I Take It All Back

Have you ever had a gut feeling about something and when you didn't follow it, you regretted it big time? Well, something was nagging at me after Mark and I decided to go ahead with our damage repairs, with or without the insurance company's approval (see previous post). My mind took me back to some fairly recent experiences where we "jumped ahead of the Lord," you might say, and found ourselves in predicaments that could have been avoided had we practiced a little patience. Even though Samantha, our Alfateer's service rep, strongly doubted that National General would ever actually send out an Adjuster, there was that nagging uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my "gut" asking the question, "But what if they did?"

Sweetie chilling in her temporary domain.

So, Mark and I talked it over again and decided to sit tight and wait it out. After all, it's not like we're in a cold (figuratively speaking) boring hotel room somewhere. We're very comfortable in Steve and Al's guest room, enjoying their kind hospitality. Even Sweetie is more or less happy. We're getting extra family visiting, which, after all, is the primary purpose of the traveling-around-the-country-in-a-motorhome-to-visit-friends-and-family lifestyle we adopted. The only difference is that we didn't actually plan for this long of a stay. It happened TO us, more or less without our consent. Nevertheless, aside from a little inconvenience of being out of our home for a while, life is good.

And, guess what... on Monday morning we received an email from Samantha informing us that National General was sending out an Adjuster on Wednesday or Thursday to evaluate the damage on our coach.

Magic Mountain, off season.

Mark talking to his contact at Modis,
the staffing company he used to take
contract jobs through. What's going
on with that?

In the interim, Alicia presented us with complimentary passes to Magic Mountain, where she works, and we spent yesterday getting in some exercise and a few roller coaster thrills. It's off season at Magic, and some events were not active, but most of the roller coasters were still running, and the park was practically empty. This time of the year is a fabulous time to go. There was no waiting on any of the rides. We felt the thrill of going 100 miles an hour--backwards!-- on the "Superman" ride (which we boarded without knowing what we were getting into). It was about thirty seconds of sheer terror; and then it was over. The other extreme was the "Twisted Colossus," which was a crazy fast coaster with loops and drops - executed on a blue track, and then repeated on a parallel green track. It was like getting right back on and riding something a second time. Except you didn't have a choice. This one we decided to ride AFTER we had seen a YouTube video on what to expect (inserted at the bottom for your viewing pleasure). Trust me, watching a video is nothing like the real thing. Mark went on two rides without me. Mainly because I was carrying around a turkey leg, the uneaten remnant of my lunch. It was a better excuse than, "I'm too much of a coward to ride it, thank you." Although I might have accidentally given that impression somewhere along the way...but really, what was I supposed to do with my turkey leg while I was riding a roller coaster? Just sayin'.

The other thing we've been meaning to do -- needing to do -- and hadn't done yet was find a chiropractor to get our bodies adjusted. So Monday I made the call to one that Alicia recommended to us, Inspired Family Chiropractic. We got in right away that afternoon for an eval, and then went back again on Tuesday, after having shaken all our bones out of place on roller coasters (not really, but it seemed like it). Another visit today and we're beginning to feel well-adjusted again.

Sometime tomorrow we hope to find out what National General is willing to cover and how much longer we will be enjoying the company of our California kids.

Insurance or No Insurance ... Repairs Are a Go

Parked and plugged in at Alfateers until Monday morning.

Our little misadventure turned out to be more expensive than we imagined -- by about four times. Isn't that usually the way it goes?

It was Monday, the 8th, when Alfateers advised Mark to head on over and they'd look at the damage and then we could discuss what to do, so we left Caliente for Fontana the following day. Samantha, our lovely Alfateers customer service specialist, looked everything over right away when we arrived and gave us her honest opinion that the cost of repairs would make it worthwhile to submit a claim to our insurance company, and so we did. 

The good news is that our insurance company, National General, whom I'd never heard of before buying the motorhome, has an excellent relationship with Alfateers. As a matter of fact, Alfateers is one of their "preferred vendors," and they pretty much always approve repairs without delay and without sending out an adjuster to review the damage personally. 

