We’re definitely in uncharted waters now folks. When I first heard about the coronavirus it was restricted to a small area in China. Quite frankly, I didn’t see it as much of a threat to my health or way of life. Then it started spreading around the globe. The first cases in the US were reported. The medical experts were given more air time and talking about how bad it already was and how much worse it could get.

At that time, we’d already settled in a military RV park in Mississippi. As the pandemic progressed our life started changing. The governor closed the casinos so Jean couldn’t gamble anymore. People were inexplicably stockpiling toilet paper and paper towels. Still, we were OK. We still went to the movies on senior discount day. Sometimes we were the only ones in the theater. The local ice cream shop was still open so we had the occasional treat.

Then it ramped up another notch. I haven’t checked the movie theater but all the restaurants terminated their dine in option. You could still get stuff for takeout or delivery. The commissary on base started rationing everything to combat the hoarding. They also said only military ID card holders could shop, so Jean now has to wait in the truck 🙁

Ramp up another notch. All across the Navy, RV parks were cancelling future reservations. This also happened at some Air Force and Army installations but it seemed to be more selective. State and national park campgrounds were closing. PA decided to close all of its rest areas. Some governors directed the closing of non-essential businesses. Unfortunately, they decided that RV parks and campgrounds were non-essential. That made absolutely no sense to me since motels and hotels were considered essential. The camping lobbies quickly went into action and appealed that decision in 4 states. For full-timers and traveling workers, these places are essential. For others, it’s a way to get out of congested cities and practice an excellent type of social distancing.

If we didn’t already have other plans (financially booked), we would probably stay put while things shake out. So far, I’ve checked with our overnight, enroute park and our destination park. Both are still open for business. With any luck they’ll stay that way until we get to San Antonio in a few days. What comes next is anyone’s guess. Our current plans are to stay there for 1 month but if there are more lockdowns we could be there longer.

I was very fortunate in that the last few days at the sugar beet harvest were short shifts so I got to catch up on a little sleep and do some travel prep. Actually, my last shift was rather enjoyable. After we clocked in, they pushed the start time back. We got to reposition a piler and had enough people so everyone got to swap around and take frequent breaks.

Fast forward to the next morning. Frost on the truck windows so I had to spend some extra time warming up the motor but still managed to get out of there before 9 AM. Winds were out of the west so I got some good mileage most of the day. The bad thing about traveling this time of year is the short days. I had planned a stop in Evansdale IA. A few hours before arrival I called them and got a recording that they were closed for the season. Oops! With the help of my GF Jean, I got a plan B just a little further down the road. I got there after dark and in the rain. Lucky for me the campground was laid out well (no obstacles) and I got a pull thru site. Hooked up electric, dumped one gray tank and hit the sack.

Got an early start the next morning, again frost on the windows. Another uneventful drive through Iowa and Illinois. Stopped at another RV park in southern IL early enough to unhitch and hit a local Chinese buffet. I also saw an interesting highway sign from the IL state police. Since it was time to change clocks they advised that “Drunk drivers get a free extra hour in jail this weekend.”  Anyway, with the time change, when I woke up the next morning it was full daylight so I hit the road early. (More frost on the truck.) There was a Golden Corral about 1 hour south so, after checking satellite pix to make sure I could fit, I stopped in for a great omelet and bacon breakfast. That was a welcome change from my traveling hard boiled eggs.

I made it to my final stop very early in the afternoon. The place is packed with seasonals and Amazon workers. One of the workampers escorted me to my site, a backin. No problem. From the wrong side. I’ll deal with that too. Uphill on gravel. Really? My brand new clutch did not appreciate what I did to it getting into that site. Due to a tree on the door side, I had to do some maneuvering to get just the right distance from it. Maybe one of these days I’ll invent a device to move a huge RV sideways a few feet.

As I sit here typing, I’m pretty much set up. Need to catch up on laundry but otherwise it will be a night in before my first Amazon appointment tomorrow afternoon.

