When a Dishwasher Does More Than Wash Dishes

Parked at St. George/Hurricane KOA
(an RPI park)

A little over two months ago the dishwasher stopped working. I never had a dishwasher in our first RV, And for the first year or so in this one, the dishwasher was inoperable. By a strange fluke that we still can't really pin down, it suddenly began to work and worked beautifully for a couple years. I got used to it. It's one of those things that you think you can live without... until you have one and then suddenly you don't. Now I can't imagine having to wash my dishes by hand for the rest of ever.

So Mark began to do what he does so well-- figure out how to either fix it or get it fixed. He searched the internet and found a manual for it, but the manual was no help. Next he started calling around to a few local appliance repair establishments (we were in Minnesota at the time). "It's in an RV? Sorry, we don't fix dishwashers in RVs." So he thought, we're heading to Spokane next; I'll check there. And he looked up some places there. "No can do." One place he called told him that if he pulled the dishwasher out of the RV and brought it in, they would look at it. Now, exactly how much different is it to work on a dishwasher (or pull it out for that matter) in an RV than it is in a house? None of it made any sense to me. But try as we might, there was no finding any repair shop willing to tackle the job. 

In the end, he called a place in the Salt Lake City area that many Alfa owners have praised for its reliable and quality service called Charlie's Service Center. Since our route after leaving Nampa would be taking us right past Salt Lake City on our way to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, Mark called them and asked if fixing a dishwasher was something they could do. "Yes, we can certainly look at it." And he made an appointment.

We arrived the day before and were comfortably installed in a parking spot with full hookups. 

Of course, since we were going to be at an RV service center, Mark reasoned, they may as well check out a few other potential trouble issues that he had been monitoring-- the main one being the motor/drive on our main slide, which had been acting up off and on over the past six months or so. Our service tech, Gilberto, went over everything with Mark to get a feel for what needed doing and also did a cursory check of the engine. After inspecting everything, he announced, "You can't drive this the way it is! Your turbo is shot. I'm surprised you even made it here. Your engine could have caught fire."

Also the slide drive gear was busted-- missing teeth. He told us that at some point--probably quite soon--we wouldn't be able to move the slide in or out at all. 

And they pulled out the dishwasher.

Instantly I understood why we couldn't find anyplace along our way that would fix our dishwasher. Had we taken care of the dishwasher problem, we would never have ended up in exactly the place we needed to be at exactly the time we needed to be there to get two very serious problems resolved. I saw the hand of God at work as clearly as if he had spoken to me.

Gilberto said, "You are lucky!" I replied, "No. Not lucky. Blessed!"

A one day repair turned into a full week, and we missed our visit to Bryce Canyon. But that just means we have something yet to visit that we can look forward to in the future.

Charlie's replaced our old broken slide drive assembly with a center drive, which is more reliable and should last the life of the coach. And they put in a new turbo.

But the dishwasher was toast. Repairing it would cost more than a new one. I couldn't help but laugh.

The sad hole where the dishwasher used to be

Now we're looking at our options for a replacement and plan to take care of that at Leisure Coach Works in Fontana next month. 

For now, we're washing dishes by hand and enjoying the beauty of Zion National Park. 

God is good. Always.

Safe travels (and maybe get your turbo checked) ...

Happy Times In Southern Idaho

Enjoying wine tasting at Ste. Chappelle Winery

Our time in the Boise area was too short. We stayed at the same park as last year, Caldwell RV Park, but this year our budget only allowed a two week stop. Campgrounds in this neck of the woods are very expensive. Caldwell RV Park charges $270 a week with absolutely no amenities. A place to park is all you get for your money. It's a nice campground and the spaces are not too cramped, but still...that's all there is. The only thing that makes it worth the money is that it's twelve minutes away from Katie. At the beginning of the year, she moved to Nampa. They're closer to Sophie's school (and to our campground), but both she and Brent have to commute the half hour or so to Boise for work.

With her working full time, we didn't get in too much in the way of activities. Most of our time was spent just sitting home and visiting. Sophie loves putting together jigsaw puzzles, and she, Katie, and I, spent a bit of time putting together puzzles while we hung out together. Sophie is the only six-year-old I know who can put together a 500-piece puzzle. She was finding pieces faster than me, and I've been putting together puzzles for fifty years! "Here's a piece, Grandma. It goes there..." (you look like you need help).

