Our past selves learned these important lessons the hard way
Here’s a question from our present-day RVing selves to our past RVing selves:
“What the heck were you thinking?”
Six years ago, we took our first major RV trip. Looking back now, we realize we made a lot of mistakes during that inaugural October 2018 journey in our Thor Gemini.
Take, for example, our stop in beautiful Joseph, Ore., where we stayed at Wallowa Lake State Park. We soon discovered a major problem. Our coach batteries -- the ones that came with the rig -- wouldn’t hold a charge, so we had no hot water and no power at night.
Present-day selves: “Why didn’t you make sure before driving off the RV lot in the Spokane Valley that your coach batteries were functioning?”
Past selves: “We thought they were brand new!”
Present-day selves: “Obviously, they weren’t. You could have saved yourselves a lot of misery if you had checked that.”
After stopping in Ketchum, Idaho, to get new batteries, we continued down the road to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was a beautiful place to camp, but quite cold. The next day, we woke up to a raging snowstorm and had to make a quick emergency exit.
Present-day selves: “Did you check the elevation before deciding to camp at Craters of the Moon in October?”
Past selves: “Is that important?”
Present-day selves: “Yes! You were camping at nearly 6,000 feet. Snowstorms can hit at any time in the fall -- you should always check the weather before you camp!”
Then we headed to Wasatch Mountain State Park in Heber City, Utah. There, we scored a full hookup. “Awesome!” we thought. When it came time to leave, however, we couldn’t figure out how to get the water hose disconnected from the RV.
Present-day selves: “Which way were you turning the hose connection on the rig?”
Past selves: “Left. You know, righty-tighty, lefty-loosey. Duh!”
Present-day selves: “It’s opposite with the rig connection. So you should have turned it to the right. Thank goodness a fellow camper showed you the error!”
Later in the trip, we quickly discovered another plumbing problem. Toilet paper kept clogging the valve on our black water tank outlet, causing some rather disgusting sewage discharges whenever we dumped.
Present-day selves: “Toilet paper is problematic. Why are you putting so much of it in your black tanks?”
Past selves: “The manual says it’s OK!”
Present-day selves: “Uhhh -- NO! Even the lightest TP doesn’t dissolve and always seems to clog the valves. Keep all TP out of the holding tank!”
Past selves: “Ick!”
Later, during a stop in Aspen, Colo., single-digit temps froze and ruined our water pump.
Present-day selves: “Did you think about draining the water before going into such extreme weather?”
Past selves: “Nope. The RV salesman had told us it was fully winterized and would be fine.”
Present-day selves: “And you believed him? You need to be especially careful with water in single-digit temps.”
Past selves: “Now you tell us!”
Live and learn, right? The ultimate question our present selves asks is knowing what you know now, would you do it again? A resounding heck yeah!
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