 While camping at my brother’s farm in the middle of Michigan, we noticed some dark brown spots on the exterior of our fifth wheel that we hadn’t seen before. I was able to rub some off, so we didn’t think much about them. But we were curious as to their origin. We hadn’t painted or diffused anything nearby. Had my brother sprayed some pesticide or mosquito repellant? A quick browser search indicated we were dealing with fly defecation. Situated across the street from a cow farm, we had observed a number of flies in the area, so we quickly dismissed the dots as that. Shooting Spores Fast-forward two months. After setting up our rig for a long-term winter stay in the Southwest, we paid someone to power-wash it. He finished cleaning the coach’s exterior, but the spots remained. It appeared we had wasted $250. Further research revealed we were actually facing a case of artillery fungus, which is commonly found on rotting wood in moist environments. Having been established in 1893, the Michigan farm had its fair share of decaying wood piles, especially after a heavy windstorm wreaked havoc on the property earlier in the year. The name of the fungus is derived from its ability to release, or shoot, sticky spores into the air that attach to things such as vehicles up to 10 feet away. Those spores, if left untreated, can become permanent fixtures. Not wanting Tagalong to be speckled with brown spots for the rest of his life, we decided we’d better do something about them. But what? They clearly didn’t come off with power washing, which included soap and water. We needed a stronger substance. Finding a Heavy-Duty Solution Having spent a decade working on WWII airplanes, Bob is familiar with a variety of heavy-duty cleansers. His favorite is called Awesome, an all-purpose cleaner we’ve only been able to find at Dollar Tree. Evidently, it’s also available on Amazon (paid link). Knowing Awesome did a good job of removing grease and grime from airplane exteriors, Bob decided to try it on the RV spots. Simple rubbing of the cleanser didn’t immediately erase them. So, he invested in a polisher and put that to work with the Awesome. That extra power did the trick, allowing Bob to scrub the dots away. The only problem with this heavy-duty cleaner is that it can strip away wax and protective coatings. And that’s exactly what it did to our rig. In addition to removing the brown spots from Tagalong, we effectively rubbed away any protectant, a must-have in the harsh Arizona sun. Investing Elbow Grease and Time That meant we had twice the job we thought we did. With rain in the forecast, we spent our free time dousing, rubbing, and scrubbing Tagalong’s exterior to clean all the spots and Awesome off and reseal it with Turtle Wax ceramic spray coating (paid link). On a 42-foot trailer that stands more than 13 feet tall, that’s no easy feat. It involved a lot of early mornings to beat the heat and a lot of ascending and descending our telescoping ladder, moving it, and repeating the process — for the better part of a week.  Afterward, we discovered a few spores we missed. Those will have to linger — and maybe even become permanent. But we’re confident our rig is clean and protected. And maybe next year, we’ll do the full job ourselves and not waste money on a middleman.
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 Following a successful climb to a remote spot in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the turbo on our truck continued to give us problems. It became obvious that our desire to stay in higher elevations and cooler temperatures as we worked our way southwest would be risky. Not feeling confident our truck could get Tagalong up mountainous roads, we rerouted our course to stay on interstates in lower elevations. That took us to Albuquerque, where high temperatures were in the 80s in mid-September, definitely tolerable. While there, however, the air conditioner (A/C) in our main living area started making strange vibrating noises that rattled the whole rig. The unit continued to work, so we didn’t think much of it. To give it a break, we shut it off in the evenings and relied on the bedroom A/C or opened windows to keep cool. We normally wouldn’t have ventured into the Southwest until October, but it appeared our first grandchild wasn’t going to wait until her Oct. 10 due date to make her entrance into the world. For that reason, we thought it best to keep making progress toward Arizona to help ensure we didn’t miss the special arrival. Warming Up That decision took us to a remote campground in the desert near Deming, New Mexico, where high temperatures hovered around 90 degrees, giving us a very warm welcome to the Southwest.  