On June 1st, one week after the purchase of our new RV, Pat and I set out for Fargo/Moorhead, ND and Rainbow Christian Fellowship.  

About three days out, I (Carolyn) was sitting at the dinette of our brand new RV, while Pat was in the shower, and I noticed a stream of water coming from the wall down the middle of the galley floor!   I quickly grabbed a towel and began mopping up the water and trying to track the source.  Even though we both knew in our hearts there was a leak, we decided that MAYBE the water was from the shower door dripping as Pat exited the shower.

Every night, when we stopped and connected to water at RV parks, the water continued to run down the galley.  And we could hear dripping in the wall.  Not good! We called the dealer and then the manufacturer to find a repair facility in our next destination, Fargo, ND.  We weren’t concerned because the unit was brand new and under full warranty.  Well, the only issue was that we had to TAKE the RV to an authorized dealer and the closest dealer was 300 miles away and NOT on our route.

About two days later, it occurred to me that the water might be in the compartments and thus our sound equipment!  I opened the basement compartment and my heart sank!  The carpet was squishy and everything was sitting in water!  I called to Pat and we took everything out of the storage compartments and placed it on a picnic table.  We began wiping everything down and as I picked up our $500 powered monitor, water ran out of the speaker compartment.  The microphone cases were soaked with water inside out.  The speakers and board were wet on the bottom but didn’t seem to be damaged.  All we could do was dry everything as much as possible and put all our equipment inside the coach with us.  Needless to say, it was a little cramped!

We discovered that the leak was worse when the water was pressurized.  So we just filled our water tanks and only turned the water pump on when we HAD to in order to shower.  And continued trying to find ANYONE who could look at the leak.  One repair tech had the nerve to tell us, “You picked a bad time to get service.”  “What?”  Who chooses to have repair issues on route? We continued calling repair facilities in the cities ahead of us and most would be glad to schedule us 3-4 weeks out.  Not an option, we would be back home in 4 weeks!

We were greeted in Moorehead at the church on Friday afternoon by our contact person,  Tony Christensen, with whom we set up plans for the 3rd annual Fargo/Moorehead Pride celebration the following day.  The church had a booth/table at the Pride pavilion and offered us use of the table to sell jewelry and CDs. Rocky and John helped us load and unload our stuff and shuttled us to the park.  It was a beautiful day and we met a lot of wonderful people including our friend David from Children of the Living God Church, W Fargo.

That following day Tony, Rocky, John and Teddy helped us get set up for the afternoon concert.  We had a small but appreciative group.  A few from Pflag and Pride attended as well.  

We had two weeks until we were due at our next booking so Congregation UCC let us park in their parking lot for the week.  Thank you to First Congregational UCC, Moorhead, MN and Rainbow Christian fellowship for your help and hospitality.

The following weekend, Pat and I headed north to Grand Forks, ND where we found a nice church parking lot in which we stayed the night.  There was an Arts Festival the following day so we walked downtown for some much needed R&R before heading east into Wisconsin.  En route, we drove around the lower Great Lakes.  

Later that week we arrived at Angels of Hope MCC, Green Bay, WI.  Our contact, Rev. Elaine Thomas greeted us and a little later her partner Tina arrived.  They got us settled and our rig hooked up to water and power.  Then they took us to dinner and we got acquainted.  They also took us to the Green Bay Packers, Lambeau Field.   We joked that we had seen the birthplace of Judy Garland (the previous week) and now Lambeau Field in the same trip...  What a hoot!

We had great help with set-up with Kevin, Christine and Rev Elaine...  Saturday's concert went well.  On Sunday we had a great turn out and enjoyed our time with everyone.  Elaine and Tina took us to dinner, loaned us their truck and were even gracious enough to let us do laundry in their home. Thank you to Rev Elaine, Tina and the entire congregation for a wonderful weekend. 

The RV repair shop in Green Bay referred us to a shop 100 miles to the south but they were unable to get us in for 2 weeks…  sound familiar?  And remember we are still traveling with the equipment inside the coach!!

From Green Bay, we drove south to Dayton, OH and Eternal Joy MCC, Dayton, OH.  Upon arrival, Doug and Jerry helped us get our rig plugged in and then carried our equipment.  The concert on Saturday was well attended and went wonderfully.  After the concert Doug, Phil and Betty took us out for dinner and fellowship.  Sunday morning we sang special music and after service we went to brunch with Pastor Mark, his partner Larry, Alice, Ken, Phil, Doug, Randy and Mike.  We had a great time!  Afterward Pastor Mark and Randy helped us load our equipment.  Thank you Eternal Joy for a great weekend.   

The next day, we started our trek home.  We were very pleased with the new RV (in spite of the water leak) and, with our new home on wheels, felt we were ready to start making preparations for full time ministry.  But our stories from the road don't end here...  

About 3 days from home, we stopped at an RV park for the night.  The clerk admired our new rig and I spouted something about the leak.  She said, “Oh water can do a lot of damage!”  I explained that we had been trying to get service for 4 weeks… to which she said, “Oh, I can call Rob.  He works on National RVs and will come to your RV site!”  To which I said, “Please call him!”

Rob arrived about an hour later, walked into the bath, removed the faucet in the shower, tightened the connection and had us turn the water on.  It took him 5 minutes to fix something that we had been trying to get repaired for 4 weeks.  It doesn’t speak well of National RV or the many shops we called, but we were SO happy it was fixed!  And as soon as the compartments dried, we could put the equipment back!!

After being home for only a week, we prepared for our weekend at First MCC, Atlanta, GA on July 16th.  We arrived early Sunday morning to set up our table and do sound check.  Rev Paul Graetz greeted us, we quickly did a sound check and I rehearsed the call to worship with the orchestra.  We thoroughly enjoyed the service, met some wonderful people and renewed old acquaintances.  Thanks First MCC!  

The following weekend we drove to MCC of the Upstate, Duncan, SC.  We arrived late Friday evening and Rev Donna Stroud had all of our hook-up needs taken care of...  The following day, Rev Stroud arrived to show us around and get us set up for the concert that evening and Sunday services.  The church is a small building but we filled the small space and had a wonderful time of music and fellowship!  After the concert we went to dinner with Rev Donna and our long time friend Joe along with other congregants.  We had a great time.  Sunday morning we sang in services to a packed house...  Thank you Pastor Donna, Joe, Peggy Faye and the entire MCC of the Upstate family for a wonderful weekend.