- Good Sam Camping Blog - http://blog.goodsamcamping.com -

A Shoreline Away from Water? RV Vocabulary Challenges

Posted By Dalin Brinkman On July 5, 2012 @ 2:48 pm In Humor | 3 Comments

[1]Owning your first RV has a lot of challenges. One of which is the whole set of new vocabulary words that come with it. I was in for a rude awaking this week as I took my motorhome into the repair shop for the first time. As expected, the mechanic came back with a litany of repairs. He spoke with a worry so great it made it sound like my RV was on fire and the only way to put it out was throwing thousands of dollars of cash on it.

Mechanics Love RV Newcomers

I tried to get through the tone of his voice to what he was really saying. It was at that point that I knew I was in over my head. He said, “Your shoreline is having a problem.” My what? I don’t even live near a lake and there is no shoreline in my driveway. What is he talking about? I didn’t dare ask for clarification. I’ve learned that asking any naive question about cars to your mechanic starts to make them salivate like Pavlov’s dog. All of sudden items you have never heard of need to be fixed in ever increasing numbers.

I make a mental note to Google “shoreline” later. Then he starts talking about my AC/DC conversion. I quickly realize he is not talking about the 80’s rock band and that it has something to do with power. Finally, he says I need a new marine battery. By this time, I’m totally lost. With a shoreline connection and a marine battery, I’m starting to wonder if I had just bought a boat. It drives like one sometimes.

I tell the mechanic that I will think about what steps to take. In reality, I’m going straight to the Internet to find out what in the world he is saying. Strangely, the Internet doesn’t help. Everywhere I go I see videos of men in their mid 50s that are telling me how important some product is for my RV and where I should go to buy it.

Learn from the Guy Next Door

I realize that the only trusted source is the neighbor family I never see on weekends. You know, the ones who have an RV and use it as a second home. So I pop by their house and start explaining my naiveté about RVs. As expected, the first response was, “Oh, you went to THAT mechanic.” It was followed by, “Your RV will never be in perfect running shape unless you plan to spend thousands of dollars to fix it.” How comforting, I thought. “But you shouldn’t do that.” He puts his arm around me, looks off in the distance to his RV and pauses for effect. I realize this person I hardly know is about to wax philosophically about RVs. “You see, an RV doesn’t just take you on adventure, but it is an adventure in and of itself.” At this point I’m thinking two things…one is what my neighbor smokes in his RV and the other is that ”adventure” usually involves money.

In any case, he did educate me on my RV and about the adventure I had unknowingly just under undertaken. I learned that I didn’t know much about cars or RVs. But I also learned that part of the fun of owning one was learning everything about it and trying to fix as much as possible yourself. In other words, an RV isn’t just something to love, but it’s also a labor of love. It also costs money, too.

Last 5 posts by Dalin Brinkman

[Slashdot] [13] [Digg] [14] [Reddit] [15] [del.icio.us] [16] [Facebook] [17] [Technorati] [18] [Google] [19] [StumbleUpon] [20]

Article printed from Good Sam Camping Blog: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com

URL to article: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/07/a-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges/

URLs in this post:

[1] Image: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/07/a-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges/lonely-trailer-by-the-shore/

[2] Nesting an RV: The Unexpected Expenses of Buying an RV: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/06/nesting-an-rv-the-unexpected-expenses-of-buying-an-rv/

[3] Akin to lawyers…: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2011/09/akin-to-lawyers/

[4] WHATS A TOAD? – A RV Newbie’s Vocablulary List: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/07/whatsa-toad-a-rv-newbies-vocablulary-list/

[5] Gas or Diesel?: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2011/05/gas-or-diesel/

[6] Is your RV insurance adequate???: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2011/10/is-your-rv-insurance-adequate/

[7] Contextual Related Posts: http://ajaydsouza.com/wordpress/plugins/contextual-related-posts/

[8] Disabled Americans Get Long Awaited RVing Advocate: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2013/01/disabled-americans-get-long-awaited-rving-advocate/

[9] Black Friday Camping: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/11/black-friday-camping/

[10] All Active Duty Military:Free Good Sam Club Membership: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/11/all-active-duty-militaryfree-good-sam-club-membership/

[11] Creating the Directory: Part I: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/11/creating-the-directory-part-i/

[12] Woodall's Announces the New 2013 Good Sam RV Travel Guide & Campground Directory: http://blog.goodsamcamping.com/2012/10/2013-good-sam-rv-travel-guide-campground-directory/

[13] Image: http://slashdot.org/bookmark.pl?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

[14] Image: http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

[15] Image: http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

[16] Image: http://del.icio.us/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

[17] Image: http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F

[18] Image: http://technorati.com/faves?add=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F

[19] Image: http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&output=popup&bkmk=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

[20] Image: http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.goodsamcamping.com%2F2012%2F07%2Fa-shoreline-away-water-rv-vocabulary-challenges%2F&title=A+Shoreline+Away+from+Water%3F+RV+Vocabulary+Challenges

Copyright © 2009 Woodall's Blog. All rights reserved.