Travels with Snowbirds Saturday January 26, 2013, Lazydays RV, Seffner, FL

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The One About Being Drained Out.

I slept like a rock last night until the alarm woke me up at 6:30, then still stayed in bed dozing for another 30 minutes. It felt wonderful. Despite the fact that Steve/Delivery specialist told me he would be by early in the morning, I knew he wouldn’t.



And, I was right. What does first thing in the morning mean to all you all? The work hours start at 8. On the outside, in my world, first thing is certainly not hearing from him by 9:15. I was giving Lazydays until 9:30 before I blew a gasket, but I really have been trying to keep my stress level under control. I took lots of deep cleansing breaths. At 9:22 two old guys drive up, that’s the way things work here, one person drives the golf cart, the other gets off to do the job, the other leaves. But these two old guys immediately got underneath the rig, released the pressure on the hydraulic system and cranked all four levelers up by hand. They left, and sent a driver over to drive me and Winston and the RV to a service bay, 200 yards away. There one of those 2 old men introduced himself, Tom. A good name in my world - I had good feelings. Long blonde old man hair, withered frame, smoker, grease under his nails. He told me it was ok for me to stay in the rig, or leave, he would watch Winston. He kept me informed every step of the way, without me asking. I was thrilled. He took the hydraulic pump out and put it on his workbench and tested it, replaced all the cellunoids, replaced all the wires, nothing worked, and eventually coming to the conclusion that ‘the box’ must be bad. He also tested ‘the brain’ and that was functioning properly, according to the manufacturer, Lippert. He was gone for a while, and I went to eat breakfast in the restaurant, but it was closed, figures. When he returned, he told me he was going to replace the entire system. He drove up another Vista, took out the part, and installed it. I was hoping that was what he would do.



At noon I went to the restaurant for lunch and IT WAS FREAKIN MOBBED! Seems in the regular portion of the campground there was a rally going on, some RV brand or another, with over 200 Big Rigs present. Part of their rally was all meals included and they had a ticket for free lunch today. I waited in line, and heard the couple behind me talking about where they wanted to go this afternoon, and the wife was whining that she didn’t want to walk anywhere. I turned and suggested they go to the casino, and read their name tags, and they were from Wilmington, NC. For the next hour, over meatball subs and potato chips we exchanged stories of moving to Wilmington (25 years for them, they raised their kids there, he was a Respiratory Therapist at the hospital, then trained to become an IT person to assist on the design and development of their new automated medical system. They live way north of me, of US 17, still in Wilmington, but in the next county, Pender. Really really nice people. I needed that human contact, it felt good.



At 2:00 Tom tested again, and it went down properly, but went up sluggishly. He let it rest a bit, did it again, similar results. I was ready to be committed to the loonie bin, and bought a Salem from him for $1, and calmed right down. I regrouped and was calm and confident and let him work. He then came to me and said this new problem was in one of the jacks, it was just not functioning properly. He was going to replace it. At 4:00 another test, and it worked. At 4:15 another test, it worked. They were quick to get me out of the service bay and onto a campsite in the Delivery Lot. All this time I have not yet driven my new rig.



Tom told me when I got to my new campsite, leave the engine running, put out the slide, and put the levelers down. Slide worked just fine, levelers went down and cycled off. Yay!!!!! I took Winston for a walk, came back and noticed fluid on the ground under one of the jacks and another had not touched the ground. Call Delivery person Steve, of course no answer on his cell phone. Call Salesman Joe who answered, but couldn’t talk, said he would call me back in 2 minutes, which he did. He listened patiently, and within another 5 minutes, Crusty Tom was at my rig, towel in hand. He asked where it was leaking, I showed him, he said that was just because he didn’t clean it off when he released the fluid earlier in the day. WTF: The 4^th wasn’t down and that was fine, the system didn’t need it to level. They are levelers, not stabilizers he said. I asked if we could run the system again one more time, and he and I watched, and it worked properly, actually the 4^th leveler hitting the ground. I don’t know if that’s a cause for concern or not, I let it slide. I did not need or want another cigarette.



I still have not driven my new rig. I saw Trainer Jeff driving around, he heard what was going on, my rig was the talk of the dealership as it put hydraulic fluid all over the ground, and asked him if he could stop by, which he did. He answered a couple of questions I had, and told me he would make sure someone was with me around 9 tomorrow morning to help me adjust my mirrors and drive around the campground before I hit the road.



I called Ginnie and Kathy and gave them the good news. Kathy was going to drive Ginnie up here tomorrow so she could drive home with me, but Kathy needs to be in another part of the state at noontime, and in good conscience I couldn’t let Ginnie come up here if Kathy wasn’t at the campground to watch the dobes. So, I am going to put my big girl panties on and “just do it.”. I am woman, hear me roar. Ginnie advised me to fill up with water before I get to Wauchula, someone ran over the water line in the row our campsites are in and there is no water. They are working on it, but no water when we were speaking. Jerk.



I am rapidly unwinding from 3 days of stress, and really feel good. Winston truly has been wonderful during all this, I really am pleased about that. I couldn’t ask for a better dog. I might even let him sleep on the bed tonight.



I made a BT for dinner, oldy moldy L ended in the trash, jello pudding for desert, haven’t hit the wine yet, it sometimes gives me palpitations, and I don’t want that to happen tonight. I am sitting here with wonderful internet service, watching CSI on CBS.com. I paid all my bills today, got my Quicken ready to balance my checking account when the statement comes in. The internet here is so awesome, it’s like being at home. I will be up early, see who shows up around 9:00, fill up with water, hitch up the britches and be gone.



Kat Out

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Comments

[Barbara Clark]

congrats on your new RV,it looks beautiful!!!!!!
I give you so much credit, for your interesting travels. Good luck, have fun And be safe. Love, Barbara