Living on Yuma Time…

Our arrival in Yuma marked the beginning of our refrigerator ordeal. A day after the installation of the new cooling unit I noticed we weren’t getting any ice and had a small water leak visible from the outside panel opening.  We called Larry of Deluxe RV who came right over to check it out. He was on his way to a service call but ran a quick test and said it appeared as if we had a cracked water line high up on the fridge. I wasn’t there when he showed up but Sharon described what he did and said. He went on to say that fixing it might involve taking the refrigerator out again if access could not be made through the upper outside panel and that he would not be available for a few days as his schedule was full. The water line to the ice maker was turned off temporarily which stopped the leak.

I decided to climb up my trusty ladder to pull off the top access panel and investigate myself.  It appeared as if the water line to the ice maker had severed inside the plastic piece that inserts into the refrigerator. Also the nipple on the end where the water line goes into the plastic piece was split. I went over to a local RV parts place just to see if they might have a replacement part.  They didn’t so I called Larry to ask if he knew where I might find one.  He checked in his spare parts bin and found an old one which he kindly dropped off the next morning.

When I looked at the part he brought it appeared to be a bit shorter but I told him I would give it a go. After taking out the old broken plastic insert it was obvious the part was a little shorter. I tried it anyhow but it simply wouldn’t work. No one in town had the part I was looking for but I discovered I could get a new one for about $40.00  online, including shipping. In taking another look at the part, I had an idea… so I traveled over to Lowes and found a solution that would make the shorter part longer. While there I also was able to find a way to re-fabricate a lost rivet from our Kwickee step. Total cost of all parts $1.87. Now that’s a repair bill I can afford!

After installing my Lowe's solutions, my refrigerator now makes ice (with no leaks) and the stairs no longer feel as if we are launching off a diving board.  What a relief!

It hasn’t been all work and no play since our neighbors have invited us over to their afternoon happy hour group. Nearly everyone there is from British Columbia, Canada while the others hail from other parts of Canada. We are the only Americans and we have been jokingly referred to as their "token Americans" .  What a fun and happy bunch they are. We also have spent some time with our friends from Bettys RV Park, Reg and Karen. In fact we have met a lot of real nice people here in this park and have also enjoyed playing a little bocce ball and pickle ball as the weather has been great. Sharon has even had time to sneak off to the weight room but they have a hot tub here that is still calling my name…

After four days of mostly RV repairs we are both ready to get out and explore more of the Yuma area. I think we even found a hike that we will attempt tomorrow…. We are both looking forward to a good hike!