....but they aren't related!
We have been doing this RVing business for over ten years now. When we hook up to go we both do a walk around and check everything to make sure the RV is ready to go. Roger starts on one side and I on the other so that we have two sets of eyes and each set is looking from a different angle. Rog refers to it as our pre-flight check. It's saved us big trouble in the past and is good practice. When we stop for a pit stop and for lunch Roger does a walk around, checks the tires, etc. - just like the big rig drivers do - while Maggie and I are off taking care of business. Today we stopped for lunch just off the interstate in a big dirt lot with plenty of room to get in and out. Roger did his walk around while the truck cooled down. Maggie piddled. We then opened the RV and put the main slider out about 12 inches so we could access the dining room table. We had our lunch, closed the door, put up the steps, got in the truck and drove off. I bet you can guess what we forgot to do. A few miles down the road we still hadn't noticed anything in the side view mirror. A pickup truck pulled up alongside Roger and the woman passenger was waving frantically and pointing at the RV. She looked panicked!! Sure enough, we are driving along with the slider hanging out about a foot! Fortunately it was on the shoulder side of the road and not the traffic side. We have a remote for operating the sliders so we were able to pull it in from the cab of the truck and not have to worry about getting out alongside the road. VERY rookie mistake. Can't believe we did it.
We were on the interstate in North Las Vegas at 8am. We had moderate traffic all the way to California where the road turns into two lanes each way and the traffic became a bit heavier. No major issues, just constant, heavy traffic all day. Are Sundays no longer a good bet to miss the mess? We still aren't sure we want to chance a week day if the highways are so congested on Sunday! We got here at Seal Beach around two o'clock. Roger said it wasn't awful but it sure wasn't a pleasant drive. The roads were rough in spots and the inside of the RV certainly showed it at the end of the day. Things were pretty discombobulated and a few things broken.
We got to the RV park, found a spot (no camp host on Sunday to assign one so we picked the best of the open ones) and started the business of setting up. Roger opened the sewer connection to hook up the sewer hose and many gallons of "stuff" came pouring out onto him and onto the concrete at his feet. (So glad we are at the back of the park with no one next to us to see it happen.) It was awful. He got it cleaned up and we tested the line. It didn't leak, but we still can't figure out why it happened. All the valves were closed - or appeared to be. All the bouncing around today on the rough roads maybe loosened one? Then there's the question: Where did it all come from? We've only been using it for one day. Did it not get totally empty when he cleaned it before we parked it? So many confusing things. The scene wasn't quite as bad as the one of Robin Williams in that RV movie he made, but it was close. Sitting here at the open window I still get an occasional odor wafting up. Roger is in the shower trying to get to where he feels clean again.
Roger's sister gave us a tip yesterday about an app called WAZE and I downloaded it for today's drive. It's a traffic app and seems to have thousands of users. The point is that as someone sees an accident or stopped traffic or a cop, or whatever that might effect driving conditions, they enter it into the app and you get an alert. It was great. We could see heaviest traffic and how long any back up was, we knew when there was someone on the side of the road, and when there was a policeman spotted. It's supposed to recommend alternate routes as well but luckily we didn't need to do that today. I recommend it. It was fun, too, because you are asked to update as you come to the alerted issue. If the car is no longer at the side of the road you just push that button that says "no longer there." This keeps the information current. It obviously needs a passenger to do this while the driver is busy, but it was helpful! Warning, though, it sucks the life out of your phone battery so have a car charger handy!
More tomorrow as we explore the RV park and Seal Beach.
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