The last stop on our recent fall vacation trip to East Texas was Memphis, TN. We had reserved a campsite at Tom Sawyer RV Park, nestled on the shores of the mighty Mississippi River. The park’s setting is very picturesque, but do be warned, there are A LOT of permanent residents in the park with less than sightly rigs.
You don’t get to select your spot here so we were excited to be placed in Spot 76, which is a nice pull-through spot right along the river with truly million-dollar views!
Our excitement was dampened when we had leveled out, hooked up, and hit the switch to extract our slideout. Instead of a spacious living space, we got nothing. The control panel flashed its indicator lights, and that was it. Nothing else happened. We tried turning on the water pump and living room lights, which are controlled by the same control panel. Nothing. Being RV newbies we didn’t know what to do next. So, we pulled out our phone and called the customer support number. The person on the other end of the line was very friendly and quite patient. However. his troubleshooting approach ended abruptly when we didn’t have a multimeter in our toolbox.
Troubleshooting The Problem
We hung up the phone with him, jumped into the car, and looked for the nearest store that might carry a multimeter. It was an auto parts store not too far from the campsite so away we went, hoping we might be able to remedy this still in a short while and enjoy the rest of our evening in our RV. This store located in West Memphis was in “da hood,” complete with dilapidated buildings, cars with smashed windows, and lots of trash around. Luckily they did indeed have a multimeter and it was less expensive than expected.
Back on the phone with tech support, we ran about 1 million tests with our newly acquired multimeter. We seemed to have diagnosed the problem, but there wouldn’t be a quick fix. It seemed our grounding wire may have come loose somewhere and they couldn’t help us troubleshoot that over the phone.
What was more worrying though, was that while running the electrical tests, S crawled under the RV and made a scary discovery: the bolts along the lower side of the body of the travel trailer seemed to have lost their nuts keeping them in place. In total, more than half of the nuts were missing!
We were still on the phone with tech support and they agreed that the missing nuts might be a bigger problem than the control unit. These dozen or so screws are the majority of what holds the RV body to the frame. If they all go missing, you are running a real risk of losing your trailer and belongings while bouncing along the highway. That was not something we wanted to risk for the next 500 miles while we made our way home.
Getting to Know Memphis at Night
At this point, it was dark and our primary concern had shifted from the broken control unit to securing our RV. So we looked for the nearest home improvement store to purchase some sockets, nuts, and thread blocker to secure the base properly. Once we got to the store, the neighborhood we went to earlier in the day for the multimeter suddenly seemed safe. This place was somewhat dystopian with all sorts of unsavory characters milling around inside and out. A few customers walking around the store smoking cigarettes and an employee gleefully waved around his (unlit) blunt while chatting to someone. S quickly grabbed what he needed, paid, and got back to the truck.
While S was inside the store, T tried to secure dinner and ordered some food at a nearby drive-through restaurant. What a mistake! When we arrived to pick up the food, the place was a mess. After waiting in the drive-thru line for a few minutes, S jumped out of the car to try to speed up the process. There was no one inside but dozens of increasingly irritated people in the drive-thru line, so it seemed like a good solution.
As it turns out, nobody was getting served. The staff had locked the doors and were hanging out in the dining room smoking weed. Just as S approached, another customer standing outside the door and hoping for service started to get irate. He was screaming about the lack of service and started bashing the glass door and swinging his motorcycle helmet. S booked it, looking to avoid that guy’s attention.
On our way out of the parking lot, another person approached our truck, aggressively demanding money. Our Great Dane in the back seat (who is the biggest, sweetest teddy bear) went berserk, summoning a snarl and bark we’d never heard from her. That ended that situation very quickly. The beggar jumped backward about 10 feet and we drove away. But the situation left us all a bit rattled.
We completed our journey back to the campsite only to discover that the newly acquired sockets were the wrong ones. S cursed and declared we needed to jump back into the truck. So back into the truck we went to try out luck at another location in this Mad Max part of the city. At the West Memphis Wally World, S found what he was looking for and we tried our luck at another fast-food location to get some grub in our bellies. This excursion also had a positive outcome and 30 minutes later we were finally heading back to the campsite.
Including the tech support calls and three separate trips to find tools and supplies, we had spent nearly 5 hours making very little progress. It was now well past 10 pm and we had not even started repairing the base yet.
We wanted to be mindful of the neighbors but also determined we wanted to get back on the road as early as possible the next day. Just “in case something else breaks”. Thankfully we had the bolts secured in less than an hour and happily went to bed.
The next morning we finished our journey safely and were so glad to be home. But that experience did teach a few life lessons that we are sharing with you today. Oftentimes we take our safety for granted and there’s nothing wrong with being a little more prepared.
