We took the RV out for its first test run to Del Valle Regional Park for a week of dry camping. This was to acquaint us with the workings of the RV, get settled in and organized. The nice thing about Del Valle in January is the serenity (no one else was there) and the peacefulness of the gentle falling rain. When it was time to leave Betty took off with the 4-Runner to visit her mom while I packed up for the trip home. All went well until I tried to retract the automatic levelers... When I hit the button on the control panel, the lights blinked once and went out. I checked the levelers and they were still fully extended. No problem, I pulled out the owner's manual, figuring that I was doing something wrong. None of the troubleshooting tips helped. Did I mention that Del Valle is so remote that our cell phones don't work there?
Luckily there was a pay phone about a 1/4 mile away by the shower building. Oh, by now the gentle rain had picked up a bit, quite a bit. Off I trekked with my pocket full of change and the phone number for Winnebago technical support. I talked to a nice technician who gave me a list of things to try and off I sloshed back to the RV. Nothing worked. Back to the phone booth and another call to tech support. This time he said he would check with the senior advisor and call me back. I explained that I was standing at an outdoor phone in the pouring rain and that I had no more change to make another call -- I was at his mercy. He said he'd call me back in exactly 15 minutes. I ducked under the gable of the shower house (which was closed for the season) and waited. Eventually the phone rang and I ran to to answer it, almost slipping in the mud. He said that he would call a local repair shop to come out and diagnose/fix the problem. He said I'd have to wait by the phone for the call from the repairman to schedule an appointment!!!
Fortunately, the repairman called back within a few minutes and agreed to meet me at the RV the next morning. I decided that I should let the ranger know that I was stranded and would be staying another night, so off I hiked up the hill to the ranger shack about a mile away. The ranger was very nice and even offered to bring me some food if I needed it, but the refrig was still quite full so I felt fine. Down the hill I slid to the RV and settled in for the night. The next morning the tech arrived on time and manually raised the levelers and had me follow him back to the shop. Long story short (oops too late) the problem was that an incorrect fuse had been inserted into the unit in the factory and had blown. The tech replaced the fuse with the proper one and I was on my way home. End of first adventure. In spite of the problem, I loved every (almost) minute of the stay and was anxious to embark on our first real road trip.
Even though we had a few neighbors when we arrived, the 
It was really quite beautiful, I had the lake all to myself.
Ah, my trusty lifesaver... 
