So we are on the recovering side of a breakdown two weeks ago. Transmission went to that big scrapyard in the sky, and the only place on Des Moines without a two month wait quoted us $11k for repair. Well we have emergency money but not THAT much, and it was readily apparent that replacement isfar cheaper than repair in this instance.
So we got a storage shed ($), a UHaul ($$), and a hotel room ($$$) for a week while we looked for a replacement. We found one but then had to deal with the fun of an out of state Credit Union (Yay, shared branches. If you don't know about them, you should!) before we got our RV. We have a cheap place to put it on the very south part of Iowa over an hour away from Des Moines. Fortunately the mileage on our toad is good ("toad", for the uninitiated, meaning the vehicle we tow behind; in our case, on a tow dolly).
We're still not fully set up. We need an extend-a-stay kit to run out propane off of 20 lb tanks so we don't have to refill, and we didn't have our portable sewer tank here to dump the nasties out. That and it's winter at a fairground, so there are no garbage cans on site.
Our last run had us leaving with a bag too big for rest stop trash cans,and the dumpsters were locked, so we drove until we found an unlocked dumpster, and dumped and split. Lesson learned; today's run was with a lighter load, but on Thanksgiving Day, and we were desperate to avoid the fate of one Arlo Guthrie decades prior. I suppose they would replace the 8 by 10 full colored glossy photos with circles and arrows on the back of each one with surreptitiously gathered cell photos, but at any rate I want the character of my children to be fine enough to kill, Kill, KILL should the situation demand it*.
*Let me say because of the heated tenor of these times that I am jokingly referencing song lyrics and we eschew violence, except the Mario Cart kind.
So with a cautious eye we kept peeled for Officer Obie and dumped our trash in a proper receptacle. We then proceeded to Des Moines and lunch at Chuck's restaurant, an Italian joint that has been serving Thanksgiving meals for 29 years. It was great, the people were awesome and a genuine joy to be around.
So we got the portable "honey bucket", as well as the spare tire off our old rig, which will fit this one, and are basically waiting to clear up license and registration details before moving on. We have a GoFundMe setup, and are trying to sell Scentsy but having limited luck with both ATM. I have a couple days of work booked this week, but otherwise flying by the seat of my pants.
But all in all it's going fair.