March 7th, Wednesday – The Domino Effect

The Domino Effect:  also known as the ripple effect, a cumulative effect produced when one event initiates a succession of similar events.  Little did I know upon waking this morning that it was going to be one of those days!  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The day dawned slightly overcast but warmer than the past few mornings.  No need for the heater during the evening hours or early morning.  It was a great day once again to be alive.  Cup of coffee in hand, I settled in to watch the early morning news.  That task finished it was time to make a phone call.  They were coming to check and replace any hydraulic hoses for the leveling jacks that were leaking.

That is where it all began.  It began with a fluid leak from one of the hydraulic hoses, going to one of the self leveling jacks.  Now you have to know a leak is never a good thing in an RV – any kind of leak!

So once all the hoses were unwrapped and down the inspection process began.  At first it appeared that the culprit was the short line going to the front left jack.  Great.  Wait!  I spoke too soon.  It turned out to be the looooooooooong line going to the back left jack.  We think.  Here is where the domino effect began.

We needed to cycle all the jacks up and down in order to check each line.  What?  Now the jacks would not budge.  Neither up nor down.  What in the world was going on?  After a bit of investigation and head scratching the culprit was found, namely the solenoid on the actual hydraulic pump for the jacks.  At this point, I actually breathed

a really big sigh of relief.  It could have been the actual pump (let’s not talk about the price of that puppy), or it could have been the control board (another high price item), or within the controls in the dash (no fun to rip apart).  Furthermore, when I think back of when it could have gone bad, can you say our last day in New Jersey in the freezing cold?  Or how about at any stop on the way down to Florida?  Oh yea, thank you good Lord for the fact that it happened now where it would be easy to repair and for the fact that it is the simple replacement of an inexpensive solenoid.

Wait, though, we’re not done.  Oh no!  While they were crawling around under the back of Graybeard checking the jacks they found this, or what is left to it.  Where all that rust

is (next to the gray circle) there is supposed to be a rubber bushing to hold the rear sway bar in place.  But it is gone, ripped up, no more.  Now I know what the clunk is that I was hearing every now and then on the final stretch coming down here.  Again, I breathed a big sigh of relief.  It could have been much worse, the whole thing could have let go.  I could have been in a location where it would have been difficult to replace.  Once again, thank you good Lord!

So within the next two or three days all will be put right.  Am I upset?  Disappointed with Graybeard?  Absolutely not!  We are talking about a 7 year old motor home and things like this are to be expected.  We are so grateful that all of this is getting taken care of now before we hit the road for the summer.  We’ll leave with a renewed sense of self confidence in Graybeard and it’s road worthiness.

On another note.  I discovered this motor home that just came into the park, can you guess what it is?  I had no idea at first.

This is a 1993 ForeTravel 40 footer.  These are the motor homes that today cost in the range of a million dollars!  This one is an oldie but a goodie and in good condition as this one appears to be still go for around $30,000 plus.  I’m going to walk over again tomorrow and hopefully get to meet the owner and maybe get a peak at the inside.

Well, that was my day.  Barb had a busy day cooking, cleaning and just catching up on a lot of things.  She said she had 10 chores to do listed on the board and she is down to one, the income taxes.  She is saying even though it was slightly stressful because of all the repairs that have to be done, she feels good about getting her chores accomplished.

So our day has come to an end and night is upon us.  I suppose you’re wondering am I going to call this another great day?  You bet!  For all the reasons I already stated.  Surely the good Lord is watching over us and keeping us safe.  We hope you had a great day as well.

Now a story, if you will, that I just came across on a blog I follow:  Seems a couple planned of becoming full time RVer’s.  They planned for it.  Attended all the RV shows.  Finally bought their dream RV.  Guess what?   They never left their home state, never went more than 200 miles from their home location in the two years they owned it.  Why not?  According to them they were afraid that they might break down where they would not be able to get help!  So why bother to own an RV?  Instead of having this kind of an attitude, I offer you our slogan as a terrific way to approach life and RVing:

These are the voyages of  Graybeard and it’s occupants, four paws and two humans.  Our continuing mission: to explore as many new states as possible, to seek out new acquaintances and make new friends, to boldly go where we have not been before. 

As always,  if you are coming to the end of your day with concerns and worries let me suggest that you turn them over to God.  After all, He is going to be up all night so why not let him handle them for you.

Time now for our evening prayers and some shut-eye.  Till tomorrow.  Thanks again for sharing our day with us.