Murphy's Law? Our First RV Trip

We are on our first extended trip with the RV. Perhaps Murphy's Law: (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong) isn't quite accurate, but the trip has had its share of teachable moments.

Day 1.

Larry and I have been very intent on making sure we both know how everything works. The water and electrical hookups, hitching the car and prepping it to be towed; we are both learning it all together. We don’t always work well together, so this is a test.

I positioned the car and ran the transmission through its paces, while he hooked the cables. He set up the brake package and we checked the lights.

Him: Why aren't the brake lights going off?

Me: Hmm. That could be bad.

Him: They should go off.  

He reconnects the brakes and this time the lights go off. (Phew.)

Him: Why is the door dinging when we open it?  It isn’t supposed to ding. (The key is set in the accessory position and the car is in neutral, so it can be towed.)

Me: It dinged last time.

Him: I didn’t think it did.

Me: Actually it didn’t ding the first time, but it has dinged every time since.

Him: I don’t think it should ding.

Me: It dinged when we left the RV place and the guys double checked to be sure everything was set up correctly.

Him: (mumbling as he walks away) I don’t think it should ding.

I am proud to announce that the conversation, inane as it sounded, was friendly, not irritated. We were a team and we handled ourselves very well. This is good.

Finally, an hour and a half past our target takeoff time, we were ready. We hoped. Off we went. I was glad he was driving and not me. I think he wished he wasn't driving either for that first hour as we wound through a narrow canyon, with rock cliffs on my side, and a river on his. “Just keep it between the lines” has never been truer. We were glad to get on the interstate.

Going through downtown Nashville, an alarm went off on the brake monitor for the tow car, telling us the car battery was dead! (No one wants to hear an alarm go off, anywhere, but when you are driving a big rig through congested city streets, and you are already a bit tense---Really--its not fun!) No rest area, or pull off in sight, of course. 5 miles up the road we pulled into a Pilot Truck stop that was VERY busy. We did our best to squeeze our 55' of  RV plus car into as little space as possible, but we took up one lane of fuel pumps. While I pumped gas, Larry checked the car which was dead as a doornail, disconnected the brake package (hope Kentucky doesn't require it), put a portable booster/charger on the battery and got it going enough for us to discover the GPS had been running the whole time. I had turned it off that morning, but in playing around with ignition switches and brakes, we hadn't noticed it had come back on.

A little while later we were settled in the campground. Time for a beer!! Then, time to set up the RV.

And then I discovered just how prepared my better half really was. Not only did he have a portable air pump/battery booster, but he had a real battery charger that could plug right into the RV and charge up the car. The next big surprise was when we discovered the campsite had cable and he pulled out a 50’ coaxial TV cable! I know. We are camping. Time to get out and enjoy the scenery. But cable is nice, especially, once the sun sets.

Dinner's done. Drinks have revived and relaxed us. We've found a couple of channels we can watch on TV.  We’re checking car manuals so we don't repeat errors made today. Our home on wheels is set up and secure. Hopefully, tomorrow will go a little better. But all in all, we handled whatever came our way today.

One thing is sure. We are a team. This is not a one person show.