EXPECT DELAYS - iSSUE 43

But Hope They Don’t Happen - Post from 01 Nov 2008

Diary published weekly since 2001
Read this Diary on line HERE
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TIPS THIS WEEK are of a personal nature

MORE RV LIFE LESSONS - It seems the longer we are on the road the more life lessons that surface. I think we must be well over 16,500 by now. I am sharing three more from this trip.

#1 On Saturday we decided to stop at a Wal*Mart to add to the larder. When we went to pull in they had barriers restricting height at 12’.6”. to control the 18-wheelers. We think???? we are less than that but even though I preach to everyone to post their height and width on their dash for easy reference – we do not have it posted on ours. We felt because we do not drive the motorhome on ‘back roads’ we really had no need for the info – WRONG!!!! Everyone should have the height and width posted on their dash – us too.

#2 While in London it was cold and blowing viciously. We meet a lot of RVers who know us through the website, or magazine articles, or Diary, or my seminars. Many knock on our door to say Hi! We sometimes go outside to talk to them – at times we also invite these RV ‘strangers’ into our coach. At the Fly J in London during the snowstorm, a man knocked on our door with the request he had an “RV QUESTION FOR THE MAN HE SAW OUTSIDE?” We thought he had come from one of the other RV’s at the Flying J. Mainly due to the weather we invited him in where it was warm. It didn’t take long to realize this gentleman was not an RVer. We are not sure what he was after but his appearance was not threatening – however we both realized we could have been in trouble? His RV Q was kind of empty, but we shared a few stories about the times he spent in the Maritimes when John was there in the Navy and then he left. He said he was in the area to visit clients for an investment company he worked for, but that too is suspect. The final phase of this drama was when we returned from dinner there was a gift of ‘two instant cameras’ in our door with a beautiful note relaying one was for the ‘sunsets’ and one was for the ‘sunrises’ we see on our journey. He was sharing them as a thank you for our hospitality.

Why I am relaying this? From the time we have began RVing we have heard about the danger of putting your names on your RV’s and opening the doors to strangers, especially at gas/fuel stops or when you are boondocking. In 24 years this is the first time our outgoing welcoming demeanor could have gotten us into trouble. If the climate had not been so bad, John possibly would have gone out to talk. Thankfully in our case, this episode did not end up in disaster – instead it made for an interesting break in our day – NEXT TIME WE WILL RAISE OUR GUARD JUST A LITTLE. I suggest all of you do the same. Become a bit cautious and travel ‘Street Smart” – everyone at your door may not be a super friendly harmless RVer who just wants to talk.

#3 We made one other slip while dealing with our maintenance problems in London. We had connected and disconnected the car several times. Guess I became distracted because on the last hook-up I FORGOT to remove one fuse. After 2.5 days driving, our car-battery is ‘dead’. I obviously neglected to do a double check. Many RVers follow a written check list and a retired engineer told me one day, when you do not physically ‘touch’ the item you are checking that it is easy to not see your error. Soooooo again I stress. No matter what system you use ALWAYS double check what you have done. You would think I would learn to eventually avoid all these life lessons. If they can happen to us they can happen to you. DOUBLE CHECK – DOUBLE CHECK - DOUBLE CHECK!!!!

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PROMOS THIS WEEK are limited due to space…

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