Despite running both A/Cs, we didn’t feel cool air in our fifth wheel. With sweat beading on his forehead, Bob turned off the main A/C and restarted it. It blew cold air for about 5 minutes, but that was it. With Arizona — and 100-degree temperatures — in our near future, we needed working A/C. After doing some research, Bob climbed onto the roof and took our main A/C apart to troubleshoot. He checked all the simple-solution items. None of those repaired the problem. It didn’t appear the issue would be an easy fix. Meanwhile, we reverted to leaving the windows open and toughing it out, running fans to circulate the warm air and opening our awnings to minimize sun hitting the windows and heating the rig. On hot afternoons, we’d drive a half mile to Dairy Queen for a cool, refreshing treat. But this stop gap could only last so long. It became clear we needed to replace the A/C. Hitting Snags Bob ordered a new Coleman Mach unit from Camping World in Mesa, Arizona, and made arrangements for us to do the work ourselves at an organization we’re affiliated with to save on labor costs. This would also give us access to tools and equipment to help us get the old unit off the roof and the new one on. Our trip to Arizona went smoothly — until Tagalong sent smoke signals on the freeway about an hour from our destination. That incident and the ensuing damage derailed us for five days. When we finally picked up our fifth wheel from Cliff’s Welding, with practically a completely new underside, we drove straight to the location where we had permission to change out the A/C unit so we could get to work. We wanted to have a working A/C before parking and setting up for a monthslong stay. Bob opened the box the new A/C came in and discovered it was not the low-profile one we thought we had ordered. The closest Camping World that had the size we needed in stock was an hour away. Bob loaded the unit into Gulliver and headed out to trade it for the right one. Replacing the A/C After returning more than two hours later, Bob ascended the ladder to our RV roof to disassemble the existing A/C so he could remove it. He took off the shroud and traced around the edge of the unit so we could easily line up the new one in the right place. Then he removed four lag bolts and unplugged the wire harness, setting the factory-installed unit free. Years of dirt had accumulated in the thin space under the A/C. Bob took time to clean the area before installing the new one. We hoisted the new unit onto a scissor lift, only to discover the lift didn’t have enough juice to do the job. It needed to be charged.  Our friend Tim hopped on a forklift and raised the forks up to the roof height of our RV. Bob and I loaded the old unit onto the forks, and Tim lowered it to the ground. Then he reversed the operation and lifted the new unit to our roof.  Bob and I unloaded it and positioned it in place. Reinserting the four lag bolts into the original holes on the roof proved challenging. After struggling for a bit, Bob got three of them to line up correctly. Aligning the fourth required drilling a new hole to ensure the unit would be secure when traveling 70 mph down the freeway.  After straightening the unit’s fins and plugging in the wire harness, Bob had me turn on the A/C from inside the trailer to see that it operated properly. With that confirmation, he installed the cover, cleaned up, and descended the ladder. We relocated, got both A/C’s cranking, and completed our setup in the nick of time. Our granddaughter, Chloe Elizabeth, entered the world about 33 hours later. We couldn’t be happier. You might also like Removing an RV Antenna.   A driver waved us down on the freeway and pointed to our fifth wheel tires. At the same time, our truck displayed a message reading, “Trailer brake disconnected.” Heeding the warnings, we pulled off to the side and got out. Smoke emanated from the front driver-side trailer tire. As Bob approached, he saw flames. “Fire!” he yelled. I ran to unlock the RV door and grab the fire extinguisher. By the time I got to Bob, he had already pulled out the gallon of water we carry in the truck and poured it over the flaming wheel bearings, resulting in a lot of steam. “More water!” Bob shouted over the traffic noise. I dashed to the truck and snatched some water bottles to put into his hands. Then I bolted back to the trailer door and snagged what was left of our case of water bottles, about 20. As I handed Bob one after another, he poured them over the hot bearings in an effort to cool them off. Determining Our Next Move That mission accomplished, we assessed the situation. The front driver-side tire bowed out on the top, making the fifth wheel undrivable. Should we call Coach-Net, our roadside assistance provider? we wondered. What would they do? They couldn’t tow our rig in that condition. We decided we needed to remove the bowed tire from our RV. Bob lay on the asphalt and jacked up the fifth wheel. I stood by watching passing cars and semis, trying to coax drivers to move to the next lane. Fortunately, this happened near where the third lane ended and vehicles had to move over anyway. You don’t realize how fast traffic is moving until you’re stopped on the side of the road. A word of caution, drivers: If you ever see a stalled vehicle on the highway and can safely move to the next lane, please do so. It can make a world of difference to the people in an already difficult situation.  