said they would reimburse for the repair because it was still under warranty. WOW!! did we get lucky. 

We waited and waited and I continued to read on the computer. I read somewhere that if the slide is kinked due to overload it won't move. We had waited 3 hours and finally got a call that he was on his way from Paola Kansas. Ok. I went out to the trailer, emptied the closet and pushed the button......IT CLOSED!!! I freaked out. I quickly called Good Sam and cancelled as we would have had to pay that 2 hour guaranteed cost. Now we had to decide what to do. It was 4:30PM. We have never taken off in the dark but we had dewinterized and they were predicting a freeze that night. We decided to take off and head straight south towards Little Rock. AND WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO FLORIDA. 

WHAT A DAY!!! I remember thinking, this is not what I expected at all but then I read somewhere, A BAD DAY ANYWHERE IS BETTER THAN A GOOD DAY AT WORK!!! And I just nodded my head and smiled!!!

Rhode Island

December 1, 2017

We were excited to head to Rhode Island to spend Christmas with Dad and Barbara in Rhode Island and have the opportunity to see many of my Massachusetts relatives. We started out spending a wonderful visit with dear friends, Linda and Steve, in Libertyville, Illinois. Libertyville is just north of Chicago. It is a beautiful little city. We enjoyed a delicious spegetti dinner and then Linda and I sat up until the wee hours of the morning and played catch up. Linda is a retired United Airlines flight attendant and she has the most fascinating stories. She once met Dr. Seuss. She said he was a very nice man and even gave her a special screen name. Linda was my best friend, Susan's sister whom we lost in 2013, so we had fun reminiscing about the good old days. When your 65, there are lots of good ol' days. Linda also gave me one of those silicone sponges to try because she loves them. They work perfect and you can just through them in the washer or dishwasher (the dishwasher in the RV has a name. The name is Dana :) Anyway I love it!! Thank you Linda!!!



We stayed one night and then headed to New Jersey where we spent two days visiting my neice, Jessica and her family. Her son Clayton won my heart when he graced the world with his presence 2 years ago.













He has mega energy and wore Richard out good.

They live in a very nice home in north of Newark. Great town but VERY expensive. Their house is in a major flood plain and their flood insurance runs around $2,000 annually. I guess I'm just spoiled living in the midwest.  We stayed in an old Best Western hotel which was refurbished but in a very old building with a lot of character. It is the only hotel in town. When we checked in the first surprise we got was that we were on the 2nd floor but the hotel had NO elevator. I kept saying, "you are kidding right?" They offered to carry our luggage up to our room but I was still shocked. I later saw the manager in the building and I said, "this is such a beautiful place, but no elevator? I can't get over it." She said, "yea, the building is so old and since it is just two stories it didn't even have an elevator when it was build." I said, "you know I think you can have those put in after the fact." She gave me a nod. It obviously wasn't up to her. Other than that it was wonderful. They had a full, home-made, free breakfast that Richard absolutely loved. One of the reasons that he wanted to stay in a hotel was to ensure that he could watch the Chiefs game uninterrupted as he knew Clayton didn't sit still that long and Jessica's fiancé, Derek, wasn't much in to the Chiefs.










So he stayed in the hotel and I went shopping with Jessica and Alexia, my great niece. We had a fabulous day.


For dinner we took everyone out to a diner, which they love. That wasn't unmemorable either. First it was packed, then they didn't get the number of guests right and we were put in too small a table. Derek is like my son TY. Don't every complain, just deal with it but my niece is not that way. She didn't like being crunched in the table so she asked for a bigger space. They did add a table to us but it was a packed restaurant and we were sitting at a table next to the door so when we added the table, it was a tight squeeze for everyone coming in. Then Jessica got a meal that had a strong onion taste and couldn't eat it, as she hates onions so they brought her another meal. I'm sure they spit in it after all was said and done. But they were all very nice. Now let me explain. My son has given us a credit card to put our extra costly stuff on as we are on a strict budget. So when we take someone out to dinner we always put it on his card. ISN'T HE THE BEST!!! But all I could think of was that he would have blown up had he know all the complaining that was done. He hates anyone to complain NO MATTER WHAT, at restaurants. So I was glad he wasn't there. But you know there are people out there that feel strongly that if you are paying for something you should get it how you want it and that is my sweet niece Jessica.

Overall I had a wonderful meal. I actually got a phone call from my grandson in Missouri. He said he was trying to call my daughter to pick him up but she wasn't answering her phone. I said, "well honey, I''m in New Jersey, what would you like me to do?" He said, "would you call her?" She knows your number and I'm calling from a strangers phone." So I did and she did pick up. When I told her what was going on, she said, "He hasn't called my phone. I have his phone with me and he was calling his phone. That's why I didn't pick up." ONLY a teenager!!!!

Before we left New Jersey, Derek let us use his new toy. It was one of those "virtual head masks" that when you put them on it's like you are there. He sent me on a river tour and OMG it was like you were riding in that canoe going down a river. A scary river. It was amazing but when the canoe started to turn over I had the most terrible sensation that I through the mask off. I couldn't take it. I can only imagine the places these things will take us. It was so cool!!!

