Pitch dark gives way to a dreary pale frost covered morning while we prep LilyPad for motorhome surgery. Tranquility has vanished and the Tiffin compound is in full swing repair or replace mode. LilyPad must be waiting by the correct bay door at 7:00 am and we must be conscious enough to communicate what is needed.
Temperatures dropped into the single digits last night so “cold morning” was the greeting on this unwelcome dawn rising. We weren’t alone in our quest for Tiffin expertise as their workforce in bays 1 to 49 were burdened with every size, shape and color of company rigs…and this is the s-l-o-w season!
Owners and their dogs waiting patiently in the customer lounge, wandering back and forth between their motorhome, a comfortable chair in the lounge and trips to the free coffee, tea and cocoa with occasional bathroom stops. Southern drawls carefully explained what could be accomplished, how long to do so, with gentle reminders of the hourly charge should you add little odds and ends to the pre-written list required before your appointment was granted. So here we sit, John, KatieBug and I, friendly chatter beginning as soon as coffee kicks in and the sleep walking turns us all into consciously awake beings.
One morning a pleasant sausage aroma floated into the campground and caused many of us to wonder from where it came. Upon asking a local, we found out that it had drifted from two blocks away, the local dog food plant…eww, gross!
Snow floated down and stayed long enough to stick to Ribbit’s windshield wipers as I followed John to Bay 2 for another day of repair. Temperatures were slated to drop into minus digits tonight and remained a strong focal point of the entire day’s chitchat.
With hopes that we will be finished today we watch multiple dozens of splotchy tan, brown and black motorhomes, looking like speeding giant slugs, making their way cautiously to the repair bays this frosty morning. We were toasty warm inside but outside the chill in the air caught our breath and turned it into clouds of steam expanding and fading into the sunrise.
Marion, our service man extraordinaire, finished up the balance of our list today so we sit waiting for Monday morning when TJ comes to rip out the old preparing for the new.