Thanks to Erin’s post on existential ergonomics about her Yellowstone trip and Boomers with RVs, I remembered this post I wrote exactly eight years ago, today! FYI we sold the RV in 2020 prior to moving to AZ. Thanks to COVID, people wanted RVs, even used ones!

I love camping. My favorite memories as a child were Fourth of July weekends at Ross Lake near the Canadian border in Washington.

Open campfires, roasting hot dogs, followed by s’mores. Families laughing together, watching stars.

We introduced our kids to camping with an annual trip to Carpinteria State Beach, playing cards, sitting around bonfires and flying kites.

So what could possibly go wrong when we looked at RVs and decided to graduate from our tent?  We had the perfect excuse. We would use the RV once a month at swim meets, instead of paying for hotels out of town. Our kids could sit inside between swims diligently doing their homework, rather than hanging out under a pop-up tent with their friends. Yeah. Right.

We bought the RV four years ago and took it to exactly NO swim meets out of town. We brought it to our own pool to give kids on our team a break from the pool deck during a big meet. I think the kids spent a total of 15 minutes inside.

We took three camping trips with our kids. Here are three things that went wrong:

• The first trip, the RV got stuck inadvertently under the roof of a gas station. The gas station owner yelled that he was suing us for damages to his gas station.

• The second trip, the generator went out while we were dry camping.

• The third trip, my husband said he hates driving it and buying it was the biggest mistake he’s ever made.

We’re trying to use the RV this summer. If not, it’s gone in the fall.

We took it out of storage. We plugged it into our house’s electric, so I could get it cleaned up for the trip to the mountains. What else could go wrong?

First, the power went out in our house. The refrigerator, TV and computers went dark along with the lights. This was before I started cleaning.

Second, the AC went out in the RV so I cleaned in the “hot tin can” heat. When I went outside for breathers, in the 110 degree temps, it actually felt cool compared to inside the RV.

We got “The Beast” up the mountain by hiring someone to drive the windy roads for us. He got it all set up and we were happy campers for about two hours.

Then, I turned on the faucet and it smelled like rotten eggs.

Next, we turned on all the faucets to clear out the smelly water and someone knocked on the door to tell us we had a leak. Water was pouring out from under the hook-ups.

The toilet wouldn’t flush and started leaking.

The carpet in the bedroom was damp from the leaks.

After our first night in the mountains, we decided to call it quits and come back to the heat of Palm Springs. At least we have a pool, AC, toilets and running water.

The good news is we get return to the mountains to hire a repairman and try RVing once again. My friends keep telling me I’m going to love it. I’ll let you know. 

Are you a happy camper? What problems have you had RVing?

Kari and Brendan Nguyen’s home yesterday.

Kari was a gymnast at the University of Utah, while her then boyfriend Brendan was on the swim team with my daughter.

They are dear friends of my daughter’s. After I tore my ACL skiing while house and dog sitting for my daughter in Utah, Kari would take Waffles the pug for a walk and check in on me.

My daughter lived in Arizona for one year after graduation. Kari and Brendan married and moved in with Kari’s family here. Kari and Brendan gave a going away party for my daughter when she decided to move to Berkeley. I can’t say enough good things about this young couple.

What a scary thing for them to go through. They have lost everything they own.

From an article:

PEORIA, AZ (AZFamily) — Firefighters have contained a fast-moving fire that left someone hurt near Peoria Thursday morning. Several pets are also missing.

According to Rural Metro firefighters, the blaze started around 9:30 a.m. as a barbecue fire outside spread to the home near 88th Avenue and Williams Road. The house is located on an unincorporated county island surrounded by the City of Peoria.

Crews from Peoria Fire-Medical were first on the scene as the fire quickly spread through the home. Officials say fire hydrants are scarce in the neighborhood because unincorporated areas don’t have the same building code requirements as most cities and areas covered by fire districts.

https://www.azfamily.com/2024/07/04/1-hurt-after-fast-moving-barbecue-fire-spreads-peoria-home

In the story, there is a link to a go fund me for the Lee family. Or CLICK HERE if you can donate something.

Kari’s parents own Flames Gymnastic Academy (what a name) and are well-known in the community. The gymnastics community, Ute Alumni and our surrounding community are helping this family get back on their feet. Thankfully, everyone survived, except it’s unknown about their pets.

Sunset view from my driveway.

I wrote on Monday that my image block wasn’t working. WP has not gotten back to me, but I discovered it does work on my phone. I saved the post as a draft on my phone after placing the photo — and then opened it up on my laptop to write. My work around.

I need to book two flights for upcoming trips in March and June. But after the news of a door blowing off an airplane traveling from Portland, Oregon to Ontario, Calif. I just don’t want to. One of my good friends from Palm Springs is a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines. I texted her to make sure she was okay.

She said she wasn’t on that flight but she was sure “heads would roll.”

Thankfully, nobody was sitting in the seat against the door that blew off. Can you imagine? Heads could have rolled. Literally.

Several airlines that have this particular Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircrafts have them grounded for inspection. Thank goodness.

But it doesn’t seem to be a freak accident. Not with the airlines admitting they had three prior instances where warning went off during flights. They had the aircraft scheduled for service, but continued to fly it until the service appointment.

That makes me nervous. They knew something was wrong, but kept it in the air anyway.

To be fair, it was on “restricted” flights. The place wasn’t allowed to fly to Hawaii, where it would be over water.

Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better.

Fortunately nobody was hurt, but I have a feeling there will be more than a few lawsuits against Boeing and/or Alaska Airlines from people with PTSD. In the meantime, I keep procrastinating on booking my flights.

Would you have second thoughts about flying after hearing about the Alaska Airlines flight with a door flying off?

What bothers you about how the incident was handled?