So Much For Planning!

Pectol's Pyramid, Capitol Reef National Park, UT

I finished with doctor & dentist appointments, let "Meals of Wheels" I wouldn't be delivering for 5 months, cancelled a bunch of meetings scheduled throughout the Spring & Summer, and started packing the trailer. Since it takes a day or so for the refrigerator to get cold, I turned it on yesterday morning. I also added bleach & water to the fresh water system to sanitize it.

Then it was off for a swim, and back to the house to plan how to schedule stops between leaving Oswego & the first day of the Egg Camping Club's "5th Annual SE Spring Eggscursion April 19 - 22." Since I like to drive 200 miles or so per day & stop in early afternoon I planned my stops & left room for 4 days in Washington, DC.  I've been there a number of times since my daughter lived there up until last April, however we never spent much time in museums & I decided  to see some.  So, the schedule was set & I'm leaving on Thursday.  Yea, WAS has become the operative word.


The first thing I noticed was that the remote thermometer sensor in both the freezer & the refrigerator sections was going up, not down - sure never saw that before.  In the past it never took a full 24 hours to reach normal temperatures, if fact it was usually ready to go in 10 - 12 hours.  When I went to bed it was still 5° above the outside temperature.

This morning it was at the outside temperature - 44°F.  I did the usually wiggling of things, shaking the entire trailer to get things flowing, switched back & forth between electric & gas, etc & no change.  The chimney was getting hot on gas or electric, I could hear gurgling in the coils, so it seemed like at least part of it was working, but still no cooling.

Made a call & off we went to Camping World in Syracuse, the nearest Dometic repair facility.  The end result?  A bad cooling unit - unusual in a 12 month old trailer.  The good - it is under warranty.  Another good - Maybe the bad cooling unit is part of the problem I had this summer with erratic cooling. The bad - A call to Dometic still has not been returned after 4 hours as to the availability of a replacement.  Camping World said it would take a couple of days if it is in stock at Dometic, otherwise at least a week or two.  Rather than wait to hear on the availability, I headed home & will wait for a call when Camping World hears from Dometic. Since it isn't all that popular size (5 cu. ft.) I'm not optimistic. Oh well, at least I didn't make reservations other than the July rally in Oregon & they promise me it will be repaired by then!

I did get to try my new "Grand Areo Towing Mirrors". They took a bit of time to set up, but there is very little shake even at 60mph, and they stayed in place & in adjustment over the rough roads & wind between here & Syracuse.

So, I'm back in Oswego with a half packed, sanitized trailer but who knows when I'll be ready to go!

Till next time...