Wednesday, October 17, 2018

It's Been An Adventure

Well we stayed a week in Ct. having our generator cut out, repaired and welded back in. What was Country Coach thinking that year they built her?  She had to be put on "stilts" to raise up the front end so the work could begin, which meant we couldn't stay in CiCiBlue for two nights. So we went to our ol standby, Motel 6. They only allow two dogs per room so we get two rooms. One for Lola and me and one for Roger and the boys. Yes, a little weird since we are all together all day in one room, but policy is policy.


We had to stay in our rig for the weekend then on Monday we had her finished up, stayed overnight, then on Tuesday, that one week mark and leaving them $3,498.50, we headed out on the highway with our generator purring.!  Fixed, one Onan Generator, one new chassis battery, odds and ends wires, and servicing the engine and generator and lubing all things that need to be lubed.  CiCiBlue was ready to roll. 

Not sure if you remember the summer fiasco of us waiting to have our awnings repaired? Santa Ana winds out west did a number on them but we had to wait until we were settled for a bit before we had them fixed. And not sure if you remember that the first RV Repair guy came and took measurements and even chatted with our insurance agent. He never returned. Number 2 RV Repair guy. He came and took measurements and actually sealed a seam on our slide out and swore he'd return. "That's awful what that guy did to you, we will fix you right up". He never returned. Before we left NH we were lucky to get a man who rolled up our large awning til we got to Florida and got a new motor. 


While we were traveling, Hurricane Michael hit the Panhandle of Florida. Bucket trucks passed us all the time heading down to help. 


We made it to our second stop in Pa. and decided to stay for two nights. It was going to rain so it would be good to stay put. Our next stop would be a short ride to Virginia but, you know, life happens inbetween. 

I started to hear a banging up on my side and I sat down in the stairwell to look up to see CiCi thinking she wanted to turn into a sailboat! The rolled up awning started to unfurl. At one point it was about 2 feet into the air above us as I had visions of us being pulled in a direction we didn't want to go. Thankfully we drove right into a Pilot and stopped in back beside the trucker scales. We went out to look and then looked at each other. We have Coach Net. The AAA of RV's. We pay yearly and for those who say it's pricey, well, it's already paid for itself! 

Their first question is, "are you in a safe area". Then you tell them your issue, ours being we have a sail boat dreamer and we can't get up there to do anything. Within about 30 minutes we had someone to come and save us. Actually, we followed him to their shop so they could figure out what to do. 




Roger kept telling me he was just going to shut CiCi down and head to that building behind him!!! LOL


Who needs a ladder when you have a truck. Zip tied and bun-geed with heavy duty cords. It was going to stay like that until we cut it off.



They did a great job and we left after the cost of $150.  Service call and bungees. Zip ties..free!

Back on the road!!! 

Our next stop was in southern Va. (I think, because you stop and go some many times you forget where you are!)

Fort Chiswell RV Park in Max Meadow. 
if it didn't snow here this could be a place I'd stay!




Our rig was in front of this photo. I was in heaven. Lola was not quite. The steer stopped and just stared at her and she stared right back then barked and lurched. Ah, LOLA..no were not doing that. I was telling the young man at the office/store (That only sold wine and beer and rv supplies, and you say, ya? what's the issue?) and he told me that the herd is run by dogs so when they see one they stop and wait for directions.

We made it to South Carolina and stayed one night so we could drive today to Georgia and be closer to our final destination. Everything was going great and a trucker passed us beeping his horn. We were over far enough so we weren't sure why but then we heard a noise and Roger saw something black fly off the top of the coach. A branch from the tree we were under last night? Probably. That's when we heard flapping from the drivers side of the rig. Again found a rest stop. I am the one who gets out to check dolly ties and tires so I went around to see the awning fabric flapping away. Hmm. Then I notice our awning cover has blown off.  Now what do we do. That awning comes down so Roger and I decided to do that and cut the fabric off ourselves.

The cover itself is a heavy plastic but smashed into our dolly fender and I'm hoping landed on the ground so as to not injure someone behind us. Now we knew why the trucker was blowing his horn.






Naked awning rail. Oh ya, we look really classy. LOL


Getting awning fabric totally off and the metal awning thingy back up and locked? FREE.

I'm frustrated that this all could have been prevented if the RV Repair men could have been responsible to return my calls, many calls and just said we can't do it. We could have looked for someone else. But, as you know, I always look for the positives...I'll be painting more, and yes, raising my prices a bit but having payment plans in place, and CiCiBlue will be getting new awnings all around. It will be a winter of..ACTION!!!

Friday we head down to Florida to be there for the winter season, unless I get wanderlust. It was hard driving by the entrance to Highway 40 west...Hmmm...

Have a great night and thanks for joining in our adventure. 

Warmly,
Sheila and the gang.




1 comment:

  1. WOW - Now I remember why I hate awnings! When we had a 40-footer, the awning was truly the bane of my existence. It tried its best to escape once, but we thwarted it smartly! Hope you can get this taken care of soon.

    Virtual hugs,

    Judie

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