Make a plan. Work the plan, until the plan doesn’t work anymore. In June we looked ahead on our calendar towards August, and our stay in Minnesota.  We scheduled dental, doctor, optometrists, and mechanical appointments.  Staying with Gina (Deb’s sister) and her husband David at “Camp David” during our dry dock time was a real blessing.  All the appointments held, we were vetted, and checked out AOK health wise.  Our mechanical appointment was with an approved Forest River dealership.  In addition to regular maintenance work, and having two extra slide out awnings added we also had warrantee repairs that needed to be addressed.  About eight months ago we noticed a leak below the wardrobe slide out, and figured we would live with it until our dry dock time in August of 2019.

We purchased our Forest River travel trailer in Bossier City, LA.  It was a year-end close out model we were very interested in.  We were heading in that direction so we didn’t think anything out of the ordinary about purchasing it.  Now that some warrantee work is needed, it is out of the ordinary.  Even the Forest River website encourages purchasing their products at your local dealer.  Heck, we sold our home and logistically we do not have a local anything.

We set an appointment with a Forest River certified RV dealer only thirty minutes from “Camp David.” It was a logical choice, and very ideal for our stay in MN.  Yes they accepted the work, but little did we know that because we did not purchase it there, our work order was always being pushed to the back of the line.  It took sixty days from our August 5^th appointment to get the rig back.  The job is still not complete.  It needs to go back to the factory in Indiana, for completion. “ARRRRGGG!!!!!”   The dealer could arrange to ship it to the factory, or we could deliver it.  Shipping would add an additional four to six weeks to the time line.  So we are now on our way to Millersburg, IN.

A manufacturing defect had been detected. Basically several staples had penetrated a weather stripping seal allowing water to run along the underside of the wardrobe slide out, down the wall, and onto the bedroom floor.  The good news is that the dealer did install a new seal, replaced the inside wall panel and buttoned things up so we could use it.  The bad news is that black mold was discovered inside the wall.   The best effort of bleaching could not totally clean the damaged area.

Here is the prescribed fix.  Remove the wardrobe slide out, remove the dinette slide out, and peel back a portion of the rubber roof running the entire length of the trailer.  Then remove the entire side of the trailer (24’x 8’) and install a new sidewall.  The job is estimated to take four to five days.  Hopefully Forest River will put us up in a hotel room during the rebuild process.  This will be interesting.

The bright side is we had an extra month to visit with our Bible study group, hang out with friends, and relatives.  I think my mom particularly liked the extra visits too.  We did a lot of biking and hiking in our old stomping grounds.  Gina and Dave were very gracious hosts inviting us into their home.   Even still I think it is possible to over extend a welcome.  All in all it was a very fun time.  It would have been better had we known it would take so long for the RV work to be done.  As it was, we were hearing, “Next unit in the shop.” “Soon.”  “Waiting for approval.”  “Waiting for parts.”   Deb refers to the entire event as, “The saga.”

My reference was more like “Gawl dang, #^*R#^#$$^&*^%$!!!!”  I’m familiar with Ephesians 4:29   “Let no filthy talk be heard from your mouths, but only what is good for building up people and meeting the need of the moment. This way you will administer grace to those who hear you.”  Yet my flesh was going down a different path.  Bad Dan.  Now we are on the path to Indiana via Iowa. There we will visit with some TTR friends while we wait for our October 21 appointment at the Forest River factory.