Where we laid our heads tonight.
Good sleep last night, but woken at 6 by thunder. A couple more claps, but no rain. Alas, yesterday’s not looking so bad. Today has been awful. We were ready to head out by 9. Pulled in the slides and started to retract the jacks, but they stopped part way up. Tried various things to get the jacks retracted, to no avail, then discovered that we had absolutely no hydraulics at all. The slides would no longer move either. The pump for the hydraulics was spinning, but nothing was moving. The fluid looked like it might be a bit low, but not much. After a couple of hours, and in a somewhat convoluted manner involving pushing buttons for the slides, we managed to get the jacks up so we could at least drive away, but still nothing working.
Finally on the road just before noon, but with all the lights on the leveling panel flashing. I had followed the MH in the car through the park, to make sure the legs didn’t drop down again. They were staying in place, so we gassed up, topped up the fluid in the hydraulics and headed back onto the I-5 and south. Robin wasn’t comfortable with all the flashing lights, so when we reached Kelso (a mere 40 miles down the road) we pulled off the highway and, after a bit of wandering through the downtown part, managed to find our way to a big mall with lots of room and parked in the Target lot.
First we had to reach T-Mobile to top up our account so we could make long distance calls. Tried doing it through the automated system, but it wanted a 5-digit zip code which, ta da, we don’t have. Numerous calls later to try and reach an actual person, we finally got the accounts refilled. It’s now 2pm, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be making it to Newport.
Robin then contacted the service manager at Traveland and explained what had happened and what the control panel was doing. Manager said it sounded like the system needed resetting and he would check with a technician and call us back. Two+ hours later Robin tried calling again, and was told that the manager was on the phone with a customer. Left another message, hung up the phone and discovered that the manager had left a message, and that the customer was in fact Robin. So telephone tag ensued until we finally connected. After a couple of “try this” and “how about this”, and one “I’ll get back to you in ten minutes” we finally had everything working and no flashing lights. Plus, if it happens again, we know where to look first and make adjustments.
By now, we’re pushing 5pm, so found an RV park that’s just one mile away and phoned to make a reservation. Hit the Target, we thought for groceries, but they ain’t no Walmart when it comes to groceries. Grabbed a frozen pizza and some bacon wrapped scallops (I know, not exactly heart healthy) and a couple of bottles of wine (which we all know is heart healthy) and headed for the campground.
Nice campground (Brook Hollow) 1 mile east of the highway, so nice and quiet. Slides went out and jacks went down, as they should. Fired up the stove, popped in the food and grabbed the bottles of wine to sit outside and await our gourmet dinner.
We’re now at 8:30, tummies are full and bottles are half empty, it’s dark and rain clouds have been moving in. Forecast isn’t great, but right now that’s the least of our worries. For two days on the road, no pictures, and no local attractions or lore to share, there’s been a whole lot of stuff going on, and none of it good. Tomorrow we’ll try for Newport. Wish us luck.
Until tomorrow, dear followers.
Finally on the road just before noon, but with all the lights on the leveling panel flashing. I had followed the MH in the car through the park, to make sure the legs didn’t drop down again. They were staying in place, so we gassed up, topped up the fluid in the hydraulics and headed back onto the I-5 and south. Robin wasn’t comfortable with all the flashing lights, so when we reached Kelso (a mere 40 miles down the road) we pulled off the highway and, after a bit of wandering through the downtown part, managed to find our way to a big mall with lots of room and parked in the Target lot.
First we had to reach T-Mobile to top up our account so we could make long distance calls. Tried doing it through the automated system, but it wanted a 5-digit zip code which, ta da, we don’t have. Numerous calls later to try and reach an actual person, we finally got the accounts refilled. It’s now 2pm, and it doesn’t look like we’ll be making it to Newport.
Robin then contacted the service manager at Traveland and explained what had happened and what the control panel was doing. Manager said it sounded like the system needed resetting and he would check with a technician and call us back. Two+ hours later Robin tried calling again, and was told that the manager was on the phone with a customer. Left another message, hung up the phone and discovered that the manager had left a message, and that the customer was in fact Robin. So telephone tag ensued until we finally connected. After a couple of “try this” and “how about this”, and one “I’ll get back to you in ten minutes” we finally had everything working and no flashing lights. Plus, if it happens again, we know where to look first and make adjustments.
By now, we’re pushing 5pm, so found an RV park that’s just one mile away and phoned to make a reservation. Hit the Target, we thought for groceries, but they ain’t no Walmart when it comes to groceries. Grabbed a frozen pizza and some bacon wrapped scallops (I know, not exactly heart healthy) and a couple of bottles of wine (which we all know is heart healthy) and headed for the campground.
Nice campground (Brook Hollow) 1 mile east of the highway, so nice and quiet. Slides went out and jacks went down, as they should. Fired up the stove, popped in the food and grabbed the bottles of wine to sit outside and await our gourmet dinner.
We’re now at 8:30, tummies are full and bottles are half empty, it’s dark and rain clouds have been moving in. Forecast isn’t great, but right now that’s the least of our worries. For two days on the road, no pictures, and no local attractions or lore to share, there’s been a whole lot of stuff going on, and none of it good. Tomorrow we’ll try for Newport. Wish us luck.
Until tomorrow, dear followers.