Getting to Safety Bob succeeded in removing the tire and the wheel hub, which was also leaning out. Without the hub or wheel bearings, putting on the spare tire was out of the question. But with the weight of the driver’s side of the rig on the remaining tire, Bob couldn’t get the bottle jack out from under the trailer axle. We quickly dislodged the factory-installed jack from under the passenger seat of the truck. That gave Bob the extra lift he needed to remove the other jack. Whew! Again, we weighed our options. We were about 2 miles from the next exit. Could we nurse the 18,000-pound fifth wheel along on only three tires to get it to a safer area? We decided to take the chance and crept down the emergency lane with our flashers on. I jumped out every few minutes to remove broken tire pieces that lay in our path. About 1.5 hours after our ordeal started, we succeeded in getting off the interstate and onto a nice flat dirt area about 20 feet from a two-lane road, where we could evaluate the damage. Bob discovered that, in the fiery heat, the washer on the spindle had melted to the outer raceway. He called his mechanic buddy Roy to chat through our options and came to the conclusion that we needed a new axle.  Saying Goodbye to Our Home A state trooper showed up. Bob asked him about leaving the trailer, possibly overnight, so we could go to the Phoenix metropolitan area to get parts. We were about an hour outside of Mesa, Arizona, our destination for the birth of our first grandbaby. The trooper informed us we were on an Indian reservation and advised us to contact the reservation authorities. With an OK to leave the trailer overnight on this Friday, we disconnected it from the truck, got it as level as we could, and grabbed some clothes and toiletries. Then we said goodbye to Tagalong, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time we saw him mostly in one piece.  I drove so Bob could call around for an axle. Our search led us to Cliff’s Welding, which has specialized in hitches, tow bars, trailer hitches, and RV accessories since 1964. We headed straight there, explained our situation, and discovered the shop could get an axle for our rig by Monday. (Another place we called had said it would take two to four weeks.) Finding a Fix The catch with Cliff’s was that it wouldn’t be an EasyLube axle, like the one in need of replacing. Because of that, we really needed to replace the second axle as well. Since Bob has never liked the EasyLube functionality, we decided to go for it. But Cliff’s wouldn’t go to our trailer. We had to get the trailer to the shop. One of the workers told us he had towed a number of trailers, even overweight ones, on three tires from the same area where we had left our fifth wheel. We asked how he did it and learned he ratcheted the bum axle to the frame to give it higher clearance and drove back roads at 35 to 40 mph. Based on his recommendation, we elected to attempt to move the RV on our own, waiting until later in the day so there’d be less traffic. Our son DJ went down with us in his truck to follow behind and keep an eye on the trailer. About three hours after we left Mesa to retrieve our home, we returned, thankful to have it off the reservation and in the same vicinity as us.  Counting Our Blessings Cliff’s offered to let us stay in our rig in the shop’s parking lot over the weekend. But because of the Arizona heat (yes, even in September) and the RV’s leaning to the damaged side, we opted to stay with family in the area instead. We thank God for keeping us safe. His angels were definitely watching over us. The incident happened close to our destination, family, and resources. Our home could have gone up in flames. Instead, we were able to get it to the best place it could have been for the work that needed to be done to it. We were blessed with a bed to sleep in (thanks, Mike and Susan!) and had everything we needed. We’re especially grateful to the driver who got our attention and alerted us to the situation in the first place. Thank you, sir, for your kindness. You might also like When Things Go Wrong in RV Life.   A day off work midweek gave us a rare opportunity to travel outside of our normal weekend relocations. We packed our rig, connected it to Gulliver, and set out for higher elevation so we could boondock in cooler temperatures, oblivious to the series of unusual travel day events that was about to begin. During our pre-travel walkaround, I noticed a missing screw in the trailer’s skirting. Although seemingly a small thing, it warranted fixing before hitting the road. Otherwise, the notorious winds of the South Dakota prairie could cause it to flap so much that it would crack. We unloaded items from the bed of the truck so that Bob could get to his tools. He found what he needed and replaced the screw. Damage averted. Power Deficit A few hours into our trip, we encountered another issue, this time with the truck. As the flatlands of the Mount Rushmore State transitioned to the Black Hills, Gulliver seemed to have trouble climbing. Normally, his turbos kick in, enabling us to maintain our speed and pass other vehicles on ascents — even when towing. Bob had the gas pedal floored, but the speedometer kept dropping. Although we didn’t slow more than the RV in front of us, this was unusual behavior for Gulliver. Knowing the issue could be the activator that switches between the exhaust brake and the turbos, we flipped off the exhaust brake and said a prayer. About 15 minutes later, the turbos started acting properly again. We thanked God and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing a climb up a dirt road awaited us before we could reach our chosen