After two days in New Jersey, we finally got to Rhode Island. My parents were already there. It snowed right away and it was the first snow, truly beautiful.

We had dinners with family and enjoyed everyone.


My cousin, Francis, came down from Boston and we went up and had lunch with another cousin who I haven't seen in several years.  

I graduated from High School in Rhode Island so we did a memory lane tour to the old house and the old high school. I took pictures of the house my daughter was conceived in. Ahhh the memories!!!




We went to Mystic Connecticut to the seaport, ate dinner and saw the old ships and sang Christmas Carols at their annual Christmas Caroling and drank hot chocolate. It was fun but IT WAS COLD!! My dad and Richard ended up going to the car and waiting for us so they could get warm. Even though it was cold my little nephew Lennon loved seeing Santa. He was all toasty warm!!

We spent no less than 14 days driving all over New England looking for an RV park to stay in this summer. WOW!! They are truly pricey up there. Unusual to find a park less that $1200 a month. Way out of our budget so we drove through Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts checking out parks. We finally settled on one in Bellingham Massachusetts to stay at June through August 2018. We made our reservations. It looks like a very nice park and it came in at around $900 a month. We also booked November 2018 as my folks do every other holiday between Rhode Island and Missouri. So we are set for November as well. We feel very blessed.

Christmas Day was wonderful. I started out going to Mass with my father. As we looked out the window at the church it looked like a blizzard. We got a beautiful white Christmas snow. We drove to my step-sister, Bonnie's, house for dinner and it was amazing. She outdid herself and how nice for Barbara and I not to have to do the big gathering!!!! Check out Richard and my Christmas trailer shirts!!!








And that's when all the fun started. We got home and Barbara's leg was hurting her. We told her she was doing to much and to go lay down. By the next day it was worse. She stayed completely down but by the next day she couldn't walk and was in a lot of pain. My dad took her to the ER. After X-rays and CT SCAN they found nothing. They sent her home on pain pills. She had to stay downstairs because she couldn't do the stairs so there is my 80 year old step mother and 89 year old father trying to take care of each other. I was so glad I was there. But by this time we knew Barbara couldn't leave in 2 days to drive 3 days back to Missouri. Now you'd think that since we are ALL PROUDLY retired we didn't have any deadlines to make. WRONG!! Barbara had to be back to Missouri by Tuesday, the 4th for an ultrasound to determine if her lung cancer was still in remission. She called her oncologist to see if she could put the test off for a few weeks and because they had seen a couple of spots on her legs, they wanted her to come home. The oncologist sent our a more powerful pain killer and told her to fly home. This created a whole other problem. First, my father HATES, HATES, HATES to fly and second they needed to get their car back. He wanted him and I to drive the car back following Richard in the truck but wait! First, he can only drive a few hours a day and I don't drive a long time either. Richard and I stop faithfully every 2 hours and walk. He's a "get there as soon as you can" kind of traveler. But WAIT!! We have a truck that pulls a 36 foot travel trailer. It will easily pull a little Camry. Now to get by the father who HATES to fly. I told Barbara and she told my Dad she didn't want to go without him. Bonnie, my step-sister,  was going to fly back with them so she could help maneuver through the airport. My dad can't hear so he gets frustrated and TSA gets frustrated and it doesn't make for a pleasant experience for him or anyone else. Bonnie arranged to have a wheel chair and a transport cart for my dad.

So we loaded up the truck with everyones luggage. It was cold people. Richard came in the house with a devastated look on his face. He called me in the kitchen. He said, "The truck won't start. It's dead." OK here we go again!! This had happened a couple of times and I had begged him to buy new batteries. The diesel takes 2 batteries. But every time he had them checked, he was told they were fine. So here we are again. Loaded up and ready to leave in the morning except for filling her up with diesel and she won't start. Was I a bit upset with Mr. Thrifty? Just a bit!!! So we spent the next few hours in a snow storm trying to find someone to come and jump us. Now we have 3 different travel assistance programs. We have one through our insurance, one through our truck extended warranty and one through Good Sam Travel assistance. We started with Good Sam since they are who we pay the most to and they know RV's and diesel trucks that tow. Good Sam said it was likely because of the cold and they could send someone to warm the batteries and then jump it but since we were parked at a relatives and not on the side of the road somewhere, we would not be a crisis 1 category. They wouldn't be out until the morning. My nephew had Triple A and he called them. They didn't even answer the phone. Since there was a snow storm, many folks were probably stranded. Richard called an auto parts place and happened to get a guy that owns a diesel. He informed us that we probably needed new batteries because even if they tested good, if they are old, they likely aren't holding a charge in the cold. Because our truck was manufactured in the south and sold in the south it did not come with an engine warmer kit that they often have in the North. We could buy and install one. RIGHT, like I want Richard to try and do that!!! But he had my nephew, Tyler, take him down to an auto parts place and he bought 2 new batteries. He also bought a suggested gas additive for the gas in the bitter cold. WAHLAH!!! He and Tyler installed them and the truck started right up. We're ready to roll in the morning. Won't say I still wasn't worried about the drive back. I was thankful for these things-1. It happened while we were still home and not at a hotel along the road somewhere. 2. It was only the batteries and even though 2 new ones cost $485, it could have been worse. Will he ever learn not to wait until the worst happens to update anything? I'm thinking by 68 years old the answer is no. I'll just have to insist harder, but then that makes me look like a bitch:(  Don't really care at the stage of the game :)

So we were ready to go. That night was not a good sleep night. We had been sleeping on a Queen Size blow up mattress and for the most part, had been very comfortable but for some reason that night it decided to blow up and we woke up on the flat mattress on the hard floor. Could anything else go wrong? YES IT COULD.

