Crappy ending to a great vacation.

Today the vacation was over, and it was a crappy ending to be sure.  Not because the fishing was bad.  Not because the weather was bad.  Not because the company was bad.  No, it all had to do with buying a new RV less than 24 hours before we left.  But, let me go back to the beginning.

For 56 days Jays has been working 12 hours a day, seven days a week.  Every night when he went to bed he would dream of spending 12 hours a day, seven days a week on the lake casting his line and reeling in the fish.  He would have visions of sitting around a quiet campfire after dark and sipping on his coke.  Finally the time has come.  He has made the long journey home, all the preparations are made for us to leave when he notices that the fiberglass shell on our RV has started to delaminate.  Now, you have to understand that we have had nothing but problems with this RV since we bought it 4 years ago and this was the last straw.  We drove straight to the dealer to discuss this issue and before we left, we had traded it in for a much better model.  But, it was after 5 and we couldn't get the paperwork done until the next day.  So, Jay and the boys left at 5 a.m. and went to Henry's with the boat, whilst Kate and I stayed behind to tie up the paperwork, move all our junk from the old RV to the new RV and then I pulled it up to Henry's.  This is where the trouble began.  First, let me say, that the dealership had the RV in their shop for 3 hours to make sure it was "customer ready".  Riiiight.  Upon arriving at the campsite and getting it all set, I attempted to fill the water tank, but instead heard water gushing from the drain valve.  The cap was missing.  When I contacted the service manager, he apologized and explained that sometimes they vibrate off, but we could get a replacement at the local hardware store....tomorrow morning.  Since we really needed water now, that was a problem.  It was against the rules, but we had no choice, so we connected our hose to the community water pipe, just until morning.  Now, Jay was filthy and hot and just wanted to take a shower.  But, now the water heater would not light.  Once again I called the service manager.  He explained that maybe (sometime during that 3 hours it was being made "customer ready") they had forgotten to close the water heater bypass valve when they dewinterized it.  Wow!  Shouldn't that have been the first thing on the "customer ready" checklist?  But, sure enough, after taking off the access panel, we discovered the bypass valve had not been moved to the summer position, so we moved it.  The pump came on and began to fill the water heater, but unfortunately, we heard water gushing outside and ran out to discover water pouring from the water heater compartment door on the outside.  I quickly shut off the pump and we opened the compartment door.  Good news, we found the cap for the fresh water tank drain.  Bad news, the plug for the water heater drain was missing and the water was just pouring out.  Upon closer inspection, Jay discovered that the water heater element had not been screwed in to the water heater, also a major part of the dewinterization, "customer ready" process that they supposedly spent 3 hours doing.  Jay screwed in the element, we turned on the pump, and the water heater began to fill.  But, the element was leaking because it needed plumber's tape on the seal.  This required a quick trip (5 miles) in to town to try to find plumbers tape.  Luckily, we did find some.  Returned to the campground, and as Jay unscrewed the water heater element to install the plumbers tape.....you guessed it......water gushed out of the hole and drenched us both.  Plumber's tape installed, water heater element screwed in, water heater filled, and at last!  Hot water!  Now, from here forward, all went as planned and the vacation was great.  Fish aplenty, weather was great, slept like babies.  Now it's time to go home.  The RV is ready.  Everything is locked down.  It's hitched up and we are headed for the dump station.  Jay dons his industrial grade rubber sewage gloves, squats down by the dump valve, turns the cap to remove it so he can attach the sewer dump hose, when.....WHOOSH!......he is slaughtered by a gushing stream of poop!  Yes, the genius's at the RV dealership, who spent 3 hours getting our RV "customer ready" had neglected to close the dump valves on the unit and Jay got sprayed by poop!  Thus, the "crappy" ending to an otherwise wonderful vacation.  To see him fly out of the way, and see me shouting 'HOLY CRAP!"  (literally) was indeed a sight to behold.  It's a good thing we had 2 hours to drive before we could get to the RV dealership, or I think they would have found our brand new RV backed right through their big, plate glass, front windows.

Jay, bless his heart, took it all on the chin.  We actually laughed about it later.  But, it was a typical Shaw Family Adventure to be sure.  Like he pointed out, at least we didn't wreck the RV this time out.  (Knock on wood.)