We did get out to do some apple picking-- a great fall activity. Katie located an orchard specializing in natural growing methods (no chemical pesticides, etc.) and where you can pick your own. We harvested nearly two bushels between us. Now, I ask you, what am I going to do with a bushel of apples?! I don't really eat plant food anymore. My plan was to give most of our apples to Katie for her family. But, the apples weren't nearly as tasty as we expected them to be. (There was talk of an apple pie, but it never materialized.) I ended up cooking all mine and turning them into applesauce. Now they're taking up freezer space for the foreseeable future. If it was good applesauce, I would give it to someone. But, sadly, it's not. Still, it was good family fun picking them.

This looks like a good one!
(Sophie and Katie)

We managed to fill both those baskets

One afternoon while we were there, Mark and I indulged in another visit to the Ste. Chappelle Winery for a wine tasting. They have a lovely view of the valley and countryside. And Mark found one wine that was sweet enough to buy a bottle.

Brent and Katie have a smoker that they use regularly to smoke their meat. We were treated to some excellent ribs on one of our visits. It turned out as well as any good restaurant could produce. 

All in all, our stay was very enjoyable. Next year our plans will include a longer visit... a much longer visit (for me, at least). That plan will be firmed up next spring.

That's about it for now. Stay tuned for our RV repair saga coming up next.

Wishing you all good health and safe travels wherever you go!

Sophie

Sophie is a whiz at jigsaw puzzles.

All done. A hundred pieces in about a half hour, with very
little help from Dad.

Of Course I picked up some valuable
art work while I was there.

View from Ste. Chappelle's balcony

More of the same

We came up on this wide load on our way to Caldwell.

On a curve it takes up all three lanes. We had to follow
patiently behind until the road straightened out.

Spokane Fun and Not-so-fun

It was bound to happen. Covid hit in 2020 and we managed to avoid it for two and a half years. But somewhere-- who knows where?!-- that nasty little bug was lurking and ready to pounce, and Mark was right there (wherever "there" was) when it happened. 

About halfway into our Spokane visit, while we were hanging out with my son and grandson (Josh and Adam), Mark began to complain of not feeling well. He tends to get that way when his allergies ramp up (which happens from time to time when he eats something he shouldn't... which happens from time to time). And I suspected he was just having an especially difficult allergic reaction to something he recently ate. So while we were there, after he enjoyed some time cuddling with Adam, he decided to lie down for a while on Josh's bed and take a nap, after which he got up and we all ate dinner together. The next day, I left him home and drove over to my daughter's to spend the day with her, all the while noticing an annoying but not painful scratchy throat. I had a nice visit with Liz and then went home to fix Mark's dinner. As he was still not feeling too well, I decided to feel his forehead and realized he had a fever. Oh oh. Out came the thermometer, and sure enough he was hot. Next morning so was I. And to make a long story shorter, I spent the better part of the next week in bed. Mark, however, recovered almost completely in a few days.

Was it the dreaded covid? Probably. We never bothered with testing because, well what's the point? Once you're sick, does it really matter what you're sick with? We told the kids and they weren't concerned about it. Josh had already contracted the "omicron" variety (what we suspected we had, after doing a little online research). Adam wasn't affected in the least. And neither was Liz. And we stayed home for the duration until fevers broke and symptoms abated, which is what everyone should do anyway with any illness.

Our three weeks of family visiting was thereby reduced about in half. We had two days with Adam, one in the beginning and one the day before we left. Adam is a delightful little three year old. He warmed up to us right away this visit, which surprised me, as it's been a full year since we saw him last.

Adam playing a game with his auntie

Exploring the napkin holder with dad

I had a few more visits with Liz than Josh, because Josh is working and Liz is recovering from a broken leg. She's coming along beautifully in the healing process, however, and should be back to work in a couple weeks.

I also was able to get in two visits with my youngest brother, Mark, who is slowly recovering from "long covid" and is more or less an invalid at this point in his life. 

All in all, we had good family visits, but as usual, not enough time. We might have stayed longer to make up for the lost sick time if not for the fact that we were all booked into a very expensive campground in Caldwell, Idaho, where we would be visiting my youngest daughter, Katie, and her family. This is the downside to planning. If anything happens to interfere with the plan, making changes is a domino effect and often not even possible because of availability issues at one or more campground venues. So it's less troublesome to stick with the plan and keep going. Next year we'll plan to stay longer.

We arrived in Caldwell last Sunday and have been enjoying our time here. I'll write about that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you and grant you safe travels wherever you go.

Adam

Liz & Josh goofing around

"Smile for the camera!"