For some obscure reason, this trip has been attended by a record number of (minor) failures, breakdowns, and various troubles with our equipment. It could be purely coincidental, or it could be a result of the law of averages; previous trips have generally been almost completely trouble-free.

Ralph’s obnoxious drive-line disconnect – – the dang shift linkage just won’t stay reliable. I’ve re-built it and re-designed it three or four times, and it continues to act up. I’m trying out some dry lubricant – – smooth right now.

High-altitude heater operation – – NOT. Our handy-dandy quiet, radiant-heat vent-less unit (been running great for two years) decided to have its pilot light go out, over and over. This happened up at around 9,000 feet. It wouldn’t work reliably again until we got down to around 7,000 feet. Turns out, these units are only specified to operate up to 4,500.

Howie’s side-panels flapping in the breeze – – Winnebago did not do well in this design area, with only sheet-metal screws holding a high-vibration assembly. The only real solution is a through-bolt and lock-nut, which I haven’t done with my on-the-road tooling…. yet. I just keep tightening or replacing the screws.

Our water system has a leak, somewhere – – the pump is normally silent, but every once in a while it thrumps, indicating it had to make up pressure loss. This happens even if we are not using any water. There’s a tiny puddle under the left side, behind the wheel. I’ve checked EVERYTHING in the coach that uses water – – bath, kitchen, shower, plumbing bay. No dampness at all. Current theory is that it’s from the toilet fresh-water supply valve. Impossible to inspect without removing toilet.

Oven wouldn’t light. Persistence. Or regulate. Went over-temperature, no idea why. Bought oven thermometer to monitor it.

Tire lost some pressure, like a slow leak. Tighten the sensor attachment, good.

Ralph’s air conditioning flat quit. Trouble-shot problems and found bad pressure switch. Whacked the switch with a 12-inch crescent wrench (didn’t have a hammer). Works (for a while). Bought a replacement switch in Vernal, Utah, but it could just as easily be the switch actuator. We’ll see.

Howie’s air-conditioning got stuck ON. No big deal, we usually don’t have any AC to run it. But when we started the generator for a quick microwave run, the air-conditioning went on; then when we used the microwave, it was too big a load and the generator shut down. This was a bad wall thermostat, and removing it solved the problem, but meant that the heater couldn’t be used. Bought a new thermostat in Gunnison, CO.

There’s some other stuff, but you get the idea.

For someone like me (fairly handy), all these problems are just some minutes spent analyzing and fixing. But I’ve met some really un-handy people on the road, and I wonder how they get along at all. It seems that owning and operating an RV is not a lifestyle for the technophobe, unless it’s okay to live within shouting distance of an RV repair facility, AND have the bucks to do the shouting.

Or maybe people just tough it out. I remember our rental RV in 2009, full of water leaks, with a fridge that froze ALL of our food, and a front suspension that almost killed us any time we descended a steep grade. Piece of junk. We used it for a week and gave it back, didn’t (try to) fix a thing.

“Opa can fix anything” is what my grandkids tell me. I guess this trip is my opportunity to live up to my reputation.