More trauma - gotta love it!

We did have a nice visit with Jerry and Brenda, but didn’t expect the foot of snow in mid-May! I guess the only good thing to say is that it snowed while we were parked rather than while we were driving. I know we are in the Mile High City in the foothills of the Rockies, but still, mid-May? Really?

While there was still plenty of snow on the ground, all had melted off the vehicles and the sky clear when we hit the road for our last leg. So, we went through our normal routine breaking camp – since there were no trees or anything posing an obstruction danger to the slide-outs, I prepped the Saturn while the Woman pulled in the slides and the jacks. Apparently I didn’t do what should be a standard visual walk around Colectiva before we headed out, or what came next might not have happened.

As we motored up I-76, we heard some unusual creaking and groaning from our full side slide-out on the driver side. About the time I had finally decided that the Woman (driving) should pull over and we should check out the noise, a passenger in a passing car was pointing up to the side of our coach as she passed. We pulled over, and found that the awning cover over the full side slide-out was bulging out in the very strong winds. I had the Woman attempt to open the slide-out a bit to see if the spring loading might pull in the bulging fabric, but soon learned that the slide-out would not even budge an inch!

So, everything had to come out of the big bay and get piled on the side of the road so I could get at the ladder. After climbing up on the roof, I could see the issue and speculate at what likely happened. I tried my best, but could not budge the awning roller that should be spring loaded, and turn freely. The awning fabric was quite torn and was askew on the roller at the front, and loose and billowing out at the rear. The front fabric was wound so tightly around the roller that it had actually bent the solid metal inch thick arm that was supposed to hold the roller out and away from the side of the coach – bent it so badly that the roller was pressed firmly against the side of Colectiva. That is why it could not turn. Using shears, I literally cut about a foot of the awning material that was so tightly wrapped around the roller – after finessing the snagged material out from under the roller, it appeared to me that perhaps the slide could now move. Although the roller still scraped the side of the coach as the slide moved, we were still able to get it out, take up the bulging material in the rear, and then close the slide with awning material more tightly wound. With flapping material at the front where I had cut the material to free up the roller, I was able to make enough holes in the remaining base material to mount a couple of large zip-ties to secure it in place, at least for the drive.

Well, its official – Colectiva is now officially a power boat. Of course you all know the official definition of a power boat I assume. A power boat is an artificial hole in the surface of a body of water – into which you pour tons of money!

Looking at what we have done, I know two things. One is that our breaking camp routine from now on will include one of us watching carefully the slide covers as we pull in the slide-outs before leaving. The other is that I know we are looking at another minimum $1,500 repair when we get to Minneapolis!

Talk to you soon!