The Disaster Aftermath Continues. We're Not Going Back!

Back in August, we had lightning hit right next to our RV, and the surge blew out part of our electric system. This meant we had to think outside the box to try and get power to our rig, but we were determined to stay on the road. Our big plan for late summer was to visit Niagara Falls so we could celebrate 10 years since our first road trip as a couple. No matter what repair appointments we made, what setbacks we had, and what plans needed to change, we were determined to make it to Niagara.

As soon as we pulled into our first Niagara campsite, we breathed a huge sigh of relief. The road to get there was not easy. Even after the lightning mayhem, we ran into more stressful situations, including a campground where we felt unsafe (we didn't blog about this; we figured we had enough negative posts coming out), a rough travel day in severe weather, and a mosquito-infested campsite. Arriving to Daisy Barn meant that, unless something goes horribly wrong, we could actually enjoy our roadtrippiversary the way we wanted.

Obviously, this ended up being the case; the posts have already been released about how much FUN we had in Niagara. We were able to put our issues aside and experience the area in-depth - something we couldn't do during our whirlwind trip 10 years ago. Unfortunately, though, when we weren't enjoying our sightseeing, hikes, or yummy cakes from Village Bake Shoppe, we were dealing with reality. When we were at Daisy Barn, we noticed that the underside of our trailer has a few cracks, right in the middle of the frame. Where on the frame? Right underneath the bedroom on the business side of the rig. This also happens to be the part of the frame closest to where the lightning hit. There we were, so focused on our electrical issues, that we hadn't even fathomed what a structural issue could look like. Thankfully the cracks looked too superficial to cause any structural damage, but when it comes to the trailer frame, you can never be too careful. We knew what we had to do.

We were already in Western NY, and so, instead of turning back towards New England, we decided to continue west, through Ohio and into Indiana. Our trailer manufacturer is located in Nappanee, about 30 minutes from the Michigan border. We wrote out a list of repair items, most important being the frame, and we also filed an insurance claim. We didn't think we'd need to at first because everything seemed to be covered under warranty, but we expected to be displaced from our trailer, possibly for a while, and our insurance covers the cost of accommodations if you cannot stay in your RV. We also figured that anything not covered under warranty would likely be covered by insurance.

Our hearts sank because this meant we wouldn't be going back to New Hampshire at the end of September. Not only were we looking forward to our time there, but we also had two repair appointments. But, now that we'd be heading to ATC themselves, hopefully we can get our repairs done there. The list was growing fast:

1. Check the frame/fix.
2. Replace the transfer switch.
3. Troubleshoot and fix the generator (we asked ATC if they had any Cummins dealers near them so we could perhaps get our generator fixed at the same time as everything else).
4. Get the bed platform replaced.
5. Similar to the bed platform, the aluminum sheet that lines the bottom of our overhead bedroom cabinets started falling down. There seem to be a lot of riveting issues in the bedroom area. We needed to get to the bottom of this before the damage worsened, or before a sheet of metal fell on our heads while we were sleeping.

We needed those list items taken care of and had no idea how much time it would take. So we changed our plans on a rolling basis, starting with the remainder of September. We canceled the couple of weeks of campgrounds after Niagara and booked a site in Ohio (halfway point to Indiana) and an Airbnb in the Nappanee area. Once we got a sense of how long ATC would need our trailer, we would plan accordingly. Best case scenario: They'd be able to fix everything promptly and we'd be back in the trailer by October, still making our remaining reservations in NH. Worst case scenario: The trailer would need extended time at ATC, and we wouldn't get it back by wintertime. We expected reality to be somewhere in the middle, but we couldn't do anything more until we knew for sure.

Of course, we tried to make the best of a bad situation (as we tend to do), so we seized this opportunity to check off another National Park for 2022. We also chose a lakefront cottage for our Airbnb, where we could settle in and get work done for the week, but still have nature nearby. The longer we'd need to be without our trailer, the more things we'd plan to offset the disappointment and sadness of not having our home. In the RV life, we need to be able to think on our feet. We knew this would be a big test.

A couple days before leaving Niagara, we had a confounding situation that could possibly change the trajectory of some of our plans. We were in our beautiful lakefront site at Four Mile Creek when a bad wind storm came in from the lake. This isn't uncommon, but much like the lightning storm, there were no warnings that there would be bad weather. Even during the wind storm, my weather app was saying "gentle breeze." Well, that gentle breeze was enough to knock out power for 1700 people in the area, including our campground. Just our luck, that the first time we lose power at a campground, we don't have a working generator. Even worse, when the power went out, it kept surging like it was trying to come back on. I immediately asked Anthony to go shut off the outside breaker because I was so fearful that a surge might make our issues worse.

I was in the middle of editing a video for work when the power outage occurred and I was up against a deadline, so in a moment of hope and helplessness, I asked Anthony to try turning on the generator. The conversation went something like this:

- "Could we try turning on the generator?"

- "I mean, we could, but it's not going to do anything."

- "I know, but I want to try anyway. Maybe it just needed a long rest."

And so Anthony humored me, but turns out, the joke was on both of us. The generator turned on! We stared at the button for a few minutes, perplexed, and then we just laughed. We had no idea what was going on, but it was some sort of miracle that couldn't have happened at a better time.

In order to get the power to actually switch over to generator, though, Anthony needed to run outside in the wind and remove our rod, aka the jerry-rig we have holding our transfer switch relay in. If the transfer switch didn't then change over to generator power, we didn't have the right length rod to push that button in. So we crossed our fingers that those contacts were working. As soon as Anthony knocked that rod out of its place, on came the electricity. We were utterly confused but really happy that we could have full power until the campground got theirs back. I was able to finish editing and uploading my video, and we got our shore power back a couple hours later.

We're still not entirely trusting of the generator, especially because we can't quite figure out what happened. We're smart people, and we've also talked to so many generator techs at this point, and we all agreed that it was likely that a sensor was fried. But it is a pressure sensor, so maybe in some strange way I was right, and the generator needed to rest. Perhaps those weeks of not running helped the oil to settle, and now the pressure sensor is reading better.

We don't know what this means for our plans to get the generator fixed, so we're just going with the flow. Since the night of our power outage we have used it again, sometimes without long breaks in between. So for now, we will just focus on the repairs that are still pressing, and we'll tread lightly with the generator.

Our blog posts are  a little bit behind, so we're sure by the time this post releases, we will have some more answers, whether they're good or bad. If you want more real-time updates, follow us on Instagram or Facebook. Then we'll share the full story here in future posts.