Gypsy Lee hooked up at Lake End RV Park in Morgan, Louisiana. -- Photo by Pat Bean
“My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: Set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual.” — Phyllis Diller.
Just for Today
Sunday I drove 65 miles from Arkansas’ Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge to Camden, where my youngest daughter lives.
Gypsy Lee, my Volkswagen RV with a Winnebago home atop it, had a rare tantrum on the drive. It was her third in about a year. The engine check light came on, the RPMs on the tachometer increased slightly, and she shifted late and hard.
Sunset at Lake End as viewed out Gypsy Lee's window. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Monday I took her into the shop in Camden but everything checked out except a loose air conditioning fan belt, which the small repair shop didn’t have in stock. I called and made an appointment with a VW dealer near Dallas for Wednesday morning. It’s one of the rare places that provides full-service for VW Vistas, and fortunately my oldest daughter lives in the Dallas suburb of Rowlett.
Tuesday I drove the 250 miles from Camden to Dallas in a perfectly behaving Gypsy Lee, although the engine light was still on.
This morning when I started Gypsy Lee up, the engine light was off – and she drove perfectly the entire 33-mile trip through heavy commuter traffic to the large VW sales and service center in Lewisville, where she’s getting a thorough going over, a new fan belt and an early lube service before I start my zig-zagging trip to Idaho Friday.
The trained VW mechanic shook his head questioningly when I explained Gypsy Lee’s erratic behavior on Sunday. He was hopeful the diagnostic test would give him a hint. It hasn’t in the past I told him.
Meanwhile my daughter picked me up at the shop and loaned me her car for the day, and I’m currently waiting to hear back from the mechanic.
I wonder if anyone has ever spanked an RV for misbehaving?
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