Oops!

August 10, 2011—Stuff happens. Everyone knows that. And it seems to happen more frequently to novice RoVers.

The night before last we camped in a small amenity-free RV camp off I10 in Balmorhea, Arizona, about 150 miles from El Paso. No frills, but we had full hookups, and we rested well. When I say no frills, I mean it: The camp didn’t even have cable available (although the RV directory and website said it did). We were in a valley, pretty far from anywhere. We could pick up one lonely radio station and no TV on our antenna, although Jim tried redirecting the signal several times.

After a good night’s sleep, we packed up and started on drive westward. Around lunchtime, we stopped at a picnic area and got out of the motorhome. Guess what? We had been traveling with the TV antenna pitched high into the sky! Good thing we hadn’t gone under any low overpasses!

Last night we treated ourselves to a KOA in Lordsburg, Ariz. KOAs have the reputation for being nice, and this one had some amenities, including a pool. We opted to pay a little extra for a pull-through so that we would not have to unhook the car and back in. The pull-through also had sewer hookup.

Jim plugged in the electricity, then the cable, and the water. Then he opened the storage door to the sewer hose. Uh…Seems that he left it back in Balmorhea. Oops!

Oh, well. He said it had a pinprick hole in it anyway and he was planning to replace it. Fortunately, our tanks were empty, so the lack of hose did not pose a problem. It did serve to remind us to double-check everything. I had not gone outside when Jim had unhooked us; from now on, I will, to serve as a second set of eyes.

We stopped in Tucson at Camping World and purchased a few needed items (like sewer hose!), then continued westward. Several miles outside of the city, we were stopped by a traffic accident—an overturned DOT water truck. Traffic was backlogged for miles. I lost track of how long we were stopped.

At one point, I looked out my window. A black SUV pulled up and a lady rolled down her window. I opened mine, and she asked, “We have a little emergency…Would you mind terribly if my friend used your bathroom?”

Of course we let her.

I had just been thinking how nice it was to have the toilet available. I’m glad we were able to help someone out.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant Rover,

Linda