Retired Nomads: Finally, our RV Nightmare is Over!

Happy Birthday this month to Erika, Greg & Mary!

Monday – July 10: Well, today the body shop tech from La Mesa called a half an hour after he was supposed to be here to cancel due to rain. It has been raining most of the day on and off. He rescheduled for tomorrow. Yeah, I’m holding my breath aren’t you?

Tuesday – July 11: Today the body shop tech had not shown up an hour and a half after our appointment and had not called, so Greg calls him. He waffled a bit and said that he was out in the shop. Greg told him that we were bringing it into La Mesa tomorrow and pretty much told him he WILL do what is needed tomorrow. (more photos or whatever else he needs for an estimate)

Wednesday – July 12 We had a 9:30 appt at La Mesa to have the washer hopefully repaired and reinstalled correctly. Despite my calls to Brandt Appliance Repair to make sure our appointment went off without a hitch, We got a call from La Mesa around 2:00 saying that they still had not shown up. I call Brandt and she says we are on the schedule from 3 to 5. They were told it needed to be early afternoon 12 to 2 since La Mesa still has to reinstall the washer and then it had to be tested again. The woman just kept saying it can’t be changed they will be there between 3 – 5. We called La Mesa and talked to our Service Advisor again and he said there would be someone there to let the repair man work, but unless they got there closer to 3 than 5 that there probably wouldn’t be time for it to be reinstalled. Greg said to keep us informed of the progress as we were waiting to see if we needed to stay in a hotel or not. He remained hopeful that it could get done. After 5:00 we called to see what was up since no one called us and the girl took a message and said she would have the SA call us. We waited and waited and no call came. We finally just drove to the hotel and checked in. Yep, still waiting for that call. On the up side, the body shop guy did look at the roof and will work out an estimate to present to Fleetwood. Once the roof is repaired, then the 2 techs from La Mesa & Fleetwood can work on how to get the awning installed correctly.

Thursday July 13: Just as we were pulling into the La Mesa driveway we got a call from our Service Advisor saying the washer had been tested and we could come pick up the coach. We said we’d be there shortly. I drove “the toad” to a parking lot outside of their gates to leave it while we took the coach to the local Flying J for diesel fuel. Since we have been parked most of the time, it’s the first time we have done that. It only needed half a tank, but it’s always best to keep it above half. It was pouring rain on and off all day and the drive from the La Mesa was in a gully washer. We watched a car in the fast lane spin out on the freeway and lucky for us he didn’t spin in our direction. I guess lucky for him too, he spun and then slid down into the gutter and just went it looked like he might roll, the car chunked to a stop at the bottom of the ditch full of water.

La Mesa said that the body shop got the information needed to make the estimate to give to Fleetwood and that would take a couple of days.

I called Whirlpool to let them know that again Brandt did a poor job of scheduling our job since they don’t put down it’s in an RV. So, second complaint on that. They appreciate the feedback and they said they will need to talk to Brandt to see if they can improve their service. I said due to their mistake it cost us a night in a hotel. (yep, our spot here at the RV park is also pre-paid)

Greg called Fleetwood to update our progress to them. The lady said that our work has already been approved, but La Mesa didn’t know that yet. (late in the day and they had already gone home) To authorize what we need to do to get future hotel stays paid for has to wait until Monday since that guy was off until Monday. So, it at least feels like we are finally making some headway. I did a few loads of laundry yesterday! Hopefully, they can start the work on the roof and awning next week. They said it could take around 5 days to complete.

Friday July 14: Nothing really happened today. The usual La Mesa did not call back after saying they would call right back.

The weekends are a reprieve from “expecting something to be done” with the RV.

Scott & Sonya went to Iowa to visit his Grandpa for some quality time together and they helped with Dad's Kettle Korn concession at the Webster County Fair.

Scott popping his first batch

Scott & Dad

2 pretty handsome men at the fair

Monday July 17: No one called in the morning so after lunch Greg called La Mesa to see what was up. He found out that “Mr. No-Show” no longer worked there. (he did Friday) They checked and yes they got approval from Fleetwood to do the work. Greg asked how soon we could bring it in and they said tomorrow! Seriously, just like that? Not complaining, but they had said it would take a few days to get us scheduled. So, the next call was to Fleetwood to see what the procedure to book our hotel stays was. We just book it and submit the bill. They said “just don’t get a fancy room with a jacuzzi or anything”. OK, that leaves us quite a bit of room…haha. So, today we got packed up for a week and will check back into the Residence Inn in Port St Lucie. They said it would take around 5 days, so we will see. We are hopeful that his nightmare will end soon!

We visited a nature area called McCarty Ranch Preserve and we found a few birds at sunset:

Common Nightjar

Limpkin

Green Heron (immature)

We also went in search of a Burrowing Owl that was reported in a park near by. They are a protective species. We walked all over the park and the surrounding ball fields and the high school that was there. After we found it we realized that it could have been reported a bit more accurately. It actually was right at the high school and since it's a protected species its' area was fenced off and had a big sign talking about the owl. It was standing just outside of the burrow and appears to be a "almost an adult".

standing next to his burrow

what pretty eyelashes you have!

We saw this Reddish Egret in a swampy area by the hotel in a construction area

Reddish Egret

Wednesday August 2: Yes, we are still at the Residence Inn (2 weeks and 1 day, but who’s counting?) We were told last week it would be ready and then were told not until this week today in fact. However, it sounded like they had just started working on it and now they say tomorrow. Seriously????

It hasn’t been a peaceful stay at the hotel this time due to softball leagues staying here. Mainly girls that shriek and yell constantly. One night they were in the pool screaming until after midnight. (normally, they stopped shrieking before midnight.) They play in the halls and are constantly slamming doors going in and out of their rooms. One night we had to step over and through them to get out of our room. They kick a ball in the halls and it hits the walls and the guest’s rooms doors. The parents are as bad as the kids. They are loud as well and never say anything to the kids. They leave the kids to make as much noise as they want and they go to another room to party.

Night before last we overheard a confrontation with a guest (right outside our door) that sounded like it could have turned into a fight. The guest yelled at the kids/parents and of course the entitled softball group yells back like they have the right to disturb everyone else staying here. Yikes! We really are enjoying this RV life…..ha ha.

Aug 3 – Whoo-Hoo!! We got the coach back!! It was supposed to be ready at 11:00. But they had to repaint an area and it needed more drying time. So, after 1:00 we could pick it up. We got packed and checked out of the hotel, went for lunch and then went to pick it up. The tech heard a popping noise when bringing out one of the slides and said he would fix it if we didn’t mind waiting another 30 minutes. He got it shaved down so it wouldn’t drag anymore and problem solved. (it’s a common complaint) That was nice of him to do. We had noticed the noise, but hadn't addressed it with them.

We headed to the RV Resort where we had been staying and since it’s low season here, we knew there would be spaces available without a reservation. We got the same spot we were in before. We booked for a week so we can get the rest of the stuff we still have in storage that needs to be put into the coach, plus Greg has a lot of “little things” to get done before we take off.

There is a cute Common Gallinule nesting in the pond in front of our coach. When we were here before she had a young brood. We always call them "swamp chickens". Here are some photos of her: