From "Beauty and the Beast" to "Pretty Charming"

 Ya'll remember this?

It was two years ago that RDB and I purchased the Wildcat, our first 5th wheel, and before even having one night's stay in it realized that it had significant mold issues, along with slide problems, which by a stroke of Providence introduced us to Chris and Camper Revampers.  What was supposed to be a replacement purchase of a new Palomino Compass a few months later while Chris worked to rehab the Wildcat, became Chapter Two in the Hassle for the Castle story.  

Two years, and all kinds of drama later, we can finally close this book: the Wildcat is SOLD! That mold-ridden, money-pit, mahem-maker of a camper is finally G O N E.  

Chris did an outstanding job of remediating the mold situation; since he's seen so many of them over his career rehabbing campers, it wasn't nearly the trauma inducing situation for him as it was for me. In fact, after the repair work was complete, they took it a step further and his wife, Stacey, created a new decor scheme and staged the camper to show beautifully for sale.

A one of a kind vessel sink in the bathroom with custom wood countertop, river stone hand-set backsplash behind the range in the kitchen, and Sante Fe style accents all through out.  We're so grateful that this beautifully restored Wildcat, with its WILD back story, now has a new owner and a new home.

Chris called to tell us it was sold while we were still on our (epic!) Disney Camping Vacation (on my birthday in fact!), and it was a fitting end to this Beauty to Beast to Pretty Charming camper's story!

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

 

It took six weeks, lots of emails, an unknown number of phones calls, a trip to Corpus Christi, and I can't remember how many other campers we looked at, but here we are, finally, finally, at a place where we can simply say:

Ron Hoover made it right.

We had no idea the saga that would be our experience with campers this year - we came to Ron Hoover in July excited to buy a new camper to get us out of the mold drama that was the Wildcat we purchased from PPL in Feburary, not knowing that the new camper we bought had "lot rot" - a quarter-sized hole in the roof membrane that had allowed water to leak in and create mold in the rafters of our new 2019 Palomino Columbus, which we discovered after only 17 days of owning it.

(Y'all, it's crazy to see the last 7 months' worth of anguish so succinctly written out in just one paragraph.)

*sigh*

Yet, here we are! 

Yes, that's me on the roof (with Lance, one of the service techs) crawling around inspecting every single inch to make sure we weren't walking into the same issue the last one had with a hole in the roof membrane.  

I went on the roof. 

Lance went on the roof. 

Rusty, our sales guy, went on the roof. 

Even Ken - the general manager - went on the roof.  

We were leaving no stone unturned on this inspection and I'm thrilled to say, the 2021 Palomino Columbus Compass Series they traded us into was in excellent - NEW - condition.

It was as close of a like-for-like trade as they could get; the new 2019 that we had bought in July had a few more tech bells and whistles (we could control the lights and slides from our phones, as well as checking our tank levels), and the floor plan was a bit different (there was a bar sink in the kitchen), and there was TV in the bedroom (they added one for us on the spot). The furniture was an upgrade in the 2019 so we asked Ken if he'd be willing to switch them so that we could keep the Lazyboy branded leather loveseat and residential sofa sleeper - and he gladly did!  Overall, we were very happy with the trade out. 

It was probably the fastest sign-the-papers moment we've ever experienced. Since we paid cash for the 2019, and Ken made it an across the board trade for the 2021, I think it was only 5 minutes of signing over the title and a few other warrantee transfer docs, and we were out the door.  

Kudos, again, to the service department: Lance did a walk thru for us, and then brought the old 2019 over to the inspection area, facing door to door, so that we could transition all the personal items we had left behind when we dropped it off a month and a half ago.  We had been stocking to head to Colorado, so needless to say, there we a number of trips up and down the stairs moving things into the 2021 unit.  A big shout-out to Rusty, for hanging with us not just thru all of this mess, but also taking the initiative to help us move items from one camper to the other - in the rain no less!

Ron Hoover made it right.  

Ken, as much as I'm sure he was exasperated by RDB's firmness, made it right. 

In a world where it's hard to trust that a corporation really stands behind it's products and services to their customers, Ron Hoover in Katy stood behind their word that when they sold us a new camper, with a major unknown issue, that they would make it right.

They deserve that "5-star rating" they brag about.

Now, enough of all this, on to making memories!

(Wish us luck!)

And now? We wait.

There she is: beautiful, new, only had it for 17 days camper of ours.  RDB and I are still so beside ourselves on the fact that we specifically bought a new camper so that we could walk away from the mold issues in the Wildcat that we bought from PPL in February, and yet, here were are, again, dealing with mold issues.... in what should be a brand new, mold-free camper. 

We texted our sales guy, Rusty, Sunday afternoon as soon as we realized the problem, letting him know we were coming down to the dealership first thing Monday morning.  RDB asked him to let the GM know that we'd want to discuss this with him as well; we wanted everyone aware of the situation from the get go.

The service department gave us a call as we were on our way, wanting to make sure we knew they were aware of what was taking place, and to ask for Victor when we checked in.  In no time, they were up on the roof inspecting the damage and agreed with what we had puzzled together.

The hole in the roof membrane near the front AC unit was likely there from the time the unit was installed at the factory (Forest River). The unfortunate part to this meant that it was likely letting in water from the time the dealer (Ron Hoover) took delivery of the unit until we found it.  It's a new 2019 model, so we could figure that it's been on their lot, leaking every time it rains, since the beginning of last year (just shy of 52" at IAH last year, including Hurricane Imelda which hit in September, and another 21" in Houston so far this year).  We've heard others say the two things that will kill your camper are: water, and electricity.

And they weren't kidding:

Those were the photos we received from the service department, once they had taken down the ceiling in the bedroom.  RBD went back and took a few more, to give us better context on what was visible on that first day.

The roof was so soft, from all the rain damage over time, that the service techs were able to tear away portions of the plywood using their bare hands.  The dark black on the ceiling panels, and the white fuzz in between the rafters? Mold. Obviously, this damage had happened over a lengthy period of time - not just in the 17 days that we took possession of it. 

Ken, the GM, said that they'll work Forest River to determine a plan of action. He mentioned several times that "there are steps we have to take" and (in summation) if we were unhappy with the resolution that we could "take it up with Forest River." We understand that he has a process he has to follow, so we're doing our best to be patient.

RDB made sure to inform him, as we had told Rusty when we arrived that morning, that we have no intention of taking this specific unit back; Rusty knew our story: we came to Ron Hoover to buy a NEW camper, so that we wouldn't have to deal with mold issues.  Taking back the Palomino Columbus, even if it were repaired, doesn't change the fact that it now has a history of mold. It's not just a cosmetic issue (though the pictures of it torn apart are breaking my heart); it's a health issue; not one we ever wanted to deal with.

So now?
 

We wait. 

If it Weren't for Bad Luck....

...we'd have no luck at all.

So, with Hurricane Hanna upon us, and our camper parked in the driveway getting ready for a week long trip to Colorado with KD & the Vowels, we discovered the very thing we were trying to avoid when we Cut Bait only two weeks ago - we have water issues.

And not just water issues, but a HOLE in the roof - and who knows how long it's been there?!  Well, actually we know it's been there long enough, at least, for the water that was pooling inside the LED light over the bed to be GREEN - as in MOLD green.

M. O. L. D.  Again.

We'll take it back to Ron Hoover tomorrow morning, and see where we go from here.

Cut Bait

 The old and the new, side by side.

I'm kinda laughing at that statement: I wrote it thinking the old was the Rubicon and the new is the Wildcat, but really, the old is the new and the new is the old.  Whoever purchases our Rubicon is going to get one hell of a nice, clean, NOTHING'S WRONG WITH IT camper.

*sigh*

Our first trip out with the Beauty and we're not even going to get to stay in  it.  But, this is the next step - getting it up to Camper Revampers so that Chris can work his magic and make her like-new again. 

And, oh, what a list to make that happen:

• Mold remediation
• Repair walls
• Slides:
• Replace seals as needed
• Repair mechanics in the living room 
• Install slide covers on all three
• Reinforce slide floor in living room
• Replace carpet throughout
• Roof coating/repair
• Replace sky light
• Replace edging/trim in interior
• Ceilings
• Front door
• Paint interior
• Ceilings - white
• Walls - Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray
• Dispose of old mattress
• Extend bad platform for new mattress
• Drill holes for SleepNumber bed tubing
• Replace battery
• Replace water heater anode rod
• Possibly replace water heater
• Replace broken handles on cabinets 
• Install MaxAir fan in bathroom
• maybe a second one in living room
• Replace fire extinguisher
• Install Wifi antenna - Wineguard Air 360
• Repair water damage in basement area

Diesel's tuckered out just _thinking_ about all the work that's going to be required to make it happen!  And you know, so were we.

So, we've decided to "cut bait." We're not going to move forward with the Wildcat camper that we bought back in February and ran up to Chris in May.  I don't think he was all that surprised that we were stepping away from what was  going to be a long and extensive project.  

It was 4th of July weekend, and we just. want. to. go. camping. 

In the space of about a weekend, we went down to Ron Hoover in Katy and purchased a NEW 2019 Palomino Columbus.

Not a Happy Camper

Ok, so, last we talked, I was right about here:

...having discovered a serious mold problem in our new-to-us Wildcat.  I followed the black, white, dark, and icky mold trail up the side and over the top of the kitchen slide.  And when I gave up, Rich kept working on pulling back more and more of the wall paper, revealing the true extent of the damage behind it.  Not only was it over the kitchen slide out, but we found more of the tell-tale bumpy wallpaper over the top of the living room slide out.  This was not good. (understatement)

I commiserated with one of the Facebook camping groups we had joined when we moved up to the 5th wheel.  LOTS of compassion and sympathy from the campers there - truth be told, NO ONE wants to deal with mold in their home on wheels; it's often a death sentence.  

There are a lot of things lately (too many too blog about) that remind me that Providence is real, and watching out for RDB and me.  It was another one of those moments when Chris, from Camper Revampers, reached out to me and offered help.  

We talked for maybe an hour that week - and I left thinking, "Ok, it's not a burn it to the ground situation; maybe we can do this."  And so I went to work, starting out by sanding the walls I knew we were planning to paint.  To be honest, I was a bit too chicken to tackle the mold just yet.

Wearing homemade masks before it was cool.

That was about the second week of March, 2020.  For future reference, that was also about the time that the world turned upside-down with the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.  Much of the work we had planned to do on the camper was put on hold - as travel was restricted and stores shut down.  To add to the frustration, many of the RV parks and all of the state parks closed to the public for a period of weeks.  As I type (third week of May) RDB and I are still practicing physical distancing, and only making trips away from the house for essentials.

A small dose of good luck in all this was that RDB and I were able to secure covered parking for our camper at the same lot RDB stores his kayak.  We couldn't help but laugh at the fact that we would be parking next to a nearly identical Forest River Wildcat! Haven't met the owners yet, but they have good taste in rigs!

We're the gray one on the right.

We had a laundry list of things that needed to be done - from repairs to upgrades, decor and "wants."  And when we discovered the mold, it really set us back on our heels. We knew how critical it would be to repair that and whatever hole was causing water to get in, and we knew as well, that some of the wood panelling in the camper would need to be replaced (it was rotted thru from the mold and wet).  It was just such a task, and we had zero experience in doing it right.

Looks like an angry dog.  

So we reached back out to Chris at Camper Revampers and made arrangements to haul the trailer up to the Dallas area to let him do the repairs.  It was raining the Saturday morning we had planned to drive up, so we coordinated to try again Sunday. The morning arrived, the weather was beautiful - this was it! Let's hook her up for the first time and drive her to Chris.

We arrived at the storage unit, our covered, gated lot, only to find that our camper was not in the same state when we last saw it.  The back windows had been opened and shoved out - and I knew that RDB wouldn't have left the camper that way when he parked it last.  Someone had broken into our camper. 

We called HCSO and it took about 30 minutes (yes, that's normal response time for a non-emergency) for a deputy to arrive.  

Deputy: How's your day, ma'am?   

Me: Well, I had to call you, so.... 

Deputy: Yeah, it sucks when idiots steal your stuff.

Ya damn right. 

We had waited till he arrived to go inside and see what had transpired: a TV stolen from the bed room, RDB's new Bose sound bar pulled form the living room (but not the TV - it was bolted onto the mount), and a bucket full of various tools...  thankfully, no vandalism, and the only damage was to the back window where they obviously slide the TV out and the window screen where they forced entry.

When I mentioned that one of the tools that was stolen was a folding razor-blade knife, the deputy decided he wanted to see if he could pull a few prints from the window that was used for entry.  It was when we pulled the camper forward that we noticed our "twin" neighbor also had the same back window jimmied open; they likely had ben burgled, too.  As a friend said: some people suck.

Well, here we were: a camper full of mold and other problems, and now a police report for stolen property and damaged windows.  What do you do?