destination. The turbos fluctuated some more but then continued working, and we made it. After ascending the hill, however, I found the truck’s tailgate down while Bob was parking our rig. It seemed the washboard dirt road had caused so much vibration that it knocked one side of our tailgate off its pin. We’re not sure when the tailgate came dislodged but, thankfully, it didn’t cause any damage to the trailer during turning. Time Trials We were able to set up without incident, although we did notice a fresh layer of dust on our furniture, another result of traveling on the dirt road. I glanced at the clock inside our rig. It registered an hour later than the time on my watch. When did the time change? I wondered. We thought all of South Dakota fell under the Central time zone. A quick Google search revealed a split down the middle of the state, leaving the Eastern portion on Central time and the Western part on Mountain time. Good to know.
As we retired for the night, I set the alarm on my phone for 6 a.m. as I had to work the next morning. When the alarm sounded, I didn’t want to get up, despite sleeping for more than eight hours — or so I thought. I dragged myself out of bed even though the sun hadn’t risen and checked the news on my phone. Wanting to research a location, I opened Google Maps and was surprised to see my picture, indicating my whereabouts, in Michigan. My image quickly moved to the correct location and, as it did, the time adjusted on my phone. Because my device thought I was in Michigan on Eastern time, my alarm had actually sounded at 4 a.m. local time. No wonder I felt so tired. I went back to bed and woke up nearly two hours later, pleased to find the sun also ascending. You might also like The Key to RV Success.  Bob finished upgrading our RV’s power, and we left our rig for three weeks to go on our annual bomber tour with the Commemorative Air Force, hopeful that the efforts we had made to rewire our fifth wheel were successful. It never dawned on us that we might not be able to open our RV slideouts upon our return. Stuck Closed The weather warmed in Michigan, where we left Gulliver and Tagalong at my brother’s, but we had left the air conditioning off to save on unnecessary power consumption. It didn’t make a lot of sense to cool the trailer with nobody spending any time in it. We did keep it plugged into shore power to run our refrigerator, and that was about it. We took comfort in knowing that Bob could monitor our RV’s power remotely while we were away. About one week into our three-week excursion, Bob noticed a low level on our trailer power. “What could be wrong?” we wondered. A check of the weather confirmed my brother’s farm had been subjected to thunderstorms. That could have caused a neighborhood power outage. My brother verified a temporary power outage had been restored. So he went to investigate the electrical connections for our rig and quickly discovered the problem: It appeared an animal of some sort had stepped on the cord and managed to disconnect it in the process.  Steve reconnected the power cords and fixed the issue — or so we thought. Wanting validation that our refrigerator was indeed running, we asked him to open our dining room slideout so that he could get into the kitchen. After holding down the slideout rocker switch for a full minute, nothing happened. The slideout wouldn’t budge. Since we’d had difficulty with that particular extension opening in the past, we suggested Steve expand the bedroom one. That didn’t move either.  Troubleshooting Steve confirmed that shore power was on to the trailer and that the batteries were charged. He asked if there was a breaker box he could check. Unfortunately, the breaker box also required opening that one slideout to get to it. He plugged his electrical tester into an outlet he could access and found that the trailer did indeed have AC power inside. The lights turned on inside the rig, proving that it also had DC power.  Bob guided Steve through trying to open the slideout using the onboard digital control panel, which we’ve found success with in the past. It still wouldn’t budge.  Completely stumped, and unable to do anything about the situation, we asked Steve to see if he could hear the refrigerator running from outside the rig. He could, and he verified that our propane was still working. We had left the fridge on the electric/propane setting so that it would run off electricity if available and switch to propane if not. We rested easier knowing the refrigerator was working properly and went on with our bomber tour, pushing thoughts about not being able to open our slideouts to the backs of our minds. Finding a Solution At the end of our tour, we returned to Steve’s house, opened the door to our RV and, sure enough, the slideouts wouldn’t expand. Bob tried using an app on his phone to no avail. Unsure what to do, he tried one more option: He turned the battery disconnect off and then back on. After that, we were able to open the slideouts as usual.  It seems either the animal issue with the power cords or the outage caused a problem with the slideout controller. As with a computer (Bob was an IT guy most of his career), when something goes wrong, restarting it should be one of the first troubleshooting steps.
