It was a mirad of failures or mishaps, if you will. I have been parked on my kids 22 acres in Smithville, TX for a week now. I am truly loving being there. I have the benefits of enjoying Lottie, early morning coffee and meals together. However, on probably the coldest night in Texas ever and in the middle of the night, I awoke to the generator spewing and sputtering. Not a good sound, sounded as if it were truly struggling. It’s 21 degrees out and 3:00 am, seriously? I now have to go outside and around to the other side of the RV to turn the generator off. Once I handled that situation and was able to get warm again, it was actually kinda nice, the silence, except for the heater kicking on and off regularly. I slept, sorta.
I typically prepare my coffee before I go to bed so that I can just flip the pot to the on position and hop back into bed. It literally takes this old drip coffee machine 30 mins to brew, not so great coffee. So I wake up freezing around 5:30 am and very eager to have my morning brew. The sun isn’t up but I am. What so I discover instead as I hit the brew button (more than once hoping it was just me), no red light on my coffee pot! Now I am in panic mode… so I get dressed and once again and go outside and around my RV to crank up my “power producing machine”. Nothing, it produces absolutely NOTHING! No power, no coffee, no water pump. The heaters, even though they are propane feel like they are not heating well. Because the power is low, the carbon monoxide detector begins to go off. I do not want to take chances in this area, so I turn off the heat. Did I say it is 21 degrees?
Uncle! I decide its time to find an RV park with a power plug and water. I have done all the boon docking I am capable of, well, that this RV is capable of anyway. So I am shivering as I attempt my morning reading to the best of my ability, patiently waiting on the kids to wake up, so I can get warm and get coffee. Finally, 7:30 am I see a light, bingo … time to barge in. I don’t typically just pop in. They need their privacy as do I but hell, I am lacking sleep, freezing and I need coffee.

I inform them of my plans to go get gas, propane, and find a place to dump my crapper. Well, things did not go as planned. I am blessed with these nice automatic leveling devices on this RV. They work by playing with these joy sticks, easy enough. I just have to finagle them until the RV is level then lift them and lock them in place and I will be ready to move on. Well,… 2 of my little jacks refused to retract. I can usually ask my sweet son-in-law for help but he had been sick all of the previous day and not quite himself yet, so I didn’t want to impose. I googled the instructions. Those were no help, I was playing with all those joy sticks correctly. I thought maybe the fuse was blown. My son-in-law said he probably had one in is truck at the barn. It’s sleeting by now and I am freezing but I trucked/ran down to the barn to look in the truck. I found a few fuses, grabbed them and ran back. Crap, they were too small. I wasn’t smart enough to carry the burnt one with me to the barn, so here I go again. After my second trip to the truck, still nothing.

Other than the jacks, the only thing I needed to do was take down the TV antenna. There is a crank inside the RV (which happens to be broken off) … so it would NOT crank down. I had to climb on top of the RV and crawl to the front of it, (once again it’s 21 degrees and to top it off I am afraid of heights) When I get to the antenna, BINGO, I found the problem, so I went inside and continued to roll it into it’s stored position. I was proud of myself, Phew! Now the damn jacks are my only hold up. It’s 9:30 now so I decide to get into my borrowed car (The car I towed down here is in the shop and has been for a week — another story for another day) and go find a fuse. There is a gas station 7 miles away, surely they will have fuses.
After getting a cup of coffee and my fuses at the Exxon, I begin wandering the Smithville/Bastrop area for propane dealers, RV parks and RV parts. I figured driving around in the car would be better than driving around in the RV at 7 miles a gallon. I am wandering aimlessly, really. A couple miles west of Bastrop, I stopped at a few parks, why? I am not sure because these sites were too far away from my family. I liked being on their land, they just don’t have the resources I need to survive properly. I begin getting tired and hungry and still have no answers. I am telling a friend on the phone about my search and she begins googling for me. She is the google queen. I have my phone but the service on the kids land truly sucks, and now I am driving. Yay, She finds a spot for me, cheap and it supposedly has internet, perfect. So I drive out there while I am still talking to her. It appears to be a closed city park. It is literally desolate, like a ghost town. I’m determined so I keep driving and what to my wonderings eye but appear? But, four small RV’s and a bath house is near. This is it, I just know it. I want #4, nestled in the corner of the quite park. I make the call. No one answers, so I leave a message. It’s now 1:00 pm and I am starving. I go back to Bastrop (15 miles) and get me a Taco at the Taco shack. This is cheating but I am starving. I am on a clean eating and juicing lifestyle kick and I hope it will stick. I feel better already. I call again about the park and get the message machine again. After many fruitless efforts of trying to get the Rec center of Smithville TX on the phone, it finally dawns on me … just frickin’ go to town. I had to stop at their thrift store and a favorite antique shop along the way. The attendant at the antique shop starts making calls for me since my phone died. She then guides me to the specific building I need. It happens to be right around the corner. Sure enough, I walked in there. $40 later I have spot #4. I am happy.

I’m excited and singing to the car radio as I head back with my little fuse to my RV, now it’s 2:30 pm. I get a pretty immediate let down when I still cannot get these stupid jacks up. When RV was moved a couple days ago, it had been raining so the jacks were literally sunken into the mud and stuck. My frustration level began to escalate. My sweet son-in-law was just about to leave for town and saw me struggling. He approached my home with a smile knowing I needed to be rescued from something. All he did was jump under the bus and slightly give the jacks a little help… done! I can close up and go, yay! I crank her up and I am off. Geeez, it’s never ending, as I am leaving the low hanging tree limbs are destroying the side of my RV, I can feel it. I get off the property and the side door slams open, bam! I also realize my rearview mirror also was moved during my exit. I cannot drive this 35 ft rig with no rearview mirror. I pull over. I am on a slight hill so the jump from my RV to the ground isn’t a small one. Ruby, my dog and best friend, is freaking out and follows me. I have to chase her down and put her back in the RV. I adjust the mirror and crawl back in … nope, I still can’t see. After I do this about 4 times and I am about ready to lose it completely, here comes my smiling son-in-law once again to my rescue. Together we got the mirror adjusted and the door secured and I was off. Still no heat, I am freezing, my dog is freezing. I have to get gas, drive the 15 miles to fine propane, and dump the crapper. It is 21 degrees. Great timing! Will I ever get to ole #4?
Finally, 3:45 pm I make it to the exact spot I picked out. I am numb from the cold and I still have the electrical and the water to hook up. Done! I turn on the heat and wait! It will be warm soon, I am praying. I have never been this cold in my life. Did I say, I’m in Texas. I made it through the day, nary an emotional breakdown. My phone did tell me to breathe on several occasions, but I blew that off … so to speak. So I am a little proud of myself. It’s 5:00 pm now, I have completed preparing dinner. My kids and sweet Lottie are here. The stress washed away by the smiles of my family.