Not ‘will’... but ‘When’

In the RV world I’ve always heard that the question is not will you ever breakdown but it’s when will you breakdown? Needless to say, I got my answer! My ‘when’ was last Saturday on my first longer haul from Sequim to Spokane Valley.... and I didn’t get very far! I feel fortunate that I realized something was not right and happen to pull off I-5 right by the dealership where I bought it. While my beastly rig then proceeded to DIE at the light while blocking all traffic, I did get her started eventually, ran the red since nobody was coming, and limped into the dealership lot before they closed....so not too impactful to others and just a little stressful 😬. I unhooked the tow, grabbed all my work necessities, a few essentials and decided to head to Spokane.... However just 5 miles down the road I realized I left my wallet in the RV that was now locked inside the dealership’s lot along with my keys. In the words of my brother-in-law, I was “driving dirty” without a license or a penny in my pocket. Sudden change of plans...again! My sister had an empty bedroom, wine and I could whine if needed... so I crashed there for the night. She fed me and even bought me a latte in the morning and then it was back to the dealership to get back into my beast for my wallet and a few other items I decided to grab knowing that if it was the tranny I’d be without access to my belongings for awhile.

When I finally arrived at my daughter’s in Spokane this little goober put a smile on my face and I soon forgot about the inconvenience. Monday I had to arrange a tow to the transmission shop (why it took 3 tow trucks to get one big enough to do the job is another mystery). They were finally able to look at it Thursday and everything checked out okay with the tranny but they said she was blowing black smoke and suspected this was engine related and CATs were the one engine they didn’t work on.... So Thursday during my lunch I arranged another tow! Thank goodness for an extended service warranty with towing and my auto insurance! Each tow was less than 3 miles and each cost $500 and some change! Yikes! They are trying to fit me in Monday or Tuesday for the diagnosis... Meanwhile I’m just going to enjoy some extended grandma time! This was my shakedown period to learn the things I needed to and work through any bugs, and I am succeeding at that😉😳. More to come ...