This is one of a series of eight life lessons I have learned in my Travels with Betty. What your RV can teach you about life. Lesson #4
As part of each blog, I share my experience and then the lesson I learned as a result. It seems there is always something to learn!
There is always a way to keep things cool
I was on a family trip in a much larger RV for a wedding. I bunked in with my sister and her family to make the trip from Edmonton to southern Ontario in July. The plan was to travel through the United States with pre-booked campsites to ensure we did not feel panicked to find a place for the night.
Shopping was a certainty. Even though many U.S. products are available in Canada, we like the experience of walking up and down aisles, touching product, looking for something we have not seen before at a great price. Our motto when it comes to the Canadian versus U.S. dollar is “Once you start using the U.S. money, don’t think about the exchange rate.”
As the RV filled up with products to enjoy, we moved canned drinks from the fridge shelves onto the door. At any time of day or night, there were numerous chilled beverage options available just by opening the door. About five days into the two week trip, imagine our surprise when the door fell out and onto the kitchen floor. A lot of cans and bottles rolled everywhere with food from shelves following along.
At that point, collectively we realized we might have overloaded the fridge door. The hinges could not take the weight and gave up. As so often happens, it was duct tape to the rescue. Each morning, after breakfast, one of the last pre-trip activities was to tape the fridge door securely to the fridge. During the day, there would be eagerly anticipated openings of the fridge door to get out cooled foods. Then the door went back up and taped on until the next time the only person who could lift the door was up for the task.
Yes, we still had cold drinks – we just bought a cooler and kept drinks on ice.
Lesson learned: A fridge door hinge is a fragile thing.