Pieschels' RV Adventures II Furnace Creek, Death Valley

Furnace Creek at Death Valley National Park. 540 miles round trip. We are now officially RVers...OMG, narrow roads with oncoming RVs the size of small cities... Some stretches with such an incline that we could only go 30 mph... There is actually a website called "flattestroute.com" where you can enter your origin and destination and it will suggest...wait for it.... the flattest route! The service guys must have fixed the leak in the skylight because we were at 282 feet below sea level and didn't get a drop of water in the trailer. Good job!

Great times with Chris Elliott and Debra Lesin Elliott celebrating Debra's birthday. As always, my beautiful and charming wife Sandra Pieschel was not only the perfect glamping hostess, (You know she puts the "glam" in glamping) but she's really getting the hang of setting up and tearing down the trailer. Thanks for all your help my dearest. So nice to sleep with you in the desert night, with a million stars all around. Most peaceful and easiest of feelings...

Back from the shop

Retrieved the trailer from the service department after having them address a few issues that arose during the shake down voyage.
1. Obviously the leaky skylight (No hon, just think of it as a 2nd shower...)
2. The propane tanks were installed backward so you had to use your cellphone to take a picture of the gauge to see how full the tanks were.
3. The cables attached to the back of the TV weren't as long as the extension arm for the TV, therefore, every time you fully extended the TV from it's storage space, all of the cables ripped out of either the TV or the wall.
4. One of the ceiling lights didn't work.
5. The trailer needed to have the weight redistributed.  The Xterra front end felt light.
6. I couldn't get the heater to work without taping on the thermostat.  The service guys said they couldn't duplicate the problem.  Well, it duplicated as soon as I got home....we'll see.
Next adventure, Furnace Creek in Death Valley.  No moon and Death Valley is an International Dark Sky location which means no street or building lights.  Looking forward to a lot of astrophotography.

December 30, 2016

So, I went out this morning to put some of Sandy's incredible Mac and Cheese in the trailer fridge in preparation for our noon departure to Crystal Cove  Much to my surprise, when I entered the trailer, I was met with a stream (no I'm not exaggerating) of water coming through the skylight and 1/2" of water (again, not exaggerating) on the floor of the trailer.

Here's where the new retirement mentality kicks in:  My first thought (OK, other than yelling the "F" word at the top of my lungs) was: 1.  It didn't get on any upholstery and 2.  I appeared to have caught it early.

I called the dealer and tried to explain my problem.  I made the mistake of giving the service guy the model number of my trailer (1985).  He had a hard time trying to understand how I thought he was responsible for the repair of my 31 year old trailer...anyway he told me to bring it in and they could easily re-seal the skylight and they closed at 2:00 pm.

I showed up at 1:05 pm in their left turn lane with both gates closed and no one answering the phone.

New retirement mentality kick #2:
I decided "The heck with it".  We had a nice weekend planned for Crystal Cove and I wasn't going to let anything mess us up.

I had already stopped the streaming leak by slightly tilting the trailer. (BTW, NOWHERE in ANY of the literature, does it tell you to slightly tilt the trailer after you've leveled it to facilitate drainage, on the contrary, many of the manuals associated with components of the trailer, i.e., refrigerator, slide out etc., require the trailer to be leveled for proper operation.)  Also, the roof of the trailer appears to be flat, allowing water to pool when the trailer is leveled.  Hello?  I know I'm just a High School Science Teacher, but seriously? How hard would it be to put a slight pitch on the roof? Really?  That's kind of embarrassing....

Trip to Crystal Cove relatively uneventful as I played the game of "Who's towing Who?" with the trailer.

After practicing in regular size parking spaces in the theater lot, parking in a real RV space was easy!  I know they won't all be like this, but I got in on the first try!

It rained all weekend, but it really didn't matter.  We ate lobster tails the first night, then had visitors and had tri-tip on the new RV BBQ next night and everything was good with the world.

Rainy weather is a whole different thing when you're snuggling with your honey in the trailer....

Few glitches discovered along the way, thermostat probs, lights inop, leaky roof, but no deal breakers.

I think it's important to point out that RVing is not just something you "do".  You really have to be ready to buy into the entire philosophy that goes along with it.  Nobody will tell you.  Nobody will teach you.  But one day, when you least expect it, you'll realize that you didn't get upset when something didn't go as expected.  Or when you finally are able to get around to some things you thought you'd never be able to do, then you have the time to do this RV thing properly.

I'm just sayin'

...more to come