We SHOULD be in Rhinebeck, NY right now, in the Hudson Valley, excited about three days there. Instead, we are home in Webster. It’s our lucky day.

Let me start with the backstory – as I mentioned previously, we bought a Buick Encore GX which can be flat-towed behind RoVer, and the local RV dealer had ordered the necessary parts to install on it so we could start towing with this week’s trip. That all went just as planned…we dropped the Buick off to the dealer last Tuesday, they worked on it Wed/Thurs, and we returned on Friday with RoVer so we could learn how to use the system and get everything connected. The technician, who was very knowledgeable and helpful, walked us through everything, we took notes and photos, and left there on Friday driving RoVer and towing Plum (we have named the Encore “Plum” in honor of the purple color!). No issues at all, we disconnected everything and parked RoVer at the storage place where she now lives in between trips. Yay! Good to go for Monday!

On Saturday, we went to RoVer to take care of a few things, make the beds, etc. in preparation for our trip. When we arrived, there was a beeping noise, and Mark found that the coach battery was low (the battery that powers the refrig/freezer, lights, etc.). That’s never happened before, so we were a bit puzzled, but he ran the engine and the generator briefly and everything seemed fine.

Sunday night, we brought RoVer to our townhouse and parked it on a nearby street, so we could hit the road early on Monday. Everything was fine, no issues on Sunday.

Monday morning, we get everything loaded in the RV and then start the process to hook up Plum. The tow bar connected just fine and everything was going smoothly until Mark tried to power the unit that ‘manages’ the brakes in the Buick. A special 12V outlet was installed in the Buick that is powered from the RV, since the Buick’s battery is disconnected while it’s being towed. No matter what he did, the power would not work. The car’s 12V socket powered it just fine while the battery was on, but the new outlet, which worked perfectly on Friday, was not functional. We called the dealer and Mark spoke to the tech. He was puzzled, and said we should drive over so he could look at it. Fortunately, for the 30-minute drive, it was okay that this unit wasn’t working since the RV brakes would be sufficient (and the brake lights/turn signals were all connected and working fine). Fortunately, the dealer is East of here and we needed to go East anyway, so we headed out.

The tech did some initial troubleshooting and was stumped. He found some fuses that had blown, replaced those, still no luck, and at least one of them blew a 2nd time. As he looked at the wiring, he found a few issues which I can’t sufficiently describe/explain, but let’s just say that we’re lucky we hadn’t had any electrical problems or shorts already. Now, we have no way of knowing if the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the addition of the 12V outlet in the Buick drawing power from the RV, or if this was just completely coincidental timing, but either way, we are REALLY lucky this all happened while we were here at home, and not hundreds of miles away in a remote area or on the highway. It’s very likely the issue on Saturday with the coach battery is related.

So, RoVer is with the nice people at Johnston RV in Palmyra, NY. We unloaded everything from the RV into the Buick, disconnected the tow bar, and drove back home in the Buick. Mark did get a call this afternoon that they want the Buick in the morning to test something, as they think perhaps they have it figured out…or at least this will help narrow things down. So Mark will take Plum and head out there tomorrow. The work should all be covered under warranty, and it’s an inconvenience, but this was really an easy trip to cancel…we lost our deposit on the campsite (about $50) and didn’t have any important plans like a wedding to attend like our last trip!

Oh, and while I was standing there in their shop, I realized one of the plastic covers on the awning mechanism was missing. I thought, hmmm, I never noticed that before, and then I realized, it’s because it looks different without the cover on it. We have no idea when we lost that…perhaps a tree branch hit it and loosened it? Anyway, they’re ordering the part for us.

We’re bummed because we thought this would be the perfect ‘test tow’ for us…relatively close to home, good chance to get used to driving a much longer vehicle now with the car behind it. Mark did notice in the brief drives Friday and today that the extra weight on the back end actually makes for a smoother drive…don’t really notice bumps very much at all now. So that’s a plus!

So, hopefully all will go well and RoVer will be ship-shape by next Wednesday, as we are supposed to leave for Ohio on Thursday to spend the Columbus Day weekend with Connor at a state park near Miami University. We won’t be towing the car for this trip since Connor has a car in Oxford for us to use…so our first real use with the towed car will not be until Februrary 2022 when we head to North Carolina for two months (all of our campgrounds are booked for our ‘snowbird winter’…woo hoo!)

So it really was our lucky day that all of this happened at home and didn’t cause any bigger issues for us. For that we are grateful!