We picked up our RV last Friday. When they called to tell us it was ready they also told us that 2 hours prior the technician had trouble with the entry door and couldn't get it to open but he was able to fix it and that it would be the cost of the labor, which was $125. No problem we thought. We were just glad the problem happened while it was at the repair shop and not somewhere on the road.
I followed my husband to the storage yard where we park the RV. When I pulled up next to the RV after he had parked it I rolled down my window and asked him how it rode. He said it rode well, the braking seemed better. He planned on going back to the yard the next day to wash it because it was pretty dirty from the rain & dust we had during the time it was at the repair shop.
As planned, my husband went to the yard to clean the RV and when he came home he was really upset. The bathroom fan was still not right, the technician left greasy footprints on the carpet and rugs and greasy hand prints everywhere he touched. During the stay at the repair shop our spot mirror on the driver's side mirror had fallen off and the technician tossed into the cup holder. Now, we appreciate that he didn't throw it away but COME ON!!! How about using a little glue and re-attaching it!? AND . . . the entry door won't open. At this point my irritation meter is off the charts. I wrote an email to the repair shop letting them know the condition of the RV and how I felt about it. Since this was a Saturday I knew I wouldn't get a reply until Monday.
On Monday I waited for a call but nothing. I waited until 1 p.m. and then I called. I asked if they received me email, and as I expected, they didn't. I told them we would be bringing back the RV that day because the entry door wasn't working. I didn't want to go into all the other things on the phone, I would wait until I was there in person. I printed out the email that I sent them so that I could give them a copy when we arrived just to make sure they received it. My husband usually lets me handle these types of situations because I'm pretty calm but can get my point across in a way that they know I'm irritated and expect the job to be completed the correct way. I'm direct but not in a disrespectful way and not without my usual amount of sarcasm. I told them that I'm irritated that I have to bring the RV back for the third time for the bathroom fan and the second time for the door and that I expected the repairs to be done in no more than 3 days. Also, I wanted the grease cleaned and the spot mirror put on and if they needed me to bring them some Gorilla glue to do it I would. They laughed at the last part and said no problem they would have it done and off we went.
We picked up the RV today, one day sooner than I had asked. They said they replaced the entire fan unit in the bathroom, repaired the door and glued on the spot mirror all at no charge. They also shampooed the carpets (we cleaned the rugs at home). I told them that I appreciated that they didn't charge us but couldn't help thinking to myself , "if you would have done that in the first place we wouldn't have needed to bring it back". In any case, the RV is fixed! or is it??? My husband still thinks the door is a little janky but I told him to wait and see how it goes during our next trip.
Buying a used RV, especially one that is 13 years old, we knew there would be things that come up that would need repair but we didn't expect to keep bringing back the RV for the same repairs. Oh well, I hope that I won't be writing about this again.
Until the next time . . .
"Adventure is out there"
Wednesday, August 24, 2016
Thursday, August 18, 2016
RV repair blues
As I mentioned in my "California Here We come" blog we had some concerns about the RV refrigerator. As it turns out the refrigerator worked just fine. Maybe because we have the leveling down now? I think that is the case. Anyway, I'm glad we don't have to spend $2000 to get a new one, at least for now.
While we were on the road I received an email ad for the Good Sam Extended Service Plan and we decided to look into it. A service plan has always been in the back of my mind because there are so many things to keep maintained on the RV, it's like a second home. The Good Sam Extended Service Plan covers everything we have concerns with; the generator, appliances, the slide, chassis, power train\engine, suspension, plumbing, AC and more. We made the call to Good Sam and after speaking with Jaime Carolina, the Insurance Representative, we decided to sign up. So, for $136 a month we have some piece of mind. Good thing because 2 days after signing up for the plan the grey water flange broke. Not bad enough to where we couldn't use it but bad enough to worry us. We also had a concern about the exhaust from the generator when the carbon monoxide alarm went off one night when we were running the generator. We knew the exhaust was pretty rich but that scared us. Oh, and remember me writing about the bathroom fan handle falling off and the fan blade falling low enough to hit the plastic casing? Well, the RV repair shop said they fixed it by pushing up the fan motor and screwing on the handle tighter. My husband thought that the vent cover wasn't closing all the way since the repair shop pushed up the fan motor and he was right. On our way home south of Salinas, CA in the town of Chualar we had to pull over to let the dogs out for a break. It was real windy and as we got out guess what came flying off the top of the RV right onto the ground in front of us? The bathroom vent cover! I couldn't believe it. I took a picture of the bathroom vent with no cover and now the fan blade has fallen off and is lying on the screen of the vent. I emailed it to the repair shop and then I called to let them know what happened. They were really nice about it and said to bring the RV in and they would take care of it since it was their fault. On our last day home my husband had a concern with vibration in the steering wheel so we added that to our list of repairs.
