A Day in the Life of a Fulltimer - Hanging Out at Panera

Yes, I'm killing time at Panera this afternoon.  Freightliner issued a recall for the steering box on motorhomes built between 2004 and 2008.  So I called Truck Center in Springfield last week to set up an appointment  to see if the part needed to be replaced on our motorhome.  I told them that we lived fulltime in the motorhome.  The appointment was set for 8:00am this morning, and I had a dentist appointment at 8:00am.  Not a problem.  It doesn't take two of us to drive the motorhome to Truck Center, and I didn't need Dan to hold my hand at the dentist.  And we knew it shouldn't take too long to see if our steering box was actually on the recall list.  If it was, the part would have to be ordered and we'd have to take the motorhome back another day for a 4 hour appointment.  And Dan wanted to take it to another truck place where he gets the oil and filters changed and thought he would have plenty of time to get that done this morning.  He wasn't happy with the first oil change done at Truck Center and the price was higher.  We had to take it to Truck Center for the recall because they are a Freightliner service center.

So we were up at 6:00am, walked the dog (he was a little confused at having to go outside in the rain and the dark so early in the morning); had breakfast, and finished packing up the items that I didn't put away last night.  Even just driving 5 miles, we still need to stow things as though we are moving down the road.  We do leave some things out on the non-skid mats and several things are anchored down with museum putty, but we still have to go through the whole pre-travel process.   We both left our driveway at 7:30.  I put a load of clothes in the washer at the local laundromat and went to the dentist.  (Small town, don't need to worry about the clothes).  Finished with the dentist about 8:30, dried the clothes at the laundromat, visited with another lady there for about 1/2 hour and finally went back to the house about 10:30.  NO MOTORHOME, NO DAN AND NO TRUCK.  Now, I had been told it would only take about 1/2 hour to check for the recall.  And it's still raining; not hard, but a steady drizzle.

Called Dan and he said they hadn't pulled the motorhome into the shop yet!!!   He told them that we lived in it fulltime as he watched another Mandalay motorhome being pulled into the shop (a 2008 model there for another recall).  The shop guy, whose name was also Dan, said, "Oh, I didn't know that."  So it finally got into the shop at 11:00.  I, in the meantime, was sitting in our driveway with the dog in the car, reading a book.  There is no furniture in the house, and there is a problem with the furnace so we haven't been able to heat the downstairs.  Pete is coming Tuesday or Wednesday to fix it. 

We decided to meet at Denny's for lunch, since all the food is in the Mandalay which is now in the shop.  As I was driving to Denny's, Truck Center Dan called to say that our gear box was NOT on the recall list and we could pick up the motorhome.  Dan had checked about getting the oil changed at the other shop, but they can't do it until 1:00pm. 

Soooooo, that's why I'm hanging out at Panera.  Denny's doesn't have WiFi, or I would have just stayed there.  Kasey is really confused.  He can't understand why he has to stay in the car all day. 

Oh, I almost forgot.  Dan also has to get propane today while he's running around in the motorhome.  We haven't been running the motorhome furnace, but also don't have much propane.  We do have 2 small electric heaters which work real well to warm things up in the early morning. 

Just another day in the life of two RV fulltimers.  The day didn't go as planned, but nothing bad happened; we don't have to schedule another appointment for the recall; and we got the scheduled maintenance done and checked off the list. 

Back to working on the house tomorrow.