Oh, OTA TV reception is very good here. Getting 51 channels!!

I left Rochester with a couple of concerns. The first was the truck.  The local dealer suspected a bad flywheel and I got a few dire warnings on the internet about immediate repairs. It didn’t seem that bad to me so I pressed on, while researching transmission shops along the way. The second concern dealt with an intermediate stop in Trent SD. The campground sits next to the Big Sioux River and they had some flooding. My preferred route was closed due to high water on the road. The day before leaving I got a call from the campground owner that a decent route had just reopened.

So, off I went and arrived at the campground after just a minor detour through town. The water gradually receded and by the time I left I was able to drive directly to the interstate. Enter the second concern.

On my way north the truck seemed to be driving normally. A couple of times I heard sounds that could’ve been rocks hitting the under carriage. Shortly after the second noise, my speed started dropping off while the tachometer was rising. Of course, this all happened on a Saturday afternoon. Crap!!

I pulled onto the shoulder (about 35 miles south of Fargo) and quickly determined that the truck would not be moving again under its own power without repairs. Called GEICO for my roadside assistance. After some initial confusion, they dispatched 2 tow trucks. I already had an appointment at a transmission shop in Fargo so that’s where they towed the truck. An OTR tractor arrived to hitch up to the 5th wheel and take me to my campground.

I got setup in the campground without problems. Talked to the transmission shop on Monday. They dropped the transmission and confirmed that I would need a new clutch assembly and flywheel but the price quoted was about $2k less than the dealer in Rochester. I can live with that. And the truck will be ready well before the sugar beet harvest starts.

Overall, the trip could have been better, but it also could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.

I had my departure from TN all planned out. I was going to leave on a Sunday afternoon, heading north on I-65, so I could get through Nashville without fighting construction or traffic. Then boondock just over the state line in KY, before heading to my next campground in IN. Great plan, right?

Well, as I was buttoning up the 5er to leave, the kitchen slide would only come in about 4 inches. The motor was working OK. It just couldn’t make it up the bump. I tried tilting the 5th wheel to each side hoping to help it that way, but still no dice. I finally walked across the road to another workamping couple and asked for their assistance. While she pushed the button inside, her husband and I pushed on the outside of the slide. After several loud grunts, it finally retracted all the way. I thanked them profusely for their help, hitched up and hit the road before anything else could go wrong.

Since I wasn’t rushing to the next campground, I was able to think about my problems that evening. Since I was driving to NW Indiana anyway, I looked for Open Range dealers on the route. Close enough. I found one in NE Indiana, very close to the RV capitol of the world. I left them a voice mail before going to sleep, with a promise to call them back the next morning.

Somewhere in southern Indiana, I had enough of a signal to call them and started my roller coaster ride. They wouldn’t take a walk-in. But they knew of a place fairly close that had more technicians who might be able to fit me in. I called Shipshewana RV Service Center next. Bingo! They also operated an RV park right next to the service center. They sounded very encouraging. I skipped lunch and shortened a couple of fuel stops to get there before closing time. They gave me a nice pull thru spot for the night and highly recommended that I come back the next morning about 8:15 to talk to a service rep. That night I left the kitchen slide in, but did a full setup otherwise.

The next morning, the service rep sounded very familiar with my problem and said he would come to my site shortly to verify the problem.  After checking the slide, he thought a cable adjustment would correct the problem, although he didn’t think very highly of the design of this particular slide. He promised to return later in the day with another tech. I extended my stay by one night and settled in to wait. Shortly after lunch, they showed up and about an hour later all 3 of my slides had their cables adjusted.

I even had enough time to check out a little of the local area before leaving the next morning. I saw more horse drawn buggies in a few hours than I’d seen in my entire life. I checked out a Chinese buffet just over the state line in MI (not good enough to even give a review) and bought some Amish butter for my future toast.

The next morning I was on the road bright and early to spend a few days visiting family, before heading to my next job in Rochester MN.

