May 20, 2024
We headed to Golden, Colorado this morning. At the first rest stop, we discovered the taped on bag over the broken skylight had sailed away.
At the next rest stop, we discovered the hole in the skylight was bigger.
The plastic bags covering the broken fan covers stayed on the whole way, all 335 miles.
The insult happened as we drove into the stop and go traffic on I-70 in Denver. Bruce realized the RV brakes were gone. He had to depend entirely on the truck for braking.
Thank goodness we bought a truck that could handle a load of 30,000 pounds. The trailer is 21,000 pounds.
We made it safely and on the concrete pad, we could see brake fluid drips. Bruce was able to determine it was the rear tire on the passenger side.
After we got set up, it started raining. Fortunately, it was a light rain, so we didn’t get a lot of rain into the shower before Bruce could tape another bag over the skylight.
Adventures in traveling, these are not the type of adventures we want!
Blackberry Homestead 
continue praying….
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Thank you!
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It sounds like you got a free shower inside your RV courtesy of Mother Nature! 😆
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Yep! Unfortunately, the water runs around the edges to outside the shower and drips down the wall.
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Better days are ahead! Good luck! I know you and Bruce will get everything back in good order!
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I hope so!🤞
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I think it must be part of the RV package. When I went on the RV trip with my cuz, we lost the cover to the fan vent. It was not the level of disaster for you, but I know it was no fun to deal with. I hope all will be well soon!
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It just seems worse in an RV because you don’t know if it is going to have to go to the shop and we’ll be without a place to live. When our house was severely damaged by hail, it felt bad, but not as unsettling as the damage to the RV.
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I am sure that is worrisome. Hoping that it will not take long, or that you have folks nearby who will take you in. If I happens in Mississippi ever, or even an adjoining state, let me know. You will be welcome in our guest room and we will cook up a storm outside or inside. As I told my niece once, it isn’t the Taj Mahal, though I have a vintage WW II Taj Mahal pillow my dad brought home if it helps, and I have great songs by Mississippi’s on Taj Mahal.
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Thank you so much for your kind offer. Hopefully, we won’t have this much nature damage again! We’ve got a lot of friends in the area, so we may be staying with some of them depending on how it goes.
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Julia, Sorry to hear about all your weather problems. Happily you had a skilled driver on board who could deal with the brake failure!! Love, Howard
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I am grateful we are all okay and that we bought a truck that could handle the trailer when it lost brakes. Bruce skillfully managed to get us safe in our campsite.
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For future reference, I found that cutting one of the ripstop plastic pet food bags, and using gorilla tape to reinforce it and attach it, lasted for months of travel when the lid to my top vent blew off. I don’t know if your tiny Nox eats food from large enough bags, though. My cat does – I now carry one with my tools just in case; it also contains dirty stuff, or protects from wet clothing, etc.
Losing brakes is a whole ‘nother level of scary, though. I’m glad you bought a truck with the extra wiggle room for towing.
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That’s a great idea. We do have a large bag from Nox’s dog food that should work.
The RV adjuster says the roof needs to be replaced. He is expecting the cost to come up to $20,000 at least. Ugh!😩
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UGH!!! is right! But I’m more concerned about the prospect of you being “homeless” while it’s fixed.
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We are concerned about being “homeless” as well. Since we’ll have to stay somewhere that takes dogs, that will limit our options.
The insurance has a limited emergency fund for us to use for housing.
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Well, that’s not something you need to worry about until you know if you are taking it to the factory, and they give you some idea of how long repairs will take. And they may well have a list of Air B&B in the area; I’m sure major repairs happen a lot, requiring nomads to find a place to stay. Or they might have a rig you can rent. Or maybe then is the time to go to Paris…
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Ohhh, great idea, I’d love to see Spain!
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