When we got home we took the RV in to have everything on our list looked at and it turns out that we need the front rotors turned and the wheel bearings repacked, $425. While they were testing the generator for the exhaust issue it stopped running. The circuit board went out, $300+ labor. Need to replace the grey water valve & flange, $400+ labor. Everything is covered under the new service policy except the rotors and we have to pay a $500 deductible but that's still better than paying for everything.
I always mention how little storage we have in the RV so I thought I'd add pictures of the inside. When I say that we always take storage into consideration now you can see why. Not only is the storage limited inside we only have one storage compartment outside and it's 3' long by 1' wide! Thank goodness we have storage under one of the dinette seats. We use it for the leveling blocks, sewer hose cradle and a few other small items. We don't have an oven but we have a NuWave oven that can bake, broil, barbecue, roast, grill, steam, sear, & air-fry. It's a bit cumbersome because it's bulky for the space but it does the job. I'm looking for a smaller version of the NuWave called the NuWave Mini but I haven't found one yet because it's been discontinued. I'm sure someone has one they don't use and want to sell. I'll keep my eyes open for it. If we don't use the NuWave we either use the stove or we barbecue on the space saver grill I told you about in the last blog.
I'm constantly reorganizing to utilize as much space as I can. I think I just about have it perfected.
Our next trip is in a few weeks to Chico, California for a couple days then off to old highway 50 through Nevada to Kanab, UT. We think that we may dry camp along the drive this way we aren't pressed to make it to an RV campground before they close but we will stay at a couple RV Parks too. We are calling this trip "Beat the Heat" because it's been 100+ every day here at home.
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| Bathroom fan blade fallen off motor |
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| no vent cover |
When we got home we took the RV in to have everything on our list looked at and it turns out that we need the front rotors turned and the wheel bearings repacked, $425. While they were testing the generator for the exhaust issue it stopped running. The circuit board went out, $300+ labor. Need to replace the grey water valve & flange, $400+ labor. Everything is covered under the new service policy except the rotors and we have to pay a $500 deductible but that's still better than paying for everything.
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| Looking out from the refrigerator (bathroom right behind) |
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| Looking from the cab. Couch makes into a bed and so does the dinette but that's a little too small. |
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| bathroom close quarters |
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| Bathroom with cabinet storage on the left and closet on the right |
I'm constantly reorganizing to utilize as much space as I can. I think I just about have it perfected.
Our next trip is in a few weeks to Chico, California for a couple days then off to old highway 50 through Nevada to Kanab, UT. We think that we may dry camp along the drive this way we aren't pressed to make it to an RV campground before they close but we will stay at a couple RV Parks too. We are calling this trip "Beat the Heat" because it's been 100+ every day here at home.
Until then . . .
"Adventure is out there"
Sunday, August 7, 2016
"On to Indio"
It was a long drive and after we got through the L.A. basin we started seeing windmills everywhere along the highway.
I couldn't help but wonder if California is really benefiting from all of them. To me, they are an eyesore and I'd much rather see solar panels for alternative energy. Maybe because they don't take away from the landscape as much as the windmills.
When we arrived at Shadow Hills we were welcomed by a very nice lady who gave us fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, 2 packets of Crystal Light Pur lemonade (that was so good!), a list of the parks policies, a site map, a map of the area and an calendar of events. There were a handful of RV's there that looked as though they are there all year but no one in them. Maybe the owners pay by the month for that particular space until they come in the winter months, I'm not sure. It was like a ghost town for us. Only a few trailers and RV's looked liked someone was in them. We set-up the RV, ate dinner and called it a night. We didn't site see while we were there since we arrived at 5:30 and really there wasn't much to see anyway but in the winter months Shadow Hills looks like this:
We left Saturday morning and were right back in all the traffic. We made a couple rest stop breaks and soda stops before getting back to the storage facility where we store our RV which was about 2pm. I have to come up with a better/quicker way to take the fridge items, clothes, laundry, perishables from the RV to our house and vice versa. It just seems like we have so many bags and boxes of items. I know there is a better way! We put everything into the car and left our Starflyte until the next trip.
