Big Boxes, Bigger Plans, and the Case of the Glowing Tail Lights

When we finally pulled into the driveway, the first thing I saw was a box.

Not just a box.

A big box.

A very big box.

It was the storage box I had ordered for the Weeblemobile to give us more exterior storage. This was a good thing because once you start traveling in an RV, you quickly learn that storage is like coffee, toilet paper, and patience.

You can never have too much.

Before I could fully process the arrival of the big box, our next-door neighbor saw us and asked how the trip went.

Mrs. Weeble told her about the trip and, naturally, about our visit to Buc-ee’s. She explained how good the Buc-ee’s nuggets were and then gave her a bag to try.

Now, let me be clear.

I love our next-door neighbor, and I did not have a problem sharing with her.

I just hoped she did not see the tear in my eye.

Because that was the bag of nuggets I had carefully set aside for myself.

So there it was.

No nuggets for Captain Weeble.

Another personal sacrifice in the name of neighborly kindness.

Another lesson learned: never assume a bag of Buc-ee’s nuggets is truly yours until it is hidden in a locked container, guarded by a dog, and possibly labeled “sewer hose fittings.”

The Mattress Had to Go

One thing we had definitely decided during the trip was that the mattress in the Weeblemobile had to go. It was not terrible in the sense that sleeping on gravel would be terrible, but it was also not something I wanted to keep negotiating with every night.

I had seen several RV people I follow on YouTube recommend Brooklyn Bedding, so I went online and checked out their website.

The problem was that our RV has a hinged mattress, and I did not see any hinged mattresses listed on their site. So I called customer service to ask if one could be special-ordered.

They told me they did not offer hinged mattresses.

Fair enough.

So I asked if they knew of a company that did, because I was pretty sure I wasn’t the first RV owner to ask.

They gave me the name of Wilderness Mattress Company.

So I gave them a call, placed an order, and about ten days later, another big box arrived on our doorstep.

A BIG and HEAVY box.

It was late in the day, and I did not feel like messing with it. That is a technical term meaning, “This looks like tomorrow’s problem.”

The next day, I dragged the box into the Weeblemobile and pulled out the mattress. It was wrapped in plastic, and after I unrolled it, I found that the mattress was vacuum-packed and flat as a board.

I laid it on the bed area and cut open the vacuum bag.

Then the mattress started expanding.

And expanding.

And expanding.

It was kind of cool to watch, like one of those science experiments where you are not entirely sure whether you are witnessing technology or something that might require a permit.

Once it finished growing into an actual mattress, Mrs. Weeble and I both laid down on it.

It felt pretty good.

Of course, the real test will come when we go camping over Father’s Day weekend. A mattress can feel great for five minutes in the driveway. The truth comes out somewhere around 2:30 in the morning when your back files an official complaint.

Building the Storage Box

Since I was apparently on a roll, I decided to tackle the storage box.

Now, this box was heavy.

Very heavy.

There was no way I was going to try to carry it like some young man with good knees and poor judgment. So I went and got the hand truck.

The first problem was getting the box off the front porch. I had to lift it onto its end so I could get the hand truck under it.

I grabbed the box and tried to lift it.

That was when my back spoke up.

It said, “Do not do this, or I am going to make you take a trip to the chiropractor.”

I have learned that when your back talks, you should listen.

So I decided to work smarter rather than harder. I managed to get the hand truck under the box and worked it off the porch, down to the driveway, and behind the Weeblemobile.

Once I opened the box, I found out why it was so heavy.

The frame that holds the storage unit came in two pieces, and it was made of solid steel.

That explained a lot.

The storage box itself was actually pretty light for its size, but that frame meant business.

I got the frame attached to the Weeblemobile without too much trouble. The next step was getting the storage box lifted onto the frame and bolted down.

At that point, I went and got Mrs. Weeble.

I still remembered what my back had told me, and I was not interested in hearing the extended version.

Together, we got the box up on the frame and bolted it down.

The Case of the Glowing Tail Lights

Then came the true test.

The lights.

I got the 7-pin-to-4-pin adapter, plugged it into the storage box, and then plugged it into the Weeblemobile. I had Mrs. Weeble fire up the RV so we could test everything.

Headlights?

Check.

Brake lights?

Check.

Turn signals?

Check.

Everything worked exactly as designed.

Or so I thought.

The next day, I was walking up the driveway from the mailbox, admiring the Weeblemobile sitting there majestically in its natural habitat, when I noticed something odd.

The rear tail lights on the storage unit looked like they might be on.

Maybe it was just the sun reflecting off them.

Maybe.

So I walked over and put an eye on them.

Nope.

They were on.

My first thought was, “Please do not make me send this thing back.”

I unplugged the storage unit from the Weeblemobile, and the lights went out.

I plugged it back in, and the lights came back on.

That was not ideal.

Now, I could have started tracing wires to see if something was crossed. I could have crawled around, gotten aggravated, said a few traditional garage words, and made a simple problem into an afternoon event.

But I decided to continue with the work-smarter plan.

The easiest thing to try was a new adapter.

I looked up the adapter on etrailer.com and found one for about eight bucks. For eight bucks, it was worth trying before I started chasing wires like a man investigating a crime scene in a campground.

I ordered it, and it took about five days to arrive.

While I was waiting, I had pretty much decided that if the new adapter did not fix the problem, I was not going to tear the whole thing apart right away. Since everything worked except the storage box tail lights staying on, I would simply add one more step to the pre-check and post-check routine.

Plug it in when we leave.

Unplug it when we arrive.

Not perfect, but workable.

When the new adapter arrived, I switched it out, plugged everything in, and ran through all the light tests again.

Headlights.

Brake lights.

Turn signals.

Everything worked.

Then I shut it all down.

This time, the lights stayed off.

So apparently, there was a crossed wire in the original adapter.

An eight-dollar fix.

Those are my favorite kind of fixes, especially when they do not involve crawling under anything, sending anything back, or visiting a chiropractor.

More Room, More Temptation

After moving some things from inside storage to the outside storage box, we now have more room inside the Weeblemobile.

That is a good thing.

Now the challenge is making sure we only fill that extra storage with things we actually need.

Not junk.

Not “maybe someday” items.

Not stuff that seems important until you realize it has been riding around for six months and has never been used once.

Of course, that is the theory.

And as we have already learned, theories have a habit of getting out at Buc-ee’s and never getting back in the RV.

The adventure does not stop here. Use the Previous and Next post links below to see where the wheels rolled before — or what trouble we found next.