Day 2 – Elton

By Ginny & Jim

After an emotional Thursday, Friday’s trip caused us some different reactions…including our first “uh-oh…now what?” moment.

We got off to a bit of a late start from Cle Elum, heading to Pullman to see Greg for Mom’s Weekend at Wazzu, so we decided to put off for another day our maiden voyage towing the Jeep behind the Iz.  Good thing!

Ginny started off driving the Jeep behind Jim in the rig.  Only a couple of miles down the road, Jim got an SOS call from Ginny – the stairs (which are supposed to say tucked away during driving) were retracting and extending while we were driving!  Luckily, there was a nice, big rest stop only a mile away, so we pulled in there.  We started reading manuals, posting questions to the RV Facebook page we’re on and calling service centers.  One thing led to another, and our savior turned out to be Elton…

a 70-or-80-something local who found the problem, determined that he couldn’t fix it without ordering a new part, but was able to disconnect the faulty mechanism and tie the steps in place with a couple of bungees that we had on board (and to think that, a few days ago, I asked Ginny why she was packing a box of bungee cords!).

Three hours later, we were on our way again, with some lessons learned and re-learned.  They include:  we were told before we left to pack our patience and expect the unexpected; there are all sorts of nice people out there who know a lot about stuff that we know nothing about; and it’s really hard to get into a motorhome without the steps!

Now we’re in rainy Pullman, and heading to Oregon Sunday morning.  The search for sunshine continues!