Last week I carried a couple of things from the RV out to the truck.  I left Tom sitting on the couch, relaxing after a long day of hiking.  I was looking forward to a shower – getting rid of the layer of dust, grit and sweat from the hike.  But when I returned to the RV, I couldn’t open the door.  I was locked out of the RV!

Well, technically, I wasn’t locked out.  The latch on the door handle broke so the door wouldn’t open.  Tom tried to get it open from the inside, but no luck.  To compound the problem, you have to open the screen door to take the plate off the door.  But to open the screen door, you have to be able to open the door!

Tom, of course, being a brilliant problem solver, told me he would have the door open in a few minutes.  At first I stood by the door waiting expectantly.  When it turned out it was going to take longer than a few minutes, I asked him to hand me my iPad.  In order to do that, he had to take a screen off the window and slide it out.  But, as long as I had my iPad and a shady spot to sit, I could stay outside for a while.

Tom worked and worked on the door.  He got part of the screen door off.  Then he took off the latch plate.  Unfortunately, because the latch had broken off, the only way to get it out was to grab it and pull it out.  But there wasn’t any way to grab it and Tom’s power tools were in the truck.  The window openings aren’t big enough to allow us to pass power tools in and out.  I offered to get the Sawzall and cut the door open, but Tom didn’t think that was a good idea.

With the few tools at his disposal, Tom chipped away at the covering for the latch.  When he had most of it out, he drilled a hole in the piece of metal and moved it out enough to be able to grab it and pull it out.  All of this took about 90 minutes.

Meanwhile I was still locked out.  I sat outside and heard lots of hammering, tools clanking, and pieces falling to the floor.  Every ten minutes he would yell out that he almost had it.  He was determined to get the door open so we could be reunited.

At last he got the door open – as I knew he would.  He is, after all, brilliant at problem solving.  When I got inside I admired all the pieces he took out and all the ingenuity he showed with the limited tools available.  We agreed it was a good thing he was inside and I was outside when I got locked out.

After some discussion and research, we ordered a replacement door handle and latch which arrived a few days later (thanks Amazon Prime!).  Tom installed it yesterday and it works perfectly.  Hopefully we will never be separated by an unopenable door again!