Not-so-Good Life on the Road

Most of the time, our life as full-time RVers has gone smoothly. But not always. Recently, we have faced a number of problems. Last month, I blogged about our refrigerator door lock failing. We have to clamp and tape the doors closed when we travel.

The next issue was a broken light fixture above the kitchen counter. The attachment at the ceiling broke and we have had to remove the glass shade to prevent it from breaking. Since the one light swings freely when the RV is moving, we put it up on top of the dining room table slide when we are on the road.

These are inconvenient issues. But recently, as we headed north out of Hurricane, Utah, we discovered that the curb-side front hydraulic landing gear was slowly descending as we drove down the road. We learned about it when I heard a new metallic noise as we drove down the road. That time, it had come down all the way and was bouncing on the highway. Not good. Below are pictures of it when we first found the problem and another time when it had come only part way down all the way.

A week ago, we drove 80 miles from Golden  to Wellington, Colorado, and John had to pull off the road every 10 minutes so I could get out and retract the leg. This was on very busy I-70 and I-25. Obviously, we can't live with this.

We did a lot of calling before we could even get a mobile RV tech to come out. Every repair facility we talked to was booked for over a month. We don't want to be here another month before they diagnose the problem and then fix it.

Finally, this week, the RV Doctor came to our RV site.

Scott called Lippert Components, who manufactured the hydraulic system, to guide him through a pressure test to find out if the seal had failed. Some RVers would probably tackle this task themselves. But look at what is inside. It wasn't anything John wanted to try.

Scott ran the test and Lippert said we need a new leg.

The good news is, he is having the part sent overnight (or almost, it will be here Tuesday.) And he can install it right here in the RV park! Maybe we really can move the RV in a week.

In addition to these problems, my computer started acting up and freezing. Thankfully, there is a Best Buy store and the Geek Squad in Fort Collins. I took it in Thursday and was able to pick it up yesterday. Since this is the computer's third visit to the Geeks since I bought it in August last year, I am really glad I paid for Geek support.

I am writing this blog on the repaired computer and everything seems to be working fine. Hopefully, we are now headed uphill after this valley of problems. As soon as the funeral is completed in a week, we look forward to smooth roads and travel back to Arizona.