Dapper Travel Diaries: Week 6 (RV issues)

Week 6 of The Ultimate Golf Road Trip was a doozy. Between two rounds of golf in Texas, we managed to get ourselves into quite a pickle with our RV. Let’s just say, we tried our best to make lemonade out of the lemons thrown our way. We’ve learned so much about electricity, gotten really good at finding good local spots and learned the meaning of being flexible as full-time travelers. Here are the last 7 days of our rollercoaster ride.

Day 34 – Members only parking

We pulled up to TPC San Antonio where we were instructed to park in the ‘Members only’ lot overnight – way to make a girl feel special. The funny looks the next morning were my favorite parked right next to the clubhouse with constant golf cart traffic. I really enjoyed a few guys that stop right outside our door (not knowing I was inside) while I was getting ready and reading all of our signs out loud while finding us on Instagram. It made for an entertaining way to get ready.

Day 35 – I’d like a do-over

We scheduled a full day of work without interruptions, a blazing internet connection, plugged into electrical, water and sewer so we could focus solely on our to-do lists. We got to our site, plugged in and the electrical system wasn’t responding. I thought it was a bad connection between our shoreline and the plug so off to Home Depot we went for tools to fix it. I spent hours wiring and rewiring the plug (because I thought I’d done something wrong).

Luckily, my dad came to the rescue and walked me through 20 different electrical checks over the phone with our new electrical meter reader (a must have for any RVer). Come to find out, the 30 amp 125 V outlet we thought we were plugging into was actually wired poorly and hit us with 240 V frying our electrical system… Awesome.

I frantically found a local RV repair shop with great reviews on Google that was willing to check us out the next morning. The house part of the RV wasn’t functional, but the driving part was working fine. Only problem, we didn’t have working lights and Jordan had a video interview on the Golf Channel the next morning — and we hadn’t showered all day. Thankfully, a friend of mine who lived 40 minutes away welcomed us over to soak up all of her electricity and water.

Day 36 – Live interview, sick cat, broken RV

Without power in the RV, it’s really hard to do a video interview in the dark. Thankfully my lovely friend in Austin let us shower and borrow her kitchen table so Jordan could do a check in with the awesome people on The Morning Drive (check it out here). Then it was go, go, go. Our cat was acting funny so I found a local vet that we dropped him off at before racing to the RV repair shop. As soon as we got there, I knew we were in good hands. Tom, at TK RV outside of Austin, was nothing short of an electrical hero. He answered all of my questions (I like to understand everything that happens with the RV), helped us pick out an upgraded converter to better fit our needs (that was one of the things that fried) and got us charged up so we could have a little battery power for the round of golf the next day. Then it was back to pick up our sick kitty and spend the night in the next golf course parking lot. What a day!

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Day 37 – Unwind with some golf

After the craziness of Day 36, it was perfect timing to unwind with a round of golf and some photography at the Barton Creek Canyon course. Despite the setbacks with the RV, we had an amazing course to play with good company. The founders of Criquet Shirts and Neil from Edel Golf came out to join us. Thankfully, Neil used to work at the course and made sure we were taken care of with access to the member’s locker room after our round. No electricity in the RV means the water pump doesn’t work, which means no shower until it’s fixed. So post golf showers were a treat! Are you starting to see a trend? We love “normal” showers and seek them out any time we can 😛

Day 38 – #workfromanywhere

It was the big day at the repair shop. Our new, upgraded 4 stage converter arrived. We got to the shop at 8:30 am where Tom was waiting for us with open arms. For the next few hours, we multi-tasked in the waiting area with Ella (our dog) and Mr. P (our cat). It’s always a good time with them in someone else’s space. I also had a video call with a client that I didn’t want to reschedule so we made it work! It’s really important to me for my clients to move forward at the pace we mapped out. So whether my office is a beach or a repair shop waiting area, I’m thankful I can connect from anywhere with our Verizon hotspot and get to work. The repair took a few hours but Tom made it happen and he even fed us. That’s customer service at it’s finest. Then we drove a few hours back to Houston to stay in our friend’s driveway to stock up on water, electricity and get our heads on straight.

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Day 39 – RV cookout party

We took the day to catch our breath – no driving, no mechanical issues, no variables – just parked in our friend’s driveway. And to say thank you for letting us stay again, we made a Mexican feast and invited John and Jenna to their own driveway for dinner, a board game and wine in the RV. Even in 150 sq ft, there’s plenty of room for house guests as you can see. Always a good time in #DiegotheRV.

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Day 40 – Rest stops for the win

With a day of rest and catching up, it was time to hit the road again for Mississippi and more golf. On the way, we discovered Louisiana and Mississippi have some pretty rest stops that double as great overnight parking spots with wifi (what?!). This was one of them.

That wraps up our crazy week 6 of the #ultimategolfroadtrip. We’ll see you from Mississippi and Georgia next week, hopefully with a smoother week than the last!