In retrospect, we feel we had to hurry into our new lifestyle. We were selling our house, then the housing market was hot, there’s a school involved…it’s complicated. Bottomline, we probably didn’t read or learn as much as we should have along the way.

We have traveled approximately 1,600 miles in this journey. We have been to 10 campgrounds and had a scattering of ‘interesting’ events. The drive out of Red Rock Canyon in Oklahoma, for instance.

Wind has been a near constant nemesis. The entire state of Oklahoma was blustery. New Mexico was hit or miss, until we passed Albuquerque going west, then it was everything I could do to stay on the road. Luckily, that calmed down and we had a great time in Gallup.

Our first mistake – being in a hurry instead of thinking

Then, our first newbie mistake. We were camping in Arizona. Largely flat plains around us, and went hiking to see some Native American ruins and artifacts. We stopped in town on the way back for lunch. After eating lunch, we came outside and I saw the sky. We knew we needed to hurry.

Although it was only 20 miles back to the trailer, we were too late. The phone was ringing as we pulled into the RV Park. We did not answer it, because we were too busy trying to get to the trailer. It started pouring rain, and was already extremely windy. I pulled through the gate and Ash was the first to see. The entire awning had been torn off.

We later learned that the missed call was the staff at the RV Park calling to let us know that a storm had come up and that our awning was getting whiplash.

We had mistakenly left the awning out to help keep the trailer cool. The windstorm came out of nowhere and ripped the awning off. A neighbor dropped everything to hurry over and was holding the armature up by himself in hail and 40 mph straight line wind (we salute you, real man of genius). If he had not done that, it probably would have torn the armature off the trailer and taken the siding with it.

Mid-disaster

I pulled up and stopped the truck. Three more men and two women ran over to help. We had to secure it somehow, with hail pelting us and the wind threatening to pull the entire assembly off the trailer. Ash thought quickly and ran into the trailer, she started rolling the tarp (it’s motorized) in a hurry.

The men with me helped feed it around the tube. Now we were stuck with a dilemma. How were we going to get this torn awning to stay put without destroying the entire assembly? One of the women ran back to her trailer and brought out a ratchet strap. One of the men ran back inside the maintenance (he worked there!) building and brought rope.

We tied the awning, the best we could, to the tube. Then a couple of people worked the ratchet around the tube and awning and I asked them to throw it over the trailer. I thought – “We can hook it to the frame and hold it up, at least until the storms blows past, if we hurry”.

They threw it over, the ratchet was 4 feet too short! One of the RV Park employees ran to get his ratchet and we made it work. We were in such a hurry and so frazzled but the constant wind and hail that I forgot I had 8 ratchets stowed under the bed!

Inspecting the damage and formulating a plan

We met and spoke with a great guy, John Teague. John was out directing the repair of another RV’s roof (some tree damage). He seemed to be very knowledgeable. He dropped by our trailer once he was finished and gave me some great advice on how to travel.

You see, awnings are not a dime a dozen. They are generally special orders and not just lying around. He could help us and replace it, but it would take longer than we planned to stay. He gave some great pointers on securing it, making it road legal and just get it fixed when we get “home”.

I took his advice, thought about it, added to it and believe we are ready to hit the road tomorrow morning.

Completing repair and stop the hurry – time to plan

This had us in a much better position . The awning was now neat and rolled. Then we secured both of the armatures to the framework they are designed to be housed in. Now – I know zip ties are not rated at highway speeds, and have no securement value (I used to manage an educational program that taught securement!).

Luckily there was a hardware store about 34 miles down the road. We drove down there and snatch up some mini-ratchets with straps. 330 lbs rating each. These are not going anywhere.

What’s the next step?

Ash contacted both Insurance and our Dealer’s repair shop. The Repair shop is going to get us in and repaired once we return to our “home” location which we have to do soon to close on our house and complete middle school for Sierra – Road Schooling all of High School!

Insurance will cover it – minus the deductible and since we are still under warranty the repair shop is pretty certain we won’t even have to submit it to Insurance and it will be covered!

This is probably the best it could have turned out. Although it was unpleasant, no one was hurt and nothing critical was damaged. I have to admit, several people coming together for a common goal, with no expectation of compensation, or even knowing each other – that was a healing moment for me.