Ah Sweet Brown, you are etched into my vocabulary and my psyche, and today you are especially relevant.
So there I was in the bathroom when I smelled something foul. You may think this is normal, but since I was doing my hair, it wasn't. It smelled sort of cabbage like at first so I leaned over to take a whiff of the toilet. Since the bowl doesn't hold water at the moment, it's entirely possible that sewer gasses can come up and cause an odor, but it didn't smell like methane. Then I heard a couple of pops in the living area so I stuck my head out and smelled burning electrical components. As I came down the stairs I saw dark grey smoke billowing from the large vent next to our refrigerator.
At this point I freaked out and everything seemed to happen at once.
My first thought was... is our RV on fire? Then I worried about where to put Gracie... could I get to the cage in time? The windows were already open because it was nice outside, so the smoke had somewhere to go, but the heater had come on and since the smoke was coming out of the vent I figured the two might be related. I shut that off and went out to open the storage compartments to see if I could see anything there. I couldn't see anything from the vent because of the smoke, and I couldn't remove the cover because I didn't have an allen wrench handy. There was smoke in the storage compartment, but I couldn't see the cause and the smoke seemed to have stopped.
I came back inside and shut the fuses off because the tv power indicator lights were flickering and going crazy... didn't notice that initially because I was more worried about a fire. Then I shut the breaker off at the pedestal. I called the mobile RV repair guy and scheduled him to come out and I called our dealer and asked for a copy of our extended warranty, which I had done a couple of days ago... apparently there are only two people qualified to email that to me and neither of them are available. I told them I couldn't wait any longer, my RV almost caught on fire and I needed at least the name of the warranty company. After I calmed down a little more, I called the office and asked them to come check their pedestal.
In the meantime, I tried to disconnect the plug from the back of our RV and it wouldn't come out. I came to the conclusion that the power surge melted the plastic enough to warp it and it was now stuck... half-in, half-out. Great.
The maintenance man said that there was power at the pedestal, so that wasn't the problem, it would have to be from the surge protector to the RV. Since he didn't check the voltage I can't say that's the case... The maintenance man tried to dislodge the plug from the back of the RV and couldn't get it out. The two guys staying next door came over and asked if we were having problems with our electricity because their power has been coming off and on for the last couple of days. They both tried to dislodge the plug... No dice. They did get it back into the receptacle and we turned the power back on... everything seemed to work, but I have kept the load low... just the television components, my computer and charging my phone. Except for the times when I have the washer going and I'm cooking, I don't usually keep a lot on the circuit.
The mobile repair guy came out. He looked behind the vent and said there's nothing back there that should smoke. The furnace looked fine. Then he said if it's been a while since the furnace has been on, it sometimes smokes a little. That's not the kind of smoke that was coming out, and we have been using it off and on since we got the RV back. So he said if the fuse panel started to smoke it could have been drawn into the vents. He checked that wiring and said it was fine, putting out 120 volts on both sides. He checked an outlet and it was fine. He checked the pedestal and it was fine. I was getting a little frustrated. Finally when I had him try to remove the plug, he said the same thing I thought... it melted the plug and we have to replace the receptacle and the cord. He said there is no way to predict a power surge, they happen sometimes, and our surge protector is probably what caused the power indicator lights to go all schizophrenic, because it was shutting the power down... probably saved our electronics.
In the meantime, everything should be safe to use. We turned the furnace on and it ran fine, no smoke. He said the receptacle should be covered by our warranty and he would also see about getting the toilet replaced. He thinks he might be able to get the parts by Monday or Tuesday.
I have lost all confidence in this fifth wheel. I'm afraid to leave it unattended at this point with anything running, because what if that had happened and I wasn't home? Losing our stuff would be bad enough, but to come home and find it burnt to the ground, knowing that Gracie was inside is a horrifying thought. I just don't know what to do anymore. At this point I've had all I can take. I know things can get worse, they can always get worse, but fucking hell... between the truck and this shithole I'm at my wit's end.
I feel stuck. My house is rented until June, so even if I wanted to go back - which I don't - I can't. We can't qualify for a loan, so we can't get out of this thing and into a house, and we are stuck paying $625/mo in storage fees in the meantime. There are some dumps out there that we could probably afford through owner finance, but that's just digging a hole deeper and delaying our ability to get into something we do want and I refuse to make another bad decision. My car is in Georgetown, the rest of our vehicles are still in Houston... truck is in the shop. Any time we start to make financial headway, we lose more ground than we gained. Every time we turn around it's bad news.
Hell, at this point, we can't even move onto our land and just keep the RV stationary because we can't afford to have it leveled again, we can't afford the concrete for our building, we can't afford to put the building up, we can't afford to insulate it, we can't afford to put end walls and doors on it, we can't build the inside out, we can't afford the utilities... we can't afford shit.
