Getting better - Day 1795 (Year 5, Day 326)

Zephyrhills, FL

I do wish I could post more often; that there was more exciting stuff happening (or anything, at that) happening in our lives.

Getting better, slowly but surely.  It started with a scratchy throat in San Antonio.  When I returned home, the next day it was a full blown sore throat with a runny nose and the start of a cough.  Since then, the throat eased up, but I was full of congestion and coughing up and blowing out a lot of phlegm.  Last night was the first time I slept through the night and I only used 3 tissues instead of half a box.  So finally getting over this.

But now for maintenance/possible repair problems with the RV, possibly something to do with the hydraulic system.  We discovered the problem on Friday with the bed.  There's a switch that makes the top part go up and down (to make it easier to change the sheets as well as to semi-sit up while lying down; great feature!).  We had a flat box stored under there which Mitch needed, so he raised the bed to get it.  Then... the bed would not go back down.  We discovered that the mechanics work with a hydraulic piston.  UPDATE:  We were able to lower the bed manually by disconnecting the piston. Of course, the switch won't work now until we get the system fixed.

Now, in order to accurately check the hydraulic fluid level, we need to hitch the truck up to the rig.  In order to hitch, we need to raise or lower the landing gear (jacks) which are also hydraulic.  Mitch was able to lower the rig a bit, but he lowered it too far so that it was too low to slide into the hitch.  But when he tried to raise the jacks, they would not go up.

We got quite a few different opinions and tips from various online sources as well as RV peers, including to check the solonoid switch (which we had to learn what that was, where to find it and how to check it; Mitch is doing that now).  I have a hunch that will not be successful and we'll need to call in a tech.  UPDATE: no, it didn't work.

Thank goodness we don't need to pack up and leave in a few days, as it can take a week or more before we can get an appointment (although with our luck, Mitch will get a job offer where we do need to leave in a few days!)

So far, he still has a lot of leads but no responses.