Saturday Update --- Slide issues

I'm afraid we've been busy running, but not much interesting to report.

Johnny had his surgery follow up this past Tuesday.  They said everything is looking good and gave him the all clear to start walking on his right leg.  But no shoes yet, which is awkward to say the least.  They don't want him to wear shoes yet because one of the incisions on the back of his heel isn't quite healed up yet.  He goes back on this coming Tuesday and hopefully will get the all clear to go to work.

Bob Jones RV also called on Tuesday to say repairs to our 5th wheel were finished and we could come pick it up.  So we were off to Houston on Wednesday morning to pick up the 5er and head to Louisiana to take care of some paperwork with Johnny's mom and and a quick visit with the the kids and grandkids.  Bennett was showing off his basketball skills while his baby brother  Barrett practiced is bouncing skills.  We also got to watch Preston play baseball -- he got 1 hit, but was thrown out.   He did make a great catch in the outfield and saved them from getting scored on.  His team eventually won before the game was called for time at 9pm.  I'm not sure who was more tired -- the players or the audience!  We didn't get to see Conly's game on Friday night, but maybe next trip.


First, let me give you a heads up if you have slides in your rv.  They ended up pretty much rebuilding the living room slide on our 5er.  Turns out there was a water leak we had no idea about.  The service techs said it's not an uncommon issue with lots of manufacturers.  The way the slide was originally manufactured allowed water to seep down the trim piece on the outside corners.  They rebuilt everything and double sealed the corners to prevent a future problem.  Since we have 2 other slides we asked them whether we needed to be concerned about those.  The answer was yes and they suggested sealing the corners with silicone as a preventive measure.  So while we're still here in Austin on level ground, guess what I'm doing?


Our trip to Louisiana was fairly uneventful.  We arrived at Poche's Fish N Camp (I wouln't mind staying here again when we have more time) while it was still daylight and I had my heart set on some boiled crawfish.  So we went about setting up the trailer.  All went well until I went to hook up the power.  I couldn't find the power cord anywhere!  I looked in the trailer and in the basement, but no power cord!  Of course the RV shop that did the repairs was closed by this time, so nothing to do but use the generator.  We decided to go get something to eat and some dog food to replace the container that had somehow flown out of the back of the truck first.  When we got back we went to start the generator but no luck.  It would not turn over.  Several hours later we finally got it started.  It died sometime in the night, but we at least got a couple hours of sleep.  


In the morning I got up and went to boil some water for tea.  No gas to the stove.  I figured the technicians had not opened the valves to the tanks as we had had them fill the propane tanks while we were there.  I went outside to turn on the gas and guess what I found?  The power cord in the compartment where the propane tanks were supposed to be!  One problem solved only to be replaced by another!  After a couple of phone calls the rv shop agreed to replace our 2 30# propane tanks locally.  We just had to find a place to get them and they would call with a credit card to pay for them.  Problem 2 solved.


We got the paperwork taken care of and had a brief visit with the family before heading back to Austin yesterday.  When we got home last night I noticed that the rv techs had also removed our ladder from the 5er and not replaced it!  Guess who we have to call on Monday morning!?!


I have to say that Bob Jones RV did an excellent job with the repairs to the 5er and worked with the insurance company to get the insurance to cover the over $6000 in repairs -- something that can be difficult with water damage.  We checked the actual repairs and they were all done satisfactorily.  What we didn't check was that all the perifory things were back where they belong.  We spoke about filling the propane tanks several times to make sure it was done, but never thought to check that they actually put the tanks back in the 5er.  And we NEVER remove the outside ladder, so it never occurred to us to make sure it was on the trailer.  Especially since there was no reason to remove it to  take care of the repairs they were doing!


Someday's I get really frustrated with people's lack of attention...