I kinda feel like our RV is one big gadget, I know we live in it but there are buttons and knobs everywhere and everyday I learn something new about our big gadget. We are the biggest rookies on the planet but one by one we'll learn each and every little thing. And because there is no chance I'll read the manual, it's going to have to be trial and error. I'll admit many of the things I'm about to disclose may seem like common sense but all I'll say is Who Knew?, I certainly did not. Who knew (#1) that all doors need to be tight before closing all slide-outs. (BTW - these are the mechanical "house expanders" that slide out on each side of the coach to make our living space larger). Day two, I extend the back slide-out and it gets stuck, and that sucks cause you can't drive with that out. But good news, our inhouse mechanic figured it out, aka my wife... she noticed that the washer and dryer door was left open and stuck between the slide-out and the wall, opps. Jen fixed it as well...
Who knew #2. I'm feeling pretty good about things, the RV has been in the shop twice, we broke and then fixed a ton of things and I thought most broken stuff was behind us. Our kids take a bath the other day (yeah, we have a bathtub, but it's exactly 36 inches by 24 inches and about 10 inches deep... no romantic soaking for the adults) and Jen says the water isn't draining. Actually, I'm really pissed.... 6 days into the trip and we have a clog, I'm not entirely sure what a clog means in an RV, but I'm not happy. So I'm on my hands and knees trying to shove the water back down the drain, and I didn't mis-speak, I literally mean "shove" with my hand because I don't have a plunger...oh, and I'm pissed if you haven't forgotten. Then I realize something, I haven't hooked up the drain pipe. And of course the drain tank, or the grey water tank for those of you that watched my dumping video, is FULL. I did laugh a little, walked outside, hooked up the drain to the drain tank and flushed it. Magic, the tub empties.
Who know #3. This one is probably my favorite, nothing that big, but really seems to sum up how rookie we are. Day 2, our water pressure sucks, I mean it's really low, barely trickling out of the tap. But I'm thinking, is this the way things are, because clearly I have no frame of reference. We use it for two days, trying to wash dishes, take a shower etc etc. The way water works in a park is, you screw in a hose to the spigot at your site, then connect it to main line of your RV. The water pressure coming out of the spigot pressurizes the entire RV system.
That night a friend of ours from Michigan visits us at the RV park, our first visitors, Todd and Anna Brooks and Camden and Nathaniel. Fortunately for me Tood and Anna are RV veterans. After drinking a couple beers I tell Todd about the water pressure problem, he's clearly perplexed and excited about the challenge. Not to go off on a tangent here, but if you bring up a RV problem with seasoned RV'ers, they get excited... I've had several experiences already, it's really fun.... anyway, the water pressure! So Todd and I go outside and open up the water system center, we are ready to dig in and figure this out, maybe even get out the tools. We are both leaning over, hands on our knees analyzing the problem, and Todd says in a serious tone, "I think I found your problem", I'm thinking, "wow, this guy is good". He then says, "you have a kink in your hose". We both laughed for ten minutes (or maybe a couple of minutes). Like I said, a simple fix, but seems to sum up much of what we are learning.
Who Knew #4. As you know, big diesel rigs like ours have air brakes and air shocks. I remember when purchasing the vehicle them telling me about them and thinking, that's cool, who doesn't want to ride on air. Well there is a little minor maintenance factor with these, they have to fill with air "prior" to driving. If you didn't know, there's even a couple gauges that are suppose to show you when you're ready to drive. hmmmm.
It's our first time driving with the entire family aboard, as we begin driving, the coach starts to bounce up and down, and as we get on the highway the bouncing starts to get worse, probably some physics equation involving driving more than 60 MPH. These are not small bounces, I can barely hold on to the steering wheel, I can hear the kids laughing with glee, while Jen is running around trying to catch everything falling off every counter and shelf. Turns out, on our particular coach there is a quarky thing about filling up the air tanks for the shocks. You need to push the Auto-Retract on the Auto-Leveling system twice, prior to driving to fill up the tanks. So far, no more bouncing and all air tanks seem to be filling.
Some more...
Who knew you had to turn off the engine before bringing the slide-outs back in (that one took an hour to figure out)
Who knew you should dump your black (the toilet water) first then the gray (bath and sink water) to clean out the hose. (thanks random RV guy)
Who knew gas stations have a $75 limit on how much you can spend on gas, when you are spending around $250 per tank you need to go into the station and make special arrangements, and don't forget to tell them you're "non-commercial" because most diesel pumps don't charge sales tax, they often need to add it back in.
Who knew those signs that say 35 MPG around turns is really for RV's. A little tip, if it says 35, then I recommend going 35 when driving a 40 foot vehicle. Jen would certainly agree.