We are so delighted to be here in Fort Collins, with full hookups, but we’ve still got lots of RV issues that need addressing and questions that need asking. The biggest annoyance? Our gray water tank hasn’t been able to flush since before we reached Fort Collins- it’s an issue with the valve release, we believe.

No gray water tank means we have no easy way to wash hands or wash dishes. And that got old about a week or so in. After all, we’ve got a pretty nice RV…to have to live like you’re tent camping inside it is absolutely a first world problem, but it gets frustrating, especially when you live in that RV year-round and not just on weekends.

We’ve got a growing list of additional, urgent repairs. We need the housing under the house batteries, which rusted out almost completely and is currently held in place by a fake tourist license plate, replaced in a more secure fashion. We need our house batteries looked at and almost definitely replaced. We need our fantastic fan cover (the one over our living space) replaced – it ripped, probably due to wind, in Florida, and of course we realized it in the middle of a horrible rainstorm. (Thank you, Ross!)

Add to that the usual maintenance – general inspection ideal, and oil change necessary – and we’ve got a lot to do before the winter.

How we do it is still to be decided. We know we will find a Mobile RV tech for the gray tank. My personal hope is we love that RV tech so much that we then ask him to do the other stuff on our list. If he’s able to, we can then take the RV in for at least an oil change when we leave Fort Collins…or even wait and do it in the winter, provides everything else is running well for us.

Our schedule is super-roomy currently, so if you’re in Denver/Boulder/Fort Collins etc., we’d love to get together. But when we are done here in late September, we’ve got a very tight schedule to get to New Hampshire for two months of ukulele classes for older adults plus other gigs and projects.

So I’d really love to get all the repairs done prior to departure, drop the rig off in storage for a couple of months (or possibly at a cheap, safe RV park if that feels like a better fit) and then run back to New England for the fall.

If by any chance you have RV mechanic recommendations in CO or NM, let us know. Otherwise, thanks for reading, and here are a few kitten photos for your troubles!