Now, in the meantime, when we left Caliente Springs, we really did intend to return for the remaining days of our stay, and so instead of dragging the car around with us, we left it parked in our space at Caliente. Our original understanding was that Alfateers would either be able to fit us in for a quick repair on Tuesday or Wednesday and get us on our way, or they would schedule us for repairs on the 29th and we would return to Palm Springs until then. Either way, we expected to return to Caliente fairly quickly. But once we were here, they decided it would be best if we stayed, and they would fit us in as quickly as possible.

How to get the car?...was our next challenge. We thought about renting a car for a day, but then I would have to drive back either our car with the trailer or the rental, something I especially did NOT want to do. The idea of driving or riding in a car for five hours to accomplish this task was not a pleasing one. I had come down sick with a head cold and was very much under the weather. In the end, we decided that Mark would rent a U-Haul truck, drive down and tow them back, which he did on Thursday, the 11th. While he was doing that, Alfateers pulled our coach into their bay and did a full diagnostic. Not only was the back cap separated, but the furnace (yes, the very one on which we had spent almost a thousand bucks get working not many weeks ago), had a cracked case and needed to be replaced. 

Once we opened a claim with National General, Samantha promptly submitted the necessary pictures and cost estimates to the adjuster on Friday, the 12th, by email. The following Monday, Mark called the insurance company and learned that they'd never received the email, and so Samantha resent them right away. By Tuesday, the day we should have been leaving to go to Quartzsite for our much anticipated Alfa Roadrunner Rally, National General had received what they needed and assured us we should have their ruling by Friday. There would be no Alfa Roadrunner Rally for us. At least not this year.

Friday is tomorrow. We've been here, parking lot camping, for ten days now. Fortunately, Alfateers dumps our tanks for us periodically so we don't have to worry about going somewhere else to manage that very necessary function. 

Perhaps we're jumping the gun, but Mark and I came to the conclusion that we have two choices:

   

   Choice #1 - We can wait for the insurance company to approve everything before we allow Alfateers to proceed with repairs-- repairs, that must be done whether or not the insurance company pays for everything. 

   Choice #2 - We can give Alfateers the go-ahead to repair what needs to be repaired, accepting responsibility for the cost of anything not covered by insurance.

In either scenario, the repairs get made. The only difference is time. They either get done quickly or who knows when. Since they need to get done regardless of whether the insurance company covers everything, we instructed Samantha to start repairs with or without approval from the insurance company and we would pay anything the insurance company denied. Our hope, of course, is that the adjuster will find all the repairs necessary and our final obligation will be the deductible.

On Monday, they will pull us in and get started. While they're working on our house, we will be enjoying the hospitality of our son and daughter-in-law for another week. And just maybe I'll have one more opportunity to spend an afternoon with my darling grandbaby, Sophie.

Thanks to a plethora of natural remedies, I have recovered fully from my head cold and am well enough to toss babies in the air and smother them with kisses. 

I haven't told Sweetie about this new development yet, and I don't expect her to be happy about it, but we must all make adjustments when circumstances beyond our control prevail.

But for now, Alfateers has moved us to a spot where we can plug our gray tank into the sewer system so we can shower, wash clothes and dishes, and otherwise use water normally without worrying about filling up our tank. That will get us through the weekend comfortably until we leave for Steve and Al's. Then by the end of next week, we hope to have our home back, in even better shape than it was before.

Then we'll be heading to Florida.

Accident At The Gate

I am writing this from the beautiful Caliente Springs RV Resort (caliente is "hot" in Spanish). And, yes, it is a hot springs resort. The swimming pools and hot tubs are fed by hot springs water and then cooled to swimming temperature. This is in fact the first swimming pool I have been eager and happy to actually enter and swim in since our adventures began. Generally I find the swimming pools too cold and prefer to spend my time in the hot tubs, which are generally barely more than warm. At Caliente, they are bath-water hot. Lovely!

But getting here...we have stories to tell.

Alfateers finished up with our coach about 2:30 on Friday afternoon, and we were eager to get on the road to our next destination, at which (I believed) we were due to arrive that day. The better part of wisdom would have been to stay put and leave in the morning. But we knew the road trip was only an hour and a half, and eagerness does not always take wisdom into account. So we hooked up the car and were on our way at about 3:45.