Stuck. And pissed. And tired of worrying about everything.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
105 - Good vibrations
Well, I'm pretty much boondocked. Since the weather is supposed to hit 32 or below tonight I am taking the advice from the forums and the fresh water tank has been filled. I didn't disconnect the sewer hose, but I did make sure that all standing water went down the drain. It's amazing how much water just sits in that hose and ferments... gross if you think about it. Water hose is disconnected, not sure it matters or not, but just in case. And the heating pad is keeping the LP tanks warm so they don't freeze up.
We had a mobile repair guy come out to check our propane tanks this morning. He didn't find a leak. He said that we have a 35k BTU heater and that, depending on how much we run it and how much we cook, we can drain both those tanks in 2-3 weeks. He also told us that when they get down to around 1/4 tank, we will start smelling LP because of the way the valves work. He told us that we should refill them before they hit empty because most filling stations don't purge the air, and we won't get a full tank if we take in an empty bottle. In addition, we learned that during the winter months, you should take the bug screens off the heater vent because it affects your efficiency and it could void your warranty since there is not supposed to be anything within 5 ft of the vent. Even though they're minimal, he said it affects the output. Add that to the list of things that are good to know...
He was a fountain of information. He also said that we need a new toilet. Our bowl doesn't hold water anymore, and when Lazydays 'fixed' it they probably just put vaseline around the gasket so that it would temporarily seal, but you can't order parts for those toilets so I need to find our extended warranty info and see about getting that fixed. He thinks he can order the toilet and have it installed before we leave.
It sucks that he came out and didn't really fix anything, but we have peace of mind and learned a lot so it was worth it. Having purchased our rig from Michigan and had it brought to us, we didn't get a walk-thru to teach us how to live in this thing. We've been doing it by feel, and it's worked okay for the most part... we could probably have done better. We've had some catastrophes, but we have avoided several too.
Mike is at the Augusta airport waiting for his flight to Pittsburgh. He was going to fly out of Atlanta... no one likes to fly out of Atlanta. When I started thinking about it I remembered that we were 73 miles from Atlanta, and 90 miles from Augusta, which has a much more pleasant airport, so he'll avoid all the hustle and bustle and foot traffic.
I'm here with the trailer. Our truck is in the shop so we couldn't pull the trailer with us, and I didn't want to leave it here to freeze with us gone, plus Gracie can't fly and I can't just leave her here either. I'll be here for ten days... it's good that I've been learning how to make things work and the tanks are filled.
There are very few good samaritans left in this world, so today I took a thank you note with some cash to the office for our tow truck driver. He saved us over $100 in cab fare, and a lot of headache, by bringing Mike home. At first we were going to give him a Walmart gift card, but then I figured, if we paid part of his rent, he most likely won't know it until we're gone and it will be a nice surprise for Christmas when bills typically run high. They (he, his pregnant wife and their toddler) live in an RV with no slideouts, probably not much room, guessing they don't have a lot of money. Right now, we don't either, so we couldn't do much... but we wanted to acknowledge his kindness.
After Mike gets back we're heading to MS to see family for Christmas. This year my generation is going to take care of preparing the food so that mom and grandma can relax. I can't do much in the way of gifts, but I can do that. In addition to the regular crew I'll get to see my Aunt Rose, and I think Brian is going to drive out as well. Laura is still in California and if I could devise a way to get her to MS I would, but I only have $150 in flight credits and the tickets were waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than that. So... I can't make that happen, but he'll be heading to CA in a couple of weeks to bring her home for good so it won't be too long a wait.
We had a mobile repair guy come out to check our propane tanks this morning. He didn't find a leak. He said that we have a 35k BTU heater and that, depending on how much we run it and how much we cook, we can drain both those tanks in 2-3 weeks. He also told us that when they get down to around 1/4 tank, we will start smelling LP because of the way the valves work. He told us that we should refill them before they hit empty because most filling stations don't purge the air, and we won't get a full tank if we take in an empty bottle. In addition, we learned that during the winter months, you should take the bug screens off the heater vent because it affects your efficiency and it could void your warranty since there is not supposed to be anything within 5 ft of the vent. Even though they're minimal, he said it affects the output. Add that to the list of things that are good to know...
He was a fountain of information. He also said that we need a new toilet. Our bowl doesn't hold water anymore, and when Lazydays 'fixed' it they probably just put vaseline around the gasket so that it would temporarily seal, but you can't order parts for those toilets so I need to find our extended warranty info and see about getting that fixed. He thinks he can order the toilet and have it installed before we leave.
It sucks that he came out and didn't really fix anything, but we have peace of mind and learned a lot so it was worth it. Having purchased our rig from Michigan and had it brought to us, we didn't get a walk-thru to teach us how to live in this thing. We've been doing it by feel, and it's worked okay for the most part... we could probably have done better. We've had some catastrophes, but we have avoided several too.
