Raven’s RV
The ongoing education and adventures of two rank newbie RVers

We’ve had a busy couple of days in and out of Harvey the RV (yes, the correct name finally suggested itself).

Mostly we are settling into our new long-term parking. We love the travel part but it’s not quite time to launch and run a gypsy life. Another year, and it probably will. For now, we’re in Lodi, and it’s good.

When we rolled into the space, my bike refused to start up again long enough to roll into the space after the RV. After some foot stomping and annoyance on my part, I flipped it into neutral and pushed it in manually. We established that most likely, the “no-tend” battery needed tending, so I had an education in interpreting the electrical code on the back of a “wall wart,” removing the battery, adding water, and putting it back, most of which I did under my own steam with only moderate loss of skin. Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe working on vehicles, so that my actual eventual success is only ever a bittersweet kind of thing?

On the to-do list for today is to smog the minivan, and then to start the process of changing our address. Yesterday we drove around finding test centers and rejecting them based on attitude. For example, a person who refuses to answer questions, instead saying “I know my business,” is not going to get our business.

To make things even more fun, our boy cat JR has picked up a urinary tract infection, so we’re nursing him as well. A bottle of Nature’s Miracle will also be on the agenda today because he really has next to no bladder control. Poor guy.

Don pulled down the awning for the first time a couple of days ago, and he also tightened a fitting so we no longer have a persistent fresh water leak. The awning stinks of chemical plastic, and if that stink doesn’t ease off then we won’t be using it. It’s also missing certain vital parts, which means that for example we can’t lock the supporting arms. He rigged up a loop though so that it can easily be hooked and brought down, unlike before when I would have to bounce up and down to reach the tag of nylon cord which was the original method.

Duct tape is a wonderful thing.

Oh, and the “pop a tissue” device is up. Actually, it’s just a plastic box exactly the size of a square box of tissues that attaches to the wall of your RV. I like it, though. It’s a very nice plastic box and the tissues hang down so tidily. We also have paper plates now that fit in the pop-a-plate device that was already here when we moved in, something at which I gawked with amazement: “Why would people install such a thing, let alone invent it?”

Well, I guess I now know.

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