Well, we made it through the last year of 2012 without incident. Had lunch. Refilled a propane tank. Attempted to get a replacement cord for our satellite - most depressing RV dealership in the world... was a nice building, but all the people inside just looked like they wanted to wake up dead rather than work there another day. Then grocery shopping to get our New Year's supplies and movies. Oh the horror...
I cooked dinner... crab cakes and steak that we bought from Certified Steaks earlier, with a baked potato and pan-fried mushrooms. Mike wanted to try prepping the steaks by salting them first (kosher salt), the salt draws water out and then the liquid sinks back into the meat and tenderizes it... some sort of chemical goodness happens with the protein fibers that makes the steaks nice and tender. Then you rinse the steaks, dry them really well, and fry them in a pan. I think it was good, they were indeed tender, but the cut and quality of the meat also probably had something to do with it. Then I made chocolate bread pudding for dessert. Too much food, too much yum.
We watched the latest Resident Evil... I never watched that series before because (while I know it's odd given my borderline obsession with The Walking Dead) I don't like zombies... at all. It was kinda dumb. I guess if you play the video game it makes more sense and holds more entertainment value. All I can say is, when the zombie apocalypse happens... it had better be TWD kind of zombie and not the RE kind of zombie or we're done for... the latter can shoot guns, operate motor vehicles, and they have some crazy cognitive skills for dead things... Then we watched Neighborhood Watch. Not at all what I was expecting. It was decent but I wouldn't recommend it to my parents because of the orgy scene... for a minute there I thought we rented Eyes Wide Shut. This morning we finished watching The Raven. It was pretty good, kinda gory in spots. I wasn't sure about John Cusack in that role, but I think he did well. He's one of my favorites in a quiet sort of way... he doesn't come to mind when people ask who my favorite is, but when I see that he's in a movie, I'm pretty much going to watch it.
For lunch we had cabbage, cornbread, black-eyed peas, and hog jowls. I am determined to adhere to the guidelines so we squeeze all the good luck we can out of 2013. I had never cooked the peas before, or cornbread for that matter but they turned out pretty good. The hog jowls were the surprise hit. Instead of pan frying them like mom does, because I remember the last time I attempted that my house was filled with smoke, I put them in the toaster oven for 20 or 30 mins on 400. They came out perfect, crispy and light but not tough, almost like a pork rind but more dense. I don't think Mike expected to like them, but he snarfed them up and said they'd be perfect with couche-couche. So... guess what I'm making for dinner? I've never made couche-couche before... sounds kind of like grits... cornmeal and oil stirred together with milk? I think. I'll have to go over it again with him.
Last night it was pouring when we went to sleep. It made me a little nervous... flashbacks of Ike I think, can't really say because I can't figure it out. There's no real chance of it flooding here since there are hills for it to run down. Anyway, it was still raining this morning when we woke up, not nearly as hard, but dang... I didn't know it rained this much in Mississippi! The ground is just saturated at this point. Once again reconsidering adding pontoons to the side of the RV so that if we ever do encounter high water, we're set. :p
All in all, good New Year so far.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
109 - Lowkey
The last few days we've kept a low profile, mostly due to my inability to be more than 15 minutes (if I was lucky) from the nearest available toilet. Good times. Last night was especially fun for me. If I never experience anything like that again I'll die a happy woman. You remember the house from Up? If the gas I was producing had been helium instead of some noxious form of methane, we would have been floating somewhere near Neptune. On the upside, not being able to sleep has enabled me to spend more time reading...
So, today was better. So far I haven't suffered an attack, and my stomach isn't distended nearly as bad. Night's not over yet. I'm watching a horrible movie, one of those gory, slasher flicks... one I call a torture fest... it makes me nervous, which is not good for the tummy. Not my cut of tea... I meant cup of tea and would normally correct that, but it was appropriately Freudian. In some ways I'm watching to see how the survivors avoided death... but, it's a movie... it doesn't go down like that in real life. In real life this movie would never have happened at my house... I would have shot the bastard. That applies to the first and second victim, who actually stood a chance... not the dog, the child or the girl who was kidnapped. Anyway... here's hoping it's almost over, he has a circular saw out now, and that's way beyond my comfort zone.
