Trials and Tribulations

We're in Pacific City Oregon this week with no cell and certainly no WIFI. Our days consist of beach combing, staring at sunsets and visiting the local shops. Truly an idyllic life of leisure.

NOT!

When we have downtime such as this we are catching up on cleaning, maintenance and the countless other little chores that help keep a house on wheels running smoothly. Our first couple of days were filled with rain necessitating all indoor work which, in a 8 ft by 30ft space, doesn't take all that long and to be frank can easily result in homicide. To counter our self-imposed isolation and the resulting grumpiness, walks on the beach were mandatory. The staring at sunsets simply meant we got a late start.

So what do new full-timers do? In our case, we're are continuing to attempt to find and alleviate the source of a persistent random leak coming from around the base of our toilet. So far nothing has really shown up as the cause but yesterday during our walk a thought occurred to me – water pressure. (Note: In no way was my failure to pay attention to the waves and the resultant soaking have anything to do with this epiphany.) The leak we've had seems only to occur when we've been in a park with higher than normal water pressure and when I've neglected to put a pressure regulator on the line (I do enjoy a good shower massage). Today I'll be trying out our adjustable pressure regulator in the hope of coming to some sort of compromise between having a good shower massage and a puddle of water on the floor.

So now you have an idea of why we visit the local shops. Granted, in our case the local shops are labeled “True Value Hardware”, or “Art's Plumbing Supply” or any other shop that has “RV” in the name.

While driving down highway 47 we hit a bit of rough road and after about 10 minutes we both heard a metallic clang and a rattle coming from somewhere in the back. Chris and I looked at each other and we both came up blank as to the cause.

Sorry, I got ahead of myself a bit.

Since we've been on the road we've found we are able to quickly identify and/or categorize each and every rattle, creak, thump and clang in the motorhome. It has become sort of a game for us to be the first to accurately identify the source of each unusual noise based on the type and general location. These are the noises we can and usually do ignore. It is the unidentifiable that will cause me to quickly find a place to pull-over – hopefully before something serious happens. In the case of the metallic clang it was a good thing I did.

Our shower is very important to us as I've mentioned. Not only does it keep us clean enough for social interaction, the relaxing effect of warm water after a strenuous day driving is a prime contributor to harmonious living in a confined space, (Yes, I am wearing hip waders – funny you should ask.) Anyway, our shower door consists of 3 glass panels that expand accordion style to fill the gap. To secure them in a retracted state there are some aluminum and rubber brackets on each side. It was one of these brackets falling and the glass panels sliding loose that caused the unusual noise. Why this story? Well, if you had been paying attention, it meant we got to visit the local shops again! A short drive, a quick visit to the hardware store and after a few minutes to fix, we were back in business.

I forgot to mention how everything is interconnected. The problem of the shower door was a direct result of it being bumped numerous times while I was going in and out of the bathroom to try to fix the leaky toilet. Water from leak apparently trickled down and has tripped one of the ground-fault interrupts in an outlet in our basement. This outage has put the built-in vacuum out of commission. With no vacuum, the rugs have to be beaten and the floor swept. After my attempts to dodge, then delegate this duty, I've found a walk in the park and on the beach to be a prudent course of action.

Wonder when she'll let me come back in, its beginning to look like rain.

Exodus

A while back I wrote a little piece about the trials and tribulations of some when they first come into a campground. What I failed to mention was just how interesting it can get when people of all experience levels leave...

Departure days do not vary all that much and will usually fall into two categories. The first is experience level. The weekend camper will tend to leave on a Sunday or Monday in the case of a holiday weekend. More experienced campers, those clearly on an extended vacation or full-timers tend to leave in the middle of the week (this is due to traveling, weather, lumbago; its all quantum if you ask me). Now, I'm not saying all weekend campers can't be experienced but the good majority are those who are just beginning this adventure and yes, provide the most fun for the observer.

Take the guy who was two sites over from us. At first I thought he was a well experienced camper; he arrived on a Thursday ;backing his 34ft 5^th wheel into a tight fitting site just as slick as can be and was fully situated in a very short time. He talked like he knew what end of the stick to grab and was a really good neighbor. What gave him away was his departure last Sunday.

His disassembling of his campsite proceeded with nary a hitch or problem and he had quickly and efficiently disconnected the water, sewer and power. Upon prompting by a very loud, high pitched voice from within the RV, he also quickly and efficiently reconnected all three. I firmly believe it was the tone and pitch of the prompting that caused him to trip over the hose and bang his head on the slide for he really did not look that clumsy. I am also a believer (forged in the crucible of having done it once) in not disconnecting any shore-ties nor retracting leveling jacks without first ensuring my partner is not in the commode.

Our intrepid camper finally received the go ahead and re-disconnected all the connections like a pro; sort of. When disconnecting the water line it is always good practice to turn the water off at the spigot prior to unscrewing it elsewhere. Fortunately it was less than a gallon and mostly sprayed on his shirt. Frankly I didn't know you could hit those sorts of high notes in a falsetto voice. Oh, did I mention the temperature has been in the mid-fifties all week? And the water source out here is a mountain spring?

Having changed shirts and stowed all of the water hose, sewer hose, and electrical cable, our neighbor seemed all ready to take off. He backed his truck smoothly into the hitch and in no time at all was hooked up and ready for departure – sort of. Odd how you can forget to bring in a slide you've banged your head on about a hundred times in the past few minutes. Or maybe not since so much banging surely caused short term amnesia and a concussion.

Until this time I had never seen someone conduct a final walk-around by walking backwards. I'm sure it does give one a different perspective but I can't shake the feeling it also contributed to our departing fellow tripping over his stairs and landing in the puddle of water created by his water hose adventure. Yes, another high note was reached and I'm now pretty sure this guy was a past member of the Vienna Boys Choir.

It was sort of a let down to see this guy leave. For a while I debated on whether to get another cup of coffee and the lawn chair but he was just too fast and soon his tail lights were the only thing seen heading down the road – oh and that flapping curtain out the window.

Today is Wednesday and is one of our traveling days. After writing this I think I'll be especially vigilant in going through my routine and extra careful as well. Who knows who may be watching and recording my actions for their blog.