RV-ing

And so we have entered the world of “RV-ing.” 

New truck, new (used) trailer. Having never towed before I was a little nervous. Terri was even more nervous than I was. I told her the only thing I was nervous about was that I wasn’t really that nervous. Everyone had told me that with the truck we had and the anti-sway bars, we wouldn’t even know the trailer was behind us. That helped a lot.

We made it out of the parking lot and onto the interstate just fine. But I WAS noticing the trailer behind us. It was not the perfectly smooth ride I was expecting. There was a weird hesitation every so often. We couldn’t tell what it was from; Terri thought it was just us feeling the trailer go over bumps after we had felt it in the truck. I thought it was a more pronounced feeling of the slight “herky-jerkiness” I felt driving the truck to work when it was cold. Then it happened.

BAM! It felt and sounded like we hit a deep pothole as we were cruising along at 65 MPH. But there was no pothole. And then I noticed the little orange wrench light on my dash that had the message “See service manual.” So Terri grabbed the owner’s manual from the glove box and began looking for the service manual section or any explanation of the orange wrench. Nothing. 

Next she grabbed the iPad and started searching for info. Again, nothing. She found a forum and read of some other similar experiences. Then the truck started losing speed. I thought maybe the cruise control went out, so I pushed on the accelerator and the RPMs went up, but no increase in speed. It was as if we were in neutral.

I signaled and pulled onto the shoulder. Terri had read that someone suggested turning off the truck and restarting it. We did and we were able to drive again. Whew! I did not want to be stuck on the side of the interstate with our trailer. We had a long way to go to get to our destination and were only 50 miles in. We wondered if we should keep going. We decided we would continue and see what happens. About 30 miles later it happened again. I asked her to find the nearest Ford dealership. She did and we got off at the next exit and drove about 20 miles to get there only to find out that the service department had gone home for the day..

The way I plopped in the chair across from her, I think, conveyed my frustration or disappointment or exhaustion or despair or all of the above to the very kind sales lady. We scheduled a Monday morning service appointment and she told us about a state park not far away where we could camp. And she gave us her cell number and told us to call if we got stuck and she would come get us. Wow! If you need a car and live anywhere near Glasgow, Kentucky, go see April Ponder at Gillie Hyde Auto Group!

So we called ahead to to the park and were told there were plenty of sites available. We entered the park and somehow drove right past the big brown sign with big yellow letters that said CAMPING AREA  and ended up at the marina. I could not enter through the entrance because a semi had it blocked. So I went in the next opening and drove to see if I could find a spot where I could turn around and exit. I was able to maneuver between two trucks with empty boat trailers and got out of the parking lot. 

We found the campground and talked to two very nice ladies, Ginny and Kathy. We explained what we had been through and they gave us a map showing the site layout and were even kind enough to x-out those that were taken. They said to go ahead and find one we liked and come back and pay later. Or pay tomorrow. We saw many available sites, and settled on the one we liked best. It only took between two and seven tries, but I got the trailer situated where we (Terri) wanted it. Then we realized our water hose would not reach to the water supply. Abort. We did not know exactly what we were going to do but we knew we needed firewood and the office was about to close. 

We drove back to the camp office to get firewood and Terri described our water supply predicament to Ginny who eagerly offered us a site in the overflow area. She took Terri for a ride in the golf cart to be sure it was something we would like. It was amazing! There was a huge open field and two sites with water and electric boxes. We drove out there, unhitched, leveled the camper, and went to hook up the power and— not a 30 amp connection, only 110 volt household receptacles. Oh, no! is kind of what I said.

Before moving to the other site, I walked over and checked the box. Yes, there was a 30 amp connection. So, after somewhere between two and 11 attempts, I got the trailer back on the hitch and moved it to the other site. We got leveled, unpacked, set up our new summer home, and started a nice fire.

As we did on our maiden tent voyage, we enjoyed the simplest of camper meals: hot dogs and baked beans. Though I must confess, we cooked the beans in the microwave this time!

Ah, the RV lifestyle. 

By the way, the truck repair was done in a day. It turns out a transmission wiring harness was not not clipped into the frame properly at the factory and was resting on the exhaust system. When it got hot, it melted the insulation around 19 wires. Gillie Hyde Ford took good care of us that day!