We headed out the next morning. Had to pick up the tow trailer in Bridgeport Connecticut, 2 hours south but on our way, so I drove the Camry and Richard drove the truck. WE had been told that the UHAUL would attach the tow and load the car for us but they then refused to load the car. We were scared to death because we had never put a car on a dinghy tow bar. But we did it and headed home. 


The first night we stayed at a Comfort Inn in New Stanton Pennsylvania. It was a gorgeous hotel with a jacuzzi and a Bob Evans next door. You'll soon know why that was so important!! We had a nice dinner at Bob Evans and then a warm cozy night at the hotel.

Woke up the next morning and looked outside. Looked like we were in another blizzard and guess what, we were. Erie Pennsylvania, just north of us, got 12 inches overnight. It was the storm that hit the NE. We got about 4 inches so all we wanted was to take off and head west, away from the storm.

We checked out about 9AM. Got to Interstate 70 and the entrance was blocked. Richard got out and went to talk to the guy in the flashing truck. He said that there was a bad wreck a mile down and they had to shut down 70. 

He said it we kept going to another road we would come to 70 about 4 miles up and could probably get on. Now I got to tell you something about towing a vehicle with a dinghy tow. YOU CAN'T BACK UP!!! So we headed forward but as we progressed each mile the snow was coming down more and the traveled road ruts were getting less and less. I was freaking out and told Richard I wanted to go back to the hotel and stay another day. He said that was silly. He could make it. Each mile we went, I was biting my nails, tensing up and practically gasping for breath. I was so afraid of getting stuck in a snow blizzard. Finally he said to call the hotel and see if we could get the room again. I did and they said yes. I told them not to even clean the room, just leave us some clean towels. BUT we still had to find a place that we could turn around without backing up. We finally found a school parking lot and after many tense minutes we arrived back at the hotel about 10AM. I was never so glad to get back in our nice warm room. I thanked Richard for letting us stay in the hotel again. He said he really didn't do it for me. He did it for himself. He couldn't imagine sitting next to me for the next 8 hours gasping for breathe and ringing my hands. We could walk next door to Bob Evans for lunch and dinner. So now you know why we appreciated so much having a restaurant next door.

We spent the day relaxing in the Jacuzzi, watching TV and playing cards. What a wonderful day!! I was thankful that, 1. We had a great hotel to return to. 2 We had a decent restaurant to eat at. 3. I was retired and didn't have to worry about getting back by Monday!!Look at the snow outside our window!! We were very happy to be inside.

The road was clean and clear the next day. We made it to  Terra Haute the next night. Again a great hotel except the hotel didn't have a loop around parking like most. 

We pulled in the parking lot and the next morning realized we couldn't back up and couldn't go behind the hotel. There was a construction company next door over a curb and some grass.  Richard said he thought he could go over the curb and get out through their parking lot. That was great but if we bottomed out a car it was my Dad's car!!! I was shaking but he did it and we got on our way. We got home the next day around noon. We dropped off the car, dropped off the UHAUL and headed to our sticks and bricks in Lake Winnebago!!! We came home to a big surprise for Richard. My son has been concerned about his father loading and unloading his huge canoe on to the truck. He surprised us with a NEW FOLDABLE CANOE. Called MY CANOE. It's amazing. Richard put it together that night in our family room. He can't wait to try it out!!



 I am thankful for 1. My son who insisted that we stay at hotels the whole trip as Richard had a great idea that we would camp in the back of the truck. After all, we had our wonderful mattress and our inverter to plug in our CPAPS. He just forgot that it was going to get down to single digit temperatures. My son was so insistent that he said he'd pay for the hotels. 2. I had a home to go home to. 3. We survived another adventure in mostly one piece.

My parents flight was good. My dad is still not keen on flying but he was glad they got home so fast. Barbara was only uncomfortable the last hour of the flight. They were glad to be home as well. Turns out the problem was the blood thinner medication that Barbara was on. They took her off of it and inserted a "filter" in her neck to prevent blood clots. Appreciate the medical treatment providers that we have in Missouri!!!! Her entire leg was black and blue for over a week but the pain finally subsided.

So that is our month trip to Rhode Island. I enjoyed seeing everyone but I truly missed being in my RV. WE have developed a very relaxing lifestyle alone in it and I relish every minute.

Please comment if you read this. Even if it's just to say you read it. It takes me quite awhile to put these together and I'd like to know if it's worth it. I promised my kids I would journal but it's never been "my thing."

Next up is our adventure to Florida!!!

Dana Jones