So I figure now is a good time to get back on my IBS regimen. I have been battling gut issues for the past few months and this recent bout of unpleasantness brought it to a head. I can't take it anymore. So back to the Heather's Tummy Fiber, and peppermint capsules. I also got some peppermint, and fennel, teas for Mike because his gut is still recovering from the gall bladder removal. The fiber helps give bulk to... things, and the peppermint oil helps with gas and bloating, so does the tea but I don't do tea.
Here's a segue for you... Last night as I went to fill the fresh water tank, and empty the black tank, I was being all vigilent and stuff... had the flashlight ready to shine if I heard movement... had my back to the RV so nothing sneaks up on me from behind... door flush with the side of the RV so I can see both sides... I stepped away to turn the water spigot off and when I came back to the control panel, here comes a kitty cat from underneath the RV... which was, only a moment ago, behind me... so much for vigilence. He seemed friendly, but I don't want to make friends with any stray cats so I just said hello and left it at that... then comes another cat to join the first. I squatted down to see how many more there were and saw a calico. Poor things, I felt bad for them... it wasn't raining or freezing last night, but they were obviously huddled under the RV to keep warm. The first cat was eyeing our storage compartment so I had to keep an eye on it, and when I went inside, it tried to follow me in. They were all still there this morning and will probably be with us until we leave. I wonder if they were dumped here. My heart breaks when I run across a stray, but there is nothing I can do short of telling the park about them.
Well... tomorrow we're hoping our truck will be ready and we can head out by Tuesday morning, so we will probably be celebrating NYE here at the park. We crazy. And you best believe we're going to grab some cabbage, some black-eyed peas, and some hog jowl to eat on New Year's Day. I'm going to have me a good 2013 y'all...
So, today was better. So far I haven't suffered an attack, and my stomach isn't distended nearly as bad. Night's not over yet. I'm watching a horrible movie, one of those gory, slasher flicks... one I call a torture fest... it makes me nervous, which is not good for the tummy. Not my cut of tea... I meant cup of tea and would normally correct that, but it was appropriately Freudian. In some ways I'm watching to see how the survivors avoided death... but, it's a movie... it doesn't go down like that in real life. In real life this movie would never have happened at my house... I would have shot the bastard. That applies to the first and second victim, who actually stood a chance... not the dog, the child or the girl who was kidnapped. Anyway... here's hoping it's almost over, he has a circular saw out now, and that's way beyond my comfort zone.
So I figure now is a good time to get back on my IBS regimen. I have been battling gut issues for the past few months and this recent bout of unpleasantness brought it to a head. I can't take it anymore. So back to the Heather's Tummy Fiber, and peppermint capsules. I also got some peppermint, and fennel, teas for Mike because his gut is still recovering from the gall bladder removal. The fiber helps give bulk to... things, and the peppermint oil helps with gas and bloating, so does the tea but I don't do tea.
Here's a segue for you... Last night as I went to fill the fresh water tank, and empty the black tank, I was being all vigilent and stuff... had the flashlight ready to shine if I heard movement... had my back to the RV so nothing sneaks up on me from behind... door flush with the side of the RV so I can see both sides... I stepped away to turn the water spigot off and when I came back to the control panel, here comes a kitty cat from underneath the RV... which was, only a moment ago, behind me... so much for vigilence. He seemed friendly, but I don't want to make friends with any stray cats so I just said hello and left it at that... then comes another cat to join the first. I squatted down to see how many more there were and saw a calico. Poor things, I felt bad for them... it wasn't raining or freezing last night, but they were obviously huddled under the RV to keep warm. The first cat was eyeing our storage compartment so I had to keep an eye on it, and when I went inside, it tried to follow me in. They were all still there this morning and will probably be with us until we leave. I wonder if they were dumped here. My heart breaks when I run across a stray, but there is nothing I can do short of telling the park about them.
