DAY 11: Drip, Drip, Drip…
Each time we take a trip, something breaks in the RV. It’s not because we have a cheap model. We don’t. It’s very, very nice. It’s because we subject it to so much abuse. When we visited Bar Harbor in the Spring, I was sitting in the bedroom one day, working. I heard a gust of wind and looked outside just as the canopy took flight. The screws were ripped from the body of the RV and the canopy was whipped upward, landing on the roof. We’ve been in nasty wind before, even when the canopy was out, but never anything like that. Repair cost: $500.00
The biggest repair to date was due to a hydraulic leak in the back slide. We’re not sure what we did to cause that one. Repair cost: $1700.00
We have double-paned windows next to the driver’s and passenger’s seats. They’re the front, corner windows, in front of the main windows. There has been condensation collecting in those since before we bought the RV. It’s not unusual for the seals to crack over time, especially with the extreme heat (in Florida) and cold (in Maine) that we’ve subjected this RV to. You might want to sit down before you read this. The quote to REPLACE these two relatively small windows? $2700 for one and $2400 for the other. No, there aren’t any extra zeroes in there. We have, instead, opted to have them simply remove the extra pane from each window. But, we haven’t had it done yet. We didn’t have time before this trip.
We’ve burned through a few tires. We had a couple of blowouts. Okay, I was the one driving every time we’ve had a blowout. The first one was because I ran over what I believe was a hubcap. After that, a repair shop put an undersized tire on as a replacement (unbeknownst to us) and that caused its partner to blow a few hundred miles further south. I, uh, only accept responsibility for the first blowout. We had to have the undersized tire replaced as well so that was three tires on one trip. Repair cost: $1500 ($500 per tire)
The air conditioner has never gone out, thank goodness. And, we’ve never had any engine problems, despite the tens of thousands of miles we’ve put on this RV. The generator is giving us trouble and we’re hemming and hawing about whether to replace it. Replacement cost: $4,000
So, RVing isn’t for the financially faint of heart. Whenever something big happens and Richard gets upset, I just say, “Easy come, easy go. Just doing our part to help the economy.” (And, thank goodness for the credit card! Talk about play now, pay later!!)
This morning, the sink is driving me NUTS! It’s been dripping slowly for awhile but it’s starting to get worse. I really should buy a book on plumbing and try to fix it myself but I’m afraid I’ll break something else, causing that leaky faucet to turn into something so severe that it’ll earn its own column here on WirelessTrips.com someday. 
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Yesterday morning, Grampa and Rita left. The boys didn’t cry at the time, but I did. Rita is such a good friend of mine and I am so sad every time they depart. Rita is an elementary school teacher. She’s on her 25th year now, if I remember correctly. She always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She never had any kids of her own because she always felt her students WERE her kids. She is remarkable with children, a true blessing and an inspiration to all small people who cross her path. She also loves to shop and eat, especially desserts. I think that’s why we get along so great. Her sense of humor mirrors mine as well. I wish she didn’t live 2,000 miles away!
We realized before they left that we had no idea when we’d see them again. That just wasn’t acceptable so, before they even got into their van, Richard was planning the next trip with them. We’re looking at Myrtle Beach, perhaps in November. They have a really big campground there that’s open year ’round. That’s the off-season and we can get a spot for an entire month for $600. No, we’re not going to stay a month. Just wanted to show you how cheap it is. We spend all major holidays in Bangor with ALL the kids, including Thanksgiving, so we’ll probably just stay a week.
I spent the day getting caught up on work. Yesterday was our WritersWeekly.com 24-Hour Short Story Contest. It went off without a hitch. We had three wifi connections…just in case. But, nothing broke and everything went very smoothly.
The boys spent the day watching DVDs, playing with their toys, drawing, and just hanging around. Last night, before dark, we took them to the stream, which was MUCH higher because of Friday’s heavy rains, meaning it was about 4 to 6 inches deep instead of 1/2 to 1-inch deep. Mason threw rocks and Max made leaf boats. We had some leaf boat races and that was lots of fun. We saw lots of minnows and water bugs and Mason got to see his very first crawfish! I’m not as brave as I was when I was a kid. I was too chicken to pick it up, fearing a sharp pinch to my fingertips. I will take some kitchen tongs if we go there tonight so we can gently capture one and give Max and Mason a closer look.