We planned to pick up the camper at Camping World's parking lot even though they were closed for Easter Sunday. John was adequately schooled by Al the RV technician at Camping World the day before. Confident, John had no reservations about hitching the camper to the Suburban. We however, do not live in a perfect world, and sometimes things just do not go as planned.
We left the house at 8:20 in the morning, and arrived to get the camper about an hour later. We could have arrived sooner if the cat hadn't decided to pee by my feet unexpectedly forcing us to make an unplanned stop. That was a tell tale sign something was going to go awry.
John and I worked to get the car lined up with the hitch. He hooked everything up, but had problems with one of the sway bars. It kept popping off, viscously snapping forward both before and after we started moving. It appeared to John there was a defect with the length of the bracket holding the sway bar in place. A millimeter longer and we would have been off on our way.
I called the 24/7 roadside assistance that came with our purchase. After I spoke with two women in customer relations, a gentleman from a local service company called us from his Church service. John ultimately spoke with him twice and he was apologetic for the delay, but he let us know his employee, Ben, would be arriving to assist us shortly. John assured him we were appreciative and empathetic considering it was Easter Sunday.
While waiting for Ben to rescue us, we ate lunch in our new home. Both slides were pulled out and we made ourselves at home munching on egg salad sandwiches, made from James' colored Easter eggs, along with turkey and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. In the middle of a deserted parking lot, we were home.
Ben, our RV tech, eventually pulled up in his white stenciled service truck. He worked out a fix with John, but didn't have a suitable part in his truck. He decided to head back to the shop with our bracket and weld on a fix. He was young, but smart and we entrusted him to get us back to Florida safely.
Meanwhile, the kids lounged in the camper, listened to music, napped, read, and engaged in social media, on their phones. The boys laid on their bunk beds. James put on his pajama pants, made up his bed and ate Easter candy.
John and I unpacked clothes that were in the Suburban. We also settled in an patiently waited wondering how late we would finally get back to Florida. We made the best of our idile time. It soon started to rain. We closed both doors. It truly felt homey and safe. The best part, we all agreed, there were no leaks in the new RV.
When Ben arrived back, he had the bracket fixed perfectly. He and John were able to hook everything up 'without a hitch' (not literally). We finally made it on the road at 2:30pm, a mere five hour delay.
It was not the easiest start to our day, but leaving without the camper attached would have been far worse. Instead, we spent our day appreciative of the help we received on Easter Sunday and enjoyed a little family time while we waited on a fix. Deep down we all knew we would reflect on this day well, the day we ate Easter dinner in the parking lot of Camping World.
Even when things don't go as planned, patience and staying calm is all we can manage over the things out of our control.
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