We have had a circus here during the past few weeks.  It took over a week for the first RV part to arrive…  The leveler motor was installed and the repair tech then tried to reprogram the leveler system.  It still didn’t work.  In the mean time, Pat and I are living in the RV with no levelers down and rocking back and forth with every movement.  AND now the slides are stuck in the out position.  This is fine for living, but did I tell you we were almost out of propane, which powers our water heater and stove?  You can’t drive the RV with the slides out.  We decided that showers were more important than cooking so we began cooking in the microwave and toaster oven.

At this point, the techs began the long process of tracing the wiring though the motorhome.  Now I don’t know if you have ever looked at the wiring in an RV before but let me tell you, it is EVERYWHERE!!  I was able to help with some of the locations but the repair tech found even more relays.  It took the good part of two days and two repair techs to find a bad relay on a circuit board.  And of course, the manufacturer says you must replace the entire board.  So we have to wait another week or so for that part.  At this point, we are on week three of this ordeal.

I explained our propane situation to our repair tech, Roger (who has been wonderful to us).  He is a kind soft-spoken man and since we had spent quite a bit of time together over the past few days we were beginning to strike up a friendship.  So he began trying to “jump” the system, bypassing patches of wiring connected to the bad relay to get the slides working at least temporarily, so we could drive the few hundred feet to the propane tank.

Now I have to tell you that I have a lot of faith around certain items, but when it comes to immediate outlays of large amounts of cash, I sway.  So my accountant brain was calculating labor charges and my stress level was rising with each passing minute.  I finally asked Roger what kind of cost we were looking at…  his response did not make me feel any better, “I really couldn’t even tell you right now”, he said.  “We’ll try to get as much as we can under the warrantee”. 

Roger finally got the slides and levelers temporarily rigged to work and after almost three long weeks of scrimping on hot water and cooking in the toaster, we quickly prepared the rig to move and get propane!  YEAH!!

When I got back to our rented RV site, I opened the door and the entry steps didn’t extend.  OH NO!  Not something new!!  I then tried the slides… not a peep… the slides were now stuck in the closed position.   It is very cramped inside the RV in the closed position.  I quickly called Roger.  He said, “Strange…” and then said he’d be right over.  Fortunately his shop is only about a mile and a half from us.  Once I plugged us into power the steps started working again, but not the slides.  Roger spent almost two hours, after-hours, getting our living room slide out and asked if we could live with the bedroom slide in for one night.  My mind is racing… 

Pat is finally back at work after 2½ weeks.  When the bedroom slide is “in”, the bed is about 8 inches shorter… and we are both tall people.  Note: Most RV beds are not full length anyway.  She would have to climb over me (or my side of the bed) to get in and out of bed… not to mention that the bed now blocks access to our clothing drawers.  Would she be able to sleep and thus work this way?  Did she have clean clothes to wear? 

I reluctantly agreed and Roger left for the night around 7:00 p.m.  Pat got home about an hour later and we assessed the situation.  Since she had been at work, dealing with a 6 month-old and a 5 year-old, it had not occurred to her that her clothing was no longer accessible.  Time to regroup!  Pat began pulling together laundry just in case those clothes were to be our only clothes for a while.  Pat, being the trouper that she is, and I… adapted and the night went pretty well.  Neither of us could fully extend our legs but we made it. 

The following morning after Pat left for work, I pressed the bedroom slide button.  I don’t know why, it was dead as a doornail last night.  And it worked!!!  Thank you God!!!  I called Roger and again he said “hum… strange…”.  But we decided that our batteries must have discharged and the “shore power” must have recharged them overnight.  Whatever the reason, thank you God!!!