1. Open overhead bins carefully, as items may have shifted during the flight.
RVs come equipped with cabinets and drawers that lock firmly when closed. This is to prevent things from flying around and spilling when you drive. We thought we had learned this lesson way back in 1997 when we rented a motorhome and traveled around Montana and Wyoming with our friends, Jeff and Carla. We failed to latch the fridge and two gallons of milk came crashing out. It was July. It smelled really, really bad. We are pretty anal retentive about our fridge now, but this time it was every bin in the school closet that went airborne. And we have a LOT of school stuff. Crikey.
2. Antifreeze really works.
It does. I know this because this fiver came to us from beautiful, wintry Minnesota, the state that also brought us our latest cold front. Needless to say, the dealer had antifreeze in the pipes to prevent trouble. They told us to run the water awhile to flush it out, which we did. I let it run until it ran clear and then let it run some more. Then I tried to make ice cubes ('cus you know, it hasn't been cold and wet enough and someone might want a frosty beverage). What I made was slush. But when I discovered this was AFTER I made a couple of bowls of cream of wheat, coffee and a tall glass of water with the contents of that tank. Gack.
3. Objects on floor are more numerous (and taller) than they appear.
Since I am an organizing junky I haven't put everything away yet because I am still trying to figure out where is the best spot for all things. So there are a lot of random objects lying about. I tripped over a pile of bins. They weren't hard to see or anything, I just overestimated my mad ninja bin-hurdling skills and had the misfortune of doing so in front of Joel who immediately laughed and hollered, "FAIL!"
4. Leaving bits and pieces of ourselves everywhere.
It's one thing to leave something at my parents' house or my sister-in-law's home or even at our old house or van (because we know the buyers). I didn't do much of that. Noooooooooo. I had to go and leave ALL of my jewelry and a few unmentionables in the beach condo where we stayed last week. Thankfully, the manager is a great guy and saved it all for us. It will be recovered.
Including shoes. We had to go back to Tampa very early this morning so I told the kids I would treat them to breakfast at Cracker Barrel. When we got there Joel said, "Did you grab my shoes?" No shoes. So he snuck in barefooted. In my defense, there was no sign declaring that patrons must wear them. Besides, we are homeschoolers. We're just upholding the stereotype.
Stay tuned for more fun fail stories. I am sure we haven't finished with them.