When It Rains Inside

“Travel Safe!” It is a common as the thespian “Break a leg.”  Those of us who travel know the very real dangers of being on the road. Most of the time it is uneventful. Sometimes, we experience a close call and it seems at least once a year we see an RV tipped over in the ditch or wadded up in an accident. Contents scattered all over the ditch and the RV crumpled up like a used paper fast food sack. It is a sobering reminder that you can’t be too careful while travelling.

Our trip south this year has been one of those trips that makes one wonder what will happen next. On our first day on the road we were enduring 40 mph sustained cross winds on I-80 on our way to the York NE exit where we would turn south directly into the wind on our way to Lindsborg Kansas. We are no strangers to pulling in high winds, having spent most of our lives in the Midwest. Driving along we heard a loud dull thud directly behind the driver’s seat and near the ceiling. We both decided that a canned good in the pantry fell over and slammed against the wall. Then, another louder thud and the lens for the fluorescent tube lights, along with both tubes came crashing down from the kitchen ceiling located directly behind the driving area. “What the hell?” we both said in unison. Champ looked out the side mirror and saw the entire slide out awning mechanism flapping in the wind slamming against the motorhome. The rolled-up awning had succumbed to the strong cross wind. The force of the wind had broken the locking mechanism on the awning framework, unrolled the awning turning it into a 22-foot long kite and then ripped the whole mechanism free. The only thing attaching it at all was the canvas. Not good. We were three miles from the next exit and left no choice but to pull over and deal with it on the side of the interstate. Champ who was a tower crane operator has absolutely no fear of heights and didn’t hesitate to grab a utility knife and climb up onto the roof, right there on the side of the road. Wind was howling, trucks were speeding by creating even more turbulence and I stood on the ground watching, with my heart beating out of my chest at the thought of him getting blown off the top of the motor home. He was pragmatic, I was terrified. In a few minutes Champ had the awning cut loose and stood out of the way while the wind slammed it down into the ditch. Once he was back on the ground and my heart was out of my throat, we stood there looking at the mangled framework and canvas and trying to figure out how to haul it. It wasn’t salvageable. We took a picture of it for the insurance company and against both our grains left it in the ditch, having no way to haul it.

What is left of our livingroom slide awning

Two days later after having a wonderful weekend in Lindsborg with family at the Swedish Festival we road out a terrible thunderstorm in Oklahoma with 70 mph winds and driving rain. As I laid in bed around 11 that night wondering if the rig would tip over, I thought I heard water dripping…. inside. That is never a good thing. I got up and went out to the living room and saw water dripping from an overhead cabinet. ‘Oh, crap.” I opened the top hinged cabinet door and water ran out at me. With no awning over the slide out the weak areas of the seal and caulking were totally exposed and obviously not working. We mopped up the puddles, put a fan on it, pulled in the slide out and went to bed. The next morning Champ inspected the locking mechanism box and re-caulked it. Then, last night in Galveston, another similar storm. The sound of water dripping inside at 2am when I stirred awake. This time it was dripping in front of the refrigerator. When I turned on the light the whole bulkhead of the slide was sagging with the weight of water that had leaked in. “What a trip” I thought to myself. We are having a great time for the most part but this whole slide-out awning thing is trying us both. The slide out came back in and is still in this afternoon while we wait for the 24-hour rain event to blow out to sea.

Enjoying a quiet moment at Lake Murray OK

This is the part where I must continually remind myself that we really do love this life, despite the challenges. Leaking slide outs are one of the worst things to deal with. They can cause long term damage in the form of rot and mold if not identified and fixed quickly. I laid awake in bed early Friday morning trying to see the good side. The leak isn’t over the bed. That is a very good thing. The slide out affected can be brought in without cutting off access to anything. We are living in about 80 sq. ft. less space today but at least we can get to everything. I share this RV life with someone who can fix virtually anything. We aren’t at the mercy of RV repair places of having to put it in a shop. He’ll get it fixed; he always does. Most importantly, neither one of us has been injured, despite a couple of dangerous situations.

With the slide in, Champ was able to inspect the top from the inside and found that the metal corner strip covering the long edge of the slide had no caulk at all only screws. I suppose with an awning protecting it, Winnebago decided caulk there was a place they could cut a corner. Water was flowing freely through the seam as it pooled on top of the unprotected slide out.  All we need is a couple of dry warm days to caulk the seam and let it dry. We have dealt with several annoying leaks over the years. It is something of a cat and mouse game with the water. You identify a weakness in the seam, fix it and wait to see if the water finds another way in. Then, you fix that place and so on, until the water has nowhere to go but off the top of the slide and onto the ground where it belongs.

As I walked with Champ through Home Depot to buy more caulk for the repair, feeling a bit dejected, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw 6 five-gallon buckets clustered together in the aisle catching rainwater from their own leaky roof. It reminded me RV’s are a pain in the ass sometimes but so are houses. It isn’t the fault of the lifestyle that we are having such crappy luck this trip anymore that it is a houses fault that it gets damaged my wind and leaks like a sieve till it is fully repaired. We have the ability and know how to get it fixed. It’s having the patience to deal with it while we are on the road that is difficult this week. The sun will shine everyday once we get through today, a good stroke of luck in a very trying journey this fall. The insurance company will send an adjuster to assess the overall damage once we are settled in south Texas.

Lawnmowers and Christmas trees in the same aisle at Home Depot

In the end, I must remind myself that it is nice to spend
the winter months in a place that sells lawn mowers and Christmas trees next to
each other in the home improvement stores. Not a snow blower in sight! We will
be on the road twice more between now and Tuesday and with any luck traveling
safely.

Until next time…