I Will Fight No More Forever

We finally gave up on getting all the things that are malfunctioning on the trailer fixed. Irritating. Brand new 2020 trailer. The sensors that tell us how much grey, black and fresh water that is in the holding tanks don’t work. They indicate full when we just emptied them. The fridge door handle broke within 3 days. Toscano’s in Los Banos, where we bought it, wanted us to hold off our trip for 3 weeks so they could fix it. I don’t think so! Then when we got to Oregon the slide began sliding in and out cattywhompus.

Here you go. Here’s the truth of RVing. It’s like living in a house except you’re on wheels. There’s always something broke that needs to be fixed. Get used to it. It really bothered me at first because I wanted everything to work perfectly. I get really frustrated and annoyed when things don’t work. I am an inpatient person and when things don’t work I get mad. I learned this from my dad and I’ve been fighting it my whole life and I’m still fighting it. At this advanced age I’m starting to win the fight more than I lose it. So, these 3 things can wait until we get somewhere where we can stay a long time because in this time of covid not only does it take forever to get parts but every body is buying RVs and travelling so it take weeks to get a repair appt.

So, there you have it. Cultivate patience and figure out workarounds. Duck tape the fridge door handle, guestimate what’s in the holding tanks, push on the slide with all your might to get it to slide out right.

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We made it to Yellowstone! We’re not staying in the park just yet. We found a fantastic Forest Service campground and we’re staying there until our reservation is ready at Bridge Bay on Yellowstone Lake. This campground is near enough in proximity that we took a scouting expedition the other day. Yellowstone is crazy crowded! OMG. At one geyser cars were backed out into the highway waiting for parking spots. This dog don’t hunt! We hope that we can get up way early or visit the heavily visited spots very late at night to avoid crowds. Some people are wearing masks. Many people are not. The narrow walkways make it impossible to distance oneself.

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We found a potential new home area. Bozeman, Montana. The area is gorgeous. The people seem relaxed. The town is actually smaller than Madera but it has everything and more! Why didn’t Madera have anything? Was it because it was so close to Fresno? Was it because the population was, on the whole, poor? Anyway, Bozeman has everything and more. I would never be bored when getting takeout! Many, many great restaurants. Cute downtown! So much wide open space. Horses galore! We would probably live here in the summer. Winters are brutal.

Sidebar: I have to write a little about this river. In the Nez Perce Indian Wars Chief Joseph led a band of old men, women and children and 2,000 (two thousand!) horses through this area. They started in eastern Oregon and went through Idaho and Montana to escape being incarcerated onto a reservation by the U.S. Government who was sick of them resisting being moved. The government tried to make them go by force. The men defending them successfully ran interference for a long time making it possible for Chief Joseph’s group to make it almost all the way to Canada and freedom. They would have made it but they ran out of food and winter was setting in. Chief Joseph said, “I will fight no more forever.” Can you imagine 2,000 horses grazing nearby and drinking from this stream? I can.