The fulltime lifestyle is always a good time until something goes wrong. From spent brakes to getting stuck in the mud, if you’re going to make it on the road you need to be comfortable being self-reliant and making decisions on your own.
RVing lifestyle challenges can bring couples closer together if they learn how to navigate these challenges . . . or they will end up killing each other and calling the road trip done.
We have faced our share of road trip calamities. We’ve always survived, but oftentimes at the cost of out of control emotions, expensive repairs and a sad sense of feeling like we were all alone in the world.
At times like that, even this tough chick will admit it’s lonely being out there without friends or family to call and bail you out.
Up here in the mountains, we have neighbors, but they’re not close enough to see from our property. We get the impression that people live up here for a reason . . . they don’t want to have neighbors. They’re hermits. I guess that might make us hermits too, but really, we aren’t. We just like the scenery.
Stranded on the Mountain
Last week our trusty Dodge died (which Jim will eventually write about). My worst nightmare came true; we were stuck on our mountain without a vehicle (other than Jim’s motorcycle). Although Jim made a valiant effort to fix the problem the previous week, it returned last weekend, leaving us stranded again.
We had two options; either fork out serious cash for the 80 mile tow to the great diesel mechanic we found in town, or call our newly relocated friends, Lisa and Sean Purcell, who just planted roots here in Fort Collins after fulltiming with their kids for nearly two years. Suspecting that we had an electrical drain on our batteries, we knew that their Ford F350 could jump our Dodge 2500.
After a quick text to Lisa, she and Sean and their kids were on their way without hesitation. Instead of enjoying their new life in town on a beautiful sunny day, they drove the 80 miles to get us started and escorted us back to town to make sure we got there safely.
The Purcells saved us the towing fee, but their help was worth so much more than that. They gave us the emotional therapy we needed to get through a stressful situation. They made us laugh, got our truck started, then saved our day from crumbling into catastrophe. The two of them, their great kids and their dog Sophie turned a lousy morning around into a really nice afternoon with friends.
Thanks guys!
Life on the road is fantastic, and we’ll still keep snowbirding, but this proves there really is a lot to be said about a place you can call home.
I think your rig has 12 volt batteries, in the future you could just use one of your rig batteries, if they fit. If the battery does not fit make sure you have Jumper cables and use the rig battery to jump your Truck.
On our way out to see you guys last year our Jeep battery was dead after a week at the Grand Canyon, I pulled the trailer battery and used it to start the jeep. No Worries 😉
//A
Great minds think alike! We tried that. It worked the first weekend the truck died but not the next. That was a fluke; the power a diesel truck needs is too much for a 12 volt to handle.
A diesel has 2 batteries; you need 2 batteries to start it. Using both trailer batts the 2nd time would’ve probably just killed both batteries I think.
Awww stop it, you’re gonna bring a tear to my eye! Really, we had a lot of fun too. Its not like it isn’t a gorgeous drive the whole way up there, and the kids love the rope swing. And Sophie loves wandering around your property with Wyatt. You didn’t tell everyone that you bought us a delicious lunch where Sean found a new favorite beer!
So glad you had kind folks around to help out in a stressful situation.. it certainly does make turn a lousy morning into a joyous day!
After more than 3 years of full time RVing, I do have say that it’s not been our experience that life on the road has to be a lonely experience, and that you can only experience this sort of things by having a fixed location home. We experience the same sort of serendipity and generosity of others in what would otherwise be stressful situations more often on the road than I ever did being stationary. And we’ve faced some pretty fricken huge calamities.
I think, for us anyway, it’s more of an attitude shift than a fixed vs. varying location thing. When you are open to, and invite, and gift that sort of energy – it’s there. And of course, as a resultant of our travels – we are vastly more connected with a wide range of folks in a wide range of locations.
Hey Cherie, I hope I didn’t give the impression that I thought life on the road had to be lonely. But there are times when no amount of tweets or “Likes” will replace a good friend to help you through a tough time. At times like this, you know who your real friends are versus your facebook buddies.
We’re always open to positive energy too, but when you’re all alone on a mountaintop 80 miles from civilization, that positive energy isn’t going to jump start your truck and get you where you want to go! 😉
Thanks for reading!
Wonderful story. Glad to hear your friends were able to help you out and that you and Jim made the best of the situation. No need to stress, that won’t solve anything. =)
Safe travels! Have fun!!
And there you have just learned a valuable lesson that us sea going boat mongrels have known all along; One has to be self reliant as much as is humanly possible but sometimes “stuff happens” so it goes without saying (at least it should) when a fellow mariner is in trouble, you drop everything and set a course to help them out regardless.
Why, because one day when you least expect it you’re gonna need help and when that time comes you better hope that your fellow human inhabitants of this world follows the same rules as you do. And you know what, they generally do thank goodness.
Thank you for providing a good news story, it’s made many peoples day just that little bit better I’m sure.
Good point Rob. Stuff does happen. When it’s our turn, we’ll drop everything for someone else. Karma is as karma does.