Well... tomorrow we're hoping our truck will be ready and we can head out by Tuesday morning, so we will probably be celebrating NYE here at the park. We crazy. And you best believe we're going to grab some cabbage, some black-eyed peas, and some hog jowl to eat on New Year's Day. I'm going to have me a good 2013 y'all...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
108 - Christmas
Well, Christmas Eve was a semi-success. My cousin Jamie and I spent most of the day cooking and arranging food, as did her daughter, Ashley, and my mom. People started to arrive around the scheduled time and the party got started. I made buffalo chicken dip, jalapeno poppers, sausage balls and salsa (I call it chunky salsa but I guess it's really pico de gallo). The salsa was the biggest success, everyone wants my recipe... problem is, there really isn't one. I eyeball it, I taste it... there's no known quantity as everything depends on the ripeness of the tomatoes, the amount of juice in a lime, the size of the jalapeno, etc. I attempted to explain it, but it's just something you have to play around with. Jamie made onion dip, banana bread, and took a recipe for cookies off my hands which helped immensely, plus she helped in many other ways when I needed it. She even bought me an apron. The girl gets me. Everyone contributed in some way... grandma still didn't relax though, I don't think she sat down until everyone went home... 87 and still ticking.
The last three days were not the best for us. So far nothing horrible has happened today, but the night is still young, and until the day is over I refuse to call it good.
The day we arrived was definitely not good. The roads surrounding the RV sites at this park are not user-friendly. As we were attempting to back into our reserved spot, the front passenger wheel dropped off the asphalt and onto the shoulder, which is probably an inch or two difference. Because of the angle the RV was at, it connected (solidly) with the driver's side of the truck bed and dented it. I heard a loud crack, but I thought it was a large branch giving way under the tire, and when Mike started to yell, I thought the wheel had gotten bent. We thought it was the straw that broke the camel's back but we were wrong...
The next night we met up with family for dinner at The Country Squire, originally one of the nicer restaurants in the area, which has kind of fallen in the ranks in the last few years. They used to bring a slab of beef when you ordered a steak, it was on a cart, covered in a towel, and a cook from the kitchen would uncover it and ask you how thick you wanted your steak; you paid by the pound. It was really cool, but they don't do that anymore. Anyway, it was chaos. Our waitress was overwhelmed by us, and the layout of the table was not conducive to conversation. Catfish was good though. Afterward we planned to head to Walmart to grab what we needed for the Christmas Eve party instead of waiting until the absolute last minute. The GPS pulled a fairly common stunt and took us in the wrong direction, so Mike pulled onto the shoulder to double-check the address, and that's when things started to go wrong. It had been raining, and Mississippi is made of red clay. Our back end is so heavy that when he cut the wheel to get back on the road and we started to move, we started to slide down the embankment. The harder he tried to get us back up, the further down we went until we finally settled into a low point. We couldn't move forward, we couldn't back up, the wheels were digging further into the muck. He has offroad skills and says he's been through worse... it's just the ground here... wet clay is unforgiving, even when you have 4-wheel drive.
It was amazing how many people stopped to see if we were okay. At least seven. The second person tried to pull us out, but his truck didn't have enough power. Of course it rained the hardest when Mike was outside hooking up the tow cable... he was drenched, muddy and cold. I tried to call roadside assistance, but the signal was weak, and just before someone answered the call was disconnected. I tried both of Mike's phones (work and personal) but they wouldn't even ring. Finally I got a signal and was just about to have a truck sent out when another guy in a truck stopped. He turned his truck the other way and pulled us from behind instead of from the front. At first it seemed hopeless, like a repeat of the last guy, but finally we got traction and he pulled us out. Mud was flying everywhere, I could smell how hot the tires had gotten, but we were out. If that hadn't worked, there was another guy who stopped earlier that was going to come back with a truck, and another guy took our number to call when he got home to see if we'd gotten help or if we needed him to call someone. People like that deserve good karma for their willingness to help. It sure helped us out... but I was already drained from the previous night, and everything else that has happened to us recently so I had a mini-meltdown and decided Walmart could wait.
