Friday, July 9, 2010

FREEEEEEDOMMM! ...and... The Leaving!

Finally!... after three years plus of ups and downs on an emotional buckin' horse that has kicked my liver... We are Hitchin' up an' Leaving!

Buuuuut.... like they say; Freedom... isn't Free! and sometimes... it's just a plain Ol' Piece of Work!

Yesterday... which was supposed to be the day of final preparations... for today's Leaving... turned out to be a day of aaarrrrghhhh!... and more aaaarrrrrrgghhhhh!

First thing was that I'd made an appointment to get the wheel bearings packed... 'cause I'm too lazy to do that greasy crap my self! :o) ... so... Heidi was leavin' to go do some errands... and it takes both of us to get the slide started, cuz the motor is coming to the end of its' life I think...

So... I gave it a push while she hit the button... so I could have it "over the hump" and I could slide it in the rest of the way by my lonesome when I was ready... only... when I got to that point, and hit the  button...

Nuthin'! ... not a buzz, not a burp, a squeak or a groan... just... nuthin! aw, hell!

Well, I hit the button a couple times... bap bap bap... and the slide came rollin' in... but... thinkin' that the switch shoudn't be doin' that intermittent baloney... I went to pull IT out of the wall... and the sucker came apart in my hand!... Now I know That shouldn't happen!

Tracked down a switch while my 'guy' was maintaining the bearings... and put it in, once we hauled back here... hit the button to "test"... and of course it worked...

NOT!... Nope! Nuthin'! and here was some more... aaarrrrrrrggggghhh!

So... I go scramblin' 'round trying to diagnose what's wrong and where... only... I Ain't no ee-lek-trishun! ... in the process... I hot wired the slide motor to make certain sure it wasn't just tee total dead... and the slide slid... Ok... now what?

Well... scratchin' my head... I crawled out from under the rig and stood up... well... almost...

Ya see... I was still "Under" the rig... the corner of that partially slid slide nailed me in the middle of the back... and put me face down in the dirt... with 'bout a 2" hole in the hide on my back...

Can I say that there was a stream of Bad Words an' Dirty Names emanating from under the rig? and they were loud enough for Heidi to hear... might even have been a lil' blue smoke... so, hearin' what shouldn't be heard in gentle company... she come runnin' out to see what was the "issue"...

After I'd had 'nuff time to take the pressure off my spleen... and after I decided that the damage was a long way from my heart...and... that I was just too tough an ol' rooster for the silliness of First Aid... :o)

...We ended up with an emergency haul down to DM RV Repair in Loveland... where they found, in pretty short order, bad splices in the wall that had finally come apart... bad splices that Jayco had put in the wiring to the switch when they built the rig.

...and it only cost the price of hauling 60 miles an' an hours labor! :o) so, like they said; "Freedom isn't Free!" :o)

Today... as soon as I hit the Post button... we'll load up the lil' bit of stuff we were gonna get done yesterday, clean up our site here, and get on down the road... very, very... slowly!

Do ya think I'll flinch... when we hit the slide button today? :o)

Tonight... We'll be RV Boondocking... in the Colorado Rockies! Hoo! Ya!

Take Good Care
Brian

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6 comments:

Sharlotte said...

Well Brian my friend, the time has finally come. Know what you mean about the "blue smoke" coming out from under the rig. Jim has banged his head on the slide before. Do you have one of those new fangled winder things so you can put your slide out in case your motor or switch, or electrical hookup fails?
Waiting with baited breath for your post of the first "slow" day of the rest of your and Heidi's life.
Oh, did you get the motorcycles mounted??

Box Canyon Blogger said...

Deep breaths, cowboy... nice and slow. Smell that pine scent??? That's freedom, pal. It also smells like the Pacific ocean, Arizona's rain soaked desert and fresh cut hay high up in mountain valley.

Wander on, friend... we're all behind you, wishing you well and God speed as you finally break free from the chains that bind. Show us some "country."
mark

Whatsnewell said...

Brian......have been following your blog for a couple of years at least, and am so happy for you. Looking forward to your posts from the road!

Anonymous said...

Hello from Houston, TX. After following your blog for the past 2 or 3 years, I'm glad your are on the road again. Keep posting. My wife and I are only 2 weeks (14 days) away from being on the road again too!

Anonymous said...

Yee-Haw!! Finally :-)

Wonder how long it will take to really really feel it?

rv repair loveland said...

I'm really excited for you. I'd love to get away from everyone and everything for a while and go up into the mountains and just relax. It seems like I haven't been up in the mountains for a long time and I miss that a lot. I will be going on vacation to California here soon, so that will be exciting. Too bad my vacation has to end while yours will last quite a long time.