Serendipity is a beautiful thing

May 5, 2009
Kalispell, MT

I just reviewed past blog entries and it seems that I forgot to explain a minor problem we're having with the microwave. As we started to head north, we found that the microwave would run for 59 seconds and then stop, no matter what we did. I realized that I've read about this problem before on some of the motorhome-related Internet groups. It's unique to the brand we have, and related to the "damper motor" or "stirrer motor". If it's not turning right, 59 seconds is all you get.

Why do I relay this useful information? Well, we've been trying to see about getting it fixed for over a week now. Calls to repair services listed under Sharp product support go unanswered, if the numbers work at all. Since it's a $6.95 part, I hate to replace the whole unit prematurely, although we did do some shopping in that vein today (no purchases). We found a shop that should be able to do the repair (we hope), but they wanted us to bring the coach to their shop so they could remove the microwave. I thought about that and looked at their parking area, and thought again. So, we headed back to the coach and Geri and I managed to remove the unit. It's not extremely heavy, but it's a challenge to disconnect it from the cabinet without having it drop on the counter/stovetop. We got it done, though, and I dropped it off this afternoon. Now all we need to do is get it back - repaired and installed.

So, what's that got to do with serendipity? Well, we were scheduled to leave here tomorrow, so I've put that off for a week. That week delay will put us into the Victoria Day holiday in Canada, so we'll probably stay somewhere closer to the border for a few days and cross over on the 18th. It was a quick job to extend here and make the changes to the reservations I'd already made. No worries...