Remember when Gilda Radner played Rosanne Roseannadanna on Saturday Night Live back in the day? She would make a point by saying, “It’s like my Gramma Roseannadanna always used to say, “It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.”” Well, we picked up the camper from the service department at the dealership on Thursday and decided to stay overnight at a local state park to give the camper a once over. We just wanted to make sure everything worked as it should.

I went over that thing with a fine tooth comb. I got the water heater going which took a little doing. I couldn’t get it to light, but then I found out I wasn’t giving it long enough to start. Patience, patience. Once that was going, I made sure the water pump worked. It’s supposed to turn on, pump up to pressure, then kick off. Instead, it just ran and ran. That’s when I figured out you have to let the water run for a little bit to build up the pressure in the lines. THEN it quits. Again…patience.

I couldn’t figure out how to turn the ceiling fan on. I checked every fuse, every circuit breaker. I even checked the power at the pole. There was no reason why it shouldn’t work. Another call to my trusty service guys and they told me there is a main switch in the camper that turns off the overhead lights. If that switch is turned off, the fan will not come on. Yeah…patience.

We camped at Lake Hope State Park near Nelsonville, OH. I’m telling you…that is a gorgeous campground. Really big, nestled in the trees, asphalt pads for parking your camper although there aren’t many that are real level. Nice clean shower houses and plenty of restrooms. Water is not available at your site, but it’s spread out all over the park so it’s easy to get to. And the birds? I captured the song of several birds I didn’t have on my list. I heard my first whippoorwill of the year there. I didn’t hear any owls which would have been icing on the cake. We sat out in our chairs all morning, ate breakfast and I knitted while Mr. FixIt read. A bunch of brown headed cowbirds came and walked all around us. We got everything packed up and headed home around 1:00 yesterday afternoon.

We were getting close to home when we pulled into a rest area. As I walked around the back of the camper, I noticed one of the rear running lights was sticking way out at the bottom. Like it had been pried off or something. When we got home, we set up the camper and looked inside and the back wall is bowed in as though something is pulling it from inside the wall itself. I am not sure, but I think the spring that helps lift the top of the camper up has broken away from its mounting and pushed out on that light. I contacted the service center and spoke with the service manager. I sent him the pictures and he is sending them on to the manufacturer. I should hear something Monday. The camper will likely need to go to the factory for this repair.  In the meantime, I taped a quart sized zipper lock storage bag over the light fixture to keep any rain or bugs out.

I know this company. And I know they will do right by me and fix this. However, it’s still just a big pain in the rear to have something that’s brand new break so many things so early on. Thank goodness it is still under warranty. But as soon as this thing gets fixed, I’m selling it and getting something with fewer moving parts. I need something that’s already set up and I don’t have to mess with it in order to get inside.

Even with all that, we felt refreshed after just one night camping. It was such a treat. I got to camp all of May, but this was the first time my sweetheart got to go and he was so happy!

So…the saga continues!

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“For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,”

Luke 14:28-29 ESV