Here are 8 lessons we have learned from our adventurous stop in Memphis:
1 – Carry a decent set of tools
We added a toolkit to the RV when we outfitted it but it was mostly just scavenged extra tools from our garage. It looked pretty good but ultimately was pretty useless. A few channel locks, screwdrivers, and random wrenches don’t help when you need to fix something on the fly. Our toolkit now consists of a pretty decent set of socket wrenches, screwdrivers, extra screws and bolts, a multimeter, and a few other items. I am sure more things will pop up as “necessities” down the road, but we feel pretty comfortable with the items we carry. We also keep a battery-powered drill for various needs during the RV setup/breakdown process.
2 – Expect the unexpected & plan accordingly
When we talked to tech support, their recommendation was to have the trailer towed to the nearest dealership to have the bolts repaired. Well, we are handy enough to replace a couple of missing nuts and make sure the ones that remained were securely tightened. Having the trailer towed would have meant standing in the coolish Memphis night with no place to sleep, 500 miles from home. And no idea when the dealership would be able to deal with the problem. It simply was not an option.
However, we did have a plan A, B, and C on what to do if we couldn’t fix the problem. One of the nicest luxuries is time. We generally plan on an extra “oopsie” day when going on long trips. This means we return on a Saturday afternoon, rather than planning for a Sunday arrival when we have obligations on Monday. In case something happens there is at least a day before you need to be somewhere.
3 – Be mindful of your surroundings
We had heard that Memphis is not necessarily the safest city. What we saw during our brief stay in West Memphis and Memphis was eye-opening. Every city has its bad corners; it’s just a fact of urban life. Indy has areas we don’t visit unless we need to as well. Unfortunately, we got an uneasy feeling pretty much everywhere we went in Memphis and West Memphis. This in no way should be a reflection of Memphis as a whole and we can’t wait to come back a bit better informed to see the nice corners.
Dave Chappelle in an old standup routine once said something loosely along the lines of “It’s OK to go to the ghetto when you know you’re going to the ghetto. It’s when it’s a surprise that it becomes a problem”. We learned to check things like crime maps a bit more closely before visiting a new place to get a sense of what corners we might want to avoid or at least where to tread more carefully.
We like to use Neighborhood Scout or the Census Bureau to gain insights into the neighborhoods we are considering visiting.
4 – Check out your rig before and after a long trip
We have a pretty good routine for checking tires and some visual inspections before, but now we plan to go through our trailer with a fine-toothed comb before any big trips. The trailer rattles around when we travel and things inevitably shake loose. We can’t run to a repair shop every time something happens, so utilizing our handy skills will be necessary to keep things going (and costs down.)
Trailers don’t have too many components, so it doesn’t take a long time to inspect every screw, pipe, and fixture before heading out. If it looks like it could become a problem, it should be fixed before you leave.
5 – Learn all you can about your rig
This somewhat goes along with the lesson above. While on the call with tech support, we got a pretty decent insight into where certain components are hiding behind panels. Before that, we had no idea. So don’t be afraid to poke around behind panels in your RV. It makes fixing things much easier when you know where things are and what you should be looking for.
6 – Don’t be a victim
After S came out of the third store, he said ” I stick out like a sore thumb around here, dressed like a park ranger”.
And it was true. With hiking boots, khaki cargo shorts, and a green button-up fishing shirt, he did indeed look quite out of place. Security experts call it “Grey Man Theory”, i.e. blending into a crowd or environment. While not out of place in most areas, the more relaxed outfit didn’t really blend in with the local population. The thought is, that if nobody notices you, then they generally won’t harass you.
As for additional protection, that’s everybody’s personal decision. Some might feel better carrying a weapon, others don’t. But if you do choose to carry a weapon, make sure you know the gun laws in the states you visit. Along our route, for example, we crossed through Illinois, which has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country and requires extra attention when carrying.
7 – Be mindful of your neighbors
A late afternoon arrival and 5 hours of running around made it very late by the time we began our repairs. We made sure we kept VERY quiet while making our repairs and kept talking to a minimum to avoid disturbing neighbors.
Also, please be mindful of your lights. Nobody wants truck beams coming into their camper when trying to sleep. If at all possible, or if you anticipate that the repairs will be noisy, delay until the next day. In our case, we just needed to tighten about a dozen bolts with a socket wrench. It was done almost silently, with just a bit of light under the trailer from a flashlight.
8 – Relax!
It’s easy to freak out when things go wrong. But in the end, “It is what it is” and it’s all part of the adventure. When the unexpected strikes, take a deep breath, relax, and then go figure things out.
We’ll certainly never forget our dystopian first visit to Memphis’ more adventurous neighborhoods. But we’re glad we had this opportunity to learn.
Have you ever been to a place that you didn’t feel comfortable or that opened your eyes? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