By the time we arrived at Caliente, it was dark, the gate was closed, the office was closed, and we were left wondering what to do next when some nice people gave us the gate code and directed us down the road (follow the orange stripe) to the office. In I went to get us all registered, but of coarse the office was closed. In the rack by the door were envelopes with information for those who had a reservation and were coming in late. There was one envelope with somebody else's name on it - nothing for "Finnesgard." Scratching my head, I grabbed one of the other envelopes for unregistered guests coming in late. These were open spaces that anyone could take. I decided to grab one and figure out in the morning whether or not it was worth the trouble moving our coach to the spot they reserved for us. By then it was dark. So I had the map and was guiding Mark where to go. Before I knew it, I realized we'd overshot the street we should have turned on and were headed out the gate again. There was no option for turning around at this point, so out we went toward a turn-around area where we unhooked the car.

From this point, Mark was driving the coach, I was driving the car and pulling the trailer behind, and we headed back to the gate. Mark's plan was to exit completely, turn around and come back through the gate straight-on. It was a good plan, but a nice man offered to open the gate for us and assured us that Mark should be able to come around from a right angle and traverse the gate space with no difficulty. So that's what he tried. It's a wide gate, but unfortunately, he turned too soon and pulled through at too much of an angle. As soon as I saw the danger, I jumped out of the car with the intention of running to tell him to stop, but I was too late. The back of the coach caught the edge of the gate, and "pop!" -- like the cap on a pop bottle, off came the back. Not completely, thank the good Lord-- just the bottom right side.

I panicked. I thought I had witnessed the folly to end all follies - the final fatal mistake that would end our nascent lifestyle of travel and adventures. I envisioned a giant hole in my bedroom.

And, I'm ashamed to say, I lost it. Watching the back of the coach literally being ripped away mere hours after yet another repair, I found myself tested -- a test of character that I failed miserably. Like a madman (or woman, in my case), I pounded on the side of the coach under Mark's window, screaming and cursing at my poor husband (God bless him for his forgiving spirit) and making a literal spectacle of myself in the presence of witnesses.

When it comes to controlling one's temper, everyone has their breaking point. Therefore, "judge not, lest ye be judged"...and found wanting. And, boy, was I ever.

Anyway, there was nothing to be done at this point but to continue on into the park, find our space, and park for the night. And so we did.

The damage will need to be repaired before we can do much more traveling, but it isn't structural. There's no hole in the bedroom. But we will need to return to Alfateers before getting on with our adventures. After getting a better look at the damage and consulting with other Alfa owners, Mark believes that the repair may not cost enough to get our insurance company involved, although if it turns out to be very expensive, we should be able to make a claim, since it was, in every respect, a collision.

Once I calmed down, and made my apologies to Mark, the Lord reminded me of a few very important things...

   1. The motorhome belongs to Him. We are merely using it. If it crumbles to dust, He will provide for me in some other way.
   2. No matter what happens -- even when bad things happen -- God has promised to care for me.
   3. "Trusting God" has very little value when everything is going well. Am I going to trust Him when things are not going well? That's when it really counts. That's when it means something.
   4. It's easy to be kind to perfect people. The mark of the Christ-follower is showing kindness to others (especially the ones we claim to love) when they mess up, or make mistakes, or fail us in some way. What does God want from me? Two words:  "Be Kind." If I can't manage this simple thing, how then can He use me for anything? That's my challenge in 2018.

Going forward, Mark and I have made a solemn pact to never, NEVER, ever again travel in the dark. We've done it three times now, and every single time we've had some mishap or misery. We humans were created for the light, not the dark. We have very poor night vision...especially we old humans. So if we have to cancel a reservation and boondock to avoid darkness, that's what we do from now on. As it happened, the reservation I made at Caliente was for arrival on Saturday, January 6, not Friday. All of this would have been avoided if I had done the simple thing of checking the reservation before we left Fontana. Sigh. We'll get the hang of this travelling lifestyle eventually. God willing.

