Home at last

I'm in a bit of shock at the moment, but it seems that we actually managed to get our new trailer home!  The trip wasn't without a bit of stress - something I'm getting used to these days.

The electrics on our Durango were rewired and working fine, and when we hooked up the trailer everything worked - sort of.  If you held the connection just so.  Every light worked, but  unfortunately the connection was just a bit dodgy and my guess is the first pebble we drove over knocked it loose.  What it left NOT working were the taillights - of course.

Did I mention it was pouring rain today?

Figures.  The one thing that shortens daylight and otherwise makes driving a bit stressful decided to show up the first time I towed a trailer.  Thanks rain, at least you're watering my garden!

Anyhow, we got the trailer hooked up and ready to roll - and headed for our first stop just a mile or so away.  The Shell station, to add air to the tires and check the lights.

Oh.

The lights.  The lights that we got to work just fine when we were sitting in one spot, but which decided to stop working the minute we ran over a pebble.  See!  They're working!

And then they stopped.  Probably two seconds after we started driving.  We knew this was probably the case, but we started for home - it was still light and we wanted to get home as quickly as we could!

We also forgot to put the temporary towing mirrors on (too excited), so I didn't have the best visibility.  We drove quite a ways, but it kept getting darker and darker and eventually somebody flashed us to let us know out lights were out.  We made it to our exit from I-5, and stopped on the shoulder to try and straighten things out.  It was raining, and quickly became clear that the only way to keep the lights on was for Michael to hold the connection in place.  Since it wouldn't be acceptable for him to ride on the hitch, we had to come up with another solution.

HAZARD LIGHTS!

We drove the rest of the way home (as it got darker, and darker) with the hazard lights on.  The brake lights worked too, and so did the turn signals (as long as the hazards weren't on).  Michael coached me on when to switch the hazards on and off, and provided general driving tips.  He's really good with things like that.

And it was still raining like mad.

We finally pulled into our front yard, and I was able to sigh a HUGE sigh of relief.  Michael will be able to fix the electric connection easily.

I'm exhausted.

THREE WEEKS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR YELLOWSTONE.

A day of hell...

We knew today might be problematic.  But holy crap.  It was a bit more horrid than even I, the optimist, expected.

Last night we determined that there are a few bits missing from out towing package, namely a relay and one or two fuses.  According to our owner's manual,

"This relay and the fuses power up the trailer towing option.  See your Dodge dealer for further information"

Okay then - simple enough, right?  When we plugged the trailer into our Durango last night, the lights didn't work.  We hoped we could get it sorted pretty quickly today, but that was not in the cards.  Or the stars.  Or whatever hocus pocus you prefer.  We prefer figuring out the problem and taking care of it.  However, that's a bit hard to do when you're not fully sure of what you need and some of your "experts" don't quite have it right either.

I spent WAY too much time here today. This store is usually great, but today they failed us and didn't particularly add to the forward momentum of our endeavors.  In the end I visited here three times.  I hit the Dodge dealer twice, and the second time proved much more fruitful than the first.  We figured out exactly which part we need, and that the dealer close to where the trailer is at the moment has it in stock.  AND THEY ARE OPEN ON SATURDAY.  Hooray!

There's no guarantee that the parts we get from the dealer will solve the electrical problem, but chances are good.  We'll report back tomorrow.

But no, no, that was not the end of our woes today.  Shortly after 5:00 pm, Michael was out cleaning up the electrical hookup and otherwise tidying the hitch coupler, when a horrible discovery was made!  The hitch that comes with the trailer (which we thought would at least get the trailer home), WON'T FIT our much more modern vehicle.

Nooooooooooooooo!

In case you're wondering, not too many places are open after 5:00 on Friday, and if they are they don't carry the weight distribution hitch we really wanted anyhow.

Which brings me to the U-Haul debacle.  For your viewing, please see exhibit one.  I'm pretty sure this is a picture of your typical U-Haul call center employee:

Wait - I'm not actually talking to somebody located here in my town?  That chipper little bippy that told me the parts were in stock and they were open until 8:00 pm (NOT TRUE) was actually one of THESE minions?!!!

That girl with the twinkling voice doesn't just live on the other side of town?  WHY did she tell me they were open until 8:00?  WHO is open until 8:00?  The BBQ Joint?  Taco Bell?  GameStop?  We quickly drove over to the local U-Haul and it was closed.  CLOSED.  I tried calling again, and got the same "helpful" fellow I got on my first call (which was disconnected in a transfer, before the call with the little bippy), and tried to determine if there was another location we had somehow missed.  I told him we were at the rental place and it was closed, and he said the shop is located "1/2 mile south of the Naval Air Station on Goldie Road" and I asked if it was further up the road and he said "YES."  Turns out Mr. Helpful probably had no clue what he was talking about, since he probably live in Topeka Kansas!  We drove around a bit, and nothing made sense, so we called again - THEN the truth finally came out about the call center and the fact my calls to the local number were being routed to the call center - and most U-Haul locations close at 5:00 pm.

WHO THE HELL WAS I TALKING TO?!!!  WHO WAS THAT LITTLE BIPPY?!!  WAS SHE A GHOST?!!  A DRONE?!!  A CYBORG?!!

Once I got home and drank a big glass of wine, I started in on the research to find an actual living person who also happened to have a trailer hitch in stock (and wasn't 50 miles out of our way)

I'm so glad I'm a librarian, and know how to use the internet, and have knowledge of THINGS.  It didn't take long to find a possible source in Burlington, and a phone call determined the hitch we wanted is in stock and we can pick it up tomorrow.  We'll get what we need (and then some) and towing will be a lark. 

As long as those electrics work.  Crap.  I practically forgot about those in the quest for a hitch.

Tomorrow will be interesting.