Houston, We’ve Got Liftoff!

Mrs. Weeble and I drove back to Maryland, very happy people. We had done it. The RV was ours. Once we got home, we were sitting at the kitchen table reliving the whole adventure when Mrs. Weeble said she wanted to go to the RV show. I looked at her and said, “Why? We just bought an RV.” She calmly replied, “I want to make sure we got a good deal.” Now, I had already prepaid for the tickets, so there wasn’t much debate left in me. Off to the RV show we went. I was thinking about equipment and campgrounds, while Mrs. Weeble was thinking about RVs.

So naturally… we did both.

I’ll admit it — I grew tired of looking at RVs pretty quickly. Mrs. Weeble, however, carried on with gusto. There weren’t many Sprinter-based RVs there, and most of the show was travel trailers. There also wasn’t as much equipment as I expected. But I did walk away with a stack of campground guides tall enough to qualify as carry-on luggage.

I tend to favor national and state parks over private campgrounds, but I’m trying to keep an open mind. By the time we left, I had collected guides for just about the entire East Coast. That tied in nicely with the Ohio campground guide I picked up on our drive home from Clyde.

Presidents Day Pause

Monday was Presidents Day, which meant no banking. No wiring money. No moving funds. Just waiting.

So instead, we focused on logistics.

We quickly agreed we didn’t want to take our car and have Mrs. Weeble follow me back in the RV. A one-way rental made more sense. Enterprise looked like the best option. They had an office just one town west of Clyde — Fremont. Perfect, right?

Not quite.

Closed on weekends.

Well, that complicated things.

We looked at Toledo International Airport. Wrong direction. Cleveland Hopkins was in the right direction — but that meant both the Ohio and Pennsylvania Turnpikes and their lovely tolls on the way home.

Then I looked at Dayton International Airport.

That’s when it hit me. Dayton meant we could stop and see my aunt and uncle and spend some time with them. That sealed it. Dayton it was.

The VIN Scare

The next day, we started transferring money so we could wire it to the dealer’s bank.

Then the phone rang.

It was our salesman, Roger.

After a short conversation, he said, “I made a mistake.”

Our first thought? Here we go again. We both instantly imagined our RV dreams evaporating into thin air.

But no. He had simply given us the wrong VIN number and needed to provide the correct one for our insurance policy. We both breathed a long, slow sigh of relief.

Crisis averted.

Delivery Day — For Real This Time

So off to Clyde we went again.

We arrived at the dealership for our run-through of all the systems. The technician asked if either of us had experience with RVs. Mrs. Weeble said she had none. I said I had owned one before — but to pretend I hadn’t. If we were going to learn this rig, we were going to learn it properly.

We went through the slide operation, water system, furnace, electrical systems, and a dozen other things. By the end, we both felt a little overwhelmed — but we had the basics down.

Then came the manuals. Not a manual. Manuals. A small suitcase of them.

We transferred everything from the rental car into our RV. That felt good to say.

We were ready to pull out when I noticed something. All the overhead lights inside the coach were on.

I jumped out of the driver’s seat and started flipping switches. Off. Off. Off. Off.

Everything went dark… except the light over the overhead bunk.

I checked the switches again. Nothing. Looked around the bunk area. Nothing.

Finally, I walked back into the dealership feeling like I had just failed “RV Owner 101.”

The service manager came out. He flipped the same switches I had. Light still on.

Now I was feeling slightly better.

Then he pulled back the curtain behind the overhead bunk.

There it was.

The hidden switch.

Houston, we officially had liftoff.

So off we went — headed to Dayton International Airport and my aunt and uncle’s house. And of course, just like NASA, our mission wouldn’t be complete without a few more unexpected developments before we made it home.

To be continued…