Mike is at the Augusta airport waiting for his flight to Pittsburgh. He was going to fly out of Atlanta... no one likes to fly out of Atlanta. When I started thinking about it I remembered that we were 73 miles from Atlanta, and 90 miles from Augusta, which has a much more pleasant airport, so he'll avoid all the hustle and bustle and foot traffic.
I'm here with the trailer. Our truck is in the shop so we couldn't pull the trailer with us, and I didn't want to leave it here to freeze with us gone, plus Gracie can't fly and I can't just leave her here either. I'll be here for ten days... it's good that I've been learning how to make things work and the tanks are filled.
There are very few good samaritans left in this world, so today I took a thank you note with some cash to the office for our tow truck driver. He saved us over $100 in cab fare, and a lot of headache, by bringing Mike home. At first we were going to give him a Walmart gift card, but then I figured, if we paid part of his rent, he most likely won't know it until we're gone and it will be a nice surprise for Christmas when bills typically run high. They (he, his pregnant wife and their toddler) live in an RV with no slideouts, probably not much room, guessing they don't have a lot of money. Right now, we don't either, so we couldn't do much... but we wanted to acknowledge his kindness.
After Mike gets back we're heading to MS to see family for Christmas. This year my generation is going to take care of preparing the food so that mom and grandma can relax. I can't do much in the way of gifts, but I can do that. In addition to the regular crew I'll get to see my Aunt Rose, and I think Brian is going to drive out as well. Laura is still in California and if I could devise a way to get her to MS I would, but I only have $150 in flight credits and the tickets were waaaaaaaaaaaaay more than that. So... I can't make that happen, but he'll be heading to CA in a couple of weeks to bring her home for good so it won't be too long a wait.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
104 - Things that make you go boom
This morning I woke up to the sound of gun fire. At first I thought it might be hunters in the woods behind the RV park, but after the initial shotgun blasts there followed the pop of a handgun, and the rat-a-tat of a machine gun... followed by more booms, pops and machine gun fire. Felt like I was next to a small war zone, an idea that the dark grey plume of smoke rising from the treeline did little to dissuade. Gracie went low to the ground and finally sought refuge under the kitchen table.
So I got up and went about my day... I have a routine... I make the bed... I open all the blinds and windows... I turn off the 'fire' in the fireplace... I turn the gravity feed off and switch back to city water... I empty the tanks... I do dishes... I tidy up... I have a soda. I would be incredibly easy to stalk. And then I fixed a loose blind which made me feel all cool and stuff.
The gun fire happened a couple more times throughout the day, so either there is a gun range nearby, or someone was having a good time in their backyard. Gracie almost lost it when it started up again and the wash cycle hit spin, which shakes the RV. She jumped behind the television after darting from spot to spot with no relief.
Instead of Hallmark Christmas movies I watched SyFy disaster movies all day. It seemed appropriate. Sometimes I just get in a SyFy mood. It's background noise while I do data entry or clean up my iTunes library... which is a neverending task. I am determined to organize it and clear up some hard drive space on my computer. I have a ton of duplicates, sometimes they're different versions of the same song, sometimes they're exactly the same. I have a few that are missing pieces of information like the genre or artist. There are Parton, Dolly and Dolly Parton's to fix. And eventually I need to re-rate them so I can make playlists.
Around 6 pm Mike asked if there was a problem with the truck, would Good Sam cover that, or did he need to call the Allstate Motor Club... that's never good. Apparently a belt slipped or something. Our a/c has been out for a few weeks now, which normally wouldn't be a problem this time of year if the weather was normal, it sometimes does suck with the temperatures being what they are, but we haven't had the time to troubleshoot. I guess that's all related. Anyway, he was trying to come home, and there was a lot of noise and then the power steering and brakes went out, which I imagine made driving extremely challenging. I already know that the warranty company is going to gyp us again and this time we probably won't be able to dispute it because 'technically' it's not an emergency repair. It's like we almost get ahead... and then we fall further behind. I told Mike by the time all this is done, we're going to have a new truck.
As (our) luck would have it, it's Saturday, and all the rental car agencies close early on a Saturday except for the airport locations... which were 73 miles from where he was. The Dodge dealership closed at 6 pm as well. There was a shuttle from the University of Georgia to the airport for $34, but then it would be a three hour trip to the airport and then home - in addition to the time he had to wait for a tow truck (90 mins). Cab fare was going to be around $100, or he could stay in a hotel and go to two of the rental car companies that would open at 11 am on Sunday. I really didn't know what to do. As it stood, he could ride in the tow truck and end up at the dealership... and then...? I called Good Sam's concierge service, which I thought was supposed to help me, but they were worthless. They could give me phone numbers that I could find on the internet. I should be thankful they paid for the tow (out of our membership fee).
