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When we left you last, we were rain soaked… Yeah! The rain finally stopped!! Sunshine! Cooler Temps! Nothing does more for one’s outlook than sun and temps in the 70s! Pat and I spent a week in the church parking lot in Topeka... then drove to Wichita for the weekend concert and Sunday services. The weather was fine and we are beginning to feel human again after two weeks of rain.
Then we were en route to Milwaukee... there was a front just behind us causing some wind but the sun was shining and we were hoping for clear skies ahead! And maybe a little less wind, since we do drive a 12 foot high, 32 foot long "sail"! ;-) Milwaukee and Rochester were great then it was time to head home.
Pat and I pulled into our Cumming GA RV lot around 8:00 pm October 9th. The trip home was a rough one... not sure why other than the rain, wind, distance (1100 miles), our level of fatigue and crummy roads... and possible front end alignment issues... But I'm getting ahead of myself... let's go back to the beginning of our trek home.
First of all, upstate Wisconsin was beautiful! The fall colors were approaching their peak and the weather was perfect. Pat and I spent three days between our concerts in Milwaukee and Rochester MN looking at God's masterpiece! Then on our final miles toward Rochester, we stopped in Wabasha MN at the National Eagle Center. The Center is on the Mississippi river in the migration path of the mighty bald eagle. They have 4 rescued eagles in residence and I thought my birding sweetie was never going to leave the eagle's room! From there we drove the last few miles to the church in Rochester, MN.
The Rochester church and their host Lutheran church took very good care of us. After a great weekend, Monday came and it was time to start home. The weather was overcast but temps were fine so we made our normal preps for departure... disconnect the water and electric... stow all belongings inside for travel.... and pull up the levelers... pull up the levelers! Sound familiar? The same leveler that kept us from touring in July would not retract! Pat and I tried several things... reset the system, prayed and lubricated the leveler jacks... We were both thinking, "God we cannot stay in Minnesota for the next few weeks while they order parts and try to diagnose the problem like we did in July!" But finally, after 4 or 5 resets, they finally retracted!
We decided not to lower them again until we got home. If we were going to be stuck somewhere… better it should be at home! This turned out to be a good decision since upon arriving home; they seem to be stuck in the retracted position. So I think we will be calling our ole repairman, Roger, to take another stab at fixing the problem. ‘Cause call me crazy, but I think a repair should last longer than 2 months!
We are still waiting on parts (we have been waiting 5 weeks as of the writing of this letter) and the coach sways every time one of us moves around inside, so pray for us as we wait yet another time for repairs. More to come in our continuing RV saga...
This trip started September 2nd and has been very wet thus far…
One night en route to Tulsa, we had some pretty heavy rain in Arkansas... Pat and I watched the water rise around us but fortunately it only got a few inches deep. There were tornado warnings all around but we are fine. It is hard to tell where you are on TV weather maps when you are travelling. We don't always know what county or city we are in...
We had a wonderful time in Tulsa and then stayed a few days with church members, Terri and Janice, parked at their horse farm where they had hook-ups for the RV. They were great company. It has rained every day of this trip... first we were trying to outrun Gustav, then major rain that came in from the west, now Ike is going to dump more rain on the mid-west! What is the deal?
We left Terri and Janice's place on Thursday morning and had to disconnect our RV in pouring rain... Pat, of course, still looked cute... wet, but cute... I looked like a wet cat... not pretty... but wait… there's more. We drove to Wichita with a small detour to Pawnee OK for fun. Overnight, the rain storm caught up with us... It rained hard ALL night... really hard. So we woke to flood warnings and road closures due to flooding. I looked at Pat and said... "We gotta get the heck out of Dodge". And once again we unhooked our RV in pouring rain... don't ask, it wasn't pretty!
We didn't have any closed roads on our route but we sure saw plenty of flooding!
We stopped at a Wal-Mart just outside of our destination in Topeka, KS... and guess what? It was again pouring rain but, since we don't have a car, we needed to get supplies for the weekend before arriving at the church... so you guessed it! We are wet again! But we are here in Topeka and don't have to drive anywhere for a few days... and yes, it's still raining.
