Chomper is not well . . .

Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

Yesterday we went to the house and picked up the cargo trailer. Mark had a neighbor help, as the trailer was at the top of our steeply inclined driveway, and there was no way we were backing our big rig up there. The neighbor kindly hooked the trailer up to his pickup truck and then drove it down the hill to a level spot where Mark was waiting. They then transferred the trailer to the RV. We said our goodbyes to the house and set off for our new life on wheels. It sure felt good to finally have all of our belongings in one spot.

Having been at the RV Park for some time now, the ‘tear down’ for travel took a lot longer than anticipated. Everything on the counter-tops, all the décor, anything sitting loose had to be secured for travel. It was our first pack-up with the rig completely full. We have done this a gazillion times in our first RV, but it is so much different when it is your home as opposed to your recreational vehicle! Eventually, this process will be quick and second nature, as everything will have its place and we’ll have a routine worked out. At least we hope.

However, I do believe I have learned my first fulltime RV lesson. 1) When en route to a destination and you are making one night stops along the way, leave the décor and unneeded loose items, packed in their little collapsible bins to save time in the morning when you are tearing down.

The set up went much faster than the tear down, thank God! We even cleaned the whole RV before putting things back on the counters and floors. I love that part. To clean our big house, I would have schedule one chore a day, i.e. dust on Monday, floors on Tuesday, etc.  I can thoroughly clean the RV in less than 30 minutes flat!

In no time at all we had set up, the RV was clean, we ate dinner, Skyped with Asher and the family for Mother’s Day (they are a day ahead of us down under), and had just snuggled in for a Modern Family Marathon on TV, when we heard a strange noise. It was our fancy-schmancy-sewage-grinder-thingy. I don’t know the technical name for this devise, but I call it The Chomper. It is a specific type of pump needed because of having two toilets in the rig. 

In the Flintstones they had a prehistoric pig for a garbage disposal, and that is kind of how I picture The Chomper, as a big prehistoric poo-eating creature with a ginormous mouth. Anywhooo…The Chomper was running constantly, like it had something stuck in its teeth.

Mark tried all sorts of remedies; from emptying the tank, to filling the tank with fresh water and dumping it again, tweaking this and that, verbal threats, (I covered Cotye’s ears). Finally he pulled out a plunger and plunged both toilets several times. I think he was using the wrong end . . . it seriously sounded more like the darn thing needed a toothpick.

After almost two hours of frustration, we each packed an overnight bag, grabbed our sleeping bags and pillows and went….you guessed it, back to the house where, even completely empty, there were at least toilets!

I don’t remember the floor being so hard. But it was worth it for the delight Cotye took in us sleeping down on his territory. Once he stopped doing laps of joy around us, he snuggled in for a long night of cuddling in his mommy’s arms. Happiness is a warm puppy to sleep with!

I find it hilarious that our first adventure would involve sleeping bags and our old house. Never saw that coming!