Monday, June 19, 2006

The Worst RV Trip Ever

I know, you think I'm exaggerating. But really, this was just awful. To make it worse we were in a borrowed RV. The borrowed RV my parents were moving into immediately after our vacation. That's right, they had sold their house, were packing up, and heading south. Before that they wanted to let Dave and I use their motorhome. And we agreed. Oops.

So anyway... our vacation started nice and easy. My Dad had showed us how all the systems work. The RV was packed and we headed over the mountains to sunshine (aka Eastern Washington). We were so excited. Many camping trips had been spent across the mountains... and always we'd dreamed of being in an RV with A/C. Finally, our time had come.

Everything was going good for the first 2 hours... until part way up Snoqualmie Pass. Shortly after North Bend the transmission started slipping. Scary. I wasn't as worried as Dave was. I mean after all... I knew we did nothing to the tranny. But Dave. Dave was worried. About getting stuck. About explaining it to his Father-in-law. About the towing fees. Fortunately for me, Dave kept his worries to himself. So I was able to enjoy my vacation mood for a little longer.
Then the loud noise kicked in. Then the thermostat started climbing. MMMM. Could be a problem. We pulled over and let the motorhome rest for awhile. Lots of other RV's were resting also. Maybe everyone was having the same problems? I tried to call the parents to see if this was the way the RV always acted on mountain passes. Unfortunately, there was no cell reception. After a long rest we proceeded on our way up and over the pass. With just a little more slippage.

Everything was fine for awhile. I was convinced we were in the clear. Dave was worried about the trip back over the mountains. Then we approached the next long hill near Vantage. Dave and I exchanged worried looks and crossed our fingers. Sure enough the slippage started. Then the loud noise. Followed shortly by rising engine temperatures. We stopped at a rest area at the top of the hill. A friendly RVer said most motorhomes did this. Best thing is to go slow in the slow lane (we had been) and don't stop when the engine is hot (oops). He said it would cool off fast going downhill. OK. We still decided it would be best to camp at Vantage and talk to the parents before proceeding.

Parents said they had had some problems before. That on long, steep, inclines we should get in the slow lane and go real slow. That's what we had been doing. The parents convinced us to continue our vacation and we did. Rented a superfast jetski at Vantage and went superfast.

We moved camp and the next 2 days went fine. I enjoyed myself. Dave worried silently about getting back over the mountains.

Then we moved camp to one of the nicer places we had planned to camp at. I think it was Oasis RV Park in Ephrata. It seemed like a cool little town and we were looking forward to exploring. Dave hooked us up to city water and went to check out the game room. I started to prepare lunch. I heard a loud noise at the back of the motorhome and thought Dave was teasing me by banging on the outside of the coach. Then I thought I heard water running. I opened up the door to the rear bedroom and water was gushing out from under the bed. Wow.

I went racing outside and water was pouring out the back of the RV... around the bumper. I shut the water off and waited, stunned, for a minute until Dave got back. As you might have guessed, Dave had connected the hose to the fresh water tank. Once the tank filled up, and water kept coming in, the tank popped. Most of the water was draining out the back. Meanwhile the blood was draining out of our faces and we were horrified. We broke my parents new home! Actually, new is overstating it. The motorhome was a few years old.

Of course we didn't have enough towels to sop up the inside water. We did the best we could with blankets and stuff. Dave unhooked us, we checked out, and headed back over the mountains. Slowly, of course, up the hills. Our hope was to get home in time to locate an RV repair facility that could fix the water tank before our 'vacation' was up. This was Tuesday - so we hoped to get it fixed by Saturday or Monday at the latest so my parents could move into their RV. The tranny still slipped, the RV heated up, but we made it.

Finally we got home and Dave started backing up the RV. He was too close to the jeep and I was yelling at him and waving wildly but he couldn't hear or see me. Dave hit the jeep (rubbed the side of it). Lifted the jeep up on the 2 right wheels.Then he stopped. I was yelling at him something like "You hit the jeep, You hit the jeep"! He said "No I didn't, I would have felt it". I said "Look at the jeep!" And so he did. It was still up on the 2 wheels. He said a few bad words and moved the motorhome forward. The jeep settled down.

We reparked the motorhome and were more than ready to go in the house. Except we couldn't find the house keys. Anywhere. Called information, contacted a locksmith, called the parents to tell them about the water tank, and the scratch on the motorhome.

We spent the rest of our vacation getting the RV fixed, locating parts, rubbing out the scratches on the RV and the jeep. My parents had to leave a couple of days later than planned but they were really nice about the whole thing. They felt bad we had such a horrible vacation. We learned a few very good lessons.

1. Never borrow a motorhome.
2. Water can be very dangerous.
3. RV watertanks are not very tough.
4. RV watertanks are a hassle to replace.
5. That loud noise you hear on steep inclines when the RV starts to overheat is a good thing. It's the after-market auxillary fan kicking in!
6. Be careful backing up.
7. Never borrow a motorhome.
8. Parents are amazing people.

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