Thankfully, the power upgrade turned out to be a success. We have no power issues whatsoever and are able to operate both air conditioners, the refrigerator, and the microwave all at the same time — even when not plugged into 50 amps. You might also like When Things Go Wrong in RV Life.  “Try not to make too many ruts,” my brother said before we pulled forward onto his property in Michigan. Not wanting to repeat our experience of having to be towed, we had called him the day before to check on the wetness of the land. Steve assured us we’d be able to park in his farm yard. “That thing is heavy,” were the next words out of his mouth as he assessed the damage left by Tagalong’s weight sinking into the soft ground, a result of 4 inches of rain the week before and ½ inch that morning. Bob spun our 18,000-pound trailer around so he could back it into position, carving 6-inch deep ruts in the process. I guess you could say we made a mark with our RV. As Bob stepped on the gas pedal to back into place, our heavy rig moved only slightly before Gulliver’s dually tires spun out, gouging even deeper ruts. Gulliver couldn’t push Tagalong out of the deep-seated grooves in reverse. Driving in forward instead likely would have been a different story.  A Sticky Situation In bare feet (his norm), Steve ran over to get his Jeep. For the third time in our five years of full-time RV living, we had gotten Gulliver and Tagalong stuck. Only this time, we didn’t have to rely on a commercial tow truck or the goodness of fellow campers — and four-wheel drive likely wouldn’t have prevented this sticky situation. Although we didn’t pick up tire chains like tow truck driver Cody had advised after rescuing us from Jim and Jenny’s front yard nearly two months earlier, we were prepared with a sturdy tow strap, and Steve was prepared with a Jeep. Bob connected the strap to the back of Tagalong, and Steve attached it to the front of his Jeep.  This time as Bob attempted to back up, Steve helped pull Gulliver and Tagalong out of the ruts they’d created and farther back in the yard. But we didn’t get fully into position before stopping … and getting stuck again. Steve repositioned his Jeep, and he and Bob doubled the strap to shorten the connection between the two vehicles. We were running out of yard space. The trailer wouldn’t budge. Unable to move our big rig back any farther, we considered our location good and separated the Jeep from the trailer. I stacked two boards in front of Tagalong’s driver-side tires, and Bob drove forward to pull the trailer onto them and make it level side to side. Then we ran through our normal checklist to disconnect Tagalong from Gulliver and set up camp.  Piece of Paradise
We’re enjoying farm living in Michigan, eating fresh produce, listening to the natural sounds of cows lowing, birds singing, roosters crowing, farmers plowing, mowers humming, and children playing. Cool breezes refresh us, walks down the dirt road invigorate us, and hearty farm cooking makes us rub our bellies in delight — and fullness. Rural life has a lot of appeal. Each farm offers an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life where life is simpler and more serene. It can also be an incredible amount of work for those who choose to take advantage of its fertile soil and wide expanse. Our appreciation for those hard workers grows every time we find ourselves in a rural area, which is much more often than not. In our wake, we’re leaving Steve even more work to clean up our tracks — and a mess to meander when he mows. He has a plan to restore the surface of his yard. We hope carrying it out goes smoothly. You might also like The Benefits of Moochdocking.  The weather warmed up in Virginia, indicating the time had come for us to move on. So, we headed north to Massachusetts, trading nearly 90-degree temperatures for pleasant 70s. After two beautiful days, a heat wave brought sweltering, unseasonable 90-degree temps, giving us an extremely warm welcome. Moochdocking at Bob’s brother Bill’s, we were plugged into a 15-amp circuit for electricity, which meant we couldn’t run air conditioning in our trailer. Operating even one of our two air conditioners requires 30 amps of power. We opened all of our windows and turned on our RV vent fan in the ceiling to help propel any hot air out. Despite our efforts, Tagalong couldn’t combat the area heat advisory that brought hot temperatures and high humidity with a heat index of up to 99. The thermostat in our bedroom peaked at 97 degrees. With sweat beading on our foreheads and pooling in our arm and knee pits, we were driven out of the RV. Thankfully, we were able to hang out in the air-conditioned house.  