Our day started with a trip to Camping World, the largest RV seller and service provider in the USA. Had we found Mecca?
We needed to replace our trailer’s battery and get supplies for flushing our tanks. After that visit, we bought 7 pounds of ice, flushed the tanks and then put in a special cleaner and all of the ice (which had to be crushed to go down the sinks and the toilet.)
This is a pain, but $300 and another couple of hours of labor is part of the game.
I like our service advisor, Paige. She may be the best salesperson, yet, but wait…
We asked her about our hitch (the one that was adjusted in Pennsylvania) and she said, “If you’re still swaying on the highway, that’s not good. But despite 26 years of experience, I am not an expert at hitches. I suggest you call Dan’s Hitches down the road. They basically invented the things.”
Okay, so Mecca is down the road a piece?
FYI, Indiana, where we are located, is the center of the RV universe. Most of the factories are here and so are the folks that know the most about them. Dan’s Hitches is a father-son operation. The father has consulted with RV manufacturers, so I think we are finally at the top of the mountain as far as getting good advice and (hopefully) a better installation adjustment.
We called them up. The son, Ryan, started by telling us that he was going to be direct and that we might not like what he was going to say. He counseled us that “I’m going to be honest so that you dint have to spend more time screwing around anymore with people in our industry who, frankly, are wrong 90% of the time about trucks, hitches and installations.”
Okay. This is sounding like it’s going to be expensive, but also informative.
“The truth is that with your Ford, your Rockwood Trailer and your Blue Ox hitch, we can do everything we can and you still might not be a happy camper. We will try, but know that the cost of the best of the best hitches is $4500.”
Shit. $4500?
On the one hand, who doesn’t like the idea of the best of the best and the end to one’s woes. But that’s way more than we want to spend.
So here’s what we’re doing…
The father of all hitches, Dan, who is 81 years young, got into our truck, asked me to blast the AC and took us on a test drive (12 miles to and fro) while expounding on the Art of the Hitches, the way to set it up, properly inflate your tires and how to drive a 1/2 ton Ford which was NOT designed well to be a passenger car and a tow vehicle in the first place.
Okay. Sounds like we might be able to get this done without dipping further into our retirement savings.
As I write this, Dan, Ryan and their techs are working to make our current system work. If it does, we continue with our trip. If it doesn’t, then we ask ourselves the BIG QUESTION that has been looming over this Southwest journey for a couple of years. Namely, have we bitten off more than we can chew? Is it time to turn around and make new plans?
The Beams of Positivity Tour (I love that name) doesn’t mean “go forth regardless of the risk and grab the brass ring that’s beyond your reach.”
On the contrary, the real Beams of Positivity Tour is our life. It’s about reaching for gold, yes, but accepting that it’s not okay for us to be spending oodles of money we cannot afford, visiting every camping store and technician from New York to Colorado, and trying our best not to argue with one another due to the anxiety we are experiencing.
Like Ryan, I’m giving it to you straight, folks. The honest truth is that God has not sent us a bunch of signs to keep going. It’s been the opposite since I first started feeling pretty horrible sciatica and shoulder pain over the Winter. I’ve done my best (as has Beth) to keep moving forward through every obstacle. But it’s beginning to wear us down.
We are not ready to quit, yet. And I’m hoping that we are at the point in the Hero’s Journey where the Universe says, “You have suffered, but keep going for the light you seek is just ahead.”
The crossroads is a hard place. It is not meant to kill us, but it could. Many a man and woman have crossed the line and gone too far in the wrong direction.
Let’s see what tomorrow brings. The hitch is ready!
