Learning the ropes. Always important. Started reading the manual today. Realized we have been driving this Piscean boy all wrong. Almost put the girls in danger this time around.
Somehow we can’t seem to get a ‘long’ girls trip in. It always gets shortened by one thing or another. Saturday it was a flat tire. Right off the bat. Thankfully we were still filling up the water tanks at the Brewery. No idea what happened. Just checked all the tires with the big, beefy truck tire gauge. 5 minutes later, full flat. While starting to change the tire, I opened the manual to the “how to change your tire” section. What did it say?
“Do not ever change your own tire!!!” They were quite serious, so we called in the tire repair man. (note to self, up AAA to include RV) He worked fast and hard in the heat. (The girls waited by driving around the Brewery in a big neon fish and drinking prosecco.) We gave him some water, hugs, and took his picture and were off!
Our tire fixer. Thank you!
I did pretty well on the drive up, considering it was only my second time driving. The girls were fabulous co-pilots and I realized how awesome it is to not have to think of anything but the road.
We went up to Table Mountain in Big Pines, near Wrightwood. The weather is just starting to turn, so it was crisp, clear and there was real air to breathe. Got in with enough time to settle in for sunset.
Marie and the Mountain
Mmmm. Crisp.
Happy Camping
Notice the wheels off the ground. Still disturbing to me.
Perfect. Almost…
We kept hearing a humming sound in the midst of all the quiet. Thinking it was just a far away neighbor doing some woodwork, we tried our best to ignore it. Yet it kept getting louder and louder over the whole 45 minutes it was running. Every few minutes it would stop, we would relax into the quiet with relief, then the sound would start again. Louder each and every time. Total torture, as now it was the only thing we are focusing on when we should be sighing with contentment and watching an amazing sun set over amazing giant pine trees with amazing birdsong in the air. Finally it is so close we look over. It’s a guy running a leaf blower! At 6:30 at night on a Saturday night! The busiest night of a holiday weekend with the campground as close to full and everyone enjoying the quiet and sunset. I find it a bit difficult to believe that this is a normal time to start loudly cleaning the campground. It was making us nuts.
So, we did go up to him and kindly ask him to stop, which he did. Then he drove around our loop only to briskly come back with book in hand accusing us of taking up too much space and asking us to pay for a day use fee, or for the second site that we had sat at for a total of about an hour, which was literally about 20 feet from our RV. We didn’t actually have to pay, as he just needed his honor restored or needed to vent, or, really, who knows. But it was oddly disturbing and passive aggressive. Not happy with that.
Other than that, the campground was gorgeous and refreshing. No bears to be seen anywhere. Nor bobcats. We took a fabulous hike in the morning and I let Marie run free a bit. That was perfect and there was no leaf blowing going on to torture us.
The darling.
The girls.
Removing wet, smoky wood.
Getting ready for sunset wine.
I realize that I am terrified of going down hill in the RV. Terrified. You are up so high, right in front almost pushed up to the windshield, with 19,000 lbs. of weight behind you, all pushing you down that hill. Yikes. Then you are getting pushed around steep curves with drops right off the side of the road. And you are up so high… So, anyway, I think I might have been hard on the brakes (yes, I learned all about shifting gears later, after the fact). Filling up on gas at the Shell station, I realize there are no longer any brakes on the 19,000 lb. ginormous, huge vehicle that is really a house. Push down to the floor and we are still rolling. In said giant house. No brakes is kind of a scary thing. The girls kept me calm of course and so we waited a good while to see if they would cool down and hopefully work again. Nope. Still moving with the brake pedal on the floor. A bit more downhill to go, too. Yes, I am still in my terrified state.
This is where I realized that they want you to read the manual before you drive for a reason. Tiny little blurb in there about resetting your back brakes by backing up and hitting the brakes a few times. Again, scary, since there ARE no brakes. But I manned up and did it. Worked like a charm. Brakes reset and we could continue home. I think I just drove by shifting gears after that and stayed as far away from the brakes as possible. I believe I am going to add a hand towel next to the steering wheel so that I can wipe my sweaty palms as often as needed. I may need a few towels.
Made it home safe and sound from another girls adventure. Had a beer to cool my brain. Learned a ton of stuff about driving our rig and safety. Fortunate that everything happened the way it did. Thankful for that. Little lessons, not big ones.
And what am I doing now? Reading the manual of course…
Peace to all...
On the road we will see...
United States 
