RVing

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All the Gruesome Details

Warning, this post contains GROSS photos below the video. Proceed at your own risk!

I was not able to get video of the damage, but I do have pictures. Again, these are GROSS.

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So as you can see, the pipe that goes straight down into the tank as well as the top of the tank are all melted away. The tank is not patchable or usable.

Now, even if I found an RV shop that had the right tank in stock (not likely; research tells me this is a order it and get it in a couple of weeks type of product as there are too many to keep a selection in stock), it’s one more expense that I am going to struggle to cover cover. And that’s the subject of my next post.

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The Situation Goes From Bad to Much, Much, Much, Much Worse

L is in the process of repairing the grey water line. Not a problem, that’s going well. There is a but coming.

All that time under the rig has enabled him to get his bearings and he was able to find proof that the blowout caused the exhaust pipe problem because there are skid marks on the bottom of the black water tank.

And not only that… the heat wicked up the top of the black water tank and there is a fist-sized hole in the very top of it.

I think I’ve earned the right to go cry now. I don’t think I even need an estimate on what it’s going to cost to pull and replace my black tank to warrant shedding a few (lots of) tears because we all know it’s going to be beaucoup bucks.

I’m so depressed.

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An Engineer’s Assessment

L has spent considerable time under the rig today and his professional opinion is that the blowout, not the jack, caused the exhaust and plumbing problem. He thinks that, based on the angle of the pipe break, the shredded tire caught the exhaust pipe and brought it up while also breaking the water line.

I think that this is a case where we’ll never know for sure. The only other clue I have is this photo:

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We can clearly see that the exhaust pipe is missing and that the jack handle is exactly where the exhaust pipe would be sticking out.

If what L says is true, then the exhaust pipe was already up against the sidewall, which means Cramer didn’t see it and that that issue is absolutely not their fault.

That doesn’t eliminate the fact that the ‘new’ tire they put on is bad (L tried to add air to it and it wouldn’t stay inflated), but Cramer’s part in this drama does seem to be significantly reduced.

This is why I like to get all the facts before I start saying bad things about people or start waving my fists around.

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Good Food, Good Friends, Not So Good Movies

L has a ritual that he goes out with some of his friends a few weekends a month for dinner and a movie. I was invited to tag along tonight.

I was asked for my vote for dinner and didn’t want to suggest anything since I prefer for locals to choose the best option. Cheddar’s Casual Café came up as a definite finalist and I was happy to agree to that.

I had the same thing as I did at the Cheddar’s in Selma, a spicy sweet chicken and shrimp combo. Nothing else on the menu was as remotely appealing, even though everything looked great! I ordered mashed potatoes with gravy on the side and the gravy was white! I need to order gravy at every stop and see when it changes to brown! 🙂

For the movie, we went to see ‘Mud’, a coming of age story with a lot of potential but too much length. I’d give it a 4.5 and L would give it at 3. It’s one of those movies where the characters are much more interesting than is the story. It was the first movie I’ve seen in a theatre since I left Virginia!

The movie is set (and was filmed) in Arkansas. Why is that state ‘Ar-ken-sah’ while the state I am in right now, Kansas, is ‘Kan-zes’?

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So That’s How a Log Feels In the Morning

I went to bed around 9:00 last night and slept straight through to 4:00 (sounds crazy early, but that was 7 straight hours!). I threw OFF a couple of blankets, snuggled up against Neelix (who was snoring to raise the roof; I love me a content kitty), and slept for another three hours! One good night doesn’t make up for a string of bad ones, but it helps!

L had told me to watch for the house door opening in the morning to signal that it was time to come in for breakfast! WOW! That happened around 8:00 and I went in to find coffee, bacon, bagels, fresh fruit, and more. Am I glad to be here! I had a chance to meet his daughter, too.

I have a few projects to work on today, but I’ll get started on laundry at some point and have a shower before we go out to dinner and a movie with some of his friends.

It’s too wet out to get under the rig, but I’m not leaving Monday so we have (ie. L has) time to get some repairs done before I take off.

We looked at a map last night and he gave me a really good compromise route. Instead of going diagonally through Nebraska and the Dakotas on secondary roads (with few overnighting options), I should just shoot north through those states and then swing west through the top of North Dakota; basically the route I took to go east last year. It’s such an obvious option that I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself!

It’ll be a little more mileage than the diagonal route, but at least I’d be on the US side for gas prices, I’d know where to overnight, and if the calendar catches up with me, I’d be able to go into Canada quickly. So that’s what I’ll do. I just checked the map and if I drive 500KM a day, from Wichita I’m five days from my property on that route.

I was originally going to hang out in Stromsburg, NE, and cannonball from there, but the revised route puts me through Hankinson with the super cheap FHU casino RV park, so that would be a better place to hang out. I may make it back to Canada yet!