Errands-a-Plenty

~Wednesday, July 7, 2021~

Day 388

Rainy day which we anticipated so we hadn't made any plans to do any sightseeing today. Instead, we wanted to get a few things done on the trailer and do a few errands. When you have a major city nearby, you have to capitalize on the opportunity of picking up the necessities. In fact, we think everyone had the same thing in mind with the weather like it was. It appears that Traverse City is THE place for everyone in the area to shop. And EVERYTHING is here, except you guessed it…..Trader Joe’s. I’ll live, I suppose. In case you’re interested, here’s just how much we fit in today:

1. Nail trim for Sadie (about a month overdue). Pet Express had to suffice, since there will not be a Petco until the next state, which will be quite a while. Luckily, Sadie’s rabies vaccine is good until October but still had to bring her records to today’s appointment.

2. Best Buy- purchased a screen protector for my new phone (only had the case)

3. Wal-Mart-Rapid dissolving Toilet Paper (it seems to be the only place we can find RV toilet paper, with exception of sporting goods stores, but those are far and few between.

4. Target-misc. household and grocery items

5. Costco-batteries and paper towels. Yep, I’m still buying the huge 12-pack Kirkland brand (they’ve always been the best, I think), and yep, it’s always a challenge trying to find where to store them all. But I always manage to find them a home.

With all the stops, we didn’t get back until 4:30, so, so much for cleaning the trailer. All I managed to fit in today was cleaning the bathroom/shower while Jeff was up on the roof between bouts of rain, trying to repair a broken antenna. Jeff found that there was a small plastic piece broken inside of a bigger plastic piece (the mast piece for the antenna). The antenna itself still works great. It’s just the part that turns it that is broken. So we made a call to Lance, and someone actually picked up. Either more people are back at work with COVID restrictions easing up, or they got a lot of complaints about lackluster customer service, or both. Anyway, we found out that to get the specific piece we need we’d have to go directly through the manufacturer, but if we want to replace the whole unit, we could get it through Lance for $135. It’s crazy that we would even consider buying a whole new unit. So we’ll start with the manufacturer and see what we find out. Even if you are handy, trying to get parts alone has apparently turned into a nightmare since COVID. Due to the labor and material shortage, you can expect 5 to 6 month delays on stuff. That really becomes a problem if you’re a full-time RV’er, with no back up other than a hotel. For example, if you have a broken window with Lance specifically, their vendor is looking at 8 months for replacement. For a broken awning 5-6 months. But what if you’re in 100 degree weather and your A/C breaks down, or in 32 degrees and your heater decides to stop running, repairs and replacements become a real problem. And with the RV world being saturated at the moment, there’s only so many people to fix things. All the sudden, the idea of full-timing RV’ing doesn’t appear so attractive, doesn’t it? There’s never been anything quite like what’s going on right now. But who knew to even think about this, especially buying a NEW unit. No matter new or old, things will break or need fixing. My former thought was, it’s just all part of the adventure, but not when things are this bad. I hate to be a “Debbie Downer”, but this is reality folks. Anyway, Jeff was frustrated, as he always is, when he can’t fix something. So stay tuned on the antenna news.

Next, Jeff asked me if I wanted him to put my new glass protector on my phone since he just put one on his. But in trying to put it on, it kept bubbling and not laying down the way it should. It turns out, it was the wrong size. The guy at Best Buy assured me that the protectors for Iphone 11’s, will also fit my 10R. It was too small. Jeff thought he could make it work, but soon gave into the fact that it was like putting a square peg in a round hole. Another frustrating project. Poor Jeff. Sometimes, you just have days like that when things don’t go your way.

Leaving tomorrow morning for the U.P. and looking forward to seeing our bro-in-law Tim who is flying out from Oregon to grace us with his presence. Of course, I’m already preparing myself for all the puns that will come my way.