In the past, Pat’s pride jewelry has only been available at concerts. Not one concert goes by that someone doesn’t ask if the jewelry is online… well now it is! We have just published Pride Rocks Store! Feel free to go to www.priderocksstore.com and check it out!!
We have had a circus here during the past few weeks. It took over a week for the first RV part to arrive… The leveler motor was installed and the repair tech then tried to reprogram the leveler system. It still didn’t work. In the mean time, Pat and I are living in the RV with no levelers down and rocking back and forth with every movement. AND now the slides are stuck in the out position. This is fine for living, but did I tell you we were almost out of propane, which powers our water heater and stove? You can’t drive the RV with the slides out. We decided that showers were more important than cooking so we began cooking in the microwave and toaster oven.
At this point, the techs began the long process of tracing the wiring though the motorhome. Now I don’t know if you have ever looked at the wiring in an RV before but let me tell you, it is EVERYWHERE!! I was able to help with some of the locations but the repair tech found even more relays. It took the good part of two days and two repair techs to find a bad relay on a circuit board. And of course, the manufacturer says you must replace the entire board. So we have to wait another week or so for that part. At this point, we are on week three of this ordeal.
I explained our propane situation to our repair tech, Roger (who has been wonderful to us). He is a kind soft-spoken man and since we had spent quite a bit of time together over the past few days we were beginning to strike up a friendship. So he began trying to “jump” the system, bypassing patches of wiring connected to the bad relay to get the slides working at least temporarily, so we could drive the few hundred feet to the propane tank.
Now I have to tell you that I have a lot of faith around certain items, but when it comes to immediate outlays of large amounts of cash, I sway. So my accountant brain was calculating labor charges and my stress level was rising with each passing minute. I finally asked Roger what kind of cost we were looking at… his response did not make me feel any better, “I really couldn’t even tell you right now”, he said. “We’ll try to get as much as we can under the warrantee”.
Roger finally got the slides and levelers temporarily rigged to work and after almost three long weeks of scrimping on hot water and cooking in the toaster, we quickly prepared the rig to move and get propane! YEAH!!
When I got back to our rented RV site, I opened the door and the entry steps didn’t extend. OH NO! Not something new!! I then tried the slides… not a peep… the slides were now stuck in the closed position. It is very cramped inside the RV in the closed position. I quickly called Roger. He said, “Strange…” and then said he’d be right over. Fortunately his shop is only about a mile and a half from us. Once I plugged us into power the steps started working again, but not the slides. Roger spent almost two hours, after-hours, getting our living room slide out and asked if we could live with the bedroom slide in for one night. My mind is racing…
Pat is finally back at work after 2½ weeks. When the bedroom slide is “in”, the bed is about 8 inches shorter… and we are both tall people. Note: Most RV beds are not full length anyway. She would have to climb over me (or my side of the bed) to get in and out of bed… not to mention that the bed now blocks access to our clothing drawers. Would she be able to sleep and thus work this way? Did she have clean clothes to wear?
I reluctantly agreed and Roger left for the night around 7:00 p.m. Pat got home about an hour later and we assessed the situation. Since she had been at work, dealing with a 6 month-old and a 5 year-old, it had not occurred to her that her clothing was no longer accessible. Time to regroup! Pat began pulling together laundry just in case those clothes were to be our only clothes for a while. Pat, being the trouper that she is, and I… adapted and the night went pretty well. Neither of us could fully extend our legs but we made it.
The following morning after Pat left for work, I pressed the bedroom slide button. I don’t know why, it was dead as a doornail last night. And it worked!!! Thank you God!!! I called Roger and again he said “hum… strange…”. But we decided that our batteries must have discharged and the “shore power” must have recharged them overnight. Whatever the reason, thank you God!!!
