L&K Take America

Were you thinking that things had been going too well for a couple of days? Yeah…that came to a pretty abrupt stop when we arrived in Yosemite. The drive was pretty long, but I thought we could fit in parts of Yosemite National Park the day we arrived. So I jumped out of the Jeep like I normally, went to put the tongue jack down….and…errrrrrrrrr! Nothing happened when I pressed the “up” switch. No noise, no clicking…NOTHING! Well that’s a new challenge seeing how during the demo they basically told me I would never want to manually put the jack down. Swell…

After trying to just push the switch up and down a few times (you never know when the puppet masters will have had enough fun and just stop messing with you, so it can’t hurt to just switch it up and down a few hundred times), I decided to get the manual out which was absolutely and completely useless. It actually didn’t tell me how to manually lower the foot at all. Of course, because this is how my life works, there was ZERO cell phone service so I couldn’t even call my lifelines for help.  Thinking I was smart enough to figure this out, I assumed it was the fuse in the motor that was bad and I went up to the campsite office with the fuse from the jack motor in my hand. This fuse looks like a tiny glass vial holding some deadly virus, and I handled it as such. Holding it very delicately up for the two ladies at the desk to inspect. “Well, we MIGHT have one of those,” one of the ladies said as she pulled out a drawer full of dime bags with hundreds of different fuses. We all rifled through the drawer, comparing my fuse with those in the bags. We found two that might be the same and off I went back to my site to try it. Hopeful as can be, I stick it in the little capsule where the fuse lives, close it up, take a deep breath, flip the switch…nothing. Psssttt….a little part of me deflated. So I dragged myself back up the hill to the office. A little defeated, I tell them the news. I ask if there is a mechanic I can call. They inform me that the only mechanic that they know of for 100 miles (no joke) is on vacation…for a month. Really???

Ok. Now what?! A guy who worked at the campsite walked in as we were chatting and he offered to come take a look at it. He told me that these were “really nice motors…practically bullet proof.” Helpful…thank you. Aside from that, he was able to figure out how to manually crank the foot down, but it was really sad when he did. There are all sorts of WARNINGS on the jack itself basically telling you NOT to remove what he removed in order to manually crank it and if you do, how there are 27 steps to make sure you put it back on correctly. He then gave the quick and dirty explanation about how to not electrocute myself when I go to put it back together and do this every time I set up and break down.  Great! I’m so excited for this new daily gauntlet.

Well, we manually cranked the jack down, which was painfully slow and 3 hours later, we had set up the camper and I needed a drink. The problem was definitely not solved, so as soon as I had cell service, I called Dad and Mike. It was pretty late at this point, so almost everywhere we could find to call about service was closed across the country. It would have to wait until the next day. Off we went to find some bourbon and dinner.

All through Yosemite, I had virtually no cell service, so Mike was kind enough to make a few phone calls to try to find someone who could fix the jack over the next couple of days in a our next couple of stops. Somehow, he was able to find someone’s brother’s cousin’s friend’s friend (slightly hyperbolic, but not too far off) who is the sole Airstream rental service in the US who happened to have a location in Las Vegas where I just so happened would be in just a few days and who happened to have JUST had the same problem with one of their Airstreams, and just so happened to have an extra part to fix it, and even though they didn’t normally do repairs on any units other than their own, they would do it for us out of good faith. Seriously??? Not sure how he pulled this one off, but I’m going to just say “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” and accept it without question. Through all of his phone calls, it was discovered that there are very few places who service Airstreams and those who do, basically no one fixes this issue. Talk about luck. So, it would just be a few days of suffering through manual set up and break down.

In other news, Yosemite is unreal. Seriously, most of it doesn’t even look like it’s real. It looks like a painting.

Amazing how different it is from Yellowstone. Not sure why I expected the two parks to be similar.

I had high hopes of driving further through Yosemite to see some “big trees” with Mom, but my anxiety got the best of me about halfway to said trees. The cliff driving was the most anxiety provoking I have experienced so far. I was actually having to dry my hands on my pants and wipe the steering wheel down as we drove because my hands were sweating so much. No joke. I may have also been saying, “Enough! We are high enough! Where are the damn guardrails?!?” a little louder than my normal in car tone. As a result, I made the executive decision that we would go the the Sequoia National Forest tomorrow instead of suffering through to see what may have been disappointing big trees.

The Sequoias had been part of our original plans, but we were set back in our plans due to the mechanical difficulties and decided to stay at Yosemite an extra night instead of heading to the Sequoia National Forest the next day. The decision to still visit the Sequoia’s meant that we would need to make an extra stop on our way to Vegas, where Mom would be flying out of on Thursday morning. A lot of driving, but hey, we have things to see!

The next morning, we wanted to leave early as we had a long drive. I set about breaking down, as I normally do. I was unplugging the electric cord from the camper, as I normally do, and ZAAAAPPPP!!!! I send an electric shock through one arm and down the other. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!!! What just happened?!??! Perplexed, I look at the plug as if it’s going to jump at me and grab me and realize what I can only assume the culprit is. You see, I haven’t yet replaced the damaged plug cover from when I hit the wall, basically because I’m terrified of electricity, and there are some tiny exposed wires on the cover itself. Silly me, since they were broken, I assumed they weren’t live. WRONG!!! The little wires are for a little light on the cover, so thankfully it wasn’t the full 250 volts that go into the plug itself. Hate that plug.

After trying to shake that little hair-raising experience (I actually think my hair may be curlier now), I go around to hook the Jeep to the trailer. For good measure, and because I had already been shocked once and didn’t want to chance it again if I didn’t need to, I tried the motorized jack switch. Just for fun. Why not, right? The stupid thing works. I just threw my hands in the air and walked away. I was actually really really angry at this inanimate object and needed to walk away from it. If other campers are every watching me, they must think a) I’m mostly useless and 2) out of my damn mind. I talk (and occasionally swear) to myself, the camper, the Jeep, and Luna…A LOT.

After I cooled off and finished hooking up and breaking down, we finally got on the road. Only 45 minutes late, as my mother so helpfully pointed out. Moms are good for that sort of thing.

Lesson of the Day: Don’t underestimate tiny red unassuming wires. They will rock your world.