Where in the world is our Camper??

We got up early Saturday morning to hustle our aging camper down to the auto repair shop for its annual inspection. We were on a birthday party deadline, so time was of the essence. I knew the shop would be extra busy on a weekend morning, but that's the time we had.

I was a little worried, because we've had problems off and on (literally) with the left brake light. Lights are important with campers, since people love to tailgate you while you're towing, sometimes so close that you can't see them back there until they swing out to pass.

We got lucky. My mechanic, Steve, was eating a donut when we arrived. This was a good sign -- how busy can you be if you're munching a snack? No problem, Steve says. A few minutes later one of the other techs strolls out to "have a look." The past couple years this has been a formality. They check the lights, make sure your hitch is set-up right, and we prove out the electric brakes for the inspector. Grab my sticker and go. Not this time.

We need four new tires. Man, it would've been better if the brake-light failed! Who wants to shell out for a quartet of trailer tires? There goes the price of a whole vacation in one shot. The camper's still down there at the shop, by the way. They couldn't get the tires in time that day, so we left the camper there to await its new road rubber. I haven't had time to go back and pick it up since then. Nothing's ever as easy as you hope it'll be, is it?