frvstration

noun | frvs·tra·tion

: a feeling of anger or annoyance caused by being unable to do something or go somewhere in your RV.

I’m reluctant to use the word “stuck”, since we’re staying in a lovely house in a beautiful state park, but that’s how it feels. We’re stuck in Spokane. I was expecting to stay here for about 1 week, whilst we waited for some work to be done on the RV. When I took the RV in, they estimated it would take a couple of days. That was 2 weeks ago. The work that needs to be done on the RV is pretty straightforward, but necessary for our trip to Alaska. There’s a leak in our windscreen and the main entry door needs to be adjusted because there’s a gap at the bottom allowing a draught. The delay has been due inefficient communications between the dealer and manufacturer regarding what’s covered by warranty and the cost of the work.

The frustration comes, not necessarily from having to stay in one place for almost 3 weeks now, but more to do with opportunities we’re missing out on. In many areas on the West Coast, the Pacific Northwest Canada and even Alaska, the weather has been exceptionally mild for this time of year. It’s perfect weather to explore these areas – before all the pesky tourists arrive :-)

To be honest, though, there is one other thing that’s prevented us from driving to Alaska – Anwen’s passport. We forgot that it was due to expire in March. We all need passports in order to enter Canada.

Well, things are about to change. The RV dealer, has indicated that the work will be completed today (I won’t hold my breath) and the mail-forwarding provider we use has FedEx’d Anwen’s passport to arrive today. If all goes to plan, we’ll be on the road tomorrow.

One thing that’s encouraging about all this, is that the children are all keen to get back to travelling – despite the fact that they’ve had access to cable TV in the house. They’re missing the RV and looking forward to more adventures and new places. That’s cool.