Murphy's Law states, "Anything that can possibly go wrong, does."
Usually we try to stay away from statements like the above. Here we are, driving down the highway in our huge motorized residence with thousands of moving parts, and you are being twisted and turned in every direction on roads that have withstood the weathering of Mother Nature as well as the traffic of all kinds of loads from the trucking and construction industry. Actually, we think it's a miracle every time we get to our destination in one piece.
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| Our home for the last 7 years - Tiffin Allegro Bus |
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| Is this a new aerodynamic style on an 18 wheeler? |
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| The Purple Heart Recipients Highway - Louisiana |
Currently, we are staying at The Vineyards in Grapevine, TX, northwest of Dallas, northeast of Ft. Worth. The park, managed by the City of Grapevine, is on beautiful freshwater Grapevine Lake, managed by the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers, and backs up to DFW International Airport.
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| Entrance to The Vineyards Campground - Grapevine, TX |
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| The Vineyards Campground - Grapevine, TX |
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| The Vineyards Campground - Grapevine, TX |
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| The Vineyards Campground - Grapevine, TX |
Upon our arrival we were only able to reserve 2 nights because of an annual festival in Grapevine, the Grapefest, which was scheduled for the weekend.
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| Downtown Grapevine, TX |
All RV sites, cabins, and backup sites were taken. We asked to be placed on a long waiting list to extend our stay 4 more nights, and then, in our favor, the weather turned ugly. Rain and cold wind changed everything and we were able to make our way to getting the additional nights until we can drive to our next anticipated destination, Austin, the Capitol of the State of Texas.
The site we were occupying was reserved for someone who should be arriving after a campground check in time of 2:00 pm. About 9:30 am we were ready to move to another site that had become available.
One of the last things you do when you prepare for your departure is to retract your leveling jacks. The jacks provide a stable platform for the coach. Only this time all but one did not retract. To make a long story short, we called for roadside assistance through Coach-Net. A mobile RV tech didn't arrive until about 2pm, and of course it was raining. After about 2 hours the RV mechanic and RV determined a gear had broken inside the motor of one of the jacks and prevented it from retracting. My eyes glazed over and then I went inside the coach and made myself very tiny. All I knew was that this wasn't going to have a happy ending,
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| Goodbye Texas!!! |
You need leveling jacks, period. On Tuesday morning, our check out day, we will return to Red Bay, AL to have the latest and newest generation of Atwood leveling system installed. It's going to take us 2 days to get back to Tiffin Motorhomes, and we'll need good luck to be scheduled for service. We're damaged, but not down and out....just another bump in the road.
Red Bay, see you soon.
On a brighter note, we have 2 days left in Texas and we're making the best of it. The best is yet to come!
3 comments :
Oh, man. What is it with leveling jacks? I keep reading about them and people in the RV park where I work have problems with leveling jacks all the time.
Sorry to hear about the problem. Obviously you got the errant one back up so you can continue on your way. What a nuisance.
Sometimes it just seems as though "it's always something".
Fortunately you guys were in a convenient spot when the malfunction occurred.
Hopefully, the newest generation of
Atwood jacks will take care of your problems.
Good luck with Red Bay guys!
Oh Marty! I know the feelin, girl.... Those jacks... I had one hang down about a year ago under what i thought was a normal "retract and store" cycle and I put my eyes on all 4 of them before taking off and was able to aviod driving off with that one still down. From that day forward, it is a "given" that I get out and eyeball each and every one of those rascals before moving that bus one inch.... Ain't no fun!
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