One week into our 75 day summer trip….what we learned.
After seven nights on the road , we thought it was time to reflect one what we learned over this first week. Surprisingly, this first week whipped by very quickly. There were times we couldn’t even remember what day it was but that was a product of disconnecting from our normal lives.
All those months of planning really helped things run smoothly. I know you probably read my post about day one problems. That was a real issue, but I think without the advance planning this entire first week would have been a disaster. Even with those months of planning, things always find a way to slip through the cracks….
We encourage the kids to take an active role in our travels. This includes helping set up and pack up the RV. Sometimes this can cause unforeseen circumstances like when we arrived at the Frederickburg KOA. The teens decided were ready to fully connect my mother in laws RV. Water, sewer and electric. As teens sometimes lack focus, they can forget small details. This time the missed detail wasn’t a small detail. They came running to my RV with the news, ” we locked the keys in the basement compartment”. Shocked I asked for details. Can you imagine the site of these two teenagers trying to blame one another for this mishap? Now it was decision time and I had only a few seconds to react. Do I get upset and maybe say something out of frustration that I would regret later or do I calmly try to search for a solution?
To make matters worse, it was the only set of keys for my mother in laws RV. Think fast what do I do next? Stay calm first off. Next, call a locksmith? No, That would be a expensive. Call our RV insurance to see if they will send someone out? That’s a possibility, but we’re only staying one night and it was a holiday weekend. Keep in mind we just arrived after a 250 miles drive and we were ready to relax and hit the pool. I remembered we passed a RV sales and repair center about 8 miles back.
I grabbed the KOA guest services guide. Sure enough the Safford RV facility was a listed vendor. I placed a call and explained the situation. They said that one of their master keys should unlock the cargo door. So I drove over to to Safford and they asked me for some type of security deposit( my DL) so I would return this huge master set of RV keys. After a 10 minute drive back to the campground I was faced with decision time.
A master set of keys with about 30 different keys to try. Which one do I try first. I think God had mercy on me, he knew how tired i was and that I certainly lacked patience. The very first key I tried worked! Crisis averted. special thanks to Safford RV for showing us kindness and compassion. They didn’t even charge us a penny. I did buy a few needed RV supplies while I was there, it was the least I could do.
Week one reflections
There will always be unforeseen issues that we will have to tackle on this trip. Accept these challenges, solve them,learn from them , and grow from them. The family had lots of fun, visiting science centers and children’s museums. We learned some painful lessons of our history as African Americans and the enduring strength, and courage needed to facilitate change. Lastly, we learned we need to make a backup set of keys ASAP!
We hope next week’s blog check-in is less uneventful….
Soulful RV Family
First thing you should pack is your sense of humor.