Oh, Sh*t Moments
If an alien species were to use Instagram as their only source of information on travel, they would undoubtedly conclude that every trip involves going to the most beautiful spots imaginable in places where nothing ever goes wrong. That is NOT what they would find here.
An unavoidable truth about traveling by trailer is that, eventually, something will go wrong. In fact, the number of things that will go wrong will be directly tied to the amount of time you spend on the road! Some of theses will be very minor. Others, probably a bit more problematic. If you know they are going to happen, the best thing you can do is roll with the punches, and get on with it. A positive attitude seems to be the best tool.
So, we thought we’d share with you some of the less glamorous things that we encounter in our journeys!
“Oh no! Not the eggs!
We read somewhere that when driving down the road, your trailer is subjected to hurricane-force winds, and earthquake-force vibrations. Given that fact, opening the door to the trailer after arriving at your campsite can be an anxiety-producing endeavor. You aren’t ever really sure what you might find.
This time we found that our refrigerator door had popped open and spewed forth some of its contents onto the floor. The absolute worst part of this was the loss of about $100 worth of eggs (a/k/a a half dozen)! Though if you asked Mack, he would say he didn’t see what the problem was as he really enjoyed helping with the clean up.
To RV or not to RV?
They say that after hitting the road in an RV, most people will eventually ask themselves this question. Well, we certainly are!
Our Mid-Atlantic trip was our first since we both retired. Needless to say, we had been eagerly waiting to hit the road. Unfortunately, the curve balls started coming before we walked out the door. A few days before we were to leave, Christina’s mom had to go in for some surgery. As a result, we pushed our departure back a few days to get through the surgery and get her mom set up at home. The surgery went well and she seemed to be settling in. So, we decided to head out.
Once we left, we made it to Kentucky to visit Mammoth Cave with some friends. While on the cave tour, we received news that Christina’s mom was back in the hospital due to some post-surgery complications. Obviously, we packed up and headed back to KC that night. Her mom gave us quite the scare, but after a few days, she was back at home (again) and on her way to recovery. So, we decided to head back out to resume our trip.
To get back on track, we had a couple long days of driving. The first night, we arrived at our Harvest Host site (Steckler Grassfed Farms) and started setting up only to hear water running…but it wasn’t coming out of the faucet! The next thing we knew, water was all over the floor and in the cabinets. Apparently, during the driving, our water line and drain wiggled loose causing quite a mess! We were able to clean up and reattach everything and turned in for the night.
The next day, our troubles continued. While driving down the highway, we heard a loud pop. We looked at each other and said…I think that’s a tire! Sure enough we pulled over to the side to find a tire tread had split. We were able to limp down to the next exit, swap out the bad tire with the spare and get back on the road safely.
After two days on the road, the jury was still out on whether we would be continuing with this RV life. (Spoiler: we are still on the road!)