Unlike summers in Arizona, where even nighttime temperatures hover around 100 degrees, the air in Massachusetts cools as the sun fades, making it possible for us to sleep in our own bed. On the hottest day, our bedroom thermostat displayed a balmy 87 degrees at bedtime. With fans in front of our bedroom windows pulling in cool outdoor air and our ceiling vent fan moving out hot air, we were able to doze off. Hope on the Horizon The only way to run Tagalong’s air conditioners in low-powered conditions like we found ourselves in was to power up two generators, something we’d never used them for. Since we were parked between two houses in a small community, we thought we better not try that. We had been wanting to replace our power inverter for a while for one that would allow us to combine energy from shore power and our solar panels. Evicted from our rig, we decided to fork out the nearly $2,000 to purchase the unit. And to our surprise, we found it on sale for 40% off. That sealed the deal. Before the part arrived, Bob watched videos and researched how to install the unit. Equipped with that knowledge, he ordered some other parts for the installation. Delivery day came. We had ordered a 12-volt unit. We received a 48-volt one, not compatible with our battery setup. Bob called customer service after normal business hours. The out-of-country rep said he made a call to the warehouse and received confirmation that the correct unit was in stock and would be shipped to us — scheduled to arrive a whole week later. The delay risked our ability to install and benefit from the unit before departing Massachusetts. While we waited for the replacement, Bob prepped the trailer: changing our three lithium iron batteries to lay on their sides, lowering the shelf above them to allow more room for the larger unit, and changing wires and connectors to accommodate the higher power of the new unit. Anticipation
The replacement arrived a day early. Yay! Only it was the wrong unit … again, the same model we had received the first time. Bob quickly sent it back. Lacking confidence that Amazon could provide what we requested, he ordered the correct unit — for the same price — from a different vendor. With time running out and the Fourth of July holiday potentially affecting shipping, we had the unit sent to an upcoming destination to make sure we didn’t miss it. Bob continued ordering more parts and doing more prep work to make the installation go as smoothly as possible. Meanwhile, the heat wave ended, and cooler temperatures returned, allowing us to spend more time in the trailer. You might also like When Things Go Wrong in RV Life.  Narrow roads do not make for good parking situations with a fifth-wheel RV. They greatly limit our ability to maneuver the truck as needed on the far side of the road to get the trailer into position. When the space we’re trying to back into includes a ditch on either side, flanked by a tree, parking can be much more difficult. After multiple attempts to back from a narrow road into the driveway of our friends Jim and Jenny in Virginia, we decided to take a different tactic: driving front-first into the driveway and onto the yard to back into place from there. Finding a Way In It seemed like a good plan. Having just arrived from Georgia, we were unaware recent rain had softened the lawn. It didn’t help that the front yard sloped down, away from the driveway. Once on the lawn, we had to back the truck up an incline to push our 18,000-pound trailer into place, not an easy feat. Our truck is not equipped with four-wheel drive. Nor does it have Positraction (as mentioned in the movie “My Cousin Vinny”), which would allow us to engage both sets of dual tires at the same time. In essence, we were using only one side of the dually to push the heavy trailer up a grassy hill.  Bob attempted to back up the incline, but Gulliver’s tires only spun out. After getting our truck and RV stuck one other time in our five seasons on the road, we purchased heavy-duty tire traction boards (paid link*), like the ones you see hanging off the backs and sides of Jeeps. Feeling prepared for this type of situation, we fetched the tracks from the trailer’s basement and placed them behind the rear truck tires. Bob once again tried to back up the incline. The tires continued spinning out on the traction boards. We never anticipated that would happen. It seemed we were truly stuck.  Finding a Way Out We pay an annual fee to Coach-Net for RV roadside assistance. Not seeing an easy way out of our predicament (we couldn’t go forward due to trees), we consulted Coach-Net. The dispatcher put us in touch with a tow company. Although we felt out of place for about an hour, not wanting to go inside our home in its inclined state, we took solace in the fact that we had our friends’ home to wait in. A tow truck arrived from Mathews Towing and Recovery. After assessing the scene, the driver, Cody, determined the best way to correct the situation was to winch us out. He wrapped a winch cable around Tagalong’s rear bumper and gave Bob instructions to keep Gulliver’s transmission in neutral and to steer.  