So I thought I would give you a little update about our RV adventures. Some things have gone great, like we discovered that the City of Augusta Sewer Treatment facility has a free dump station that is big rig friendly. By big rig friendly, I mean Jay can drive the FBG in and around the site and then back into the area to line right up with the dump station. I do not mean I would attempt this as it is a very tight road and I do NOT back well...but I digress...
That was great. The dogs have been wonderful! They really seem to love the RV life. Having the electric line installed after disconnecting the hot tub has made it so we are pretty much full time in the rig as we purge and figure out where everything is going to go. We have even figured out how to use the patio awning that is huge on the side of the rig so that we get some great shade. See? Lots of great stuff.
Now, those of you that have followed the blog or know me, know that I like to research. I watch videos, read blogs, follow forums. I have been doing this about RVing for about 3 years now. There is always (yes, pretty much always) that post that newbies have about a horrific moment. You know where this is going, right? Ours happened yesterday.
It was a beautiful day. I was doing a few things around inside the rig and Jay had been puttering around doing some stuff outside. There was suddenly a very big noise and the fluorescent light cover on one of the lights dropped onto the floor. Before I could even ask "what was that?" Jay said "it went up over."
Yes, he was talking about the big beautiful patio awning. A gust of wind that came out of nowhere took it and ripped the hinges right off the side of the rig and the awning was now laying on the roof. I think both of our hearts stopped for a few minutes. For one thing, if you take a look at where we are parked there is a power line that runs above the rig. I have to get up on the back of the rig and lift the cable line each time we pull in or out of the driveway so that it will not catch on the back ladder. Not a big deal, but I am HUGELY aware to stay away from that power line. I couldn't see how close it got at that point but lets just say I think we were super lucky in how it landed. Also, we could see holes in one side of the rig where bolts had actually pulled out.
Soooo...
I'm proud to say we did not panic. We knew we couldn't leave it the way it was (besides the fact that we would not be able to move the rig, the mysterious gust of wind could return at any moment) so I climbed up on the roof to investigate. It should be noted that I knew going into this adventure that while Jay is fully on board and does pretty much all the outside maintenance, he does not do roof work. ;) Once we get over 6ft it's all me. After I got up there I could get to both sides with no problem. I was able to ease each side over to Jay and he got the awning to extend gently, I climbed down and we evaluated what we had to work with. Again, incredibly lucky. No real damage. The awning did not rip. The poles did not break or bend. Now that we could see closer, we could tell this was NOT the first time this had happened. ;) The bolts that came out had done that before. By working together; me on the roof for the left side hinge and Jay on the ladder for the right we were able to reset everything and get it back to normal! We had planned a stop at the Newmar factory in Indiana on the way out to AZ anyway. Now we just have more reason. We'll have them take a look and make sure it's all secure and do anything they might need to reinforce what we have done. But I have to say we were pretty proud of ourselves for getting it back together!
We did admit (after it was back to normal) that we were both pretty scared when it happened. Hey at least it wasn't a black tank newbie catastrophe! I think it actually gave us some confidence that we can and will handle what ever comes along with this new life!
I know this doesn't really seem to fall in line with information about having bariatric surgery and if you are a first time reader you may be confused, but I believe it does have to do with a healthy life. As we set off to explore all that the world has to offer we plan to exercise our bodies, minds and imaginations. I hope you will continue to come along with us! Hopefully we have more fun and less "learning" moments, but I'm sure there will be a lot of those too! ;)
It's hot, have you got your water in?
Thanks for following along!
~Mikki
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