So, all that said, I wasn't exactly expecting a diesel truck to pull up next to the trailer and sort of hover there. Sometimes people do drive by, but they typically don't stop like that. When my spidey senses go on alert I tend to make sure that the 9 is at hand. I sort of thought it might be one of Mike's co-workers bringing him home, but I didn't know. Then Mike was at the door and I could relax.
Maybe our luck isn't always bad. The tow truck driver happened to live at this park, so he brought Mike home and said when the truck is ready, he'll pick it up and tow it to the park if we want. Mike said he was a really nice guy. I'm thinking about cooking dinner for his family or something as a thank you, after all, he brought Mike home safely and saved us a lot of stress and money.
There is an Enterprise just down the road from the park. They don't open until Monday at 8 am, but they come to you, so anyway, that means Mike gets a day off... which truth be told, he could use. He hasn't really had one in weeks and he's lucky to get through a meal before he falls asleep. Being stuck here with no transportation sucks, but I do it every day and we have food so... we can watch movies, take a walk around the park, he can play video games and just... relax.
So I got up and went about my day... I have a routine... I make the bed... I open all the blinds and windows... I turn off the 'fire' in the fireplace... I turn the gravity feed off and switch back to city water... I empty the tanks... I do dishes... I tidy up... I have a soda. I would be incredibly easy to stalk. And then I fixed a loose blind which made me feel all cool and stuff.
The gun fire happened a couple more times throughout the day, so either there is a gun range nearby, or someone was having a good time in their backyard. Gracie almost lost it when it started up again and the wash cycle hit spin, which shakes the RV. She jumped behind the television after darting from spot to spot with no relief.
Instead of Hallmark Christmas movies I watched SyFy disaster movies all day. It seemed appropriate. Sometimes I just get in a SyFy mood. It's background noise while I do data entry or clean up my iTunes library... which is a neverending task. I am determined to organize it and clear up some hard drive space on my computer. I have a ton of duplicates, sometimes they're different versions of the same song, sometimes they're exactly the same. I have a few that are missing pieces of information like the genre or artist. There are Parton, Dolly and Dolly Parton's to fix. And eventually I need to re-rate them so I can make playlists.
Around 6 pm Mike asked if there was a problem with the truck, would Good Sam cover that, or did he need to call the Allstate Motor Club... that's never good. Apparently a belt slipped or something. Our a/c has been out for a few weeks now, which normally wouldn't be a problem this time of year if the weather was normal, it sometimes does suck with the temperatures being what they are, but we haven't had the time to troubleshoot. I guess that's all related. Anyway, he was trying to come home, and there was a lot of noise and then the power steering and brakes went out, which I imagine made driving extremely challenging. I already know that the warranty company is going to gyp us again and this time we probably won't be able to dispute it because 'technically' it's not an emergency repair. It's like we almost get ahead... and then we fall further behind. I told Mike by the time all this is done, we're going to have a new truck.
As (our) luck would have it, it's Saturday, and all the rental car agencies close early on a Saturday except for the airport locations... which were 73 miles from where he was. The Dodge dealership closed at 6 pm as well. There was a shuttle from the University of Georgia to the airport for $34, but then it would be a three hour trip to the airport and then home - in addition to the time he had to wait for a tow truck (90 mins). Cab fare was going to be around $100, or he could stay in a hotel and go to two of the rental car companies that would open at 11 am on Sunday. I really didn't know what to do. As it stood, he could ride in the tow truck and end up at the dealership... and then...? I called Good Sam's concierge service, which I thought was supposed to help me, but they were worthless. They could give me phone numbers that I could find on the internet. I should be thankful they paid for the tow (out of our membership fee).
So, all that said, I wasn't exactly expecting a diesel truck to pull up next to the trailer and sort of hover there. Sometimes people do drive by, but they typically don't stop like that. When my spidey senses go on alert I tend to make sure that the 9 is at hand. I sort of thought it might be one of Mike's co-workers bringing him home, but I didn't know. Then Mike was at the door and I could relax.
Maybe our luck isn't always bad. The tow truck driver happened to live at this park, so he brought Mike home and said when the truck is ready, he'll pick it up and tow it to the park if we want. Mike said he was a really nice guy. I'm thinking about cooking dinner for his family or something as a thank you, after all, he brought Mike home safely and saved us a lot of stress and money.
There is an Enterprise just down the road from the park. They don't open until Monday at 8 am, but they come to you, so anyway, that means Mike gets a day off... which truth be told, he could use. He hasn't really had one in weeks and he's lucky to get through a meal before he falls asleep. Being stuck here with no transportation sucks, but I do it every day and we have food so... we can watch movies, take a walk around the park, he can play video games and just... relax.
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