Tag Archive for 'rv steps'

Road Trip

Published on January 27, 2009 in Front Porch Musings, Montana, Pets, Photos and RV Maintenance. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Five years ago…if you had told me that I would someday own an RV and LOVE rving, I would have said you were nuts.

I own an RV and I LOVE rving!

I even love a 200 mile round trip just to take the beast to a dealer for repair. I don’t love needing the repair, but it was operator error ( Damaging steps ) so I can’t blame the rv. I also didn’t “LOVE” the Jeep hookup yesterday as it was 6 below zero while I was doing it. Don’t let that sunshine fool you – it was cold! And things that normally swivel and extend didn’t want to do that. A hammer and a few choice words convinced them otherwise. The good news was that I wasn’t all hot and sweaty after the hookup…

I packed a lunch, my camera, my laptop – loaded Karl…no steps…I’m glad I’ve kept up with my strength training – and off we went. Destination, Missoula – 100 miles south.

The stop light in Bigfork…too bad about that view, huh?

Although cold, it was clear and sunny and a gorgeous day for the drive which skirts Flathead Lake for 35 miles before going through Polson, Montana and then a beautiful valley with the Mission Mountains to the east and the Bitteroots to the West.

Between Bigfork and Polson, I stopped at a pullout along the lake to allow 2 following cars to pass and to do a safety check.

We continued on. I had planned on a lunch stop south of Ronan, but the pullout there was not plowed. I ended up going all the way to the dealer in Missoula and having lunch in their parking lot. I unhooked the Jeep, checked in with service, transferred computer and camera to the Jeep, took a walk with Karl and then we started back towards home.

The Missions were beautiful – loaded with snow. A thin cloud layer lay about a third of the way between their jutting peaks and the valley floor. I didn’t stop – there are times when I just like to look.

**Added 7:30 a.m. 1/27 – I just visited fellow Montana blogger Montucky – he headed to the city yesterday also, albeit from a different direction. His post in the link is a gorgeous capture of the Missions – worth the click!

I did stop at a scenic lookout just before Polson. It is not somewhere I’ve ever stopped before, although it has the first view of the lake and the entrance to the Flathead Valley.

Home is 39 miles north of Polson. We arrived there in time for a walk before sunset.

Ouch!

Published on December 24, 2008 in RV Maintenance. 7 Comments Tags: , .

Those steps shouldn’t look like that…

My motorhome steps are automatic – they retract when the door closes and electronically whoooosshh out when the door opens. In this ultra-cold, they have been a bit slow. They have not been retracting or extending fully – I knew this…. I headed out yesteday afternoon for propane in anticipation of 2 storms due which are predicted to be snow “events”. I stayed a little too close to the right side of the driveway…

….the culprit or the victim – depending on your perspective…

…body work…but, hey!! – do you see the reflection of the woods in the bay door to the left of the steps?? – kinda cool!

As far as I got…

The mangled steps on top of the cheap, ugly gutters that I removed from the house and garage, on top of the remnants of the ugly front porch railings that I removed…all waiting for a person with a truck to take to the dump. Well, a girl can dream…

I have Good Sam RV Roadside service and a very competent person arrived only 4 hours after I called…a FedEx truck had to be extracted from a ditch before me and possibly a few other roadside disasters. It was dark and 7ish by the time he arrived. He donned coveralls, rolled under the Winnebago and proceeded to extract the demolished steps. Then he helped guide me in backing the beast into her spot adjacent to the garage.

Nice tow truck Good Sam person also fetched the removed steps while I fiddled around getting the beast exactly where I wanted her.

I proceeded to empty all of the stuff that would not take well to freezing. Electric supplemental heat is protecting the fresh water bay. The propane is low enough that I wasn’t sure whether the furnace would run through the night, hence the emptying.

Today is another day…. Weather permitting, I’ll try for propane. The steps: new ones must be ordered and that may have to wait a bit. Yes, I wanted to cry a few times, but really, in the whole scheme of things, it is a “minor” glitch. No blood was shed – and who knows??? – considering a FedEx vehicle landed in a ditch, perhaps losing my steps and staying in my own driveway prevented some worse disaster.

Onward!