Chronicling the full time RV lifestyle of a young family

Chapter 30: Maine-tenance

Maine. Home. Home? It was nice to breathe in the fresh cool air. We had a few weeks of repairs lined up and it was quickly clear that it would take longer than anticipated. 

We parked on our family’s lawn which was multipurpose: help with the repairs and help with the kids. Eloise loved it and enjoyed visiting with everyone. Eliza enjoyed all the new faces. Many thanks to all the family members who pitched in to help with all of our projects. We completed tasks fast and furiously and barely stopped to take any photos of it. 

  • Disk brake conversion! (A huge DIY project)
  • Baby swing hanging in the toy bay area
  • Lowered the happijack bed to normal floor height (no more climbing a ladder to get into our bed!)
  • Kids bunk beds modified to fit neatly into the bedroom slide
  • School desk built for Eloise starting kindergarten
  • Living room painted white
  • Kids room painted white (it was a very light green that ended up looking white)
  • Curtains measured and to be sewn, all old dark valances removed
  • Camper washed and waxed
  • All new tires for camper 
  • All new tires for the truck

It seemed that just as we were ‘fixing’ things even more things were breaking. We couldn’t move our home without something going wrong. Kevin had been in contact with the manufacturer and they agreed that it would be best if our camper returned to the factory for major structural repairs and all minor repair work. In the interim, we were told that it would be best to keep a list of all broken items and limp it along until our camper could get to the ‘hospital’ in Elkhart, Indiana as Eloise called it.

After numerous hours on the phone with Keystone, Kevin was finally scheduled to drive it out to  Indiana to drop it off on July 24th. His dad graciously agreed to tag along and help with the driving while the girls and I sat this trip out in Maine. His dad also helped with emptying our home contents into a storage unit. (Yes, you read that right, Keystone requested the camper be empty of personal items–what a pain!).

Its official: our camper is in the hospital. When will we get it back? 4 weeks or so we have been told…stay tuned!

 

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Chapter 29: Our Belated One Year Celebration

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Chapter 31: Our Main Maine Adventures

5 Comments

  1. Joe Valentim

    My wife and I are interested in learning about the RV lifestyle. Well, I am. My wife isn’t convinced that she would like it. Ones of here biggest concerns is having a stable and reliable internet connection, as she works from home. Can you tell me what you guys do?

    Sorry to hear about the mechanical issues. That really stinks! Hopefully the manufacturer is covering all your expenses?

    Thank you,

    Joe and Jean Valentim

    p.s. We’re the folks that bought the old stove from your folk’s camp in Skowhegan. My wife loves that thing!!

    • The Wanderers

      Hey guys! Glad you are liking the old stove and that its gone to a good home that will use it. For us we have ‘unlimited’ data plans from different carriers, a wifi signal booster, and we use data coverage maps to be sure we are never ‘out of range’ in any given area. So far we have had fairly good luck and have gotten better at planning. If you want specifics, email me at [email protected] and I’ll have Kevin reach out to you! 🙂

  2. Sherry Mather

    I’m glad you made it home, before it got so bad it had to go to the hospital and you had your families around to help! Bright side, we get to see you longer! ?

    • The Wanderers

      Hi Sherry! 🙂 Hope you’re having a good summer!

  3. PGY3

    Glad you are having such great adventures. A year went by pretty fast! Hope you enjoy the Maine summer and relax a bit.

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