Andy’s last travel nurse assignment was in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. We arrived in late April and hoped to stay through the Balloon Fiesta in early October.
When Andy decided to retire at the end of this contract, we were excited to start a new chapter. Traveling nurse assignments would no longer determine our destination.
On June 30th, I saw an optometrist to get new glasses. Unfortunately, my eyes were worse than I realized, and I needed cataract surgery instead of an updated prescription. My surgeries were scheduled for September 7th and 15th. These were not planned; however, we worked them into our schedule.
Andy’s shoulder replacement surgery was scheduled for the first week of August, just a week after his last day on the job. This surgery had been put off long enough, and Andy was happy it would be at the hospital where he worked and knew the staff. We had planned for this and the physical therapy that would follow.
Then, something unplanned happened two days after Andy’s shoulder surgery.
An Unexpected Event
On Sunday morning, August 7th, we discovered our refrigerator was no longer cold.
We moved our food to the refrigerator in the RV park kitchen and purchased bags of ice and a large cooler to keep some food in the coach.
On Monday morning, we realized the freezer wasn’t cooling and moved the freezer items to the park kitchen.
The refrigerator was under warranty, so we started working with LG to schedule a service call.
Unfortunately, LG couldn’t find anyone in the area who worked on residential refrigerators in RVs.
While LG continued trying to schedule a service call, Andy started calling local repair companies. The earliest he could schedule an appointment was August 15th, eight days after our fridge stopped cooling.
How did we make an appointment when the manufacturer couldn’t?
Because Andy didn’t mention that the fridge was in an RV.
The tech was surprised to see we were in a Class A Motorhome. However, he didn’t seem to have any issues.
We had already removed the brackets holding the refrigerator in place and raised the supports so it would roll out easily. And we cleared a space for him to work by moving as much furniture as possible.
After diagnosing the problem, he told us that parts had to be ordered. He estimated it would be a couple of weeks before he’d be back to complete the repair.
After the tech left, we purchased a 4.5 CU Ft. refrigerator and removed our food from the shared kitchen and our cooler. It was nice to get the cooler out of our way and stop buying bags of ice every few days.
Fortunately, we had a countertop ice maker to continue making ice for Andy’s shoulder therapy.
Unfortunately, after the tech returned to the shop and shared that the refrigerator was in an RV, the company contacted us through email to cancel the repair.
Andy sent emails, made phone calls, and finally escalated the issue to the manager, who agreed to the repair because their tech had already been out to make the diagnosis.
The repair process took over two months, seven service calls, and multiple replacement parts. Each time he arrived, we cleared a space for him to work, moving our rolling island, ottoman and small fridge out of his way.
This short reel shows our ‘outside office’.
On his last visit, the tech called LG, and they approved the ‘dead fridge’ diagnosis.
As soon as the tech pulled out of the RV park, we jumped in the truck and drove off to buy the refrigerator we picked out in advance. Suspecting this would be the outcome, we had already found a replacement and an RV dealer to install it.
When we had the delivery date for the fridge, we scheduled the swap with the RV dealer on the morning of October 18th, four days after the last tech visit and three days before we were scheduled to leave.
And everything went as planned. We checked out of the RV park on our scheduled date and started our slow trip to Missouri.
Our refrigerator adventure was shared on our Facebook page, where the frustration definitely showed. To see these posts and pictures, visit our FB page and enter #rvfridge in the search box.
There is also a video of the removal and installation process on our YouTube channel. It shows how they removed the old fridge and brought the new one in through the side window. Refrigerator removal and install.
Surgeries and a busted fridge didn’t stop us from enjoying our time in New Mexico. We attended the 50th Annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, spent time in Santa Fe, camped at Storie Lake State Park, hiked, and visited friends. The day after the new refrigerator was installed we drove to Ojo Caliente and spent the day soaking in the mineral springs. We REALLY needed it!
Everything worked out even though our plans had to change.
Winter Plans
When we arrived in Kansas City on November 1st, we planned to stay through Christmas.
We already had reservations at a resort in Tucson, Arizona, where we planned to spend two months. In March, we were going to visit friends in Texas, then begin our journey to Atlanta for a family wedding.
After the wedding, we planned to travel back to Missouri and start our search for a base.
After five years of living on the road, we were ready to move into a “sticks & bricks’ again. We still want to travel, just not full-time.
That was our plan.
Our New Plan
We had requirements for our base. Because we still plan to travel, we wanted a secure area with outside maintenance provided. The break-in at our last home not long after we began our journey was a factor in that decision.
On a Sunday in mid-November, we went for a drive to look at some of the homes we’d seen online. We wanted to get a feel for what was available and the pricing.
When we arrived at a townhome listed in one of our preferred neighborhoods, we discovered an open house had just ended. We decided to walk around the area to check it out.
A neighbor that lived in one of the nearby townhomes was outside, and he told us about the home for sale and the area, answering most of our questions.
We saw the inside of the townhome the next day, submitted an offer, and signed the closing papers in mid-December.
Yes, it happened that fast.
Instead of spending time in Arizona and Texas before traveling to Georgia, we are setting up our new base in Missouri.
If you have been following us for a while, you know that our plans changed several times since our first ‘downsize’ from a large home to a much smaller one to living full-time on the road in an RV.
We plan (there’s that word again!) to purchase a smaller RV later this year so we can camp at locations the motorhome couldn’t reach.
We also hope to grow our business. In addition to managing and writing this blog, I write content for outdoor hospitality businesses and nonprofits.
Andy is a nature and travel photographer. He is also a licensed drone pilot.
We appreciate our followers and hope you stick around for this next chapter.