Let Chris know there's going to be a few more repairs and make your way towards Dallas.

...to be continued....

Beauty and the Beast

Hi.

It's been a while, I know.

Don't think I haven't thought about it - you know, run away and live in the woods. Every post I read back thru after we've had a big gap in camping trips admonishes me the same way: I say over and over again how much I love camping, how it brings me back to center, how it calms the deep currents running thru my soul.

(This is the point where I normally would say "But....." and give some reason about life and work and trying to balance things, etc, etc. Ehn.  Let's just not and say we did. Cool? Ok.)

I think RDB and I realized pretty quickly that the Rubicon wasn't our best set-up for camping. Yes, we loved having the bike with us, and yes, it fit a need - but we weren't camping.  When you're sleeping in separate bunks, and not using the shower, well, we needed a change.

So, we did a thing (you knew this was coming, right?!)

Say hello to Beauty and the BEAST.

Ahhh, new truck smell.

I'll save the "How We Saved $5000 on the RAM by Driving 350 Miles" saga for some time around the campfire and get right to the story of our new, beautiful 30' Forest River Wildcat.  

Once again, we used PPL for the purchase, and really appreciate the way they're set up: go online, find a unit you'd like to look at, show up on the lot and spend as much time as you want hanging out inspecting it, then get paired up with a sales person who will walk you thru the paperwork.  I think it was less than two weeks from start to finish.

Only, y'all, we ain't no where near finished yet.  That was February.

Now....?

(Sorry - gotta keep laughing or I'm gonna cry.) We've not slept one. single. night. in our new-to-us camper.  Mind you, yes, there IS a global pandemic going on, but THAT actually isn't the problem.

Let's start back the beginning again:

So, we used PPL for the purchase - knowing it was a used camper, and that the prior owner disclosed that the living room slide had "issues" and the gray tank value was leaking.  Ok, we thought, that's doable; the floor plan of the unit was what we wanted, we can have those two items fixed. 

We didn't even take possession of the camper the day we closed - we just went straight from sales over to service at PPL and left them the keys to work out those issues.  Four (or was it five?) weeks, and several thousands of dollars later, we finally took possession of our camper - with the slide still broken.  When the service guy tells you to come pick it up at 5pm on a Friday, and you find out from his colleagues that he leaves at 4:30, that's probably your first clue that you've been swindled.  (When the service manager never returns your calls, that's probably the second clue...)

RDB started poking around underneath the slide that weekend trying to determine the cause - and y'all, in less than 30 minutes, he'd undone this and detached that and found a gear that had missing teeth which was likely what was making the awful banging noise when the slide went in and out.  (When it takes your hubby only 30 MINUTES to find what the likely problem was, that's probably clue #3 that you've been hosed.  Three strikes, PPL. You're out!!)

Running down random parts for the underbelly of a '15 Forest River Wildcat is its own story y'all.  I'll just leave it here that RDB is INCREDIBLY PATIENT. 

Ok, so, while he was working on the outside, I had big plans for the inside.  I've never re-decor'd any of our campers - but this one? I couldn't wait to paint walls, replace furnishings, and really make it the retreat that we'll enjoy for the next decade of our camping adventures.

A little pre-view of my vision for the Beauty.

So, Diesel and I began a bit of prep work - clearing out the old and making way for the new. With painting, I wanted to make sure I prepped it correctly (there are a lot of horror stories of peeling paint and worse!). Needless to say, Diesel likes "his spot" in the new place already!

Speaking of spots.... notice the kinda rough looking wallpaper there by Rich's elbow?  Well, before I painted, I wanted to make sure that random texture like that - it was on that wall by the slide and then over the top of the kitchen slide as well - wouldn't show up with the new paint job, so, I pulled a little bit back to see what was causing the rumpling in the wallpaper beneath.

The more experienced camper owner at this point knows the music in the back ground has just turned ominous; for the, well, less in-tuned (ahem, me) you'll be just as surprised as I was to find....

MOLD.

With a capital OLD.  This was no recent one-time incident.  This stuff had been there for a while, and likely? The past owners knew about it. Knew about it, and sold it as-is, with no disclosure.  

So, I'm gonna stop the story there for a while.  Because that's exactly what happen - we just.... stopped.  

Our Beauty had turned, rightly so, into a beast.

...to be continued...

(Are you one of those who likes to flip ahead to the end of the story? Then go here.)