We have to make another California trip next month but we make take a short 3 or 4 day trip before then. I'll be sure to write about it.
Until then . . .
"Adventure is out there"
Dry Camping in Cali
I've read a lot about dry camping but this was the first time we actually did it. We stayed at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, CA for 3 nights. It's a real nice campground with 31 campsites; 2 are first come, first served, the others are a mix between tents & RV sites and are by reservation. They have potable water, restrooms with electrical outlets, flush toilets, a dump station and showers, although their showers are a bit on the expensive side at $2.00 for 5 minutes. We didn't use the showers except for the last day when our fresh water tank was getting low.
The great thing about being able to travel with your pets is that they are with you all the time, you don't have to board them so that saves on money. The bad thing about traveling with your pets is when one of them barfs in your sleeping bag at 4am and that's the only thing you have to sleep in or if one pee's on it (the puppy, who is still going through the potty training stage). Fortunately, this all happened on the last night and our next campground destination has full service including a laundromat so we will be able to wash everything. All in all, I wouldn't change it. It's no different than having kids except that you don't have to feed them all day, they don't whine when they are bored, they are happy to be laying down or sitting on your lap and our 24' RV fits us just fine.
On the second day of dry camping we decided to use a handy little barbecue grill we bought online. It's from a company by the name of Fox Outfitters. This grill is great because it folds flat! Since we have very limited storage this was a good addition to our collection of RV needs. The one thing we didn't think of is that because this is a much smaller grill we may not need as many coals. It heats up a lot faster and as a consequence burnt our tri-tip, only on one side. We were able to cut around the burnt part and enjoyed the perfectly cooked other side.
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| Great barbecue | 1 |
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| Everything fits in this bag |
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| Burnt tri-tip |
I forgot to turn off the outside light before we went to sleep and it
ran our battery down. The campground has generator restrictions so we
had to wait until 8am before we could turn it on to charge the battery
and even then the battery didn't stay charged. It was fine though, we
were able to get by.
We packed up and set our sights on the next campground; Flying Flags RV Resort & Campground in Buellton, CA.
It took us about 6 hours to get there mostly because of the bay area traffic 
but the view on the way was so pretty.
We packed up and set our sights on the next campground; Flying Flags RV Resort & Campground in Buellton, CA.
It took us about 6 hours to get there mostly because of the bay area traffic 
but the view on the way was so pretty. 
I've never been to a campground like Flying Flags. It's a little overwhelming at first with so many sites and being pretty close together. Our site was on a corner just down from the playground and next to a trailer with 4 small boys, "yippee", not. It wasn't bad really. It was nice to see kids riding their bikes, laughing and yelling at each other. They were having a great time and it reminded me of when our kids were younger.
We walked into the gift store and I was surprised at all the different things they had. There is definitely something for everyone, 
except us. Remember in my earlier blog I told you we are collecting patches from our trips, well Anderson Pea Soup doesn't carry patches anymore because their supplier went out of business. I guess they were the only supplier in the U.S. Maybe they weren't a big selling item. We walked back to Flying Flags and took the girls out for a walk. We sat at our site until we started getting hungry and decided to eat at the Campfire Cafe located in the Flying Flags campground.
My husband had a country burger which had bacon, onion rings, bbq sauce and the usual fixins. I opted to try the veggie burger made from tofu as I'm trying to stick as close as possible to my new eating regiment which is low carb high protein. Surprisingly my burger was good, I enjoyed it. Sitting outside at the cafe on the patio my husband noticed that their are mainly younger families with just a handful of us older RVers and all have top of the line travel trailers and trucks. We enjoy walking around the camp sites and seeing the different set-ups people have. One thing I really liked and I'm going to buy is a portable folding hammock. I saw it at one of the RV sites and it looked so comfortable. I have a hammock now but you need to put it onto 2 trees and finding the 2 perfectly spaced trees for it is difficult. I guess I should have thought that through a bit more.
As close as the RV sites are at this campground
we enjoyed it and would stay here again. Tomorrow we pack up and head to Indio for the end of our trip.
Until then . . .
"Adventure is out there"
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