It was a much better day. Of course it was. Poor Rick took the rough start to heart, and we had one more malfunction overnight. But today, we have crossed the Mississippi, everything is fixed, and my hero will get a well deserved night’s sleep.
Our stay at the truck stop, aka Love’s RV stop, was actually quite lovely. This is a new feature that they are expanding, and we would recommend it along your route. While close to the exit, part of a literal truck stop and right in the parking lot of the gas station/convenient store, we had what we needed. We had full hookups and the nicest space of the 10 available. There were several other campers there, but no one right next to us. It was hot and humid when we arrived, and a storm blew through just as we went to sleep; that cooled it off nicely. I guess we did get used to the rumble of trucks, which did calm down through most of the overnight hours. We felt safe and were able to sleep when we weren’t stressing about or dealing with the startup RV issues.
Of course, we both took turns at not sleeping. It’s part of getting used to being on the road (me) and the drama of the day (Rick). During the night, Rick got up for a bio break and found yet another issue… now the toilet was filling with water which is NOT supposed to happen!! It wasn’t overflowing, but lets just say I don’t think he slept much the next few hours since he was so frustrated.
So we had to come up with a plan to address all of the issues. Camping World to the rescue! (for those RVer’s out there, yes, this is a funny statement. But today it is true) We are familiar with CW since we purchased our RV from them; we have come to find out that they are not known for responsiveness or service. But this CW in Iowa not only answered the phone, but confirmed that they had what we needed.
We walked out with a new toilet water valve (cheap plastic one broke), kitchen faucet (we liked the one they had and it worked!!; will return the Amazon one that would not have worked), water hose and a water pressure regulator. We aren’t even sure if we had a water pressure issue at Love’s or what, but lets just say everything was leaking. By the time we got to today’s campground, Rick was ready to get to work. And just like that, it is all done!
I am so grateful for his talents at this kind of work. While we share the daily “chores” of RV life equally, Rick brings all of the brains and braun for handyman work. Queue the James Taylor song “Handy Man”. My dad was not handy, and I haven’t been in a relationship until now that is allowing me to learn and build confidence first hand how to be handy. (Mark freely shared that he had two tools… a credit card and a phone!!) But part of what kept me up overnight was the fact that I really don’t think that I could do this alone. I have much more to learn, and I have a great teacher. You can teach this old dog new tricks!! Brava to those solo travelers, and Thank God for YouTube! I am so grateful that today, it is all fixed and we are ready to keep going.
RV’s are like houses, boats, cars or any other expensive purchase. They can be a huge drain of time and money. Especially when you don’t use them every single day, the needs pile up and hit you all at once. And I think that it was just the make of the parts and the water systems. It is no fault of anyone that these things happened. Let’s just hope that we are done now!
So here we are, west of Des Moines in a KOA that we stayed in last year. The sun is shining, we have walked the dog and are having a nice cold beer in the sun. Yes, even I am getting into beer as long as it is fun and/or fruity. I never thought I would see that day. We are ready to keep moving towards our destinations, knowing that the real fun begins in a couple of days when we get to the national parks. For tonight, I will be happy to take a good shower and get a good night’s rest with the repair work hopefully behind us for the rest of the trip. And my hero can enjoy it much more now, too.
Leave a Reply