So we are once again waiting on an ordered part… About a week later the part arrived and Roger and crew came back to install the new circuit board. Once installed, they began testing the levelers and slides… and guess what? They didn’t work. They tried several things and decided to try and get an electrical schematic for the new circuit board. “What a good idea!” I thought! So two more days passed and they arrived again with the schematic… after two more days of changes and jumpstarting one of the leveler motors… EVERYTHING WORKS!!! Praise God, we’re mobile again!!!
It has been a long 4 weeks waiting on repair people… waiting on parts and waiting on a final diagnosis… We are hoping and praying that once and for all our RV is fixed and we can get back to our normal mode of operation. Our next trip is not until September 1st, so let’s pray this is the final RV issue for a while!
Thank you so much to all of you who have kept us in your prayers and sent extra funds. We are truly grateful. God is Good!
As those of you on eNews already know… Our RV leveling system malfunctioned and we were unable to go on our Regional Conference mini-tour this month. We and our concert dates were very disappointed but we can only believe that there must have been a reason… but in addition to the RV issue, it feels like we are on an emotional and financial rollercoaster of late. Let’s go back a few weeks and I’ll explain…
It was the first of June and we were in Rochester, NY… We were parked in the Open Arms MCC parking lot and had just finished a concert that morning. I (Carolyn) was suffering from a nasty cold and cough. Miraculously, I had managed to sing the concert that morning and was exhausted. We had not had much rest because of my cough and were ready to head home. I checked email using my cell phone and began reading a note from our friend Paula, who keeps one of our cars for us while we travel. She explained that our 1997 Camry was overheating and that for now our mechanic thought just checking the fluid levels daily would suffice.
A day or two from home, we called Paula for an update… the problem was worse. So we made arrangements with her and the mechanic to take the car in for a diagnosis. You may not be aware, but when we return from tour we usually don’t have much money left. Pat has not been working and the funds we get from love offerings are usually used for getting us home. Foundation 100 funds are earmarked for certain bills and therefore not usually budgeted for travel purposes. So needless to say we were concerned about a car repair. We do have another car, so Pat was able to get to work, but that means that Carolyn was stuck at the RV park about 45 miles from church and friends with no transportation. The RV is NOT a good way to get around town. It is cumbersome at best and costly to use for that purpose. And remember Pat works 10-12 hour days when we are home… so being stranded means not only a stir crazy Carolyn but no way to get to the post office, grocery store or anywhere else.
Anyway, after a week and a half of “stir crazy” Carolyn, we have a car back and a $750 repair bill… Oh, it might be interesting to note that we had spent $550 on the same car in April for tires and brakes. But I digress… It is now late June, all the funds I earned from my seasonal IRS job are gone, but Pat is back at work and we are looking forward to our next trip in July.
On June 21st we were given tickets to the “Our Song” concert. Our Song is the LGBTQ mixed chorus in Atlanta. We have worked with and know a number of the chorus members including our own Pastor, Rev Tessie Mandeville, so we were excited! The concert was incredible. I am not one to rave about a musical performance or recording but their performance and new CD are remarkable! It is some of the best choral work I have heard in a very long time.
Atlanta Pride was held over the 4th of July weekend. Since Pat’s work clients were out of town and she was off, we decided to go see what was going on… we wandered around the booths and saw so many people we knew from Our Song, the Atlanta Feminist Women’s Chorus, and church members from all over the southeast that had come to town for the event. It was well worth the trek into the city.
We were planning to leave town for our Regional Conference mini-tour the following Tuesday. So we spent Monday, July 7th running errands with our final stop to drop off our car at the home of friends for safe keeping while we traveled. We finally got home around 8:30 that evening to find that one of our cats was sick. We watched our little Gizmo for a few hours and at 1:30 a.m. decided that we needed to get him to a vet.
The ER vet didn’t really have a diagnosis, other than Gizmo’s tummy was upset (which we already knew), but he gave him some fluids, antibiotics and something to settle his stomach, charged us $250 and sent us home. By the time we got home, he was acting like himself again so we were hopeful that he was on the mend. But the next morning, we awoke to more evidence of a sick cat. And again, after watching him for a couple of hours, we decided to take him to his regular vet. So I loaded our sickly kitty, Gizmo, in his crate and left Pat at home to finish the preps for our departure.