Cody added tension to the cable and started the winch procedure. The trailer moved slowly but consistently up the incline toward the driveway. Once Cody thought the RV was close enough, he had Bob put the truck in park, disconnected the cable from the trailer, and moved the tow truck to provide room for Tagalong on the driveway.  Mission Accomplished At this point, Cody gave Bob specific instructions on how to back the trailer the rest of the way out of the grass: slowly and steadily with even pressure on the gas pedal. And it worked! Bob was able to get Tagalong onto the driveway without hitting the garage. As I watched the tail of the trailer to make sure it cleared any obstacles, I managed to get a taste of what sinking sand must be like. My foot landed on what appeared to be hard ground, only to sink almost to the top of my shoe in Virginia mud. I’d have to deal with that later.  Cody stuck around as Bob moved the truck and trailer forward and back to ensure we got parked where we wanted, helping with guidance all the way. Cody even stayed around after, sharing valuable tips and tricks to help us avoid a situation like this in the future. His biggest piece of advice: Get tire chains. “They’re not just for snow,” he said. You might also like How a Flat Tire Helped Us Work Together. * As Amazon associates, we earn from qualifying purchases.   A tornado watch went into effect in Georgia where we were staying. A few hours later, the tornado watch had been downgraded to a severe thunderstorm warning, with 70 mph wind gusts and pingpong-ball-size hail predicted to hit our area in 15 to 30 minutes. Bob rushed around to close all four trailer slideouts while I stayed in communication from Las Vegas, where I had been sent on a business trip. With the slides closed, Bob moved inside the home of our hosts, Greg and Sharon, thankful he didn’t have to stay in the trailer for the onslaught. As Bob and I texted, lightning literally hit the property with a loud BOOM! at just past 11 p.m. Peering out the windows to see if anything had caught fire, Bob didn’t notice any brightness in the dark sky, other than more lightning. Lights Out The sonic boom from the thunder clap had caused Gulliver’s alarm to sound, waking Greg and Sharon. Bob didn’t hear it in the basement, and by the time he ascended the stairs, the alarm had grown silent. Instead, the three heard squealing. Further investigation led them to Greg’s uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which protects his TV. It must have taken a surge. Greg reset his UPS and was pleased to discover his TV hadn’t been harmed. The darkness of the night and the nastiness of the weather prevented the threesome from going outside to check on any damage around the house. They did, however, notice that the internet was out. A look at the house circuit panel revealed four or five of the breakers had been tripped. Greg flipped them back on, restoring power. The outlet powering our trailer had been protected from a ground fault interrupt (GFI) by another outlet in the garage. But the GFI outlet had been fried, leaving Tagalong dark and without our normal Starlink satellite internet. Our fallback cellular internet that runs off our batteries still worked. Bob and Greg replaced the faulty GFI outlet with an extra one Greg had on hand. That fix gave Tagalong shore power and satellite internet again. We both breathed a sigh of relief that the trailer shore power didn’t sustain damage. With another storm forecast to hit the area at 6 a.m., Bob decided to grab his pillow from the trailer and sleep in Greg and Sharon’s basement that night. Morning Dawns The light of day revealed why the thunder had sounded so loud. Lightning had struck two trees about 30 feet from the house. Upon closer assessment, Bob, Greg, and Sharon realized the lightning bolt had run down the outside of both trees.  It must have followed the tree roots underground and boiled some water too, because they found a crack on a deck post and a buckled slat on the deck floor. A potted fern had been sitting on a ceramic plate atop the affected post. The plate had shattered, the pot lay on the ground, and the plant rested outside the pot. In addition to all that, a drain pipe had split and blown apart.  The threesome surmised the lightning traveled from the corner of the house up through the electrical ground wire into the circuit breaker box, causing the electrical problems.
