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.