As a refresher for those of you who don’t commit by blog entries to memory, my August 2018 accident repairs were only partially completed on the Olympic Peninsula. The RV dealer I originally contacted to do the repairs did not receive the correct parts, whether due to an error on their part or Carefree of Colorado. At the time I really didn’t care who was at fault. I only knew that my slide topper would get a free ride across the country to TN.

I took stock (and pix) of the parts I had on hand and contacted Carefree of Colorado directly. They determined the additional parts I would need and shipped them to me. After receiving them and making sure I knew what went where, it was just a matter of waiting for a good day to attach the topper. That day finally arrived. The process was a little more difficult than necessary since the slideout would need to be retracted. That’s the slideout with the drop down deck attached so that had to get stowed first.

I was pleasantly surprised that my game plan worked out so well. I did need an extra set of hands to raise the deck. Either I was very tired or it had a little extra water weight from the recent rains. The slide topper was able to rest on the main awning while I slid the fabric end into the gimp rail. A few screws later and all the hardware was secured. The topper worked without a problem when extending the slide. I was so happy about that I forgot to bring the slide back in to test that it rolled up OK. Oh well, that will come in a few weeks. I’m just glad to write ‘finito’ to the accident repairs.

I’ll admit that I’ve never given this much thought….until today. A few days ago (on a Friday afternoon) one of the fuel lines in my truck sprang a leak. I was fairly sure what happened, and even which fuel line, since it happened once before – on an interstate highway in Idaho. This time the truck made it back to the campground without pouring smoke through the vents. But after I shut down the engine it wouldn’t restart so I was stuck.

In my former life, this would not have been a major problem. I might have had a second car to use, or family/friends/coworkers to catch rides with, knowledge of the local mechanics and parts stores, and a garage full of tools. Now picture yourself in a campground without that support system and your options are limited.

So, not having the proper tools to do the job, my choices were 1) have it towed to a repair shop or 2) find a mobile mechanic. I was still pondering possible options, maybe even trying the repair myself, on Saturday so the whole weekend was shot. I did try calling one local mechanic on Saturday but didn’t get any warm fuzzies about a place that didn’t have an answering machine. I did find a place on Sunday that had an answering machine. Left a message but they still haven’t called back as of Monday afternoon. That left the roadside assistance mechanic. I called them Sunday, explained the situation and they suggested I call back Monday morning to talk with someone more experienced. OK, I could do that.

Monday morning comes. I call them around 8 AM and they tell me they already have a truck on the way. They arrive, remove the defective part, get on the phone to find a replacement part. Tell me they need to go to the dealer for the part and should be back in less than 1 hour. When they get back, it takes about 10 minutes to get the new part in and tested. Then comes the real scary part – the bill.

It was a little higher than I expected. Part of that was the part cost from the dealer instead of a parts store. The other part was driving for the part. But after looking at the bill, I couldn’t find anything to argue about. What I paid for was a lot of convenience for me. I never had to have the truck towed anywhere (another expense). I never had to find a ride to a parts store and hope to get the right part. Someone with a lot more experience than me came right to my RV and fixed my truck quickly and efficiently.

I’ve been here in TN for just over a week now and it seems that my departure from Sequim WA was timed perfectly. Not only did I miss any snowfall on my drive south but I also missed some of the biggest snow storms that the Olympic Peninsula has seen in a long time. I was getting updates from a friend who was still in Rainbow’s End RV Park. At first they were just mildly interesting – some snow on the ground and the small pond beginning to freeze over. Then the big one hit and they got 12 inches of snow in one day. The very next day they lost power, which also meant no water (no power to pump) and no TV or Wi-Fi (no power to that equipment).  A few days later (after power was restored) they got even more snow. One unfortunate couple from Canada towing a 5th wheel got stuck on a very small uphill grade in the park while trying to get to my old spot. The road was very slick with ice. They waited about 9 hours for a tow truck to get them moving again and their site was less than 50 yards away.  I might not have had ideal weather here in Tennessee during that time but it was much better than it could have been.