To anyone considering whether or not to park your RV at Caliente Springs Resort, I highly recommend it. The staff are great, the grounds are beautifully kept, and the water is clean and warm. It's somewhat on the pricey side, but the Passport America discount (if you have it) makes the cost a bit more affordable. Normally we're trying to stay in the Thousand Trails system, but our membership plan requires us to be out one week for every two weeks we're in. We booked Caliente Springs for that in-between week, and we can't be more pleased. We hope to be able to come back every year (God willing!)

Tomorrow, we'll find out when Alfateers can get us back in to get our damage repaired. Until then, we're enjoying the fabulous hot springs pools and the warm dry weather of Palm Springs. Today we attended Caliente's church service. The hall was filled. The music was uplifting. The message was on how Jesus Christ did everything that needs to be done for our salvation. Communion was served. We went away very much blessed, having been reminded that God is good ALL THE TIME.

Happy New Year!

Left to right:  Brent, Katie, Sophie, Steve, Alicia, Mark

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a safe and happy New Year celebration.

We were immensely blessed to be able to host both of my local children and their families on Christmas Day. We never expected it when we made our plans to be here over the holiday, but ultimately, the circumstances in everyone's plans turned out in our favor. 

I even put together dinner for six, though in the end, Steve and Al couldn't stay. But I sent them home with pie at least. The rest of us enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, peas, corn, and homemade cranberry sauce. And, of course, pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

It was a challenge getting all those things to cook and finish at the same time in a kitchen with three small burners and an oven the size of an "Easy-Bake." But, I was more or less successful. And thanks to my trusty Instant Pot pressure cooker, I served up the juiciest turkey breast I think I've ever produced in all my years of cooking turkey in a conventional oven. I never actually used my gas oven for anything, but I did use my combination convection/microwave oven to bake the pie and heat up vegetables. I must admit the mashed potatoes were a bit odd, though. Not being fully prepared in advance, all I had on hand were a bag of purple potatoes and a couple russets. Trust me...purple mashed potatoes should probably be reserved for Halloween. They taste great, but eye appeal leaves something to be desired--especially when topped with turkey gravy.

We had a lovely visit with the kids. Sophie's favorite part of our coach seems to be the cockpit. Fortunately there's an OFF switch for the chassis power, so no harm could be done, no matter how energetically the little rascal tried. She was also quite fascinated with the Christmas tree ornaments, over which she and I oohed and awed for a good five minutes...before it was time for the wee one to go home.

Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon RV Park

Mark and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's Day enjoying the coolish-warm, dry weather of Acton, CA. We're situated in the canyons of the San Gabriel Mountains between Los Angeles and the Antelope Valley's high desert. Daytime temps have been in the 60's and 70's; at night it's been down in the 40's. We're surrounded by dirt, but the scenery is beautiful in it's own deserty way. This particular Thousand Trails park is huge. We've been out on several walks, but haven't yet covered the whole park at once. My only disappointment is that the Jacuzzi is not quite hot enough. Nevertheless, we expect to be back here every year, since the location is ideally set just about half way between Steve and Katie. 

One of the benefits of being retired and having a loose schedule is that we can more or less change it at the drop of a hat. I love that part. And since our Christmas holiday was so rudely interrupted by coach repairs, we decided to do just that. We extended our stay here in Acton for another week so as to have more time with the kids before heading east to Arizona. We spent New Year's Day with Katie and her family, which gave me another long visit with little Sophie...and Katie, of course. Tomorrow we will spend another afternoon with Steve and Alicia. And then on Thursday, we head out.

The next stop is Palm Springs, interrupted by a short stop back at Alfateers for a re-look at the slide switch, which burned out on us as we were trying to pull in the living room slide so that we could leave their parking lot after all the work they did. We don't anticipate a long stay this time. We'll be enjoying the famous warm weather of Palm Springs for about ten days before heading to Quartzsite, Arizona, for the annual RV rallies that will be gathering there in a few weeks.

What a year it's been! Retirement, selling the house, buying a motorhome, embarking on a drastic and complete lifestyle change... and we haven't killed each other yet. Miracles! Yes, they really do happen. 

Mark and I want to wish each and every one of you a safe, happy, and prosperous 2018. And don't forget to give credit where credit is due...

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17