I say that Christmas Eve was a semi-success because we almost made it through a night without something bad happening to us...
Grandma's house is fairly rural, and therefore, pretty dark at night. Instead of attempting to back up in the dark, we were going to pull forward, and turn around so we could drive down the driveway and be able to see. Mike had vented the sunroof, which put the back of it up at an angle. At first we thought the antenna caught a tree limb, but then our sunroof came tumbling down the windshield and down the hood. Grandma has some low hanging electrical lines coming from her garage to the house, and we couldn't see them in the dark. We had walked underneath them several times before when it was light outside, but didn't give them any consideration that night... hell, even if I had I probably would have assumed we could fit underneath them with no problem, but we couldn't... and the sunroof caught them as we were backing up. It's a wonder that the wires didn't come down on top of our truck, or snap and take out the power at grandma's house.
We were pretty much in shock at that point. I mean... how does that happen?
It doesn't.
It can't.
But it did.
So we headed for home, and by the time I thought about calling to make sure everything was okay at grandma's, we were about ten or fifteen minutes down the road... and my phone was dead... battery was drained. So I had to wait until we got to the RV to make the call. Mike was done, it was all he could take and he ended up on the floor, exhausted. I called it in to Allstate and did what I had to do for the night (filling the fresh water tank so we have water if it freezes, and scooping the litterbox). I tried to cover the sunroof with a trash bag... wasn't long enough. I had some thick plastic sheeting with me that NASA issued after hurricane Ike. It was a bag, but I cut the end off and cut one side so that it was one big sheet. I tried to make that work, but I was tired, it was windy, it was dark, and I couldn't get it to cooperate so I was going to lay it across the seats... it ended up in a wad because I kept hearing noises and didn't know if there was an animal nearby, or a person... I spooked myself. After that I pretty much collapsed onto the couch. I was exhausted and wanted to sleep, but I was too wound up, and then the stress collected in my gut and I felt nauseous so that prevented me from sleeping. I think I finally passed out sometime after 3 am.
Today, it didn't rain... it poured. Mike got the plastic snug over the top of the roof about an hour or two before the rain started. It still leaked a little bit though. We have an appointment with a claims adjuster tomorrow morning. Allstate has drivethru claims centers where you take your vehicle in, they ask you what happened, they write a damage estimate and issue you a check on the spot (minus your deductible). When I used it for my Mini it was painless. And they cover rental cars for the duration of the repair, or up to 30 days. It may have to be done in Alabama though, because we're set to leave here on the 27th or 28th.
So... another $500... plus the hassle of taking the truck in for repairs... again... and the scar all these things leave on your psyche. You start to wonder if you're a bad person. What did you do to deserve such a shitty run of bad luck? Why is this happening? Most importantly... when is it going to stop? Seriously... a person can only take so much and we've reached the end of the rope.
On the upside, we continue to be awed by our friends and family. People who haven't seen us in years have offered to help us if they can. They also deserve good karma, and maybe it helps (them) to know that gestures like that do make a difference to our mindset. It may not be outwardly apparent, but each gesture is like a rope to grab onto and pull ourselves out of the muck.
We're hoping that by parking the RV at one of our home parks, where we stay 'for free' 21 days out of 28, things will improve somewhat. Less travel means less opportunity for damage, or so we hope. It sucks that Mike will be staying in hotel rooms, eating out every day on the job, and I will be in the RV where transportation can be complicated... but something's gotta give, and it's better than having him in the middle east and us being apart for months at a time. I'm trying to wrap my head around how we could get my car to Alabama... I am all for that, but the issue I have is that if we do pick up and move, we have to be able to put it somewhere.
Anyway... here's hoping 2013 is an improvement. And I hope everyone else had a merry Christmas and enjoyed spending time with friends and family like we (mostly) have. :)
Friday, December 21, 2012
107 - Grateful
We have recovered from our disasters, at least for now - and the world didn't end today... something I'm not sure how to feel about, sometimes I think it would be better if we got to start over, but I digress.
