The Weeblemobile Enters the Twilight Zone

When I called to schedule the RV recall work, they told me the earliest appointment they had was Wednesday at 8:30 in the morning.

I have a slight problem with Wednesday morning appointments. I work on Wednesdays, and I am usually at work by 6:00 a.m. Still, I figured the faster I could get the RV into the shop, the faster I would get it back.

Or so I hoped.

I called the dealer and asked whether I could drop the RV off on Tuesday afternoon or evening. Besides avoiding the Wednesday morning problem, I really didn’t want to fight morning traffic while driving the Weeblemobile.

I was told that I couldn’t do that because they had strict drop-off times. If my appointment was at 8:30 Wednesday morning, that was when I had to bring it in.

That seemed a little strange to me. My thinking was that if the RV were already sitting there Wednesday morning, they could get right to work on it.

Oh well. What do I know?

I went to my supervisor and asked for the day off. They didn’t have any problem with it. Honestly, I could probably spend an entire blog talking about how well I am treated at my job and how much I enjoy the people I work for and with.

Once I knew I had the day off, I decided to have a little fun with Mrs. Weeble.

To put this into context, Mrs. Weeble does not like backing up any vehicle. She has reached the point where she will back the car out of our driveway, but it certainly isn’t near the top of her list of favorite things to do.

Backing up the Weeblemobile would probably rank somewhere between getting a root canal and cleaning out the black tank.

I called her at home and told her I had good news and bad news. Then I explained that the appointment was Wednesday morning.

She said something along the lines of, “How are we supposed to do that when you’re supposed to be working?”

I told her that she could drive the RV over and wait for it. Or, if she didn’t want to sit there, she could always take an Uber home.

All I heard from her end of the phone was dead silence.

I waited for a response.

Nothing.

I didn’t hear the phone hit the floor, so I knew she hadn’t fainted. Still, the silence was not exactly the response I had expected.

Finally, I gave up and said, “Just kidding.”

I told her I had taken the day off. All she had to do was follow me to the dealership when we dropped off the RV.

I am pretty sure she called me one of the pet names she occasionally uses for me.

The day finally came for us to drop off the Weeblemobile. We gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the dealership. I pulled onto the lot, found a place to park, and we walked inside.

We didn’t see a soul.

Were we in the right place?

The door said “Service,” so we assumed we were. We stood there for a moment, expecting someone to appear. There had even been a chime when we walked through the door.

Someone had to know we were there.

The only living creature we could see was a parrot sitting on a perch and staring at us. We later learned that the parrot was the dealership mascot and was 33 years old.

At that point, the parrot appeared to be the entire service department.

Eventually, I heard voices coming from somewhere in the building. We followed the sound and finally found the service desk.

We spoke with the woman behind the desk and explained why we were there. She found our appointment in the computer and asked whether we had brought the recall notice.

I know what you are thinking.

These are the same people who have forgotten dog bowls, medications, and God only knows what else while traveling.

Surely, they forgot the recall notice.

Well, you would be 100 percent wrong this time.

I reached into my pocket and proudly produced the recall notice.

She looked it over and told us they would have to order the parts needed to complete the recall.

We said okay and then asked the obvious question.

“How long will that take?”

That was when I first heard the theme music from The Twilight Zone beginning to play in my head.

She told us it could take up to four weeks for the parts to arrive. However, she said they would look at our electrical problem sometime during the week.

That was not what we wanted to hear. We already had a camping trip planned for the first week of August.

We explained our travel plans to her. She said it shouldn’t be a problem because the recall was not considered a major safety issue. She said they would let us take the Weeblemobile on our trip and bring it back once the parts arrived.

My first thought was, “Let us?”

However, I decided that rocking the boat probably wasn’t a good idea.

I said that would be fine.

I’m not sure I could have said anything else.

We handed over the keys to the Weeblemobile. That was when she told us they needed a $199 deposit in case the electrical repairs were not covered under warranty. She also said they would not charge the card until the repairs were completed and only if we owed something.

What were we supposed to say?

She had the keys, and we had no shore power.

The only reasonable answer was, “Okay.”

We left the dealership and headed to Bob Evans for breakfast. I do love their biscuits and sausage gravy.

We had just received our food when my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and saw that the call was coming from the RV dealership.

It was too soon for bad news, right?

I answered, and it was the woman we had spoken with at the service desk. She told me they had ordered the part involved with the recall.

That sounded like good news.

Well, not exactly.

The part had been ordered, but she still didn’t know when it would arrive.

The Twilight Zone music started playing a little louder.

Then she told me they had checked the generator system and everything appeared to be working correctly.

I explained that the generator was not the problem. The problem was with the shore-power electrical system.

She said okay and told me they would check it again.

At least they were already looking at the Weeblemobile, so the music in my head quieted down a little.

I was just finishing my lovely biscuits and sausage gravy when the phone rang again.

Once again, it was the dealership.

This time, I was fully expecting bad news.

It wasn’t exactly bad news, but the music was starting again.

They had checked the shore-power system, and everything was working perfectly.

They tested the Weeblemobile using our power cord.

It worked.

They tested it using their power cord.

It worked.

I said okay, but all I could think was, “I know it wasn’t working for me.”

The pedestal breaker had been fine. The Watchdog had shown an error. The breaker inside the RV had tripped, and even after resetting it, we still had no shore power.

Yet now, according to the dealership, everything was working normally.

What can you do at that point besides begin to feel a little stupid?

So, that is where things stand right now.

The Weeblemobile is sitting at the dealership. The recall part has been ordered, although nobody knows when it will arrive. The electrical system that refused to work for us is apparently behaving perfectly for them.

Cue the Twilight Zone music.

The adventure does not stop here. Be sure to check back next week to see what happens next with the Weeblemobile.