Breakdown

When you hear the word “breakdown” you might think of dancing and breaking down moves or, on the other extreme, a nervous breakdown. Neither quite fit this situation though the second would be closer to correct. We’ve been on the road for a few weeks and in the last few days we had our first issue that stopped us in our tracks and put our plans on hold.


Each time we’ve moved, even if it was down the street, we have beared some sort of damage. One time we moved and a pop bottle fell off the counter and exploded in the middle of our kitchen/dining/living room covering them all in Diet Coke. The crown molding popped off the kitchen cabinets when I closed the slide. A piece of plexiglass fell out of a glass-fronted door. The vacuum fell from a standing position and scratched the wood paneling on the refrigerator. The front of the pantry drawer came apart by the shimmying of the coach and the weight of canned goods. And then there was the time I backed into a brick wall. We’ve quickly learned to expect these types of things to happen. Every RV’er has stories like these to tell so we know it’s not just us being unobservant or inexperienced. Houses are not meant to be moved. Up until now each of our war wounds was cosmetic and could be fixed within our own timeframe. No issue was pressing enough to inhibit us from travel, but the latest episode was the exception.

Our lube pump alarm blared on and off in our coach for no apparent reason. This siren indicates to the driver in the RV that the pump in the car has failed. When this happens the manufacturer recommends stopping immediately. Dragging the car on four wheels without the pump could ruin the car’s transmission and spoil a good investment. So, we were officially broken down (since I can’t drive two vehicles at once) and had to find an expert. We were unable to diagnose the problem ourselves the day before even with phone assistance from the manufacturer and original installers who were in Denver and more than 8 hours from our location. Therefore we had no choice but to seek out local expertise and just hoped he knew what he was doing. It turned out the problem was caused by a wire rubbing on a sharp metal object to which it was affixed as well as a transmission fluid leak due to a weak clamp. Both issues were caused by the installation, but each was simple to correct. Thank goodness we were in the major metropolis of Durango, CO, the largest town for many miles and not in the middle of nowhere (“nowhere” being a relative term). The mechanic was able to diagnose the problem expediently, check the rest of the systems for problems, and send us on our way. (Thanks, Scott!) A person with less knowledge could have caused more damage than good. We were fortunate to have found someone who had excellent training and experience. What a relief.

Small town specialists are a special breed. Either they tend to be very honest because they can’t afford to have their reputation tarnished by bad publicity, or they take advantage of travelers because they know we are just passing through, we are a captive audience, and we are unlikely to return if problems persist. So far, in our journeys we have been lucky to encounter only the first bunch of businesspeople. As a rule, I tend to expect people to be fair and honest, but we’ll see if that presumption changes as time passes and we move through different states. I hope I’m not proven wrong.

Many people think travelling in an RV is wonderful because you can pull over to the side of the road to make a sandwich when you get hungry or stop and take a nap when you get tired. These are all great perks of travelling with your home, but when you are ready to move, and cannot because of mechanical failure, suddenly staying in one place is not fun anymore. The need to move and travel to the next destination becomes a compulsion though with distractions in the home like movies and dishes you can attempt to curb the anxiety. When all systems are working perfectly I am content to stop and stay in one place for an indefinite number of days. However, now that I’m used to pulling up roots and relocating at my leisure restricting movement makes me feel more like a caged animal than a travelling explorer. I hope to avoid future breakdowns, but if there is one thing I’ve learned in the short time Rv’ing it is that things happen and they always break. We have to just accept it, fix them along the way or we will never get anywhere.