Greg and Sharon didn’t have internet service for a few days. We were glad to be able to share our Starlink internet with them. They continued to find other electrical issues — multiple fried GFIs, Wi-Fi routers, Bose sound system, and the main cable feed from the street to the house — demonstrating how powerful a bolt of lightning can be. I thank God for keeping the three of them safe. You might also like Awakened by a Tornado Warning.  It seemed like a good idea. We dropped off Tagalong in the middle of the desert west of Phoenix, closed up and secure and surrounded by fellow Xscapers. Then we took Gulliver to Yuma to visit my parents. What could go wrong? We knew our rig was in good shape after all the attention we had given it in the past six weeks, so we didn’t expect any issues. Does any RVer in such a situation? Bob’s phone rang at 10:30 p.m. five days into our getaway. His full-time RVer brother, Tom, had called to notify us of a disturbance in the desert: a loud beeping emanating from the Pinnacle (our rig) that could be heard inside a nearby RV above the sound of rain. Suddenly wide awake two hours from our home on wheels, we had to get to the bottom of this. In Search of the Cause Bob and I talked through the possible sources of a beep inside our rig and narrowed it down to three: the smoke detector, the refrigerator (if out of propane), and the carbon monoxide detector. We gave Tom the keycode to get inside our rig. As soon as he opened the door, we heard the loud din through the phone. It wasn’t a steady beep, which eliminated the refrigerator possibility. That left two others. Opening our dining room slide, Tom noticed blinking red and green lights on our carbon monoxide detector. As he got closer, he discovered the code meant our CO detector had reached the end of its life.  Great! At that hour, no place was open to get a replacement. Even if a place had been open, it would have taken us a minimum of 2.5 hours before we could get back with a new unit. A Temporary Fix Bob and I both searched the internet for a way to deactivate the alarm. Bob found a button combination that would buy us 72 hours — and could be repeated up to 10 times. Tom performed the button operation, and silence returned. We didn’t have to hit the road that night after all. Having to work the next morning, I dozed off while Bob scoured Amazon for a replacement unit. Based on a review by the owner of a 2018 Jayco North Point fifth wheel (the sister of our rig), he ordered a Briidea carbon monoxide detector (paid link) to arrive two days later at my parents’, the date we planned to return to Tagalong. At the mercy of the package deliverer before we could travel, we were able to enjoy some game playing with my parents to pass the time. The unit finally arrived at 3:15 p.m., and we were free to hit the road, allowing us to return before sundown. Out with the Old, In with the New The next day, Bob gathered his tools, got comfortable on the floor of our coach, and went to work to remove the faulty unit. With that out of the way, he connected the wires to the new unit and put it in place, a quick and easy process. The original unit that came with our trailer and the new one detect both carbon monoxide and propane. The factory-installed one, however, only had one light indicator, leaving us to guess the problem if an alarm sounded. The new one has two light indicators for clarity and greater peace of mind.
We’re thankful for the fellow Xscaper who noticed the chirping coming from our rig and said something about it. And we’re especially grateful Tom was nearby to call us and help with a temporary fix until we could provide a more permanent solution. The RV community is a friendly one. We’re glad to be part of it. You might also like When Things Go Wrong in RV Life. |
AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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