Usually, by this time, Tom and I are in Georgia.  Not this year.  This year we have a delayed departure due to the RV being in the shop.  As of today, we are not sure when we will be heading south but I hope it is soon.  Enough of all this snow and cold stuff.

We have been waiting on our RV to be fixed since the beginning of October.  The problem is the living room slide.  Occasionally, in the past, we have had to “help” the slide go in.  The slide operates on two motors, and if the two little motors don’t work at exactly the same speed, the slide goes crooked and can get stuck.  Tom would push on one side or another to hurry up the motor and all would be well.

On the last day of our September trip, the living room slide did not want to go in.  We tried going out and in, with Tom “helping” as he had in the past.  Finally, with a lot of pushing on his part, we got the slide in.  We were thankful, because you can’t drive the RV down the road with the slide out.  We didn’t even want to try to get it out again until we got home.  When we got back to Ohio, we watched some videos on realigning the slide and we tried, but nothing.  No movement at all.

Tom called RCD RV, the dealer where we bought the RV, on October 1.  They have a very large service department.  The earliest they could even look at the RV was the middle of November.  Tom explained about volunteering in the National Parks and how we needed the RV fixed by the end of December.  We didn’t want a delayed departure to Georgia.  He was assured that it wouldn’t be a problem.

We thought about driving the RV to Georgia and getting it fixed there.  But there is the same problem with getting timely service in Georgia.  And, with the slide stuck in, we couldn’t use the microwave or stove in the RV kitchen.  It seemed better to get it fixed before we started out.

We took the RV in on our scheduled appointment date and waited to hear from the service department.  Two weeks later they finally looked at it.  It needed a new slide assembly, which is what we told them when we scheduled the appointment.  Of course they didn’t have any in stock.  Why would they carry something in stock that is one of the #1 things to break on a Coachman Leprechaun?  Just because they sell them and service them regularly.  They would order the part from Lippert in Indiana, but they weren’t sure how long it would take for the part to come in.

We offered to drive to Lippert in Elkhart and pick it up and our service tech said he would check on it.  When he called us back, he said Lippert would be able to ship it within a week and that would be plenty of time for it to be installed and for us to be on our way.

Our service tech us again on December 15.  The part had not arrived yet and the shop would be closed from December 16 through December 27 for Christmas break.  He expected the part to be at the service department when they opened again on December 27 and they could install it right away.  We are still waiting.

At first Tom and I were stressed out about the part arriving and being installed.  We had plans.  John and Jackie were finally going to visit St. Simons Island and they were going to be there January 2.  But, after a couple of sleepless nights on my part, we realized we just had to let it go.  We are volunteers at Fort Frederica.  Although we would like to be there working on January 2, and they would like to have us there, if we couldn’t make it, that’s just the way it would have to be.  We were also disappointed that we wouldn’t be there to greet John and Jackie.

Instead of being at Fort Frederica and seeing John and Jackie there, we are taking care of their dogs.  This allows John and Jackie to have a more restful, relaxed vacation, and gives us something to do while we wait for the RV to be repaired.  We are hoping the RV will be done by the time John and Jackie get back.  But, if not, we will try to stay relaxed about it.  There are important things to worry about in life and this isn’t one of them.

We have a delayed departure for Georgia.  When we will be on the road?  We don’t know but we enjoy this relaxed time in Ohio in the interim.