We picked the truck up this afternoon. It was down to the wire. It went from, "It should be ready Wednesday by lunch... possibly Thursday morning," to "We're trying to have it ready for you for the weekend." We decided they probably closed at 5 pm, so we headed to Athens, pinning our hopes on them having it ready. They closed at 5:30... I think we checked out at 5:23, and $1,200 later, we drove off. I suppose I should stop grousing and focus on the positives, we have the truck and will be able to head to MS where we plan to celebrate Christmas. But can I talk a second about the traffic? Hot damn there is a lot of traffic in Athens. And while I'm at it, driving to the Atlanta airport was no bed of roses either, and if it hadn't been Mike... forget about it.
Our receptacle and cord were replaced a couple of days ago. $700, but I think our insurance covers it and our deductible should be $250. The microwave never came back on and I think our washer/dryer was damaged. It works, but something smells hot, and I'll be damned if I saved the RV from burning down because of the cord, only to have it burn down because of the washer/dryer. Once we get settled into another RV park for a while I'm going to set up a time for an adjustor to come out.
Christmas is going to be lean this year. I got small gifts for mom and dad, and small gifts for Mike, a gift card for grandma (sounds like a movie title doesn't it... "A gift card for grandma"). That's it. Other than that, we're bringing food to Christmas Eve.
On the other hand, our friends have been really good to us and I have cried a couple of times because of their generosity. One of my friends is sending us a goody box of wine. One of my friends offered to let us stay at her house rather than remain in the RV. One of my friends offered me a spa day or a trip to India to meet up with her or a flight to MS to see my cousin. One of my friends was thinking of coming to MS to see us. And one of my friends would have driven here from Tennessee to come get me if I was stuck. How awesome is that? It's gestures like that that keep us going.
And is it weird that I want to see the new Tom Cruise movie? I don't want to like him, but dammit I can't help myself... his movies are good.
We picked the truck up this afternoon. It was down to the wire. It went from, "It should be ready Wednesday by lunch... possibly Thursday morning," to "We're trying to have it ready for you for the weekend." We decided they probably closed at 5 pm, so we headed to Athens, pinning our hopes on them having it ready. They closed at 5:30... I think we checked out at 5:23, and $1,200 later, we drove off. I suppose I should stop grousing and focus on the positives, we have the truck and will be able to head to MS where we plan to celebrate Christmas. But can I talk a second about the traffic? Hot damn there is a lot of traffic in Athens. And while I'm at it, driving to the Atlanta airport was no bed of roses either, and if it hadn't been Mike... forget about it.
Our receptacle and cord were replaced a couple of days ago. $700, but I think our insurance covers it and our deductible should be $250. The microwave never came back on and I think our washer/dryer was damaged. It works, but something smells hot, and I'll be damned if I saved the RV from burning down because of the cord, only to have it burn down because of the washer/dryer. Once we get settled into another RV park for a while I'm going to set up a time for an adjustor to come out.
Christmas is going to be lean this year. I got small gifts for mom and dad, and small gifts for Mike, a gift card for grandma (sounds like a movie title doesn't it... "A gift card for grandma"). That's it. Other than that, we're bringing food to Christmas Eve.
On the other hand, our friends have been really good to us and I have cried a couple of times because of their generosity. One of my friends is sending us a goody box of wine. One of my friends offered to let us stay at her house rather than remain in the RV. One of my friends offered me a spa day or a trip to India to meet up with her or a flight to MS to see my cousin. One of my friends was thinking of coming to MS to see us. And one of my friends would have driven here from Tennessee to come get me if I was stuck. How awesome is that? It's gestures like that that keep us going.
And is it weird that I want to see the new Tom Cruise movie? I don't want to like him, but dammit I can't help myself... his movies are good.
Friday, December 14, 2012
106 - Ain't Nobody Got Time for That
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.
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.
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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