It was the best of times. It was the worse of times. It was time to test the towing experience with our rv. We decided to go to the "Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania." I was a little concerned about the five hour drive while towing as a test. I ought to pay more attention to my concerns...
The car was hooked up to the rv without much of a problem for at least 2 minutes or so. The handles on the tow bar were not in the upright and tight status. I figured that they would lock in with a little bit of movement from the rv. Gin pulled the rv up some two or three times and one side would seem to lock and then the other, but not both. When focusing on an exasperating task, I really can focus. Sometimes, it is too much and too narrow and important things get forgotten - LIKE LEAVING THE CAR IN PARK WHEN MOVING THE RV UP A FOOT OR TWO! Really, I am smarter than I look, but it could not be proven in this instance. It was eventually decided to drive the rv for a bit -without the car in park! - and then check to see that the tow bar was locked on both sides. Surely, this would happen. Or not...
After about four miles, we pulled over in a convenient spot and checked the tow bar. It appeared to be not locked on both sides. We called the dealership, got service, and as usual, got a nice person. In this case, they talked me through it. I had watched videos, seen the connections made at the dealership, and had gotten the wrong impression. The handles on the bar do not have to be in a locked position up at all. That just happens when stress is placed on the bar unevenly and presents difficulties in releasing them. The problem was solved, but it had taken about thirty minutes or so.
It was a dark and stormy night. Wait a minute, that is the beginning of the novel I'll never write or a blatant rip-off of Snoopy - can't remember which one. Anyhow, it was a somewhat sunny day, hot, and a little breezy. To refresh your memory, I was still in the process of learning how to drive our expensive dog house. With the wind and attention to the towed car (what veteran rvers call a "toad"), I was having to focus all of my attention plus more to keep the rv between the white lines. I developed a knot in my upper back that was painful and it was exhausting. Gin was enjoying her ride, but was also trying to comfort and support me. We had considered having Gin drive on a suitable stretch of road for her first experience. My discomfort and tension with the driving conditions resulted in that not happening.
We got to the camp ground after what seemed like an eternity or at the very least, better than five hours if you use the metric system. At the Stony Fork camp, the folks signing us in were nice and genuinely pleasant, something that is not always the case in our limited experience. We stopped in front of our site and unhooked the car. In doing so, I hit a knuckle hard on the tow bar, but thought little of it at the time. So far, so good. At least that is what the man said as he passed the 15th floor after jumping off the 22nd story. The toad was dead. In trying to revitalize the car, a hybrid which is still somewhat of a mystery to me, it was put in park. Interestingly, in this hybrid, once the car is put in park with a dead battery, it cannot be taken out of park and thereby, cannot be moved. Hmmm, car - an immovable one - parked in the middle of the main road through the campsite. I felt like there was a village somewhere looking for a resident idiot and furthermore, I felt highly qualified for the job.
The owner of the campground happened to be mowing nearby and graciously jumped our car. We got into our site and hooked up successfully. Had you fooled there for a moment, yeah, right. I only need glasses for seeing and was not wearing them at the time of putting the electrical connection into the power box. It seems that each campground is a little different. Some have the circuit breaker on and some off when connecting or the previous person leaves it incorrectly. Anyhow, the air conditioning in the rv was set for on and in snapping the circuiting breaker at the box off and on due to not being able to read the fine print, it caused the air conditioner to initialy operate, but then zip, zilch, nada, no way, etc. As previously mentioned, Gin is an Eskimo of sorts and I felt badly for her because of the heat in the rv, but no air.
For a brief moment, my brain operated beyond the village level and I surmised that the air had had its circuit breaker in the rv "kicked." Just a minor problem though, where in the hell is the circuit breaker box in the rv. Hell is an appropriate term here because Gin and I spent two hot, awful hours scouring the rv looking for the breaker box. The kindly owner of the campground had a good idea, but it did not pan out.
I usually turn to the internet for assistance in problematic cases and this time I did the same - except I had no idea of how to access the wireless network for the campground. I tried calling the dealership, but there was no signal where we were. I drove to higher ground near the office and did get a signal, but the dealership was closed at this time in the evening (see long drive a time spent looking for breaker box above). Once again, the owner proved to be heroic, even though he was not wearing a cape or riding a white horse. He told me how to access the internet. The second hit gave us what we needed and glory hallelujah, we had air!
Did I happen to mention that my hand via the busted knuckle was now the size of a small cantaloupe? Actually, it was not hurting too much and I was too tired to care that much either. Gin was happy with her air and we settled in for the night.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this (mis)adventure....
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