I took Gizmo into the exam room and, for a cat that complained so much about getting into the crate, he really seemed to want back inside now! Anyway, Doctor Mary examined him and gave me the options… one: give him more tummy meds and fluids and then let him be to see if it passes, two: take x-rays to see if there was any blockage or three: do a GI study… “OK and how much does that all cost”, I asked. After pulling myself off the floor upon hearing the price for a GI study, we decided on options one and two with meds for the road. The x-rays showed nothing… And as I wrote our second check to a vet in less than 24 hours, I told our little furry child he was very lucky he was so cute!!!
At this point we were still planning to leave that afternoon, so I took Gizmo (who was very quite and happy in his crate now) to our friend Paula’s to drop off our second car. It was now around 4:00 in the afternoon when I arrived home. I was tired. So after a short discussion, Pat and I decided to get up early on Wednesday morning to start our trek to Milwaukee. That would give Gizmo another night to get well, and us a night of rest.
The next morning we were up at 7:00 a.m. making the final preps for departure. Belongings stowed, check… RV slides pulled in, check… water, sewer and electric disconnected, check… oil level checked, check… levelers retracted… levelers retracted?… um… levelers retracted?! No… After some manipulation, all but the driver’s side leveler retracted but you can’t move the coach with a leveler on the ground without causing major damage to the chassis. So here we sit… ready to roll and can’t move an inch. I called our RV dealer and asked what to do… they gave us some things to try, like “get a board under it and push it up!” Did we tell you that it rained the night before and the front tire and leveler were sitting in a big puddle? Ok, we have a concert to do in three days that is 800 miles away… we’ll try it. The RV park lots are packed gravel… try as we might, there would be no digging out under the leveler. We managed to get a shovel under it, but that didn’t work. Next step, call a mobile RV repair person. The park office suggested a couple of repair places and we started at the top of the list. First we called, Dan. Dan, as most repair men do, asked if my husband could tell him what type of leveler we had? I said there was no husband and I was it for crawling under the coach. So I told him what I knew and he said he would stop by and drain the hydraulic system to get the leveler in the up position so that we could get on our way. We liked the sound of that and waited. He arrived around noon. Remember we started the day at 7:00 a.m. He and his helper, didn’t seem to be very “on the ball”... and after I had told him I didn’t see any hydraulics only electric earlier, he announced that we didn’t have hydraulics… it was an electric motor… thanks Dan… ugh! They then decided to try to “jump” the motor. They stripped the wires and attached the jumper cables. When that didn’t work they reversed the polarity on the cables… I was concerned now. These guys don’t really have a clue, I thought. They were en route to another call and said they wouldn’t be able to stay and diagnose the problem and, at this point, I was sort of glad.
Ok, on to repair man number two… it is now 1:30 and we have miles to cover!! This time we called Roger. He told us he would be there is about an hour… 2:30 rolls around… then 3:30… then 4:30… about 5:00, Roger arrives. We explain the situation and he immediately goes to work. And it was obvious that he had some knowledge… he tried a couple of things and in about 10 minutes diagnosed it as a bad motor. He explained that he had to order a new one and, because of the hour, it would be tomorrow before he would know when it would arrive. His best guess was Monday or Tuesday… maybe later. We were stuck. The RV wasn’t going anywhere for a few days and based on experience with ordering parts, we knew it would most likely be longer than Roger estimated.
We had to cancel our appearances. We couldn’t afford to pay rent for the RV lot and pay for gas and hotels to get there… so I started making calls. Everyone was understanding and sympathetic, but we both felt like we were letting everyone down. Not that we had any control over the situation, but none-the-less, we felt bad. Not including these, Pat and I have only canceled 2 other bookings in the past 13 years of ministry.
So we are home, both of our cars are parked at friend’s homes, our finances are depleted and Pat has no work because she had been replaced for the 2 ½ week time we planned to be on the road. And as of the date of this newsletter, the RV part is still not in… Please see the following section for more information on our needs. Thank you so much to all who have already pitched in to help!
